Praying they wouldn’t see what she was doing, she reached into the pocket of her skirt and pulled out her phone and held it beneath her stomach. With one hand she scanned her thumb and before she could figure out how to use her other hand without giving herself away she felt Chris’ fingers move over the small keypad.

She let out a relieved sigh as she looked up and met his eyes. With a wink he took the phone from her and placed it back in her pocket.

“It will be okay,” he promised again and she knew their chances of surviving this had just been increased, but there was no guarantee that they’d be found before someone thought to search her or decided that they didn’t need them and got rid of them.

A small groan caught her attention. She looked down to find the shifter watching them. He’d seen everything.

She felt her heart race with fear as she waited for him to alert the guards, but instead he gave her a subtle shake of his head as he struggled against his binds to sit up.

It would probably be one of the dumbest things she’d ever done, but she could just leave him lying there bleeding and barely able to move. She knew she should just turn her back on him after what he’d done, but she couldn’t forget that he’d saved Marc and hopefully Joshua when he shoved them back into the tunnel and sealed the door.

“What are you doing, Munchkin?” Chris demanded as he tried to stop her, but she simply pulled away and knelt by the man’s side.

He watched her wearily as she pulled a small pin from her ear and turned her attention to his cuffed hands. It had been months since Sebastian had shown her how to pick a lock and she hoped she hadn’t forgotten.

When she heard the lock click open she sighed with relief. The second cuff took her a bit longer because of the blood that had seeped into the lock but she managed to get it off.

“Let me see that,” Chris said with a heavy sigh as he took the pin from her hands and started working on the cuffs binding the man’s legs together.

“Just so you know,” Chris said conversationally, “if you hurt my wife or child I am going to tear you apart with my bare hands.”

The man simply nodded. “Understood.”

Chris tossed the cuffs aside and pocketed the pin and she was surprised that none of their guards objected.

Then again they probably wouldn’t do anything as long they didn’t try to escape.

“I’m assuming that you’re Kale Quinn,” Chris said, taking her hand into his.

“Yes.”

As he sat down across from Kale he gave her hand a little tug and sat her down on his lap, never once taking his eyes away from the man across from them.

“Care to explain why you’re on this side of the bars?”

Chris drawled.

“Because I’m an idiot,” Kale said, sighing heavily.

“That seems to be a common problem for men,” she mumbled, earning twin glares.

Chris laid his hands over her stomach as he nodded his head in the direction of one of the guards. “Any idea what we’re dealing with here?”

” Ramjis demons,” Kale said with a shrug.

“Shit,” Chris hissed softly as she looked passed the bars and looked at the men. They looked human to her, but then again Chris said some demons did.

“And who do you work for?” Chris demanded.

“Myself, but I was foolish enough to try and make up a debt to an old friend,” Kale said reluctantly.

“Some friend,” Chris snorted in disgust.

“The fault is mine, not his,” Kale said so quietly that she almost missed it.

“W-was my brother alive when you put him in the tunnel?” Chris asked after an awkward moment of silence.

Kale nodded, looking away. “Yes, but I don’t know for how long. He took a bullet to the chest and stomach.

She felt Chris stiffen behind her.

“Thank you for giving them a chance,” Chris said, his voice breaking along with her heart.

“Don’t thank me. I had my own reasons for what I did,”

Kale said tightly.

Whatever else they said, she didn’t hear or care. She was too busy biting back a scream as pain shot up her spine.

“Izzy? Munchkin?” Chris asked. “What’s wrong?”

She opened her mouth to answer, but that’s when the scream broke free.

“Fuck…..me,” Kale groaned. “I think her water just broke.”

Chapter 46

He didn’t give the sound of gunshots a second thought, thinking that someone had left the door opened to the soundproof firing range again, but the sounds of his son screaming for help had him dropping the bags of blood and racing out of the basement kitchen.

As he ran past demons and shifters loyal to the Sentinels he thankfully didn’t have to stop and explain what was going on. With their hearing they were well aware of the problem. The Sentinels that they passed took one look at them and joined without a word. They ran up the two flights of stairs and towards the open tunnel, a tunnel that should be locked and secured, but it wasn’t.

His heart banged his chest as he caught the scent of human blood and knew without question that it belonged to his son. He quickened his pace until he was moving faster than the men and women following him.

When he rounded the last corner his heart skipped a beat as dread filled him.

“Help!” Marc screamed, his voice hoarse as he knelt over Joshua, trying to shake him awake. But there would be no shaking his son awake. Not this time. As he approached them he heard his son’s heart slow down, stuttering and skipping beats as his lungs stilled.

He was dying.

Without missing a beat Ephraim allowed his fangs to drop. He tore his wrist open and dropped by his son’s side, trying to hold back the pain that threatened to overwhelm him. He wasn’t even sure this would work.

The one time he’d changed someone had been his wife and she’d been healthy at the time, not struggling to live.

Knowing he could very well be rushing his son towards the grave he leaned over and bit into Joshua’s throat, pulling on the blood fast as he shoved his wrist into Joshua’s mouth. He just prayed some of the blood made its way into his stomach.

“Stop! What the hell are you doing?” someone demanded, but he didn’t care who it was. If they tried to stop him he would kill them and they must have sensed that because no one tried to stop him.

“Is he going to be okay, Daddy?” Joshua asked, sobbing.

He didn’t know. For all he knew it was too late, but he wouldn’t give up until he felt Joshua’s heart give out. A minute later it did just that.

*********

“Master?” a minion cowering near the doorway said.

“We have a problem.”

Logan glared at the man as he shoved past him. “Her screams gave her away,” he bit out tightly, still trying to deal with the shock of discovering that Isabella was pregnant. A child was a problem, a problem that he couldn’t afford.

“Not that, Master. T-the other Masters have sent their men to take her,” the minion said, stopping him dead in his tracks.

“What did you just say?” he asked, knowing that it should be impossible. No one should know that he had her.

No one.

“There are demons and shifters surrounding the house, Master. They want the girl and have promised immortality and money to everyone that helped them.”