Chapter 49

CHAPTER 49

S omething was wrong.

She just…

She had no idea how to explain it, but she felt it. All day, something felt off. She couldn’t explain it, but there was an ache in her chest that just left her feeling…devasted.

“Why are you sad, Mommy?” Caleb asked, reaching up to cup her face in his small hands.

“Because we ran out of chocolate chip cookies,” Jill said, somehow managing a warm smile for the adorable little boy that she loved more than anything.

Nodding solemnly, Caleb said, “I was sad about that too.”

“I know you were,” Jill said as she leaned down and kissed his forehead.

“Shane was sad, too,” Caleb told her as she stood up and leaned over him so that she could kiss Emma’s cheek.

“That’s because you snatched the last cookie out of my hand and ate it before I could stop you,” Shane said on a bored sigh as he turned the page.

“It was delicious,” Caleb assured him.

“That would explain the yummy sounds you made while you ate it,” Jill pointed out as she finished tucking the twins in.

“I wanted to let him know how good the cookie was,” Caleb said, earning a glare from his brother.

Clearing her throat as she struggled to bite back a smile, Jill said, “That was very thoughtful of you.”

“I know,” Caleb said, nodding as he turned over onto his side.

“Goodnight, Emma,” Jill said, practicing the signs that she’d been teaching herself only to smile when Emma signed back, “Goodnight, Mommy.”

She leaned over and kissed Emma’s forehead before she moved to step back and-

“Kissy!”

-smiled as she kissed Caleb’s forehead. When she was done, Jill turned to the teenage boy.

“We talked about this,” Shane said, not bothering to look up from his book.

“Yes, we did,” Jill said, leaning down and kissed the top of his head. “Goodnight, Shane,” she said as she stood up and-

“Mommy’s sad, Daddy,” Caleb said, drawing her attention to find Logan leaning down to kiss Emma’s cheek.

“I know, mīn swēte sunu,” Logan murmured, his gaze softening as he leaned over and kissed Caleb’s cheek.

“I’m fine,” Jill said, even though she honestly wasn’t sure what she was right now.

Looking lost in thought, Logan made his way around the bed and stepped past her so that he could kiss the top of Shane’s head and-

“Kissy, Daddy!”

-felt the warmth spreading over her chest, letting her know just how much Caleb calling him Daddy meant to Logan.

He was such a good father, Jill thought, watching as Logan leaned back over to kiss Caleb’s forehead. “Sweet dreams, mīn swēte sunu,” he whispered before shifting his attention to Emma, “Sweet dreams, mīn smael.”

After he gently ruffled Shane’s hair, Logan took her hand in his and gave it a gentle tug that had her following him into the hallway. “You’ve been avoiding me all day,” Jill said as they made their way towards her room.

“Have I?” Logan asked, looking lost in thought as he absently caressed the back of her hand with his thumb.

“Tell me what’s going on,” Jill said, knowing without a doubt that something was wrong.

“I thought we’d finish our deal first,” Logan said, looking lost in thought as they walked into her room and made their way into her closet.

“And what deal would that be?” Jill asked as they toed off their shoes and climbed onto the mattress.

“The one where you finish answering my questions,” Logan said, settling back against the pillows before he reached for her.

“And what questions would that be?” Jill asked, watching his eyes turn silver as she climbed onto his lap. They were nothing like the silver eyes that glimmered with warmth last night when he’d held her, leaving her to wonder what happened.

“The ones that you’ve been avoiding answering since this all started,” Logan said, keeping his gaze locked on her as he reached beneath the pillows and pulled out a file and handed it to her.

“I assume the same rules apply,” Jill said, sending him a questioning look as she took the file from him.

“Same rules,” Logan murmured, watching her as she opened the file and felt her stomach drop.

“I’ll go first,” Jill said, taking in the photocopy of the fake ID that she hadn’t touched in years. “Are you sure that you want to do this?”

“Yes,” Logan said as everything went numb and-

It was finally over.

“Ask away,” Jill said as a cold sensation washed over him before suddenly disappearing, leaving him feeling…numb.

