Chapter 62

CHAPTER 62

“ M eaning?” Logan asked as the shifter shoved her away, causing Jill to slump over and gave her a chance to slide the small dagger that she’d swiped from his belt beneath the waistband of her shorts. She barely had a chance to pull her shirt over the handle before they were grabbing her arms and yanking her back to her knees.

When they didn’t pull her hands behind her back and handcuff them again, Jill slowly exhaled, realizing that this was the only chance that they were going to get. Her gaze flickered to the boys to find Shane watching her through silver eyes as he forced himself to release the death grip that he had on the bars and signed, “Save them.”

Swallowing hard, her gaze flickered to Caleb to find him pressing his back against the bars as his terrified gaze met hers. “Mommy?”

Jill went to open her mouth only to have the large hand wrapped around her arm give it a warning squeeze, letting her know that was a bad idea. Closing her mouth, Jill’s gaze shifted to the man standing behind Caleb’s cage, noting the bored expression on his face and realized that he wouldn’t hesitate to push the cage the rest of the way into the water.

They were only going to have one chance to do this right.

“They shot me through a fucking window,” Tomas said in a daze, drawing her attention as she tried making sense of what was happening.

“What?” Jill asked, taking in the demon struggling not to pass out next to her as he held what was left of his arm against his chest.

“They shot me through a fucking window,” Tomas said, shaking his head in disbelief as the move drew her attention to a spot just beneath his ear to find a jagged silver disc lodged in his skin.

“That reminds me,” Elizabeth said as Jill glanced back at the woman that had a lot of explaining to do in time to watch her gesture absently towards them, “Magnus is expecting him.”

Without a word, several men descended on Tomas and pulled him to his feet.

“Time to go see the asshole,” Tomas said with a humorless chuckle as he was dragged away by four men before the priests left the room.

Slowly exhaling, Jill glanced at Logan and-

Did he just wink?

Before she could wonder about that, Elizabeth was making her way over to the table that Logan built with the boys and sitting down before pulling Emma, who was still silently crying, onto her lap. The threat was clear, if either one of them stepped out of line, she was going to hurt Emma. Reminding herself that Logan would never let anything happen to the children, Jill forced herself to remain where she was while the bitch that better not harm one hair on her little girl’s head began spinning her tale of woe.

“This never would have happened if Kale had given me what I wanted,” Elizabeth pointed out with a heartfelt sigh.

“And what was that?” Logan asked as Jill’s heart broke for him.

“Immortality, of course,” Elizabeth murmured, reaching up to push a strand of Emma’s hair behind her ear. “In retrospect, I probably should have just slit his throat as soon as I realized what he was, but unfortunately, I didn’t realize that was an option at the time.”

“How did you find out that he was a shifter?” Logan asked as an eerie calmness spread over her. Deciding to take that as a good sign, Jill released a shaky breath as she knelt there, noting that the men who’d taken Tomas hadn’t returned.

“One night, I spotted Kale making his way to the woods and decided to follow him out of boredom,” Elizabeth said, giving Emma’s nose a playful tap that had their baby girl crying harder. “Imagine my surprise when he shifted into a werewolf. I’d heard rumors of men that turned into beasts, but I never thought they were true until that night.”

“After that, I watched Kale, waiting for a chance to get closer to him, but he didn’t trust me, which left me with no choice but to find someone else willing to help me. I decided to leave the village, but unfortunately for me, my aunt and uncle were determined to see me settled.”

“Thankfully, I had a lovesick boy who worshipped the very ground that I walked on and just so happened to be best friends with the man whose blood I needed. As long as I professed my undying love for you, they allowed me to wait until you bought your land. Of course, I made sure that you weren’t able to buy it, giving my aunt and uncle no choice but to send me to London under the guise of searching for work,” Elizabeth said, setting Emma down on her feet in front of her.

“You stole the money I’d saved,” Logan guessed as a wave of anger tore through her chest.

“I didn’t have a choice,” Elizabeth said, shrugging it off. “I knew London was my best option, but I wouldn’t be able to go if I was forced to marry you. So, I made sure that you lost everything, freeing me to go to London, where I was able to find everything that I was looking for.”

“Pierce,” Logan said, watching as Elizabeth nodded. “What happened to him?”

“I slit his throat one night while he was sleeping. Not that I had a choice with a crazed vampire determined to get his revenge after him. I knew that it was just a matter of time before you found him and I couldn’t risk losing my only chance to become an Alpha.”

“So, you stole his identity and led me on a wild goose chase for eight centuries,” Logan said, shaking his head in disbelief. “Why not just kill me?”

“I thought about it. Actually, planned on doing it as soon as I got what I wanted, but I could never make the blood transfusions work,” Elizabeth admitted with a heartfelt sigh, making Jill frown in confusion. “I still needed you to get to Kale since the asshole was always two steps ahead of me.”

