Chapter 31

CHAPTER 31

“ M y blood should have turned to dust the moment it left my body,” Jill murmured conversationally before she forced herself to take another sip of the warm, syrupy liquid as she did her best to ignore the metallic taste that never failed to turn her stomach.

“Yes, it should have,” Logan said on a groan as he grabbed hold of the kitchen island.

“And yet, it didn’t,” Jill said, watching as the red marks covering the back of his hands were replaced by healthy tan skin. “Why is that exactly?”

“Do you have any fucking idea what you just did, Angel?” he asked coldly, looking angrier than she’d ever seen him before.

“I have a few thoughts on the matter,” Jill murmured absently as she slowly ran her eyes over him, noting that all the red marks that covered the back of his hands were gone before meeting his cold gaze. When Logan opened his mouth, most likely to share a few thoughts of his own, Jill asked, “Why did you save me?”

She watched his expression become guarded as he ignored her question and asked one of his own. “What did you mix with your blood to hide its scent?”

“Cold bagged blood,” Jill said only to immediatly repeat her question. “Why did you save me, Logan?”

“You were a means to an end. It’s not that complicated, Angel,” Logan said as he placed his mug on the kitchen island.

Nodding, Jill said, “You already said that I wasn’t part of this little revenge scheme of yours, so how was I a means to an end?”

She watched a muscle clench in his jaw as he watched her through bright silver eyes before he pushed away from the kitchen island with a murmured, “I’m done playing this game with you.”

“And what game would that be exactly?” Jill asked, watching that muscle in his jaw clench again as she thought about everything she’d read and-

They were safe.

As soon as Logan escaped from the Sentinel Compound, he’d dispatched some of his men to watch over her family. They’d taken up posts outside of town, beyond the detection of the Sentinel houses the Council set up to provide her family with extra protection. They’d watched over her family from a distance, noting who came and went and even managed to place someone in Marc’s school to watch over him.

He’d added extra protection around her grandmother’s house, taking over when the Sentinels were forced to leave her grandmother to protect the compounds in New York and Boston. When the attack came on their home, Logan’s men were right behind them, slowing them down so that her family could escape.

He’d watched over them and she wanted to know why.

“Goodnight, Angel,” he said coldly as he turned around and-

“Who’s Pierce?” Jill asked, more curious than ever about the man who was originally supposed to buy Shane as she watched Logan go still.

“Why do you want to know?” Logan asked in a deceptively calm tone as he turned his head to watch her.

“I’m trying to figure something out,” Jill said, watching him curiously.

“And what’s that?” Logan drawled.

“You,” Jill said, somehow managing to finish off the cold metallic liquid without gagging while she watched him.

Slowly nodding, Logan turned back around and placed his hands on the kitchen island as he asked, “And why would you want to do that, Angel?”

“The usual reasons,” Jill murmured, debating the man before her as she found herself wondering who the real Logan was.

The asshole that ruined her life or the man that held her like she was the most precious thing in the world.

“And those are…” Logan drawled.

“That depends on whether or not you’re going to answer my questions,” Jill pointed out.

“Then, I’m afraid that you’re going to be disappointed, Angel,” Logan said, watching her closely. “Why did you ask about Pierce?”

“Who is he?” Jill asked instead.

He watched her for a moment before he glanced over his shoulder in the direction of the children’s bedroom. “Did the children mention him again?” Logan asked as he glanced back at her.

“No,” Jill said, watching as he thought that over.

“You figured out the password,” Logan said after a moment.

“Yes, I did,” Jill said, knowing that there was no point in lying.

“And what did you find, Angel?” Logan asked.

“About you?” Jill asked, watching him absently nod.

“Unless there’s something else you’d like to discuss,” Logan murmured.

“We can start there,” Jill said, stepping away from the kitchen island, watching the way that he noted the move.

“I thought you weren’t afraid of me, Angel,” Logan said, watching her curiously as she made her way around the kitchen island, dragging her chain behind her as she joined him.

“Who’s Pierce?” Jill asked instead, repeating her question as Logan placed his hands on her waist and picked her up. He placed her on the kitchen island, causing her chain to rattle.

“He’s the shifter that killed the woman I love,” Logan said, making her stomach drop.

“Elizabeth,” Jill murmured softly as Logan moved closer until he was standing between her legs.

“Yes,” Logan said hollowly as a shadow of something close to sorrow crossed his gaze before it suddenly disappeared.

“Tell me about her,” Jill said, reaching up to run her fingertips along his jaw when he started to shake his head as he moved to step away from her. When he opened his mouth, she cut him off with a softly murmured, “Please.”

For a moment, Logan didn’t say anything as his gaze searched hers before he stepped away from her and-

“I fell in love with her the moment I saw her.”

“How old were you?” came the question as Logan stepped in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the large park below before he made his way back into the living room.

“Fourteen winters,” Logan found himself answering as he closed his eyes and resigned himself to this hold that she had over him. “I was cutting through the village on my way home when I saw her. She was so goddamn beautiful. I couldn’t take my eyes off her.”

“None of the men in our village could. From the moment she stepped into the village with her aunt and uncle, every man wanted her,” Logan began only to amend that to every man but one.

