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“What are you suggesting?” he bit out, turning his attention back to Ephraim and Caine. “That we sit on our asses and wait for them? I’ve made that mistake before,” he said, shaking his head as memories of the SS storming his childhood home replayed in his mind. “I won’t make it again. ”
“We’re not suggesting that,” Caine said.
“Then what exactly are you suggesting?” he demanded again.
“We’re not about to let anyone attack our home or hurt anyone in our family, Christofer, and that includes you and Cloe, but we can’t do anything until he makes the first move,” Ephraim started to explain.
“They attacked today!” he snarled, getting in the other man’s face, but Ephraim didn’t back down.
“That was just a shifter trying to gain leverage over whoever marked her, nothing more,” Caine said, shaking his head as though the attempted attack today was no big deal when it had left him scared out of his mind.
“It’s only a matter of time before her marker finds us and when he does, we’ll be ready,” Ephraim said, placing his hand on Christofer’s shoulder. “All of us. ”
“This isn’t your war,” he reminded them, resisting the urge to shrug off the other man’s hand.
“You’re one of us, Christofer. That makes this our war. ”
“I can’t ask you to put yourself at risk for us,” he ground out, the need to take care of his own problems too well ingrained to ignore at this point.
“And we can’t just stand by and let you handle this on your own, not with a child involved now,” Ephraim said, giving his shoulder a reassuring squeeze before dropping his hand away, but not before Christofer caught sight of what he’d been hiding behind that gauze for the past few weeks.
Frowning, he looked over his shoulder and spotted the same tattoo on Chris’ wrist. He opened his mouth to ask about the symbol when he realized that he’d truly f**ked up.
“You…. . bastard!” Cloe snarled, shoving Ephraim and Caine apart as she stepped past them, her red eyes locked on him as she pulled her fist back and let it fly seconds before she followed it up with a knee to his balls.
Chapter 57
“We shouldn’t be watching this,” Izzy said, her eyes locked on the large flat screen monitor as she blindly reached into the bowl for another peanut butter cup.
“Then look away,” he said, taking a large bite out of the fudge brownie that Chris had delivered earlier for Izzy to make up for the stolen fudge.
“I can’t,” she admitted whispering almost as though she was in a trance as they watched Cloe pull back her foot and-
Fuck, even he winced on the Pyte’s behalf as she made contact with his balls before Ephraim and Caine could pull her away. Trying to sneak out on a pregnant Pyte while her hormones were out of control to do something stupid was a bad f**king move. He still cringed when he thought about the hormonal rages that Madison went through while she’d carried the twins.
“Maybe you should help them,” Izzy suggested, grabbing another handful of peanut butter cups as he stole her glass of chocolate milk and finished it off.
“But then we’d miss all the good parts,” he pointed out, looking around the large office for another drink.
“Chris re-stocked the fridge this morning,” Izzy murmured, shoving another handful of peanut butter cups in her mouth even as she cringed when Cloe managed to break free and go for Christofer’s balls once again.
He pushed his chair back and leaned down, opening the mini fridge that Chris had installed a few months ago when it became obvious that Izzy wasn’t able to handle the short walk to the refrigerator by the door, and pulled out two bottles of water. He handed one to Izzy as he looked up just in time to see Christofer tackle his mate to the ground when she went for his balls again.
“How long do you think they’ll hunt them?” Izzy asked just as his phone went off.
With a reluctant sigh, he looked away from the monitor and looked down at his phone. “Probably not for long,” he said, replying to the text with a counteroffer that was quickly accepted.
“Where are you going?” Izzy asked, still watching the monitor as he stood up.
“I have to take this job,” he said, leaning over to press a kiss against her head and place his hand over her stomach where his godchildren slept. “I’ll be back before the babies start popping out. ”
“Bring me back fudge?” she asked, absently as she cringed at whatever was happening on the monitor.
He didn’t bother making her any promises that he couldn’t keep and they both knew that he wouldn’t be able to keep a promise about fudge.
*-*-*-*
“You bastard!”
“Calm down, mein Schatz,” he said, trying not to vomit when sharp pain shot through his balls, making him wish that he’d been born a eunuch.
“You don’t get to call me that ever again!” she snarled, trying to get free so that she could go for his balls again.
“Can we talk about this?” he asked, the effort costing him as the pain shot through the tip of his c**k and as much as he’d love to bitch about the abuse to his poor balls and cock, he couldn’t. He’d more than had this one coming to him.
“Talk?” she repeated, laughing bitterly as she struggled to break free. “You want to talk? Now?”
“Yes!” he hissed, his stomach rolling as he struggled not to pass out.
“It’s a little too late for that, ass**le!”
“We’re going to leave you two to handle this,” Ephraim said, gesturing for the other men to leave.
“Cowards,” he muttered, keeping his eyes locked on the furious woman beneath him as the other three men made their escape.
“Damn straight,” Chris said, walking past them.
“Get off me, Christofer!”
“Are you going to take another shot at my balls?” he asked, even as he loosened his hold on her.
“No,” she bit out, shaking her head firmly and as much as he wanted to believe her, he didn’t, but he still rolled off her anyway, terrified that he was hurting the baby by keeping her pinned to the ground.
As soon as he rolled off her, he expected her to go for his balls or to storm off, but she didn’t do either of those things. When he looked over at her, he realized that she was crying. The realization that he’d made her cry hurt a hell of a lot more than his balls at the moment and had him reaching for her.
“Leave me alone,” she whispered, absently wiping at her face as she got to her feet.
“I can’t do that,” he said hoarsely, coming to his feet.
She shook her head, laughing without humor as she said, “That’s kind of funny since you were about to do just that. ”
“Mein Schatz-” he said, reaching for her, but she pulled her arm away as she stepped away from him.
“It’s over, Christofer. I’m sick and tired of your secretive bullshit!” she said, delivering the final blow that knocked him on his ass before she turned around and walked away.
*-*-*-*
“Cloe, please-”
“Just leave me alone, Christofer,” she said, too exhausted to play this game with him.