Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Upstate New York

Williams Mansion

“How’s the baby?” came the question that nearly destroyed Caine.

“He’s fine,” Michael, the Sentinel doctor that had been assigned to stay at the mansion since they’d realized the cancer was back, said with a reassuring smile as he finished his exam while Caine stood there, trying to hold it together.

Twenty-five days…

For twenty-five days, he’d been forced to sit by his mate’s side praying that she’d open her eyes again only to fucking lose it every time her heart stopped. Every time it stopped, it took longer for it to start again and Caine wasn’t sure how much more of this he could take before he slipped into bloodlust and stayed there.

He watched as Danni worried her bottom lip as she moved a trembling hand to the soft swell of her belly where their son suffered right alongside her. “Is he…is he suffering?” Danni asked, making Caine bite back a curse because he knew how much the question had cost her.

“I don’t believe so,” Michael said with a warm smile as he reached over and gave Danni’s hand a reassuring squeeze. “Why don’t you rest for now and I’ll check on you later?”

With a hesitant nod, Danni rolled over onto her side and faced the window, her hand gently caressing the soft swell of her belly. For a moment, Caine stood there watching his mate while the doctor placed everything back in his bag. Before Michael reached the door, Caine said, “Can I speak to you in the hallway?”

“Of course,” Michael murmured as he sent Danni a pitying look before he left the room.

Forcing a warm smile for his mate, Caine leaned down and kissed her cool forehead. “I’ll be right back,” he said, closing his eyes as he savored her scent before he pulled back and-

“Save him,” Danni said, making him frown as she wrapped her trembling hand around his.

“What are you talking about?” Caine asked as he knelt down by the side of the bed as he looked into her beautiful violet eyes, something that he hadn’t been sure that he would ever be able to do again.

“I want you to save the baby, Caine. If something happens to me, I want you to make sure that our son is okay,” Danni said, her voice breaking as she held on tightly to his hand.

“Danni, I-”

“I don’t want him to live like this, Caine. As soon as it’s safe, I want you to do whatever it takes to save our baby.”

“Danni, I can’t do-”

“Please!” Danni begged, her voice breaking as the first tear rolled down her beautiful face. “Just save him, Caine.”

Leaning over, he brushed his lips against hers as he whispered, “No.”

When she opened her mouth to argue, he cut her off. “I’m going to save both of you.”

“I’m dying, Caine,” Danni said around a broken sob as Caine pulled back.

Shaking his head, Caine said, “No, you’re not.” Because there was no way that he was going to lose her. Not now. Not after everything they’d gone through. This wasn’t fucking over yet. He was going to figure out why the cancer came back and he was going to destroy it once and for all. Then, he was going to-

“Yes, I am,” Danni said as she reached over and cupped his face in her hand before he could stand up. “I’m dying, Caine. I don’t know how much time I have left, but I know that I don’t want this for our son. He doesn’t deserve this.”

“No,” Caine said with a stubborn shake of his head as he pulled back, “This isn’t over yet.”

“Caine, I-”

“It’s not over,” Caine said as he leaned back down and kissed her, putting everything that he had into that kiss and praying that it was enough to let her know just how much she meant to him.

This wasn’t over yet.

Not by a long shot.

Placing his hand over her belly where their son was sleeping, Caine said, “Don’t give up on me yet, Danni. Not yet. I can’t lose you,” as he stood up and forced himself to walk away before she saw just how close he was to losing it.

As soon as he was in the hallway, Caine closed their bedroom door behind him and headed for the Sentinel waiting for him. “I want answers,” Caine bit out as he allowed his eyes to shift, turning everything red as he focused on the Sentinel that better have answers this time.

“I’m not sure what to tell you, Caine,” Michael said in a sympathetic murmur. “We’re doing everything that we can.”

“Bullshit!” Caine snapped as his fangs tore through his gums and he stepped in front of the Sentinel. “She’s getting worse.”

“I know, but we’re doing our best. At this point, nothing is working and we’re trying to figure out how to fix it,” Michael said with a helpless shrug that only managed to piss Caine off more.

“She was healed,” Caine bit out, getting into the much smaller man’s face. “The cancer was gone.”

“The cancer was still there, Caine.”

“No, it wasn’t. It was gone. All the tests came back negative and then suddenly the cancer is back and stronger than ever and the Council doesn’t have an answer,” Caine said, wondering what game they were playing and they were definitely fucking playing with them. As long as Danni was sick, the Council had them exactly where they wanted them and they all knew it.

“The cancer is an aggressive strain, Caine. It was the same problem that Danni had when she was human. The problem was that she wasn’t turned properly. She needed more blood than you were able to give her and even then, it probably wouldn’t have been enough to kill the cancer. It survived her transformation and mutated into a stronger strand. It’s learning to adapt to everything that we throw at it. Right now, we’re able to buy some time, but eventually, we’re going to need to find something to destroy the cancer once and for all. Hang in there, Caine. We’re going to figure this out. Danni’s strong, she’s a fighter, and she’s not going to let this thing take her down without a fight,” Michael explained as Caine stood there, absently nodding.

“What do you think will happen if I lose my mate, Sentinel? Because I can promise you that what I did in the past will look like fucking child’s play compared to what I’ll do if I lose her,” Caine drawled, watching as the Sentinel went still before he turned around and headed downstairs, done playing by the Sentinel’s fucking rules.

He was fucking done playing this game.

With that in mind, Caine headed downstairs as he heard Madison quietly join Danni to keep her company. Knowing that she was in good hands, Caine went looking for the human that better not let him down. He found the doctor in the clinic with Indie, smiling down at the small woman in a way that was probably going to get his throat ripped out if Ethan ever saw them. He didn’t know much about the vampire, but he knew enough to know that the vampire wanted her.

When Noah looked up and saw him standing there, that smile slowly died and was replaced with concern. “Is she okay?” he asked, already moving to go have a look for himself as Caine glanced at Charlie, the large German Shepherd curled up in the corner.

“She’s fine for now. I need to have a word with you,” Caine said before leveling a glare on Indie. “Alone.”

With a murmured, “Excuse me,” Indie left with Charlie following her as Noah watched her go.

“You’re playing with fire, human,” Caine drawled as he closed the clinic door, knowing that it wouldn’t be enough to stop most of the inhabitants in the mansion from hearing what he had to say, but then again, he only cared about making sure that one of them didn’t know what he was about to do.

“He hasn’t marked her yet,” Noah said, taking him by surprise and letting him know that the human had more balls than he thought.

That was good, Caine thought as he added, “Yet,” with a pointed look. Before the human could respond, Caine said, “I want you to do something for me.”

“And what’s that?” Noah absently asked as he grabbed the file that he’d been showing Indie and moved to put it away when Caine’s next words stopped him.

“Save my family.”