Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16

Maplewood Cove, New Hampshire

One Week Later…

“ S tart talking,” Logan said, absently rolling the small remote that had taken him a week and two favors to find as his gaze flickered from his laptop to the demon that better have answers.

“There’s no sign of Pierce,” Tomas said, leaning over to pick up the chair that Logan used to break open a shifter’s head only to rethink the move when the chair fell apart.

“There never is,” Logan drawled as he scrolled through the job postings, absently noting that there were three bounties on his head, one from a demon he pissed off a century ago, one from a Pack determined to make him pay for his role in stopping the attack on the Williams’ mansion, and the last one was from Magnus.

“He’s offering twenty-five million dollars for your capture,” Tomas said as he took in the containment facility where Magnus originally held the children.

“Thirty million now,” Logan murmured absently as he scrolled down the page until he came to the bounty that had his jaw clenching.

“You really can’t blame him,” Tomas said, kicking the remains of a metal table out of the way so that he could grab a chair and pull it closer.

“What did you find out?” Logan asked, grinding his jaw at he took in the bounty on Property 302: male shifter, 14 years of age, Property 340: male shifter, 6 years of age, and Property 341: 6 years of age, female shifter.

“About the children or about that other thing that you don’t want to talk about since I told you that you could safely consume her blood?” Tomas asked as he set the chair down next to him and dropped down on it with a heartfelt sigh.

“The children,” Logan bit out as he logged into the forum.

“I sent everything to your email, but from what I saw, it was what we’d expected,” Tomas said as Logan clicked on the page to place a new bounty.

“Were there other children?” Logan asked after a slight hesitation.

“The last one was sold two years ago,” Tomas said as Logan typed in “Magnus” for the target.

“Did the transfusion work?” Logan asked, setting the bounty for twenty million dollars.

“Yes, the bloodline has a proven track record of working,” Tomas said as Logan set the status of the bounty to “Dead.”

“How many children?” Logan asked, throwing the demon a questioning look.

“Fifty-nine children,” Tomas said hollowly.

Absently nodding, Logan scrolled back to the status of the bounty and changed it to “Alive” before he changed the bounty from twenty million to fifty million dollars. “I want him brought to me,” Logan said, filling out the rest of the form and hit publish.

“I figured you would,” Tomas murmured, gesturing to the wounds that healed within minutes of the shifter clawing his chest open. “Are you ready to talk about that other thing yet?”

“There’s nothing to talk about,” Logan said, even as he found himself swiping to the next window and felt something inside of him relax when he spotted his angel curled up in her closet with another book.

Over the past week, he’d thought about that night in his cell, telling himself that he’d fed from her the same way that he’d fed from thousands of humans over the years before her, but…

He knew that wasn’t true.

He’d never seen humans as anything more than a meal or a means to an end, using a few seductively whispered words in their ears before he took what he wanted, but with Jill…

He wanted to savor the moment.

When she walked into his cell, he’d forced himself to sit there, waiting to see what she would do and terrified that she would change her mind. He’d held his breath when she’d hesitated by the door only to sigh in relief when she crossed the short distance and climbed onto his lap.

Once she was there, he never wanted to let her go. Never taking his eyes off her, Logan leaned back against the glass wall as he reached up and ran his fingertips along her jaw. Her skin was so unbelievably soft and he’d been desperate for more. Whispering her name, Logan closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against hers as he struggled to stay in control.

As much as he’d wanted her blood, he wanted to hold her in his arms so much more. Christ, he’d been desperate to touch her. When he felt her fingertips caress his jaw, he almost lost his fucking mind. Unable to help himself, he’d pressed his lips against her forehead before he brushed his lips against hers as he ran his hands over her, savoring every touch.

