Chapter 54

CHAPTER 54

Two Months Later…

“ N o survivors!” came the soul-crushing announcement that had Logan muttering, “Jesus Christ,” from the bathroom.

She should probably help him, Jill thought even as she swiped to the next page and shifted to get more comfortable on her pallet. The extra pillows definitely made a difference, she decided as the sounds of water splashing, giggles, and Logan muttering to himself filled the air.

That was followed by the sounds of little feet running through their bedroom, Logan begging the twins to put clothes on, and finally, the sounds of them breaking Logan and making her smile when she heard him bribe them with a bowl of chocolate ice cream if they took pity on him and got dressed so that he could tuck them in.

She wasn’t exactly surprised when Logan, who looked like he’d been to hell and back, stumbled into her closet a little while later, wearing only a pair of jeans that hung low on his hips. With a glare, he made his way over to her, dropped down on the mattress between her legs and settled on top of her.

“I hate them,” he mumbled sadly against her stomach.

Smiling, Jill said, “No, you don’t,” as she absently ran her fingers through his hair.

“They’re so mean,” Logan mumbled sadly.

“They’re brutal,” Jill readily agreed even as she couldn’t help but smile.

“They really are,” the man who never should have agreed to put them to bed said.

“They’re also coming back for more,” Jill said, feeling Logan go still against her as the twins raced into the closet with their arms filled with books and dropped down next to them.

“He didn’t read us a bedtime story,” Caleb said with an accusing glare aimed at Logan.

With a long-suffering sigh, mostly for the children’s benefit, Logan turned his head and pressed a kiss against her stomach before he reluctantly sat up and gestured for her to move aside. Curious, Jill shifted out of the way and watched Logan take her spot as he took her hand in his and gave it a gentle tug that had her smiling while she settled back against him.

“What about a story instead?” Logan asked as he wrapped his arms around her.

“Does it have dinosaurs?” Caleb demanded as his blue eyes narrowed dangerously on Logan.

“I’m afraid not,” Logan said with a heartfelt sigh as though the admission somehow pained him while his fingers gently caressed her skin through her shirt.

“Teddy bears?” Caleb asked, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth.

“No teddy bears, mīn swēte sunu,” Logan murmured as he turned his head so that he could kiss the side of her neck.

“But I like teddy bears, Daddy,” Caleb mumbled sadly as he leaned his head against Logan’s arm.

“What about magical forests?” Logan asked as he laced their fingers together.

“I like magical forests,” Caleb said in an awed whisper while Emma nodded in agreement.

“What if I told you there were magical bears in that forest?” Logan asked, resting his chin on top of Jill’s head as he gently caressed the back of her hands with his thumbs.

“I love magical bears,” Caleb said in a reverent whisper, making her lips twitch.

“I thought you might,” Logan murmured, kissing the top of her head before he started. “Once upon a time, there was a magical forest…”

She watched Shane settle outside the door as the soft timbre of Logan’s voice filled the closet. Shane reminded her so much of herself at that age. She used to be so damn angry all the time, pretending that everything was fine when all she wanted to do was scream, but that had never been an option for her, not when she needed to keep Joshua safe.

It broke her heart knowing that he was struggling. She just…

She had to figure out a way to make him realize just how much they loved him, Jill thought as she felt herself relax and lost herself in Logan’s story. Her eyes began to close as Logan recounted tales of wild bears and little boys that slayed dragons with nothing more than a stick. In what felt like minutes later, Jill opened her eyes to find the twins gone. Wondering if they went back to their room, she moved to get up so that she could go check on them only to go still when she spotted Shane standing in front of the closet, holding Caleb and Emma’s hands as the twins cried.

She opened her mouth to ask what was wrong when she saw her black backpack slung over Shane’s shoulder and-

“Shit!” she heard Logan snap as the black shutters covering the windows began to rise. Within seconds, he was rolling her over onto the mattress and covering her body with his just as bright sunlight suddenly filled the closet. Searing pain tore through her arms and legs where the sun touched her skin, forcing her to bite back a scream of agony as it felt like she was being burned alive.

“I told you that we didn’t belong here,” Shane said seconds before she heard the metal shutter above the door begin to close.

“Shane!” Logan yelled, reaching over and grabbed the comforter to pull it over her.

