"It won't kill him," Danni explained, pausing to watch as Caine moved over to the elevator doors and placed his hand over the small key that would unlock the elevator doors and allow them to open.

"Why can't they leave him in there until he pa.s.ses out or the bloodl.u.s.t pa.s.ses?" she asked, desperate to find another way to handle this. She didn't want him shot or hurt in any way.

"Because there's no guarantee that he won't find a way out of there and if he does.......," Danni started to explain as she was once again pulling her towards a set of double doors only to let her words trail off meaningfully.

Not that Cloe needed her to explain. She didn't. She'd been on the receiving end of the last time Christofer went into bloodl.u.s.t and really didn't need a refresher course on the subject. She wouldn't wish that on anyone, but it still didn't make her feel right about this.

"Isn't there anything that we can do?" she asked, running what little information she knew about their kind through her head, trying to figure out a way to knock Christofer out of this without having to shoot him or risk anyone else getting hurt.

"Blood and time," Danni answered absently as she suddenly shoved Cloe behind her and pulled out her gun.

"Okay, so why don't we try that?" she suggested, sighing in relief. "We could drop a cooler full of bagged blood through the opening in the elevator and-"

"Not going to work," Danni said, using her body to push Cloe back against the wall.

"Why not?" she asked as the first tendrils of panic shot through her as her body registered the fact that someone had her cornered. Apparently she still had a problem with s.p.a.ce, she thought numbly as her heart pounded against her chest and her breaths came out choppy.

She didn't have a problem when Christofer invaded her s.p.a.ce, but for everyone else? Yeah, it was definitely a problem, she thought as her vision went red.

"Oh.......s.h.i.t," Danni groaned, sniffing the air and shooting her a look over her shoulder before her attention shot back to the elevator.

"What?" she demanded, hyperventilating just a tad bit as she tried desperately to step away, but her trembling legs wouldn't work for her.

"You're giving off a s.h.i.t load of fear," Danni said in an accusing tone.

"If that's a problem for you then get the h.e.l.l out of my s.p.a.ce!" she snapped defensively, barely noticing when Danni stepped away from her.

"Yeah," Danni said, c.o.c.king her gun. "I don't think that's going to be a problem."

"What are you........oh, s.h.i.t......."

"You could say that again," Danni said, just as the elevator doors exploded.

"No," Cloe said, shaking her head as she moved away from the other woman, "I think I'll just run instead."

"That's probably for the best," Danni agreed as reached behind her, pressed her thumb to a scanner, opened one of the double doors, grabbed Cloe by the arm and shoved her into what turned out to be a very long hallway.

"Oh s.h.i.t, oh s.h.i.t, oh s.h.i.t, oh s.h.i.t," Cloe mumbled incoherently to herself as she blindly grabbed hold of another doork.n.o.b, tried to turn it only to be met with resistance. "s.h.i.t!" she groaned, dropping her hand away from the door and returning to her mad dash down the long hallway while the sounds of gunshots, fighting and screams of pain echoed throughout the long hallway, letting her know that the battle was still on.

Somehow she resisted the urge to look over her shoulder to see if the double doors were still standing, knowing instinctively that if she did that, it would be all over. So instead, she continued running down the long hallway, blindly testing doors every ten feet and wondering when her newfound abilities would kick in. Because right now as she ran down the hallway, telling herself that this didn't make her a coward, she couldn't help but feel that the ability to move her a.s.s like the Road Runner would really come in handy at a moment like this.

"MINE!" came the monstrous roar just as she moved to test another door.

Deciding that perhaps putting a little more s.p.a.ce between her and the blood thirsty b.a.s.t.a.r.d behind her was in order, she quickly changed plans from hiding under a bed to finding a stairway. Reasoning that there had to be a set of stairs at the end of the hall, she moved her a.s.s and released a high-pitched scream, that she was going to pretend never happened, just as double doors burst open behind her.

"Oh, the h.e.l.l with this," she groaned, knowing that she didn't have a chance in h.e.l.l of outrunning him down a clear path. So, she went back to plan A and grabbed the handle of the next door that she came across.

Hands shaking violently to match her nerves, she grabbed hold of the doork.n.o.b of a gray door, not caring where it led and twisted it as hard as she could and kept going until it fell off with a loud snap and the door swung open just as another roar sounded behind her. Swallowing hard, she risked one look over her shoulder and wished that she hadn't.

There he was, covered in blood and looking every ounce the monster that she'd originally thought him to be. He wasn't running after her, she realized, which should have given her a little comfort, but instead it only scared the s.h.i.t out of her even more. The way those red eyes locked on her as he moved at a predatory gait as he stalked her said it all.

Sooner or later he would have her.

It was only a matter of time.

"Any casualties?" she heard Ephraim ask as she stood there, frozen in fear as she watched Christofer make his way to her, his intent clear.

