The Wolf's Mate Book 6: Logan & Jenna Page 5

  When she was finished in the bathroom, he replaced the items in the bag and lifted her back into his arms. She circled her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder. It amazed him how right she felt in his arms. He was six-six. He didn’t think she was even five-six. He felt like a giant next to her, and carrying her petite form in his arms made him feel even more protective of her than he had when he’d been with her in the hospital room.

  He walked briskly through the hospital towards the exit where his truck was parked. No one questioned him or tried to stop him, which was definitely a wise choice, considering how impatient his wolf was. Unlocking the truck, he set Jenna down on the seat and buckled her in, shutting the door and then walking around the front to his own side. As the truck rumbled to life, Jenna giggled. When he looked at her questioningly, she met his eyes and said, “I’ve never been in such a big vehicle before. It’s a truck, right? My cousin has a sedan.”

  Shifting into gear, Logan left the hospital parking lot and headed towards Allen. “Yes, it’s a truck. You don’t have cars in your realm?”

  “Oh no, they’re illegal because they pollute. The Harom Glen where I live — I guess you would call it a city — is not so large you can’t get where you’re going with a horse and carriage.”

  “Tell me about your realm, Jenna.”

  With no further prompting, Jenna told Logan about her world. Fae-Glens were realms that were not visible to the naked eye. In order for someone like Logan to see the glen, he would have to go through a portal with her. Once there, he couldn’t return to his own realm without a fairy helping him through. Fairies came into the Mortal Realm all the time, shopping, traveling, and visiting their relatives. Logan was surprised by how many fairies lived among humans and other supernatural creatures, without anyone really knowing about them.

  “Fae like Brigid who choose to live in the Mortal Realm tend to keep to themselves, but do normally offer help when needed. And for the fairies that mate with supernatural creatures, fae-mates are protective,” she supplied.

  Logan understood that completely. Clearly, fairy powers could be used for criminal purposes, such as those the wolves that had taken her planned to do. Keeping her safe was his number one priority.

  Although curious about the Mortal Realm, Jenna was familiar with most everything. She’d watched movies on television, gone shopping at some of the largest malls in America, and had done a lot of sight-seeing around the country. Her parents weren’t wealthy, but they saved throughout the year so they could take one nice annual vacation.

  When asked, she told him that fae traded in gems, coins, goods, and services.

  She reached for the steering wheel when he stopped at a red light. She didn’t touch it, her fingertips hovering just above it.

  He circled her wrist with his fingers and drew her hand to the wheel. It surprised him that she lived in a world without cars or trucks, but it was probably a lot less noisy and a lot more beautiful there. She grasped the wheel and gave him a heart-stopping grin. “This is so resh.”

  “Resh?” He chuckled, pressing on the gas and keeping one hand on the other side of the wheel, to keep them moving in the right direction.

  “I think you would say cool?”

  “Would you like me to teach you to drive, sweetheart?”

  “Oh, Logan, would you?” The utter awe in her voice made his chest tighten. Shit. Had he been that excited when his grandmother’s friend taught him to drive all those years ago? He didn’t think so.

  “Of course, sweetheart.”

  She laughed and it made Logan laugh. He was going to see the world through her eyes in a whole new light.

  Pulling into the garage of his small home, Logan wished to hell that he’d had the foresight to clean up. He wasn’t a messy person, but he’d been neglecting his laundry and he knew for sure there were dishes in the sink from two nights ago when he went with the kids to the dance. Hopefully she wouldn’t notice.

  “I asked my friend’s mate if she would buy some clothes for you, since you didn’t have anything. I saw a package on the front porch, so I hope that’s it.”

  “That’s so nice of your friend and his mate.”

  Logan carried Jenna into the house, kicking the door shut with his foot. Sighing in relief that the only dishes in the sink were a small plate and a coffee mug, he carried her into the family room and set her on the couch. “Do you think you can walk? Would you like a tour? Do you want to call your family? Are you hungry?” The questions tumbled from his mouth before he could stop them.

