PS02 - Without Regret (42 page)

cold water will help.”

“Cold water?” she murmured in confusion as she followed his gaze to the right and felt her jaw drop. He couldn’t be serious.

Oh, but he was.

He grabbed her hand and hauled her right behind him into the frigid water. In less than a minute she was soaking wet, freezing

and wondering when he’d lost his damn mind. When he didn’t cut across the river like she expected him to, but turned right and

continued to drag her through the water, this time against the current she wondered if he’d hit his head during the drop.

“What the hell are we doing, Chris?” she demanded as she slipped on a slimy rock and almost went face first in the water.

Thankfully Chris yanked her back to her feet before that happened.

“We’re using the water to cover our scents,” he explained, sounding a little out of breath, which was understandable she

supposed since moving through the mid-thigh level water was a bit of a workout.

“Okay…..,” she said slowly, not really understanding.

“Won’t they be able to just figure out that we went by the water?”

His hand tightened around hers as he shook his head.

Well, she thought he shook his head, but she couldn’t really tell because she was being dragged behind him and he was moving

really fast.

“The smoke from the fire is going to blanket this entire area for a while and make it difficult for them to find our scent. Add the

scent of a hundred or so frightened humans into the mix and it’s going to become damn near impossible for them to find our

scent,” he explained as he caught her once again with a pained grunt.

“Um, if the smoke and human scents are going to give us cover for a little while then why are we walking in the water? Why

don’t we cross and walk on land where it’s warmer?” she suggested even as she tried to release his hand to do just that.

“Oh no, not so fast, my little Munchkin,” he said, pulling her so that she could walk right alongside of him. “The other scents

will confuse and cover our scents, Munchkin, but it won’t be long before they figure out that we never came out the front.

They’re going to look for us and when they don’t catch our scent then they’ll split up and I don’t know about you, but I’d rather

only have to deal with one of those dumb asses if I have to.”

Actually she’d rather not have to deal with any of them if given the choice. They’d scared the hell out of her when they grabbed

her and whisked her off to that room. She truly thought they were going tear her apart.

What she hadn’t expected was that little sniff fest of theirs. Talk about creepy. Speaking of which.

“Chris?”

“Yes, Munchkin?” he asked distractedly as he watched the woods around them for any movement, she supposed.

“I don’t think we really have to worry about them being able to scent us and come after us. They thought they scented a

pregnancy on me so I think we’re in the clear if we want to walk on land now, okay?” she explained, wondering why he didn’t

come to the same logical conclusion sooner as she gave his hand a tug as she tried to go towards land only to have him haul her

back to his side.

“They weren’t wrong, Munchkin,” he said tightly, not sounding pleased at all.

“Ah, yeah, they were,” she said, feeling her patience fray. Not being able to have children was a sore spot for her and not

something she could joke about. She’d always wanted kids, and when she found out that she couldn’t have any it damn near

destroyed her.

“No, they weren’t, Izzy. You’re pregnant. That mark on your neck is a pretty clear indication and those dumb fucks took away

any lingering doubts,” he said evenly as he doubled his pace, forcing her to practically run through the water to keep up with

him.

“You mean my rash?” she asked, wondering what the hell was wrong with everyone. She’d seen the blockage in the ultrasound

images and knew there was absolutely no way that she could be pregnant.

None.

“It’s only appears as a rash in the beginning, but now it’s a circle, the symbol that you’re carrying a human child. If you kept the

child you would only be pregnant for another four months. Sentinel pregnancies only take half the time of human pregnancies

whether you’re having a human or a Sentinel baby,” he said, but she was only half listening as she reached up with a shaky

hand and traced the small raised circle beneath her ear where the rash used to be.

“What do you mean by, ‘if I kept the child’?” she asked numbly, afraid to even blink and discover that this was a dream. This

couldn’t be real, she thought with a watery smile. A baby? She never dreamed this could ever happen, but what if it was?

Having a baby would change things and she’d definitely have to see about getting trained and buying a house with the best

security money could buy, but she’d do it. She do anything to give her baby the childhood she always wanted. She couldn’t

believe it. It felt like winning the lottery. She wanted to cry, jump and hug someone.

“I meant exactly what it sounded like, Munchkin. You can’t keep the baby. As soon as we get to the compound I’m having a

doctor terminate the pregnancy,” Chris said, bringing her world crashing down around her.

*********

ribs were broken, one of them pressing against his lung if the pain he felt every time he sucked in a breath was any indication.

His shoulder and leg were killing him, but at least they hadn’t hit the rocks, he thought, wincing when sharp pain shot through

his lung.

Izzy yanked her hand away from his and he barely caught himself before he stumbled. She didn’t need to know he was in bad

shape. He didn’t want to scare her, but if they were found now he wouldn’t be able to put up much of a fight to keep her safe.

He’d only be able to shoot them and that wouldn’t do a hell of a lot of good with Djaeho demons. It would just piss them the

hell off.

As much as he hated doing this, he needed help for his mate. It was a chance he didn’t want to take, but he had no choice. His

only hope was that whoever answered his call had brains enough to get Izzy to a compound and under protection before

nightfall. Leaving her in a Sentinel home would only cause more problems, problems that a Sentinel couple wouldn’t be able to

handle on their own. Izzy needed to be brought to a compound where there would be more than enough Sentinels to guard her

and help get her ass out of the country.

“Did you seriously just tell me that I’m pregnant only to turn around and tell me that I’m not keeping it?” Izzy demanded,

thankfully using her anger to haul ass through the water ahead of him.

