Page 9 of Marked For A Bite
Logan glanced at the photo—a stunning black woman with warm brown eyes and laugh lines, her arm wrapped around a younger Zoe. Something cold settled in his stomach at themention of an unexpected death, but he filed that concern away for later analysis.
"She never talked about your father?"
"She always said he was dead. Made it sound like some tragic love story she couldn't bear to discuss." Zoe pulled out another photograph. "But I found this hidden in her jewelry box after she died."
This time Logan looked longer, taking in the image of a white man with icy blue eyes and sharp features. Everything about the man's stance screamed predator—the way he held himself, the alertness in his gaze, and the barely contained power that even a photograph couldn't hide.
"Definitely a wolf shifter," Logan confirmed. "I'm surprised you never suspected anything."
"I always thought the weird mild episodes were hormone-related since they began during puberty. And I thought the more recent powerful ones were related to my grief. Or maybe even that I was going crazy." Zoe's laugh held no humor. "They started escalating a few weeks ago. At first it was just feeling restless and angry. Then my teeth and nails started changing. When you found me, I was ready to commit myself to a psychiatric facility."
The thought of her locked away, drugged and helpless while hunters tracked her scent, made Logan's jaw clench.
"The episodes are your wolf trying to emerge. Hybrids fully manifest later than full-bloods, usually around twenty-five. Your human side has been suppressing your shifter nature, but now that you've reached maturity, there's no stopping it."
"So what happens now?" Her voice held a vulnerable note that made his chest tighten. "Where are you taking me?"
"Safehouse. There are people there who can help you learn control and teach you about wolf shifter society." Logan navigated a sharp curve, his headlights cutting through the darkness. "You'll be safe there."
"Will you be staying? To help me?"
The hope in her voice nearly undid him. Logan's wolf demanded he promise her everything—protection, permanence, and claiming. But his logical mind knew better.
"I work alone. Travel a lot for missions. My duties?—"
"What duties?" Zoe interrupted, frustration bleeding into her tone. "You say you're an enforcer, but what does that actually mean?"
Logan considered how much truth she could handle. "I handle problems for my pack and our wolf shifter kind. Situations that require a particular skill set."
"You mean you kill people."
"When necessary."
Silence stretched between them, heavy with unspoken implications. Finally, Zoe spoke again, her voice smaller.
"I need your help, Logan. I don't trust anyone right now, but for some reason I trust you. Even though logically I shouldn't trust a man who broke into my house and kills people for a living."
Because you're my mate,his wolf snarled.Because every instinct you have recognizes what we are to each other.
But Logan couldn't tell her that. Not yet. Not when he was still reeling from the implications himself.
"You'll have help," he said finally. "Good people who understand what you're going through."
"But not you," she said, crossing her arms and turning to look out the window.
The disappointment in her voice made his chest ache, but Logan tried to focus on the road ahead. Three hours to the safehouse. Three hours to figure out how to walk away from his mate before the bond drove him to do something they might both regret.
Logan's hands gripped the steering wheel tighter as Zoe's scent wrapped around him in the confines of his Jeep. She'd been asleep for the past hour, curled in the passenger seat with her face turned toward him, and every soft breath she exhaled was pure torture. The mate bond hummed between them, demanding he pull over and claim her.
She killed for you,his wolf growled, pacing restlessly in his mind.Protected you. Defended you when that hunter had his weapon raised.
The memory of Zoe launching herself at that operative with partially shifted claws and fierce determination made heat flood through him. No one had ever killed for him before. Hell, no one had everwantedto protect him. He was the weapon other people pointed at their problems, the monster they unleashed when things got messy.
But Zoe had seen him in danger and hadn't hesitated. She'd moved with instincts she didn't understand, driven by something deeper than logic or self-preservation. The same something that made his wolf recognize her ashis.
Logan cursed under his breath and forced his attention back to the winding mountain road. Thirty more minutes to the safehouse. Thirty minutes to get his head straight and remember this was just a mission.
Just a mission,he repeated silently, but the words felt hollow. Kieran had been clear—extract the target, do whatever it takes, and bring her back alive. Nothing about claiming her as a mate. Nothing about the bond that now sang in Logan's blood like a drug.
