Tall, Silent & Lethal (Pyte/Sentinel 4)

She watched as Kale swooped the smiling woman off her feet and proceeded to carry her down the stairs. About halfway down the stairs her smile faltered and her expression of pure joy quickly turned to dread.

“Ummm, maybe you should bring me back upstairs?” the woman suggested, keeping her eyes locked on the foyer as she nudged Kale several times to turn around.

“Don’t you want to see your mate?” Kale asked, his tone mocking as he glared down at the woman in his arms.

“Ummm no, that’s okay,” she said, licking her lips anxiously as she shot another nervous look down at the foyer where they all waited.

Curious, Cloe followed the other woman’s gaze and found herself taking a step closer to Christofer and thanking God that the murderous look on Chris’ face wasn’t directed at her. Since the woman wasn’t screaming for help, Cloe stayed where she was, watching the scene unfold with morbid curiosity.

“You haven’t seen him in two weeks, no doubt you’re eager for a reunion,” Kale said casually as he walked down the stairs, bringing the panic stricken woman closer and closer to her doom. Cloe listened as the woman’s heartbeat quickened with every passing second.

“I’m more tired than anything,” the woman said, adding a really loud, and really fake yawn at the end that for some reason, she couldn’t explain, had Cloe biting back a smile.

“You can take a nap afterwards,” Kale said, taking that final step down.

“But I would really like one now,” the woman insisted, swallowing nervously as she grabbed onto Kale’s shirt and held on.

“And I would really like to know why you were trying to use the stairs,” Chris said, pushing away from his father to go to the woman that Cloe was assuming was his wife or mate, or whatever the hell they called each other.

“Ummm,” the anxious woman said, obviously searching for the right words as she gave Chris a tentative smile, “because it was the quickest way to run into your arms?”

“You’re supposed to use the elevator,” Chris growled, reaching out and taking one of her hands away from Kale’s shirt so that he could press a tender kiss against her palm before he entwined their fingers.

“But I really missed you,” she said with a sniffle.

Chris muttered something as he leaned in, ignoring the shifter’s scowl and kissed her. “Little liar,” he said, chuckling as he shifted his backpack forward and carefully reached in with his still-healing arm and withdrew a small white confectioners box.

The woman gasped. “Is that-”

Chris cut her off with a frown. “It’s empty.”

Immediately her gaze shifted to Kale, who merely shrugged as he moved forward and handed her off to Ephraim. “Didn’t see your name on it,” he said, turning away and heading back up the stairs.

“You bastard!” she hissed in outrage.

“I’ll have more fudge delivered, Izzy,” Chris promised, stuffing the empty box back in the bag as leaned over and pressed a kiss to her pouting lips.

“It won’t be the same,” she muttered with a slight wince as she shifted in Ephraim’s arms.

“Hip acting up?” Chris asked, his expression and tone tender as he carefully laid his hand just above her left hip.

“It’s fine,” Izzy mumbled, not quite meeting Chris’ gaze and making the nurse in Cloe wonder just how bad her hip was.

“Izzy,” Caine said softly as he stepped up beside the small group with Danni in his arms, who was looking paler and weaker than before, “did they deliver Danni’s blood?”

“I’m fine,” Danni muttered weakly as she lay limply in Caine’s arms.

“Blood was delivered this morning. I’m not sure about the demon blood though,” Izzy said, her expression full of worry as she looked at Danni.

“What’s the demon blood for?” Cloe found herself asking without thinking and just like that, everyone’s attention was back on them.

Well, it had been nice while it lasted, she mused with an inward sigh. For the past six hours their little “rescue” group had been eying them curiously, except for Kale that is. If anything, Kale seemed to hate them even more now. She still wasn’t sure why. She also didn’t know why they kept looking at her and Christofer like they had two heads. Christofer on the other hand hadn’t seemed at all interested or looked like he cared. Once they’d told him the truth about his father, he’d shut down and hadn’t talked to anyone since.

Not even her.

When she’d tried to talk to him, he’d simply shook his head and turned his back on her. If it had been anyone else, she wouldn’t have cared, but it wasn’t anyone else and she did care, a lot more than she wanted to. As she’d watched him walk away she’d felt like he was taking a chunk of her heart along with him. It hurt more than anything she’d ever experienced before, more than she’d ever imagined it could, but it hadn’t hurt for long.

Not even a minute later, Christofer cursed, turned right back around and stalked back to her. Before she could rail at him for brushing her off, he’d had her in his arms and was giving her the sweetest kiss as he whispered to her how sorry he was. Much to her shame, she’d melted, instantly forgiving him. She’d never given a guy that pissed her off or hurt her in any way a second chance before, but with him, she hadn’t hesitated for a second before she was wrapping her arms around him and letting him know that everything was going to be fine.

However, she did make him carry her on his back during that ten-mile hike to the next town as punishment. He hadn’t said another word since and she hadn’t pushed him for anything and neither had anyone else. They seemed to understand that he was dealing with some personal issues and had left him alone for the most part. The only time they’d bothered him was to make sure that coming with them was what he wanted. Other than a nod, he hadn’t acknowledged them at all.

Now, thanks to her big mouth, they were once again the focus of attention and judging by the way that Christofer had stilled behind her, he wasn’t happy about it.

“You must be Cloe,” Izzy said with a sweet smile. “I’m Izzy, Chris’ mate.”

“And the biggest sugar addict that you’ll ever meet,” Ephraim said with a fond smile as he looked down at the small woman in his arms.

“It’s nice to meet you,” she said quickly, barely paying attention to the woman as her attention locked back on Danni, who was now gripping Caine’s shirt tightly as she buried her face against his chest. “Do you want me to take a look at her?” she asked, moving forward.