Without Regret (Pyte/Sentinel #2)(23)
Author: R.L. Mathewson

Since this was the woman who was going to be there protecting his son when he couldn’t, he’d been admittedly a little pissed and stunned when he spotted her on his way out to get Madison her carload of chocolate. Not only was she too small, but she took her capture meekly. Instead of fighting and trying to get the hell out of the situation she’d allowed them to handcuff her, put her small ass on a plane, and bring her across state lines. Any resistance she’d given was that of a small helpless human, not a Sentinel and that knowledge had scared the hell out of him.

He loved all of his children, but Chris……..

Chris had a special place in his heart that not even Madison could touch. He was Ephraim’s first child, his once smartass son that was too damn serious these days, his best friend, the first person he’d ever been able to count on and the only person in the world that he trusted without hesitation when it came to the safety of their family. Chris would give up his life in a heartbeat for someone he loved without a moment’s hesitation.

That knowledge still had the power to keep Ephraim up late at night even though on some level it made him feel better about his family’s safety, but he just couldn’t fathom losing any of his children and didn’t plan to.

There was nothing and no one alive that would ever take one of his children away from him. Anyone that tried would be ripped apart, piece by piece.

As far as Marc and his two unborn sons were concerned he’d only have to sweat it out until they made it to their transformation at sixteen. Then he’d have to show them how to protect themselves so something like Nichol’s dungeon never happened to any of them. They would also, hopefully, help watch after their brothers and sister whom he wished he could turn into Pytes, but couldn’t.

His body only allowed one full Pyte transition and he’d used it on Madison. Not that he regretted what he’d done. He didn’t. He just wished he was able to do the same for his children or at the very least that Madison could do it, but she would never be able to turn a full Pyte since only a natural Pyte had the ability to do that.

The blood needed to be potent to give someone eternal life and after he’d changed Madison his blood had weakened, not by much, but enough for him to scent the difference. Thanks to the meticulous records the Sentinel Council kept he’d known what to expect when he decided to change Madison.

He also knew from the records that there was only one natural female Pyte in existence and that had only been created by a freak accident. The woman had been attacked early on in her pregnancy by a Master and been forced to drink his blood, probably hoping she’d die a very violent death, which she should have from the blood. Instead of dying, her unborn children’s, twin boys, blood had filtered the blood back to her and in a freak accident that would probably never be replicated again three natural Pytes were created.

Any doubts that she was a natural born Pyte flew out the window when years later she’d been forced to try and change her husband, her mate. Everyone had been stunned when the man awoke not as a stronger vampire, but as a Pyte.

The story had caught his attention for several reasons.

Before he signed on with the Sentinel Council he had never met another Pyte and was desperate for any information about them. He’d had absolutely no idea how to turn someone, how he was created, or if he’d been a freak accident. The other reason the story was never far from his thoughts was the fact that the woman had been a Sentinel and had changed her Sentinel mate, something that should have been impossible.

Sentinels were put on earth with prolonged life, enhanced senses, natural ability, and added strength to protect the human race at all costs. Fearing they’d become too powerful or put their own needs above God’s they were given a time limit and cursed with the inability to “change” in order to escape being called back to heaven. Any attempts to change a Sentinel into a vampire or a shifter were usually met with a pretty violent death, or so he’d been told.

But that story about the Sentinel couple that managed to change……

That gave him hope and when the time came he planned on taking a chance and changing Chris. Not that Chris or anyone else for that matter knew his plans and he had absolutely no intentions on sharing.

He’d almost tried to change Chris eleven years ago when he thought he was about to lose him, but held off.

Barely.

He promised himself that night that he would never be forced to sit around and listen to his son’s heart stop again. When the time came, whether it was during a fight or when Chris’ two hundred years were up, Ephraim would try and change him. He knew the odds were slim, but he had to try. If there was any way to keep his son he had to try.

It was the same reason he planned on changing Jill and Joshua when the time was right. He wasn’t about to wait until they were old and in their death beds before changing them, but he was also in no rush to change their lives forever.

His daughter Jill was twentyfive, funny, kind and still his little girl. She was such a sweet young woman now doing her best to help others and he didn’t have the heart to take that away from her. Not just yet. He also wanted to give her a chance to experience motherhood.

As a vampire, even as slightly enhanced one, she wouldn’t be able to do that. So, he was giving her time to experience life now, but he wouldn’t wait forever.

He was holding off on changing Joshua for the same reasons. He was still a twenty-one year old kid and needed to figure his life out before Ephraim stepped in, but he would if either of his human children needed him to. There was no way he would be able to stand back and lose them. Not to mention what it would do to Madison if she lost them. Even though Jill and Joshua were biologically her siblings she’d never truly seen them that way.

She’d raised them single handedly since she was a child when their natural mother had wanted nothing to do with them. Almost from the start she’d loved them as if they’d been her own children and ten years ago when she’d been presented with the opportunity to legally make her brother and sister their children she’d jumped at the chance. Even though he’d save his children because he couldn’t bear to lose them he was also doing it so that Madison would never have to experience the pain of living without them.

That type of pain would never go away and he didn’t want that for her.

“Baby? Are you okay?” Madison asked, frowning up at him as she cupped his face.

“Yes,” he said, trying to clear his head of thoughts that already kept him up late at night. There was no need to share his concerns with her. She didn’t need to worry.