Cupcake (Unlocked Mates #9)

Chapter One

Logan

He was drawn to the colorful artistically painted front window of the bakery in town. Every morning Logan passed the bakery, and it was getting harder and harder to resist going inside again. Not only did the smells coming from the establishment lure him closer but so did the man that worked behind the counter. He didn’t just work there though. That man was responsible for all the tingles inside Logan’s tummy and down his spine.

Logan’s father used to say that he wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. His mama had told him nearly every day of his childhood that it was a good thing he was pretty and would give her beautiful grandbabies because he was dumber than a box of rocks. So, Logan might not be smart, but he knew that he needed to stay far away from the intriguing man that owned and ran the bakery. But it was so hard.

And they had cupcakes again.

The big pretty cupcakes with bright pink icing and sprinkles.

His mouth watered and he had to swallow. How embarrassing would it be if he started drooling? Logan was pretty sure that had already happened a time or two.

Logan ached on the inside. He wanted that cupcake. He wanted to hear the deep voice from the small man that welcomed customers inside. It confused him. Now that mates were being found within his family, Logan hoped that he’d find his own soon. The draw to the bakery had Logan rushing inside the first time he felt it. He thought…yeah, stupidly he’d thought that he’d been blessed, and his mate had been inside.

The only employee back then was the man that owned and operated the business and while Logan thought Dean was gorgeous, he didn’t feel the pull described by the others when they’d scented their mates.

As much as Logan was interested in Dean, he knew it was better to stay far away. It would be just his luck to get into a relationship and then find his mate. Logan couldn’t imagine ever hurting someone like that, so he stayed away from Dean. And the sweet-smelling treats.

But the cupcakes were so so sparkly!

At that moment Dean’s head snapped up and he smiled at Logan where he was peering through the large front window. Logan quickly looked away, but his gaze fell on the cupcake in the big display case.

Logan licked his lips.

He was lucky that the bakery had quickly become one of the places that the others in the group had grown obsessed with. The other boys loved their cookies and pastries. Sam and Ansley’s bookstore was only a few blocks over and they often brought home special treats for the family.

No one had brought home one of the pretty cupcakes though.

“Hey, Logan.”

He jumped at the deep but soft, inviting voice. Looking to the side, he saw Dean standing at the open door, smiling at him. Logan had to swallow again. Oh no! He quickly stepped back.

“Sorry! I was just looking!” Logan blurted out. As soon as Dean had spotted him, Logan should have left. Dang!

“I noticed. Was there something that caught your eye?”

Well duh. Two somethings and one of those things was looking at Logan with amusement in his eyes. Was he silently laughing at Logan? Probably. He no doubt thought Logan was weird and dumb. Just like his birth pride had. Logan quickly shook his head as he took several more steps back.

“Why don’t you come inside?” Dean invited. “I’ll give you your choice of anything in the display case. Free of charge.”

Oh! Dean had never offered that before. In fact, he hadn’t ever come outside and talked to him. Normally Logan was smart enough to run away if Dean started toward the door.

“I…” Logan shifted uneasily on his feet. The impulse to run throbbing through his body.

“Come on,” Dean urged. “I promise I don’t bite.”

Bite? Why would Dean bite him? Logan frowned as Dean smiled a perfect white smile. He didn’t even have sharp teeth. Logan had overheard Axel talking about Dean and how he was a mage. Didn’t that make him nearly human? Well…maybe a human with a little magic. Logan didn’t know how magic worked. He was too embarrassed to ask when the others talked about it too.

“I…” Logan didn’t know what to do.

Dean strode forward. He was several inches shorter than Logan, slimmer, but he seemed to radiate power and confidence. Logan wasn’t confident at all. Was that why Logan was so drawn to the mage? Because Dean seemed to radiate confidence?

“There has to be something you’re craving,” Dean said. “I noticed you like to look at the displays.”

He nodded. It would be dumb to deny that. Not as often as he was busted staring inside the bakery. Of course, Dean didn’t know that Logan also liked to look at him.

“Come.” Dean wrapped a hand around Logan’s upper arm.

Logan moaned. The firm fingers wrapped around his flesh sent sparks of arousal down his spine. What would it be like to have Dean touch him all over? Maybe use his mouth. Oh! Would Dean want to top him? It was what Logan preferred. Except a lot of men thought since Logan was bigger than them that Logan should be the top. Even though Logan had no interest in being in charge or taking someone else’s body. Logan shook the thought away. He couldn’t think that way. This was not the time.

Why were his feet moving as Dean urged him inside?

Oh! He was inside the bakery.

It smelled even better the closer Dean led Logan toward the treats. He’d been a good boy for so long. He hadn’t stalked the other man even though his lion was just as interested. Logan had tried to stay away. And he’d resisted going inside since that first time. Was he making a mistake? Probably. But Dean had practically insisted, right?

“Do you have any allergies?” Dean’s voice was deep, alluring, exciting.

“No…no,” Logan mumbled.

“I know what your friends like but what’s your favorite dessert? I made chocolate croissants this morning. They’ve been selling fast but I still have a few left.”

