Page 34 of Short, Lethal & Claimed

“Evander would never let that happen,” Logan said, unable to help but wonder what kind of woman could have brought Evander to his knees.

“No, he wouldn’t,” Tomas murmured in agreement as he considered him for a moment. “You need her.”

“I don’t need anyone,” Logan said as he watched the demon push his chair back and stand up.

“At the very least, you need her blood,” Tomas said with a pointed look at Logan’s hands. “Your body is screaming for its mate. That’s why you’re not healing.”

“I’ll gorge on bagged blood instead,” Logan said with a look that let the demon know that he was done with this conversation because the last thing that he needed right now was to make this connection stronger.

“I’ll double the guards around the building,” Tomas said as he made his way to the door, leaving Logan sitting there, absently drumming his fingertips against the table as he thought about his next move.

Right now, he needed Tomas in Boston to find out which Pack was hiding Pierce. It was the perfect time to strike. Pierce was desperate, Logan thought as movement drew his attention to the doorway to find Emma peeking at him from around the corner with the teddy bear that he gave her hugged tightly against her chest with one arm and what appeared to be acoloring book and a small box of crayons held awkwardly in the other.

Wondering why no one was watching her, Logan allowed his eyes to turn silver as he watched her, noting the curious look in her eye as she stood there, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth before she glanced over her shoulder. Needing to figure out his next move, Logan opened his laptop and clicked on the file on Pierce. When his gaze flickered to the doorway a few minutes later, he noted that she’d stepped into the room.

He needed to draw Pierce out, Logan thought only to feel his lips twitch a moment later when the chair next to him was pulled out. After a slight hesitation, he heard the adorable little girl climb onto the chair with a satisfied sigh seconds before he found a red crayon placed on the table in front of him.

Layman Pack Compound

Pennsylvania

“Is she pouting?”Chris asked, tilting his head to the side as he took in the large werewolf cowering in the corner and-

She was definitely pouting, Chris realized as he gestured for her to move her ass. That was followed by watching her shake her large head before pressing her body tightly against the wall as though that was going to save her.

“This isn’t going to stop him,” Marc said with a heavy sigh as he settled back against the large werewolf that was hoping to use his thirteen-year-old brother to buy herself a little more time, but there was no getting out of this and they both knew it.

“This is for your own good,” Chris said, gesturing for Ashley, an Ion and an Alpha who was too fucking nice for her own good, to join him on the sparring mat.

After a slight hesitation, Ashley shook her large head as her gaze once again found its way back to the double doors that he had Caine, Trace, and Drew standing guard at to make sure that they weren’t interrupted this time. Every time they tried to train Ashley, she either hid behind her mate or yelled her brother’s name from the comfort of whatever hiding spot she decided to put to good use, and when that didn’t work, she went with the tears, making them feel like the biggest assholes alive, but nothing would save her now.

Christofer was out on patrol and Kale was searching for Indie and wasn’t going to be home until Saturday, ensuring that there was no one left to save her. He’d made sure of it. Izzy was keeping an eye on the monitors and his father was pacing the halls like he did every night since Jill died. They were going to do this and no amount of tears, lip quivers, or those incredibly sad sniffles was going to save her.

Not tonight.

And definitely not after he’d mentally prepared himself, ensuring that not one fucking sniffle broke him. They were going to do this whether she wanted to or not, and they both knew that learning how to fight was the last goddamn thing that Ashley wanted to do. With her blood, Ashley was going to be on everyone’s wish list, from demons to vampires, and they needed to make sure that she could defend herself. They would do whatever it took to protect her, but if something happened…

She was too fucking kind for her own good.

They didn’t want to risk something happening to her, not after what happened to Indie and Jill and-

He couldn’t fucking think about Jill right now.

Christ, he missed her so goddamn much and if he thought about her, he would fucking break and he couldn’t do that right now. Not with the war starting. Ashley was pregnant and needed to learn how to protect herself and her baby girl and she wouldn’t be able to do that if she kept diving beneath the nearest bed every time something startled her.

He just…

He couldn’t fuck this up again, Chris thought as he reached for Marc only to sigh when Jessica crawled onto his lap with a book before they could stop her.

“Baby girl,” Chris said with a warm smile for his little girl as he knelt down on the mat and reached for her. “Why don’t you go ask Mommy to read to you?”

With a stubborn shake of her head, Jessica shoved the book that Marc was reading out of his hands and held up her book up in silent demand. With a grumble, Marc took the book from her and…sent him a pitying look.

Frowning, Chris followed that gaze and looked back in time to watch Kale shoot him a wink as he allowed his fangs to slide down seconds before his face began to extend while the sounds of his joints snapping in and out of place echoed throughout the large room. His arms and legs extended while his body size doubled and then tripled as muscle began covering his body, ripping his clothes apart in the process as black hair quickly began covering his body, all while bright red eyes remained locked on him and-

“Doggie!”

-forced him to hide behind a three-year-old.

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