Page 60 of Short, Lethal & Claimed

“You could say that,”Kale murmured, making him wonder how longTattletalehad been trying to find him. Probably since the moment that he’d escaped from the Compound, Logan thought, wondering if Izzy realized thatTattletalehad a weakness yet.

“Is there a reason for this call other than trying to track down my location?” Logan drawled as he stepped out of the dimly lit alleyway onto the busy sidewalk filled with humans and-

God, she was fucking destroying him, Logan thought as a mixture of anguish and heartache swept over him.

“That’s not enough?”

“With you? Never,” Logan said, shaking his head as he made his way towards Central Park, careful to avoid the slums and tourist areas along the way, knowing that they would be teeming with vampires looking for an easy mark and shifters ensuring their territories were protected.

“Are you going to tell me how you’ve managed to avoid detection?”Kale asked, making his lips twitch.

“Luck,” Logan drawled as he made his way across the busy street towards the building he bought two years ago.

“Fair enough,”Kale said as one of the demons he had stationed in front of the building as a doormen opened the glass door for him.

With a nod, Logan stepped into the opulent foyer and made his way to the private elevator set off to the side. “Is this a courtesy call to let me know that you’ve decided to collect the bounty?”

“I’m debating it,”Kale murmured, sounding thoughtful.“You protected my mate and unborn child. Why?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Logan said as he typed his code into the small keypad by the elevator doors before pressing the call button.

There was a slight hesitation before Kale said,“We need to talk about that night, Logan.”

“No, we don’t,” Logan said evenly, refusing to allow the shifter to say one more fucking word about Elizabeth. She never would have gone to the shifter’s room, Logan told himself even as he found himself wondering why she wasn’t in her room that night. She-

There was a heavy sigh, and then, Kale said,“The Council put another bounty on your head.”

“It was only a matter of time,” Logan murmured absently as the elevator doors slid open.

“Why haven’t you run yet?”Kale asked, making him chuckle as he stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the penthouse.

“Probably the same reason why they haven’t tried to grab me yet,” Logan pointed out as he leaned back against the wall with a heavy sigh.

“And that is…”

“I have something they want,” Logan drawled, curious about their next move.

“And what’s that?”Kale asked as Logan pushed away from the wall when the elevator came to a stop seconds before the doors slid open, revealing the heavily guarded hallway ahead.

“Something they’re never going to get,” Logan said before he hung up and slid the phone into his pocket as he made his way past the shifters guarding the door. He walked into the penthouse and-

Immediately felt a sense of peace wash over him when he spotted his angel standing at the kitchen island. For a moment, he was content to stand there, watching Jill looking lost inthought as she picked up her mug and moved to take a sip when she saw him.

He watched as her gaze dropped to the marks marring the back of his hands before placing the mug back on the kitchen island and pushing it across from her with a sigh and grabbed another bag of blood from the fridge and placed it in the microwave. For a moment, Logan considered asking what happened a few minutes ago to make her sad but decided against it.

“Miss me, Angel?” Logan asked as he made his way to the kitchen island and watched her make quick work of pouring the warmed blood into a mug.

“Not even a little bit,” Jill said, making his lips twitch as he reached for the mug she’d abandoned.

“Are we still at a standstill?” Logan asked as he picked up the mug.

“Are you ready to tell me that tale of woe yet?” Jill countered, pausing before she took a sip.

“No,” Logan said as he raised the mug to his lips.

“That’s a shame,” she murmured with a soft sigh.

“Then, I guess we’re still at a standstill,” Logan said as he took a sip and-

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