It wasn’t until Ephraim muttered an, “Oh, f**king hell,” and stepped back to block Chris from view that he realized something rather important.

Cloe’s hand wasn’t trembling because she was upset.

She was trembling because she had slipped into bloodlust….

While they were stuck in an elevator………

Yeah, this wasn’t going to end well, he thought dryly as he dropped her hand and rubbed his hands roughly down his face.

A small, vicious growl to his right had him reaching out and grabbing Cloe as she moved to attack the two men guarding Chris. There was no doubt in his mind that she was after Chris. The normally overly sweet scent that the Sentinel gave off was saturating the air of the enclosed space. He’d found the aroma a little distracting, but nothing that he couldn’t ignore.

Cloe on the other hand…….

Had been turned only a week ago, hadn’t learned self-control, was apparently seriously pissed and had slipped into what the other men had dubbed, “bloodlust.” The scent of Chris’ blood would be too much for her to ignore, especially right now.

“Mein Schatz,” he said, turning around as he grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her into the corner away from the trio behind him.

One look at her beautiful red eyes and he knew that there was no point in trying to talk any sense into her. Cloe wasn’t in charge right now, which meant that there was nothing that he could say or do that would convince her that tearing Chris’ throat open was a bad idea. Not that he really gave a f**k if the little bastard got his throat ripped open, especially since no one had given a damn that they’d risked her throat being ripped open when they’d locked her up with him.

He should let her do it, but he knew that she would hate herself later when she realized what she’d done. As tough as Cloe came off, he really didn’t think that she was the type of person that could shrug off killing someone even if it had been out of her control. The other reason that he was stopping her from crossing that line was currently pulling his weapon free from its holster and cocking the weapon.

There was no question that she’d survive a gunshot wound, but the idea of her getting hurt was enough to make his stomach drop. He wouldn’t allow anyone to hurt her, but if she got past him he might not have a choice. Ephraim would protect his son, Cloe would be hurt and that was all it would take to make him lose control of the monster inside him, something that he hadn’t worried about since his days in the lab.

Not until she came into his life.

She drove him out of his f**king mind and made it difficult to think straight. Sometimes he didn’t know whether he wanted to throttle her or kiss her. Definitely kiss her, he thought dazedly as he stared down at that beautiful mouth that had felt so good on his-

“Shit!” he snapped as that beautiful mouth struck, obviously deciding that if she couldn’t have the Sentinel’s blood, that his would do.

She latched onto his neck with a vicious bite, tearing into his throat and greedily swallowing his blood as it filled her mouth. He bit back a grunt of pain as she dug her fangs deeper into his throat.

“Get her off him!” Ephraim snapped, grabbing hold of his arm.

“No!” Christofer snarled, shaking off his hold, careful not to dislodge her bite. “It’s the only way to snap her out of it,” he added, gritting his teeth as he was forced to slap his hands against the wall above her and brace himself to endure her attack.

“If you don’t stop her, you’ll slip into bloodlust next,” Ephraim warned.

He shifted his gaze from the elevator wall to the lit screen above the double doors, watching the countdown as the elevator made its slow descent to the ground floor. His hands balled into fists as he slowly exhaled, ignoring the black spots dancing along his sight and stood there, giving his woman what she needed. When he felt her mouth gentle against his neck and her arms wrap around his shoulders as she pressed up against him, he closed his eyes and released a heavy sigh, relieved that her loss of control was short lived.

“C-Christofer?” she murmured, her voice shaky as she pressed her forehead against his chest, her hands fisted in his shirt. “What just happened?’

“Shhh,” he said, forcing his eyes open only to shut them again as the move made his head spin. He’d lost too much blood over the course of the day to have any hopes of fighting this. “Everything is fine,” he said, his voice sounding hollow and far away as he pressed an unsteady kiss to the top of Cloe’s head.

“Christofer-” Cloe started to speak, but he didn’t have the luxury of comforting her right now.

“Take her,” he said, dropping his hands to her shoulders and using the last of his energy to gently shove her towards the elevator doors just as they opened with a chime.

“What the hell is going on?” Cloe demanded as he forced his eyes open just as his legs gave out and he dropped to the ground.

“Get her the hell out of here,” he tried to shout, but his words came out as a slurred whisper.

“Let me go!” Cloe screamed as he was forced to sit there while Chris shoved past his father who stood in front of him, stopping Cloe from going to him. Without a word, he grabbed Cloe and threw her over his shoulder and dragged her off the elevator with Caine right behind him.

Ephraim stared down at him for a moment longer before he nodded, turned around and walked off the elevator, pressing the “Close Doors” button on his way out.

Before the doors closed tightly shut behind Ephraim, everything went black as he felt himself falling, the sounds of Cloe’s screams rushing him towards oblivion.

Chapter 40

“Get your hands off me!”

“Hold her back!” Ephraim shouted as he withdrew his weapon and took aim at the closed elevator doors.

“Let me go!” she snapped, pulling against Danni’s hold as another roar shook the lobby.

“You’re giving off the scent of fear,” Danni explained calmly as she yanked Cloe back behind the men lined up with their weapons aimed at the quaking double doors of the elevator where Christofer was going crazy from the sounds of it. “It’s making him nuts.”

“Then let go of me,” she snapped, struggling to get free and to…..to……

Oh hell, she didn’t know what she was going to do if she managed to get free. She just felt like she needed to do something to fix this. It was her fault that poor Christofer had lost control.

She still didn’t know how it happened. One minute she’d been trying to ignore the overwhelming sweet scent of Chris’ blood, seriously pissed off to discover that she’d been kept in the dark about something that affected her, and the next she’d felt like she was drowning. She couldn’t seem to think straight. Everything had been fuzzy and muddled. She’d been aware of what was going on, to a point, but helpless to do anything about it.

It was similar to the moment just before you pass out. Everything starts to get hazy, you feel your self-control start to slip and no matter how hard you try to fight it, you can’t. It takes you over, knocks you on your ass and leaves you helpless. It was something that she never wanted to experience again. She also knew that if it weren’t for Christofer, she would still be trapped in that hazy mess, helpless to stop herself from doing something that she’d regret.