  Jenna shook her head with a laugh. “Yes, yes, yes, and yes. But I can’t call my family until the sun is up and I’ll need to be in the woods.”

  He gathered the bag on the front porch and brought it inside, grateful to Bo and Reika for their help. Then he offered Jenna his hand, after she insisted she could walk, and gave her a tour of his home. Before that moment, he hadn’t considered it a home, just his house. But with her here, suddenly it seemed that the word ‘home’ fit it much better.

  The two-bedroom house was nestled in the woods a mile away from Jason and Michael’s homes. There were other homes available, but Logan liked the privacy that the woods gave him, and being close enough to the alpha’s home to walk when the weather was nice. Old hardwood laid by hand covered most of the floor, from the eat-in kitchen to the family room to the formal dining room, which he used as an exercise room. The bedrooms were carpeted, the master in navy blue and the second bedroom, which sat empty, in dark green.

  Jenna walked into the master bedroom, stopping in the center of the room and turning around in a slow circle. The walls were plain white, and only two pictures hung on them, in matching frames.

  She moved to the wall that held both large pictures, paintings that his grandmother had done before she died. He’d made sure to save the paintings from the bank sale of her home and belongings that was used to pay off her final debts. Jenna’s fingertips touched the ornate frame of a woodland scene, sunlight streaming through the trees. It was the view that he’d had out the kitchen window every morning when he sat down for breakfast with her. Jenna moved on to the other painting, of a she-wolf lying with her cubs.

  “Someone special to you painted these?” She looked up at him.

  “My grandmother,” Logan said, and then, after a short pause, he began to tell her about his life. He had been raised in a pack in central Tennessee, in an industrial town named Crier. His father had taken off when he was only a baby — he had no idea what the guy’s name even was. His mother settled down with the alpha of their pack, but he didn’t want Logan hanging around his house. His grandmother, who lived outside of Crier and wasn’t involved with the pack, took him in and raised him. Logan grew up in the pack, learning how to fight, and worked his way up in the ranks. When his grandmother died when he was twenty, he was so angry that the only person that had ever cared about him was gone from his life. He lashed out, picked fights, and caused trouble. He didn’t care about anyone or anything, except for fighting his way up the ranks.

  And then the alpha died and Logan’s mom just took off. One day she was there, and the next she was gone. He had no idea where she was. The alpha had a son from another mating, named Yoric, and he took over the pack. Yoric decided that he wanted to hold rank fights once a month. Suddenly, the pack was in an uproar.

  Before, rank fights were only approved by the alpha and only for certain reasons. If a wolf was injured and couldn’t hold his position, if a wolf left the pack and the position needed to be filled, or if a wolf was behaving in a way that endangered himself or the pack. Logan had been highly-ranked in his old pack when the new alpha stepped in, and he’d assumed that the rank fights were just a way for the new alpha to assert his authority and evaluate his people. Logan had been dead wrong.

  Month after month, Logan had to defend his position against those lower in rank. And the alpha wasn’t satisfied until one of the two wolves in the fight was unconscious. Logan had seen man
y wolves begging for mercy as they were beaten savagely. Every month, Logan proved he was the best fighter. Suddenly, the loner that no one cared about was the hottest ticket in town. Females in the pack swarmed over him. Even females that had looked down on him for being a brawler and a thug warmed up to him. He’d never had so many invitations to take she-wolves to bed before he’d been forced to fight for his position every month. He reveled in it for a long time, feeling like he belonged for the first time in many years.

  The heady feeling of being desired had slipped away quickly. It hadn’t taken him long to realize that the females weren’t really interested in him, so much as his position in the pack and his good standing with the alpha. He had held out hope for a long time that he might find his mate within the females of his pack, or even the human female pack-groupies that hung around. But no matter the curves or the cleavage, the batted eyelashes, or the tempting smiles, he could never picture himself settling down with any of them. And he wondered why everyone thought he should settle down. If he could find his truemate, why wouldn’t he want to wait for her?

