Page 54 of Logan’s Acadian Wolves

Logan’s face visibly relaxed, but she was still too close to Jax. He knew what Jax was going to say next.

“You marked her and didn’t talk to her? What the fuck, Alpha?” Jax walked around the sofa, fell back into it and grabbed his head with his hands. “No, don’t even tell me anything else. This can be undone. Wyn, you can come back to New York with me. It will take a few months but you’ll get through this. It’ll fade and you can find a suitable wolf.”

Logan looked to Wynter, and they both addressed Jax at the same time. “No.”

“Jax, stop it. I’m not going back to New York. I just told you I care about him. He’s claimed me and I’m happy. You just need to accept this,” Wynter said softly. She didn’t want to challenge him but there was no way in hell she was returning to New York. She needed to be firm on that point. Wynter loved Jax, but she wasn’t going to let him steamroll her decision to be with Logan.

“Oh, you’ll go back to New York,” Jax promised.

“No I won’t,” she countered.

“You will go. As your Alpha, I order you to go back to New York with me. Do you understand, Wynter Isabelle Ryan? Staying here with him is not an option. You are going to turn into a wolf. You have no choice but to obey me,” Jax told her, giving her a hard stare.

Logan watched the interchange, trying his best to let Wynter handle it. Telling Jax she’d made a choice to stay with him warmed his heart. And Jax needed to hear this news from her, not him. But when Jax attempted to give her a direct order, Logan chose to intervene.

“She’s my mate,” Logan stated confidently. “And as such, you cannot order her to obey you. She’s mine. I’m her Alpha.”

Wynter’s jaw dropped at his words. Oh my God. What did Logan just say? She was his mate? Wait, wasn’t that something you asked someone first? She couldn’t be sure of those nagging wolf rules, but wasn’t that like an engagement of sorts? Her mind warred between smacking him or throwing herself at him and tearing off his clothes.

“What?” This was getting better by the minute, Jax thought. He closed his eyes trying to concentrate. How could this have happened? He should have known better. The Alpha wouldn’t have marked her otherwise. But still, he had to ask. “Are you sure?”

“I am,” Logan insisted, his eyes locked on Wynter’s.

This was so not the way he’d imagined himself telling her. Hell, he’d hardly had time to come to terms with it himself. He watched the conflicting emotions play across her face when he’d said the word: mate. Logan swore to himself he’d make this up to her somehow. He shouldn’t have done it like this. Even though he’d never been mated before, he damn well knew that it wasn’t something you just announced in a room full of people without talking to your mate about it. Granted, mated wolves didn’t always come to the realization at the same time, but it was treated with sanctity, with respect. Given the situation, Jax gave him little choice. There’d be no way he’d ever let him take his mate to New York.

“Well, fuck me,” he heard Jax say. “I still can’t believe I allowed this to happen. You’re right about one thing, Logan; I should have never let Wynter go work for that company. I will be forever sorry for that. Wynter should have…”

“I am right here, you two. Oh my God. There’s so much testosterone in this building you’d think we were at a bull fight.” Wynter was pissed. Not only would she have appreciated the ‘will you be my mate?’ discussion in private, she was mad at Jax for thinking he could have simply pulled that ‘Alpha is ordering you’ bullshit. She hadn’t seen that side of Jax since she snuck out her bedroom window at sixteen to go to a party with her friends.

“Listen up, both of you.” She didn’t care at this point whether she challenged them or not. This was her life they were discussing as if she were a child. Having enough, she glared at them and held up her fingers, ticking them off as she spoke. “Number one. This is my life. Not yours, oh great Alpha, Jax. And not yours either, oh great mate of mine. Number two. I am not going to New York. Do you remember why I am even here, Jax? For Emma. Was it the best plan in the world for me to go in there alone? Obviously not. But I’m a scientist, not a cop. And we’ve still got work to do. And whether you like it or not, I care about Logan a lot. And not like friends. We’re lovers. And despite his apparent lack of ability to inform me of these important wolf thingies, like ‘hey I want to mark you’ or ‘hey, I think you are my mate’, I want him…He’s an incredible person and from what I’ve seen, a great Alpha. Saved my ass more than once. I think you owe him a little respect.”

