Chapter 20

CHAPTER 20

“ Y ou’re not dead, Angel.”

“But I’m not exactly alive either,” Jill pointed out, watching as Logan’s eyes shifted silver while he watched her. When he didn’t say anything after a moment, she opened her mouth and-

“What do you want to know?” Logan asked as she sat there, slowly exhaling as she found herself wondering if she really wanted to know. For the past four months, she’d been running a hundred different scenarios through her head every day, each one worse than the last one and all of them leaving her absolutely terrified that it was going to be so much worse than anything she could possibly imagine.

“How did it happen?” Jill asked, forcing the words out of her mouth as her fist curled around the hem of her dress.

“You were shot by a human. He was waiting for you outside the compound,” Logan said hollowly as his gaze flickered to her hands before he forced himself to look away.

“Why?” she demanded because out of everything that could have happened to her that day, being killed by a human didn’t make any sense. She’d been escorted out of a Sentinel compound by a shifter and a demon and should have made it undetected to the armored van that was no doubt waiting for her nearby.

“I don’t know, but I plan on finding out,” Logan said, a muscle clenching in his jaw as he added, “I’m not the only one.”

At her questioning look, he said, “Your father is looking for him, too.”

“Does he know what happened to me?” Jill asked after a slight hesitation.

“No.”

“So, he thinks I’m dead,” Jill said, absently nodding as she slowly exhaled.

“You lost too much blood to survive,” Logan said as she thought that over and-

“That’s probably for the best,” she said with a firm nod, knowing that if her father knew that she was alive that he would do whatever it took to find her, and then, he’d most likely send her back to the Sentinels.

“And why’s that?” Logan asked as her gaze shifted back to the red skin marring the back of his hands.

“Why did I change so much during my transition?” Jill asked instead as she thought about everything that she’d learned so far.

“That’s not how this is going to work, Angel,” Logan said, letting her know that he was done answering her questions.

“Then, tell me how this is going to work,” Jill said, releasing her hold on the hem of her dress as her gaze once again flickered to his hands and-

He wasn’t healing.

That much was clear, but something told her that her transition and her blood had something to do with it. After he drank her blood, she went after him, expecting to find him on the floor, crippled with pain only to watch as he stormed out of the penthouse. When everything that she’d asked for on the list started showing up a few hours later, she knew that he was still alive, but she didn’t know how.

“You’re going to start answering my questions,” Logan said firmly.

“Or…” Jill said, wondering what he would do if she stopped playing along.

“I’ll stop answering yours,” he said, making her slowly nod as she thought that over.

“Fair enough,” Jill said as she stood up, deciding to have another look around his room while she debated her next move. “What do you want to know?”

“Tell me about your mother.”

“She’s not worth mentioning,” Jill said with a shrug as she paused by his bureau.

“That doesn’t answer my question,” Logan pointed out.

“She was a horrible human being, a worse mother, and got off easy at the end for what she put us through,” Jill said, remembering the moment when she realized that her mother was leaving them to die to save herself.

“Are you going to tell me why you think you were a bitch?” Logan asked as she reached for his cellphone.

“Because I was one,” Jill said, holding up his phone as she sent him a questioning look. “Password?”

“You’re not going to try to guess?” Logan asked with a tsk.

“I like to save time,” Jill murmured, shifting her attention back to the password prompt.

“And I’d like a better answer,” Logan said as Jill tapped the screen only to have a mini keyboard popup, letting her know that the password contained letters.

“I’m not sure what else there is to say. I was an angry, miserable kid who did a lot of stupid things, hoping to make the person who destroyed me give a damn about what she was doing to me,” Jill said, shrugging it off as she typed in “revenge” only to have the phone vibrate and clear the prompt, letting her know that the password was incorrect.

“And when that didn’t work?”

“I made everyone around me miserable until I got the reality check that I desperately needed and channeled all of that anger into something else,” Jill said as she typed in “blood” only to have the phone vibrate again.

“Working at the shelter,” Logan murmured, sounding thoughtful.

