Page 39 of Cupcake

Dean was having a hard time standing himself.

“Fuck!” Axel rushed over and grabbed him as Dean began to slide to the side. “You need to lie down.”

“Be fine,” Dean drawled. “Magic—”

“Yeah, I get it. You and Noah used up all your magic. What do you need?”

“Food. Liquids. Rest.” His head was spinning. “My mate.”

“I can do all that for you.” Axel helped him over to the bed.

Dean had cleaned Logan up as much as possible. The old-fashioned way. Using soap and water with a soft washcloth. He’d normally use magic. The magic had been needed for his mate’s serious injury. He stayed on top of the blankets, making sure that he didn’t roll into his injured mate.

The stark white bandages stood out against Logan’s tanned skin. They were wrong. This whole thing was wrong. Dean’s mate should not be hurt.

Tears fell as exhaustion hit.

“Here.” Axel moved Dean’s hand, allowing him to touch his mate. Just Logan’s hand but that was enough. “Rest. I’ll have food and drinks for all of you when you wake.”

“I need—” Dean tried. It was hard to think.

“To sleep. I’ll watch over all of you. No one will come in here.”

Dean blew out a breath as his eyes closed on their own accord. Sleep came quickly but his dreams were filled with the image of his mate’s blood all over his hands. Dean fought in his dreams. Fought harder than he’d ever done before.

It wasn’t until a weight settled against his side and Logan’s voice whispered in his ear that Dean finally rested.

* * * * *

Dean

“He saved your leg. Maybe even your life,” Axel told him.

Logan nodded. He didn’t lift his head from Dean’s chest, but Axel moved so Logan could see him. The steady beat of Dean’s heart under his ear soothed Logan even as he fought to not cry about the pain he was in. And not just his leg. Logan’s entire body ached. His heart broken and shattered into a million pieces.

“I don’t know what we would have done without him today.”

Even though Logan knew that he’d been extremely lucky, he didn’t know what to say to his alpha. Or what he’d say to Dean when the baker woke. Logan’s decisions hadn’t been the best that day and he was ashamed of himself. Remaining quiet seemed to be the best way to handle this situation.

Axel sighed. “Please tell me that you weren’t that far from home because you were running away.”

Logan couldn’t look his alpha in the eye. He never lied.

“Oh, Logan.” Axel sat at the foot of the bed. He avoided Logan’s injured leg but wrapped his fingers around Logan’s other ankle.

The touch of his alpha helped sooth his frazzled nerves. Well, he couldn’t just never talk again. His alpha and family deserved better than that. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I was hurt. Devastated. I just…I don’t know.”

“I can’t say that I understand,” Axel said quietly. “I’ve never been in your position before.”

Logan shrugged. Most shifters didn’t get rejected by their mate.

“I do know that you wouldn’t have gotten far.” Axel grinned at him. “I would have tracked you to the end of the earth if necessary.”

Oh! That was such an Axel thing to say. But his alpha needed to know that his injury didn’t really change anything. “I don’t know that I can stay.”

Axel frowned. Logan could see the confusion in those dark eyes. There was worry there as well.

“I want him so much. To be this close? To know that I’ll never have what I always dreamed about? I’m not that strong, Axel.” He’d been lying there for hours, knowing that this was his one and only chance to be this close to Dean. Once Dean woke, Logan wouldn’t be able to cling to him.

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