Wynter blew out a frustrated breath, waiting for the other shoe to drop. She’d been so mad; she hadn’t given too much thought as to how the Alphas would react to her heated lecture. Both men glanced away in embarrassment, from time to time, as she pointed out what they’d done. Logan’s eyes fixed on her as soon as she’d told Jax they were lovers. Her heart warmed, seeing him smile. She wished she could stay mad at him for at least an hour, but his sexy expression melted away her resolve like sun on ice. She looked away to collect her thoughts, and caught Dimitri sitting on a kitchen stool grinning at her. Glad he’s finding this so amusing. Unfortunately she wasn’t finished giving the two Alphas a piece of her mind.

“And third…third, we all need to work together for Emma’s sake. I don’t know what they’ve done, but I was close. So close to finding a treatment. Not a cure, but something that would give her quality of life. Buy me time to work further on it. I need you both to do this. Please. This isn’t about me anymore. We’ve got to get the person who killed Dana. The person that wants to turn my knowledge into a weapon.”

Logan bit at his lip. Goddess, she was magnificent. And right. She definitely had a point about Jax. If Logan took Wynter to the country, he could entrust Jax to help cover the city. Aside from Léopold, he needed an ally, someone who understood the enemy and wasn’t a vampire. Before he and Jax had gotten into a shouting match, they’d actually had a civilized discussion about Wynter turning wolf and had strategized for an hour about what to do next. But when he told him about what had happened with the explosion, Jax demanded to take Wynter back to New York. Before he knew it, they were arguing over Wynter like two kids fighting over a piece of candy. He rubbed his hand over the back of his neck and sighed.

“I’m sorry. You know I care about you. I’ll respect your choices.” Jax paused and glanced to Logan. “And your mate. But I still want to talk with you. Alone.”

Logan shook his head and rolled his eyes. The guy really didn’t give up. He supposed that after everything he’d done for Wynter over the years, he was entitled to have alone time with her. But take his mate away from the safety of his home? From him? No fucking way. Logan raised an eyebrow at Wynter in hopes she’d feel his emotion. Since he’d marked her, he’d started to sense her state of mind; confusion, anger and sadness swirled through her consciousness.

“Logan, I want to talk with Jax for a little bit. We need time,” she pleaded.

“Fine, you can talk here. I’ll go to my office,” he countered.

“Alpha, don’t take this the wrong way, but I want time alone with her in private. You and I both know there is no such thing as private as long as we’re here,” Jax argued.

“I’ll go,” Wynter decided. The truth was that she needed to have a heart to heart with Jax. As loath as she was to leave Logan, she wasn’t sure she could do that knowing he was listening to their every word. She wanted privacy.

“Wynter, do you really know what you’re asking?” Logan responded angrily. His mate was leaving with another unmated male, one not from his pack. His wolf snarled, wanting him to refuse her.

“Yes I do. You need to remember that I’m not all wolf yet, mate.” She didn’t mean to sound bitter but she couldn’t quite forgive him that quickly. “I won’t be long, but I am going.”

Logan approached her like a stalking panther, his eyes wild and his mouth tight with anger. Placing his hands around her waist, he pulled her against his chest. Ever so softly, he pressed his lips to hers but never deepened the kiss. It was a goodbye kiss, one he hoped she’d regret. But he wasn’t going to keep her against her will. She’d come to him willingly or not at all. When he released her from his embrace, Logan’s demeanor seethed in dominance.

Wynter, still reeling from the kiss, brought her fingers to her lips. She hated that Logan was so angry, but he needed to understand that she owed Jax. The least she could do was grant him a few hours of her time.

“Funeral’s this evening. If you aren’t back, I’m coming for you, sweetheart,” Logan vowed fiercely, his gaze fixed on hers. He watched her quietly nod and turned to address Jax. “Take care of her, Chandler. I’ll be in touch.”