Tall, Dark & Heartless

That's what he thought at least.

Instead they threw him in the lower levels of the compound, let him have all the blood he wanted, he got peace and quiet and as many books as he wanted but they took away Danni. She was forbidden to visit him. When they announced that, Danni walked up to the Sentinel that sentenced him and punched him as hard as she could.

When the man glared down at her, she demanded a cell right next to his and all the ice cream that she could eat, because according to her, if she didn't get an unlimited supply of ice cream she got cranky. The Sentinel didn't have a sense of humor and sentenced her to one month confinement in her room, alone, which set him off.

She had no one. Caine knew that her parents weren't going to stick around so that meant they were sentencing a twelve year old child to stay by herself for a month. They'd look after her, send her meals from the cafeteria and check up on her, but she would basically be in solitary confinement, something she didn't deserve.

They literally had to tear her off of him and he was forced to stand there and allow it. He didn't want to take the chance of them punishing her more to get back at him. So while she cried and screamed for him, he ground his jaw shut. He allowed them to lead him down to the lower levels and thankfully the Sentinels were sympathetic to the situation since nobody in the compound was happy with the way Danni was treated and they promised to spend time with her and sneak their kids in to see her.

The month he spent in the cell had been hell for him, but it had been worse for Danni. Her parents stayed for a week while her father's jaw healed. Thanks to the Sentinel blood it had taken six days to heal and they ignored Danni the entire time, simply forgot her because she was in her room. That was worse than anything on Danni, having them so close and being ignored. That experience hardened her heart and helped make her the woman she was today, brave, loyal, tough as hell, but still too damn vulnerable on the inside.

"It's going to be fine, baby," he said in what he hoped was a soothing tone as he reached for her only to have her step away from him as she dropped her hands to her sides.

"How the hell is this fine, Caine?" she demanded with dry violet eyes and it was then that he realized that she wasn't crying.

No, she was simply pissed.

"I can't control this damn monster inside of me!" she snapped.

He shook his head. "It's not a monster, Danni, it's-"

"Bullshit! I saw what happens when I lose control. If that doesn't make me a monster then I don't know what does. I refuse to let this damn thing control me, Caine, but that's a joke too because the damn thing is in control," she said, sounding angrier with each passing second.

"You're not a monster," he bit out, forcing away old memories that threatened to surface and knock him on his ass.

"Yes, I am!"

"No, you're not!" he yelled, getting into her face.

"No?" she asked in a mocking tone. "If I'm not a monster then why the hell do I need to drop my f**king fangs so that I can suck on a bag of plasma?" she demanded, getting right in his face.

"Because you're a Pyte and that's what we do," he bit out, hating the fact that she thought she was a monster and in turn thought the same of him. He wasn't a monster and neither was she and she damn well better face that fact soon or he was going to get really pissed.

"Well then, I guess I'm a defect because I can't do it," she snapped.

"Do what?"

She sighed in annoyance as she gestured to the untouched bags of blood. "I can't drop my goddamn fangs!"

Chapter 29

Boston, MA

"Are you okay?"

Chris forced a smile as he ignored the new aches from tonight's patrol right along with the injuries from the day before. He was wound up tight and the damn panic that set in when he left the compound five hours ago was only getting worse with each passing minute.

"Fine," he said, looking past his father to peer out the back windows of the van. He slowly blew out a calming breath. They'd be there in less than a minute and a minute after that he'd be making his way to the secured wing his family occupied and pulling his mate into his arms and making sure that she was okay. Then he'd check on his baby girl.

"They're fine," his father said, probably for the hundredth time that night, something he seemed to say every night.

"I know," he lied just like he lied every night.

They weren't fine.

His mate was struggling every single day with her confinement and it was killing him to watch her pretend that it didn't bother her that she couldn't leave the compound. This was one of the reasons he'd tried to push her away in the first place. He didn't want this life for her and he knew that if it wasn't for him, she wouldn't be stuck here.

She was staying for him, to make him happy and as good as that made him feel, it also made him feel like an ass**le. It was his job to protect her, to make her happy and instead he was giving her a life of misery. She hated being inside and with each passing day it became harder and harder for her to accept this life.

Izzy didn't think he knew that she was unhappy, but of course he did. She was his mate and he loved her. She didn't think that he knew that she liked to go to the attic and sit in front of one of the small windows with Jessica in her arms so that she could look outside and simply pretend that it was enough. It wasn't. She was getting antsy and he was close to making a decision that he promised himself that he would never make.

He was going to chose Izzy over his family.

She didn't belong here and neither did their baby girl. With their son on the way he couldn't do this any longer. As much as he enjoyed his job and loved his family he just couldn't do this any longer. He wanted his mate and children somewhere safe where they wouldn't be putting their lives in jeopardy just by stepping outside their front door.

A few months ago Izzy and his father bought an insanely large estate, apparently his little munchkin was loaded, and they had Eric, the Sentinel leader for their area, install security measures to keep them all safe. He set up the whole place with alarms, monitoring systems, and added several Sentinel homes nearby and a few on the back part of the hundred acre property. Then Kale, the pain in the ass that loved to push his buttons, caught wind of the whole thing and took it upon himself to check the place out.

Not that they knew he was doing it. He just showed up one day, got past all the security measures and had a look around. A week later he sent Izzy a text message with two words, "All Set." That was it. They found out later from Eric that the damn shifter had the security torn out upgraded, most of the windows replaced, all of the outside doors replaced. He also had a new iron fence installed around the front of the property and an invisible fence outlining the rest of the property with surveillance cameras placed at key points throughout the woods.

The man might irritate the living hell out of him, but in this he was thankful. His number one worry was his family's safety. It would be especially important in the coming weeks. Keeping his family in Boston to keep an eye on Joshua wasn't working out. As much as he loved his brother, and he did more than he ever thought was possible, they couldn't stay here any longer and neither could Madison and Chris' little brother, Marc.