Chapter 76

Chapter 76

Laymon Pack Safe House

Two Hundred Miles South of the Williams Mansion

One Month Later…

“Took you long enough,” came the absently murmured announcement as Kale lay there, trying to make sense out of what he was seeing as he watched Jacob reach over and-

“Asshole,” Kale said, sighing heavily as he grabbed the candy bowl off his chest and shoved it in the asshole’s arms as he squeezed his eyes shut, hoping that it would be enough to block out the light that felt like it was piercing his fucking brain only to end up pressing his palms against his eyes when the move only made things worse.

God, this fucking hurt, Kale thought as he tried to breathe through the pain only to regret that decision when he was hit by what seemed like every fucking scent within a hundred-mile radius as he tried to figure out what happened.

“Where’s Ashley?” he managed to get out between clenched teeth when he couldn’t make out her scent among the hundreds of scents currently tearing his fucking head apart.

“Most likely regretting her decision to hide under the bed instead of making a run for it like any sane person would do when Chris offered to give her sparring lessons,” Jacob murmured, sounding really fucking amused for someone who was about to be thrown headfirst into oncoming traffic.

“Why is he trying to teach my pregnant mate how to fight?” Kale demanded as he dropped his hands away and tried to sit up only to drop back down on the bed that definitely wasn’t his, with a pained groan when the move caused his head to spin.

“Because we took a vote,” Jacob said, sounding bored as he added, “She’s too nice,” further pissing him off.

“She doesn’t need to learn how to fight, asshole,” Kale bit out as he forced his eyes open just wide enough so that he could glare at the bastard, only to frown when Jacob said, “You have really pretty eyes.”

“What?” Kale asked, trying to make sense out of what Jacob just said when he felt something cold pressed against his hand.

“This should help,” Jacob said, gesturing to the cup in Kale’s hand with a handful of M&M’s.

“What is it?” Kale asked, plucking the pink straw out of the cup and tossing it aside before taking a sip, not really caring what it was, not when he was this thirsty.

“Coke,” Jacob said, shoving another handful of candy in his mouth as Kale was forced to bite back a groan when the sweet elixir that had gotten him through more sleepless nights than he could remember, hit his tongue.

God, he couldn’t remember it ever tasting this good before, Kale thought as he finished off every last drop. When he was done, Jacob plucked the cup out of his hand and replaced it with another one. “What happened?” Kale asked, barely managing to finish the second cup off before Jacob was replacing it again.

“What do you remember?” Jacob asked, his gaze lingering on the cup in Kale’s hand, making him frown as he looked down and…

“Tell me that you have a good reason for giving me blood,” Kale said hollowly as he stared down at the red liquid that had his mouth-watering.

“Because I’m thoughtful,” Jacob said, gesturing for him to drink it.

“What the hell is going on?” Kale demanded, narrowing his eyes on the large bastard that better start talking.

“You want the condensed version or the one that they told me not to tell you?” Jacob asked, blinking innocently.

“Start. Talking,” Kale bit out, allowing his eyes to shift silver and-

Oh…fuck…

-forgot how to breathe when everything suddenly turned red.

“Well,” Jacob murmured, pausing to grab more candy only to grumble in disappointment when he found the bowl empty. Sighing heavily, he tossed the bowl aside and climbed off the bed while Kale watched his every move, “it seems as though our traitor, Michael, came up with a dastardly plan to get revenge against Caine, who, according to the Council, killed the Sentinel’s mate a long fucking time ago when he was in the throes of bloodlust, which is why they never punished him.”

“She intercepted a message meant for another Sentinel, decided to ignore the Council’s rule about pregnant Sentinels avoiding patrol and went after the asshole on her own. She waited until he was asleep before sneaking up on him and putting a bullet in his chest. Unfortunately, she missed his heart, hit his lung, and put him into bloodlust. She decided to try her luck by putting a second bullet in him instead of running when she had the chance. It didn’t end well for her, leaving behind her seriously pissed-off mate, who waited a really fucking long time to get revenge.”

