Page 28 of Short, Lethal & Claimed

“And you really trust adult shifters to overlook the fact that they’re marked?” Jill demanded, knowing enough about shifters to know that they would see the children as a threat.

“You’d be amazed what shifters are willing to overlook with the right incentive,” Logan murmured. “What else?”

“I want access to the internet,” Jill said, already knowing that he would never-

“Done,” he said, making her frown.

“Done? Just like that?” Jill asked, watching him.

“Just like that,” Logan murmured.

“What do you want?” she asked, wondering why he was suddenly giving her everything that she wanted.

“Your blood.”

“My blood?” Jill repeated back slowly.

“Your blood,” Logan said as she tried to make sense of what he was asking. “I want a taste of your blood.”

“Why?” Jill asked because nothing about this made sense.

“I’m curious about something,” he said, watching her closely as she thought about everything that she knew about vampires and-

“It will kill you,” Jill said hollowly.

“Afraid you’ll miss me, Angel?”

“No, I’m afraid we’ll get stuck with someone worse,” she said, wondering why he was asking for the one thing that they both knew would kill him.

It was one of the first things that she’d learned when she’d discovered the truth about the real world she lived in. One drop of her blood would slowly kill him, destroying him from the inside out in what she’d been told would be an excruciatingdeath that would leave him too weak to do anything more than lay there as he bled out and-

“I’m not killing you,” Jill said firmly.

“Fair enough,” Logan said, nodding absently as he turned around to face her. “One week.”

“One week for what?” she asked, trying to figure out what she was missing here.

“I’ll take one week off the two months that you owe me if you do this.”

“You’ll be dead,” Jill said, telling herself that the only reason that she wasn’t jumping at the chance to do this was because she couldn’t risk Gray or someone worse taking over. She-

“And you’ll be free,” Logan pointed out as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and tossed it on the bed next to her. “If your blood kills me, you’ll have plenty of time to scan my fingerprint and shut down the system before I turn to ash so that you can take the children and leave. No one will stop you.”

When she hesitated, he said, “You’re not going to kill me, Angel.”

“Then, why are we doing this?” Jill asked as she stared down at his phone and knew that this was their only hope.

“We’re testing a theory,” Logan said, holding his hand out to her.

“What theory is that?” Jill asked, telling herself that he wouldn’t do this if he wasn’t sure that he’d survive as she forced herself to climb off the bed and made her way over to him.

“The one that proves that you’re too fucking kind for your own good,” Logan said as he reached over and took her hand in his, giving it a reassuring squeeze as he used his hold to bring her closer.

“This isn’t a good idea,” Jill said as he released her hand so that he could reach up and cup her face in his hands.

“Probably not,” Logan murmured, pressing his lips against her forehead as she closed her eyes and slowly exhaled while she thought about the last time that they did this.

When he’d pulled her onto his lap and pressed his lips against her throat, she’d expected pain, but instead, he’d taken his time, gently caressing her skin with his fingertips as she felt his lips brush against her throat and-

---