Page 83 of Short, Lethal & Claimed

“I’m afraid that’s going to have to wait,” Logan said, gently caressing the back of her hand one last time before he released it so that he could pick Caleb up.

“But I need to swim,” Caleb mumbled sadly as he laid his head on Logan’s shoulder with a heartfelt sigh.

“I thought you were helping me,” Logan said, kissing the top of the little boy’s head before he could demand it.

“I’m very helpful,” Caleb said, nodding solemnly against Logan’s shoulder.

“I know you are, min swete sunu,” Logan said, only to have his lips twitch when Caleb immediately followed that up with, “Kissy!”

Dutifully kissing Caleb’s forehead, Logan held his hand out to Emma, which, of course, had Jill releasing a pitying sigh and mimicking the move, knowing that Emma would rather hang out with her. When Emma only frowned as she glanced between their hands, Jill asked, “You want to be my little helper for the day, Emma?”

Worrying her bottom lip between her teeth, Emma reached over and-

“You traitor!” Jill gasped in mock outrage when Emma grabbed hold of Logan’s hand as he released a satisfied sigh and walked away, leaving her standing there with no choice but to glare at the large bastard that was coming between her and her little BFFs.

CHAPTER 41

He should probably be concerned that she’d reverted to grumbling to herself, Logan thought, watching Jill’s eyes narrow as she abruptly stopped grumbling so that she could suckle on the plastic straw she’d shoved into a bag of cold blood and-

God, she was so fucking adorable, Logan thought only to decide that it was probably a bad idea to smile when she started grumbling around her straw when Caleb climbed onto his lap. “I love cookies,” Caleb said with a heartfelt sigh as he helped himself to one of the gourmet chocolate chunk cookies that he asked Tomas to buy for the children when he went into town to pick up their lunch.

“I know you do, min swete sunu,” Logan said, only to chuckle when Caleb said, “Kissy” around a bite of cookie.

“Are you ready to get to work?” Logan asked Emma as he leaned down to kiss the top of Caleb’s head.

Nodding, Emma took another bite of her sandwich before placing it on the paper plate and climbed off her chair, grabbed her paper plate and tossed it in the trash before racing back to his side.

“Let’s get to work, min smael,” Logan said, finishing his imaginary tea before he placed Caleb down on his feet and was forced to bite back a smile when the grumbling continued.

Taking Emma’s small hand in his, Logan shot Jill a wink, noted the way that she went still as her silver eyes narrowed on him and decided that it would probably be a good idea to get to work. With that, he took Caleb’s hand and started making his way to the servants’ stairs and led them upstairs, absently noting everything that needed to be fixed along the way.

When they reached the landing, Logan released the children’s hands so that they could race down the hallway to their room while he took his time looking in rooms along the way while he decided how he wanted to do this. After he saw that list this morning, he’d realized that he couldn’t leave Jill and the children here like this. He needed to have the house renovated, which was going to be a problem.

He had his men install the black shades on the windows after he bought the house and made sure that Jill and the children had everything that they needed, but he never got the chance to have the house renovated. Now that they were here, hiring shifters to renovate the house was no longer an option. He could hire human contractors to handle the renovations, but that would take longer, which left him with no choice but to handle the renovations himself.

He really didn’t have a choice, Logan decided as he made his way down the long hallway, picking out three bedrooms to renovate for the children as he went until he came to the room they were currently sharing. He found the twins sitting on their beds, working on their lists while Shane sat on his bed, glaring down at the iPad in his hands.

“You want to give me a hand with this, Shane?” Logan asked as he took a closer look at the closet door.

“I’m good where I am. Thanks,” Shane said on a bored sigh as he shifted to get more comfortable.

“I can see that,” Logan said, chuckling as he grabbed the closet door and pulled it away from the wall only to bite back a curse when the move caused one of the hinges to fall off along with the rusted screws that secured it to the door.

After carefully placing the door back against the wall, Logan knelt down and picked up the hinge and the screws. Making sure there weren’t any screws left on the floor for the kids to step on, Logan leaned over to see if any of the screws rolled under the bed and-

Swallowed hard when he saw the snacks that Tomas picked up for the children shoved into the corner beneath the bed. Standing up, Logan tossed the hinge and screws in the small wastebasket by the bathroom door before he glanced back at Shane to find him still glaring down at the iPad in his hands. Logan took in the boy’s panicked gaze to the muscle clenched in his jaw and the way that his hands trembled as he struggled to hold onto the iPad before his gaze shifted to the empty plate by Shane’s side, noting that there were no signs of the bottle of water and chips that Jill brought him earlier.

He watched as Shane’s panicked gaze flickered in his direction and-

He was going to tear Magnus apart with his fucking hands, Logan decided as he grabbed the closet door without a word and headed for the door. He felt his fangs rip through his gums as he headed downstairs, the need to hunt Magnus down and make him pay for what he put those children through, becoming stronger with every step.

“They found everything on your list,” Tomas said, not bothering to look up from the list in his hands as Logan walked past him and made his way into the parlor where everything that he’d ordered had been placed.

“Did they find anything under Shane’s bed at the penthouse?” Logan asked as he leaned the door against the wall and took in everything from the stack of sheetrock by the windows to the stack of plywood next it, the two-by-fours, saws, drills, and everything that he was going to need to get started before turning his gaze to the other side of the room where a long workbench had been set up.

“Enough food to feed an army,” Tomas said as Logan grabbed a drop cloth off the bench and shook it open before tossing it over the faded rug that was going to have to be thrown out.

Absently nodding, Logan said, “Put a mini fridge in their room along with a cabinet and keep it filled with food,” as he grabbed one of the folded sawhorses and set it up on top of the drop cloth.

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