Sucking in a pained breath, he pulled his Sentinel phone out of his bag and scanned his thumbprint. As the phone slid open he

kept his thumb firmly pressed to the screen and pressed 1-1-2-5, the SOS code that would hopefully get his little mate the

protection that she needed.

When he didn’t answer, because he couldn’t, she continued. “Because I’ll let you know right now, buddy, that’s not your

choice! I never expected this and I sure as hell never planned on it, but I’m telling you right now that I am keeping this baby and

it’s going to take more than just you to take away from me,” she practically yelled, which was okay at the moment since it

meant that she couldn’t hear him struggling to breathe.

With a shaky hand he placed the phone back in the bag, sealed it and placed it in his pocket before he did something stupid like

drop it. He wrapped an arm around his chest to help lessen the pain, but it didn’t help. Holy fuck, this hurt. Every breath felt

like someone was taking a hot poker and ramming the tip into his lungs.

“I don’t want children, Munchkin,” he somehow managed to bite out. He’d never allowed himself to want any children of his

own. He was more than fine with his brothers and sister and future nieces and nephews, but he would never have one of his

own. He just couldn’t take the chance that he’d hurt his child, he just couldn’t.

“Good for you, buddy. You don’t want this baby then that’s fine,” she said, sounding close to tears and if he wasn’t in so much

fucking pain or struggling just to keep putting one foot in front of the other while he slowly trailed behind her he’d grab her and

pull her into his arms and explain everything, but he couldn’t.

“Slow……down,” he said, coughing.

Of course she didn’t. For such a small woman she moved damn quick when pissed, he mused as he slipped and stumbled,

landing on his knees on small jagged rocks as the current threatened to shove him backwards. Gasping, he fought against it as

he slowly got back to his feet. His little mate of course was a good thirty yards ahead of him now.

He stumbled backwards, in too much pain to put up much of a fight. “Munchkin,” he gasped, cringing as pain shot through his

chest.

“What?!” she demanded as she turned around to glare at him.

“I-“

“That’s right, buddy,” she said, taking that as her cue to storm towards him. “You have a lot of nerve,” she said, angrily wiping

the tears off her face. “You people kidnap me, screw around with my life, scare the living hell out of me, threaten to drop me

off on an island and leave me there and when something good, something that I thought would never happen for me, happens

and you think you’re going to keep bossing me around,”

she said, stomping over to him as he looked around praying that help would arrive for his Munchkin. “Well, you have another

thing coming, buddy, because I am through with you bossing me around,” she snapped, prompting her fists on her hips as she

glared up at him.

“It’s,” he gasped for breath, “for your own good.”

“For my own good?” she nearly screeched.

“Have to be,” he sucked in a breath, “quiet,” he said, hoping like hell that no one could hear them. He gestured for her to turn

around and keep walking, but she of course ignored him and continued to glare up at him.

“You don’t want to be my mate. You don’t want the baby. Well, guess what? I don’t want you,” she said around a loud sob as

she shoved him and damn if that didn’t fucking hurt. It didn’t hurt that her hand slammed into his broken ribs.

His vision dimmed as the pain shot through his lung and Izzy’s cries for help registered in his mind.

“Run, Munchkin,” he managed to say as his world flickered black.

Chapter 36

“Chris? Chris!” she cried as Chris’ eyes closed and his body dropped into the ice cold water before she could grab him.

She hadn’t meant to hurt him. Oh god, had she killed him? Her heart lurched in her chest at the thought of Chris being dead. No,

he couldn’t be dead. He couldn’t be. She was mad at him that was all. She’d been angry that he didn’t want the baby and that he

was still planning on sending her off after she thought they were getting closer.

Not that she expected him to beg for her to stay with him or anything. She wasn’t an idiot. Okay, she might have wondered what

it would be like to fall asleep in his arms every night and wake up in his arms every morning, one or two dozen times over the

last ten hours since he turned into sweet, funny Chris, the Chris that she was afraid she just might be falling in love with.

The way he could make her feel on top of that too strong connection she felt with him had her falling hard for him and she was

helpless to stop it. She knew he hadn’t wanted anything permanent, but she was hoping that he might have felt the same way

about her. Something to let her know that she wasn’t in this all alone and that maybe for once someone truly cared about her.

But he didn’t. Clearly nothing had changed between them. He still planned on shipping her off and now felt like he had to take

the one thing she’d never thought she’d have and would never give up. Not without a fight.

If he didn’t want them then that was fine with her, or at least she would make it fine later. Right now she needed to make sure

that he was okay so that she could yell at him for scaring the hell out of her.

“Chris!” she cried as she half-ran-half-stumbled after him as the current threatened to knock her on her butt.

He went beneath the water as it dragged him back the way they came.

“Chris!” she screamed, feeling so damn helpless as he was dragged head first towards a large rock sticking out of the water.

Praying she didn’t miss him, she dove for him. She landed to the side of him, missing her mark, but she made up for it by

shoving him away and from the rock.

As she reached out and grabbed his ankle, praying he hadn’t swallowed too much water, she slammed her shoulder into the

rock, but somehow managed to hold onto Chris through the mind numbing pain.

She pressed her back against the rock, ignoring the way the sharp edges dug into her skin and pulled Chris towards her. Once

he was close enough she grabbed him by the waist of his pants and dragged him until she could pull him out of the water and

into her arms.

He was too damn big, she thought as she struggled to get her arms around him and pull him towards the shore. Finally she gave

up and instead grabbed him by the backpack that he thankfully hadn’t lost in the water and dragged him towards land, fighting

the strong current every inch of the way.