“Are you going to tell me the truth this time?” Logan asked as he placed his hands on her thighs and-

He needed answers.

“There’s only one way to find out,” Jill said, shrugging it off as she stared down at the file in her hands.

“Where did you learn how to steal?”

“Self-taught,” Jill said dryly, making his lips twitch as he watched her look through the file that Gray’s men were able to get their hands on. “Where did you get this file?”

“Gray’s men managed to get it from one of the men that accepted the bounty on your head,” Logan said, watching her as she thought that over.

“Was it the man who tried to kill me?” Jill asked, her silver eyes flickering up to meet his.

“No, Angel,” Logan said softly, watching her nod as her gaze went back to the file, taking in the surveillance pictures of her, copies of her schedule, lists of her acquaintances, her bank accounts, and the notes documenting her every move after he’d marked her.

“So, he’s still out there,” Jill murmured quietly to herself.

“Not for long,” Logan promised.

Nodding absently, Jill asked, “What else?”

“Why did you feel the need to acquire that particular skill?” Logan asked as she finished reading through the file before closing it and tossing it aside.

“Stealing?” Jill asked. When he nodded, she shrugged it off and said, “When we were little, Candy used to take Joshua’s bottle and lock it in a cabinet as punishment for crying. I waited until she left or passed out before I grabbed a butter knife and popped the rusted hinges off the door.”

“From there, I worked my way up to learning how to pick locks, pick pockets, and a few other skills along the way to make sure that Joshua was taken care of.”

“Did your sister know?” Logan asked, reaching up to run his fingertips along her jaw.

Shaking her head, Jill said, “She didn’t need to know.”

“Why’s that?” he asked as a sense of sadness washed over him.

“Because she did enough for us,” Jill said only to follow that up with, “Do you know who put the bounty on my head?”

“Pierce,” Logan said hollowly, watching her slowly nod as she thought that over.

“Makes sense,” Jill mumbled absently as she shifted her focus to the buttons on his shirt. “What are you planning on doing now?”

“Making sure that Gray has everything that he needs to get his revenge,” Logan said, forcing the words out of his mouth when all he wanted to do was to hunt Pierce down and rip his fucking throat out for going after his angel.

He couldn’t take the risk, not with his family vulnerable, which meant that he had to count on Gray to pull this off.

“Against Pierce?” Jill asked, watching as she slowly traced the button with her fingertip.

“Gray had the unfortunate luck of being born into a Pack with too many Alphas. His family traded him to a Master to settle a debt. He was raised with the purpose of being a guard dog for his Master, protecting him during the day and doing his bidding. He was starved, beaten, and spent most of his childhood chained in a basement,” Logan said, watching as Jill went still.

“When Gray was ten, the Master sold him to one of the New York Packs, who made his life a living hell before they traded him until one day, one of them sold him to Pierce, who made what the Master and Packs did to him look like child’s play while he waited for him to reach his immortality. When he turned fifteen, Pierce began placing him in cages, each one smaller than the last to ensure that his bones snapped when he went through his first transition to force his body to heal rapidly, making his blood more potent.”

“What happened?” Jill asked as he took her hands in his and entwined their fingers.

“He turned sooner than they’d expected and managed to escape, but not before he found himself mated to a woman in Pierce’s Pack. They barely had a chance to run before the Pack descended on them. Before Gray could shift, a silver dagger was rammed into his spine, dropping him to his knees.”

“While he begged for his mate’s life, they drove silver stakes into his hands and feet, nailing him to a wall before chaining his mate to the opposite wall. For the next two years, they alternated between starving and torturing her, forcing Gray to watch until they simply grew bored and sold her to another Pack. They left him there for months before Pierce decided to throw him in another cage. When they realized how much damage the silver did to his blood, they decided to move on, leaving him behind in a cage locked away in the corner of a basement in Boston,” Logan said, remembering the moment when he walked into that basement and found the shifter locked in a cage.

“Which makes me wonder what he did to you to piss you off.”