Chapter Nine
Logan
Sliding down to the end of the mattress, Logan tested a small amount of weight on his injured leg. The burning all-consuming pain was gone but his leg still ached. Dean had claimed that everything would be fine in a few days, but Logan needed to resist putting too much weight on it or shifting.
Not shifting was the hardest part.
Lion Logan was anxious to get out, but the human side couldn't give in to what his shifter side wanted. Not yet. This was best for both sides of him. The least he could do was shower though. Logan still had muck and dirt from his misadventure even though Dean had washed him down and used magic to clean him. Logan hated to feel dirty.
Dean was downstairs, Noah working on getting his stuff moved into his new room, and Logan really wanted a shower.
He’d tried to distract himself by working on his bid for the park, but Logan just couldn’t settle as he thought about the mud, dirt, and leaves that he had been stuck in. Shuddering hard, Logan decided to take his chance.
Pushing off the bed, Logan took one step before the bedroom door opened.
“Hey, bab—”
Logan whirled, nearly tripping over his own feet.
Dean rushed across the room, slipping his arms around Logan's waist to keep him upright. “What are you doing, sweetie? You need to stay off your leg.”
Clinging onto his mate’s shoulders, Logan shook his head. “I need to take a shower.”
He could see Dean about to argue.
“Please, it’s important,” Logan said quietly.
“Then let me help you,” Dean told him.
“I…please.” Anything as long as Logan could get clean.
“Okay, baby, whatever you need.” Dean lifted Logan off his feet to cradle to his chest.
Logan squeaked. “You shouldn’t be able to do that.” He was bigger, heavier, than his mate.
“Magic,” Dean told him with a wink.
“You used magic to make you stronger?” That…was that cheating? It was cool though. Logan’s mate was so cool!
Dean snorted. “No, I made you lighter.”
Oh! Did Dean want a smaller mate. Logan couldn’t really do much about the way he was built. Lion shifters were sturdy. Bigger than some of the other felines. Logan had only been skinny once in his life and that had been when he’d been half starved and wandering the country on his own.
“I don’t want a smaller mate,” Dean stated as he carried Logan to the adjoining bathroom.
“What? How?”
“It was written all over your face,” Dean told him. “The doubt. The question. I don’t know how to show you that you are what I’ve been dreaming about. You’re everything that I always wanted.”
Logan wanted to believe him. They’d not known each other for long but that was hard to remember. Once Dean had told Logan that they were mates, something had clicked into place. Even when Logan had thought that Dean had denied him, the connection had been throbbing. What would Dean think of the little secrets that Logan kept? The silk, lace, and satin that were hidden in the back of his drawer. It would be harder to hide wearing his pretties from his mate than his family.
“There’s something else on your mind,” Dean said. He put Logan down carefully on the counter.
“I…”
“Please don’t feel that you have to tell me now.” Leaning close, Dean placed a hand on either side of his hips.
“I should…” Logan knew that. He should trust his mate.
“Baby, it’s been a few days since you found out about me. The mating hasn’t been formally completed because you’ve been injured. We have time.”
Was that all it was? Logan hadn’t wanted to worry about Dean and his not mating yet. Dean hadn’t really left Logan’s side since they got back. His mate cared for him every minute.
“Logan?” Dean cupped his face.
“You do want to mate with me?” Logan asked. He just needed reassurance. Just wanted to hear the words.
“Of course, baby.” Dean kissed him gently. “It’s been so hard to keep my hands to myself as you’ve healed. There’s nothing I want more than to make you all mine. To be yours in return.”
Logan nodded. “I need…I need you to claim me.” He had to swallow hard. Force the words out. “I don’t want to be so needy but—”
“That’s not being needy,” Dean interrupted. “That’s just wanting me as much as I want you.”
“There is more to it,” Logan said. Maybe if he started small then he could work up to telling Dean everything.
“I’ll listen if there’s anything you want to tell me,” Dean said. “Or you don’t have to say a word. I’m willing to wait. I promise. Nothing you say will ever change how I feel about you.”
“I want to mate with you. I don’t want to wait.”
“I want to mate with you too, baby,” Dean said.
“First, I want to tell you about my family,” Logan told him.
“Is this a conversation that I’m going to need a drink for?”
“A drink?” Logan looked at the shower longingly.
“Does your family have something to do with why it’s so important you shower right now?”
“Yes,” Logan admitted.
“Tell me, Logan,” Dean said. “Just remember that nothing you tell me will change how I feel. That we’re mates.”
That helped. Logan took a deep breath. “I’m not and have never been the smartest.”
Dean hissed.
“I’m not being mean to myself,” Logan assured him. “It’s just a fact.”
“One that I don’t agree with but go ahead.”
“Yeah, so my mama always told me that I would make her beautiful grandbabies.”
“Lion shifters are big on having large prides,” Dean said.
“Yes.”
“I did my research when I realized we were mates. I wanted to know the best way to approach you.”
That admission made Logan smile.
“The problem was that I would never give her grandbabies,” Logan admitted.
“Because you’re gay,” Dean finished for him.
