Chapter One #2
“If he did, he didn’t show it,” Logan said. “But I doubt it. Too much time has passed, and I don’t exactly look like the scrawny, half dead kid who ran off in the middle of the night fifteen years ago.”
Seb glanced over at Logan. “Half dead?”
Logan nodded once. “Yeah. They were having some fun with me, using me as a punching bag. They would have killed me eventually, but I managed to escape, and well, I guess I could run faster than them, even with my injuries.”
He’d told them the cliff notes version before, but that wasn’t enough. Not now. He drew in a slow breath.
“My parents were Alpha and Luna wolf here. Bitterroot had been our home for a couple of generations. Derek was my father’s beta.
Everyone knew he had designs of being alpha, but he was too much of a coward to challenge my father outright, and unless someone did challenge him then the line of succession fell to me, as his only child. ”
“What happened?” Arlo asked.
“My father refused to rule by force,” Logan said.
“He believed in loyalty earned, not fear imposed, and I guess Derek thought that made him weak. He and his friends had always thought they were above the law and I guess they wanted my father out of the way so they could live however the hell they wanted, without fear of consequences.”
Logan’s wolf snarled inside his head, and he forced himself to continue.
“They came to our home at night and shot my dad in the chest as soon as he opened the door. They killed my mom next. I thought they were going to kill me too, but they didn’t shoot me.
I guess they’d gone there with a thirst for the type of violence that a bullet just wouldn’t quench.
So, they grabbed me and dragged me outside. Then the beating started.”
That quieted the room. Not the stunned kind of silence. These guys had all seen and heard worse. It was the kind of silence that came when men who knew pain recognized it in someone else and gave it room to breathe.
Logan continued, his voice flat. “It went on for a while. Then they start arguing over who got to kill me.”
“Jesus,” Carter muttered, rubbing a hand over his face.
Logan shrugged. “While they were arguing amongst themselves, I saw an opportunity to run, and I took it. I made it a few miles before my body gave out and I collapsed in the forest. But I was terrified that they would shift and follow my scent, so I used the last ounce of energy left in my body and I shifted. I ran in wolf form until my legs gave out and I couldn’t run anymore. ”
The memory of that night came flooding back.
Logan had been exhausted, in so much pain that he wasn’t sure if he would die from his injuries and in complete and utter shock from witnessing the brutal murder of his parents.
But despite all that he’d been lucid enough to remember that his wallet had been in the back pocket of his jeans.
His bank card and driver’s license were inside.
He’d made his wolf grab it and the animal had carried it clamped tightly in his jaws until exhaustion had made his legs buckle.
“I was convinced that I hadn’t run far enough and that they would catch up with me, but they didn’t.
My wolf stayed where it collapsed for what had to be a couple of days.
Whatever damage they’d done to my insides had healed enough that my wolf could crawl to a creek to find water.
It drank and then rested more. It was about a week before I’d healed enough to even consider the possibility of shifting back into my human form.
Eventually, I put five states between me and this place, and I haven’t look back since. ”
That last part was a lie, but no seemed to notice, and if they did, they didn’t call him out on it.
“What kills me as that I don’t even know where they’re buried,” Logan said, the words catching in his throat. He offered them a smile that was devoid of humor. “Of course, my wolf has been baying for blood ever since.”
Seb cleared his throat. “I’ve got mad respect for you coming back here after everything you went through.”
“Same here,” Max said.
“And me,” Carter echoed.
There was a chorus of “Me too”, that made Logan duck his head.
Max crossed the room and leaned against the dresser, arms crossed. “The Agency suspects Derek’s letting things around here spiral. Trafficking, assaults, missing persons. From everything you’ve just told us, I think we’ve got our work cut out for us.”
Logan nodded. “Yeah, it sounds like Derek. I’m only surprised that it’s taken this long for him to get on their radar.”
He scrubbed a hand over his face, feeling ten years older than he’d been when they arrived. “I need some air.”
“You going far?” Max asked.
Logan shook his head. “No. I’ll stay nearby.”
“You planning to shift?” Seb asked.
Logan hesitated. “I was thinking about it.”
“You think it’s smart, shifting in pack territory?”
Logan shrugged. “I just need… some space.”
Max studied Logan for a second, then nodded. “Don’t do anything stupid. And call us if you need us. Okay?”
Find Derek? his wolf asked hopefully.
Logan nodded then left without saying anything else. He wasn’t even sure whose question he had agreed to.
Outside, the chill cut a little deeper now that the sun had fully dipped behind the mountains.
The parking lot was mostly empty, except for their SUVs and a couple of beat-up sedans parked near the office.
The old man behind the counter was visible through the window, moving slow and stiff, rubbing his neck like it still ached from Reed’s grip.
Logan pushed past the edge of the lot and into the woods.