Without Regret (Pyte/Sentinel 2)

After one last squeeze he put the little boy down.

Joshua butted fists with the little boy before putting his arm around Marc’s shoulders.

“Did you hear what happened, Uncle Eric?” he asked excitedly, shifting from foot to foot.

“I sure did, buddy,” Eric said, kneeling to put himself at eye level with the little boy. “And I’m very sorry that you had to leave your home,” he said, sorrier than he could ever express. He’d wanted Marc and his brothers to have a safe, happy childhood and in one night that hope had been destroyed.

“It’s okay,” Marc mumbled. “I just wish Grandma came with us.”

He did too. The damn woman was too damn stubborn for her own good and refused to leave the family home no matter how many times any of them explained to her that her family could never return there. It was too dangerous now that Marc’s existence had been discovered and there wasn’t a doubt in his mind about that since the attack had been focused on the little boy.

They were all beyond lucky that Chris had taught the boy how to defend himself. If he hadn’t…….

He didn’t even want to think of what could have happened if Marc hadn’t fought the attack off. His eyes strayed to the dark angry scab lines that marred the little boy’s neck and he had to force himself to calm the hell down before he scared the little boy. Marc didn’t need to know how angry or frightened he was that this happened.

“Mom said we’d meet Grandma for vacations at Disneyworld and stuff, but I’d rather have Grandma with me every day,” Marc mumbled as he looked down at his sneakers and Eric wished he could fix it, but Mrs.

Buckman had made it very clear that she was not letting some shifter run her out of her home. He suspected that it had more to do with her age and not wanting to hold back her family, but she’d never admit that.

“It will be fine, Marc. We’ll find a new home, maybe travel, it will be great,” Joshua said, putting on a smile for his little brother when they both knew they wouldn’t be traveling anywhere for quite some time or finding a new home, at least not with this war going on.

“I miss Chris. When is he coming back?” Marc asked and Eric wasn’t surprised. Chris was the boy’s best friend.

It was just another reminder of how foolish Chris was acting. He didn’t know the reasons behind it, but he wasn’t going to allow Chris to f**k up and ruin his life.

After everything Chris had gone through he deserved a little happiness. Now if he could just figure out a way to make sure that he got it without every Sentinel on earth paying the price that would be great.

“Joshua and I have to go do something. Can you go back to your mom and sister and look after them, please?”

Marc opened his mouth to argue when the shouting started.

“MARC CHRISTOPER WILLIAMS, you get your behind up here right now!”

Everyone in the large foyer stilled as all eyes landed on the red faced little boy who was doing his best to sneak past his brother and probably go hide, but it was pointless since his mother could hunt him down in matter of seconds.

“You weren’t supposed to leave the apartment, were you?” Joshua asked, smirking as grabbed his brother by the arm and turned him around, giving him a gentle shove in the direction of his doom.

Marc noticeably swallowed as he headed towards the back staircase. “Yeah, and I may have accidentally eaten all her chocolate,” the boy admitted, making them both wince.

“Tell your mother I’m sending out for more and whatever else she needs,” Eric said, making a mental note to do that quickly.

The last thing any of them needed was a pregnant Pyte in need of a chocolate fix. He sure as hell wouldn’t survive having her here unless she had an unlimited supply of chocolate. He still remembered when she was pregnant with Marc and he stopped by to check on her and Chris. How she guilted him into making a three am drive to the Wal-Mart an hour away during a snowstorm he would never know, but it had been better than sitting there listening to her describe all her pregnancy complications in detail.

Marc nodded solemnly as he started up the stairs.

“Please double the order.”

They chuckled as they stepped into the elevator. When the doors opened at the detention level all humor died as they took in the empty cells.

“Where is she?” Joshua demanded.

Eric was wondering the same thing as his eyes moved to a cell that sure as hell shouldn’t be empty. As much as he’d hated to stick a kid, a Sentinel kid for that matter, in a cell, he hadn’t had much choice.

When the kid arrived here a week ago from California he’d been combative and angry as hell. He’d been admittedly impressed with the kid. He hadn’t seen a kid with that much backbone or attitude since he met Chris, but Chris had never attacked his men and sent five of them to the infirmary thank god.

This kid had a bad attitude and hated the world, but he had so much f**king potential. As much as he wished he didn’t have to send the boy to the Council for review, he did. He might be young, but he was also a criminal.

He just hoped they were able to rehabilitate him otherwise he’d have to share Isabella’s fate and live out his life on an island. It was a f**king waste on both counts.

“No!” they heard Isabella cry from the direction of the bunkroom. It was the room Sentinels used when they took their turns watching over prisoners.

As he ran down the hall he prayed the little bastard hadn’t hurt her otherwise he’d have no choice, but to kill him. He was barely five feet into the bunkroom when he came to a skidding stop as he tried to make sense of the scene before him. Joshua barely managed to avoid slamming into his back, which at the moment he appreciated.

“What the hell…..,” Joshua murmured, voicing his thoughts exactly.

Izzy stopped doing her weird little, was that a victory dance? Judging by the gloat on her face and way she was jumping up and down while hugging the video game controller to her chest he would have to go with that. His eyes shot to the widescreen television and noted the insanely high score that he would have to take as a personal challenge to beat one day and back to Isabella who was making the boy that took ten Sentinels to cuff laugh.

“I could beat that score you know,” Joshua murmured next to him.

He ignored Joshua’s obvious bullshit, because he’d seen the man play and moved into the room. Instantly the kid stopped laughing when he spotted them. In one swift move he was on his feet, shoving Isabella behind him and blocking her from their view. The kid’s eyes narrowed on them slightly and he knew he was going to have to bring the kid down before he hurt someone.