“Yep. I didn’t tell my family until they really started to push. I thought it would be easier if I told my mama first.”
“She didn’t take it well?”
“She did not,” Logan said. “She screamed and smacked me over and over until my dad heard and came running. He dragged me out of the house by my hair.”
Dean growled.
Logan held his hand up. He needed to get all of this out now. “He beat me for a little bit before he told me to run. To go. He said that if I was still there in the morning, the entire pride would hunt me down.”
He couldn’t help when tears welled in his eyes. The memories still hurt.
“Baby—”
Logan shook his head. “Let me tell you,” he begged.
“Okay, tell me.” Dean’s face was tense and his hands were balled.
“I shifted. I didn’t know what else to do. I was so unprepared. I’d never been off the pride land in my life. I was even home-schooled. When I shifted and left the pride lands, that was when I connected with my lion side. The bond clicked into place and my lion side was intent on keeping us safe.”
Dean closed his eyes before taking a deep breath. “How long.” He swallowed hard. “How long where you on your own?”
“Years,” Logan admitted. “I stayed in my lion form for years. My lion took care of me. Hunted for food. Slept when we could find shelter.”
“Baby, I am so sorry.”
“We bathed in rivers, but I couldn’t ever get clean. With all the fur. The dirt. And rivers are cold.”
“That’s why you like to be clean. Why you need to shower.”
“Hot showers.”
“I will make sure hot showers are forever in our future.”
“Thank you.”
“I’m proud of you,” Dean said. He kissed Logan gently again. “You survived. That should prove to you that you’re not dumb.”
“My lion is brave, fierce, and he saved us.”
“You are your lion, baby,” Dean told him. “Yes, you came from two souls, but you are your lion. He’s brave and smart and a fighter because you are.”
Logan smiled. It was nice that his mate thought that. “I wandered across the country. Just moving so no one ever saw a lion where one shouldn’t be. Until one day when I stumbled into Axel’s territory here. He came out into the woods and invited me into his home. Into the family.”
“And you’ve been here ever since,” Dean said.
“They’re my family.”
“I’m glad you found them,” Dean told him. “That we’ll have family to have our backs.”
“They can be your family too?” Logan hoped. Prayed that Dean would say yes.
“As long as they will accept me and Noah,” Dean replied.
“They already have.” Logan knew it in his heart.
“Then I’m glad to be home,” Dean said.
“Home?” Logan frowned. “Here?”
“This is where you live with your brothers.”
“But what about your apartment? Don’t you have to be close to the bakery?”
“I can go back and forth.”
That wasn’t fair. It was a twenty-minute drive to town and Dean had to be at the bakery early in the morning. Very early. “We can stay at the apart—”
“You realize that all I have to do is portal back and forth. I don’t have to drive. We can come and go as we please,” Dean reminded him.
Oh! No, Logan hadn’t thought about that. He knew about portals. They already had two in the woods. One to the fae realm and one to the hell realm. It shouldn’t be a big deal.
“I’ll set up a portal here and that means that you can just pop into the bakery whenever you want as well,” Dean said.
“Whenever I want?” Logan wanted that kind of access to his mate. He was a needy boy after all.
“Whenever,” Dean said seriously. “And I never want you to second-guess whether or not I want you with me. I do.”
“I…I’ll try not to be a nuisance.”
“You could never. Now, how about we get you in that hot shower?”
“Please!”
“Okay, baby. Would you like me to help you or wait outside the bathroom as you shower? It’s your choice and there’s no wrong answer.”
Logan bit his lip as he squirmed nervously. He knew what he wanted. It was hard to say though.
Dean rubbed Logan’s cheek with his own. “Why are you blushing?”
“I want you to shower with me,” Logan confessed softly. “We’re going to mate. You’ll see my body anyway.” And Logan had a nice body. The one thing about him was he looked good. Logan just wanted people to see more than his appearance.
“I will see your body,” Dean replied. “That doesn’t mean I’m entitled to it whenever I want. You have the right to privacy. And to say no about anything.”
“You do too!” Logan blurted out. “If I get too…clingy. You can have your space.” He didn’t want to make his mate uncomfortable.
“I appreciate that. I would like to shower with you. Soap up that hot body of yours. Touch you. Before I take you to bed and make you all mine.”
By the time Dean was done talking, Logan panted. His cock hard under his sleep pants. “Yes,” he hissed.
“Let me get the shower started.” Dean kissed him. This kiss wasn’t as light and gentle as the other had been. Dean fucked Logan's mouth with his tongue, drawing Logan closer to that much-needed climax. His dick ached to be touched.
Dean backed away slowly after breaking the kiss.
“Hold that thought,” Dean told him.
Logan wanted to hold something. Either his mate or his own cock. Instead, he gripped the counter edge as he watched his mate. Dean strolled across the room to the glass shower stall.
He could have done something to help but Logan was quite happy to have his mate taking care of him. To have a Daddy of his own.
“What are you smiling about?” Dean asked, rejoining him.
“You,” Logan replied honestly.
“I like that I can put that look on your face,” Dean told him. “How about we get undressed and in that shower? I have a boy to make all mine tonight.”
