Claiming My Wolf
Chapter 22

~~Sadie’s PoV~~

My heart beats a little faster as I dial Logan’s number, even though I try to tell myself it’s no big deal. He said I could call him if I needed to talk, and that’s all I’m doing. It’s nothing more than that, even if my body doesn’t seem to agree.

He answers on the third ring. “Hey, Sadie,” his deep voice says through the phone. “What’s up?”

For some reason my mouth has gone dry but I try to answer normally. “Hi, Logan. I’m sorry to bug you, but I had some questions about the whole pack life thing, and Ava reminded me that you said I could talk to you. If you’re busy, it’s okay, you don’t have to…”

He cuts me off before I can finish. “I’m not busy. Give me a few minutes and I’ll come over.”

He hangs up before I can say anything else and I stare at my phone in surprise for a second. I didn’t really expect him to be so eager about it but it makes me feel a bit better. I go back to my room just to double check my hair and makeup and the girl in the mirror looks back at me in amusement. What do I think is going to happen when he comes over? He’s already the best looking guy I’ve ever met in real life, and now I just found out he’s pretty much a prince, or whatever the hell they call the heir to the Alpha. He’s never going to think of me as anything more than a friend, and that’s if I’m lucky.

So why have the butterflies in my stomach gone into overdrive at the idea of being alone with him?

I try to keep busy so I don’t get too nervous until there’s a knock at the door. I hear my aunt’s voice from downstairs. “Hi, Logan, thank you for coming over.”

“It’s my pleasure, Mrs Miller,” I hear him reply respectfully. “I can imagine this has all been challenging for Sadie. I’m happy to help if I can.”

I’m torn between a bit of annoyance that he thinks I need help and gratitude that he wants to help me. I can’t decide which feeling is stronger.

“Sadie?” my aunt calls up the stairs. “Logan’s here.”

Ava already told me her mom doesn’t let boys go upstairs (or girls, in Aaron’s case), so I head down. My own parents were never that strict, they trusted me to make my own choices. I had a couple of boyfriends at my old school and we fooled around a few times in my room, but I haven’t gone all the way with anyone yet. And now, it seems like my first time might end up being with a werewolf? What’s that like, I wonder? Are they rougher in bed, more like animals?

I catch sight of Logan just as I start to blush from the thoughts in my head, and then the sight of him makes me blush harder. He looks really good, dressed in a black t-shirt that shows off the defined muscles of his arms and stretches across the hard plane of his chest. His sandy hair is a bit wet, like he just washed it, and he smells fresh like the cedar trees that used to grow in the park by my old house.

It takes me a second to realize I’m staring. “Hi,” I try to say casually. “Thanks for making time for me.”

He just nods. “Should we go sit down somewhere?”

I lead him into the living room and we sit down on opposite ends of the couch. I can hear my aunt moving around in the kitchen, getting things ready for the party, but I trust that she’ll leave us alone to talk.

“So what can I help with?” he asks me as he settles back into the couch. His green eyes are watching me curiously.

I explain to him what Ava told me this morning about the ranked families and how everyone’s position is already defined for them. “It just all seems a bit weird to me,” I admit. “What if you don’t want to be Alpha?”

He almost smiles, just one side of his mouth turning up. “Of course I want to be Alpha. It’s a big privilege to be able to lead the pack and protect them.”

“But maybe you only feel that way because you’ve been told your whole life that you have to,” I pointed out. “It’s like some kind of conditioning to take away your free will.”

His smile gets a little big bigger. “Nobody’s being conditioned, Sadie. You make it sound like we’re some kind of cult.”

“It kind of feels that way,” I agree, and then he laughs. He actually laughs. It’s the first time I’ve heard his laugh and it gives me a strange, tingling feeling throughout my whole body.

He looks almost as surprised as I am that the sound came out of him, but he gives his head a little shake and answers me. “I get why it feels a bit weird to you, I honestly do, but it’s not like that. There’s comfort and security in knowing your place in the world, knowing where your skills are most useful.”

I’m still not convinced. “But you only think that because you always knew that you would be Alpha.”

The smile leaves his face entirely. “Actually, that’s not true. I was never supposed to be Alpha.”

He wasn’t? A vague memory crosses my mind, something Ava said about how the next Alpha was supposed to be a girl? I can’t remember exactly.

“Who was?” I blurt out before I think it through, and I immediately regret it when I see a flash of pain cross his face. I apologize right away. “I’m sorry, if it’s not any of my business, you don’t have to tell me.”

Logan takes a breath. “No, it’s okay, you’ll hear about it eventually. My sister Kara was supposed to be Alpha, she was the one who grew up thinking she would be. I always thought I would work with her to support her, but she’d be the one in charge.”

“What happened?” I ask quietly. I don’t know for sure how it works, but if it’s like other hereditary positions, the only way she wouldn’t be Alpha anymore would be if she was no longer alive. Was that what that look of pain meant?

Logan quickly confirms my fears. “She died, a year ago. We were attacked and she and my mother were killed.”

“f**k,” I swear before I can stop myself, and just for a second, there’s a look of recognition on Logan’s face, an unspoken understanding.

“Yeah,” he agrees with a small shrug. “That’s all you can say, right?”

I know he’s talking about my parents now too, so I nod in agreement. There aren’t any words that make it better, no matter how hard people try, so I don’t even try. Instead I just reach out and put my hand on top of his.

He looks down at it in surprise, but he doesn’t move away. For a moment we just sit there, our hands touching. His hand feels warm and solid beneath my fingers and there’s almost a little tingle there too, almost like static electricity.

Finally he looks back up at me again. “Have you ever shot a gun?”

I pull my hand back and blink in surprise. Where the hell did that come from? “No,” I answer honestly. “Why?”

He nods, like he’s decided on something. “It helps me sometimes, just to get the frustration out. Come on, let’s go to the pack house. We’ve got a range there. I’ll teach you.”