  Eventually it grated on him. The mindless fighting. The empty sex. Never knowing where he really stood with his alpha, who was supposed to be his role model, a male he revered. And then the alpha began inviting a large group of humans to watch the rank fights. He’d even secured an indoor stadium, with an announcer and arbitrary scoring, and taken bets against who would win and lose. Sick to his stomach after all he suffered through that night as he put down his fellow pack members, he decided to leave the pack and go rogue, find a place of his own and carve out a life for himself. It was then that he’d seen a posting on an online community bulletin board about a wolf pack in Kentucky looking for members. He’d jumped at the chance, walking away from his pack and joining up.

  For the first time since his grandmother died, Logan found a modicum of peace in the Tressel Pack, with his packmates and friends.

  Jenna sniffled and wrapped her arms around him, surprising him. “Sweetheart?” He hugged her with one arm and tipped her face up with his free hand.

  Her eyes were shining with unshed tears. “You’ve lost so much. I’m just sad for your past.”

  Her emotion tugged at him. She didn’t pity him, he could see that, but she was genuinely sad that he’d had a rough go of things. Running his thumb along the bottom edge of her lower lip, he said, “I am who I am because of my past. I…sometimes wish that things had been different, that I’d had the storybook family with two loving parents and siblings. But right now, I don’t regret any of that. My past put me in the position to be able to save you, and I wouldn’t change a damn thing that led up to this point.”

  Her silver eyes darkened to the color of steel, holding his gaze with an intensity that made him believe she could see right through to the very center of him. Normally, he didn’t care for people scrutinizing him, but she was different. Not just because she was a fairy, but because she was his.

  He drew her closer, pulling her lush body against his, and splaying his hand across her lower back. He wanted to take things slowly with her, to treat her right, but he couldn’t stop himself from tasting her, just once.

  The one word that slipped from his lips before he touched her mouth with his own was laced with want and need and possession: “Mine.”

  Chapter 5

  Logan’s lips were soft as they touched Jenna’s for the first time, pressing gently to hers and pulling away just slightly. Tilting her head, she drew her arms up around his neck, stretching up on her toes, and met his mouth again. The light touch of their lips faded into a hungry possession, as their mouths parted together and their tongues met, sliding and dancing.

  Her fingers curled around his neck, her thumbs brushing through the short hair at the back of his head as he bent his huge frame to meet her. The fingers of his hand slipped through her hair as the kiss went on, and he held her against the hard planes of his body with one arm around her. She felt incredibly tiny next to him and was amazed at his gentle touch. He could probably snap her in two without much effort, but he held her as if she were precious, and that’s exactly how she felt. Precious. Cherished. Wanted.

  He angled his head, deepening the kiss, and a sound rumbled from his chest that was a cross between a growl and a purr. If Jenna’s eyes had been open, they would have rolled back in her head. He claimed her with his mouth, moving his tongue with purpose, touching and tasting and teasing, until her heart was pounding wildly, her body was burning, and her nails dug into the back of his neck. She’d never been so thoroughly, so perfectly kissed before, and as he stroked along the roof of her mouth, she shivered and her knees weakened. But Logan didn’t let her fall, swinging her up into his arms and pulling away from the drugging kiss.

  With a frown, he strode over to the large bed and put her down. “I’m sorry,” he practically snarled, and she blinked up at him in confusion.

  “What on earth for?”

  “You’re still weak from your ordeal. You don’t need me mauling you.”

  He straightened and she caught his hand, bringing it to her body and placing his palm over her pounding heart. She met his deep brown eyes. “You didn’t maul me, Logan; that was the most fantastic kiss I’ve ever had.”

  He smiled, looking a little stunned. “It was the best for me, too. I was just worried when your knees went out.”

