Page 83 of Cupcake

“What the fuck, man!” Dean demanded. His power pulsed so hard that Logan could feel it.

“Seth wanted to come after you, you know.” Josiah shook his head. “He already had his bag packed. One for you too.”

“He did?” Logan…hadn’t expected that. He and Seth were the closest in age and had been the best of friends.

“Yes, he’d almost convinced me and Lex, but our father heard him.”

“Oh no!” Logan covered his mouth with his hands. He could just imagine the punishment that Seth would have endured.

“Yeah.” Josiah swallowed hard. “It was bad. He couldn’t move for several days from the beating. And father refused to let him shift. We still should have gone. After Seth could move again. We should have followed you.”

“I was probably long gone,” Logan admitted.

Josiah nodded. “Seth was never the same. After that. He mourned the loss of his best friend. Never forgave our father.”

“I wouldn’t either,” Logan said.

“It had already started when you were sent away,” Josiah told them.

“What had started?” Dean questioned.

“The pride working with the coven. That’s why it was so important for us to have so many cubs. The coven kept pushing the elders for more and more cubs. Now we know why. They needed our blood.”

Logan gasped. “I didn’t know!”

“None of us did,” Josiah said. “I didn’t put it together until it was too late.”

“Where? What happened to Seth?” Logan asked.

“Baby.” Dean wrapped an arm around his waist.

Logan peered up his Daddy. This was hard but he needed to know.

“He got sick,” Josiah told him. “About five years ago. None of us were well even back then. The crops had begun to die. The water was polluted by magic. He got sick and died. Lex had an accident while on a hunting trip. His hunting party brought us his body back, but he’d fallen off a cliff.”

Tears trailed down his cheeks. Logan’s brothers. The ones he left behind.

“How’d you survive?” Dean asked. “As far as I can tell, you’re the strongest male remaining.”

“We were all suffering,” Josiah replied. “We had to go farther and farther to find food. When the coven came last time, I was on a hunting trip. They were here six weeks. I was gone eight.”

“I’m sorry,” Dean said. “You came back to this.”

“Everything we had, little as it was, had been taken from us. The strongest male and females were killed and their blood harvested. The coven left the children and elderly. Until the five of us on the hunting trip came back. That’s why I’m glad mother and father sent you away. So you didn’t have to suffer like the rest of us. That you got a chance at a real life. And were able to find your mate.”

“Thank you.”

“I couldn’t save anyone. I failed to protect my family. I wouldn’t want that for you.”

“It’s…awful. What you all have been through.” Logan was horrified. How could anyone treat someone else this way? The coven had to be stopped.

“My girls,” Josiah said. “They lost their mom, their grandfather, every important person in their life. They haven’t recovered.”

“We’ll help them,” Dean promised. “That’s why we’re here.”

“The entire pride?” Josiah asked.

“Yes,” Logan insisted.

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