Tall, Dark & Heartless (Pyte/Sentinel 3)

When she struck, she struck hard. There was no pleasure in this bite, only pain and agony as her teeth sliced through his neck. He forced himself to remain still even as he squeezed his eyes shut and ground his jaw against the pain.

She needed this, needed him and he would take care of her, always. He couldn't stand to see her hurt and surprisingly it had very little to do with their mating.

"Take what you need, Danni," he said, hoping Jax was carrying a gun with him because if she continued drinking at this rate he'd go into bloodlust.

He blew out a breath of relief when she slowed down. Minutes later she pulled away and he knew that his Danni was back. He opened his eyes and looked up at her and felt his heart break.

She looked so damn frightened as she looked around. Her beautiful violet eyes filled with tears as she looked down at his neck and when they moved to look down at herself she trembled. He knew that she was remembering being shot. That memory would probably never leave her.

He felt his neck heal as he reached out to comfort her, but Danni wasn't having that. She quickly moved off of him and backed away, but she didn't get far before her eyes fixed on the dead human.

"Look away," he said, sitting up and moving towards her.

"What the hell did I do?" she said quietly, her voice breaking.

"You didn't do anything, Danni. I did that," he said, moving to pull her in his arms only to be pushed away.

"Don't lie to me, Caine! I can smell his scent on me," she said around a choked sob as she stood up, wrapping her arms around herself. She backed away from the body, her eyes never leaving the man's vacant face.

He stood up and cupped her face and this time when she tried to back away he refused to let her go. He forced her to look at him and away from the body. "Listen to me, Danni. I know you're confused and scared, but we need to go."

When she didn't say anything he snapped at her, "Danni!"

She looked away from him as she reached up and pushed his hands away and after a slight hesitation he let her. He nearly sighed in relief as she turned her back on the body and nodded woodenly. "Then let's go."

He gave her back a gentle nudge in the direction of the pack's camp. Thankfully she moved without an argument. As they walked through the woods for the first time since he was a human he felt awkward. She was upset and he had no idea what to say or do. When she still didn't say anything after a few minutes he sighed and reached out to put his arm around her only to have her shake her head.

"Just leave me alone, Caine."

It frightened him a little to realize that was no longer an option for him.

Chapter 28

"You don't need to chain her," Caine bit out as the Alpha moved towards her.

Jax snorted out his disbelief. "Not even thirty minutes ago she was in bloodlust and going nuts. If you want a ride then she's going to be chained, Pyte," he practically snarled as he continued to move towards her only to be cut off when Caine stepped in front of her.

"You're not chaining her up," he said softly, but the threat was clear. If she wasn't so shaken up after what she'd just experienced that she probably would have rolled her eyes, shoved Caine out of the way and told Jax to shove the chains up his ass, but she was emotionally drained.

She needed to leave. She needed to put distance between herself and the memory of seeing that body, of being shot, and being shoved into a black oblivion where all she knew was pain and agony. She wanted out of here and she was afraid that if they didn't leave soon that she would break down and lose it and she was afraid that if she did that there would be no going back.

"It's fine," she said hollowly as she stepped past Caine and held her hands out.

"Danni, you don't need to do this," Caine said tightly.

She shook her head. "No, it's fine. I understand. Let's just get out of here," she muttered as she struggled to keep it together.

Jax's brows pulled together as he studied her. After a moment he shook his head. "Just handle her if she loses it again," he said with a tired sigh. He dropped the set of heavy duty chains in a five gallon bucket in the back of his navy blue work van. The van reminded her of the vans the Sentinels used when they needed to get in and out of an area without drawing attention.

"Get in," Jax said with a nod before he walked over to his pack, who were watching them cautiously from a safe distance away. No doubt they weren't happy about traveling with the crazed Pyte, she mused absently as she climbed into the back of the van and sat down in the corner behind the driver's seat. She pulled her knees to her chest, thankful for the clothes one of the women had given her when they made it back to the campsite.

She caught the scent of her blood mixed with the human's and nearly gagged. Caine had washed her in the lake before they returned to the camp. While the lake water did a good job of rinsing off the blood and gore left on her body, it did very little to wash away the scent of what happened. If that wasn't enough to remind her of what happened than her sore stomach was. Thankfully it was healed, but it was still tender where she was shot. Her back was also sore where her spine had regenerated. It was yet another reminder of the monster that she was and what she was capable of doing.

Never in her life had she'd felt so scared or lost. She wanted to hide, scream, run, anything to escape. When she was a little girl she would have simply hunted Caine down and crawled onto his lap, but she couldn't do that now, couldn't cling to him as he soothed her. She couldn't-

"Come here," Caine said, startling her as he sat down next to her and picked her up before she could react. He placed her sideways on his lap as he shifted over to take the spot she'd just vacated. Once she was in his arms she found that she didn't want to refuse him. As much as she hated to admit it, she needed him too much at the moment.

She curled up in his arms and laid her head against his chest as he held her, taking the comfort he offered as she closed her eyes and focused on the way he soothingly rubbed her back. It was foolish to allow him to comfort her, to allow herself to believe that he really cared about her, but she didn't care. Right now he made her feel loved and protected when she felt like her whole world was falling apart.

When some of the pack members climbed into the van she turned her face against Caine's chest, refusing to see the looks of disgust and fear on their faces. She'd lost control and brutally killed a man, an innocent man who hadn't deserved it. She realized that if Caine hadn't changed her she would still be dying in that cell and the man would still be alive.

"Shhhh, Danni, it's okay," Caine said softly as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "It's okay, baby," he whispered, holding her tightly against him.