Chapter 77

Chapter 77

“This is delicious,” Ashley said with a hopeful smile as the large Sentinel sitting across from her bit out, “Very delicious,” as he dutifully sipped his pretend tea from the tiny plastic Disney princess teacup that his little girl shoved in his hands a minute ago.

“This is nice,” Ashley murmured, taking a sip of her imaginary tea as Chris continued glaring at her before she decided to shift her attention to Ephraim, who looked amused by this whole thing. That was quickly followed by shifting her attention to her brother, who had her swallowing hard when she saw the look of determination on his face. “Isn’t this nice?”

“You’re not getting out of this,” Chris, who’d spent the last month trying to drag her away from Kale’s side so that he could teach her how to fight, said with a look that told her that it would probably be in her best interest to keep this tea party going for as long as humanly possible.

“Drink, Daddy,” Jessica demanded as she reached over and pushed her father’s hand until he did what he was told, his glare never leaving Ashley as he did it.

“I told you to run,” Marc said with a pitying look that wasn’t really helpful at the moment, so Ashley shifted her attention to Madison, hoping that she would be able to talk Chris into leaving her alone only to find Ephraim’s mate sending her a sympathetic wince as she said, “You really should have run.”

Since that wasn’t exactly helpful, Ashley continued to force that smile that was really starting to hurt as she said, “And miss this wonderful tea party? Not a chance.”

“This isn’t going to end well for you,” Danni said, not bothering to look up as she smiled down at the sleeping baby boy in her arms.

“Would it help if I told you that I don’t want to learn how to fight?” Ashley asked with a hopeful smile, only to feel her shoulders drop when they all said, “No.”

“Why can’t he teach me?” Ashley asked, pointing towards little CJ, who was fast asleep in his mother’s arms while his brother and sister napped on the blanket behind them.

“This is just so sad,” Izzy murmured, smiling when one of Ephraim’s little boys offered to share an imaginary cookie with her.

“We should probably wait until Kale wakes up then,” Ashley said, noting the way that everyone’s gaze turned sympathetic before she focused back on the tiny teacup in her hand, telling herself that he was fine, but…

He should have opened his eyes by now.

It had been a month, and so far, nothing. Kale hadn’t done anything more than scare the hell out of her. He should have opened his eyes after a week like Cloe did after Christofer changed her, but Kale was stubborn. A few years ago, Kale had given Ephraim’s son, Joshua, blood after he’d been shot, which would have probably been enough to save him if Ephraim hadn’t done the same thing. Their blood had mixed and changed the once easy-going man who’d been well on his way to becoming a doctor into a very dangerous man and she was terrified that the same thing was going to happen to Kale.

She couldn’t lose him, Ashley thought as she found herself staring down at the beautiful ring on her finger while she tried to tell herself that everything was going to be fine, but it was becoming harder to lie to herself. She just…

She missed her cranky shifter.

“He’s going to be fine,” Marc said softly, reaching over to take her hand in his.

“I know,” Ashley said, forcing that smile, only to go still when she heard it.

Swallowing hard, her gaze shifted to Christofer to find her brother smiling as he said, “Sounds like he’s awake.”

Nodding numbly, Ashley quickly finished off her imaginary tea, murmured, “Thank you for having me,” and handed her teacup off to Marc before getting to her feet and quickly made her way across the gym and-

Winced when Chris called after her. “We’ll finish this later!”

Telling herself that Kale would protect her from the large Sentinel determined to make her cry, Ashley quickly made her way into the foyer, down the back hallway and up the back stairs to the third floor of the large seventeenth-century mansion that Drew had renovated a few years ago and quickly made her way to the room where she’d spent the past month watching over Kale.

He was fine, Ashley told herself, only to slow down when a thought occurred to her, something that she’d been trying not to think about since she woke up. What if he hated her for doing this to him? He hated Pytes, hated everything about them, and now, she’d turned him into the same monster that killed his family. What if he couldn’t forgive her? No matter what, she couldn’t regret doing it, not when it meant saving his life. She just…she couldn’t live without him. She-

“Mo ghrá.”

-couldn’t move fast enough when she heard the two little words that she’d been waiting a month to hear. She quickly made her way down the hallway and into their room and when she saw him sitting up in bed, watching her through bright red eyes, she couldn’t get to him fast enough.

“Uh, Ashley,” Jacob said, trying to get her attention, but she barely heard him as she climbed onto the bed and made her way onto Kale’s lap so that she could cup his handsome face in her hands and kiss him.

“I missed you so much,” Ashley said, kissing his lips, his chin, his cheek, and his forehead. “You have no idea how much I missed you,” she said, wrapping her arms around him and held him tightly as she closed her eyes as she slowly exhaled, relieved that he was okay.

