“Hold up there, big guy,” she said at the same time he felt something hard and sharp press against his balls through his pants.

“Big guy?” he asked, somewhat amused as he pulled back to look down. His brows arched as he took in her small hand holding an equally small, but very sharp dagger between his legs.

“Mmmhmm,” she said unconcerned. “Now, I realize that you’re capable of regenerating a lost limb or a……..,” she let her voice trail off as a rather pretty blush that he found rather endearing. “But, I’ve been told that the silver in this knife was cooled in holy water, polished in holy oil and finished with Sentinel blood,” she explained as dread filled him.

“Now, I’m not really an expert with these things, but according to my brother and father if I removed something,” she said, emphasizing “something” with a slight twist of her hand that had him sweating, “you would never be able to grow it back.”

When he moved to step back she pressed the knife higher in clear warning.

He dropped his hand from her face to her throat. “You realize that I could kill you with a simple squeeze of my hand, don’t you, Angel?” he demanded.

She merely shrugged. “And I could make you sing soprano for the rest of your unnatural existence with a twist of my hand. What’s your point?”

With regret he dropped his hand to his side. “You win, Angel,” he said, wishing a hundred different things at that moment.

“I usually do,” she said with an impish smile as she gestured with her free hand for him to back up. “Now, be a good little vampire and get the hell out of my town.”

“Will you miss me if I go?” he asked, already knowing he’d be unable to leave this town without having her.

She laughed a light beautiful laugh that made him want to make her laugh again. “Just leave before my brother or father find you. You’re far too cute to be dusted,” she said, reaching up to give his cheek a patronizing pat before stepping back and walking away from him.

“Cute?” he bit out in disgust.

“Mmmhmm, very cute,” she threw over her shoulder as she sauntered away as if she hadn’t just insulted him.

He wasn’t f**king cute. Puppies and babies were cute and he sure as hell wasn’t a puppy or a baby, he thought absently as he watched the sweetest ass he’d ever seen gently sway back and forth.

He rubbed an unsteady hand down his face as he promised himself a taste of Angel before he left town, but it would have to wait. Right now he had bigger problems to deal with than a small red head that caused his blood to boil.

But he would be back and when he did she was going to be his.

Chapter 26

“Where the hell are you, Chris?” Eric demanded the second Chris answered the phone.

“On the road getting to know my mate,” Chris said, kicking the hotel door shut behind him and noting with surprise that his little mate wasn’t screaming her head off.

Then again it had been two hours since he left her and by now there was a good chance that her voice was hoarse from screaming. No doubt by now she truly hated him, which is exactly what he wanted and needed.

Since he met her he’d felt himself start to soften towards her and that was something he simply could not allow. He needed to keep this woman at a distance so that he could focus on his goddamn job, but she was making that difficult. After they had sex on the hood of a car, and only he would lose his virginity on the hood of a stolen car, he thought dryly, he had to stop himself from fussing over her and holding her.

Somehow he managed to stop himself from making it worse, not only for him, but for her. She was leaving.

There was no choice in the matter and no matter how he felt about her he couldn’t do this to her. He would never leave his family for her and to make her think that there was even a remote possibility that he would chose her over them was wrong.

They came from two different worlds and he knew without a doubt that she would never willingly give up hers for him and he sure as hell would give up his for anyone. He loved what he did and couldn’t imagine doing anything else. Besides, his world wasn’t even an option for her.

She was weak, very weak and he was actually starting to become concerned for her. In the last forty-eight hours her abilities had plenty of opportunities to surface, but there had been nothing. She was still as weak and slow as a human and he was actually starting to feel guilty about dragging her along with him. If they came into any real trouble she would be completely helpless. This morning he’d known exactly what he was doing, but now…….

It was scary what a couple of hours and a completed mating could do to a man, he thought with a sigh. He’d hoped to use her to lure out the Master who’d hired Quinn, but maybe he’d give it one more day and return her to Eric. He could find a female Sentinel who looked like his little Munchkin and together they could draw out the Master and take him down. If they were lucky they’d get their hands on Quinn, but he knew the odds of that happening weren’t good.

“On the road? What the hell are you talking about, Chris? You were supposed to meet up with me in Boston with Isabella so that we could get her out of the country,” Eric snapped, sounding truly pissed.

“There’s been a chance of plans. I’m going to deliver her to you in a few days,” Chris said, feeling exhaustion biting him in the ass again. He was so f**king tired, but he knew it would probably be a few weeks or months before he got any decent rest again.

“We need her now, Chris.”

“What’s going on?” Chris asked as he dumped the bags of food on the middle of the bed.

“What’s going on?” Eric repeated. “Are you f**king kidding me? The war f**king started. We have nests all over the world taking this as their f**king cue to go after each other, Sentinels and whatever Pack pissed them off. We have Packs trying to hunt down Sentinel homes and nests. The demons are sitting back and laughing their f**king asses off that is when they’re not causing more problems and we have every f**king Master going nuts right now.”

“Unless Isabella’s abilities have surfaced, I need you to bring her back here as soon as possible so I can get her the f**k out of the country and focus on stopping this f**king thing before it makes the eleven o’clock news and brings the f**king humans into the mix!”

“Shit,” Chris muttered, ramming his fingers through his hair. This was bad. This was really f**king bad. “I’ll bring her to you tomorrow night,” he said, shooting a look towards the windows. “If I bring her out right now we’ll be hunted down.”

“Shit, you’re right,” Eric grumbled. “I hate it when you’re right.”

“Most people usually do,” he said, taking a look outside and sighing with relief when he didn’t spot anyone lurking around in the large parking lot.

“You should never have taken off with her,” Eric pointed out.

Chris snorted at that. “Bullshit, you left me with no choice, Eric. You brought the war straight to my door.

What the hell did you think I was going to do?”

“We were going to move your family,” Eric said defensively, making Chris laugh with very little humor.

“You were going to try and take my family from the only home they’ve ever known and loved? While Madison is pregnant? Are you f**king insane? She would have clawed your eyes out just for even suggesting it.”