Chapter 57

Chapter 57

“I’d really like to go home now,” came the softly mumbled words from the small woman that he never should have brought here.

“That’s the plan, mo ghrá,” Kale said as he moved to pick Ashley up only to drop his hands away when she rolled over onto her other side with a pained groan, clasping her hands tightly over her ears.

“Ashley…” Kale said, sighing heavily when she frantically shook her head only to stop doing that with another pained moan.

“You want to start explaining why you told me that my sister was dead when she’s been with you this whole time?” Christofer demanded only to curse when Ashley released another pained groan and curled more into herself, letting him know that something was seriously fucking wrong.

She shouldn’t be reacting to noise like this, not now. It had to be the baby, Kale realized, taking in her scent and-

“You had no right keeping her from me,” Christofer said when Kale sat down next to Ashley and carefully pulled her into his arms.

“You can bitch at me later. Right now, we need to get her out of here before it’s too late. She’s not safe here,” Kale bit out.

“Then why did you bring her here?” Christofer asked, swallowing hard as he watched Ashley, looking torn between ripping his throat out and pulling Ashley out of his arms.

“I needed to make sure that the baby was okay,” Kale said as he met the angry Pyte’s glare, wondering what the hell he’d been thinking when he’d decided to bring her here. It was something that he never would have done before, but then again, he’d never been this fucking terrified before.

He’d needed to make sure that his mate and child were safe, and he knew that the only way to do that was to bring her here and have the Ion currently glaring at him make sure that they were okay. Pytes had an incredible sense of smell, stronger than even shifters, but Ions could scent things that none of them could. Christofer had been the first one to scent Drew and Kara’s baby girl while the rest of them had been wondering how the Sentinel infant was going to survive the birth without a human twin to make it possible. Christofer had been able to separate the twins’ scents, penetrating through the scents of Sentinel and shifter blood and managed to latch on to the tiny little girl’s scent and from what he’d overheard a few minutes ago, he’d been able to do it again.

Their little girl was going to be fine, Kale told himself as he slowly exhaled. Their shifter blood was giving their baby girl a chance and Ashley’s body was doing the rest. He just needed to get her out of here before someone working for the Council walked through the front doors and realized just how valuable Ashley’s blood was.

“She’s not going anywhere,” Christofer said evenly, his eyes flashing red in warning.

“She’s my mate,” Kale bit out, pulling Ashley closer as he allowed his eyes to flash silver in the only warning the Pyte was going to get if he tried to stop him from getting Ashley out of here before it was too late.

“I smelled your claiming mark, but from what I can tell, she didn’t claim you,” Christofer said evenly as Ashley pressed her face against Kale’s chest.

“Then you know that I’m never going to let her go,” Kale bit out.

“And you should know that I’m probably going to be sick if you keep talking,” Ashley mumbled against his chest only to add, “I’d really like to lie down now,” a minute later.

“I’m taking you home,” Kale said, tightening his hold around her and moved to pick her up when she whimpered against his chest with a weakly mumbled, “I really liked the floor.”

“I need to get you out of here,” Kale said, forcing himself to ignore her whimper when he stood up and found Christofer blocking his way.

“Do you really think that I’m going to let you take her knowing how much you hate Pytes?” Christofer demanded, letting his fangs slide down.

“She’s not staying,” Kale said, moving closer to the Pyte.

“I would love to see you try to take her away from me, mutt,” Christofer snapped as he came closer.

Kale allowed his eyes to flash silver as he moved even closer. “She’s not staying.”

“You are out of your fucking mind if you think that I’m going to let you walk out of here with my sister.”

“And you’re out of your fucking mind if you-”

“Bad Unkie Kale!” came the angry grumble that had them both looking down to see Jessica, who’d apparently managed to give Marc the slip, glaring up at them. “No bad words!”

There was a heavy sigh, and then, Christofer was leaning down and picking up the little girl that had them all wrapped around her little finger. That was followed by dutifully kissing her rosy little cheek as he leveled a glare on Kale.

“She’s safer here,” Christofer said, giving Jessica’s cheek another kiss.

“She’s gonna be sick here,” Ashley grumbled, making Kale sigh as he leaned down and kissed the top of her head.

“I’ve gotta get you out of here,” Kale said with a pointed look at the Pyte that still wasn’t fucking moving out of the way.

“Not without me,” Christofer said firmly.

“Did I mention that I’m going to be sick? Because I really feel like it should be mentioned,” Ashley said, making him sigh as he kissed the top of her head again as he headed for the door, leaving the Pyte with no other choice but to get out of his way.

“It will be okay,” Kale promised her, heading for the front door.

“What’s going on?” came the mumbled question as Christofer handed Jessica back over to Marc, who was smart enough to know that it was time to get her out of here.

“I made a mistake bringing you here,” Kale said, only to curse when she mumbled, “I really don’t feel good.”

Shit!

“Noah!” Kale yelled, quickly leaning down to kiss the top of Ashley’s head in silent apology when she released a whimper as he turned around and headed back upstairs.

“What’s going on?” Jacob asked, quickly catching up with them as they made their way down the hallway and into his room.