Even knowing that they were in a Sentinel compound and just how fucking badly it could end couldn’t force him to rush that moment. He’d kissed the side of her neck and nearly lost it when she whispered his name as her fingers threaded through his hair. With a groan, he slid his fangs inside her neck, wishing like hell that he could hold her forever only to hate himself when he realized that he’d betrayed Elizabeth. When her brother and father walked into the unit, he’d welcomed the interruption, hoping like hell that they’d put him out of his fucking misery.

He’d fed from thousands of women over the years, fucked dozens, and he’d never once felt like he’d betrayed Elizabeth until that moment and now, he knew why.

Days later and he could still feel her in his arms. He remembered the moment when he’d realized that he wasn’t feeling pleasure from biting her. He was feeling hers. Within seconds of taking his first sip of the most mouthwatering blood that he’d ever consumed, he’d felt the pleasure that she was experiencing from his bite. It was like nothing that he’d ever experienced before. The warmth that spread throughout his body had been fucking addicting, but the realization of just how much he wanted her had fucking terrified him.

He didn’t want to feel this way.

He didn’t want to know just how fucking terrified she was when the closet door slid shut behind her, trapping her inside the pitch-black closet and the relief that she felt when she finally managed to turn the light on. The first time he’d felt her fear, he’d managed to ignore it, telling himself that he didn’t fucking care, but the next time he felt it, he found himself opening the security app on his iPad and watched her struggle to hold it together as she turned on the light he had installed in her closet.

He didn’t like knowing that her heart broke when she watched the children sleeping on the floor and he hated the fact that even five hundred miles away that she had the power to affect him this way. He should be focused on finding Pierce, but all he could think about was the fact that his unwanted mate was curled up on the small mattress in the closet, trying to pretend that she wasn’t lonely as she did her best to lose herself in another book.

“When will this fade?” Logan asked, not bothering to look up as he watched Jill set her book aside and climbed off the mattress before making her way to the children’s room only to hesitate outside their door.

After a moment, she quietly opened their bedroom door and he felt the familiar ache in his chest when she spotted them sleeping in the corner, the twins were fast asleep on their brother’s lap, who had his arms wrapped protectively around them. Logan watched as she pulled the comforter off the bed and quietly made her way across the bedroom and placed it over the children. She watched them for another moment before she reluctantly left, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth as she sent them one last look before she made her way back into the living room.

“What’s that?” Tomas asked.

“This hold that she has over me,” Logan said hollowly as he watched Jill hesitate in the living room before reluctantly making her way back to her closet.

“It won’t,” Tomas said after a slight hesitation. “Every time you drink from her, it will strengthen the connection you have to her.”

“But she won’t feel this connection,” Logan murmured as he watched Jill crawl back onto the mattress with a sigh.

“Not until she feeds from you.”

“One-sided,” Logan murmured absently before asking, “How do I break this connection?”

“You don’t,” Tomas said as Logan watched her pick her book up and curl back onto her side.

“Explain to me how this is even possible,” Logan said, even though there was absolutely no doubt in his mind that the demon was right. When the first drop of her blood hit his tongue, Logan knew that something was different. He just didn’t know what that something was until a week ago when the demon caught her scent.

“It’s rare,” Tomas said, repeating the same words that he’d used a week ago when he’d explained just how badly he’d fucked up. “I’ve only heard of this happening a few times, but the scent is unmistakable.”

“Who can scent it?” Logan asked, wondering if this had something to do with why Jill was targeted in the first place.

“A few species of demons,” Tomas said, pursing his lips as he thought it over.

“Shifters?” Logan asked after a slight hesitation as he ran all the possibilities through his head.

“Only if they know what to look for. Her scent would probably smell sweeter to other vampires, but it shouldn’t affect them the way that it does you. To everyone else, her scent matches yours,” Tomas said while Logan thought that over.

“What else?” Logan asked, swallowing hard as another wave of loneliness washed over him, drawing his attention back in time to watch Jill place her book down and closed her eyes as she slowly exhaled.

“If anything happened to her-”

“It would completely destroy me,” Logan said, already knowing that he would never survive losing her.