Without Regret

Madison said, grabbing his attention.

“Oh?” he asked, barely registering her words as she continued to rub herself against him as her fingers toyed with his hair.

“Mmmhmm,” she said, slightly rocking her h*ps against him as if she couldn’t help herself. “Well, with it being a full moon and all and Chris’ mate being untrained I was thinking that you should probably keep your edge tonight,” she suggested, her voice hoarse with her struggle not to moan.

“I see,” he mumbled, looking down at Madison’s beautiful caramel eyes just as they turned a fiery red.

His eyes moved to her mouth to find her fangs dropped, damn near bringing him to his knees. As much as he loved making love to her while looking into her beautiful caramel eyes he absolutely craved watching her lose control.

“Then what do you suggest I do to keep my edge?” he asked, smiling as he leaned down to press a soft kiss to her lips.

“I think,” Madison started to say only to pause long enough to brush her lips against his before pulling back slightly, “that you should make sure I scream your name at least twice before you leave,” she said, sounding a little breathless.

“But…..,” he prompted, already having an idea where this was going and not liking it one bit.

“But,” she said, abandoning his aching erection and sliding her hand up his chest, only stopping when she reached his shoulder, “you’re going to have to leave here aching, baby, so that you’re at the top of your game tonight. I need you to help keep an eye on Isabella for Chris tonight,” she said, lightly gripping his shoulders.

“I already planned on watching her,” he said, leaning down to press a tender kiss against her mouth. He loved this woman so goddamned much. There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for her and she knew it.

“Yes, but this way you’ll be on edge and I won’t have to worry about her getting hurt,” Madison said against his lips.

Ephraim pulled back to look into her once again beautiful caramel eyes and sighed. “You’re really worried, aren’t you?”

She worried her bottom lip between her dull human teeth before giving him a reluctant nod. “I know she’s a Sentinel and I know from watching Chris when he first started that all of them are supposed to have natural ability, but….,” she trailed off with a lazy shrug.

“But, what, baby?” he asked, pulling her closer to offer her comfort. He hated seeing her upset. Knowing his wife was unhappy in any way hurt him more than anything Nichols ever did in that f**king dungeon.

He’d do anything to make sure that she never experienced another moment of unhappiness.

“But she’s so small,” she said quietly, earning a chuckle from him.

“Ah, sweetheart,” Ephraim said, smiling as he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “She may be small, but you need to remember she’s been given everything she needs to do her job. In her case the harmless package might actually come in handy.”

“Because they’ll underestimate her,” Madison said, sounding thoughtful.

“Exactly.”

“Her training starts tonight?” she asked, absently rubbing his shoulders.

“Yes and if we run into any problems her skills should be jump started within the first few minutes,” Ephraim promised with a kiss to the tip of Madison’s cute little nose.

“Wasn’t she attacked this morning?” Madison pointed out. “Why didn’t her skills kick in then?”

Ephraim had wondered the same thing and made it a point to catch a moment alone with Eric when he was outside heading for his car. After one look at his new daughter-in-law and hearing Eric’s vague account of what happened this morning he’d been a little weary about trusting the small woman’s ability to watch his son’s back.

Since this was the woman who was going to be there protecting his son when he couldn’t, he’d been admittedly a little pissed and stunned when he spotted her on his way out to get Madison her carload of chocolate. Not only was she too small, but she took her capture meekly. Instead of fighting and trying to get the hell out of the situation she’d allowed them to handcuff her, put her small ass on a plane, and bring her across state lines. Any resistance she’d given was that of a small helpless human, not a Sentinel and that knowledge had scared the hell out of him.

He loved all of his children, but Chris……..

Chris had a special place in his heart that not even Madison could touch. He was Ephraim’s first child, his once smartass son that was too damn serious these days, his best friend, the first person he’d ever been able to count on and the only person in the world that he trusted without hesitation when it came to the safety of their family. Chris would give up his life in a heartbeat for someone he loved without a moment’s hesitation.

That knowledge still had the power to keep Ephraim up late at night even though on some level it made him feel better about his family’s safety, but he just couldn’t fathom losing any of his children and didn’t plan to.

There was nothing and no one alive that would ever take one of his children away from him. Anyone that tried would be ripped apart, piece by piece.

As far as Marc and his two unborn sons were concerned he’d only have to sweat it out until they made it to their transformation at sixteen. Then he’d have to show them how to protect themselves so something like Nichol’s dungeon never happened to any of them. They would also, hopefully, help watch after their brothers and sister whom he wished he could turn into Pytes, but couldn’t.

His body only allowed one full Pyte transition and he’d used it on Madison. Not that he regretted what he’d done. He didn’t. He just wished he was able to do the same for his children or at the very least that Madison could do it, but she would never be able to turn a full Pyte since only a natural Pyte had the ability to do that.

The blood needed to be potent to give someone eternal life and after he’d changed Madison his blood had weakened, not by much, but enough for him to scent the difference. Thanks to the meticulous records the Sentinel Council kept he’d known what to expect when he decided to change Madison.

He also knew from the records that there was only one natural female Pyte in existence and that had only been created by a freak accident. The woman had been attacked early on in her pregnancy by a Master and been forced to drink his blood, probably hoping she’d die a very violent death, which she should have from the blood. Instead of dying, her unborn children’s, twin boys, blood had filtered the blood back to her and in a freak accident that would probably never be replicated again three natural Pytes were created.

Any doubts that she was a natural born Pyte flew out the window when years later she’d been forced to try and change her husband, her mate. Everyone had been stunned when the man awoke not as a stronger vampire, but as a Pyte.

The story had caught his attention for several reasons.

Before he signed on with the Sentinel Council he had never met another Pyte and was desperate for any information about them. He’d had absolutely no idea how to turn someone, how he was created, or if he’d been a freak accident. The other reason the story was never far from his thoughts was the fact that the woman had been a Sentinel and had changed her Sentinel mate, something that should have been impossible.