Tall, Dark & Heartless (Pyte/Sentinel 3)

"Caine," she said, trying her best to ignore the delicious scents he was giving off. Her stomach growled viciously as it tightened with need. She wasn't sure what she wanted to do with him more, trace his tattoo with her tongue as she sank her fangs into him or throw him to the ground and have her naughty way with him before she sank her fangs into him, but she knew that she had to resist the urge to do both. If they didn't get out of here soon she was very much afraid that she was going to experience all those horror stories Caine shared with her years ago firsthand and she really didn't feel like having her arms and legs cut off.

"We're leaving," he said the same time she heard the sound of a car door opening.

"Good, the faster we get the hell out of here the faster-"

"I can f**k you into oblivion," Caine said, cutting her off and making her need for him all that much worse. She nearly whimpered since she knew that there was no way in hell that she was going to let him touch her.

Chapter 20

Boston Compound

"Do you like that?" he asked as he ran the tip of his tongue through her slit.

"Yes!" she practically shouted, making him chuckle, but not really caring. As long as he kept doing that delicious little flick thingie with his tongue she would let him live, but the second, the very second that he stopped she was going to throttle him.

He stopped.

Isabella sat up, fully prepared to kill her mate when Chris shot her that killer grin of his and a wink before he moved his head back between her parted legs and suckled her cl*t between his lips. With a loud moan of ecstasy, Isabella slumped back against the wall of her work station as she generously opened her legs wider over the edge of her desk and allowed her mate to distract himself from the stress from the latest problem and everything else that was weighing down on his wide shoulders.

Between Joshua and the rest of his family, training, patrols and taking care of her and Jessica he was stretching himself too thin. He was stressed, but he was doing his damndest to hide it and to protect her from experiencing any stress of her own. Once again he was trying to be everything for everyone and it was slowly tearing him apart. He thought that she didn't know.

She knew.

"Chris, I need to talk to you about the new silver point bullets that you ordered," the hesitant voice said from the other side of her locked office door, making her whimper and pout and Chris curse up a storm as he stood up.

"One second!" he yelled as he leaned forward, slapping his hands on the table on either side of her h*ps and leaned in. "I'll be right back," he said, giving her a sweet kiss before he pulled back and walked out of the room, probably to kill the poor Sentinel with bad timing and leaving her alone with her thoughts as she slumped back against the wall. He sent her a wink before he stepped out of the office and closed the door behind him.

She knew that he hated the fact that their baby girl had never breathed fresh air or enjoyed the sun on her skin, that she couldn't go outside and neither could Isabella for that matter. As difficult as it was being locked up inside the compound every day, and it was horrible, some days she thought she'd go crazy if she didn't step outside for even a minute, she knew that it worse for Chris.

He felt helpless in so many ways and it was killing him. For a man like Chris this was hell. She knew that he would give anything for the two of them to be able to take Jessica out for a stroll like a normal family, to take away his father's guilt and the personal hell Joshua was going through, but he couldn't. He might be a Sentinel, but in many ways he was still just a man who was taking on way too much.

The fact that he cared so deeply and unconditionally for his family only made her love him more. There was still a war going on and he would do anything to stop it to ensure their safety, which was why he was taking on way too much. When he wasn't training he was patrolling and when he wasn't doing that he was making it his personal mission to take care of everyone except himself. She couldn't even remember the last time he got a full night of sleep and with Madison's babies due any day now she knew the possibility of that happening anytime soon were pretty much nonexistent. He was going to take on one more responsibility and do everything he could to lighten his father and best friend's load and she couldn't let that happen.

At least not the way things were going. As long as they stayed at the compound he was going to make everything his sole responsibility. Instead of allowing the Manhattan compound to take over since the missing Pyte and human belonged to them, Chris took over and wasn't backing down. No one was foolish enough to try and stop him. He might be young in Sentinel years, but Chris had already made a name for himself as someone not to piss off and it didn't hurt that he had the Council's backing.

Eric hadn't said anything yet, but she knew that the Council was considering promoting Chris up the ranks once again. He was already the regional trainer for New England, a position that normally went to a Sentinel with at least one century of experience under his belt and the next step up would be a Lieutenant. Not that he cared, he really didn't. Her man didn't care about titles or bullshit as he liked to call them. All he cared about was getting the job done and protecting his family, which was why he was trying to singlehandedly stop this war.

It didn't matter that most of the Masters, demons and shifters believed that she was dead, there were still enough of them out there that believed that she was alive and would stop at nothing to get their hands on her and her program, Tattletale. As long as the war continued they were not safe and that meant they had to continue to stay at this compound and live a life of seclusion. It also meant that their lives were in danger and that was what kept her mate up most nights pacing the floor while he held their sleeping daughter in his arms.

As his mate it was her job to fix this problem and of course run like hell when he found out because there was no doubt in her mind that once he caught up with her that he was going to spank her ass until it was black and blue and the thought of even sitting pained her, but it would be worth it. If she could lighten his load, and she knew she could, then she owed it to him to go through with her asinine plan and take away at least half of his stress.

She'd worry about her ass later.

Right now she had to figure out a way to put her plan into action without him finding out. Madison was already on board with this plan. Actually, Madison may have cried a little hysterically when Isabella shared her plan with her and she wasn't sure at first if she was against the plan until she started vigorously nodding while she sobbed uncontrollably. Thankfully the very pregnant hormonal Pyte was easily calmed with chocolate so they were able to sit down and come up with a foolproof plan.