He hoped the bastard hadn’t been able to cut Joshua off and got his hands on Izzy. No, there was no way his father would have allowed that to happen, he reminded himself as he headed for small rust colored warehouse in front of him. He ignored the heavily chained front doors and went for the boarded up window and launched himself at it.
The board shattered, splintering apart with a loud crack as he broke through it. His sore ribs sent up a reminder to be more careful, but he ignored the warning and kept his ass moving until he made it to the middle of the stained cracked cement floor. That’s when he stopped and turned.
His gun was already drawn by the time the first shifter, a female, jumped through the window and landed gracefully on her feet. She quickly moved further in the room towards him as she released her claws.
“Where is she, Sentinel?” she demanded with contempt as she looked around the empty warehouse. When she tilted her head slightly and inhaled deeply he knew she was trying to scent out his backup. She wouldn’t find any, at least not yet.
He watched as the rest of them made their way into the building. A few demons that he couldn’t quite figure out what they were broke open the door and came in. There were ten of them and they all looked f**king eager as they formed a loose circle around him. The rest of the shifters and demons apparently thought that was a good idea and joined, closing the circle and blocking him in.
They eyed each other warily as they closed the circle even more and he wondered how long it would take for them to start fighting over him. Probably when they realized he wouldn’t be giving up Izzy.
“Where is she?” one of the demons he couldn’t place asked and he noticed that he hadn’t bothered to eye the competition. Then again none of his comrades had and that was telling. Without knowing what they were or what they were capable of, Chris knew they were the ones to watch out for.
“Where’s who?” Chris asked, keeping his gun by his side.
“Don’t play coy with us, Sentinel. Tell us where the bitch is,” a shifter demanded.
“It would probably help if you told me who you were after,” Chris said, barely resisting the temptation to put a bullet through the bastard’s head for the crude reference towards his Munchkin.
“This is a waste of time,” one of the demons said as he gestured to his allies to step forward. “We’ll take him to the Master and let him sort this out.”
The female shifter stepped forward. “Why should you be allowed to take him? The Master I work for is just as capable of extracting the information.”
Oh goody, they were going to fight over him, he thought dryly as he chanced a peek at his watch. He hoped like hell Eric was using this little distraction and had Izzy at the airport by now. They’d probably face the same type of bullshit waiting for them there, but with the cloying scents of thousands of humans, security and private entrances and the private plane they should be able to avoid all this bullshit and get her safely out of the country.
God, he was going to miss her.
He loved her so f**king much. Why the hell hadn’t he kissed her or made love to her one last time? Because it would have made leaving her so much harder to do. He didn’t know how he was going to make it through the night without her in his arms. His heart ached for her as his body screamed for him to run, to go after her and join her and say to hell with everything else, but he couldn’t.
He could never leave his family.
“We’re not asking, mutt,” the demon spat out the derogatory name for a shifter without a pack. “He’s coming with us.”
“I’m afraid that will be impossible.”
Everyone looked towards the door and sniffed the air. A few of them frowned, but most of them snickered as his father continued to come towards them.
A female demon turned her sneer on him. “This is your backup? A human?”
Chris shoved away every useless wish and thought. It didn’t matter what he wanted or needed. Izzy was gone.
“They don’t cost much to feed,” he said with a lazy shrug.
He knew the second the group realized his father wasn’t human. They tilted their heads back again and inhaled deeply. A few growled while others tried to make a run for it.
“It’s a Pyte!” one of the demons roared as he launched himself towards Ephraim.
While a few of the demons were focused on his father the few that weren’t making a run for it were coming after him. He raised his gun and began to fire as a hollow emptiness that would probably never go away filled him.
********
“Why the f**k did you let them put her in a cell?” Eric demanded, more pissed at himself for not leaving clearer instructions than at the young man by his side.
“I was needed elsewhere and at least I knew she’d be safe,” Joshua said, stepping aside so that Eric could press the code into the security pad. He hit the elevator call button with a little more force than necessary as he prayed for patience.
If Ephraim or Chris ever found out that Izzy had been placed in a cell they’d kill him. Then again if Madison found out, she’d rip his throat out, slowly. He cringed at the reminder that the hormonally imbalanced female Pyte was currently residing in the maximum security wing. If she started crying again he was making a f**king run for it, war going on or not, he couldn’t stand to see her cry.
Part of him understood why he allowed her to be locked up. She was a sneaky little thing after all. He was still embarrassed that he’d fallen for the PMS routine.
Common sense should have kicked him in the ass and reminded him that Sentinel females didn’t have PMS
or any of the human female problems, but he’d been a little stunned when she pulled that shit over him that he hadn’t been able to think clearly.
“Uncle Eric!” The excited voice had them both cursing as they turned around. He barely had his arms out before the little boy was launching himself into his arms.
“Hey, buddy,” he said, holding the little boy tightly in his arms. In his last century a lot of children had come into his life, but none of them as special as this little boy. Although he loved Joshua and Jill as if they were truly his niece and nephew and Chris like a brother, it was this little boy that he loved as if he were his own.
As much as he would have loved to have a child it just hadn’t been in the cards for him and his mate. Barely one year into their mating she was attacked by a Seneai demon, a demon known for mutilating its victims and left for dead. Although she healed to the point that she could once again work, she was unable to conceive.