“Exactly how much do you know about my life?” Jill asked, throwing him a questioning look as she placed the phone back down on top of the bureau.

“Do you really want to know?” Logan asked, watching her as she made her way over to the bed and ran her fingertips over the dark comforter.

“Probably not,” Jill said as her gaze landed on the closet door before she forced herself to look away, wondering if there was something in there that could remove her cuff.

Then again, Jill thought as her gaze found its way back to Logan, she might already have the key to her freedom.

“You never answered my question,” Logan said as he watched her fingertips glide across the comforter while he imagined just how good it would feel to have those fingertips running over his body.

“And which question was that?” Jill asked, seeming lost in thought as she continued making her way around his bed.

“Why were you so different at the compound?” he asked, watching her as she ran her fingertips across his pillow and onto his nightstand before turning around and making her way back.

“Which time? When you were locked up in a cell or when I was because you pissed off a Sentinel?” Jill drawled, sounding bored as she slowly made her way back around the large bed.

“It was for your own good,” Logan said, refusing to apologize for making sure that she was safe and-

Someone knew, Logan realized as he watched Jill make her way around the bed, her fingertips absently tracing the edge of the bed as he ran all the possibilities through his head. Someone figured out that he’d claimed her, which was why they’d targeted her and risked pissing off the Sentinels. There was no other explanation why that little town was suddenly surrounded by shifters, demons, and vampires.

The question was who…

“That’s what my father and brother said when they handed me over to the Council,” Jill said, shrugging it off like it didn’t matter, but the surge of anger that he felt wash over him told a different story.

“Did anyone tell you why?” Logan asked, turning his head to watch her as she made her way to his nightstand.

“They said that it was too dangerous for me to stay there any longer,” Jill said as she shifted her attention to the book on his nightstand. “It doesn’t explain why I spent almost a year in a cell or why my family cut me off.”

“It was the safest place for you,” Logan said, surprised to hear that her family cut her off, but then again, that was probably for the best considering everything that was happening.

Every couple hundred years, the tension between Packs, Masters, and demons rose to dangerous levels, forcing the Sentinels to intervene and try to put a stop to it before it turned into a war. This time, there would be no stopping it. Packs were already aligning, wiping each other out at record numbers, while Masters were creating armies of vampires, recruiting minions to keep an eye on their enemies and do their bidding while demons were taking advantage by aligning with the highest bidder and all of them were targeting the Sentinels.

Shifters, demons, and vampires that had been aligned with the Sentinels for years were turning their backs on them while others were taking this as an opportunity to prove their loyalty and return to their Packs, which was why they’d kept Jill locked up in that cell. No one could be trusted any longer. The Sentinels kept a very close eye on their allies, ensuring that they hadn’t been compromised and keeping information like who was locked in their cells a secret.

If they’d allowed Jill to roam the compound free, she probably would have been dead within a day, thinking that they were killing one of his minions. If any of them figured out that he’d claimed her…

His fangs shot down as he clenched his hands into fists, ignoring the pain tearing through his fingers as he thought about everything that they would have done to her and-

“You still didn’t answer my question,” Logan said, desperate for something to distract him before he lost his fucking mind.

“How was I different?” Jill asked as she picked up the book and climbed onto his bed.

“You were… broken ,” Logan said, not sure how else he would describe her.

“You mean pathetic,” Jill said, absently nodding as she shifted her attention to the book on her lap.

“You were completely different from the woman who took me by surprise in that alleyway,” Logan said, watching her lips twitch at the reminder of the first time they’d met.

“I had a lot on my mind at the compound,” Jill said, shrugging it off as she tossed the book on the bed with a sigh.

“That doesn’t answer my question,” Logan said as he watched her climb back off his bed.

“That’s all you’re going to get for now,” Jill said as she moved closer to him.

“And why’s that?” Logan asked, watching as she moved closer only to release a groan when she took him by surprise and climbed onto his lap.

“I’d like to negotiate my freedom.”