Chapter 18

CHAPTER 18

“ Y ou’re healing slowly again,” Tomas said, gesturing to the burn marring Logan’s skin.

“Why is that exactly?” Logan asked, ignoring the pain tearing through his fingers as he drummed his fingertips against the dining room table.

“I’m honestly surprised that you don’t know,” Tomas said, sounding amused.

“And what is that?” Logan drawled as he shifted his attention back to his laptop and scrolled through the forum until he came to the job that he’d posted and-

Nothing.

Not one single fucking bid on the bounty that he’d placed on Magnus’ head, which made him curious about something. Logging out of the forum, Logan opened a private window and pulled up the forum again before turning the laptop around and pushed it towards Tomas.

“Log in,” Logan said, watching the demon sigh heavily as he reached over and pulled the laptop closer. After quickly typing in his login information, Tomas pushed the computer back to him and said, “Evander.”

“What about him?” Logan asked, wondering what any of this had to do with his sire.

“When’s the last time that you saw him?” Tomas asked as Logan scrolled through the forum.

“The sixteenth or seventeenth century,” Logan murmured absently as he came to the bounty on the children and-

He was going to make Magnus pay for every fucking ounce of pain that he put those children through, Logan decided as he took in the long list of mercenaries bidding on their bounty. He was going to drag the fucking prick over shards of glass coated in holy water and have the children’s cuffs coated in holy oil and welded to his fucking body to make sure that his fucking hands and feet didn’t grow back and-

“He found his mate,” Tomas said as Logan reached for a pen and legal pad and began making a list of everyone that accepted the bounty that Magnus placed on the children.

“Vampires don’t have mates,” Logan pointed out as he wrote the last name down before tossing the pen back on the table and began scrolling down the page only to feel his stomach drop when he saw the second bounty placed on the children. Grinding his jaw, Logan took in the list of mercenaries that accepted the bounty, noting that this list was twice as long as the one for Magnus’ bounty before shifting his attention to the poster.

Pierce.

“Not usually, no,” Tomas said as Logan forced himself to scroll down the page, looking for the reason why no one had accepted his bid and found himself chuckling when he saw it.

Tomas reached over and turned the computer around so that he could see what Logan was looking at only to turn it back around with a sigh. “Looks like you finally have his attention.”

“Only took eight hundred years,” Logan said, leaning back in his chair as he took in the bounty that had been placed on his head. At least this explained why no one had accepted his bounty on Pierce, Logan thought as he took in the fifty-million-dollar bounty on his head if they took him alive, twenty-five million if they were able to provide proof of his death before moving onto the deadline placed on the bounty.

“What’s happening in September?” Logan asked, frowning as he scrolled through the forum, looking for anything that would clue him into the reason why Pierce was determined to get him out of the way by September only to curse when he scrolled back up and-

“Shane’s fifteenth birthday,” Logan said as he took in the deadline that he’d missed the first time.

“They want to get their hands on his blood when he transitions for the first time.”

“Double the guards on the building,” Logan said, closing out of the forum and opened the security app when a sense of sadness washed over him.

“I’ll do it on my way out. Where do you want me, Boston or London?” Tomas asked as Logan searched through the video feed until he found the reason why his heart suddenly felt like it was breaking.

“Here,” Logan said, watching as Jill knelt down by Caleb’s side while James examined his burn, looking absolutely helpless as she watched the little boy cry. “I want you to protect Jill and the children.”

“What about Gray?” Tomas asked after a slight hesitation.

“I have him watching the brownstone,” Logan said as he watched Jill pull Caleb into her arms and-

“Tell me what happened to Evander,” Logan found himself saying as he watched Jill kiss the top of Caleb’s head as the little boy hesitantly wrapped his arms around her and held on while James applied a salve to the burn that looked like it was a little over a week old.

“Well, after I realized just how badly you fucked up, I did some research and found out that your sire was happily mated and the father of a Pyte,” Tomas began with a heartfelt sigh.

“Evander has a son?” Logan asked, watching as Jill wiped away Caleb’s tears before he reluctantly closed his laptop and focused on the demon.

“Kaius,” Tomas said with a nod. “The Sentinels have been after him for a while to join them.”

“Evander would never let that happen,” Logan said, unable to help but wonder what kind of woman could have brought Evander to his knees.

“No, he wouldn’t,” Tomas murmured in agreement as he considered him for a moment. “You need her.”

“I don’t need anyone,” Logan said as he watched the demon push his chair back and stand up.

