“Drop all of your weapons and your phone, now,” he said, punctuating his words by allowing his nails to cut into the boy’s soft skin.

Even though he planned on killing the little boy, he didn’t want him to suffer. He couldn’t do that to a child, even one meant to grow up and bring nothing but violence and pain to this world.

“Ow!” the little boy cried out.

He watched as Chris went still. A few heartbeats later he began to toss his weapons onto the ground along with his Sentinel phone.

“Is that everything?”

“Yes,” Chris bit out tightly.

Kale inhaled slowly and when he didn’t scent any silver on the man he jerked his head towards the staircase. It would take longer to get to the tunnel that way with this little crowd, but he wasn’t taking the chance on the elevator where they could ambush him.

He forced the trio in front of him as they walked down the five flights of stairs until they came to the tunnel he’d found only the day before. Over the past three months he’d found other tunnels, but they weren’t as safe as this one so he’d kept searching until he found a tunnel barely used by anyone.

The trio kept throwing him icy glares over their shoulders as they walked down the ivory tiled covered tunnel. As they walked he kept an ear out for any alarms sounding and so far he hadn’t heard a damn thing. So far everything had been going smoothly, a little too smoothly for his comfort.

“Open the hatch,” he said, as they came to the end of the tunnel ten minutes later.

With a scowl that promised all kinds of pain, Chris did just that. He stepped out of the tunnel, taking his mate’s hand into his with the human following after, but not before the man looked back to check on the little boy.

He stepped out and cursed up a storm as he spotted the four Ramjis demons that had been a royal pain in the ass over the past three months standing in front of them in a loose circle with guns that were no doubt filled with silver bullets pointed at them.

This was not good.

He’d planned on getting rid of the boy before delivering Isabella and her mate to Logan. Fucking Ramjis and their inability to create a scent, he thought acidly.

Somehow, some way they’d followed him.

When they sniffed the air and their eyes fell on the little boy with open greed he knew he didn’t have a choice in the matter. He couldn’t risk them bringing him to a Master or torturing the shit out of the kid in hopes to “Train” him.

“Give us the Pyte,” one of the demons said as every weapon shifted on him.

“No,” he said, moving his foot back and shoving the twelve inch solid metal door open more.

“We’re not going to tell you again.”

“Then I won’t tell you no again. He’s not going with you,” Kale said, praying that he didn’t regret this one day.

“No!” the human shouted as he stepped in front of him.

Kale cursed up a storm as the first gunshot sounded.

Through the blaring sounds of two more shots he heard the sound of an inhuman roar, but he barely paid attention to it. He released the little boy’s throat and grabbed him by the scruff his neck and shoved him back into the tunnel just as the human male stumbled back, but Kale was ready for him.

His fangs slid down and as fast as he could manage it he ripped his own wrist open and shoved it into the man’s mouth, forcing him to take his blood as he gasped for air. He wasn’t sure why the Ramjis demons weren’t filling him with silver and at the moment he didn’t care.

This human had impressed him and taken a bullet meant for him. It didn’t matter that he’d done it for the little boy, he couldn’t ignore that kind of debt. It wasn’t a guarantee that it would work, but as his blood poured down the man’s throat he considered them even. He yanked the man inside and dropped him to the ground.

“Don’t make me regret this,” he said, to the little boy looking up at him with bright blue eyes filled with terror. “Run and get help!’ he snapped as he shoved the hatch shut, sealing them inside.

“Chris!” Isabella screamed, drawing his attention to the reason why he was still alive.

His eyes widened in shock as the Sentinel male struggled against the hold of two battered demons, but that’s not what shocked him. The two dead demons at their feet who looked like he’d torn them apart with their bare hands had him cursing.

Shit…….

“Stop!” one of the demons ordered as Isabella let out a cry of pain.

He watched as Chris immediately stopped fighting and looked at his mate. He could practically taste the man’s fear as his eyes narrowed on the knife at her throat.

A second later when a bullet tore through his shoulder he couldn’t really say that he was shocked.

********

“You shove my wife one more time and I will kill you,”

Chris bit out evenly as he reached out and took her hand into his, ignoring the glares from the men as they were ushered up the backstairs of a modest brownstone.

The demons didn’t respond, but then again she hadn’t expected them too. Chris’ attack had unnerved them almost as much as it had her. She still couldn’t believe what happened. Although it seemed like several minutes had passed from the moment they pointed the guns on the bastard responsible for all of this to when a knife was placed at her throat it probably was only a few seconds.

She could feel Chris’ hand tremble and she knew that he wasn’t afraid for himself or even for her, but for his brother. Her lip began to quiver and she forced herself to be strong. He was going to be all right. He had to be.

He’d only been part of her life for a few months, but she couldn’t imagine her life without him.

“Down the stairs,” one of the men said as they walked into a modestly decorated kitchen.

With one last prayer for Joshua and Marc she took a deep breath and went down the stairs with Chris at her back. She could hear the shifter’s muffled curses as they dragged him down behind them. Besides being responsible for kidnapping them, she couldn’t figure out the man’s place in all of this. Had those other men double crossed him? Or simply decided to take over the job? Whatever the reason they really didn’t like him.

She’d figured that out when the men had taken turns beating the hell out of him.

Something told her that none of the men would have even approached him if he hadn’t been injured and bound. He had a dangerous aura to him that matched Chris’ and Ephraim’s. While they kicked and punched him he lay there silently. He hadn’t muttered a single word or sound.

She walked down into a large basement and almost stumbled when she saw what awaited them in the middle of the room, a small cell with thick bars. Without a word they were ushered towards it. She knew by the way Chris was gripping her hand that he didn’t want her going in there, but she didn’t have a choice. She couldn’t risk them hurting him.

As they stepped into the cell, the shifter was tossed into the cell, landing on the hard cement floor with a sickening thud. She looked back in time to see the door to the cell slammed shut.

Chris took her into his arms and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “I’ll get you and the baby out of this. I promise.”

“I know,” she mumbled, not really sure there was a way out of this. Her eyes shot to the men leaning against the walls, watching them. She turned her head and found more men at the back wall.