"No," Chris groaned, "we just got our a.s.ses handed to us."

It was then that she realized that she could hear the sounds and conversations from the lobby and nearly sagged with relief. She opened her mouth to ask for help, but Chris' next words stopped her.

"We can't leave her to handle him," he said, sounding like he was in a great deal of pain. "He'll tear her apart."

"I wasn't planning on it," Ephraim said, sounding winded. "But you're not going. Keep your a.s.s here."

"I'm fine," she heard Chris grit out.

"You won't survive another round with him."

"I said I'm fine!"

"You can barely walk, a.s.shole," Caine snapped.

"We need to seal the corridor off and I'm not doing it with her still in there!" Chris shouted, sounding truly worried for her. In that instant he'd earned her forgiveness and respect. She also knew that she couldn't risk any of them coming to her rescue.

Closing her eyes in resignation. "I've got this. Don't worry, guys. Just....just have some extra blood ready afterwards," she said, knowing that she was going to need it.

She didn't wait around to make sure that they'd heard her since she needed to move her a.s.s and quickly. So, she opened her eyes, turned around and swore as she found herself facing another long hallway. The only difference between this hallway and the one that she was escaping was the scent of chlorine and the sharp white tiles that lined the walls and floor.

An idea came to her, one that she prayed would work. It was something that she remembered from her early days in the Girl Scouts. Even though she knew that it probably wouldn't help, she slammed the door shut behind her, hoping the scent of chlorine would confuse him. She ran down the corridor, ignoring the doors that didn't look promising and followed the heavy scent of chlorine and the sounds of what she hoped was a filter.

"MINE!"

"Oh, s.h.i.t!" she squeaked, wondering how she'd got herself into this.

Oh, that's right, she'd gone psycho on him first and payback was a b.i.t.c.h.

"s.h.i.t, s.h.i.t, s.h.i.t, s.h.i.t, s.h.i.t, s.h.i.t!" she said, risking a look back and finding the hallway behind her still empty.

Another idea came to her, one that she hoped would confuse him and give her a chance to test out one of the new skills that Christofer promised that she could do now. She wasn't a hundred percent sure that she would be able to pull it off or that it would work, but she was definitely willing to try it if it meant saving her throat from another shredding.

With that in mind, she grabbed the next doork.n.o.b that she came across, twisted the k.n.o.b until it broke off, shoved the door open, tore her shirt off and threw it inside and ran. A few seconds later she was doing the same thing with one of her shoes and kept doing it until she found herself in just her panties and in front of a double door that clearly led to the pool.

She yanked the door open, praying that the pool was empty and ran inside. When she spotted the large Olympic size pool, she spared a second to make sure that she was alone. A few seconds later she was running straight for the pool and diving in, praying that her old Troop leader was right about water hiding scents otherwise she was going to be sending the old b.i.t.c.h a strongly worded letter after this.

Chapter 41.

"Lying b.a.s.t.a.r.d," she sputtered as she came to the surface and grabbed blindly for the edge of the pool.

When Christofer had explained that she didn't really need to breathe, he'd forgotten to mention that she could still drown. That tidbit of information would have come in handy, especially before she'd tried to hide from him at the bottom of an Olympic sized pool. If she'd known just how painful it was to hold your breath for, she looked at her watch, five minutes, she would have come up with a plan B. Now she needed to- Scream her head off as she was suddenly grabbed by the arms and abruptly pulled out of the pool.

"Quiet," the glaring b.a.s.t.a.r.d that she didn't like said softly as he set her on her unsteady feet and shoved her behind him.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded, hastily crossing her arms over her bare b.r.e.a.s.t.s as she risked a peek past him and immediately wished that she hadn't. "Oh, s.h.i.t," she muttered, locking eyes with Christofer, who stood directly across from them on the other side of the pool. He watched them through glowing red eyes that looked a h.e.l.l of a lot more intense than they had when he'd made love to her earlier.

"Collecting another fee," Kale said, shoving her back with his body as he took a step back from the edge of the pool and drew his weapon out of its holster.

"Another fee?" she asked, frowning as she took another step back all while keeping her eyes locked on Christofer, terrified that if she looked away from him even for a second that she'd find herself pinned beneath him with her throat ripped out again.

"A mover's fee," Kale said, shoving her back again.

"A mover's fee?"

"Are you going to repeat everything I say?" Kale snapped, shoving her back again.

"Probably," she murmured absently as she watched in utter amazement as Christofer took a step forward and- Didn't fall in the pool like she'd expected.

"Pytes can walk on water?" she murmured, watching as Christofer walked towards them.

"No," Kale croaked, sounding just as surprised as she was. "And he sure as h.e.l.l shouldn't be able to do it while in bloodl.u.s.t."