“Don’t look for us,” Shane said as the metal shutters slid shut, trapping them inside and-

Oh, God…

Layman House

Pennsylvania

“It’s not that bad,” Kale said, not quite able to meet the teenage boy’s furious gaze as he struggled not to wince in sympathy as he took in the red, green, black, and blue finger paint covering him from head-to-toe and-

“Pretty!”

-was forced to turn his head to hide a smile when Jessica added another handful of green paint to the assortment of paint covering Marc’s stomach.

“When I reach my immortality, I’m going to make you pay for this,” Marc said as his eyes narrowed dangerously on him.

Nodding, Kale murmured, “Understandable,” even as he reached for his phone to capture this moment only to realize that he’d left his phone in his room. Not that he’d had a choice, not when Marc woke him up by screaming about a demon attacking him. It had taken some time, but he’d eventually managed to pull Jessica off him, but not before she’d managed to smear another handful of green paint in his hair.

God, she was a feisty little thing.

“I want a lock on my door,” Marc bit out as he reached up and angrily swiped the paint dripping down his face off.

“Also understandable,” Kale murmured as he discreetly reached down and swiped the jar of glitter out of Jessica’s hand before she could make Marc “prettier.”

“Baby girl,” Chris said with a heavy sigh from the doorway, making Jessica wince as she moved to hide behind Marc only to rethink that move and quickly hid behind him instead. “We talked about this.”

“But I made him pretty, Daddy,” Jessica mumbled as Kale forced himself not to look down at the adorable little girl, knowing that he would do something stupid like smile and further piss Marc off.

“How did you get past the baby gate this time?” Chris asked as Kale reached down and picked up the little girl determined to make Marc pretty and kissed her forehead before handing her over to her father.

“I made stairs, Daddy,” Jessica said, wrapping her small arms around Chris’ neck.

“Out of…” Chris prompted as he moved to kiss her forehead only to wince when he got a better look at his little girl’s latest artwork.

“Books, Daddy,” Jessica said with a firm nod.

“This isn’t over,” Marc bit out with a glare aimed at Chris as he moved to head to the bathroom, no doubt to take a shower, but…

“The hose,” Kale said as he ran his eyes over him, taking in everything from the paste drying in his hair to the glitter coating him from his head to his fingertips.

“Definitely the hose,” Chris murmured in agreement, nodding solemnly as he ran his eyes over Marc only to wince when he came to the large glob of paste that Jessica used to spike his hair.

“Fine,” Marc said, sighing heavily as he made his way to the bathroom to grab some towels. “But just so you know, I’m sleeping in your room from now on,” Marc said with a look aimed at Kale that dared him to say no.

“Also understandable,” Kale said, deciding that it would probably be for the best if he didn’t point out that wouldn’t stop Jessica.

“What did we talk about, baby girl?” Chris asked, kissing Jessica’s forehead as they made their way to the hallway.

“Not to leave any witnesses,” Jessica said, nodding solemnly as Kale was forced to reach up and pinch the bridge of his nose to hide a smile.

“What’s the rule about Marc?” Chris said, clearing his throat.

“Try not to make him cry?”

Sighing heavily, Chris said, “That’s honestly all I can ask for,” with a sad shake of his head as he pulled out the cellphone that Kale had been curious about.

“Where’s your father?” Kale asked, watching as the shifter swiped through his phone before tapping the screen and-

“Still patrolling the east side,” Chris said, confirming his suspicions.

“You had Izzy put a tracker on his phone,” Kale murmured as they made their way to Jessica’s room.

“Among other things,” Chris said, shrugging it off as he moved to put his phone back in his pocket only to sigh heavily when Kale reached over and plucked it out of his hand and-

“You cloned his phone,” Kale said as he swiped through the phone, taking in all the texts that Chris had intercepted.

“Didn’t have a choice,” Chris said as he carried Jessica into her bedroom and tucked her in while Kale stood there, taking in everything from the reported sightings of Logan to the tips about the identity of the man who killed Jill.

“When?” Kale asked as he opened the notes app and…

Christ.

“When I realized that he’d stopped sleeping,” Chris said, securing the baby gate behind him.

Slowly exhaling, Kale went through all the information that Ephraim managed to get on Logan, from his aliases to the files that he’d managed to steal from the Sentinels, making him wonder if he’d stolen them before he told the Council to go fuck themselves or if he had Izzy use Tattletale to break into the Sentinel network.

“You’re intercepting his calls and texts,” Kale said as a new text message popped up on the screen and-

They found the shifter children.