Page 27 of Marked For A Bite
His eyes darkened, searching her face as if looking for deception.
"I'm not just talking about the physical part," she continued, her voice softening with honesty. "Though that was incredible. I mean the connection. The way it felt like we were made specifically for each other."
The tension in his shoulders eased fractionally. "I felt it too," he admitted quietly. "That's why my wolf was so eager to claim you. He knows we belong together."
Logan's fingers ghosted over the partial bite mark on her neck, and she shivered at the contact. "But my life isn't meant for anyone to share it with me. That's why I live alone, why I keep everyone at arm's length."
"Why?" The question escaped before she could stop it.
A shadow passed over his features, transforming his face into something harder and more distant. "Because everyone I love dies."
The stark pain in those words made her chest tighten. "What happened to your family, Logan?"
For a moment, she thought he wouldn't answer. His jaw worked silently, and she felt his internal struggle through their bond—the desperate need to shut down warring with something else. Something that wanted to trust her.
"My father was the Beta of this pack fifteen years ago," he said finally. "One night, human hunters came for us. I still don't know why." His voice turned mechanical, as if recounting someone else's story. "My father and I tried to protect my younger sister, tried to get her out. But we failed. They died, and I barely escaped."
"Logan—"
"After that, I vowed I would never get close to anyone again. Never tie anyone to me." His eyes met hers, raw with old grief. "Because I'm not going to be responsible for another loved one's death."
Zoe's heart broke for the boy who'd lost everything, who'd spent fifteen years punishing himself for surviving. "That wasn't your fault."
"Wasn't it?" The bitter laugh that escaped him held no humor. "I was supposed to protect them."
"You did everything you could." She stepped closer, her hand finding his chest. "Sometimes it's not enough. But that doesn't make it your fault."
"I can't go through that pain again, Zoe." The admission seemed torn from him. "I won't."
Understanding flooded through her. She'd been doing the same thing—shutting everyone out since her mother died, afraid of losing anyone else she loved. "Maybe we can heal each other," she said softly. "Maybe that's why we found each other now, when we both needed it most."
Something shifted in Logan's expression at her words, a flicker of recognition passing through those deep green eyes. He moved his hand to cover hers where it rested against his chest, the warmth of his palm grounding her.
"Maybe you're right," he said quietly. "But I think there's something bigger at play here too."
Zoe could feel Logan's heart beating steadily beneath her palm, the rhythm matching her own as their incomplete bond hummed between them.
"What do you mean?" she asked, though part of her already sensed she wouldn't like his answer.
Logan's jaw tightened, and she watched him wrestle with whatever he was about to reveal. "After my sister and father died, I carried that grief for five years. It nearly destroyed me." His fingers traced along her knuckles where they pressed against his chest. "One day I decided to become the pack's enforcer. I thought if I could channel all that rage and pain into something useful—into protecting others—maybe it would mean something."
Zoe's heart clenched at the raw honesty in his admission. She could picture him at twenty-four, devastated and angry, choosing violence as his outlet because he didn't know how else to survive.
"Did it help?" she whispered.
"For a while." His laugh held no humor, only bitterness. "The first few years, it felt like justice. I was a weapon pointed at theright targets, keeping our people safe. But as time passed..." He trailed off, his free hand running through his auburn hair. "The High Council's demands became more questionable. More cruel. They started asking me to do things that had nothing to do with protection and everything to do with sending messages through fear."
Oh God,Zoe thought, pieces of a horrifying puzzle beginning to fall into place. Through their fragile bond, she could feel Logan's self-loathing, the weight of years spent following orders that went against every moral instinct he possessed.
"Right before Kieran sent me to extract you," Logan continued, his voice dropping to barely a whisper, "the High Council gave me a mission. They wanted me to go to Portland and kill a human. Not just kill—they wanted it violent and brutal. A message to anyone else who might interfere with our kind."
Zoe's blood turned to ice in her veins. "What did you say?"
"I said no." His eyes met hers, and she saw the confusion that still haunted him. "I'd never refused a mission before. I'd questioned the Council's demands and methods maybe. But something in my wolf wouldn't accept that mission. He was restless and agitated in a way I'd never experienced."
The implications hit her with force. "When Kieran told you about the hybrid in Portland?—"
"I realized it was you when I saw the address." Logan's hand tightened over hers. "Same address, same timeframe. My wolf knew before I did that you were my mate. That's why he wouldn't let me take that mission. That's why I was so eager to go when Kieran gave me the extraction order instead."
