“What are you doing? Get off the exit!” she cried when the exit was fast approaching.

“Fine,” he sighed out heavily as he took the exit.

Minutes later he was pulling into a parking spot near the garden center and she was damn close to bursting.

When he turned in his seat and gestured for her to move her hands closer she could have kissed the man.

The idea of kissing him again had her nearly squirming in her seat so she forced herself to concentrate.

“Use the restroom in the front of the store,” he said as he uncuffed her right hand. “Don’t even think about taking off,” he warned and she would have said a few choice words about the veiled threat, but as soon as the last cuff was off she was out of the vehicle and doing a power walk towards the store. When he yelled at her to slow down she didn’t even bother to look over her shoulder as she gave him a one finger salute.

*********

Where the hell was everyone, he wondered as he shoved his personal phone in his front pocket and headed towards the restrooms at the front of the store. He called his brother, father, sister, grandmother and even Madison and no one answered. He wasn’t too surprised when Madison didn’t answer. She was pissed at him after all.

The last thing he wanted to do was disappoint Madison, but he really didn’t have much of a choice and in time she’d understand that. He knew that she wanted him to have someone of his own, but she had to realize that there was no way he could accept her if that meant that he had to leave his family behind. That was too much to ask of him. He couldn’t spend the rest of his life worried about his family and helpless to keep them safe.

At least by sending Izzy to an island compound he would never have to worry about her being safe. He could find out how she was doing any minute of the day.

Not that he expected her to talk to him after this. No, he knew the second she was escorted onto the plane that would take her away from everyone and everything that she’d ever known that she would truly hate him.

She might claim to hate him now, but he knew that was bullshit right along with her claiming to like Joshua more than she liked him. If this connection was screwing with her the same way that it was screwing with him then he knew she actually preferred to be around him and that everything in her calmed when he was around and she felt whole.

There was no question that Madison and his father were his best friends, the people he felt most comfortable with, trusted and loved, but he’d never felt this with either one of them. When he was around Izzy he felt comfortable, relaxed, whole and happy. He only met her a few days ago, but he couldn’t help the way he felt, especially since they completed their mating, a mistake he didn’t plan on making again no matter how badly he wanted to sink into her again.

Just thinking about f**king her had his balls pulling tight and his dick filling. Something he didn’t need in the middle of a busy store, he mused and he paused in front of the restrooms and nearly groaned at the “Do not enter” signs posted on each door. Great, just what he needed, he thought as he pulled out his Sentinel phone and scanned his thumb. Twenty seconds later he activated the tracker he’d placed in Izzy’s back pocket the last time he groped her beautiful ass.

He really needed to stop think about her ass, he decided as he discreetly shifted his pants to hide his growing erection. Relief surged through him when he saw that she was still in the store, not that he wouldn’t have been able to track her down, but he didn’t want to prolong this any longer than necessary. The faster they got the hell out of here and to Boston the better. He really didn’t know how much longer he could stand being around her and not touch her again.

It was just another reason why she had to go. He couldn’t handle feeling like this about anyone. He needed his head clear and his dick down if he was going to do his f**king job and he couldn’t do that with Izzy around making him feel relaxed and horny. He just hoped that when she left that his damn dick would get back in the game and behave.

For twenty-seven years he barely noticed it. Now he couldn’t help but notice and he was half afraid that he was starting to think with it. Since meeting her, the damn thing was at half-mast most of the time. Maybe he should pick up some loose jeans while he was here, he thought just as his Sentinel phone rang.

“Thank god,” he murmured when he saw that it was Eric calling him. The man better have his ass in gear and ready to take his little tormentor off his hands.

“Hey, Eric,” he said as he headed towards the back of the store.

“Chris, I need you to do me a favor,” Eric said in way of greeting and he knew the man was about to f**k him over. “I need you to hole up in a hotel for a day, two at the most.”

This was not f**king happening.

“Why?” he asked as he tried not to let his irritation show. He could not spend another day with Izzy. It was already going to be hard on both of them when they had to separate. Prolonging the inevitable was not in their best interest, definitely not his. He already found himself enjoying being around her and couldn’t risk her doing the same. He might be an ass**le, but that didn’t mean he wanted her hurt and keeping this going longer would only hurt her in the end.

“The shit hit the fan and I can’t get you and Isabella into Boston safely right now. I need you to stay low until I can find a way to sneak you into the city. I don’t know if they found out or if it’s just pure shit luck, but Boston is being swamped right now with demons, vampires and mercenaries and they’re all looking for your mate.”

“Fuck me,” he snapped, earning a gasp from an elderly woman as he passed the men’s section.

“Exactly. Give me a day or two to deal with a few things and I can get you into the city,” Eric explained. That wouldn’t work for them and right now was not the time or the place to go into it with Eric.

“How about this? I’ll take her to the Manhattan compound and wait for you there,” he suggested. He’d still be stuck with her for a few days, but he was pretty sure he could avoid her easily enough in the large skyscraper until Eric was able to come get her.

“No, I need her in Boston,” was Eric’s answer and Chris barely bit back the stream of curses that were threatening to break out.

“Then let me bring her in. We both know I can get her in there undetected,” Chris suggested, hoping, hell praying that Eric would go for it. Every second he was with his little mate he felt himself softening more and more.

After a slight pause Eric said, “No, I’m sorry, Chris.

You’re good, really good, but right now I need a guarantee that nothing and I mean absolutely nothing happens to Isabella,” he said, sounding almost desperate.

That had him frowning. “What’s going on, Eric?”

“I can’t really go into it too much right now because I have a few other things that I really need to get to, but we want her program Tattletale. After what you told me I spoke to a few contacts at the FBI and let’s just say her program would go a long way to taking control back from the Masters,” Eric explained. “But, in order to do that I need her safe and happy, Chris.”

“Meaning,” Chris prompted, having a funny feeling he wasn’t going to like this at all.

“I need you to be nice to her. Use your connection with her to keep her calm and happy. We need her to feel comfortable with us and accept the life that we can give her,” Eric stressed and Chris did his damndest not to wince. “Just don’t let her know that we want it. I want her convinced to give it to us. From what I’ve read and heard that will be our only bet.”