Page 145 of Short, Lethal & Claimed

“What’s this?” Logan asked, taking the bag.

“A theory,” Noah said, gesturing for him to get on with it. “You mentioned that she needed your blood to heal, but that she wasn’t able to consume it after she was stabbed. Ashley’s blood should have completely healed her within a few minutes, which leads me to believe that your blood is the catalyst.”

“This is Ashley’s blood?” Logan asked, examining the unmarked bag of blood in his hand.

“We keep some on hand for emergencies,” Noah explained as he double-checked the settings on the pump.

“I take it that you’re keeping her blood’s healing abilities a secret from the Sentinels,” Logan guessed as he allowed his fangs to slide down.

“You could say that,” Ephraim murmured as Logan bit through the plastic bag and nearly fucking groaned whenAshley’s blood hit his tongue. It was delicious, but it was nothing like his angel’s blood. With every sip that he took, the aches and exhaustion that were threatening to knock him on his ass quickly disappeared and was replaced by a surge of energy tearing through his body and-

Angel.

His gaze shot from the pump pushing his blood into Jill’s arm to her face when he felt a slight fluttering in his chest. Releasing a shaky breath, he quickly finished off the blood while he silently pleaded with her to give him another sign that she was coming back to him and-

“Fuck!”

-felt like acid was being poured into his fucking heart.

“What’s wrong?” Noah asked, moving to turn the pump off only to pull his hand away when Logan bit out, “Don’t stop.”

“Her wound’s starting to close,” Chris said, quickly crossing the room and grabbed a bottle of saline out of one of the supply cabinets and tossed it to Ephraim.

“You can feel her?” Ephraim asked, his gaze flickering to him as he carefully poured the saline over Jill’s chest and washed away the blood.

Releasing a shaky breath, Logan dropped his head forward as his grip tightened around the stretcher and bit out, “Make it go faster,” desperate to have his angel back in his arms.

After a slight hesitation, Logan heard the swish of the pump speed up, forcing the sensation of acid being shot through his heart to move faster. When it felt like his heart was being shredded by crushed glass, Logan was forced to drop to his knees as a pained roar was torn from his lips and-

“You forgot about the third option,” Ephraim said, reaching for him just as everything went black.

CHAPTER 69

The first growl had her going still, the second had her swallowing hard, but it was the third growl that had her slowly opening her eyes and found herself trying to make sense of what was happening.

She just…

She just needed a minute, Jill decided, unable to help but frown as she moved to get up only to rethink that decision when another growl reached her ears as the large arms cradling her pulled her impossibly closer. Swallowing hard, Jill moved to turn her head and…did…did someone just press a baby kiss against the top of her head?

Yes, yes, they did, Jill realized as her gaze locked on the large man watching her from the other side of the room and-

“Chris,” Jill mumbled weakly with a watery smile as she watched her brother’s lips pull up into a huge smile as he moved to cross the room to go to her only to go still when another growl tore through the room.

She watched Chris swallow hard as he slowly, ever so slowly, leaned back against the wall with a murmured, “I’ll just give you a hug later,” as his gaze stayed locked on something just above her head.

Frowning, Jill took in the rest of the large room, from the cabinets filled with medical supplies to the stretchers next to her as she tried to figure out what the hell was going on. The last thing that she remembered was being in the foyer with-

“Where’s Emma and the boys?” Jill demanded, trying not panic as she tried getting up again only to have that terrifying growl stop her.

Really hoping that it wasn’t what she thought it was, Jill forced herself to slowly turn her head and found herself staring into a pair of familiar red eyes. Reminding herself not to make any sudden moves, Jill opened her mouth to ask her brother what set off their father’s bloodlust only to frown when their father leaned down and kissed her forehead.

Pretty sure that this was a first when their father was in bloodlust, Jill glanced back at Chris and-

“He’s not in bloodlust,” Chris said with a long-suffering sigh. “He’s been growling at everyone like a psychopath anytime one of us gets within five feet of you.”

“Where are my children?” Jill asked, struggling not to panic as she searched the room for them and-

“They’re in the kitchen currently being spoiled by Kale’s mate,” Chris said before adding, “They’re safe here, Jill. We’re not going to turn them over to the Sentinels.”

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