Without Regret

“I-I need my bag,” she said quietly.

All three men frowned. Eric asked, “Why?”

Looking pointedly at the other men, she leaned in closer to Eric and whispered, “I need my bag,” she stressed on a hiss.

“I don’t understand. Why do you need your bag to use the bathroom?” Eric asked in perfect male confusion.

Oh, this was going to be all too easy.

She did her best to look embarrassed.

He shrugged, picking up the bag and opening it. As he peered inside he asked, “What do you need? I’ll get it.”

“Tampons, but I’m not sure what size yet. Can you see if I have Supers, and Super Plus, of course it is kind of early in my cycle so I might just be able to get by with a Regular if you can find it? They should be in the bottom of the bag in the zippered compartment,” she said, hoping she sounded as well as looked innocent considering she was lying her butt off. Not only didn’t she have any tampons or any of the necessities a woman with PMS needed in her bag, but she also didn’t have her period.

Never had actually.

Although she’d developed physically like all the other girls she’d never had to endure having her period, which didn’t help with the feeling that there was something wrong with her.

A startled, well frightened really, pair of intense blue eyes down up at her. She had to bite back a chuckle.

The mere hint of PMS could usually scare even the toughest man and there was no question in her mind that this man was dangerous.

Eric noticeably swallowed. “Ah, um, well….” He looked a little lost. He cleared his throat and looked at the other men. “Any weapons in the bag?”

The two men shook their head as one. “Only thing in there that could cause a problem is a small Netbook, but there was nothing on it but a few games and pictures and there’s no network card. Not that it would matter since the signal is secured,” one of her captors said with a shrug.

This time Isabella had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. They saw what she wanted them to see. She wasn’t called “The Illusionist” for nothing.

“I’m going to need my hands free for this.”

“Not a problem,” Eric said, quickly uncuffing her. Gee, it was almost as if she’d said something to frighten them, she thought dryly. Seriously this was sad, but at least it never failed.

Eric handed her the bag and gestured towards the mutilated doorway. She hugged the bag tightly, feeling whole for the first time since she’d been captured and allowed the two giants to escort her to a rather plush bathroom while Eric went off, rather quickly, to talk to the hot, um, psycho.

“Don’t lock it,” one of the men said.

Smiling sweetly up at him, she of course said, “No problem.”

Once the door closed she was ecstatic to discover that the lock on the door was a heavy duty bolt lock. So, of course she locked it.

“Hey! I said don’t lock it!” the man snapped on the other side of the door.

“Ooops, sorry. Habit. I’ll be out in a few minutes,” she said, pointedly not mentioning unlocking the door.

As quickly as she could, she powered up her little computer and relieved herself. Once that was done she signed onto the real administrator site and set to work.

Finding the wireless signal took less than a second and the program she designed three years ago, and kept private, unlocked the signal before she was done washing her hands. By the time she was done drying her hands her computer jammed their signal and she was online.

She ignored the pounding and shouts at the door and focused on her computer. Five minutes, that was all she needed and she was golden. She quickly tore through the connection and discovered that she was in New Hampshire, interesting, but not really useful since there were probably hundreds of towns in New Hampshire. She needed a lot more information if she was going to alert the authorities so she hacked into their network and searched for any records that might tell her where in the hell she was.

While her search was running she grabbed a king sized Milky Way bar from her bag and started nibbling away.

“Come on, baby, work for mommy,” she mumbled around a mouthful of caramel, nougat and chocolate.

Chapter 3

“What the f**k?” Joshua grumbled as Chris abruptly released him when they reached the foyer.

“Keep an eye out and let me know if anything happens,”

Chris said, barely giving his brother a glance as he headed up the stairs.

Joshua snorted. “I’m not your bitch!”

Chris went to his room and quickly changed into a pair of dry underwear and jeans. One look in the mirror had him cursing. Two minutes later his hair was combed, his face shaved and he was pounding on his father’s door.

“Someone better be dying!” his father warned as he ripped open the door.

His father crossed his arms over his bare chest, glaring.

He just glared. Chris casually took a step back, realizing he’d just interrupted the four hour block with Madison and he had about sixty seconds to speak or run like hell. He might be stronger and faster than a human, but he was no match for a Pyte. Not that his father would ever hurt him or one of his siblings, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t find himself tied up and hanging upside down in the foyer, again, if he didn’t talk fast.

Ephraim raised an expectant brow.

“I think my mate’s downstairs,” Chris blurted out, feeling like an ass.

Just like that all the hostility in Ephraim drained. He reached out and put a hand on Chris’ shoulder. “Are you sure?”

“If my response to her was any indication, then I’m pretty sure,” Chris said dryly.

Chris heard an excited squeal come from behind his father and wasn’t too surprised when a very excited Madison, wrapped in only a sheet, shoved his father aside and pulled him into a hug.

“Your mate?” she asked excitedly. “This is so great!

What’s she look like? What’s she like? Do you like her?

Can I meet her? Are you happy? Which area does she guard? Are you moving? You’re not moving are you?”

Madison demanded.

Before Chris could figure out which question to answer first Madison stepped back and yanked the waist of his jeans down.

“Hey!” He shoved Madison’s hands away.

She frowned, looking disappointed. “It’s still light brown,” she said, referring to his Sentinel mark, a freckle color crescent moon and cross just beneath his navel that would turn red once he came in contact with his mate and once they mated it would turn black.

“That’s because he hasn’t touched her yet,” Eric explained as he joined them.

“Eric!” Madison squealed excitedly as she threw herself into Eric’s arms and yanked the much taller man down for a hug.

Ephraim growled menacingly.

Chris and Eric shared a look. While Madison was a warm and loving person, more so since she married Ephraim, she was never this friendly and affectionate.

Yeah, she’d hug Eric, but she wouldn’t do it in only a sheet with her very jealous husband standing close by mostly because she wouldn’t want anyone’s death on her hands. She was a rational level headed woman, not this bubbling overexcited woman in front of them.

The only explanation he could come up with is she was on a sugar high. Since she hadn’t eaten human food in over nine years since Marc was born it wouldn’t take very much sugar to make her this wired. As a female Pyte she could only consume food for one reason.