“I have no fucking idea,” Kale said, carefully placing Ashley on the bed as Christofer reached for her hand.

“Ephraim,” Christofer said, keeping his eyes on Ashley as he turned her hand over and scented her wrist, knowing the other Pyte would be able to hear him.

“What’s wrong with her?” Kale asked, watching as the Ion frowned in confusion as he scented her wrist again.

“Her hormones are going crazy. I’m having a hard time separating them. The baby is a Pyte and a shifter, but for some reason, I keep scenting shifter on her,” Christofer said as Ephraim walked into the room. Kale knew the moment that the Pyte scented Ashley’s pregnancy and realized that it was a little girl. His eyes turned red as a flash of pain crossed his features before it turned pitying as his gaze landed on Kale.

“Who is she?” Ephraim asked, sending him a questioning look as Jacob dropped down on the bed next to Ashley.

“She’s my mate,” Kale said, watching as the Pyte’s expression turned from pitying to stunned in a matter of seconds.

“She’s my sister,” Christofer added with a glare aimed at Kale.

“The baby’s a girl,” Ephraim murmured hollowly as he glanced back down at Ashley.

“She’s fine,” Kale bit out, wondering how many times he was going to have to tell himself that before he believed it. He just…

He couldn’t lose his little girl.

“Tell me if you smell shifter on her,” Christofer said, frowning in confusion as he shot Ephraim a questioning look that turned even more confused when Kale said, “Her mother was a shifter. She’s an Impure.”

“How is that even possible?” Christofer asked, glancing back down at his sister.

“I’m guessing that your father’s demon blood had something to do with that,” Ephraim said with a warm smile for Ashley. “How are you holding up?”

“I’d really like to lie down right now,” Ashley mumbled as she continued squeezing her eyes shut.

“You are lying down,” Christofer pointed out, only to have his lips twitch when she added, “The floor was quite lovely.”

“How about we figure out what’s wrong first?” Ephraim suggested, stepping back to make room for Noah.

“I take it that this is Ashley,” Noah said with a warm smile as he made quick work of checking her vitals. “Want to tell me what’s going on?”

“I miss the floor,” Ashley said on a groan as she rolled over onto her stomach and buried her face against the pillow, only to decide that wasn’t going to work out well for her and settled for curling back into the fetal position.

“She’s not feeling well,” Kale said, taking Ashley’s hand away from Christofer as he leaned down and kissed her forehead.

“She’s not appreciating all the yelling,” Ashley mumbled with a wince as she pulled her hand away and covered her ear only to grumble, grab hold of the pillow and pull it over her head.

“She’s not getting enough blood,” Ephraim said, rubbing the back of his neck as he gestured helplessly towards Ashley. “She shouldn’t be having a problem blocking out sounds.”

“No, she shouldn’t,” Christofer murmured as he sent Kale a questioning look. “How often is she consuming blood?”

“Once a week,” Jacob answered absently as he leaned over and searched through the nightstand.

“That’s not enough,” Ephraim said, frowning as he shared a look with Christofer while Kale stood there, narrowing his eyes on his mate as a sneaking suspicion tore up his spine.

“That seems to be all she needs since she can also eat food,” Jacob added with a satisfied sigh when he found the bag of Hershey’s Kisses that Kale had forgotten about.

“That would explain a few things about her blood,” Noah said, sighing heavily as he glanced at Kale.

“Explains what?” Kale asked, still glaring down at his mate as he watched her curl more tightly into a ball. He didn’t need to move the pillow out of the way to know that she was wincing.

“Her blood is strong, amazingly so, but I’ve noticed some differences in her levels every time you brought samples. I wasn’t sure why the numbers were off, but I’m guessing that it had something to do with her not eating enough,” Noah explained, slowly exhaling. “She needs to eat more, especially if she’s pregnant.”

“How often does she go into bloodlust?” Ephraim asked, looking thoughtful as they all stood there, looking down at the small woman who had a lot of explaining to do.

“She doesn’t,” Jacob said around a mouthful of chocolate.

“Never?” Ephraim asked, looking stunned.

“Not once,” Kale murmured, still glaring down at his mate. “Why aren’t you drinking more blood, mo ghrá?”

“Because I didn’t want to bother you?” came the mumbled response while Kale watched as she tried to discreetly shift away from him only to grumble when she bumped into Jacob.

“And that’s why you decided to pretend that you weren’t having problems?” Kale asked as his eyes shifted back to silver.

“It seemed like the right thing to do at the time,” Ashley mumbled into her pillow as she reached back and tried to shove Jacob off the bed so that she could continue making her escape.

“And now?” Kale asked, deciding that he’d heard enough for now and gestured for everyone to leave so that he could have a word with his mate.

“I’d very much like to hide under the bed,” Ashley said, sounding really fucking relieved when Jacob climbed off the bed.

“She should be fine once she starts drinking more blood,” Noah assured him as he headed for the door with Ephraim right behind him.

For a moment, Christofer stood there, watching him with a look that told him that this was far from over before he reluctantly headed for the door, leaving Kale alone with his mate so that they could discuss a few things.