Kale couldn’t seem to be bothered with her. At the time, Logan thought that Kale was avoiding her out of loyalty to him, but now…

Christ, he couldn’t stop thinking about the shifter’s words.

“She crawled into my bed.”

He was lying.

“I woke up with her small hand wrapping around my cock as she whispered in my ear just how badly she wanted to take me in her mouth, in her tight little snatch, and in her-”

She never would have gone into his room.

“She found out what I was. I don’t know how, but she did, and that night she offered me everything if I turned her, but I refused. I threw her out of my bed and went looking for you, but it was already too fucking late by then. She’d already found someone else to turn her.”

She didn’t know, Logan told himself as he dropped down on the couch and-

“Did you marry her?” came the question that had him swallowing hard.

“No, but I wanted to,” Logan said, rubbing his hands roughly down his face.

“What stopped you?” Jill asked, accompanied by the soft clinking of her chain seconds before she was climbing onto his lap.

“I had nothing to offer her,” Logan admitted with a sigh as he dropped his hands away and placed them on her thighs. “I still have no idea why she chose me when every man in our village would have given anything to have her. I was just a boy, working for my father and barely earning enough coin to take care of myself.”

“But she didn’t care,” Jill guessed as Logan ran his hands over her thighs, losing himself in the soothing action as he savored the comforting feel of her soft cotton dress against his skin.

“No, she didn’t,” Logan murmured. “She ignored her aunt and uncle’s demands that she marry so that she could wait for me. I knew that it was only a matter of time before they were able to force her to marry, so I began taking on the jobs that my father didn’t have time for, hoping to earn enough money to marry her.”

“When I was old enough, Kale and I began leaving home every spring to find work only to return to her every winter, praying that she’d waited for me. For some reason, she always did. When I finally had enough coins saved, I began looking for the perfect plot of land to build a home for our family only to end up losing everything when I finally found it.”

“Tell me what happened,” Jill said, shifting to get more comfortable on his lap.

“Her aunt and uncle tried to force her to marry someone else, but she refused. She was determined to wait for me no matter how long it took. So, when they tried to force her to marry, she left the village and took a position as a maid in London when I was forced to go back up north searching for work. I took on extra jobs, saved every coin I could get my hands on and when I finally had enough, I couldn’t get to London fast enough to see her.”

“When she saw us, Christ, I don’t think I’d ever seen a more beautiful smile. She didn’t want to wait to get married, so after I got her settled at the tavern, I made my way to the church and banged on the door until the priest let me in, desperate to have the banns read as soon as possible.”

“Once, I had the priest’s word that he would announce our engagement during mass the next day, I returned to the tavern to find her gone. She’d left a message with the cook that she had a surprise for me and wanted me to meet her at a pub by the wharf.”

“What happened?” Jill asked as she placed her hands over his.

“Halfway there, we found Elizabeth with a knife pressed against her throat, begging me to save her,” Logan bit out as he stared down at their hands. “I had no idea at the time that they were shifters. I offered them all the coins in my pocket to let her go, but they ignored me and focused on Kale. I had no fucking clue what they wanted from him, but when they moved to surround us, Kale grabbed me and dragged me away.”

“She was still screaming my name when they stabbed her. I fought Kale every fucking step of the way, but he easily overpowered me and dragged me back to the tavern,” Logan said softly as he pulled his hands back so that he could entwine his fingers with hers. “That’s when Kale told me the truth.”

“He told me what they were and what they wanted and all I could think about was the terror in Elizabeth’s eyes as she’d begged me to save her. When he finally released me, I tried to run back to her, but he stopped me. He kept me there until I got on my hands and knees and fucking begged him to let me go,” Logan bit out, remembering everything that he’d learned that night, the things that Kale told him, and just how fucking much he’d hated him. He barely registered Kale’s murmured apology when he finally let him go.

“When I finally made it back to the alley, she was gone and in her place was a large puddle of blood. God, there was so much fucking blood. I looked everywhere for her, banged on the door of every shopkeeper nearby, praying that someone had saved her only to find out that they’d all ignored her screams for help.”

“For months after that, I was like a ghost, barely existing, as I allowed the anger from that night to swallow me whole until the only thing that mattered was making them pay for taking Elizabeth from me.”

“I took everything that Kale told me and used it to find out everything that I could. I didn’t want to just kill them. I wanted to make them pay. I knew that I would never be able to do it as a human. So, I took my time, debating my options until finally, I decided that my only option was to become a vampire,” Logan explained as he forced himself to ignore the way it felt when Jill’s heart broke for him.

“What did you do?” Jill asked, looking absolutely heartbroken for him.

“I found a vampire who was willing to change me in exchange for a favor. After I woke up, I started with the shopkeepers that ignored her screams. Once I was done tearing their throats out, I focused on the men who took Elizabeth from me, finding out everything that I could about them and brought them down one by one while I made myself stronger, ensuring that no one got in my way,” Logan said as he looked up and met beautiful silver eyes as he pulled his hands away so that he could reach up and run his fingertips along her jaw.

“Until you.”