Tall, Dark & Heartless (Pyte/Sentinel 3)

It was time to go home, she thought as she simply nodded and walked out of the room, ignoring her father and brothers as they asked her to come back. There was nothing to talk about as far as she was concerned. She walked down the large hallway, taking several deep breaths and resisting the urge to give into the tears and feel sorry for herself. No matter what they thought, she wasn't that girl anymore and never would be again.

Chapter 38

"What the hell is wrong with her?" Jax whispered as he stuffed another white powered donut in his mouth.

"If I knew-" Caine began tightly only to be reminded when his mate let out a pained cry to lower his damn voice or risk her scaring the hell out of him again by passing out. Since it was something he'd rather not experience any time soon he dropped his voice down to a whisper. "If I knew what the hell was wrong with her I wouldn't have asked for your help, ass**le!" he softly hissed out.

"Good point," Jax whispered with a nod as he shoved another donut in his mouth.

A whimper drew their attention back to the na**d woman currently curled up in the fetal position with a pillow pulled down on her head. Since she hadn't been able to do much more than whimper and groan since she gained consciousness, he assumed the pillow was meant to block out all the sounds and probably the light as well. He couldn't figure out why she was reverting back to the point when she woke up after he changed her. Her senses should be somewhat under control by now. They shouldn't be bothering her and they sure as hell shouldn't have been so bad that they caused her to pass out.

He had a vague recollection of what he went through when he first woke up to the changes and he couldn't remember it being this bad that he couldn't move without agonizing pain and he sure as hell didn't black out because of it. This wasn't right. She shouldn't be suffering.

"I thought Pytes healed quickly," Jax said as he reached for the second box of donuts he left on the nightstand.

Caine considered telling the shifter to take his food and get the f**k out, but he needed him and unfortunately for him, the shifter needed to eat a shitload of food after a shift. He forced himself to focus back on the woman curled up in the middle of the bed and felt his stomach twist. His mate was suffering and he didn't know how the hell to stop it.

He reached out to give her thigh a comforting rub only to cause Danni to let out a blood curdling scream that had him yanking his hand back and his heart thundering against his chest as realization dawned on him.

She'd been poisoned.

"What the f**k!" Jax roared seconds later when Caine had him by the throat and slammed him against the wall, cracking the drywall. Large chunks fell among the debris as Caine pulled him forward so that he could slam the man against the wall, again. This time he sent the shifter through the wall and into the large bathroom.

With a growl, he followed after the shifter as Jax's eyes flashed silver in warning. He was with an Alpha and the man held his strength in human form. He could also change at will, but Caine didn't give a rat's ass at the moment. He'd happily kick the shit out of him as a man or as Fido, he didn't care which at the moment. His mate couldn't tolerate sound, light or touch, all her senses were f**ked up and for a Pyte that meant poison.

"Back off, Caine," Jax said in a voice that was more of a growl as his long fangs slowly slid down, ready to tear Caine's throat out.

"You poisoned my mate, ass**le," Caine said as he went after the man seconds from shifting into a large beast.

Instead of shifting, Jax stilled. "How the f**k did I poison her, you ass**le? I wasn't even here when this started!" he snapped, sounding truly pissed.

"You gave us the blood!" he roared, feeling his fangs grow impossibly longer as he truly considered tearing apart one of his oldest friends.

"You were there when the order came in, Caine," Jax ground out. "Besides that you would have scented it!"

Not everything, Caine reminded himself as a low vicious growl escaped his lips.

"I didn't poison the blood, Pyte," Jax snapped as he shoved Caine into the wall and held him there. "Now calm the f**k down so that we can figure this out and help her!"

"I am calm!" he shouted as the fact that Danni wasn't crying out in pain registered in his mind. "Son of a bitch!" He shoved the Alpha away, stormed through the open doorway and headed to the bed only to find Danni right where he left her except for one very important thing.

Danni wasn't breathing.

"I don't hear a heartbeat," Jax said, sounding close to panicking as he came up behind him and for good reason.

If Caine lost Danni he would tear this f**king world apart and everyone in it.

"She's a f**king Pyte. I can smell it on her so why the f**k isn't her heart beating?" Jax muttered nervously as he crawled onto the bed and pulled Danni onto her back, exposing his mate's body.

"Don't. Touch. Her," he bit out through clenched teeth as he shoved the shifter away from her and scooped her up in his arms.

"Caine," Jax said, holding up his hands in front of him in a placating manner as he slowly came towards him, "I'm trying to help her, but I can't do that unless you let me look at her."

His breath sped up and his heart thundered in his chest as he looked down at the woman in his arms that appeared to be dead, but she couldn't be. He'd changed her and knew that she'd turned. She had fangs for f**k's sake! He could smell the change on her even now.

She couldn't die on him. She was just hurt, he told himself. As soon as he figured it out he'd make this okay and take care of her like always. He'd fix this, he promised her as he kissed her cool forehead.

"Caine, I need you to stay in control while we figure this out," Jax said calmly as he pulled a cell phone from his pants pocket.

"Who are you calling?" he asked in a guttural tone, never taking his eyes off his beautiful mate.

"I'm calling Ethan. If anyone would know what's wrong with her it's him," Jax said absently as he dialed.

The Alpha's friendship with the vampire always confused him, especially given the vampire's tendency to slaughter shifters. Then again the man did have a reason. Over four centuries ago his son, a sixteen year old Pyte who hadn't yet made his transition, was kidnapped and God only knows what else by a pack up in Maine.

Personally, Caine thought the pack probably tore the kid apart to make sure that he didn't reach his maturity, but the vampire wouldn't hear it. He was hell-bent on finding his son and had no qualms with killing anyone that stood in his way, something that Caine actually respected about the cold bastard.