While the marked female could freely screw whomever she wanted and even enjoy the act, the poor bastard that was mated to her would only be able to get it up for her. He wouldn't even be able to get relief by his own hand. If he was mated to a woman who didn't want him he would live the rest of his life in sexual frustration. He'd heard of several shifters that went crazy that way. He couldn't imagine a more f**ked up situation.

Caine shook his head, clearing his head of that rather frightening thought. "She doesn't love me," he said as he scanned the area again. Where the hell was she?

"How far away did you say that pond was?" he asked absently as he headed in the direction Danni had left twenty minutes ago.

"A quarter mile away," Jax said, jogging to catch up to him.

"I can't smell her," Caine gritted out as he tried not to panic. She wouldn't leave him, would she?

Of course she would, he thought on a disgusted snort. He'd treated her like shit. Danni didn't put up with bullshit from anyone and he should have realized that he pushed her too far.

"Really? Maybe that's because you practically coated her in yours. It was a bit much, don't you think?" Jax asked, sounding amused.

Caine threw the man a glare. "If you knew I marked her, then why the hell were you trying to get between her legs?"

Jax shrugged as he scratched his stomach lazily. "I felt like pissing you off," he admitted as he pulled his watch out of the jeans Caine made him put on before he fed from him. "We're due to leave in an hour so we'd better find your mate quickly."

Caine nodded as he scented the air again and froze. He felt Jax go still next to him.

"Humans," Jax said, adding an inventive curse.

"We need to get to her," Caine said, moving to take a step when he heard the first gunshot. By the second gunshot he was running.

"Shit!" Jax swore behind him just as Danni's scent hit them. He almost sighed with relief until he realized why he could smell her so clearly when only a second ago he couldn't scent her at all.

A roar escaped him as he slammed a thick branch out of his way, sending it flying through the air and not giving a damn where it went. He was barely aware of Jax following him as he plowed through the woods. He needed to get to her, he needed to find Danni.

In the back of his mind he knew that she couldn't die, but that didn't matter to his heart at the moment. His stomach twisted with dread as he imagined Danni gone and oddly enough his body wasn't mourning the little girl that used to make him dress up every year for Halloween until he finally put his foot down. She'd crossed a line the day she demanded that he wear a Peter Pan outfit. He mourned the strong, stubborn woman that he'd allowed himself to care about.

"Get her off of me!" a man screeched as Caine broke through the trees. What he saw had his eyes shifting and his fangs dropping so fast in his mouth that they actually cut through his gums.

"Shoot her again!" a man wearing camouflage from his baseball cap to his hunting boots yelled as he shoved another man in identical clothing in front of him and gestured for him to shoot Danni, who was busy tearing into the throat of a third man.

Her eyes were red and as wild as her growls. She pinned the fat man down on the ground and sank her teeth into his neck. He screamed as he fought to push her away, but Danni was too focused on the blood to care or even realize what was happening.

"Fuck me," Jax breathed as he stumbled to a halt next to Caine. They both took in Danni's appearance. She was completely na**d now. Her ripped blood soaked shirt was in the clutches of the man trying to get away from her and she was covered in blood and gore that he knew was hers. Her stomach was......

He couldn't even look at her stomach without feeling rage. He didn't need to see her back to know that the stomach wound was an exit wound and he knew that she'd suffered. His heart ached for her. He'd planned on protecting her so that she would never have to experience pain like this, but he'd failed her.

"Shoot her, you ass**le!" the coward said as he shoved his friend forward.

With shaky hands his friend raised his rifle and aimed it at Danni's head. It wouldn't kill her, but it would be a memory that would stay with her for eternity. She'd dream of it, wake up at night screaming and praying for death as the phantom pain tormented her.

"Get the f**k away from my mate," Caine snarled viciously, drawing the man's attention. The barrel of the rifle swung towards him and he'd made damn sure that it stayed that way. He stalked forward, ignoring the man's frantic demands that he back off.

"Whatever you do, don't go into bloodlust," Jax said as he moved to help Danni. "I'm going to need your help with this one."

Caine didn't look at the man as he nodded. If he was shot in the heart or the head he'd be knocked out, but if he received a blow like the one Danni had he'd go into bloodlust and probably kill every man here before he went searching for the next source of blood, Jax's pack.

In human form they would be vulnerable. They wouldn't be able to shift without the help of the full moon and that meant they wouldn't be able to heal as fast. They would still heal faster than a human, but that wouldn't be enough to save them from the damage a Pyte in bloodlust would cause. The only one that could shift at will was the Alpha, Jax, and with two Pytes in bloodlust, the shifter wouldn't stand a chance. He knew that if he slipped into bloodlust that Jax wouldn't hesitate to tear the gun away from the frightened man and put him and Danni down so that he could protect his pack.

"Which one of you shot my mate?" he demanded in a voice that was barely human as he approached the men.

"I-it was an accident," the one holding the gun pleaded as he stumbled back, banging into the other man who was cowering behind his buddy. "We thought she was a deer!" he said, swallowing nervously as he did his best to keep the barrel of the gun focused on Caine's chest.

Caine reached out and snatched the gun out of the man's hands, giving the second man a warning glare when he moved to pull his rifle off his shoulder. Keeping his eyes on the men he sniffed the end of the barrel. This one was clean so he tossed it aside and reached past the trembling man who was now muttering, "please, God, save us," to grab the rifle off the coward's shoulder behind him. After a quick check he realized that it was also clean.

"Go," he said, tossing the gun aside and focusing his attention on the deathly pale man in Danni's arms. He heard the man's heart stutter as it struggled to go on, but it was only a matter of minutes now. Danni had taken too much and there wasn't anything any of them could do to save the man. Not that Caine would have helped the bastard after what he'd done, but he knew that killing this man was going to be a blow to Danni.

Even as a child she'd had an ingrained sense of honor that both frustrated the hell out of him and impressed him. At Sentinel Compounds, training and education was very hands on and required both the child's participation as well as the parents'. Since Danni's parents had been very hands off that left him to step up and help her.

During the activities that required adult help she absolutely forbade him from helping her by using his enhanced senses and if she thought for even one second that he was cheating the little dictator would cross her small arms over her chest and glare up at him. That was it, she would just glare at him and for some reason that was always enough to piss him off and get him to agree to stop.