Page 87 of Short, Lethal & Claimed

Not until it took her entire arm.

“Logan,” Tomas said hollowly as they watched her elbow turn white and-

“Hold on, Angel,” Logan said as he looked up and took in the large basement, the cells lining both sides of the room, the crates stacked against the stairs to his left before his gaze shifted to his right and landed on a door with a skeletal lock.

Releasing her arm, Logan rushed over to the door and moved to open it only to find it locked. He tightened his hold around the doorknob and tore the door open, destroying the lock in the process and shoved the door out of his way, revealing shelves lined with crosses, wooden stakes, and small glass bottles of what he hoped like hell was holy water.

Grabbing one of the small glass bottles, Logan quickly made his way back to Jill’s side as the pain reached his bicep and-

“Logan,” Jill mumbled weakly when he came back to her side.

“It’s going to be okay, Angel,” Logan said, leaning down to kiss her forehead, praying that she would forgive him for this one day.

Sitting up, he glanced back at the cells, taking in the chains in the one behind him before moving on to the other ones, noting the grates in the floor before he turned back around and met Tomas’ silver gaze. Without a word, Logan handed the small glass bottle to the demon before scooping Jill up in his arms, forcing himself to ignore the excruciating pain tearing through his arm and the pained whimper that she released with the move and carried her to the cell on the far side of the room.

Tomas quickly joined him, pausing by the bars to slowly inhale, making sure the bars hadn’t been coated in holy water and Sentinel blood before he pulled the door open. Pressing his lips against Jill’s forehead, Logan carefully carried her inside and laid her down on the stone floor, making sure to position her so that the remains of her arm were over the grate.

“I need you to hold her arm down, Shane,” Logan said, his terrified gaze never leaving Jill’s face.

Without a word, Shane dropped down on her other side, and after a slight hesitation, he grabbed hold of what remained of her arm as Logan leaned down and kissed her forehead. “Ic þe lufie, Angel,” Logan whispered against her forehead.

“Ready?” Tomas asked as he knelt down on Jill’s other side.

Sitting up, Logan placed a hand on her chest and one on her stomach as he met the demon’s gaze. After a slight nod, he watched Tomas carefully open the small bottle and scent the liquid. “It’s holy water,” Tomas said, swallowing hard as his gaze dropped to what was left of Jill’s arm.

“Whatever you do, Shane,” Logan said, meeting the terrified teenager’s gaze, “don’t let go.”

With that, Tomas reached over and held the bottle a few inches above the skin turning gray and-

Fuck!

“What the hell are you doing?” Shane demanded, his terrified expression turning panicked when Jill released a bloodcurdling scream as the holy water destroyed the rest of her arm before the oil could.

“Saving her arm,” Logan said hollowly as he watched the pain swallow her whole.

Shane bit backthe scream threatening to tear him apart and buried his face against his pillow as he struggled to get Liam’s screams out of his head. He should have stopped him from leaving, begged his brother not to do it and he should have done whatever it took so that Emma didn’t see what happened when they found him. He-

Needed to make sure that they were okay.

Swallowing hard, Shane opened his eyes as he turned his head and-

Glared when his little brother ended up slapping him in the face as he turned over in his sleep. Reaching up, Shane gently grabbed hold of Caleb’s small hand and removed it, placing it down on the bed and-

“Kissy,” Caleb mumbled in his sleep, making Shane’s lips twitch even as he forced himself to bite back a sigh while he leaned over and kissed his little brother’s forehead.

He glanced over at Emma and found her curled up on her side with her teddy bear hugged tightly against her chest and-

He was never going to let them get hurt again.

Shane carefully climbed off the bed and made his way to Emma’s side and tucked the twins in. He stood there for a moment, watching them before he made his way into the hallway. He glanced at the doorway at the end of the hallway to his left before his gaze shifted to his right towards the stairs and-

Found himself making his way to the bedroom door at the end of the hallway. He paused by the door and listened for a moment. When he didn’t hear anything, Shane slowly opened the door and peeked inside to find Jill asleep on the bed. His gaze shifted to the large man fast asleep in a chair with his head resting on his bent arm on the bed and his other hand stretched across the bed, holding Jill’s good hand in his.

Shane hesitated before he pushed the door open the rest of the way, careful not to make any noise as he walked into the bedroom, his gaze flickering to Logan as he made his way to the bed. He glanced from Logan to Jill before his gaze shifted to the towel covering her damaged arm and thought about the moment when he realized that something was wrong.

She’d touched the bar for him. He knew it by the way that she ran her fingertips over the bar that she was making sure that there wasn’t any silver on the bars. She just…

She shouldn’t have done that, Shane thought as his gaze shifted to the pictures that the twins colored for her. He glanced at the dinosaur that Caleb drew for her before his gaze shifted to the words that his little brother wrote on the paper only to end up grinding his teeth and looking away when he couldn’t figure out what it said.

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