Claiming My Wolf
Chapter 50

~~Sadie’s PoV~~

I see the shock and anger in Logan’s eyes as Micah tells us his dad is behind everything. He obviously has a lot of questions and I do too, namely about why Beta Aldric wants me dead in the first place, but there isn’t time, and Logan recognizes that too.

“Stay safe,” he tells us both grimly. “I’ll take care of things here.”

Micah nods and opens the door slowly, peering out in both directions before grabbing my hand. “Come on,” he says, pulling me along. I shoot one last apologetic look back at Logan before I follow Micah out the door.

Micah hasn’t made eye contact with me since he arrived, and I’m burning with guilt and embarrassment. Not that Logan and I were doing anything wrong, of course, but I never wanted Micah to just walk in on us like that. I’d promised him I’d think about how I felt about him, and instead he found me making out with his best friend. I don’t blame him for being hurt, and I don’t know what I can say to make it better.

It’s a good thing he doesn’t want me to say anything right now anyway. We stay quiet as we sneak across the grounds, staying out of sight of the people still dancing and eating and drinking at Logan’s party. I catch sight of Aaron and Laurel, off in the trees by themselves, but luckily they’re so caught up in each other they don’t seem to notice us.

It’s not until we’re out of sight and earshot of the party that Micah turns to me. “We’re going to have to move faster than we can go on foot,” he says, still not meeting my eye. “I’m going to shift and then I’ll carry you the rest of the way.”

Carry me? As a wolf? I must look shocked because he smirks a little, looking more like himself.

“Just trust me, okay?”

I do trust him, way more than I ever thought I would a couple of weeks ago. So I turn my back as he strips down and shifts, and when his wolf comes to stand next to me, he’s bigger than I realized. He’s a deep grey colour, but his eyes are still like Micah’s eyes. He gestures with his head towards his back, and, feeling strange about the whole thing, I climb on top of him, laying face down with my hands around his neck.

I’m worried he’ll buckle beneath my weight, but he doesn’t. He feels strong and stable as he starts to move forward, carrying me on his back, and then suddenly he starts to run. I gasp in surprise, tightening my grip on Micah’s neck, but as he keeps going, the wind rushes through my hair and I smell the forest around us, and suddenly I feel completely comfortable.

This is where I’m meant to be.

Beneath the full moon, in the forest on the back of a wolf, for the first time in a really long time, I feel at home.

It makes no sense, but it’s true all the same.

I lose track of time as Micah runs through the forest, never putting a foot wrong, until finally we arrive at a small, abandoned-looking house deep in the trees. Micah slows to a trot and then stops completely outside the front door, and I slide off of him as gracefully as I can, still wearing my party dress and heels.

He gestures again with his head, towards the door, and I reach for the handle. It’s unlocked, so I let us both in and Micah heads down the hall into a back room. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to follow, so I stay put, looking around the entrance space.

It’s cold and dark, but it’s not as dirty as I would have expected from the outside. There is a couch and a couple of chairs, and a wood-burning stove. On one side of the room is a small kitchen. It looks like someone might have lived here, a long time ago, but it doesn’t look like anyone’s been here for a while.

Micah’s back a minute later, back as a human. He’s found some pants from somewhere, I guess that’s why he went to the back room, but his chest is bare. He’s got tattoos I’ve never seen before, one across the right side of his chest and another one on his left arm. I can just barely make them out in the dim moonlight.

“There’s no electricity,” he explains, still not looking at me. “There are some candles, but I don’t want to risk anyone seeing the light. It’ll be better if we don’t use them.”

“So we can’t have a fire?” I ask, shivering a little. It feels colder in here than it did outside for some reason, and my dress doesn’t cover all that much of me.

Micah’s eyes look down my body now as his lips tighten. “I’ll get you a blanket,” he says, going back to the other room again. I sit down on the couch and wait for him to get back and when he returns, he hands me a blanket and keeps one for himself too. He sits down on one of the chairs, far away from me.

For a minute, there’s awkward silence, and it’s making me crazy. Who knows how long we’re going to be here? We’re going to have to talk to each other eventually.

“How did you find out it was your dad?” I ask, figuring that’s the safest topic to start with.

Micah tells me the whole story, how his dad came to the bar in the city and then brought him back, to kill me. When he tells me that his dad caused my parent’s accident too, I cover my mouth with my hand, and for the first time, he glances over at me, his eyes softening a little bit.

“I had no idea,” he says apologetically.

“I know.” I believe him completely.

When he gets to the end of the story, we both fall silent again. I know we have to talk about me and Logan, but I’m not sure how to start. I decide to bring up his name first and see what he does.

“Are you in contact with Logan now?” I ask. I’m honestly not sure how all this telepathic communication stuff works, but since Logan got his wolf today, I think he can do it too now.

“No,” Micah says. “I closed my link so no one can contact me. It’s safer that way. My dad might be able to use it to find us.”

I guess that makes sense, but then how will we know what’s going on?

“I’ll give it some time,” he continues, answering my question before I can ask it. “Then I’ll check in with him.”

It’s hard to sit here, not knowing what’s going on. My aunt and uncle are probably getting worried about me if they can’t find me. And that’s assuming all hell didn’t break loose when we left. It might have. Literally anything could be happening, and we’d have no idea.

“How long have you and Logan been seeing each other?” he asks, finally addressing the elephant in the room as the bitterness creeps back into his voice.

“We’re not exactly seeing each other,” I answer truthfully. “We kissed once before, and then… well, tonight happened.”

“But you like him?” It looks like it pains him to ask, but he can’t help himself.

I can’t lie to him either. “Yeah, I do.”

“Because he’s going to be Alpha?” That question isn’t as bitter. He just sounds hurt and a bit confused, like he’s trying to understand.

“I don’t care about that,” I explain as gently as I can. “I like him because he’s a good guy.”

“And I’m not.”

The words are so soft, I almost don’t hear them. He looks so sad and lost right now, and it hurts me to see him this way.

“That’s not true,” I argue. “Micah, you are a good person. You’re trying to be, anyway, and that’s what’s important. It’s all anyone can do.”

“So then what is it?” he asks, finally looking straight and deep into my eyes for the first time since he showed up tonight. “Why are you choosing him over me?”

I don’t know how to explain it to him. I barely know how to explain it to myself. “There’s just something there between us,” I tell him. “Like a spark.”

“A mate spark?” he asks, still looking confused. “But you don’t even have your wolf yet.”

“I don’t know what a mate spark feels like,” I tell him. “But the way I feel with Logan, it’s just different. It’s nothing that he did, or that you did. It’s just how I feel.”

He takes a moment to think that over. “And what if you are my mate?” he finally asks when he’s done thinking. “If the mate bond gets fixed and you get your wolf, and she tells you I’m your mate, would you reject me then?”

“That’s a lot of ifs,” I point out. “And I’ve never liked the idea of anyone telling me who I have to be with. I want to choose for myself.”

He almost smiles at that. “That’s one of the things I like about you,” he admits. “You won’t let anyone else tell you what to do.”

I don’t know how to answer that, and another minute of silence passes before Micah speaks again.

“Logan wants his mate,” he tells me. “He won’t go against the bond, not when it comes down to it. He’ll do what the moon goddess and the pack expect him to.”

I know he’s right. That’s exactly what I’ve been afraid of.

“But I don’t care about that,” he continues, leaning forward in his seat to look at me seriously. “If you chose me, Sadie, I would choose you over everything. If Logan can’t say the same, then maybe he isn’t the right guy for you after all.”