AllFreeNovel
Share Us
ChapterSix
Cindy
I was alone in my trailer with Logan Mathis.
Logan Mathis!
I was still freaking out about that but doing my best to play it cool. I was a thirty-five-year-old woman, mom of three, and I couldn’t act like a teenager in the front row of a boy band concert just because I picked a celebrity to spend forever with me.
Okay, Bjorn was here too, with his camera, but he’d told us to pretend he wasn’t there, and I was more than happy to do that.
I’d chosen Logan to be my mate, and it was his job to prove me right.
“Seems like there’s never a dull moment around here,” he said.
I laughed a little too loudly. Having casual conversation with this man would take some getting used to. “There are plenty of dull moments. You just caught a very exciting slice of it.”
I probably shouldn’t be assuring him that things were boring...
“What brought you to The Mating Game?” he asked.
This man knew nothing about me, except for the fact I had three kids and a volatile ex. And he was still here. Cynical me wanted to ask why.
Trust him, my-she wolf instructed. Let things be different this time.
Bibi promised me a total life makeover. So far, she’d delivered.
“Well, you’ve met Pedro.” The mark on my shoulder burned, like it had every night since he’d left. Like my body was trying to make it disappear. I wished every morning when I looked in the mirror that it would do just that. I’d known it was a mistake the moment he’d marked me. Instead of making me feel complete, it felt like damage. “I married him because it was the right thing to do. There weren’t a lot of options in our pack at the time. I thought that fate had brought us together for a reason. But the longer we were together, I realized I was there because of loyalty. Convenience. And I desperately wanted out, but you don’t leave the wolf fate chose for you. I thought Pedro was my fate.”
“But Pedro took care of that for you.” Logan finished the story. “He left you?”
“Right.” His appearance tonight ripped me open all over again. Embarrassment, shame, naivety—not because he left. Because I didn’t do it first. “My friend Michelle separated from our pack’s alpha to knock some sense into him. I kept thinking, if that was me, I’d never go back.”
Logan’s face lit up. “She was on the Werewives Christmas special. I saw that. I’m glad it worked out for them.”
Thinking of him watching the same show I loved so much made him seem...normal. Accessible. Not famous and gorgeous and rich and totally unattainable.
“Pedro challenged our alpha and lost. Bibi insisted she could do better for me once he ran off, and I was ready. Or I thought I was. This is totally overwhelming,” I confessed. Not only did Pedro make that lame attempt to come back into my life, but... Logan Mathis. “Probably not for you, since you’re used to being in front of the camera.”
“This is uncharted territory for me, too,” he said. “I’m used to keeping my personal life private. And having total control over things.”
“You can take control of this night.”
He rumbled. My suggestion came out way more forward than I intended, but his reaction stirred things inside me I’d all but forgotten about.
“I have an idea,” he said. “Let’s get out of this trailer. Show me around town. Seems like I’ll be hanging out here for a while. Maybe forever.”
“I’d like that.” I rose from the couch, and my ruined dress fluttered away from my shoulder. “But I can’t go like this.”
He reached for the ripped fabric and smoothed it against my skin. My breath caught in my throat. His fingers were warm and a little rough to the touch. Just the way I liked them. “No, you can’t. This looks like someone else already claimed you.”
“This actually looks like I rejected that claim in front of the entire town and whoever watches the show.” I was getting better at small talk with Logan Mathis.
His lips quirked into a possessive grin. I liked that, too.
“You don’t belong to him.”
I shook my head.
“The whole world knows that now.” He met my gaze. It wasn’t a claim, but it was a promise. “Are you hungry?”
It was my wolf’s turn to rumble. “Starving.”
“I’ll be back in a few minutes. Then you can bring me to your favorite restaurant.” He squeezed my hand before he left.
“I’ll let Bibi know we’re on the move,” Bjorn said. “Don’t go anywhere without us.”
“Like anywhere, or just tonight?”
“You can do whatever you want, but you just very publicly rejected a wolf who has a legitimate claim to you,” he said as he snapped his camera into its case. “We need to make sure you’re safe.”
Ice water flowed through my veins. “What about my kids?”
“Pedro would be a fool to mess with them,” the bear rumbled.
“It’s not Pedro I’m worried about.” I knew his work all too well. “But whoever he pissed off when he was off on his adventure could be a problem.”
Bjorn raised a brow. “Does Pedro have a lot of enemies?”
Funny how he assumed there was at least one. The bear might have been new around here, but he didn’t miss a beat.
“He challenged our alpha. Jackson wouldn’t do anything to hurt my kids. He’s just as headstrong as Pedro, but he wouldn’t retaliate against me.” He and his mate Michelle had been my lifeline since Pedro left. They were the ones watching the kids tonight. Which meant they had to be safe. Or so I hoped. “I’m not sure I’m the only reason Pedro came back.”
“Oh, sweetie.” Bibi had slipped in—I must have been really freaked out not to notice a six-foot-something drag queen come into the trailer. “I can’t wait to get to the Bibi Bootcamp segment of the show. You have two wolves fighting over you—and if that doesn’t make you one fierce she-wolf, I don’t know what does.”
“They can fight over me all they want, but if anyone hurts my kids, they’ll have to deal with me,” I growled. I should’ve been home, with my babies. The event had catapulted me out of my comfort zone.
“I’m sorry. I need to take a rain check tonight.”