“He was behind the auction,” Kale guessed, taking in the room that he’d never been in before, taking note of everything from the windows overlooking a large backyard to the hardwood floors and everything in between. They weren’t in a Sentinel Compound, he realized, breathing a little easier knowing that Ashley was safe.

“Yes and no, the asshole gave us all up to get his hands on Occultus blood so that he could get the cancer back into Danni’s system without her knowing. It also fucked with her hormones, making sure that they didn’t find out that she was pregnant until it was too late to do anything about it, thus ensuring Caine’s downfall,” Jacob finished with a heartfelt sigh and a sad shake of his head.

“Get to the part where I’m drinking blood and seeing red,” Kale snapped, throwing his legs over the side of the bed and-

“Why are my toenails pink?” he demanded with a glare aimed at the little bastard.

“Because someone loves me,” Jacob murmured absently as he pulled out his phone and quickly snapped a picture before putting his phone away with a satisfied sigh. “Now, where were we?”

“You were giving me a reason to rip your throat out,” Kale snapped, forcing himself to stand up only to end up grabbing hold of the headboard when his legs threatened to drop him on his ass.

“That does seem like something that I would do,” Jacob said, nodding in agreement as he dropped down in the oversized leather chair in the corner that looked similar to the one that Ashley bought for him at the house.

“What happened?” Kale asked, closing his eyes and slowly exhaled, willing his head to stop spinning.

“From what we’ve gathered so far, something tipped them off that we knew about the auction and they set their plan into motion early. The problem was the Occultus demons that they needed to pull it off weren’t exactly cooperative. The only thing that they cared about was getting their sister back. When they realized that we’d set our own trap at the prison, they sat back and watched as we killed the shifters and vampires that had been sent to burn us alive and bury our ashes beneath the rubble.”

“They were gone by the time that we were done. We managed to get back to the mansion in time to stop anyone from setting foot in the house, but unfortunately, Michael managed to get his hands on little Ash,” Jacob said, only to add, “They named the baby after Ashley,” at Kale’s questioning look.

“Is he okay?”

“He’s a very healthy and happy baby boy, thanks to your mate and Ephraim. He got the baby safely away from the Sentinel before he could hurt him,” Jacob said with a warm smile.

“Good,” Kale said, beyond fucking relieved that the little boy was okay. He’d been worried about him since he found out that Danni was pregnant.

“Michael managed to force Danni to drink more demon blood laced with the cancer. The mix was more potent this time, causing the cancer to spread quickly. Before it could take over, Noah was able to set up a transfusion with Christofer’s blood. They nearly drained him, but they managed to kill every last cancer cell while they got everyone out of the mansion before the fire spread.”

“They burned down the mansion?” Kale asked, releasing his hold on the headboard only to immediately drop back down on the bed when his legs refused to cooperate.

“A group of shifters who weren’t happy with the auction wanted to make sure that they would never have to face an army of Pyte-created vampires, set it on fire while we were getting the children out. We managed to push them back, but they kept coming. We almost didn’t make it to you, but Cuddles gave us a hand and bought us some time so that we could grab you both,” Jacob said, sighing heavily as he reached up and rubbed the back of his neck. “They managed to grab Indie. We’ve been looking for her, but so far, nothing. Ethan’s searching for her. We would have figured out that she was missing sooner, but with everything going on we didn’t realize that she was gone until we were getting everyone out of the mansion. It was really fucking close, Kale.”

“What happened?” Kale asked, giving up on trying to stand up and dropped back against the pillows with a sigh.

“Andrew Vane showed up at your house with four Occultus demons. They shot you and injected Ashley with human blood mixed with a shitload of narcotics to keep her from doing anything more than wish for a quick death,” Jacob said, gesturing to the cup of blood on the nightstand.

“I will fucking kill the little bastard,” Kale bit out as he reluctantly grabbed the cup, knowing that he really didn’t have much of a choice.

“You already did,” Jacob said, sounding amused as he watched Kale force himself to drink blood. “You ripped his throat out. You really don’t remember anything that happened?”

