Tall, Dark & Furious (Pyte/Sentinel 6)

When a second growl immediately followed the first, Samantha decided to focus on washing her hands with the hope that he would forget about his homicidal needs by the time that she was done.

He wasn’t.

Done, that was.

So, she focused on something else, namely doing something about her appearance. Realizing that she’d left her bag outside, Samantha searched through the drawers and cabinets looking for a bottle of Advil or something that she could use only to resign herself to making a trip back out to her car after all when the only thing she found was a drawer full of new toothbrushes and boxes of toothpaste.

Sighing, she turned around only to decide that this was fine, more than fine when he narrowed those red eyes on her. After selecting a green toothbrush and a fresh tube of mint toothpaste, she brushed her teeth, taking her time as the reality of her situation slowly hit and when it did…

Samantha realized that she didn’t care.

She didn’t care that everything she owned was gone along with the house that she sank every dime that she had into or that she’d most likely been fired from a job that she hated and that…that was actually depressing. She was twenty-nine years old and she had absolutely nothing to show for it other than a brother who she barely saw and a dog that hated her. She couldn’t help but wonder why she’d settled for a life that she hated.

She’d never planned on coming back here after she’d graduated, didn’t have any reason to with her father gone and Nathan in the Marines. She wasn’t even sure how it happened. One day, everything that she’d worked so hard for was about to come true and the next, she was moving back to a town that she hated and taking a job where everyone thought that she was a joke and…

She should have left a long time ago, Samantha realized, shaking her head in disgust as she rinsed off her toothbrush and moved to place it next to the sink only to have it plucked from her hand. Still wondering how she’d managed to screw her life up this badly, she handed him the toothpaste and moved to the other sink so that she could wash her face while she tried to figure out why she’d stayed when there was nothing for her here.

After Craig left her, she should have just left, but instead she’d settled into a life that she hated, she thought as she ran her fingers through her hair, trying to tame the impossible only to wince when her fingers encountered a tangled knot that had somehow managed to wrap itself around her necklace and-

“Here,” Trace said softly as he gently brushed her hands away and ran his fingers through her hair before she could stop him, and once he started, she didn’t want him to stop.

It felt so good, Samantha thought as she stood there, feeling herself relax with every soothing caress of his fingers through her hair as he worked her necklace fr

ee. It had been so long since someone touched her, Samantha realized even as she had to admit that she’d never been touched like this, like she was cherished. Craig had certainly never touched her like this. With Craig, it had been cold touches and the obligatory hug goodbye in the morning. When they’d made love, and she wasn’t even sure that she could call it that, it had left her feeling…alone.

It never made her feel like this, Samantha thought as she opened her eyes to find Trace watching her through beautiful green eyes as he slowly ran his fingers through her hair. When his gaze shifted to the large bruise on her temple, those beautiful eyes turned red as he gently swept her hair out of her face. His gaze softened as he traced his fingertips along her temple and said the words that made her feel safe for the first time since this whole thing started.

“I’m never going to let anything happen to you.”

Chapter 19

Devil Hills, Idaho

“As much as I had my heart set on a June wedding, I think I’d be willing to settle for something in September,” the large asshole sitting next to him said, looking thoughtful as he shoved another piece of steak in his mouth.

“We could honeymoon in Paris,” Jacob said absently, as he shifted his attention to the cart overflowing with steak dinners, Cokes, and desserts that the little brat ordered for him.

“And I could fucking kill you,” Ethan reminded him as he reached for another bag, a cold bag, of blood and stuck it to his teeth as he continued to glare at the large bastard that was clearly enjoying himself.

“This really is the best day ever,” Jacob said with a wistful sigh as Ethan sat there, ignoring the pain tearing through his bones as they slowly mended while the small woman that was going to pay for handcuffing him to a fucking shifter was in the other room, taking a bath, and singing off-key to a fucking Justin Bieber song.

“She’s fucking adorable,” the shifter said with a heartfelt sigh that was going to get him killed.

Ignoring the large bastard as he ate and sighed dreamily, Ethan forced himself to continue drinking until he felt the last broken bone snap back in place and his full-strength return. As he tossed the empty bag in the wastebasket that she’d placed next to the bed, he watched her as she walked back into the room, wearing one of his shirts and absently humming to herself as she carried the slice of apple pie that she hadn’t finished over to the shifter.

Without a word, Indie handed the plate to Jacob and made quick work of cleaning up his mess and pushing the cart outside the room. When she was done, she took the empty pie plate from the large bastard smiling like an idiot and placed it outside on the cart. Once she was done, Indie walked back into the room, double-checked to make sure that the curtains would block out all the sun in the morning before turning the TV on to one of those horrible movies from the eighties, curled up with a pillow on the other bed, and was fast asleep before the first commercial started.

Deciding that he’d wasted enough time, Ethan reached into his pocket and pulled out the small key that she really should have looked for. He unlocked his cuff, tossed the key to the asshole watching the movie and decided that he’d let this go on long enough.

*-*-*-*

She may have made a tactical error, Indie realized as she laid there, hugging the pillow tightly against her body as she squeezed her eyes shut, hoping, praying really, that the large man standing over her would quickly lose interest in her and go away.

She should have put a little more effort into finding that key, she realized with a wince when she felt the cold bite of metal wrap around her wrist with an ominous click. When she heard the second click, Indie couldn’t help but frown as she opened her eyes only to wish that she hadn’t when the very large, and very angry by the looks of it, man glaring at her through silver eyes leaned down until his mouth was next to her ear.

“The next time that I tell you to run, you had better fucking run,” Ethan whispered, his lips brushing against her ear, sending a shiver down her spine as she felt the covers pulled back and-

“What are you doing?” Indie found herself asking when he picked her up and somehow managed to throw her over his shoulder with their arms handcuffed together.