Logan's Choice (Dark Hollow Wolf Pack 3)

Logan went hot with embarrassment. The worst thing was the compulsion to do whatever Ian asked of him. He tried biting down on his tongue to keep from saying the words fighting to come out of his mouth.

“C’mon, Logan, say it. ” Ian’s tone became a little less teasing and a little more commanding. Logan was done. He sagged in defeat and mumbled a few words so low he knew Ian couldn’t hear him.

“What was that, baby? Speak up a little louder. ”

“I said—in love—damn it. ” He looked up at Ian defiantly. “I’m in love with you. Are you satisfied?”

“Oh, I’m getting there, baby. Definitely getting there. I’m in love with you too. Now let’s go back upstairs where you can show me exactly how you feel. ”

Chapter Four

“His memories have pretty much come back to him. ” The next day Ian faced Marco over breakfast early in the morning. Ian had left Logan sleeping soundly after he’d kept Logan up most of the night making love to him and feeding him blood. After a full day of the same with naps in between, Ian wanted him to sleep late and rest while he worked. He didn’t have anyone to stay with him while he was gone. He knew he was being overprotective, but he couldn’t help it.

Logan was becoming more Werekin all the time in a lot of ways, but not as submissive as he should be. Ian was anxious for his progress to continue. Logan still was resistant to the idea of making love to another man. Though he couldn’t resist Ian’s advances, he made none of his own. The night before, however, he’d cuddled up next to Ian before going to sleep. He’d told him he was beginning to remember everything from his life as a Hunter.

“I need to talk to him then,” Marco said, leaning forward. “You know our attempts to work out an agreement for release for Logan were ignored. Yesterday one of our friends in town passed a note to one ofElias’ guards in a cafe. He gave it to Elias. Elias wrote out an answer and tacked it to the bulletin board for everyone to see. ”

“You aren’t still thinking of letting him go? I won’t let him go, Marco. I can’t,” Ian said firmly.

“I know, but our friend didn’t know we’d given up on that or what’s happened with Logan. ” He held a slip of paper out to Ian.

“Bastard,” Ian growled after reading both the offer and the answer. “How can any father do that to his own son?” He growled again. “Logan hasn’t said much about him, but it was easy to tell he hates him and has had a damned lonely life. ”

“Will you tell Logan?”

“Eventually. Maybe not right away. ”

“This time, I’ll talk to him alone—no use getting Casey and the others involved at this point. Tensions are running too high. ”

“If Caseytouches Logan again, I’ll…”

Marco shook his head, a worried look on his face. “That’s not going to happen. I know how upsetting it was for you, for all of us. After the talk I had with Casey, I don’t think anything like that will ever happen again. He knows how wrong he was. Still, it’s best if we speak to Logan alone. Less traumatizing for him that way. ”

Ian nodded. “Let him rest until this afternoon. Maybe around one o’clock?”

“Fine. ” Marco finished his coffee and stood up. “Is anyone with him?”

“No, but I fed him so he’d sleep most of the day and posted a guard outside my quarters, in case he should wake up and try to wander around. ”

“Good. Until he has time to settle in more, it’s a good idea to keep an eye on him, just in case. See you this afternoon. ”

Marco walked off, and Ian finished his breakfast, thinking of Logan. He was so strong willed it was difficult for him to be in love with Ian. It went against everything he’d been taught since he was a small child, morally. He’d been told all his life loving a man was wrong, and he’d been taught wolves were monstrous creatures for probably just as long. Now that he knew the last to be untrue, it had made him question a lot ofthe other things he’d been taught as well. He was having a difficult time.

The mating bite and the subsequent feedings created a bond of caring, dependency, and obedience. Ian knew that. He was hoping in time, Logan would come to love him for himself as well. He’d known when he saw Logan in his cell that, as deeply embedded as Logan’s Hunter beliefs were, simply turning him to Werekin without the stronger bonds of mating wouldn’t have been enough to overcome the brainwashing, which he believed Elias’ training was. They couldn’t have controlled him.

The lack of inhibitions while in heat would have subsided, and the stronger training of a lifetime would have come back to the surface. Ian knew that the moment he saw Logan standing in that cell challenging him. He knewhe didn’t have a prayer of escaping and expected death any minute, yet he was defiant.

It would have been even harder for the pack to kill him as Werekin, but it would have had to be done if Logan turned on them instead of joining them. A stronger bond, the bond of mating, had to be done for it to work at all. Besides, at his first sight of him, as Ian told Logan, he wanted Logan for his own.

Maybe he should have left him alone after he came out of heat until he sorted out his feelings, but once Logan accepted mating and Ian gave him the mating bite and his knot, Ian had little choice. The mate wasn’t the only one affected by the ritual and the bond went both ways. The problem was it would be hard for Logan to sort out the real natural feelings buried deep by the prejudices drummed into his head all his life from the feelings caused by the mating. He might never know for sure which was which. Neither would Ian. The only thing Ian knew was he had fallen in love with Logan, deeply and irrevocably.

He had loved Maria and always would. He still missed her every day, but Logan excited him in a way he’d never experienced before. He wanted to be with him constantly. This morning he had to get up to go to work. The wolves from Casey’s old pack needed living space, and Ian was the construction site foreman. He resented the time he’d have to spend away from him. It may not be a blood match, but it certainly was a love match. At least it was for Ian. Maybe he could make it a little easier for Logan. He smiled grimly. Compromise, Logan had saidwhen he’d given him the shirt. Maybe, after he was sure of Logan, he could let up a little.

Wearily, he stood up to head out to the construction site, experiencing unreasonable resentment over any of the time he would spend away from Logan. He’d almost forgotten what it was like to be so much in love. So exciting, and so miserable at the same time.

Logan stretched as he came awake and reached out for Ian. Finding nothing but the empty covers, he felt alone and abandoned for a few moments. How had he allowed himself to feel this way about a wolf? The very idea appalled him. At the same time, he imagined Ian’s big, muscular body wrapping around him. He rolled over and buried his face in Ian’s pillow, breathing in the scent of him, themost delicious smell he’d ever come across. Probably a trick of his mind since the mating bite. Still he wrapped his arms around the pillow and breathed deeply.

He thought about the wild lovemaking of the night and day before. Ian was insatiable, seeming to want to have his cock stuck in some part of Logan at all times. When he’d finally worn Logan out, he cuddled with him the rest of the night, spooning him and caressing his balls and his cock until he went to sleep. He’d made love to him so often it no longer seemed strange, at least not while they were doing it. Other times were when he questioned his own sexuality and masculinity. During the night, Logan woke up to Ian lying on his back, away from him. Missing his warmth, Logan snuggled up beside him, rubbing his face against his chest. Ian woke up and took him in his arms, kissing him over and over until it almost took his breath away. Did enjoying the attention make him less a man? Craving it? Needing it?