Page 8 of Short, Lethal & Claimed

“There’s something off about her scent,” James said as he sent him another questioning look. “When was the last time that you tasted her blood?”

“When I marked her two years ago,” Logan said, watching as the shifter seemed to think that over as he glanced back down at Jill.

He’d been tempted to taste her blood, but he knew better than to take that risk. If she’d turned already, all it would take was one drop of her blood to kill him. The shifter, on the other hand…

Logan watched James’s brown eyes turn silver as he reached for Jill’s small hand and carefully pricked her fingertip with his fang. In a matter of seconds, the shifter tasted her blood only to look even more confused than he had a moment ago.

“What’s wrong with her?” Logan asked while James’s eyes shifted back to brown as he said, “She’s still alive.”

CHAPTER 4

It was just a dream.

It was just a dream.

It was just a…

Dream, Jill told herself as she sat up, struggling to catch her breath as her hands fisted the sheets and…

It was just a dream, she repeated to herself as she closed her eyes and slowly exhaled. She was fine. She was safe and she…was not in her cell, Jill realized, the silk sheets in her hands slowly slipped free as she opened her eyes and took in the large, unfamiliar bedroom. The island? It had to be, Jill told herself as she pushed the covers aside and moved to climb off the bed when she felt it, cold metal wrapped around her ankle.

Definitely had to be the island, Jill told herself even though she knew that the Council wouldn’t bother using chains on her. Not if she was really on the island. There wouldn’t be anywhere for her to go, Jill thought, licking her lips as she glanced around the room and-

“Good morning, Princess.”

Definitely not a dream, Jill realized as she found herself staring at the man that she should have staked when she had thechance. Swallowing hard, she dropped her gaze to the metal cuff wrapped around her ankle.

“What are you doing?” Logan drawled, already sounding bored with this conversation.

“Planning my escape,” Jill murmured absently as she took in the metal cuff wrapped around her ankle before she moved her attention to the chain attached to it, taking in the way that it pooled on the floor beneath her feet before it ran along the length of the bed where it disappeared around the corner.

“Shouldn’t you lie to me and do everything within your power to try to persuade me into letting you go?” Logan asked as she shook off the last tendrils of the dream that she couldn’t quite remember but left her feeling…offand focused on the problem at hand.

Getting the hell out of here before it was too late.

“I really don’t see the point in lying, do you?” Jill said as her gaze flickered to the incredibly handsome vampire sitting in the large leather chair across the room, watching her through silver eyes that she’d once found captivating before taking in the rest of the large bedroom, noting everything from the floor-to-ceiling windows completely covered by black shades to the fact that there didn’t seem to be a lock on the bedroom door.

“You’re not going to pin all of your hopes and dreams on your father and brother coming to rescue you?” Logan drawled as she once again found herself wondering how she could have ever been stupid enough to fall for his bullshit, only to remember the reason why and-

She was done letting old memories ruin her life.

“If they knew where I was, you’d already be dead,” Jill pointed out, hating the way that her body reacted to the sound of his soft chuckle.

There was something seriously wrong with her, Jill thought, biting back a sigh as she moved to stand up only to end upgrabbing onto the bed when her legs gave out on her, forcing her to close her eyes when her head began spinning. As she struggled to breathe through the nausea suddenly assaulting her, she realized something important.

She was an idiot.

“How?” Jill asked, wondering how he’d managed to have her drugged inside a Sentinel compound.

“You’re going to have to be more specific, Angel,” Logan said, using the endearment that reminded her of just how pathetic she really was.

It was the reminder that she needed to get her to focus. Slowly exhaling, Jill opened her eyes to find him watching her closely before she shifted her attention back to that bedroom door, wondering how she was going to get past all the guards that he most likely had stationed outside that door. Then again, she should probably figure out how she was going to get past him first.

“What did they give me?” Jill asked, slowly exhaling as she moved to stand up again.

“You think you were drugged?” Logan asked, sounding curious as her grip tightened around the edge of the mattress while she waited for her legs to stop threatening to drop her on her ass and-

She’d refused to eat anything before they’d transferred her, terrified that they were going to drug her to keep her sedated and take away her only chance to escape, Jill thought as she struggled to make sense of what was happening.

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