Page 142 of Short, Lethal & Claimed

Black tendrils began taking over his eyesight, threatening to swallow him whole as he stared down at his little girl, knowing that he was too late and he fucking-

“Hold your grandson,” Chris said, making him frown as an adorable little boy was suddenly placed in his arms.

Not knowing what else to do, Ephraim wrapped his arms around the little boy and-

“Kissy!”

-found himself doing as he was told as the little boy laid his head against his chest with a sniffle. He kissed the little boy’s head as he watched Kale hand over an equally adorable little girl to Marc.

“Take care of your niece,” Kale said as he kept his gaze locked on Ashley. “We need your help, mo ghrá.”

“Which is why I’m here. Out of my room when I’m supposed to be on bed rest,” Ashley said, nodding solemnly as she gestured for her brother to help her the rest of the way.

“I want Mommy,” the little boy in his arms mumbled sadly as his little hands fisted Ephraim’s shirt.

“Please don’t hurt him,” came the pained plea that drew Ephraim’s attention to find a teenage boy with Chris’ jacket wrapped around his shoulders leaning against the SUV.

“He’s safe with me,” Ephraim promised in a daze, not knowing what else to say.

“He forced himself to shift back during his first shift,” Chris said as he quickly made his way back to the car.

“Couldn’t let her hurt my mother,” the young shifter managed to get out before releasing a pained groan when Chris carefully picked him up and threw him over his shoulder.

He watched Chris carefully adjust the teenage boy over his shoulder as he made his way back up the stairs. “He changed her,” Chris said, making him frown.

“How long ago?” Ephraim asked, absently kissing the top of the little boy’s head as he made his way back inside, praying that the leech was able to give her enough blood to see her through her transition. If not, then he’d give her some of his blood because there was no way that he was going to lose her.

Not again.

He-

“Right after she was killed ten months ago,” Chris said, making him swallow hard as he forced himself to walk back into the house and made his way into the infirmary that Noah set up to find Logan placing Jill on the bed like she was the most precious thing in the world to him and looking fucking destroyed.

“Kissy,” the adorable little boy mumbled sadly against his chest.

Absently kissing the top of his head, Ephraim watched as Kale carried Ashley into the room and set her down on the bed to his left while Noah made his way to Jill. “What is she?” Noah asked as he carefully inspected the deep gash in Jill’s chest.

“My daughter,” Ephraim said hollowly as Chris carried the teenage boy past him and placed him on the last stretcher. For a moment, he debated waking Madison up, but…

He didn’t want her to go through this again.

“Jill?” Noah asked, going still as he sent him a questioning look.

“Save her,” Chris said, pulling a blanket over the teenage boy before he quickly made his way to Jill’s side.

“Vampire,” Logan said hollowly, leaning down and pressed his lips against Jill’s forehead as he closed his eyes. “I can’t do this without you, Angel.”

The human frowned as he carefully shifted her torn shirt aside so that he could inspect the deep gash in her chest. “She was stabbed in the heart,” Noah said, his frown deepening as he took in the blood soaking her shirt and coating her skin while Ephraim released a shaky breath, knowing that she should have been reduced to ash in a matter of seconds. “What else is she?”

“My mate,” Logan said, pressing his forehead against Jill’s as he reached over and placed his hand over her belly.

“Vampires don’t have mates,” Ephraim said, absently kissing the little boy’s head that was helping him stay calm.

“This one does,” Logan said, gently caressing her belly through her shirt.

“Walk me through what that means,” Noah said as he grabbed his stethoscope and began examining Jill.

“I unknowingly claimed her in that cell two years ago. I still have no idea how I did it, but I know that I wanted her.More than anything. I tried to forget about her, but I couldn’t. I needed to see her one last time,” Logan said, pausing to kiss her forehead before he stood up almost as though he couldn’t quite help himself. “After she was shot, I gave her blood, but it didn’t work. It took three attempts before the bleeding stopped.”

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