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After Jill and their grandmother learned about the real world they lived in, it had taken them months before they found the courage to go out at night again and even then they’d only venture out at night if Ephraim escorted them. But that was a human female reaction.
Maybe he should take this as a positive sign that she wasn’t afraid.
“It’s still night time and a full moon,” Jill pointed out, making him wonder if she was still afraid. He didn’t like the idea of his sister living in fear, especially since the stubborn woman lived on her own near town. Of course that would change if they couldn’t end whatever bullshit his little mate had started. If they couldn’t put an end to this Jill was moving back in. End of story.
Izzy paused with her hand on the doorknob. “There,”
she cleared her throat, “are more of those things out right now?”
“There’s a lot more out there right now than just shifters,” Chris drawled, watching her reaction very closely.
“I see,” she murmured, letting her hand drop, not surprising him, but sure as hell disappointing him, which after tonight should be damn near impossible.
She turned around to face them, taking a slow deep breath before she said, “Could I have my bag back and a ride into town?”
He had to snort at that. She wasn’t going anywhere until she answered his questions and then she’d be going where he decided, which was as far away from here under Sentinel supervision as he could manage.
“I’m not giving you a ride anywhere,” he said.
She blinked at him. “Oh, I wasn’t asking you. I don’t like you. I was asking him,” she said, pointing towards Joshua, who had the balls to grin.
He shot his brother a glare, but his displeasure only seemed to make the little bastard grin more.
“If you give me a ride I’ll answer whatever questions you want,” she added, sounding hopeful.
“You’re not going anywhere,” he said, stalking forward and ignoring the urge to wipe that smug look off his brother’s face. “You’re going to stay here and answer my questions and then you’ll go where I decide.”
“No, I won’t and secondly who the hell died and made you my keeper?” she asked, giving him the same look that he’d seen Madison give his father when the man had f**ked up, but right now he didn’t care that she was pissed. He cared even less that she liked his brother more than him. It didn’t piss him off at all to know that she preferred Joshua over him.
Not. At. All.
“I’m your mate,” he said, stepping into her personal space and backing her up until her back hit the wall.
“That gives me all the rights I need.”
“Your mate?” she asked, incredulously. “I believe that term, whatever the hell it means, no longer applies to you since not even two minutes ago you announced to one and all that you were getting rid of me.”
“It’s not like we have a choice,” he practically growled, his eyes dropping to her pursed up lips and he wondered if he could kiss that frown away.
“Well, you chose to send me away so I think that means I’m free and clear of you. So if you’d just go get my bag for me I can be on my way,” she said firmly, but he hadn’t missed the little tremor going through her body or the nervous way she licked her lips.
“How about this,” he said softly, leaning into her until his mouth was by her ear, “you’re going to tell me whatever I want or I’m going to put you over my knee and spank your ass. Which one will it be?”
He knew by her little gasp that he had her. She was going to tell him whatever he wanted and do whatever he wanted. It was the only benefit of having a weak mate, he decided, but not one that made him want to keep her around.
“I-” she started only to be cut off by his father.
“Chris, we have a problem. The Sentinel network has crashed and they need her to fix whatever the hell her program did to it,” his father announced, drawing his attention.
He stepped away from Izzy, frowning. “What program?”
he asked, feeling his stomach drop when his father rammed his fingers through his hair, looking pissed and nervous as hell and for damn good reason.
If their network was down they were good and screwed and if any of their enemies found out, they were good and f**ked.
“When the patrol came across her this morning there were several CDs lying on the ground with her belongings. The IT department in Boston was asked to look at them. Eric said they scanned both discs several times to make sure they were safe but,” Ephraim dropped his hand helplessly by his side, “they must have missed something. In less than a minute everything was destroyed.”
Praying the his father and Eric were wrong, Chris pulled his Sentinel phone out of his pocket and pressed his finger to the small piece of glass and waited for it to scan and for the small beep that would sound before the phone slid open. When it didn’t happen he wiped the small piece of glass clean and did it again.
“Fuck me,” he breathed as he looked up and met his father’s eyes, just as his father reached out blindly and pulled Madison into his arms.
“What does this mean?” Jill asked, shooting nervous glances between him and their father.
“It means everyone’s f**ked,” Josh said, stepping further into the room.
That was an understatement if Chris ever heard one.
With the Sentinel network down no one, not one single Sentinel or their employees could call for backup, share information or shout out a warning. Under normal circumstances this situation would be enough to make them all nervous, but with a war starting and every Master on the hunt for one woman it was frightening as hell. If they came under attack before the network was back up they’d be helpless.
“On second thought,” Izzy suddenly piped in, sounding cheerful, “I believe I’ll take a ride, a bite to eat, and a ticket home. Oh, and I want chocolate. At least five king size bars.”
He turned to glare at her only to find her smiling brightly.
“What the hell are you talking about?” he demanded.
“My price,” she said, shrugging.
“Price for what?” Jill asked, when he wasn’t able to do anything more than grind his teeth and barely stop himself from wringing his mate’s little neck.
“To save your network. What else?” she asked innocently, but he didn’t miss the little gleam of triumph in her eyes. “Oh, and you should probably know that every time one of your little buddies types in the wrong password more of your system will be destroyed,” she announced with that damn smile that had his eye twitching as she made her way towards the front door. “Now if someone could just grab my bag we can be on our way.”