“At the very least, you need her blood,” Tomas said with a pointed look at Logan’s hands. “Your body is screaming for its mate. That’s why you’re not healing.”

“I’ll gorge on bagged blood instead,” Logan said with a look that let the demon know that he was done with this conversation because the last thing that he needed right now was to make this connection stronger.

“I’ll double the guards around the building,” Tomas said as he made his way to the door, leaving Logan sitting there, absently drumming his fingertips against the table as he thought about his next move.

Right now, he needed Tomas in Boston to find out which Pack was hiding Pierce. It was the perfect time to strike. Pierce was desperate, Logan thought as movement drew his attention to the doorway to find Emma peeking at him from around the corner with the teddy bear that he gave her hugged tightly against her chest with one arm and what appeared to be a coloring book and a small box of crayons held awkwardly in the other.

Wondering why no one was watching her, Logan allowed his eyes to turn silver as he watched her, noting the curious look in her eye as she stood there, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth before she glanced over her shoulder. Needing to figure out his next move, Logan opened his laptop and clicked on the file on Pierce. When his gaze flickered to the doorway a few minutes later, he noted that she’d stepped into the room.

He needed to draw Pierce out, Logan thought only to feel his lips twitch a moment later when the chair next to him was pulled out. After a slight hesitation, he heard the adorable little girl climb onto the chair with a satisfied sigh seconds before he found a red crayon placed on the table in front of him.

Layman Pack Compound

Pennsylvania

“Is she pouting?” Chris asked, tilting his head to the side as he took in the large werewolf cowering in the corner and-

She was definitely pouting, Chris realized as he gestured for her to move her ass. That was followed by watching her shake her large head before pressing her body tightly against the wall as though that was going to save her.

“This isn’t going to stop him,” Marc said with a heavy sigh as he settled back against the large werewolf that was hoping to use his thirteen-year-old brother to buy herself a little more time, but there was no getting out of this and they both knew it.

“This is for your own good,” Chris said, gesturing for Ashley, an Ion and an Alpha who was too fucking nice for her own good, to join him on the sparring mat.

After a slight hesitation, Ashley shook her large head as her gaze once again found its way back to the double doors that he had Caine, Trace, and Drew standing guard at to make sure that they weren’t interrupted this time. Every time they tried to train Ashley, she either hid behind her mate or yelled her brother’s name from the comfort of whatever hiding spot she decided to put to good use, and when that didn’t work, she went with the tears, making them feel like the biggest assholes alive, but nothing would save her now.

Christofer was out on patrol and Kale was searching for Indie and wasn’t going to be home until Saturday, ensuring that there was no one left to save her. He’d made sure of it. Izzy was keeping an eye on the monitors and his father was pacing the halls like he did every night since Jill died. They were going to do this and no amount of tears, lip quivers, or those incredibly sad sniffles was going to save her.

Not tonight.

And definitely not after he’d mentally prepared himself, ensuring that not one fucking sniffle broke him. They were going to do this whether she wanted to or not, and they both knew that learning how to fight was the last goddamn thing that Ashley wanted to do. With her blood, Ashley was going to be on everyone’s wish list, from demons to vampires, and they needed to make sure that she could defend herself. They would do whatever it took to protect her, but if something happened…

She was too fucking kind for her own good.

They didn’t want to risk something happening to her, not after what happened to Indie and Jill and-

He couldn’t fucking think about Jill right now.

Christ, he missed her so goddamn much and if he thought about her, he would fucking break and he couldn’t do that right now. Not with the war starting. Ashley was pregnant and needed to learn how to protect herself and her baby girl and she wouldn’t be able to do that if she kept diving beneath the nearest bed every time something startled her.

He just…

He couldn’t fuck this up again, Chris thought as he reached for Marc only to sigh when Jessica crawled onto his lap with a book before they could stop her.

“Baby girl,” Chris said with a warm smile for his little girl as he knelt down on the mat and reached for her. “Why don’t you go ask Mommy to read to you?”

With a stubborn shake of her head, Jessica shoved the book that Marc was reading out of his hands and held up her book up in silent demand. With a grumble, Marc took the book from her and…sent him a pitying look.

Frowning, Chris followed that gaze and looked back in time to watch Kale shoot him a wink as he allowed his fangs to slide down seconds before his face began to extend while the sounds of his joints snapping in and out of place echoed throughout the large room. His arms and legs extended while his body size doubled and then tripled as muscle began covering his body, ripping his clothes apart in the process as black hair quickly began covering his body, all while bright red eyes remained locked on him and-

“Doggie!”

-forced him to hide behind a three-year-old.