Claiming My Wolf
Chapter 18

~~Logan’s PoV~~

As I walk to school in the morning, the conversation I had with my dad yesterday keeps re-playing in my head.

During the meeting in his office, I offered to be the one to watch out for Sadie for a few reasons. First, I’m the Alpha’s son. The whole pack is going to be my responsibility someday and I already feel responsible for everyone’s safety now. Second, Micah is a good fighter and a decent guy, but I know he’s got his prejudices when it comes to humans. I’ve already seen the way he talked to me about Sadie on her first day here.

And third, I just like the idea of hanging out with her. I can’t explain it. Maybe it’s because she doesn’t treat me like everyone else does, like they’re walking on eggshells around me. Maybe it’s because she knows what it’s like to lose someone really close to her. Whatever the case, I like the idea of spending time with her.

But as soon as I suggested it, my dad shot me down, saying that Micah could protect her better than I could, and it felt like all the air rushed out of my body. I couldn’t catch my breath. Even though I knew it looked childish, I had to get out of the room. I needed some air, so I ran away.

My dad caught up to me out in the garden at the back of the pack house. I go there a lot when I need to think, so it didn’t take him too long to find me.

“I didn’t mean that how it sounded, Logan,” he apologized. “I wasn’t talking about what happened last year.”

I knew he wasn’t, but how could I not make the connection? When I didn’t immediately respond, he took another step towards me.

“It’s not your fault, you know. No one blames you.”

“They should.” My response was quiet but I knew he heard it.

“Why would you think that?” His voice was pained too. We haven’t talked about this in so long. We’ve never really talked about it actually, not fully, but maybe we should. Maybe it was time to get it all out in the open.

~~One year ago~~

I was just finishing breakfast when we got the alert. Someone had entered our territory.

Adrenaline surged through me, but I wasn’t afraid. It wasn’t like it was the first time it had happened and I had been trained on what to do. Sure, I didn’t have my wolf yet, but it didn’t matter. My dad would lead the pack warriors out and I would secure the house.

That was my job.

I hurried to the intercom on the wall of the kitchen. “Protocol Six,” I announced into the transmitter which would broadcast to all rooms in the pack house. We had different protocols we used in a random rotation, so that if we ever had a traitor in the pack, no one would know ahead of time which one we would use. They wouldn’t know where to go to find the people I was in charge of keeping safe.

“Come on, slowpoke!” I looked over at the door to see my sister’s smiling face. A year older than me, Kara was going to turn eighteen in just a few days. She couldn’t wait to get her wolf and take her place at my father’s side to begin her training for the role she was born to inherit.

It was my responsibility to keep her and my mother safe. The Luna and the future Alpha, the pack’s most precious assets. I knew what an honour it was to be given this role and I took it very seriously. But I couldn’t resist the chance to tease her a bit too.

“You’re the slow one, not me,” I grinned back at her. “I’ll beat you to the basement without breaking a sweat.”

Laughing, I shoved past her as she shouted out behind me. “Cheater!”

I could hear her laughter behind me but I didn’t stop until we were down at the bottom of the stairs where our mother was already waiting for us, along with all the pack staff who weren’t able to fight and the children who lived in the house.

My mom shook her head at me and Kara as we came to a quick halt, me just an arm’s length ahead of her. “Can’t you two do anything that doesn’t turn into a competition?”

There was enough affection in her voice that I knew we weren’t really in trouble, so I threw in an extra shot. “It’s not really a competition when I keep winning all the time.”

Kara smacked the back of my head, and my mom laughed. “You kind of deserved that,” she told me. “Now, run through your list.”

Right. I needed to focus now. I pulled out my phone that always had an updated list of who should be in the house, and I called off the names quickly to make sure everyone was here. They were, so I ran back up to the top of the stairs and shut the steel door, setting the alarmed lock that would keep any intruders out.

“Everyone into the back room,” I commanded and they followed my order immediately. Once inside, I secured that door too, an extra layer of protection. We’d be safe in here, I was sure of it. We always had been before.

Usually the hardest part about these incidents was making sure we didn’t all die of boredom before the all clear was sounded.

Kara and I were just getting into a good game on our phones when suddenly there was a loud bang from outside the room and the whole house seemed to shake.

“What the f**k?” I muttered, and my mother fixed a glare on me.

“Language, Logan! There are children present.”

Oh, yeah. I glanced over at them in apology. “Sorry.”

My ears were still ringing a bit from the earlier noise as I strained to listen for any sounds from outside the room, and then I heard it.

A sawing, buzzing sound just on the other side of the door. Someone was trying to cut their way in.