Without Regret

Marc nodded solemnly as he started up the stairs.

“Please double the order.”

They chuckled as they stepped into the elevator. When the doors opened at the detention level all humor died as they took in the empty cells.

“Where is she?” Joshua demanded.

Eric was wondering the same thing as his eyes moved to a cell that sure as hell shouldn’t be empty. As much as he’d hated to stick a kid, a Sentinel kid for that matter, in a cell, he hadn’t had much choice.

When the kid arrived here a week ago from California he’d been combative and angry as hell. He’d been admittedly impressed with the kid. He hadn’t seen a kid with that much backbone or attitude since he met Chris, but Chris had never attacked his men and sent five of them to the infirmary thank god.

This kid had a bad attitude and hated the world, but he had so much f**king potential. As much as he wished he didn’t have to send the boy to the Council for review, he did. He might be young, but he was also a criminal.

He just hoped they were able to rehabilitate him otherwise he’d have to share Isabella’s fate and live out his life on an island. It was a f**king waste on both counts.

“No!” they heard Isabella cry from the direction of the bunkroom. It was the room Sentinels used when they took their turns watching over prisoners.

As he ran down the hall he prayed the little bastard hadn’t hurt her otherwise he’d have no choice, but to kill him. He was barely five feet into the bunkroom when he came to a skidding stop as he tried to make sense of the scene before him. Joshua barely managed to avoid slamming into his back, which at the moment he appreciated.

“What the hell…..,” Joshua murmured, voicing his thoughts exactly.

Izzy stopped doing her weird little, was that a victory dance? Judging by the gloat on her face and way she was jumping up and down while hugging the video game controller to her chest he would have to go with that. His eyes shot to the widescreen television and noted the insanely high score that he would have to take as a personal challenge to beat one day and back to Isabella who was making the boy that took ten Sentinels to cuff laugh.

“I could beat that score you know,” Joshua murmured next to him.

He ignored Joshua’s obvious bullshit, because he’d seen the man play and moved into the room. Instantly the kid stopped laughing when he spotted them. In one swift move he was on his feet, shoving Isabella behind him and blocking her from their view. The kid’s eyes narrowed on them slightly and he knew he was going to have to bring the kid down before he hurt someone.

“It’s fine, Sebastian,” Isabella said, stepping in front of the kid as he continued to glare in their direction.

“That’s just Eric and the traitor I was telling you about.”

“How am I traitor?” Joshua asked, pouting.

“What the hell have you been doing?” Eric asked as he took in the insane amount of empty chocolate wrappers and Coke cans before his eyes landed on several computer towers hooked to the flat screen television and the two wireless keyboards on the couch.

Isabella followed his eyes and shrugged. “Making a few changes and decisions.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” he demanded, feeling a little frightened. Had she gotten into their server? Nah, that was”Your system sucks, I was able to hack into it in under two minutes,” she said in a matter-of-fact-tone.

“And your security sucks. I was able to break into it in under one minute,” Sebastian said, shooting Isabella a smug smile.

“Showoff,” she mumbled as she gave Eric her attention.

“Would someone please tell me what the hell is going on here?” he demanded, wondering if she just crashed their network again. He prayed like hell she hadn’t. Not now.

Again with that damn shrug. “I decided to accept your job offer,” she said, sitting back down and grabbing a can of Coke.

“Job offer?” he asked, frowning.

“Mmmhmm, I’ve decided that I’m going to run your IT

department from here and in return you’re going pay me an insane amount of money and keep me supplied with caffeine.”

He eyed her warily for a moment before he asked, “Will you give us Tattletale?”

“No, Tattletale is my baby,” she said, finishing off her Coke. “But I’ll use it for you as long as you don’t try putting me on an island,” she clarified and he couldn’t help but grin.

Chapter 41

He was sore, exhausted and more than ready to get the hell out of Boston and go home and try to figure out how he was going to make it without his little mate, but his father had other plans. Instead of jumping into a car and getting the hell out of town they were dragging ass through the compound, presumably looking for Joshua.

Without a word he followed his father toward the back of the compound and took the stairs that led to the heavily secured living quarters. Neither spoke as they walked up the three flights of stairs. He knew his father wanted to have a word with him and he appreciated the fact that his father had restrained himself so far. Right now he was struggling to keep moving forward.

He couldn’t believe that it was possible to miss a person he barely knew this much, but he did. All his aches and pains had nothing on the pain he was feeling from being away from her. Every time he thought about her the ache in his chest tightened.

Ephraim punched in a code and scanned his hand and in seconds the door unlocked with a loud beep. Without a word he followed his father into the barely used residential section and came to a stop when his father stepped in front of him.

“We have to talk.”

“No, no we don’t,” he said, trying to step around his father and go where, he didn’t know, but he did know that he didn’t want to have this conversation. Not now when he was barely holding it together.

He didn’t need his father to tell him that he was disappointed in him, or that he’d just f**ked up his life and Izzy’s. He sure as hell didn’t need the lecture about the baby. He wouldn’t be surprised if his father beat the shit out of him over the baby, but it wouldn’t be anything that than he didn’t deserve.

“Look,” Ephraim said, stepping in front of him while he shoved a hand through his hair, “I know I should have told you sooner. I should have called, but with everything going on I didn’t want you getting distracted and getting hurt. I-“

“Oh my god, is it Madison? Are the babies okay?” he asked, scared to death that Madison was going to suffer another miscarriage. It would break her, there was no question about that.

“No, the babies are fine,” he said and Chris couldn’t help but feel relieved, but that the relief was short lived because he realized that he wouldn’t be there to comfort his little Munchkin if their baby didn’t make it and why the hell did he have to start thinking of it as a baby and not a mistake? It was only going to make it that much harder to cope with not having Izzy.

“A few nights ago someone broke into the house,” his father started, instantly grabbing his attention. With the amount of security they had no to mention two Pytes living in the house there was no way in a hell anyone should be able to break in. “Everyone’s fine, but he went after Marc.”

“What the f**k do you mean he went after my brother?”