Page 51 of Chaos At Second Sight

I looked up. Half my family was squeezed into my bedroom window.

“Let’s walk.” Logan gave me a small smile. “Before they decide to chaperone us.”

I nodded profusely, trying to avoid talking and any more embarrassment.

We followed the winding woodland trail until the lights of the packhouse faded behind us. Low mist hung over the earth, swirling over our feet, and lamps twinkled from the scattered cabins tucked between the trees; some pack members preferred more isolation. We met a few of them along the way, all greeting us brightly.

The trail forked, and when we took a left, no one was in sight.

Hard muscles hauled me up, and my feet left the ground. “Finally,” Logan murmured against my hair. He inhaled deeply, as though drawing me into his lungs. “Been wanting to do this all night.” He paused, arms tight around my waist. “All day.”

“Me too.” I melted into the hug, my arms finding his neck.

Neither of us hurried to let go. When he leaned back, I tipped my face up to meet his gaze.

A choked laugh slipped from him. “You’re making me so nervous, Bunny Doc.” He smiled, almost shy. “Didn’t think anything could.”

I understood perfectly, since I felt the same.

“Because I’m your mate?” I whispered, still looking up at him.

He narrowed his eyes a little. “It’s more than that.”

When he put me down, his hands slid from my waist up my back until one settled at the nape of my neck. This close, our height difference was comical, my neck craning so far it cricked. “I could really use that ladder now,” I blurted.

A smirk broke across his face. “Oh yeah?”

I let out a cry of surprise when he scooped me up again and set me atop a boulder. “There.” Now our faces were level. “Better, Bunny Doc?” His eyes glowed a molten silver, competing with the full moon hanging above.

I nodded, my palms finding soft moss. “Much.”

Just like that, my nerves melted away, his humor contagious. Besides, mates weren’t supposed to make you nervous, even if yours happened to be the Terminator, a seven-foot lycan dipped in a pool of hotness.

Logan hopped up onto the boulder too. We sat shoulder to shoulder.

Towering firs, heavy with old lichens, wove a canopy so dense the forest floor lived in perpetual dusk. This was the sort of place where legends didn’t feel invented, only hidden, waiting for the right moment to emerge. The music from the party and the glow of the packhouse were far enough for privacy, but close enough to remind us we weren’t in open wilderness.

Logan gazed up, casually draping an arm over my shoulders. “The stars are incredible from here.”

“Like the Scottish sky caught interstellar measles.” I winced, even distracting Zelda from her constant watching of Logan.

Thank Stephen this lycan found me funny, for some reason. Maybe it was just the mate bond that made me hilarious to him.

He chuckled huskily. “That’s exactly what I meant. So many stars the sky got sick with them.”

Tucking my knees into my chest, I peered up as a solitary owl drew a straight trajectory across the sky. Let’s try again. “Current estimates put the Milky Way at somewhere between two and four hundred billion stars.”

Logan pushed a curl behind my ear, a spark following his finger. “Yeah? How do you know that?”

“There are approximately eighty-six billion neurons in the human brain. Neuroscientists estimate them by counting a small region of the brain and extrapolating the total. Astronomers use a similar method to estimate stars.” I smiled, proud of the research advancement. “The human brain and our galaxy are measured almost the same way. Isn’t that incredible?”

I became so absorbed that I missed the way he was looking at me, the kind of look that tangled my stomach in knots.

“You’re unbelievable. So smart. Every conversation with you is interesting,” he said bluntly. “When I realized you were my mate at the conference…” He sighed. “I was conflicted.”

My smile faltered. Had he considered rejecting our bond?

“Part of me wanted to mark you on the spot, but a quarter of me wanted to kiss you first, then mark you.”