Claiming My Wolf
Chapter 31

~~Logan’s PoV~~

After Micah leaves, I turn back to Sadie. “Are you okay?”

I don’t mean physically this time. I mean how she’s feeling about the fact that a wolf just tried to kill her, and I know immediately that she understands me.

“What was that guy talking about?” she asks, glancing over at me before looking back at the path in front of us. “He said there’s a bounty on me? And what’s a rogue?”

“I have no idea what he was talking about with the bounty,” I tell her truthfully. “But I think you should know that he’s not the first one who came looking for you. The wolf in the school earlier this week was after you too.”

I don’t tell her this to scare her, I just think it’s better that she knows. I believe it’s almost always better to be honest with people. After all, she probably wouldn’t have gone out into the woods in the middle of the night if she knew people were after her. I don’t want to think about how close she was to being injured, or worse.

“They want to kill me?” she asks, looking genuinely shocked. “Why? Because I’m half-human?”

Where did she get that idea?

As soon as I ask myself the question, I know the answer, and I could kill Micah for putting those kind of thoughts in her head. “No, I don’t think that’s it. Most wolves don’t care about that these days, there are just a few racist assholes left over who do.”

Maybe I shouldn’t call my best friend an a*****e, but I’d say it to his face too if he were here.

“I don’t know why they’re after you,” I continue. “But I’m going to figure it out. I won’t let anything bad happen to you.”

Her cheeks turn a bit red beneath the moonlight, and I realize what that sounded like.

“I mean, as the next Alpha, the whole pack’s safety is my responsibility,” I explain further, and then I want to kick myself as the smile falls off her face.

F*ck, I’m making a mess of this.

“What about the other thing?” she asks, thankfully changing the subject. “What’s a rogue?”

That’s an easier question to answer. “Rogues are wolves without a pack. Usually they’ve been kicked out of a pack for some reason and it’s hard for werewolves to survive without a pack. It can make them desperate. So sometimes people will hire rogues to do things they don’t want to do themselves since they don’t have any loyalty to anyone.”

“And they’re disposable,” Sadie guesses. When I nod, her nose wrinkles in disgust. “How can you judge someone just by what pack they’re in or if they’re in a pack at all? Isn’t that racist too? After all, they’re people as well.”

I know she’s got a point. I’m sure not all rogues are bad, but we’re taught to believe they are. I try to explain it better. “As I said, usually they’ve been kicked out of a pack for some reason, and it’s usually because they did something pretty bad. So I guess you can kind of think of them like criminals. They’re not all bad people, but you’re going to be a bit more careful around them anyway.”

“Will you guys kill those wolves who came here tonight?” she challenges me. I can tell she doesn’t like the idea.

“They wanted to kill you,” I remind her, not sure why she’s so indignant on their behalf.

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

She’s not backing down, but I answer her as honestly as I can. There’s no point lying about it. “They’ll be questioned for more information. After that, it’s up to the Alpha what to do with them.”

“And he might have them killed?” she presses.

“Yeah, he might.”

There’s silence for a few moments as she processes that, and then she turns to me again. “What would you do in this situation, when you’re Alpha?”

Damn, she asks hard questions. But again, I have to be honest. “If they tried to kill you, I’d probably have them killed.”

She goes quiet after that, but I don’t know if I’ve upset her or not.

In another minute or two, we reach the edge of the forest and Aaron’s wolf nudges my hand. When I look down at him, he gestures towards some clothes on the ground, and I realize this must be where they shifted. I nod to him to tell him I understand, and Sadie and I stand to the side while Aaron and Ava shift back and get dressed.

“Does that not seem weird to you?” Sadie asks, breaking her silence. I think she’s still talking about the rogues, but then she gestures behind me. “The fact that your friends are naked right now?”

It’s such an unexpected question that I laugh. That’s twice in one day she’s made me laugh. Twice more than I have in a very long time.

“You get used to it,” I reply drily. “I promise.”

The four of us walk the rest of the way together until we get back to the Millers’ house. Rory Flanagan is standing outside the house, looking shame-faced. “Logan,” he greets me respectfully, but he doesn’t meet my eye. “I’m sorry.”

I don’t know what he’s apologizing for, but then Ava jumps in. “No, it’s my fault, Rory. I distracted you so Sadie could sneak out. I’m sorry, that wasn’t fair to you. I didn’t mean to put anyone in danger.”

Oh, that’s what’s going on. I put on my Alpha voice to address them. “You both should know better. Luckily, there was no harm done. Rory, you can stay at your post until you’re relieved.”

He nods and bows his head to me and we walk up to the house where Mr and Mrs Miller are waiting at the front door. They hug their kids and Sadie, but I can tell by the looks on their faces that all three of them are in for a lecture once I leave.

“Can I talk to Sadie for one more minute?” I ask them, and they immediately agree, going inside and leaving Sadie and I alone on the porch.

Even though we were kind of alone on the walk back, this is the first time we’ve really been alone tonight. She seems to realize it too, looking a bit more shy with me all of a sudden.

“I meant what I said about not letting anything bad happen to you,” I tell her, and now she meets my eye. Her dark chocolate eyes shine beneath the porch lights. “I’m going to find out why they’re after you. If you’d like to help me, you can.”

“How could I help?” Sadie asks, sounding intrigued.

“I don’t know yet,” I admit. “But I’d like your input. Why don’t you come to the pack house in the morning and we can sit down and review everything we know so far?”

She bites her l*p and nods in agreement. I can’t stop my eyes from going to her lips and just like at the gun range, I start to think about kissing her. Almost before I realize what I’m doing, I lean towards her, and she leans into me too.

Our faces are only inches apart when I suddenly remember that Rory is on the sidewalk, and her aunt and uncle are just inside, and we’ve really got more important things to be worried about right now. So at the last second, I change course and k**s her on the cheek instead.

“Have a good night, Sadie. And stay inside, okay?”

I give her a smile and she smiles back, but maybe there’s a little bit of disappointment in it.

I kind of think she wanted to k**s me too.

The thought keeps me smiling as I head off back home.