“Forever,” Logan said. “A boy to make all yours forever.” That was important.
“Forever and ever,” Dean agreed. He helped Logan climb off the counter.
Logan would be so relieved when his leg stopped aching. He knew how lucky he was that he hadn’t caused permanent damage. That bear trap could have severed his leg. Logan had no idea how he would have managed with a missing limb or one that didn’t work.
Axel and the others were on a mission to find who had set the trap. Hunting was illegal on their personal property and within the state park. Craig had even put some game cameras up to watch the area.
Logan didn’t want to think about that though. Not with his sexy mate right in front of him. Touching him.
Dean took his time undressing Logan. Stopping to kiss and caress as each new inch of skin was revealed. Logan had already been erect, and wanting, but Dean’s hands felt so good on him that Logan couldn’t keep his hips still. He was a really needy boy.
“I’ll take care of this in the shower,” Dean said while wrapping his fingers around the base of Logan’s cock.
“You…you will?”
“Yes.” Dean stroked his cock. “I’m going to take good care of my boy. Get you all ready for when it’s time for me to claim you.”
“You’re—” He nearly swallowed his tongue when he received a strong, firm stroke. “You’re not naked.”
“I need to be naked, don’t I, baby boy?”
“Yes, Daddy.” Logan pumped his hips faster. Naked was good! Naked was awesome.
“I should do that.” Dean released Logan’s shaft.
“Ugh!” Logan cried out. That…that wasn’t what he wanted at all.
“Patience, sweet boy.” Dean tugged his shirt over his head.
Oh! That was just a yummy sight. Dean had a swimmer’s build, slim, defined. He had amazing abs. No bulky muscles like Logan, just smooth, yummy skin. Logan wanted to lick him all over.
With a wink, Dean tugged at the button of his jeans.
Logan had never been more turned on by anything in his life. He shook as Dean pulled him close.
“Are you okay, baby?”
“I want you,” Logan confessed.
“I want you too,” Dean replied. He drew Logan across the room, making sure to walk slowly with Logan’s limp.
Dean opened the glass enclosure, releasing the steam that had built up. “Careful, I don’t want you slipping and falling.”
“I’ll hold on to you!” Logan said happily. It was nice having Dean taking care of him.
“Such a good boy,” Dean praised.
Logan stepped inside the shower stall and Dean crowded him against the tile as he closed the door. The hot water was pounding down on his shoulders and Logan leaned his head back.
“Hold on to my waist,” Dean commanded.
Logan gripped Dean’s sides firmly as Dean reached for a washcloth and the shower gel.
He’d never been washed by another man. Dean wasn’t shy about touching him either. Logan’s front was soaped up and slick, causing Dean to run his hands all over Logan’s body. He paid way too much attention to Logan’s erection until Logan thought he would lose his mind.
“Turn around, sweet boy,” Dean ordered.
Logan turned with the help of his mate to face the tile.
“Hands on the wall,” Dean said.
“Okay.”
“Such a good boy,” Dean praised.
Logan pressed his chest against the warm tiles with his palms flat on either side of his head. Pushing his ass out, Logan silently begged for what he wanted.
“Needy boy,” Dean whispered against his ear before nipping his lobe. “Daddy is going to take such good care of you.”
That was what Logan hoped for.
Dean’s slick hands and the washcloth returned but this time Logan couldn’t see where Dean would touch next. Logan closed his eyes, enjoying every minute of his shower.
This was much better than bathing in rivers in his lion form. Although if Dean had been with them, then maybe Logan would have learned to enjoy those too. Once Logan was dripping with water and shower gel, Dean pressed against his back.
“One more place to clean, baby boy,” Dean teased. His fingers dipping between Logan’s ass cheeks.
“Dean!” Logan gasped out.
“I got you.” With his left hand Dean reached around and grasped Logan’s cock. “And you can come.”
Logan nodded. Words were now beyond him as Dean probed his hole while also jacking his dick.
He pushed back. Wanting Dean’s long thin finger inside him.
Logan had toys but he didn’t play with himself that way often. He might jerk off in the shower, but Logan wasn’t big on messes and the time it took to play with his toys. He would much rather have Dean take on the responsibility for him.
Dean slid his finger inside Logan, and it was perfect. Wonderful! Logan moaned, pressing his forehead harder against the tiles. If this was how one finger felt, Logan didn’t know how he would be able to handle two. Or Dean’s cock. He wanted to find out though.
“How’s that feel, baby?” Dean asked while adding his second finger. He kissed along the back of Logan’s neck.
“Sooo good!”
Dean spread his fingers, opening Logan, then brushed the pad of his finger over Logan’s prostate.
Logan whined. Pushed back. More! He needed more.
“I’m going to fill you up,” Dean whispered harshly. “Make you take my cock all night long. You might not be able to walk tomorrow.”
Logan grunted, throwing himself back against Dean’s fingers.
“Then you are going to mark me. Sink your teeth deep and claim me. And I’m going to claim you too. Use my magic to make sure everyone knows that you belong to me.”
“Dean!” Logan cried out as he came hard.