“I’m so going to kick your ass, Ephraim,” she mumbled.

He sighed unhappily, “I know.”

******

“Ephraim?” Mrs. Buckman called him as he walked towards the stairs.

“Yes, Eleanor?” He paused at the foot of the stairs.

Eleanor wiped her hands on a kitchen towel. “It’s been three days, Ephraim. I think we should bring her to the hospital.”

“I’ll ask her the next time she wakes up,” he lied.

“It’s funny, I’ve been up there several times over the past couple of days and I always seem to come in right after she’s fallen back to sleep.”

“I think this fever is really taking it out of her.”

Her brows pulled together. “If she’s so sick then perhaps having Chris in there isn’t the best idea. He could end up sick, too.”

“He’s just worried about her. He’s hanging out in the office anyway so he’ll be fine.” There was no need to tell her that Chris was feeding Madison blood every hour on the hour through a tube to help with the transformation or that as a Sentinel he had natural strength to deal with her if she should wake while Ephraim was out trying to hunt Caroline. So far no luck. He only knew she was still in the area.

She crossed her arms over her chest and gave him one of her stern looks. It was the only thing that tipped him off to the real matter at hand. “About that, when exactly are you planning on making an honest woman out of my granddaughter? I’m not too happy that the two of you are sharing a bed. At least when you still had a room I could live in denial, but now you’ve forced my hand.”

“Would it make you feel better to know that I decided to ask Madison to marry me four months ago and the only thing that stopped me from asking was her irrational fear that your daughter Emma created?”

Eleanor wiped her brow. “I was afraid it was something like that.”

“I love her very much and already have a ring ready. The moment she says yes I plan on dragging her to the JP before she can change her mind,” he promised.

“No, that would never do,” she said sternly.

He never counted on her disapproving of a quick wedding. “I have a friend who’s a JP. You’ll drag him here and I’ll set up a quick wedding with the help of the kids. She’s less likely to make a run for it if I’m guarding the door.”

He chuckled. “Probably.”

She nodded. “Okay, then you best get upstairs before your friend gets sick.”

“Friend?”

“Yes, the young man who helped you into the house earlier this week after your car accident.” That was how Madison explained his injuries when Eleanor stumbled upon them at four in the morning.

“Good. I need to talk to him. Thanks, Eleanor.”

“Tell Chris he better get his little buns down here in one hour to set the table or there will be no dessert.”

“I will.” He was already up the stairs and heading towards their room. One thing he didn’t need was a Sentinel involved in this. The council knew and was turning a blind eye in his case.

They did not approve of changes. He swore up and down months ago that he would not change anyone else. He only had one person to change into a Pyte. After that his blood would not be as potent and anyone he changed after that would end up being just a slightly stronger vampire. An army of stronger vampires was a real nightmare for the council.

Now that he was expecting a baby they were ecstatic. They wanted to bring the mother-to-be into their ranks so they could get their influence on the baby early on. As it turned out this would be the fourth infant Pyte they brought into their ranks. There were three boys in Ireland who were already under their protection.

Their parents were Sentinels. Out of a freak accident with a vampire attack the female Sentinel who was pregnant at the time was turned into a Pyte. It never happened before in the history of vampires. A Sentinel always died from the attempted change, but the fetuses inside her womb somehow filtered her blood and turned her.

That’s how he learned how to change Madison. The female years later turned her mate when he was dying. She wasn’t sure at the time of how to do it, but she took a chance. It was the same as a normal vampire change with the exception that it lasted longer and they had to feed from each other at the same time. The key was tasting his blood in hers.

“Hold her down!” he heard Eric yell from the hallway.

“Are you crazy? You hold her down!” Chris yelled back.

“Shit,” Ephraim muttered as he ran into the room, throwing the door open.

Chapter 25

“I’m going to kill him!” Madison screamed in his direction. She was standing by their bureau holding a lamp in her hand. Her eyes were glowing red and a set of long white fangs hung in her mouth. She’d never looked more beautiful to him.

“Stop throwing things!” Eric snapped. That got Ephraim’s attention. He looked around the room and noticed there was broken glass on the floor along with picture frames, books, CD’s, movies and his clothes. She was tearing his clothes out of the drawers.

Never a good sign.

The vase went flying in his direction. His hand shot out and caught it easily. He placed it on a table and stepped forward. Eric and Chris were each hovering in front of a door. Chris blocked her exit through the bathroom and Eric was behind him in front of the door he just passed through. They were probably hoping she wouldn’t realize she could just jump from the window and not hurt herself, best not to tell her just yet.

“Look what you did to me!” she screamed.

“What? I think you look good. A mix between a vampire and a really hot model,” Chris said.

She growled in his direction. Damn it, she was turning him on and now was not the time. He had to force Ephraim Jr. to stand down.

Her face turned swiftly in his direction with eyes narrowed. “Are you kidding me? This is turning you on?” She gestured with disgust to her face.

Eric chuckled behind him. He forgot she would be able to smell every hormonal change in his body.

“I did just tell you that you look hot,” Chris said offhandedly.

She screamed in frustration.

“So not helping, Chris,” Eric said.

“Did he tell you what he did to me? Do you see this? That bastard did this! Look!”

Chris rolled his eyes. “Yes, we’ve already established that he did this to you. No need to keep pointing out the obvious.”

She grabbed a handful of Ephraim’s boxers and threw it at Chris who ducked out of the way.

“Damn it, Madison!” Chris said as he tugged a pair of Mickey Mouse boxers off his head.

“Baby, I know you’re upset. I don’t blame you. Can we just sit down and talk about this?” Ephraim stepped towards her, trying to get her to calm down.

The rest of his boxers flew in his direction.

“Talk? Now you want to talk about this? Why didn’t you do that before you forced this on me? I hate you! I hate you!”

“I told you she’d be pissed,” Chris pointed out.

“How very perceptive of you,” Ephraim said dryly.

“Well, I did.”

Madison turned on Chris so suddenly that she had the boy stumbling back against the wall just from her glare. “You knew he was going to do this to me? You did nothing to stop him?”