Page 57 of Logan’s Acadian Wolves

“Nature, baby,” Nick remarked.

“You can’t control it,” Jax said. He leaned back into his chair and sighed. “Love, she will come for all of us, and there isn’t a damn thing we can do.”

“I wish we’d talked about this before…this wolf stuff.” She smiled, at a loss for the correct terminology. “It’s just that even though I can feel something in me, what I think is my wolf…but I feel human too. I know why you wanted to protect me from wolves, from the pack, but now, I’m so alone.”

“No, never alone. Your Alpha, he’s there for you, to guide you, to love you,” he corrected her in a serious tone.

“But how do you know? How do you know I’ll be fine?”

“Logan may be a new Alpha, but he’s been a beta. And he’s been a wolf for a very long time. You must trust him.” Jax fell short of telling his lovely human friend that she’d need to submit.

All wolves in a pack must submit for order to exist. She’d learn in time, but he suspected she might have a rough go at it. He’d love to help her, but it was something she needed to do on her own. No lecture could teach that life experience.

Wynter continued eating, considering Jax’s advice. The more she thought of Logan the more she missed him and sought to smooth over their disagreement. The look in his eyes when she’d gone with Jax tore at her heart. After another thirty minutes of catching up, Wynter told Jax that she needed to go. He assured her that he wasn’t leaving New Orleans and was on call should they locate the lab again. Jax walked her down to the lobby where Dimitri was waiting to take her home. Giving Jax a hug and kiss to the cheek, she quickly departed, walking over to the awaiting car.

Dimitri held open the back door as if he was a chauffeur. Ignoring his gesture, she slipped around him and into the front passenger seat, waiting for him to join her. Apparently, Logan wasn’t the only one who needed to talk. His cold disposition had not warmed since she was gone. If anything, he’d spent some time in the freezer. Dimitri slammed the back door and strode around to his side. He sat down, buckled up and started the car without looking at her.

“What? Just say it already,” she ordered, like the alpha female which she was becoming.

“Why’d you go with him?”

“I told you already, he’s like family. And just because I’m Logan’s mate, he’s still my friend. I haven’t seen him in months. Why do you care anyway? It’s not like I’m your mate,” she snapped.

“Because darlin’, when my Alpha’s unhappy, and he’s very unhappy at the minute, we all feel it. I know Jax is your family, but you’ve gotta see what this does to Logan,” he pleaded.

“I’m sorry, Dimitri. I am. I didn’t mean to upset Logan, and I certainly had no idea you’d be affected. You have to remember that I’m new to this,” she said softly. Wynter placed a caring hand on Dimitri’s shoulder. “And to be fair, Logan has his own explaining to do. This is not all my fault.”

“Yeah, sorry about that mating business.”

“Sure you are. You looked real broken up about it earlier. That smile of yours…geez. It really wasn’t funny.” She gave him a small grin.

He smiled in return, recalling the conversation and laughed out loud.

“I love Logan but man, watching him fall for his mate is kind of funny…very funny actually. You have to give him credit, though. He’d rather risk you being mad at him by telling everyone you were his mate than let another wolf take you away. And he’s a new Alpha…going up against Jax like that. Logan is one tough motherfu….well you get the idea.”

“I’m glad you were entertained. Because me…I was pretty surprised that he kind of just blurted that out. I mean, it’s not like I don’t really like Logan. He’s incredible. Loving and sexy and…” she said, dreamily, until Dimitri cut her off.

“But the commitment, Wyn. With wolves, it’s more, so much more.”

“You’ve marked someone? Mated?”

“Hold on there, cher. No way. Let’s just say that like Logan, I’ve been ’round a long time. Watched my fellow wolves fall deep into their mated bond. Sometimes it goes smoothly. And sometimes,” Dimitri paused, concentrating on his driving as it had begun to rain, “well, not so much. But I’ll tell ya, it always goes. Because Mother Nature, she gets her way. No use fightin’”

“How mad is he?”

“Logan? Scale of one to ten?” He contemplated. “Ten when you left. Maybe a seven or eight now. And here we are…home.”

Wynter cringed. Would he forgive her? Would he punish her? Like vampires, wolves had their own interpretation of life’s rules. As the gate slid open and they drove into the carport, her stomach flip-flopped. Was he waiting for her? What should she say to him? The car stopped, jolting her back to the present. Dimitri opened the door for her and they both ran into the house, in an effort to escape the downpour. The sliding glass door opened. She hoped Logan would be expecting her, yet she was greeted with silence.

“Upstairs,” Dimitri told her, his hand still on the door. He wasn’t planning on staying for whatever was about to go down between Logan and Wynter. Even though he loved Logan like a brother, there were things he had to do on his own, and this truly fell in that category.

“Thanks,” Wynter whispered. Brushing a kiss to Dimitri’s cheek, she fled to her Alpha, disappearing around the corner and up the staircase.

Chapter Twenty

Logan felt her the second they drove onto the property. Silently he breathed a sigh of relief she’d returned, but struggled to understand how she could have left him in the first place. While he fully comprehended her familial relationship with Jax, he’d claimed her. Any true she-wolf would have never gone off with an unmated male wolf under similar circumstances. But Wynter wasn’t really a wolf yet. Even if she was about to transform, she hadn’t been raised wolf, wasn’t even a hybrid. She couldn’t possibly appreciate the ramifications of her actions. Logan wanted to forget, forgive, but he simply didn’t have that luxury.

Already, he’d spent too much time with Wynter. After nearly killing himself to secure his position as Alpha, he should be leading his pack, not worrying about a human. If she were only a human, it’d be an easy decision. But no, she was his mate. A mate who knew essentially nothing about wolves. What kind of sick joke was the Goddess playing? Logan wondered what would happen if he rejected fate. Maybe he was wrong about her being his? He wished. Whenever she was within five feet of him, his wolf clawed to mate her. There would be no denying him once Wynter shifted.