Chapter 42

CHAPTER 42

“ A ngel!” Logan shouted as he stumbled into the kitchen.

When he didn’t see her, Logan headed up the servant’s stairs as the pain tearing his hand apart slowly began making its way to his wrist. “Angel!” he yelled as he made his way down the hallway, quickly looking into every room as he went, desperate to find her.

“Angel!” Logan shouted as he made his way to the children’s room. “Where the hell is she?”

“I can’t scent her over your scent,” Tomas said, sounding frustrated as he shoved a bedroom door open and looked inside.

Logan opened his mouth to yell for Jill again when Caleb and Emma stepped into the hallway, looking worried. Forcing himself to calm down, Logan knelt down in front of the children and asked, “Have you seen Jill?” as Tomas raced past him and checked the rest of the bedrooms.

“No, where’s Mommy?” Caleb mumbled sadly, making something inside of Logan break.

“I don’t know, mīn swēte sunu, but I’m going to find out,” Logan said, leaning over and kissed his forehead. “Stay in your room and keep your sister safe,” Logan said, kissing Emma’s forehead as he stood up.

“Okay,” Caleb mumbled, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth as he took Emma’s hand in his and led her back into their bedroom.

“Check the third floor and the attic,” Logan said to Tomas, watching the twins head back into their room before he turned around and made his way back downstairs, praying every step of the way that she was safe. He-

God, he couldn’t fucking lose her.

Struggling not to lose his fucking mind, Logan raced downstairs, grinding his jaw against the pain slowly making its way up his arm as he searched every room for her, but God, the fucking pain! It felt like his hand had been set on fire and it was being doused in gasoline. He-

“Help!” came the muffled shout that had his stomach dropping.

“She’s down here!” Logan shouted before he headed down the hallway, listening for Shane’s screams for help and-

“Help!” Shane screamed again, drawing him down the small hallway that cut behind the kitchen and down another small hallway where a door stood open.

“Shane?” Logan said, rushing down the stone stairs into what appeared to be the Pack’s emergency cells for the nights when they couldn’t make it to the woods when they needed to shift.

“Help her!” Shane screamed, drawing Logan’s attention and-

Oh, fuck…

“What happened?” Logan demanded, barely able to see Jill through the white smoke pouring off her body.

“She touched the bars,” Shane said hollowly as Logan reached into the smoke and realized that Jill, who hadn’t said one fucking word since he found her, was curled up into a ball on her side. He quickly ran his hands over her until he found her arm and pulled it free from her body only to feel his stomach drop when he realized that her hand was gone.

“Which bars did she touch?” Logan asked as his gaze flickered from her arm, noting that her wrist was almost completely gone now, to her face to find her squeezing her eyes tightly shut and her jaw clenched as she struggled not to scream.

“The ones behind you,” Shane said as Logan watched the tears rolling down her face before he turned his attention to the cell behind him and took in the iron bars.

As soon as he turned his head, he smelled it, the unmistakable scent of Sentinel blood. Praying that he was wrong, Logan moved closer, careful not to touch the bars and slowly inhaled, taking in the sweet scent with a hint of mint and-

“They coated the bars with Sentinel blood and holy oil,” Tomas said as he joined them, making Logan’s stomach drop as his gaze shot back to Jill’s arm and watched healthy tan skin slowly turn pale before it turned into gray dust and fell away as it made its way up her arm. The excruciating pain slowly tearing up his arm let him know that it wasn’t going to stop.

Not until it took her entire arm.

“Logan,” Tomas said hollowly as they watched her elbow turn white and-

“Hold on, Angel,” Logan said as he looked up and took in the large basement, the cells lining both sides of the room, the crates stacked against the stairs to his left before his gaze shifted to his right and landed on a door with a skeletal lock.

Releasing her arm, Logan rushed over to the door and moved to open it only to find it locked. He tightened his hold around the doorknob and tore the door open, destroying the lock in the process and shoved the door out of his way, revealing shelves lined with crosses, wooden stakes, and small glass bottles of what he hoped like hell was holy water.

Grabbing one of the small glass bottles, Logan quickly made his way back to Jill’s side as the pain reached his bicep and-

“Logan,” Jill mumbled weakly when he came back to her side.

“It’s going to be okay, Angel,” Logan said, leaning down to kiss her forehead, praying that she would forgive him for this one day.

Sitting up, he glanced back at the cells, taking in the chains in the one behind him before moving on to the other ones, noting the grates in the floor before he turned back around and met Tomas’ silver gaze. Without a word, Logan handed the small glass bottle to the demon before scooping Jill up in his arms, forcing himself to ignore the excruciating pain tearing through his arm and the pained whimper that she released with the move and carried her to the cell on the far side of the room.