He should just take the offered treat and run far away. They were now right in front of the middle case. Logan tried not to look at the cupcake. The pretty pretty cupcake.

“Donuts? Cookies?” Dean asked.

Logan was shaking his head before he even thought to answer.

Dean stepped closer. He released the hold on Logan’s arm, which Logan regretted immediately, but then Dean’s shoulder pressed against Logan’s back. He shouldn’t push back. He really really shouldn’t… Logan pressed back.

Electricity ignited every nerve in Logan’s body.

“Cupcake?”

Logan whimpered.

“Yeah, that’s what you want, isn’t it? That pretty cupcake is just calling your name,” Dean whispered.

Too soon he was walking away. Why was he walking away? Logan wanted to call him back. Missed the slight touch already. It had been like taking a long nap under his favorite tree with the sun shining down and warming his fur.

On the other side of the display case, Dean slid the door open. With long, slender fingers he reached for the prettiest cupcake at the front of the tray. Logan vibrated happily. That was the exact treat he’d been drooling over.

Dean pulled out the cupcake and slide it into the small rectangular pink box. Even the box was pretty! Logan shuffled closer until he was pressed against the display case watching Dean’s slender fingers.

“This is my present for you,” Dean told him as he closed the top of the box.

Oh! He should pay. “I have money!” Logan made good money with his landscaping business. He had several crews, and they did amazing work. Logan’s business was so successful he’d had to hire additional crews that season and a manager. Dean didn’t need to give him free things. Logan needed to use his dang brain!

“I know,” Dean said with a smile. “But this is from me.” He held the box out to Logan.

Logan’s fingers shook as he accepted the gift. He looked down and smiled. This pretty cupcake was all his. He didn’t have to just stare at it from outside. It was his now. And—

“Your phone is ringing.”

Dean’s voice pulled him away from his thoughts.

“Oh.” Logan dug his cell from his back pocket as he hid his pink cheeks. Dean probably thought he was just as dumb as everyone else always had. Wait! Phone. Why was the alpha calling him?

“Axel?” he asked as he answered.

“We need you home,” his alpha said. “Something happened to Levi.”

There was no hesitation when it came to his family. “On my way!” Logan quickly waved to Dean before tucking his treat against his chest and racing from the bakery. “What’s going on?” he asked once he was outside and running to his truck.

“We don’t know. He went to meet his mate. We think there was an attack of some kind. We found some blood. A lot of blood. Hurry. I need to call the others.”

Logan’s stomach dropped as Axel disconnected the call. Not his sweet friend. Why would anyone attack Levi? Inside, his lion stretched and fought to come to the surface.

“Not yet,” Logan mumbled to himself. “We have to get home.” Then he’d let his animal out. His lion was fierce when he needed to be. Strong. Smart. Logan wished he was like his lion half. They needed to get home with his family and make sure Levi was alright.

Logan placed his gift in the seat beside him before he pulled on his seatbelt then started the truck. Logan was supposed to be heading into the office to check the schedule, but his family needed him.

Logan broke several laws driving like a bat out of hell toward home. He made it back in record time. He braked hard and slid to a stop in their designated parking place before grabbing his treat and running for the backdoor.

He didn’t spot anyone else on his way to the house.

Entering through the back, the house was quiet. Logan raced up the steps to the second floor and his suite. He stashed his cupcake on the little kitchen counter before running back out.

Following the most recent scent of his alpha, Logan tracked the rest of the family in the woods, outside the back door.

Several of the boys were crying. Axel paced as he spoke on the phone. Gavin was vibrating with anger. The scent of blood was sharp. Logan dropped to his knees as he saw how much blood there was.

“Levi,” he whispered the name.

There had been a small little picnic set up. A worn plaid blanket. A backpack and an insulated bag. Remnants of food.

Breathing deep, Logan tried to memorize the scents. He wasn’t the best tracker in the family, but he would try. He would do anything for his family. They had to find Levi! They had to. Levi treated Logan so well. Levi never called him dumb or made Logan feel silly. Levi was Logan’s true brother, unlike the siblings that were blood related to him.

“Nate. Logan. Can the two of you head to Mason’s cabin and see if they went there?”

Logan snapped his head toward his alpha.

“Go and come right back,” Axel ordered. “I don’t want anyone out here alone.”

Logan climbed unsteadily to his feet. “Of course.”

“Be careful, boy.” Axel’s gaze darted around the area. “Please.”

“We will,” Nate promised.

Logan caught the little bobcat’s eye. Neither of them believed that they would find Levi at Mason’s cabin. Not when the big house was so much closer. Still Logan would always do what his alpha wanted. It was better to be sure anyway, right?

He started to disrobe, making sure to fold up his clothes neatly. It wasn’t fun to come back to clothes that had been sitting in the dirt. Lawson rushed forward and took them from him. Logan smiled and thanked his friend before he called on his lion half.

The transition was fast. Logan shifted almost daily, several times a day, more comfortable in his animal form than human sometimes. He waited until Nate brushed against his side before they both ran off in the direction of the park ranger's cabin.