That led to her frowning when she realized that Kale wasn’t wrapping his arms around her. Of course, Jacob muttering, “This isn’t going to end well,” didn’t exactly help. Swallowing hard, she opened her eyes as she sat back and-

“I-I should probably go back downstairs to get my ass kicked,” she somehow managed to get out as she watched Kale’s eyes flash from red to silver to an incredibly beautiful shimmering green that nearly took her breath away before landing back on red again as he said, “Get. Out.”

Deciding that was an excellent idea, Ashley moved to climb off his lap only to have Kale put an end to all of her hopes and dreams when his hands found her hips, keeping her right where she was as he continued to glare at her, and wow, did he look pissed.

“Do you have something to tell me, mo ghrá?” Kale drawled, sounding bored as he leaned back against the headboard.

“I missed you?” Ashley said with a hopeful smile, trying not to panic when Jacob abandoned her.

“You said that already,” Kale murmured, reaching up to push a strand of her hair back behind her ear.

“And I really meant it,” she said, nodding solemnly.

“What else?” he asked, dropping his hand back to her hip.

“Chris found the junk food stash that Izzy hid under the bed. She tried convincing him that it was mine, but he didn’t believe her,” Ashley said, deciding that rambling incoherently was her best bet at the moment. “For some reason, that led to a lecture about the negative effects that sugar and processed food were having on his goddaughter, which of course, led to him shoving junk food at me and mumbling apologies incoherently when I started crying,” Ashley admitted with a heartfelt sigh before adding, “I don’t think he’ll be making that mistake again,” when he continued glaring at her.

“Marc’s been crashing with us since waking up to find Jessica standing over him with a pair of safety scissors and a fresh bottle of glitter. She seems really determined to break him. I found her standing over him this morning with a bottle of fingerpaint. I probably should have put a stop to it, but she just looked so excited to find out what he looked like with purple hair. I have to admit, she did good work,” Ashley said, hoping for a smile only to keep going when he continued glaring.

“What else?” Kale asked as his hands absently caressed her thighs as she worried her bottom lip, wondering how much she should tell him.

“They still can’t find Indie. Ethan is searching for her, but so far, no one is talking. He came back last night and questioned Michael, but the Sentinel refused to talk. The demons that held us hostage that night, on the other hand, are demanding to see you, but Christofer is refusing to let them in. Apparently, Cuddles took them by surprise when they were dragging Andrew through the woods. That’s how he escaped. By the time that they managed to double-back to the house, I was already well on my way to becoming a pile of ash,” Ashley said, only to decide that a change in topic was in order when his eyes flashed brighter.

That, and she really didn’t like to think about what happened after she drank his blood when it was laced with silver. She hadn’t been sure what to expect, but nothing, absolutely nothing, could have prepared her for the pain that followed her into the black void. It had been excruciating and-

No, she wasn’t going to think about it.

“Speaking of Cuddles…” Ashley said, deciding that a change in topic was in order here, “John found out from the shifters that the Council placed at the house that Cuddles is a frequent visitor. They quickly learned to keep frosting on hand if they don’t want him to follow them when they went on patrol.”

“Do they know about you?” Kale asked quietly, making her frown.

“The Council?” she asked only to sigh when he nodded. “Yes, but Ephraim made it clear that they were to keep their distance and just in case they misheard him, Christofer and Caine made it clear that I was off-limits. I’m pretty sure that Jacob and Chris threatened them as well, but whenever I ask them about it, they get this terrifying look on their faces as though they’re already imagining doing it.”

“They haven’t tried coming here?” Kale asked, reaching up to trace her jaw with his fingertips.

“Eric showed up last week to talk to me,” Ashley admitted with a wince as she watched his eyes flash silver again.

“What did he want?”

“Well, he wanted to take Michael, but Ephraim is refusing to release him. I’m not really sure what he wanted to talk to me about since I was hiding under the bed when he came,” she admitted with a sheepish smile that had his lips twitching.

“And what’s this that I hear about you crushing a shifter’s hand?”

“I put the shifter and Pyte skills that I told you about to good use,” Ashley said, earning a chuckle as Kale gave her one of those smiles that she adored as he leaned in and brushed his lips against hers.

“Did you make him cry?” he asked with a teasing smile.

Nodding solemnly, she said, “I believe I saw his eyes tear up before you ripped his throat out.”

“Good girl,” Kale said, smiling approvingly against her lips as his hand found the soft curve of her belly and gently caressed it. “And Aine?”

“Would really appreciate it if you didn’t scare me like that again,” Ashley said as Kale pulled away so that he could press his lips against her forehead.

“I’ll do my best,” he promised her as she worried her bottom lip, afraid to ask, but she had to know.

“Are you mad at me for changing you?” Ashley asked, watching his gaze soften as he looked at her.

“No,” Kale said as he leaned in and brushed his lips against hers, “I could never be mad at you for doing that.”

“Why not?” Ashley asked as she found herself following Kale as he leaned back against the pillows.

“Because it means that I’m never going to have to let you go.”