Tomas quickly joined him, pausing by the bars to slowly inhale, making sure the bars hadn’t been coated in holy water and Sentinel blood before he pulled the door open. Pressing his lips against Jill’s forehead, Logan carefully carried her inside and laid her down on the stone floor, making sure to position her so that the remains of her arm were over the grate.

“I need you to hold her arm down, Shane,” Logan said, his terrified gaze never leaving Jill’s face.

Without a word, Shane dropped down on her other side, and after a slight hesitation, he grabbed hold of what remained of her arm as Logan leaned down and kissed her forehead. “Ic tē lufie, Angel,” Logan whispered against her forehead.

“Ready?” Tomas asked as he knelt down on Jill’s other side.

Sitting up, Logan placed a hand on her chest and one on her stomach as he met the demon’s gaze. After a slight nod, he watched Tomas carefully open the small bottle and scent the liquid. “It’s holy water,” Tomas said, swallowing hard as his gaze dropped to what was left of Jill’s arm.

“Whatever you do, Shane,” Logan said, meeting the terrified teenager’s gaze, “don’t let go.”

With that, Tomas reached over and held the bottle a few inches above the skin turning gray and-

Fuck!

“What the hell are you doing?” Shane demanded, his terrified expression turning panicked when Jill released a bloodcurdling scream as the holy water destroyed the rest of her arm before the oil could.

“Saving her arm,” Logan said hollowly as he watched the pain swallow her whole.

Shane bit back the scream threatening to tear him apart and buried his face against his pillow as he struggled to get Liam’s screams out of his head. He should have stopped him from leaving, begged his brother not to do it and he should have done whatever it took so that Emma didn’t see what happened when they found him. He-

Needed to make sure that they were okay.

Swallowing hard, Shane opened his eyes as he turned his head and-

Glared when his little brother ended up slapping him in the face as he turned over in his sleep. Reaching up, Shane gently grabbed hold of Caleb’s small hand and removed it, placing it down on the bed and-

“Kissy,” Caleb mumbled in his sleep, making Shane’s lips twitch even as he forced himself to bite back a sigh while he leaned over and kissed his little brother’s forehead.

He glanced over at Emma and found her curled up on her side with her teddy bear hugged tightly against her chest and-

He was never going to let them get hurt again.

Shane carefully climbed off the bed and made his way to Emma’s side and tucked the twins in. He stood there for a moment, watching them before he made his way into the hallway. He glanced at the doorway at the end of the hallway to his left before his gaze shifted to his right towards the stairs and-

Found himself making his way to the bedroom door at the end of the hallway. He paused by the door and listened for a moment. When he didn’t hear anything, Shane slowly opened the door and peeked inside to find Jill asleep on the bed. His gaze shifted to the large man fast asleep in a chair with his head resting on his bent arm on the bed and his other hand stretched across the bed, holding Jill’s good hand in his.

Shane hesitated before he pushed the door open the rest of the way, careful not to make any noise as he walked into the bedroom, his gaze flickering to Logan as he made his way to the bed. He glanced from Logan to Jill before his gaze shifted to the towel covering her damaged arm and thought about the moment when he realized that something was wrong.

She’d touched the bar for him. He knew it by the way that she ran her fingertips over the bar that she was making sure that there wasn’t any silver on the bars. She just…

She shouldn’t have done that, Shane thought as his gaze shifted to the pictures that the twins colored for her. He glanced at the dinosaur that Caleb drew for her before his gaze shifted to the words that his little brother wrote on the paper only to end up grinding his teeth and looking away when he couldn’t figure out what it said.

He glanced back at Jill one last time before he turned around and walked away. He checked on the twins before he made his way downstairs, and after one last glance over his shoulder, he made his way into the library. He turned the light on and made his way to the bookshelves, taking in all the books, looking for something that would make sense to him only to settle on a black book with gold lettering.

He found a spot on the floor by the back wall. After making sure that he was still alone, Shane opened the book and stared down at the first word, trying to make sense of it. Slowly exhaling, he began trying to spell it out.

“S…q…u…i…r…e…” Shane said, sounding out each letter as he wracked his head, trying to figure out the word and-

Threw the book across the room before ramming his fingers through his hair in frustration. He was fourteen years old and he had to ask his six year old brother to read to him.

It wasn’t fair.

None of this was.

He-

“Treasure Island,” came the softly murmured words that had Shane going still as he slowly looked up to find Logan moving to sit down next to him. “One of my favorite books.”

When Shane didn’t say anything, Logan opened the book to the first page. Shane watched as Logan turned the book towards him and began reading.

“Squire Trelawney, Dr. Livesey, and the rest of these gentlemen having asked me to write down the whole particulars about Treasure Island…” Logan began, the soft timbre of his voice drawing him into the story.

After a few minutes, Shane found himself shifting closer so that he could follow along as Logan read to him and made him realize just how much it was going to hurt when they finally betrayed him.