PS02 - Without Regret (11 page)

“Elizabeth,” he said, not at all surprised when the man’s eyes shifted to liquid silver or when his nails turned into claws and

his teeth into a deadly row of canines.

Logan looked straight into the eyes of the beast that longed to tear his heart out and said, “You owe me.”

“I fucking saved you,” Kale said in a voice that was more beast than man at the moment.

“Thanks to you we’ll never know, now will we?” he said with a calm that he didn’t feel.

He hated thinking about Elizabeth, never mind saying her name. In the last nine hundred years of his life she was the only one to

ever come close to bringing him to his knees and he knew if the bastard in front of him hadn’t interfered he probably wouldn’t

be here today.

But he would never be that man again thanks to the bastard in front of him. He would never hold her in his arms again or watch

her stomach grow round with his child. Instead of growing old surrounded by their children and grandchildren on the piece of

land he’d damn near killed himself to buy she’d died in the streets like a fucking animal.

“You finally ready to do this?” Kale asked, his eyes shifted back to emerald green.

It was only then that Logan realized he’d crossed the room and had Kale by the throat. Disgusted by his lack of control, he

shoved Kale away from him. One day he would make the man pay, but not today, and definitely not this easily.

“You’re taking the job,” Logan said tightly as he walked back across the room, turning his back on his enemy as part of him

hopped Kale would make a move so he had his excuse to tear him apart with his hands even though he knew the right thing was

to wait for the perfect moment.

For Elizabeth.

For a moment Kale said nothing and Logan wondered if the man left. He’d never seen another, shifter, human or vampire move

the way Kale did. With his enhanced hearing and sense of smell he should be able to pinpoint the exact second that Kale

entered or left a room, but he couldn’t. When he’d been nothing more than a human with a naive perception of the world he

thought he’d lived in he’d envied Kale’s abilities.

He’d looked up to his best friend and for most of their childhood he’d done his damndest to be just like him.

Everyone in their tiny village had admired and respected Kale, even when he was still a boy. In a time when strength meant

everything Kale had it in spades.

Women wanted him and men feared him and Logan had done his damndest to be just like him. It wasn’t until Elizabeth had

chosen him when they were barely fifteen that Logan finally felt that he had something special that no other man had.

Elizabeth had been a breath of fresh air to their tiny village and while every boy and man had wanted her, she had wanted him.

She made him feel like a king and he’d fallen hard for her. He’d been so young and foolish, but he’d been damned determined

to do right by her and refused to insult her by offering her less than what she’d deserved.

For ten years he’d worked and scrounged for every penny he could get his hands on until he had enough to buy the perfect land

for Elizabeth. It was the most beautiful land he’d ever seen in his life and he knew the moment he saw it that she would love it

and she had.

She’d cried and laughed as she ran through streams and high grass making him laugh and fall in love with her all over again.

His hands clenched almost painfully from the memory he wished would go away. He didn’t want to think about Elizabeth

anymore. He didn’t want the pain of her life and death to haunt him any longer. After nine hundred years he desperately needed

some peace and he knew it would only come when he dealt with the bastard that cost her her life, but he knew he had to wait

just a little bit longer.

He needed this program. More importantly he needed to make sure none of the other Masters got their hands on this program

and with Kale working for him he could guarantee that wouldn’t happen. The man was relentless and wouldn’t stop until the

job was done.

“If I do this-” Kale started.

“You will do this,” Logan said, cutting him off, not allowing himself to look back, knowing that if he did all his good intentions

would be for nothing and he would kill the man.

“-then I want the slate wiped clean between us,” Kale said as if Logan had never spoken.

He had to bite back a laugh at that. Forgiveness? There would never be any. “We’ll see,” he said, knowing if he flat out lied

that the man would simply walk out and entertain another Master’s offer.

Kale sighed heavily behind him, sounding exhausted.

“Fine. I’ll take the job. But once I deliver the woman to you, we’re even.”

Never.

“Of course,” Logan murmured, knowing the second Ms.

McGuire was securely in his hands that he’d finally give Elizabeth the justice she deserved. He reached out and straightened a

paper weight on his desk, knowing the next thing he needed to say was going to be met with some resistance.

“If she’s found her mate I need you to take him as well,”

he said.

“Mate?” Kale said, sounding truly confused. “Is she a shifter or a demon?”

He looked over his shoulder, unwilling to miss the man’s reaction as he said, “Sentinel.”

If Logan was the type of man to react to anything he would have smiled at the man’s reaction.

“Bloody hell,” Kale groaned, closing his eyes in resignation. “Now I know we’re even after I do this.”

Not until the last drop of Kale’s blood left his body, Logan thought, but the man didn’t need to know that at the moment. He had

enough to deal with at the moment.

But soon……..

Chapter 8

“Baby, I have to go,” Ephraim mumbled against Madison’s lips, groaning when she ran her fingers over the neck of his black

tee shirt, down his stomach and over the waist of his jeans until she finally cupped his erection through his pants and squeezed,

hard.

“All I need is five minutes,” Madison promised as she ran her clever little hand back up to the waist of his pants and yanked

his shirt up and over his head so that she could run her fingers over his bare skin and the head of his erection as it pushed past

the waist of his pants in an attempt to get closer to Madison.

Ephraim growled as she gripped the tip of his hard cock and pulled it straight up, freeing several more inches of his erection

for her busy little hand to play with.

“I have to go, baby,” he said, but he made no move to step away from her. Between the way she was rubbing the few drops of

excitement that had escaped over the tip of his erection and the way she was softly suckling his tongue as she moaned, and

scent of her arousal, which hit him as hard as a battering ram a few minutes ago when she entered the basement, he was

helpless to fight back or really care that his son and his mate were waiting for him.

