Page 114 of Short, Lethal & Claimed

“How did you get past the baby gate this time?” Chris asked as Kale reached down and picked up the little girl determined to make Marc pretty and kissed her forehead before handing her over to her father.

“I made stairs, Daddy,” Jessica said, wrapping her small arms around Chris’ neck.

“Out of…” Chris prompted as he moved to kiss her forehead only to wince when he got a better look at his little girl’s latest artwork.

“Books, Daddy,” Jessica said with a firm nod.

“This isn’t over,” Marc bit out with a glare aimed at Chris as he moved to head to the bathroom, no doubt to take a shower, but…

“The hose,” Kale said as he ran his eyes over him, taking in everything from the paste drying in his hair to the glitter coating him from his head to his fingertips.

“Definitely the hose,” Chris murmured in agreement, nodding solemnly as he ran his eyes over Marc only to wince when he came to the large glob of paste that Jessica used to spike his hair.

“Fine,” Marc said, sighing heavily as he made his way to the bathroom to grab some towels. “But just so you know, I’m sleeping in your room from now on,” Marc said with a look aimed at Kale that dared him to say no.

“Also understandable,” Kale said, deciding that it would probably be for the best if he didn’t point out that wouldn’t stop Jessica.

“What did we talk about, baby girl?” Chris asked, kissing Jessica’s forehead as they made their way to the hallway.

“Not to leave any witnesses,” Jessica said, nodding solemnly as Kale was forced to reach up and pinch the bridge of his nose to hide a smile.

“What’s the rule about Marc?” Chris said, clearing his throat.

“Try not to make him cry?”

Sighing heavily, Chris said, “That’s honestly all I can ask for,” with a sad shake of his head as he pulled out the cellphone that Kale had been curious about.

“Where’s your father?” Kale asked, watching as the shifter swiped through his phone before tapping the screen and-

“Still patrolling the east side,” Chris said, confirming his suspicions.

“You had Izzy put a tracker on his phone,” Kale murmured as they made their way to Jessica’s room.

“Among other things,” Chris said, shrugging it off as he moved to put his phone back in his pocket only to sigh heavily when Kale reached over and plucked it out of his hand and-

“You cloned his phone,” Kale said as he swiped through the phone, taking in all the texts that Chris had intercepted.

“Didn’t have a choice,” Chris said as he carried Jessica into her bedroom and tucked her in while Kale stood there, taking in everything from the reported sightings of Logan to the tips about the identity of the man who killed Jill.

“When?” Kale asked as he opened the notes app and…

Christ.

“When I realized that he’d stopped sleeping,” Chris said, securing the baby gate behind him.

Slowly exhaling, Kale went through all the information that Ephraim managed to get on Logan, from his aliases to the files that he’d managed to steal from the Sentinels, making him wonder if he’d stolen them before he told the Council to go fuck themselves or if he had Izzy useTattletaleto break into the Sentinel network.

“You’re intercepting his calls and texts,” Kale said as a new text message popped up on the screen and-

They found the shifter children.

CHAPTER 55

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

“Where are we going?” Caleb mumbled nervously as Shane tightened his hold around his little brother’s hand while he stood there, trying to figure out where they were.

“Away from here,” Shane said as he took in all the people rushing past them, the cars weaving in and out of traffic, the sounds of horns honking, the people screaming at each other and-

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