  She shrugged, smiling sheepishly. “You’re a good kisser.”

  He laughed, shaking his head. “You, too, sweetheart. Do you want to get cleaned up while I make something to eat?”

  She nodded and he scooped her up in his arms and carried her into the attached bathroom. Although the home was older, the bathroom was new, with crisp white tiles, a corner shower, and a garden tub. He put her down and grabbed a towel from under the sink, before asking if she’d rather have a shower or a bath. She chose a shower, and he turned the water on, disappeared into the bedroom, and returned with the bag of clothes his friends had purchased for her. After a quick kiss on the cheek, he ducked out of the bathroom to go to the kitchen. The clock on the counter said it was four a.m., and Logan said it was Monday, so she’d only been away from her family for two days. She knew they would be frantic, wondering about her safety, so the moment the sun rose, she would contact them.

  She showered, using Logan’s products. They were more masculine-smelling than the products she was used to using. She made her own products, using all-natural ingredients, and preferred to mix sweet and floral scents together.

  Jenna dried off, wrapping her long hair up in a towel on her head and standing in front of the mirror over the sink. She looked at her naked body, inspecting it for any lingering marks from the iron poisoning, finding none. She still felt a little weak, but she knew that would fade after a good meal and some rest.

  She was at least a foot shorter than Logan, and she couldn’t help but smile as she thought about how handsome he was. His dark brown hair was short and soft like velvet. Expressive brown eyes, a straight nose, kissably full lips, and a square jaw. Just thinking about his muscular body, those broad shoulders and that trim waist, thick legs and arms bulging with strength, made her shiver in anticipation. Waking up in his arms had been both shocking and arousing. She’d never seen so many tattoos on one man before. He-fairies didn’t cover their bodies with ink. But Logan’s arms and back were heavily inked with broad, black tribal designs of complicated swirls, curves, and sharp points. She supposed others might think the tattoos menacing, but she found them alluring and exciting, and she was looking forward to exploring them.

  She rubbed her hair until it was mostly dry and opened the bag, finding an assortment of panties, pants, tops, and one pair of white sandals. There was no bra in the bag. Although Jenna liked to let the girls hang loose when she was alone, she was a little too well-endowed to do so in public, especially the way her nipples hardened every time she thought about Logan.

  Deciding she could do without until they were able to return to the glen to g
ather her belongings and transport them here, she slipped on a soft button-down long- sleeved top and a pair of jeans. Using the brush on the counter, she brushed her hair until it shone, the silver strands of her heritage glinting in the overhead light. She could tell she was still weak, because her eyes and her hair strands were still dull.

  Putting the scrubs in the trash, she brought the clothing bag out into the bedroom, set it on the dresser and went to find Logan. She hadn’t really thought she was hungry, since she’d had a sandwich when she first woke up, but the moment she entered the hallway, her stomach rumbled loudly at the scents assaulting her. She couldn’t place what exactly was appealing to her, but something in the kitchen smelled delicious and her mouth began to water.

  Logan, wearing jeans and a tight black T-shirt, stood at the stove, turning a steak with a long-handled fork. The small, round table was set with two plates, silverware, and two glasses. As if sensing her, Logan looked up and the corner of his mouth curved up. “You look like you feel better after cleaning up. Have a seat. Do you drink coffee?”

  “Do you have any tea?”

  He clucked his teeth. “No, sorry. But we can pick some up later today.” He laid the fork down on the stove and turned the burner off. Opening the refrigerator, he peered inside. “Coke, root beer, I’m not too sure about the milk, and bottled water.”

  “Water’s fine.”

  “Sorry.” He put a bottle in front of her and took the glass, gathering ice cubes from the freezer and returning it to the table.

  “Don’t apologize.” She looked up at him and smiled. “I’m pretty sure you didn’t expect to be bringing home a woman that you rescued in the woods.” She arched a brow in jest. “Unless you go around rescuing strange women every weekend.”