Tall, Dark & Heartless (Pyte/Sentinel 3)

Marc struggled to bite back a smile as he did just that. When he was only a few feet away the smile broke loose and he threw himself into Ephraim's arms. He hugged his son tightly against him, needing this more than anything.

"Can you watch a movie with me, Dad?" Marc asked, trying not to sound too eager as he pulled back to watch Ephraim's expression, he waited patiently for his answer.

Ephraim knew that if he told his son no and explained that he was exhausted that Marc would understand and accept his answer without any complaint and that just about broke Ephraim. Marc was a mature, considerate kid and sometimes it killed him knowing that he'd robbed his son of a decent childhood. Marc should be a typical kid, playing with friends, going outside and getting into trouble, but thanks to him he couldn't have that life.

"Of course," he said, smiling as he put his son down and ignored how exhausted he was. He needed a shower, blood and to hold his wife, but his son needed him and he'd be damned if he failed another child.

"Great!" Marc said excitedly. "You can even pick the movie, Dad."

Ephraim chuckled as he shook his head. "You can pick the movie, little man."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. Just let me go check on your brother first," he said, knowing that he wouldn't be able to relax until he made sure that Joshua was okay. It didn't matter that he would have been alerted to any changes in his son's behavior or situation, he needed to see him with his own eyes and make sure that he was okay.

"Okay, I'll come too," Marc said with a firm nod, putting on a brave front as he keyed in the security code for the elevators.

"You don't have to, Marc. Go on upstairs and I'll be there in a few minutes," he said, biting back a yawn.

Marc threw a wistful look over his shoulder at the grand staircase before slowly shaking his head. "No, I'll come, too."

"Okay," Ephraim said, smiling down at his son as they stepped into the elevator.

"Hold the elevator!" he heard one of his favorite women yell.

With a chuckle, he reached out and stopped the elevator door from shutting. He watched his daughter-in-law half jog/half waddle towards the elevator. She laid one hand on her large stomach and balanced a large white frosted cake on an oversized tan plate on the other.

"Thanks, Daddy," she said with a sweet smile as she hurried past him so that she could lean her back against the elevator wall and catch her breath.

"You're welcome, Izzy," he said with real warmth.

He'd known her for less than a year, but she was definitely one of his little girls. Having her in his life helped make up for the loss he experienced years ago when they lost their little girl, but that wasn't the only reason he loved her. It was hard not to love Izzy. She was sweet, funny and very kind, something that would normally be a problem for a Sentinel and if she patrolled every night with her mate he'd be genuinely concerned for her, but thankfully she liked it in the tech room so he didn't have to worry.

Much.

Her friendship with the Alpha and the vampire that he was probably going to have to kill was a different story altogether. He knew that she hadn't been raised in this world so he couldn't get pissed off at her for befriending what should be enemies for this family. Well, he could get pissed at her. In the beginning he wanted to kill the vampire and the shifter with his bare hands, but the damn woman and that trembling lip of hers did him in. She was a manipulative little thing, he thought with a smile as he watched her pull out two forks and hand one over to Marc.

Without a word, the two began to dig into the cake as he expanded his hearing and focused on his unborn grandson she was carrying and couldn't help but laugh. Seems his grandson was going to have a bit of a sweet tooth if the excited moves were any indication.

"It's not funny," Izzy muttered, practically pouting as she handed the cake over to Marc. He was only too happy to help her out so that she could place a hand on her stomach.

"Of course not," he murmured, biting back a smile as he reached over and laid his hand on her stomach and gently rubbed.

He didn't have to be able to hear to know the baby calmed down. Izzy's sigh of relief as she snatched back the cake was more than telling. Marc simply followed the cake's departure with his fork and continued, probably more than used to dealing with the erratic behavior of pregnant women by this point.

When he went to move his hand away she of course pouted adorably so with a resigned sigh he leaned back and continued to rub her stomach, careful of the cake plate, so that his grandson would stay calm and allow his mother to eat. The poor thing seemed to be hungry all the time now, which wasn't exactly shocking since she was a Sentinel and their pregnancies only lasted for four and half months. It didn't matter if they were carrying a human child or a Sentinel child. The mother's chemistry sped up the process, which was probably meant to get the mothers back in fighting form sooner. The pregnancies put a lot of demands on Sentinel females, but this one seemed to be putting his mother through hell more than the last one had.

He didn't need an ultrasound to know that this baby was going to be big. He could tell by the changes in sound and scent that the baby was going to be a big boy. Izzy was going to have a hell of a time bringing this child into the world and unfortunately for her, the Sentinels had yet to find an effective pain killer for childbirth. They could give her morphine, but they'd have to triple the dose in order to slightly numb the pain and her baby, a human, wouldn't survive it.

"Why are we stopping on the first sublevel?" Marc asked, shooting a nervous look towards the elevator doors as he moved in front of Izzy, putting himself between the woman he considered his big sister and whatever person was able to override the security elevator. Considering what happened a few months ago he couldn't blame the boy. Pride filled Ephraim, his boy was already turning into a good man, one of the very few good things to come out of this situation. He moved in front of his children as he allowed his teeth to shift down and prepared himself for the worst.

"It's probably just Kale," Izzy said around what sounded like a huge bite of cake. He caught the shifter's scent and a split second later he caught the scent of his son's fear. Ephraim considered ripping the bastard apart for the hell he put his son through, but he owed the man so until he f**ked up and made a move against his family the shifter could live.

"How do you know it's him?" Marc asked, trying to sound brave, but Ephraim caught the slight tremor in his voice and considered beating the shit out of the shifter anyway.