Page 32 of Short, Lethal & Claimed

“Because I keep my promises,” Logan said, his gaze flickering to Jill as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a black remote that had the children going still.

“We weren’t bad,” Caleb mumbled hollowly as he tightened his hold around his teddy bear.

“No, you weren’t,” Logan murmured softly. “We’re going to remove your cuffs.”

“No, it will hurt!” Caleb cried, frantically shaking his head as he released his hold on the tablet box and grabbed hold of Shane’s hand while Emma buried her face against his other arm with a whimper.

“I’m going to make sure that it doesn’t hurt,” Logan promised as the mystery man that Jill had been wondering about walked through the front door.

“How?” Shane asked, swallowing hard as his gaze locked on the remote.

“I’m going to give the remote to Tomas and when you’re ready, you’re going to tell him to hit the button and I’m going topull the cuff off,” Logan said as he typed in a three-digit code and handed the remote to Tomas.

When Shane hesitated, Logan said, “I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

“What do you need me to do?” Jill asked, hating feeling this useless.

“Just hold his hand,” Logan said as he reached down and grabbed hold of Shane’s leg and placed his foot on his thigh.

“I don’t need her to hold my hand,” Shane bit out as he watched Logan slide his fingers between the cuff and his skin.

“Tell me when you’re ready,” Tomas said, holding his thumb over the remote.

Swallowing hard, Shane said, “Ready,” even as his gaze became panicked and-

He reached over his sister and grabbed hold of Jill’s hand when Logan struggled to hold back a pained groan. Jill wrapped her hand around Shane’s hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze as they watched the muscles in Logan’s jaw clench as he pulled on the cuff until it finally snapped open.

As soon as it was off, Jill felt her stomach drop when she spotted an old burn healing over the scar tissue wrapped around Shane’s ankle, making her wonder how many times he’d been punished over the years. Her gaze shot up to Logan to find his jaw clenching as he glared down at Shane’s ankle.

“Who’s next?” Logan asked as he forced himself to look away from the scar that would follow Shane into his immortality and focused on the twins.

“Did it hurt?” Caleb whispered as he sent his brother a questioning look.

“I didn’t feel anything,” Shane said, pulling his hand away and reached for his little brother and pulled him onto his lap. “Just close your eyes and hug your teddy bear tightly and it will be all over before you know it.”

“O-Okay,” Caleb mumbled, closing his eyes as he raised his leg and placed his foot on Logan’s knee.

“Ready, Caleb?” Logan asked, sliding his fingers between the cuff and Caleb’s skin.

“Ready,” Caleb said with a firm nod as Jill reached over and placed her hand over his. After a slight hesitation, he wrapped his tiny hand around hers as a muffled grunt of pain drew her attention back to Logan and felt her stomach drop when she saw the white smoke rising off his hands as he tightened his grip around his cuff and pulled. Within seconds, the cuff was pulled off Caleb’s ankle that bore the same burn and scar as his brother’s ankle and fell from Logan’s trembling hands as blisters began forming over his skin.

“Logan,” Jill said, reaching over to touch his hand only to have him shake his head as he bit out, “It’s fine.”

Swallowing hard, she watched as Logan focused on Emma. “Are you ready?”

“It didn’t hurt,” Caleb promised her as he climbed off Shane’s lap so that Emma could take his place.

Without a word, she settled back against Shane and hugged her teddy bear tightly against her chest as she closed her eyes and-

“Ready,” Shane said as Logan slid his trembling fingers between Emma’s cuff and her skin.

“Here we go,” Tomas murmured softly as he pressed the button and forced Logan to clench his jaw shut while white smoke poured off his hands. When he struggled to pull her cuff free, Jill reached over to help him only to have Logan bite out, “Don’t,” as silver eyes locked on her.

After a slight struggle, the cuff fell to the floor and Logan was gently moving Emma’s tiny foot off his leg and getting to his feet. “Call James and have him take a look at those burns,” Logan bit out as he stumbled towards his room and-

“Tonight, Angel.”

-reminded her that she was finally going to get answers.

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