"Mine," Christofer growled, the sound low and s.e.xy and instantly making her think of a hundred naughty things that she wouldn't mind doing with him as he whispered all the dirty things that he'd like to do to her while using that voice.

"Or talk," Kale added while she was busy letting her mind wander off a bit.

Now was not the time to be thinking of him bending her over, ripping her panties off with his teeth and sinking that wickedly talented tongue in- A vicious growl and a muttered curse broke through her rather inappropriate thoughts. She bit her bottom lip as she watched Christofer's beautiful red eyes take in every single inch of her as he hungrily licked his lips. Her body shivered in response, which earned another muttered curse from Kale as the b.a.s.t.a.r.d, who seemed to be in love with glaring, shot a glare over his shoulder.

"Are you f.u.c.king kidding me?" he demanded, shaking his head in disgust.

Ignoring the heat spreading up her neck and pretending that the realization that they could scent her arousal didn't make her want to die of mortification, she glared right back at him. "Don't you have a job to do?" she reminded him, hoping that it was enough to distract him.

Still shaking his head in disgust, he returned his attention to the man now standing less than ten feet away from them. "Just as soon as he steps onto the tile."

"What happens when he steps on the tile?" she asked distractedly, her attention focused on the man watching her every move.

G.o.d, he was so d.a.m.n s.e.xy......

And he smelled incredible. Her vision went red as she licked her lips, running her eyes over his body and pausing at all the good spots. What was it about his scent that made her desperate to get him inside her? She should still be freaking out and trying to get away from him before he could attack her instead of standing here fantasizing about dropping to her knees and- "I'm going to shoot him," Kale announced, quickly killing the mood and drawing her attention to the b.a.s.t.a.r.d now aiming his weapon at Christofer's chest.

"What the h.e.l.l are you talking about?" she asked, licking her suddenly dry lips, sure that she'd misheard him.

"The Compound leader is no longer interested in keeping him," Kale said evenly, forcing her to step back once again.

"Is that why they kept us locked up?" she asked, hoping to distract him long enough so that she could figure out a way to get Christofer out of this without the glaring b.a.s.t.a.r.d putting a bullet between his eyes.

"That would be my guess," Kale said, stepping back again, his focus locked on the Pyte standing less than three feet from the edge of the pool, watching their every move.

"And now?" she asked, risking a quick glance over her shoulder to see that there was still a good ten feet between them and the tiled wall behind them.

"And now they're not happy," Kale said as he once again stepped back, forcing her to go with him.

She glanced back quickly and nearly sighed with relief when she saw that Christofer hadn't moved any closer. They still had time, not much, but she was hoping that it was enough.

"So, now what?" she asked, sending Christofer an imploring look to keep his a.s.s right where it was. If he understood, it didn't show.

"So now I need to transfer you to a Compound that can handle you and take the a.s.shole here to the Williams' mansion where the pain in the a.s.s that's mated to my Izzy can train him," Kale explained, taking her by surprise not only because he usually ignored her questions and settled for glaring at her, but because he actually bothered to tell her his plans, which meant.......

She swallowed nervously. "You're planning on shooting me afterwards, aren't you?" she asked, this time stepping back on her own.

"Smart girl," Kale said, nodding approvingly as he took another step back.

"Why not keep us together?" she asked, her mouth going dry at the thought of being shot.

It didn't matter that they'd promised her that she couldn't die, she still didn't want to get shot. She also didn't want to be separated from Christofer and right now, she was terrified that the thought of being taken away from him scared her more than being shot.

"You're not going anywhere near my G.o.dchildren," he said, forcing her back another foot. "Come on, a.s.shole, take the bait," he snapped in aggravation when Christofer still didn't move.

"I would never hurt a child," she said hollowly, truly offended that he thought that she was capable of harming a child.

Kale snorted in disgust. "Don't take it personally, cupcake."

"How the h.e.l.l else am I supposed to take it?" she snapped, moving to step away from him, but he simply reached back, grabbed her by the arm and forced her to stay right where she was.

"You're marked," he said as if that would explain everything.

It didn't.

"And?"

"You're another shifter's property."

"I'm really not," she said with a snort of disgust as she yanked her arm free from his hold.

"You really are," he said dryly, shooting her a warning glare over his shoulder to keep her a.s.s right where it was. For now she planned on doing just that, but there was no way that she was going to stand there and allow him to shoot Christofer, not when he wasn't even- "Wait a minute," she said, frowning as she looked at Christofer, really looked at him. "He's not out of control."

"No," Kale said, forcing her back another step, "he's not."

"So, he's not in bloodl.u.s.t?" she asked, her relief obvious. If he wasn't out of control, then- "He's learned to stay in control even while in bloodl.u.s.t," Kale said, sounding p.i.s.sed when she would have thought that would make him happy. It certainly made her happy since he wasn't acting like a feral animal going for her throat.