“How many Alphas have you drained over the years?” Logan asked, only to go still at Elizabeth’s answer.

“Ninety-seven and your son will make ninety-eight,” she said with a wink that had Jill moving to stand up only to force herself to stay where she was when Caleb’s cage was pushed another two inches.

“Mommy!”

“The next time she moves, I’ll drown the mutt,” Elizabeth warned.

Closing her eyes, Jill slowly exhaled as Logan asked, “How does Gray fit into this?”

“He was supposed to be number fifty-five, but imagine my surprise when I went to slit his throat and found myself marked instead,” Elizabeth said with a soft sigh, making Jill frown as she found herself thinking about the moment when Joshua stopped breathing after they’d moved him to the sick bay and-

He’d lost too much blood.

Instead of being upset, her father and the Sentinel doctor had been relieved because it meant that there wasn’t enough blood in his system to mix with Kale’s blood. It wasn’t until Joshua opened his eyes that they’d realized that her father’s blood had magnified Kale’s blood during his transition.

If her father hadn’t given Joshua his blood…

“I know why the transitions aren’t working,” Jill said, watching as Elizabeth relaxed back against her chair as she considered her.

“I’m waiting,” Elizabeth said, gesturing for her to begin.

“You almost didn’t survive your transition,” Jill said, needing to make sure before she said anything else.

“And how would you know that?” Elizabeth asked, watching her curiously as Logan made his way across the room and sat down across from her.

“Because you lost too much blood,” Logan murmured, looking lost in thought as he placed his hand on the tabletop and began drumming his fingertips against it.

“Pierce got carried away with the knife,” Elizabeth said as her gaze shifted to Logan. “You were supposed to come back.”

“I did,” Logan said as a deep sadness swept over her.

“Not soon enough,” Elizabeth said with a bittersweet smile.

“You wanted Kale to change you,” Jill said, having absolutely no doubt in her mind that she’d waited for Logan to come back with Kale and refused to let anyone else give her blood while she’d lay there dying until it was too late. It meant that she was weaker than most shifters.

While every shifter could potentially change a human, surviving the transition wasn’t always guaranteed, but with Alpha blood, the chances of survival were stronger and if she’d been able to get her hands on Kale’s blood after her transition…

“I still do,” Elizabeth said as she considered Logan for a moment. “I might be willing to spare your son if you tell me how long it will be before the guest of honor arrives.”

“And who would that be?” Logan drawled.

“Kale, of course,” Elizabeth said as she reached over and slowly ran her fingers through Emma’s hair in a move that reminded them what was at stake.

“And why would he be coming?” Logan asked, leaning back in his chair as he continued drumming his fingertips against the table.

“Because you called him for help just like I knew you would,” Elizabeth said with a smug expression as she leaned back in her chair only to frown when Logan chuckled.

“I didn’t call Kale,” Logan drawled as his eyes flashed silver.

“Who else would you call?” Elizabeth asked, looking bored.

“A really fucking pissed-off Pyte,” Logan said as relief washed over Jill, knowing that her father was on his way. If they couldn’t get the children out of here safely, her father would.

“You forgot one very important thing when you decided to fuck with my family,” Logan said, keeping his furious gaze locked on Elizabeth.

“And what’s that?” Elizabeth asked coyly as she moved to grab Emma by her throat and-

“I always have a Plan B,” Logan said as he suddenly grabbed hold of the table and threw it aside. In seconds, he had his hand wrapped around Elizabeth’s throat and was picking her up out of her chair and slamming her against the wall before anyone could react.

“Run, mīn smael,” Logan said as he glanced down at Emma. “Go!” he yelled, startling her into moving.

“Grab the boy!” the shifter holding her snapped as his grip tightened around her arm. In seconds, he was pulling her towards the pool, leaving Jill struggling to pull away as she turned around only to forget how to breathe when she saw Gray raise his gun and-

Flinched when the sound of a gunshot echoed throughout the large room. When she didn’t feel excruciating pain tearing through her body, Jill slowly exhaled as she glanced back at the shifter trying to force her into the pool in time to watch him drop to the floor. Swallowing hard, she swung her gaze back to Gray to find him watching her through silver eyes as he slowly lowered his gun.

“Save your son,” Gray said as Jill turned around and watched the shifter guarding Caleb reach down and-

“No!”

-grabbed hold of Caleb’s cage and shoved him into the pool.

“Mommy!” Caleb screamed as he reached through the bars for her.

“Caleb!” Shane screamed as they watched in horror as Caleb’s cage sank to the bottom of the pool while Jill knelt there, watching helplessly as Caleb disappeared beneath the water and-

Desecrated.

They’d desecrated the holy water when they threw Caleb in the water, Jill told herself as she looked up and met Logan’s silver gaze across the room.

“I love you,” Jill said, slowly exhaling as she tightened her hold around the edge of the pool and-

“Angel!”