Tall, Dark & Heartless (Pyte/Sentinel 3)

"I can't believe you've forgotten everything I've taught you," he bit out coldly, glaring at her now through the fiery red eyes that everyone else feared, but she always thought were cool, even when they flashed red because he was pissed, kind of like now. "You should have never allowed yourself to be captured."

"I don't know if you've noticed, but I didn't exactly have much of a choice in the matter," she noted dryly as she eyed the camera placed high on the ceiling and no doubt out of reach of Caine. She shot a look back over to Caine to find him still glaring at her as if this was somehow all her fault. Ignoring him the way she'd done for years now, she dropped her eyes to the heavy metal cuff around his ankle and followed it to the wall where it disappeared behind what was obviously a fresh tile job.

No doubt whoever had overseen this project had been forced to do some last minute renovations for this little plan. She idly wondered what they placed behind the wall to keep him from breaking free. Of course, she also wondered where that spiral Celtic tattoo that ran down the right side of Caine's stomach and under the grey boxer briefs he was wearing ended.

When he growled a low warning at her obvious attention, she simply shrugged as if it were no big deal. She turned her attention to her own leg bracelet, noting the thickness and the material that wouldn't be easily removed. It would probably fry her ass if she tried to take it off or tamper with it in any way. Her eyes dropped to the thick black wire that ran from the bottom of the electrode to the wall behind her.

Her only hope was to find something to cut through the long, thick wire, just enough to sever the wires inside and keep it attached to her bracelet. When she made her move she didn't want them to know they couldn't control her. The problem was there didn't seem to be anything in here that she could use to cut the wire.

There was a mattress, a sheet, a shower, toilet and a pile of what appeared to be basic toiletries, but no stall or curtain. That last item caught her attention. She wondered if there was anything she could use to make into a weapon. She walked over to the shower area on shaky legs and decided that a hot shower wouldn't exactly hurt at the moment. She knew someone had wiped her down, but that knowledge only made her feel dirtier. She didn't like to think about being unconscious and vulnerable, especially with Greg in the room.

No matter how hard she tried, she could never get comfortable with him. While his kisses were pleasant enough, they were nothing to write home about. The thought of getting na**d for him always left her feeling cold and uncomfortable. Even though he never pushed for anything physical, and now she knew why, she thought dryly, she'd known without a doubt that she would have ended things sooner if he had.

When she'd walked out the back entrance of the all night diner their group had hit after their patrol so she could have privacy making a phone call, she hadn't expected to find Greg screwing their waitress against the wall. It had been both a relief and an insult to her. She was relieved because she had a decent enough reason to dump him rather than feeling foolish because of her hang-ups, but she'd also been insulted that he'd never even tried anything with her. She knew it was ridiculous to feel that way over a man she never wanted to sleep with, but it had still hurt.

Something occurred to her, actually it had occurred to her about thirty seconds after she found Greg balls deep in the waitress, but she'd been a little too pissed at the moment to ask and she knew Caine would just pretend that he hadn't heard her or knew she existed if she'd approached him that night, but maybe under the current circumstances he might answer her.

"That night when I walked into the alley and caught Greg with the waitress," she began as she ran her eyes over the collection of toiletries placed in a cheap plastic basket, "you knew what I was going to walk in on, didn't you?" she said, remembering the unnerving way that Caine had watched her from his spot at the back of the diner as she made her way towards the back hallway.

"Yes," he said with absolutely no hesitation, surprising the hell out of her. She really hadn't expected him to answer her.

She looked up to find him still sitting in the same spot, but he had his head tilted back and his eyes closed, appearing as though he were trying to rest, but she prayed he was figuring out a way to get them the hell out of here.

"Did you know he was screwing around on me?" she asked, part of her hoping the answer was no. She didn't like to think that Caine stopped caring about her completely. Some part of her hoped that he still cared enough to try and protect her when he could.

"Yes, I knew he'd been f**king anything that moved from the beginning," he said in a bored tone.

"Then why didn't you-"

He cut her off. "Because I didn't care, Danni. It had nothing to do with me. Besides I warned you years ago to stay the hell away from him and you decided to ignore my advice."

"So I got what I deserved?" she snapped, immediately regretting letting him know that his indifference to her actually hurt.

"Pretty much." He shrugged not even bothering to look at her.

"Wow, you're an ass**le," she said, laughing softly without humor.

"Never said I wasn't."

She turned her back on him, afraid she'd do something stupid like cry or scream and demand that he tell her what she did to make him hate her so much. Instead she turned her attention to the shower. With jerky movements she turned the shower on, making it as hot as it would go. She stripped off her shirt, hoping to ease the ache in her muscles and calm herself down before she did or said something stupid that she couldn't take back.

Her eyes shot down to the bracelet around her ankle. Was it waterproof? she idly wondered. Not that it really mattered, she decided with a shrug.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Caine suddenly demanded.

"What does it look like?" she said, not caring that he could see her. Right now she had bigger problems than worry about her modesty, at least not while the cameras were still working.

She'd have to see if she could do something about that. It would cost her, but even five minutes with the cameras down might just be enough for them to figure a way the hell out of here before it was too late.

Chapter 6

"Stop being such a big baby. It's not like you haven't seen me na**d before," Danni pointed out.

"When you were a small child, Danni," Caine bit out, keeping his eyes averted. He focused on the small mattress, the thick corded wire that trailed across the room after her, his chain, his feet, the ceiling, anything so he didn't have to look at Danni.