Page 34 of Shadow of Fury
“I’ll go with you.”
“No, stay. Take care of them…” Wren’s voice broke on a sob as it escaped her throat. “I want to be alone.”
“No, you don’t.”
“I’ll see you at home.” She ignored the fact that her sister was right and turned on her heel, leaving the house in a rush before the tears could start to fall.
She hadn’t cried in six years. Not since they put Lark in the ground. But she’d cried almost nonstop for the past twenty-four hours and she knew it was partly the rush of hormones that came with the mating bond but she thought she also might have finally, simply, reached her breaking point.
She’d been keeping so much bottled up inside of her. Pretending she was okay. Playing the part of the dutiful daughter and pack member. She’d been acting for so long but the veneer of calm that she’d adopted had been on the verge of splintering since the moment she scented Logan and felt the mate bond begin to form.
Tonight, she had cracked wide open and all she wanted was to let her wolf free to run, to be wild and untamed and at one with nature so that she might find peace. But she couldn’t trust her animal not to hunt down Logan and sink her fangs into him so she did the next best thing. She went home and changed into her running gear, put in her headphones, and ran and ran and ran until her legs gave out and she was too tired to think, let alone cry.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Logan leaned against the rough brick wall of the shaded alleyway and waited. He’d discovered this hiding spot when he was a kid. Back then he’d used it to wait for his father to come out of his office so he could sneak up on him from behind and scare him. He’d learned long ago that there was no such thing as sneaking up on a Pack Alpha with enhanced shifter senses and despite all the horrible things his father had done, he still looked back fondly on the memories of his father playing along, pretending to be surprised when he leaped at him. But Logan was not waiting for his father this morning.
When he’d left the house, his father had still been in bed actually. Logan had been surprised to hear it but he’d seen it for the opportunity that it was. He’d barely given his father’s waning health a second thought before grabbing his keys and heading into town.
He needed to see Wren.
It had been twenty-eight hours since he found out she worked in his father’s office and he needed to talk to her.
He was doing his best to ignore the fact that his wolf was trying to claw his way out of his skin to get at her. A full day without even setting eyes on their mate had sent the animal into a tailspin. They were getting closer to the full moon and every moment he let pass without claiming her made the mating heat worse. He’d barely slept for the fever dreams that involved Wren in his bed, naked and moaning his name. He was on edge and he knew he should have stayed away but he hadn’t been able to, not for a moment longer.
Yesterday he’d focused his attention on the pack. After he’d left the meeting with Darren McMurtry and the others, he’d headed home to visit his mother. He hadn’t gone with pure intentions to check on her wellbeing and he felt guilty for that, particularly after he’d seen just how far gone she truly was.
Vivian had warned him that she was much worse off than their father appeared to be. She’d warned him their mother was no longer the woman they remembered. But not even his sister’s cautious warnings had prepared him for actually seeing her.
Maren Kemp was the Queen of the Shadow Pines pack. She’d once led every community activity and been the sounding board for the females of the pack. Now, she was a mere shell of the woman she had been, reduced to skin and bones. It was a gaunt skeleton who vaguely resembled his mother who had been lying in the big bed in the guest suite that adjoined the master.
She’d been asleep but the nurse had been sitting beside her bed reading a book. He’d introduced himself and formally met Drake’s mate, Sunny McMurtry. He’d spoken with her and learned that his mother had been bedridden for months, that she hadn’t responded to any treatments and nobody could decide exactly what was wrong with her. All they really knew was that she was dying and her bond with her husband was likely the one thing still tying her to the mortal world.
Logan had understood then just how precarious the situation with his parents truly was. His father was ill, dying even, but his mother was practically on her deathbed. The bond between them had never been strong but apparently it was enough to keep them both alive which honestly shocked him. When Sunny had excused herself to give him some time with his mother he’d sat at her bedside and spoke to her quietly, wanting her to wake up and give him the answers he so desperately needed.
But she didn’t wake up.
She didn't help him.
Which was fitting because she’d never helped him, not when it came to his father.
Logan shook off the memories and refocused on the task at hand. He’d find a way to get ahold of his parents' medical records and determine what was truly wrong with them but that would have to wait. First, he needed to see Wren which was why he was waiting in the alleyway for her to show up and unlock the office so they could speak in private.
He knew Wren was only working for his father for one reason. She thought she was going to find evidence that the story of Lark’s death had been a lie. She was looking for proof that would incriminate him, and his father, but she clearly didn’t know her Alpha all that well if she thought he was stupid enough to keep anything that would hurt him on hand.
Part of him wished his father did have the evidence that would prove Wren right. It would be so much easier for him if she knew the truth. She could hate him even more, sure, but she would also shout about his father’s role in all of it from the rooftops the way he wanted to, but couldn’t.
If Wren learned the truth, she’d tell the pack. She’d tell the whole damn world. Then, and only then, would Logan finally be able to move on with his life.
Suddenly, his blood fizzed and his skin felt as though it constricted, trying to hold the wolf at bay. He scented her a moment before she rounded the corner and came into view. His heart lurched at the sight of her and it took considerable effort not to rush towards her. Instead he held his ground, hiding in the shadows, and waited.
Today she was dressed in a simple black sheath dress that left her arms bare but skimmed her knees. She’d paired a long strand of turquoise beads knotted around her neck as her only jewelry. It offset her dark hair and he was certain brightened her eyes even though she kept her head down and he couldn’t get a good look at her face.
He smiled to himself when he noticed the flip-flops on her feet. His father had always been old-fashioned. His mother had never worn pants, only dresses and skirts and always with heels. They might be in the middle of nowhere Oklahoma but that was no excuse for a lady not to always look the part in his father’s eyes. The thought of his father’s eyes on Wren, on the way he undoubtedly forced her to wear dresses and put on her heels when she arrived at work, just so he could ogle her, made him furious all over again.
Logan took deep breaths, trying to calm himself, and his highly possessive animal, as he watched Wren shift the bag she carried to her other arm and use her keys to unlock the office. He let her open the door and disappear inside before closing his eyes and reminding himself why he was there. They needed to talk, somewhere she couldn’t run away from him, somewhere nobody would overhear them, somewhere the outside world was only a pane of glass away so that he would have to control himself. It took longer than he would have liked for him to feel like he had his head on straight again, but when he did, he glanced both ways, up and down the street before he slunk from his hiding spot and headed for the office.
When Logan walked inside, Wren was halfway between her desk and the door to his father’s office and she froze. His gaze raked over her, noticing the sharp black heels that had replaced her flip flops. He liked the heels, liked the way they made her nearly the same height as him and made her legs look even longer, but he thought he actually preferred the flip-flops because at least they were her own choice.