Page 20 of Marked For A Bite
The admission tasted bitter in his mouth.I should send her away now,his logical mind insisted.Keep her safe from my world.
But his wolf snarled at the thought, possessive and fierce.Mine. Protect. Train. Keep.
Zoe turned to face him fully, those unusual hazel eyes flecked with gold meeting his green ones. "Then teach me to be ready for them."
The fierce determination in her voice sent heat racing through his veins. She wasn't backing down and wasn't running from the danger he represented. Instead, she was choosing to stand and fight.
Dangerous thinking,Logan warned himself.She doesn't know what she's asking for.
"Maya said she's a hybrid too," Zoe continued, stepping closer. "That's why she understands what I'm going through right now."
"Maya is pretty remarkable," Logan agreed. "Kieran guided her through her transformation. She thinks I should do the same for you."
Because we're mates.
"And you agree?"
Logan studied her face, searching for any sign of fear or hesitation. He found only eager anticipation and that stubbornness that both frustrated and excited him in equal measure.
"Training with me won't be easy," he said finally. "I'm not gentle, and I don't coddle. If you're going to survive in my world—if you're going to be around my lifestyle—you need to be lethal."
Her pulse quickened at his words. He could hear it, and he could scent the spike of adrenaline mixed with something else. Arousal.
She likes the idea of being dangerous,he realized, his own body responding to that knowledge.She wants to be strong enough to stand beside me.
"I still can't believe I killed someone yesterday," Zoe said quietly. "For you. To protect you. It felt..." She searched for words. "Right. Like my wolf knew exactly what it needed to do."
Logan's control cracked again at the memory of her fierce protectiveness, and the way she'd moved with predatory grace despite her inexperience. The knowledge that his mate—his beautiful, brave mate—had shed someone's blood to keep him safe stirred something primitive and possessive in his chest.
"That was instinct," he said. "But instinct alone won't keep you alive. You need training, discipline, and control."
"Then teach me now. All of it." She stepped closer, close enough that he caught her scent—sweet and wild and something uniquely her.
All of it.The words carried layers of meaning that made his blood run hot. Training her to shift, to fight, to survive—but also to be his. To accept the claiming that his wolf demanded with increasing urgency.
"We'll start with basics," Logan said, forcing his voice back to professional neutrality even as his eyes burned with intensity that caused her breath to catch.
He gestured toward a clearing deeper in the forest where he'd set up training equipment over the years—rope courses, targets, and obstacles designed to push physical limits.
"But first," he continued, as he stepped closer to her, "you need to fully understand what you're asking for. My enemies don't play by rules, Zoe. They'll come for you with everything they have. Silver bullets, wolfsbane, worse things. Training with me means accepting that violence is part of your life now."
Her chin lifted with that defiant tilt he was beginning to recognize as uniquely hers. "I already accepted that the moment I chose to come with you to your cabin."
Mine,his wolf purred.Strong mate. Fierce mate.
"And if I train you too hard? If my methods break something inside you that can't be fixed?"
Zoe's hand found his, her fingers intertwining with his larger ones. The contact sent a jolt of electricity through him, the mate bond humming with contentment.
"Then I trust that you will find a way to put me back together."
Logan's heart thundered in his chest as her words sank in. The absolute faith in her sweet voice, and the unwaveringcertainty that he would protect and heal her—it shattered something inside his chest and rebuilt it stronger.
She understands,he realized, watching the way her eyes held steady on his.She's beginning to grasp what the mate bond means. What we mean to each other.
"You still have no idea what you're in for," Logan said, his voice roughening. "The training I put myself through would break most seasoned warriors."
"Good thing I'm not most people."
