“Run!” Ephraim roared just as Christofer stepped out of the woods and into the small clearing by the road.
Yup, he definitely regretted leaving Danni’s hand free, he mused as he reached out and grabbed Cloe by the arm to steady her as she stumbled out of the woods.
“Thanks,” Cloe murmured absently, her attention on the large pair of boxers that she was once again forced to yank up or risk giving little woodland creatures a show. Once she had the boxers yanked up and the large tee shirt that he’d given her pulled down, she looked up and frowned.
“What…..,” she paused to lick her lips and give her head a little shake as though that would somehow help her make sense of the scene before them, “Why is Danni playing tug of war with that man?”
“Because she apparently went into bloodlust,” he said, sighing heavily as he watched Danni try to drag the human male kicking and screaming back while Caine tried to pull her away. The fact that his left arm was cuffed to her and his right arm was cuffed to Ephraim, who had positioned himself in front of Chris, was making things a bit awkward.
“That’s what I look like when I go into bloodlust?” Cloe asked with a frown as she watched Danni trying to drag the human back with one hand, but from the looks of things, the human was winning.
“No,” he said, pausing to press a small kiss against her lips before he headed over to the group screaming for Danni to let go, “you would have torn that poor bastard apart by now.”
“Well, that’s comforting,” Cloe said dryly as she followed after him.
“I’m sure it is,” he returned as he walked around the group struggling to get Danni under control and protect Chris. Without pausing, he grabbed the screaming male by the arm, yanked him out of Danni’s grip and dragged him over to the screaming female by the woods.
“Go,” he simply said as he released his hold on the male and sent the couple running for their lives.
“Oh, shit!” Chris yelped, dragging his attention back to the group and to the woman now trying to climb over her mate and Ephraim to get to Chris, who was now pressed back against the pain in the ass shifter. Kale struggled against his chains as he yelled at Danni to stop.
That was interesting….
But something that he was going to have to worry about at another time since Cloe had taken it upon herself to help out. With a muttered curse, he walked over to the group, grabbed Cloe just as Danni snarled a warning to get the hell out of her way. With a sigh, he threw Cloe over his shoulder and carried her over to the van and put her down with another swift kiss, simply because he couldn’t help himself.
“See if any of the blood is still cold,” he said abruptly as he turned to-
“Mother f**ker!” Chris shouted as Danni somehow managed to squirm her way between Ephraim and Caine and sank her teeth in Chris’ broken arm.
Sighing, he walked back to the group, leaned over Chris and pinched Danni’s nose closed. He ignored everything around him and just focused on the stubborn woman refusing to release her hold on the Sentinel reciting every swear imaginable. Shimmering red eyes shifted to him and narrowed as she released what she probably thought was a vicious growl, but really, it was just too damn cute to be taken seriously.
She didn’t need air to live, but without it, swallowing that sweet blood that was now permeating the air became damn near impossible. It took her a good minute to realize that she had to let go and when she did, he was ready. With a snarl, she released her hold on Chris and went for him. Before anyone could react, he had her on her stomach and was pinning her down with his knee.
“Don’t f**king hurt her!” Caine roared, reaching for him, but Ephraim grabbed him by the arm and held him back before he could do anything to make Christofer lose his hold on Danni.
“Relax,” he said to no one in particular as he reached down, grabbed Danni and Caine by their wrists and yanked, breaking the small chain connecting their handcuffs. As soon as her hand was free she began thrashing beneath him, desperate to get free, desperate for blood.
“Any of that blood cold, mein Schatz?” he asked, keeping just enough pressure on Danni’s back to keep her down.
She really was a weak little thing, he thought with a frown as he reached over and broke Caine’s other cuff, deciding that it would probably keep the other man from going into bloodlust if he could hold his mate. The second that Caine’s chain broke he was by Danni’s side, holding her hand and calmly promising to put her over his knee and spanking her ass until it was black and blue for scaring the shit out of him.
“This cooler is still cold,” Cloe said, dragging the large cooler over to him. He opened his mouth to tell her that she could probably lift that thing with one hand, but decided against it since it would probably lead to more of her “experimenting.”
He shifted his attention from his mate’s long, tanned legs to Caine. “Think you can get her to eat if I flip her over?”
“Yes,” Caine answered hoarsely, reluctantly releasing his mate’s hand.
Within seconds, he had the growling, snarling woman on her back, her hands pinned to her stomach with one arm and was reaching with the other for Ephraim’s chain, deciding that an extra set of hands couldn’t hurt. With a flick of his fingers he broke the chain. Ephraim didn’t waste any time. He moved until he was sitting behind Danni and then just as quickly, propped the pissed off woman’s head on his lap so that Caine could feed her. He watched as the Pyte bit into his wrist and placed it against Danni’s mouth as he released her hand so that he could stick a bag of blood against his teeth.
“How did you do that?” Ephraim asked, looking truly confused.
He opened his mouth to answer, but he never got the chance as Kale made an announcement that he fully supported.
“I’m a f**king idiot,” the shifter said with a humorless chuckle. “He’s ion.”
“He’s what?” Chris asked, cringing in pain as he shifted his bleeding arm against his chest.
“He’s a pure Pyte,” Kale said as though that made any sense to them.
“What the hell are you saying?” Christofer demanded, looking up from the struggling woman.
“He’s saying,” Ephraim said, drawing his attention to find the other Pyte looking at him curiously, “that your father is really f**king old.”
Chapter 49
Williams’ Mansion
“Chris!”
The excited squeal drew Cloe’s attention to a short woman standing at the top of the grand staircase with beautiful long blonde hair, a huge smile and an even bigger stomach. When the woman took an unsteady step down, Chris and Ephraim tried to go to her, but since Ephraim was still supporting most of Chris’ weight, he’d barely stumbled two feet before Kale shoved past him and raced up the stairs to stop her from taking another step.