Logan was happy that it appeared Levi had been spending time with his mate, but he was worried about them both. Levi would be okay. He was one of the immortal species. If something happened to Levi’s mate though, Logan didn’t know if Levi would recover from that.

Levi had been like Logan, where he had actively been praying for a mate. When Axel first found Bryce, it had brought back hope that Logan had almost given up over time. He wasn’t as old as Axel, Gavin, and some of the others, but as soon as he’d realized he was gay and had been kicked out of his pride, Logan had hoped to come across the one perfect person that was meant to be his.

He’d lost all his worth with his pride when he’d refused to have babies with the lionesses. His mama had told him to give her lots of cubs, but Logan was gay. He didn’t want to have sex with women! Not even to make his mama happy by giving her grandbabies. Revealing the fact that he was gay had disgusted her. His father had dragged Logan out of the house, tossing him away when he found out.

If Logan wasn’t there to give the pride cubs, then he was only another mouth to feed and wasn’t welcome.

It had been hard to be on his own.

Logan hadn’t even been eighteen years old when he’d found himself on his own. No money. No experience with the outside world. Heck, Logan had never been out of pride land until he’d been sent away.

Logan had shifted. He’d always loved being in his animal form. Allowing the lion to be in charge. He needed his lion to survive. That was when he’d felt the bond with his lion side snap into perfect alignment.

Some shifters were able to shift back and forth. Shifting was a part of their genetics.

Lion shifters were different. He hadn’t really understood what that had meant though. Not until he’d shifted while broken-hearted and terrified. The soul of the lion that lived inside him took over and their connection was strengthened. Complete. For the first time Logan could share and talk to his lion soul.

The missing piece inside him had filled and Logan was no longer alone.

While bonding fully with his lion had been wonderful, it hadn’t solved all his problems. He was still on his own, scared, and lost.

He wandered the country for years, mostly as a lion, getting far away from the pride territory, until he’d lucked into coming here. Axel had seen his malnourished, bruised, and hurting body and soul, and welcomed him with open arms.

He’d found a family again and Logan wouldn’t allow anyone else to tear that away from him.

All these thoughts circled in his head as he and Nate ran.

The little bobcat was fast. Nate could squeeze through narrow openings in the trees when Logan had to go around but Nate stayed close to his side.

They slowed as they approached the boundaries of the ranger’s cabin.

Logan stopped as he listened. His ears pricked up at the sounds that carried into the woods. He exchanged a confused look with Nate. That…those were definite sounds of someone having sex. He heard them way too much in the big house. Having a mate meant that they had sex a lot. Or so it seemed to Logan. He didn’t have a mate.

Nate dropped onto his belly and started to crawl forward.

Logan did the same since they needed to report back to Axel. If Levi and his mate were busy…yeah, they seemed busy, but what about all the blood?

Dragging himself closer, the scene didn’t make any more sense to him when he could finally clearly see the couple on the front railing of the cabin. Like on it. Levi’s mate was bent over the rail as not-Levi fucked into him.

Why?

Why would Tristan betray Levi like this? Levi’s mate…sure, they might not have completed their bonding, but Levi’s mate…

Nate growled before he sprinted forward.

Crap! Logan scrambled up onto his four paws. Stumbling to catch up, Logan tripped over a root of a tree and crashed into view of the couple on the porch.

“Fuck!” Levi’s mate—Logan couldn’t remember his name—shouted.

Tristan in his full demon form, and wasn’t that scary, flashed his fangs.

Nate shifted into his human form. His very naked human form. He vibrated with anger. Even though Nate was one of the smallest, he was fierce. And a deadly shot since he’d been a sniper in the military. Good thing he didn’t have his rifle or the couple might already be dead. “What the fuck did you do, Tristan? Take out Levi so you could have his mate? I am going to kill you so hard.”

Is that what was happening? Logan trembled. He wanted to call the rest of his family. Nate couldn’t take on a demon all by himself.

“What?” Tristan yelled. His hands went up as he stepped away from Levi’s mate. “What are you talking about?”

Nate waved his hand at the human who was in the process of pulling up his jeans.

That was when Logan’s lion let him know that not everything was as it appeared. In fact. That wasn’t Levi’s mate. It sure looked like him but…no, this human smelt different.

He shifted. “Nate—” Nate couldn’t scent the difference. Logan realized in the nick of time. Nate’s scenting had been damaged in the military. He had to stop his friend from making a huge mistake!

“You fucking demon!” Nate continued to stomp forward. “We let you in. We trusted you!”

“Hey!” The human stepped in front of Tristan.

Oh shit!

Nate was enraged. “You would protect him? What about your mate?” Nate demanded.

The human was just as pissed. “He is my mate!”

“Nate!” Logan called louder. “This isn’t Levi’s mate.”

“What?” Nate looked between the human and Logan and back.

“My name is Jason. I think you’re looking for my twin, Mason,” the human stated.

“Oh!” Nate said simply. He grinned. “My bad!”

“What happened to Levi?” Tristan demanded.

They were about to have one pissed-off demon. Logan shifted back. Yeah, he would just be a brave boy in his lion form. Nate could tell the demon what was going on. Logan was just going to wait right there.