Page 75 of Short, Lethal & Claimed

“What about you, Angel?” Logan asked, pulling into the garage as the automatic lights came on, illuminating the old horse stalls and what was left of the hayloft above.

“It’s beautiful,” Jill said with a warm smile as Logan closed the garage door behind them.

“Just wait until he chains you up to this one,” Shane drawled as he shoved his door open and climbed out.

“He’d have to catch me first,” Jill said with a teasing smile for the twins as she climbed out of the car before Logan could respond.

Biting back a sigh, Logan climbed out of the car and-

“I don’t want to be chained again,” Caleb mumbled sadly as soon as Logan opened his car door for him. Forcing a reassuring smile, Logan reached over and unbuckled Caleb’s seatbelt only to feel his heart break for the little boy when his bottom lip began trembling.

He was going to rip Magnus’s fucking throat out one day.

“No one will ever hurt you again, min swete sunu,” Logan promised, kissing Caleb’s forehead before placing him down on his feet.

Worrying his bottom lip between his teeth, Caleb asked, “You promise?”

“I promise,” Logan said with a solemn nod as he glanced up and met Jill’s gaze, watching as her beautiful brown eyes flickered silver.

“What about Emma?” Caleb asked as he glanced back at his sister.

“No one will ever hurt Emma again,” Logan said, pausing to reach inside the car and help his little shadow out of the car before continuing, “or your brother Shane or-”

“Jill,” Caleb finished for him with a firm nod.

“Or Jill,” Logan promised, kissing the tip of Emma’s nose before he placed her down next to her brother. “Do you want to see your new home?”

“I really do,” Caleb said with a solemn nod, making him chuckle as he stood up and took Emma’s hand in his while Caleb raced around him. He watched as the little boy slapped his hands against the car door and pushed it shut with a grunt, which was followed by a satisfied sigh and a silent demand for Logan to pick him up.

He released Emma’s hand so that he could reach down and pick Caleb up and-

“Kissy!”

-felt his lips twitch as he dutifully kissed the little boy’s forehead before he reached back down and picked Emma up. Kissing her forehead, Logan carried the children towards the back of the barn, past the old horse stalls and made his way to the stable manager’s office, careful of the sunlight streaming in through the windows.

When he reached the office door, he handed Caleb to his brother, watching the way that Shane’s gaze lingered on the garage doors before shifting to the windows and-

“Be careful of the metal fence. I had it lined with silver,” Logan said, adjusting his hold on Emma as he opened the door.

“So, it really is just another prison,” Shane bit out with a glare.

“It’s for your protection,” Logan said, kissing the top of Emma’s head as he carried her inside the office.

“That’s what they always say,” Shane said evenly as he carried Caleb inside.

“I’m not them,” Logan said, having absolutely no fucking clue how to make this right for them. He-

“I’m sleepy,” Caleb mumbled sleepily as he laid his head against Shane’s chest, forcing his brother to bite back a curse as he rubbed his little brother’s back.

“Are you tired, min smael?” Logan asked the little girl in his arms as he glanced back at the door to find Jill once again looking lost in thought.

Hoping that Marcus’s instructions were right, Logan carried Emma to the built-in shelves against the back wall and pressed his hand down on the middle shelf. There was an audible click before the bookshelf separated from the wall and swung forward.

“What is that?” Shane asked as Logan reached in and gently pulled on the long string hanging from the ceiling, turning on the single lightbulb hanging above the stairs and illuminating the stone stairs below.

“A tunnel,” Logan said, kissing the top of Emma’s head as he adjusted her in his arms and carefully made his way down the set of stone stairs to an oversized metal door. He typed in the code that Marcus gave him and waited for three beeps before he opened the thick security door.

He glanced over his shoulder to see Shane carrying Caleb down the stairs with Jill close behind before stepping into the stone tunnel. He made his way past the crates stacked against the wall to the thick wood door that he was going to have replaced. Logan pushed the door open and turned on the light as he stepped into the matching stairwell.

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