Tall, Dark & Heartless

"No," Danni said stubbornly as she released her hold on the Sentinel's arm.

"Don't make this harder for me than it has to be," he said, already wishing that he could make love to her one last time. When he hadn't been patrolling, helping out with the babies and whatever else they needed help with around here he'd been with her, talking with her, laughing with her, making love with her and just enjoying his time with her and making memories that needed to last forever.

"Harder on you?" she demanded with a disbelieving snort. "How about me? You're planning on leaving me without a fight and you think that's okay?"

Chris got to his feet and made his way over to the children. He picked up his son, the little boy was luckily fully developed. No one could figure out how that happened, but he had a feeling that having the babies so close together had triggered something in Izzy to help develop the baby faster. Since most Sentinel couples had their children decades apart it was going to be difficult to prove. Then again he wouldn't be around to see if he was right so it really didn't matter.

"Don't do this, Danni," he said, ramming his hands in his pockets as he struggled against the urge to do just that, but she needed more than he could give her and this was the only way to make sure that she got it.

"Good luck," Chris said as he carried his little boy out of the room with a somber looking Marc and a smiling Jessica following closely behind him.

"Just say goodbye to me, Danni, so that I can go," he said, both wanting to get this over with and hold her in his arms one last time before he was forced to let her go.

She stared at him for a moment, her beautiful violet eyes flickering before they settled on red and intensified as her stubborn jaw set and he knew the damn woman was about to do something that they'd both regret.

"Fine," she spat out, shaking her head as she walked past him, "you're not willing to fight for us then I will."

"Why am I not surprised?" he said with a humorless laugh as he went after the woman so he could stop her from doing something that she'd regret later.

"Danni, get back here!"

Her answer was a one finger salute over her shoulder without looking back, she stormed down the hallway towards the cloying scent of Sentinels. That beautiful mouth of hers was going to get her in so much trouble. Ephraim better damn well keep his promise and keep her safe, he thought as he quickened his pace to go after her, but of course the woman did the same.

"Don't do anything stupid, Danni. You need them."

"Bullshit!" she snapped, turning to face him and he felt his heart break as the first tear streamed down her cheek. "I need you, Caine! Not them!"

"No, baby, you need them. I can't take care of you the way they can," he said, moving to pull her in his arms, but of course she backed away from him.

"No," she said, shaking her head, "they can't take care of me the way you can, Caine."

"Danni,-"

"Are they going to be there for me? Take care of me? Hold me? Make love to me?" she demanded, getting into his face.

"They're going to take care of you," he gritted out between clenched teeth as he fought against the image of another man touching her.

"So, what?" she asked, roughly wiping the tears away. "They'll feed me and I'll have to look elsewhere for a man to take care of my needs?" she demanded with a mock smile. "And you're okay with that?"

No, he wasn't.

"Do what you have to do," he said tightly, knowing that he'd probably spend eternity wishing that he could kill every man that looked her way.

"Oh, I'm going to, don't worry about that," she snapped as she turned on her heel and stormed off, once again leaving him to follow after her.

"Danni," he said in warning as he followed after her.

Once they reached the large foyer filled with Sentinels she paused as she ran her eyes over the crowd and he knew the moment her eyes landed on Dimitris, the head of the Council. She nodded firmly to herself before she marched right up to the man and sucker punched him in the face, breaking his nose by the sound of it. Several Sentinels immediately grabbed her and yanked her back before she could go for the man's balls.

"What the hell was that for?" Dimitris demanded as he held his nose and glared at Danni.

"That was just the start of what's coming for you if you don't give me the same punishment that you're about to give my mate," Danni said, shocking everyone into silence and making Caine's hand itch to spank her stubborn ass.

Chapter 50

"Get your hands off her or lose them. It's your choice," Caine drawled out in a bored tone, but the way he looked at the men holding her said it all.

Dimitris nodded and just like that all the men released her so of course she went for another shot at the bastard that thought he was going to take Caine away from her.

"Can't you control her?" Dimitris snapped as Caine caught her around the waist and tossed her over his shoulder like she was an errant child instead of the mate that was saving his ass.

"No, not really. She's a stubborn pain in the ass," Caine said, making everyone around them chuckle and earning a punch in the ass. He accepted the hit with a small groan and a discrete pinch on her ass that had her wincing.

"Put me down, Caine!" she ordered, more than ready to have another go at the bastard.

"Yeah, let me get right on that," he said dryly, keeping her right where she was.

"Care to explain why that mad woman just attacked me?" Dimitris asked, in that crisp accented voice that most women probably found sexy.

"I'd be more than happy to tell you," she offered, trying to get off Caine's back, but he simply ignored her as he answered for her.

"She's not feeling well so let me just go put her in her room and we can get on with this."

"Don't. You. Dare," she bit out. If he tried to take her out of here before she saved his ass she would kill him that's all there was to it.

"I came all the way from Russia to make sure that you're okay and brought my top medical specialists with me to help cure you and this is how you thank me?" the man asked, sounding truly confused.

"No, this is how I thank you for trying to take my mate away!" she snapped, renewing her efforts to escape only to have her ass pinched again.

"I suppose we should get down to business," Dimitris announced with a sigh. "Caine, you knew the punishment that awaited you if you changed anyone, correct?"

"Yes," Caine said with absolutely no hesitation.

"And you did it anyway?" Dimitris asked, sounding truly confused. "For her?" he decided to add in an insulting tone and she went to fling herself off of Caine's shoulder to punch the jerk again she suddenly found herself shrugged off and landed on her feet as Caine did just that, except he went a tad further than she planned to take it.

"Shoot him!" someone ordered as Danni craned her head back and watched as Caine shoved the head of the Council into the corner, his head slamming against the ceiling in the process.

"Don't you ever," Caine growled out, slamming the head of the Council against the ceiling again, "speak of her like that again. Do you understand me?"Caine demanded as he got into the other man's face.