Actually, now that he thought about it, he’d be doing his son a favor by giving him five more minutes alone with his mate. It

would be good for Chris to get to know his mate, he decided, basing that of course on fatherly concern and not on the way that

Madison was moaning against his mouth, or the sweet smell that was telling him that she was wet and ready for him.

“Alright, you can have five minutes,” he said, sighing heavily as if what she wanted from him somehow pained him. It did, but

in a good way. Madison broke away from the kiss, giving him one of those sexy coy smiles that she knew drove him crazy

“That’s very generous of you,” Madison said with a knowing look. The woman could smell how turned on he was and was

going to use it to bring him to his knees and make him beg and he was going to love every fucking minute of it.

“I don’t have much time, baby,” he reminded her, fighting the urge to throw her against the wall and fuck her hard. If she wasn’t

carrying his babies and was a tad unpredictable because of her hormones he’d be doing just that, but he knew she needed to run

the show right now. So he fought back the urge to take over, knowing it just might kill him to keep his hands off her.

“Tonight’s a full moon,” Madison said conversationally as she slowly lowered the thin straps of the white floral summer dress

she’d changed into earlier.

“Yes,” he agreed tightly as his eyes devoured a strapless baby blue lace bra that showed more than it concealed.

He licked his lips as his eyes focused on the large butterscotch nipples poking against the lacey material and knew he could

make her come just by sucking on them.

“It’s going to be a very long night,” she mused, sliding the dress down and taking the matching panties that he got a glimpse of

down with the dress leaving her bare, except for the bra, which had him panting.

She leaned into him, pressing her large firm breasts against him as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

He placed his hands on her bare hips and nearly groaned as he slid his hands down to cup her warm bottom and pull her more

snugly against him.

“Did you hear what I said, Ephraim?” she asked, drawing his attention, but stealing it again by rubbing herself against his

erection.

All the air in his lungs rushed out of his body as she ground herself against him with just the right amount of pressure. Long

before he’d met Madison he’d fucked a lot of women who knew how to play the game to get what they wanted, but not one of

them could hold a candle to his incredibly beautiful sexy wife.

Even after ten years he couldn’t believe how incredibly fortunate he was to have found her. She was the love of his life, his

best friend, his conscious, his soul mate and the most wonderful mother any child could be blessed to have and he couldn’t

imagine living an eternity without her.

“I think it would be dangerous to give you release,”

Madison said, grabbing his attention.

“Oh?” he asked, barely registering her words as she continued to rub herself against him as her fingers toyed with his hair.

“Mmmhmm,” she said, slightly rocking her hips against him as if she couldn’t help herself. “Well, with it being a full moon and

all and Chris’ mate being untrained I was thinking that you should probably keep your edge tonight,” she suggested, her voice

hoarse with her struggle not to moan.

“I see,” he mumbled, looking down at Madison’s beautiful caramel eyes just as they turned a fiery red.

His eyes moved to her mouth to find her fangs dropped, damn near bringing him to his knees. As much as he loved making love

to her while looking into her beautiful caramel eyes he absolutely craved watching her lose control.

“Then what do you suggest I do to keep my edge?” he asked, smiling as he leaned down to press a soft kiss to her lips.

“I think,” Madison started to say only to pause long enough to brush her lips against his before pulling back slightly, “that you

should make sure I scream your name at least twice before you leave,” she said, sounding a little breathless.

“But…..,” he prompted, already having an idea where this was going and not liking it one bit.

“But,” she said, abandoning his aching erection and sliding her hand up his chest, only stopping when she reached his shoulder,

“you’re going to have to leave here aching, baby, so that you’re at the top of your game tonight. I need you to help keep an eye

on Isabella for Chris tonight,” she said, lightly gripping his shoulders.

“I already planned on watching her,” he said, leaning down to press a tender kiss against her mouth. He loved this woman so

goddamned much. There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for her and she knew it.

“Yes, but this way you’ll be on edge and I won’t have to worry about her getting hurt,” Madison said against his lips.

Ephraim pulled back to look into her once again beautiful caramel eyes and sighed. “You’re really worried, aren’t you?”

She worried her bottom lip between her dull human teeth before giving him a reluctant nod. “I know she’s a Sentinel and I

know from watching Chris when he first started that all of them are supposed to have natural ability, but….,” she trailed off

with a lazy shrug.

“But, what, baby?” he asked, pulling her closer to offer her comfort. He hated seeing her upset. Knowing his wife was unhappy

in any way hurt him more than anything Nichols ever did in that fucking dungeon.

He’d do anything to make sure that she never experienced another moment of unhappiness.

“But she’s so small,” she said quietly, earning a chuckle from him.

“Ah, sweetheart,” Ephraim said, smiling as he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “She may be small, but you need to remember

she’s been given everything she needs to do her job. In her case the harmless package might actually come in handy.”

“Because they’ll underestimate her,” Madison said, sounding thoughtful.

“Exactly.”

“Her training starts tonight?” she asked, absently rubbing his shoulders.

“Yes and if we run into any problems her skills should be jump started within the first few minutes,” Ephraim promised with a

kiss to the tip of Madison’s cute little nose.

“Wasn’t she attacked this morning?” Madison pointed out. “Why didn’t her skills kick in then?”

Ephraim had wondered the same thing and made it a point to catch a moment alone with Eric when he was outside heading for

his car. After one look at his new daughter-in-law and hearing Eric’s vague account of what happened this morning he’d been a

little weary about trusting the small woman’s ability to watch his son’s back.