“No, so keep talking,” Kale said, gesturing for him to get on with it as he continued drinking the blood and nearly fucking moaned. God, it was good, he thought even as he couldn’t help but wonder if he could still eat food.

“Apparently, Andrew’s father made a deal with whoever this asshole Magnus is, to turn you over in exchange for getting the bounty on his son’s head removed. When they found out about Ashley and what she could do, his father realized that he could have that heir that he’d always dreamed of and made a separate deal with Magnus for Ashley. The dumb bastard had absolutely no idea that his father sold him out until Logan showed up,” Jacob explained, sending a cold chill down his spine.

“Logan was there?” Kale asked, slowly lowering the cup as a chill worked its way up his spine, knowing exactly how far Logan was willing to go to make him pay.

“He made his own deal with the demons and gave them Andrew to bargain with, but unfortunately, the little prick realized that his father had sold him out and managed to take them by surprise. He doubled back and shot you again in a desperate attempt to get Ashley, but he only managed to piss her off. She broke every bone in his hand, completely crushed it,” Jacob said with a wistful sigh. “I taught her everything she knows.”

“How many times was I shot?” Kale asked, glancing down at his stomach only to find smooth skin.

“Around eight or nine times, I think,” Jacob said, shrugging it off.

“Silver?” Kale asked, wondering how that was even possible.

“You’re a stubborn bastard,” Jacob said, nodding solemnly as he gestured for Kale to continue drinking.

“How many of them were from Logan?” Kale asked before finishing off the rest of the blood.

“None,” Jacob said, making him frown as he added, “He saved your life and probably your little girl’s.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Kale demanded because if there was one thing that he knew, it was that Logan would never do anything to help him.

“Well, after Izzy showed up and-”

“Izzy showed up?” Kale asked, wondering why he wasn’t surprised that the little pain in the ass would do something that dangerous.

Sighing heavily, Jacob said, “I’m really going to need you to try to keep up here.”

“And I’m going to need you to tell me why I can hear everyone fucking breathing in the house,” Kale snapped as the sounds bombarding his head slowly began to separate and became clearer. He’d always had good hearing, but nothing like this. He shouldn’t be able to hear anything past this floor.

“I’m getting to that part.”

“Get there faster,” Kale said, only to wince when someone shut a door on the first floor, sending sharp pain through his head.

“Izzy realized that the network was down and decided to go make sure that you were both okay. While you and Logan were yelling at each other, she took it upon herself to remove your chains and help Ashley, and of course, the leech was helpless to stop her since he has a soft spot for the little pain in the ass. When he realized that Izzy was pregnant, he-”

“Izzy’s pregnant?” Kale asked only to sigh when Jacob waved that off as though that was a given.

“Anyway, he decided to hold off on his plans in order to get her out of there. Then, he realized just how sick Ashley was and was helping her when Andrew came back and shot you. He ended up taking a bullet meant for Ashley and stopped the little prick from killing Izzy. After you tore Andrew’s throat out, Logan told her what she needed to do to save your life. Once Christofer showed up, he disappeared, and we brought everyone here. Drew bought the mansion years ago and had it renovated for his Pack, but they had no interest in embracing that part of Pack life or leaving Boston.”

“She changed me,” Kale said as the realization that he’d been turned into the very thing that he hated most in this world sank in and-

He would never have to worry about not being able to protect his family, he realized only to glare when Jacob said, “You’re still an asshole if that helps?”

“And she knew that I was shot with silver?” Kale asked as something occurred to him. The last time that he was shot, it had only been one bullet and the demon blood had sealed it, stopping the silver from spreading to his blood, but eight bullets would have made his blood very dangerous for her.

“I’m pretty sure that she did.”

“And she still drank my blood, knowing what silver could do to her?” Kale asked, needing to be sure of something.

“She didn’t have a choice,” Jacob said, shrugging it off like it was no big deal.

Nodding slowly, Kale guessed, “And I told her not to do it?”

“I thought you didn’t remember what happened?”

“I don’t, but that’s not going to stop me from spanking her ass.”