Page 39 of Short, Lethal & Claimed

“Why were you so different at the compound?” he asked, watching her as she ran her fingertips across his pillow and onto his nightstand before turning around and making her way back.

“Which time? When you were locked up in a cell or when I was because you pissed off a Sentinel?” Jill drawled, sounding bored as she slowly made her way back around the large bed.

“It was for your own good,” Logan said, refusing to apologize for making sure that she was safe and-

Someone knew, Logan realized as he watched Jill make her way around the bed, her fingertips absently tracing the edge of the bed as he ran all the possibilities through his head. Someone figured out that he’d claimed her, which was why they’d targeted her and risked pissing off the Sentinels. There was no other explanation why that little town was suddenly surrounded by shifters, demons, and vampires.

The question was who…

“That’s what my father and brother said when they handed me over to the Council,” Jill said, shrugging it off like it didn’t matter, but the surge of anger that he felt wash over him told a different story.

“Did anyone tell you why?” Logan asked, turning his head to watch her as she made her way to his nightstand.

“They said that it was too dangerous for me to stay there any longer,” Jill said as she shifted her attention to the book on his nightstand. “It doesn’t explain why I spent almost a year in a cell or why my family cut me off.”

“It was the safest place for you,” Logan said, surprised to hear that her family cut her off, but then again, that was probably for the best considering everything that was happening.

Every couple hundred years, the tension between Packs, Masters, and demons rose to dangerous levels, forcing the Sentinels to intervene and try to put a stop to it before it turned into a war. This time, there would be no stopping it. Packs were already aligning, wiping each other out at record numbers, while Masters were creating armies of vampires, recruiting minions to keep an eye on their enemies and do their bidding while demonswere taking advantage by aligning with the highest bidder and all of them were targeting the Sentinels.

Shifters, demons, and vampires that had been aligned with the Sentinels for years were turning their backs on them while others were taking this as an opportunity to prove their loyalty and return to their Packs, which was why they’d kept Jill locked up in that cell. No one could be trusted any longer. The Sentinels kept a very close eye on their allies, ensuring that they hadn’t been compromised and keeping information like who was locked in their cells a secret.

If they’d allowed Jill to roam the compound free, she probably would have been dead within a day, thinking that they were killing one of his minions. If any of them figured out that he’d claimed her…

His fangs shot down as he clenched his hands into fists, ignoring the pain tearing through his fingers as he thought about everything that they would have done to her and-

“You still didn’t answer my question,” Logan said, desperate for something to distract him before he lost his fucking mind.

“How was I different?” Jill asked as she picked up the book and climbed onto his bed.

“You were…broken,” Logan said, not sure how else he would describe her.

“You mean pathetic,” Jill said, absently nodding as she shifted her attention to the book on her lap.

“You were completely different from the woman who took me by surprise in that alleyway,” Logan said, watching her lips twitch at the reminder of the first time they’d met.

“I had a lot on my mind at the compound,” Jill said, shrugging it off as she tossed the book on the bed with a sigh.

“That doesn’t answer my question,” Logan said as he watched her climb back off his bed.

“That’s all you’re going to get for now,” Jill said as she moved closer to him.

“And why’s that?” Logan asked, watching as she moved closer only to release a groan when she took him by surprise and climbed onto his lap.

“I’d like to negotiate my freedom.”

CHAPTER 21

“Please tell me that you haven’t resorted to sex to try to manipulate me,” Logan said with a pitying look that had her lips twitching.

“No, not sex,” Jill said, shifting to get more comfortable as she sat back on his knees and reached for the buttons on his shirt.

“Then, what are you doing, Angel?” Logan asked, even as he placed his hands on her thighs almost as though he couldn’t quite help himself.

“Renegotiating the terms of my release,” Jill said, forcing her mind away from the fact that she was currently straddling his legs and focused on the task at hand, putting all the pieces together.

If she was right, she was about to have leverage, but if she was wrong…

She’d figure something else out.

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