Tall, Dark & Furious (Pyte/Sentinel 6)

Then there was Jill.

He had no fucking idea what he was supposed to do with her. She was his little girl and he loved her more than anything, but he had no fucking idea how he was going to save her. She was too kind for her own good and this time…

This time that might not be enough.

“We could sneak her into town and make sure that she doesn’t leave until we figure out how to remove the mark and keep her safe until this all blows over,” Madison pleaded with him.

They were never going to be able to remove that mark. They’d tried. God had they fucking tried, but the fucking leech had figured out a way to make his mark permanent and no one could figure out how he did it. He’d made sure that every fucking leech, demon, and shifter that came within a mile of her knew who she belonged to. Logan had signed her death warrant with that mark.

Ephraim thought they could keep her safe by sending her away while they tried to figure this out, but the only thing that he did was buy them a little more time before someone scented the mark and came after her. He’d been hoping the Sentinel watching over Jill had been exaggerating, but he’d barely crossed into town when he’d scented the fucking army waiting to get their hands on his little girl. There had been demons, shifters, vampires, and minions of all the Masters that Logan had crossed over the centuries, desperate to get their hands on her.

Logan showing up had only sealed her fate.

“You know that’s not an option, not with Izzy vulnerable, and definitely not with a houseful of helpless children,” Ephraim said, reaching for her, and this time, she let him.

“I don’t want to lose her,” she said, pressing her forehead against his chest as Ephraim stood there, knowing that they already had.

*-*-*-*

“I-I can’t do it,” Kara whispered hollowly, moving to shake her head only to rethink the move as she pressed herself more tightly against the wall as she watched in terror as death came for her.

Blinking, Izzy popped another mini cupcake with extra buttercream frosting and rainbow sprinkles in her mouth as she looked from Kara, who had foolishly allowed herself to be cornered, to the small black spider coming to kill her.

“Umm, you know that you’re a shifter, right?” Izzy asked, sounding amused as she shifted her attention to the plate that Kara had been forced to abandon only moments earlier and helped herself to the Drew Special that Kara was going to need to get through this.

“K-kill it,” Kara whispered, sending the Sentinel a pleading look only to na

rrow her eyes when the Sentinel helped herself to the glass of extra chocolate milk that she’d been looking forward to.

“I would. I really would, but I’m not supposed to leave this chair,” Izzy said with a sad shake of her head before offering, “I could call Chris?”

Nervously licking her lips, Kara looked from the Sentinel that she was never going to forgive for this betrayal to the spider coming closer and found herself nodding even knowing that she was going to regret this. Popping another mini cupcake in her mouth, Izzy turned around, grabbed her cellphone off her desk and sent a text, one that would hopefully have the large annoying Sentinel grabbing every weapon in the mansion and rushing in here before it was too late.

“What’s going on?” Marc asked as he walked into the room with baby Jessica clinging to his leg and sighed when he spotted the small spider coming to kill her.

Without a word, he picked Jessica up and handed her to Izzy, who wrapped her arms around her baby girl with a warm smile as Marc, who was now her favorite person in the whole world, grabbed a tissue off the desk, leaned over, and grabbed the small spider off the floor. While Kara stood there, watching his every move, he walked into the bathroom, tossed the tissue in the toilet and flushed it before he walked back out and-

“Shut the door and lock it,” Kara whispered as her gaze shot past him, searching for the eight-legged bastard that she knew, just knew, was out to get her.

“You know you’re a shifter, right?” Marc asked, sighing heavily, but thankfully he closed the bathroom door behind him and locked it.

Sniffle. “Thank you,” Kara said as she pushed away from the wall and wrapped her trembling arms around herself.

“You’re welcome,” Marc said, chuckling as he sat down in the chair next to Izzy, picked up a game controller and quickly lost interest in them.

“Mine!” Jessica mumbled as she climbed off her mother’s lap and onto Marc’s lap with a satisfied sigh.

“Are you okay?” Izzy asked, absently finishing off the last mini cupcake as an alert drew her attention to the large computer screens lining the wall in front of her.

“No,” Kara mumbled with a sniffle because she wasn’t sure that she would ever be okay.

“Damn it,” Izzy mumbled at whatever she saw.

“Is everything okay?” Kara asked as she put a little more distance between her and that bathroom door.

“I’m not sure yet,” Izzy said, already lost in whatever was going on.

For a moment, Kara stood there, debating her next move only to decide that she really could go for another Drew Special, which meant getting off her butt and finding her mate. With a murmured, “See you later,” she got up and headed out the door, only to be forced to duck into the supply closet seconds later when she spotted the large Sentinel that loved to torment her heading towards the office.