Logan kicked a plastic bottle out of his way and swore under his breath as he walked the halls of this shitty human hotel. A woman walking back to her room at this late hour stared at him with wide eyes, her fear ripe in the air.
“I’m not going to eat you,” he snapped and continued down the hall, not pleased at her shriek as she scurried away.
The only woman he wanted to eat thought him a social climber. Christ, how the hell could she think he’d want anything to do with clan hierarchy? He’d gratefully left the prime’s pack just so he could be with her. Her rejection hurt more than it should have, and not for the first time did he consider Jesse might have the right of it.
Love didn’t fit the Ravager lifestyle.
Ravagers needed sex like they needed to breathe. Jealousy had no part in their lives. Yet the thought of Kate with anyone but Jesse or him bugged the shit out of Logan. He still wanted to pound Sean Morely into the ground. The man was now happily mated to Kate’s sister, yet Logan couldn’t forget the fact that Sean had fucked Kate.
The woman who’d rejected Logan had accepted sex with a human.
How fucked up was that?
He growled and muttered to himself as he stalked past another stupefied couple and made his way to the stairs. Descending a few flights, he wondered again why Kate had chosen this hotel in midtown. Not all the humans in Cross Step liked the Voiders who’d invaded their world. Rumors swirled that a group of them had formed to exterminate any Voiders unlucky enough to be caught alone and unaware. Just what he needed, to find himself abducted by Voider-haters in the middle of midtown.
Annoyed with his own paranoia, Logan pushed open the door to the fourth floor. He walked down the hall, wondering about his new pack and when, if ever, he’d finally think of them as a family.
Jesse could be a pain in the ass, but he was solid. Though the Ravager might never admit it, he loved Logan as much as he loved Kate. Jesse didn’t do softness and feeling. His youth had been a war zone. Tender emotion wasn’t the Ravager way, at least not in the homeworld. But here they didn’t have to scavenge for every scrap of food or affection.
In Cross Step, a male didn’t have to hide his female for fear she’d be taken from him, raped and killed if she failed to reproduce. Ravagers could afford to feel something other than pride in a mate. Hell, look how strong the prime’s pack was. All four of them loved the hell out of each other.
Logan wanted that for himself, for Jesse and Kate. The stubborn woman needed them. Jesse would temper her wildness, and Logan would encourage her humor and her need to be free.
In retrospect, he knew it wasn’t fair to blame their distance solely on Kate. Jesse was a hardcase, but Logan could have talked to her. He could have tried to reason with her, to get her to see how much he cared. But he’d been afraid she might not want him. Not wanting an answer he wasn’t ready for, he’d left Kate alone, hoping she’d eventually come to them.
But she hadn’t. It had taken Jesse and his fuck-the-world attitude to claim their mate.
Logan took a few deep breaths as he paced the empty hallway. The darkness outside told him it was still too early for most humans to be up and moving about. And much too late to undo what they had already done.
He needed to fix things, and feeling sorry for himself at three or four in the morning in a crappy hotel wasn’t solving anything.
He turned to make his way back to the stairs when the familiar scent of blood hit him. Human blood. Hisguerperked up, and he followed the scent to one of the rooms. Staring at the closed door, Logan had second thoughts about intruding. But the idea of someone in trouble forced him to intervene.
He banged on the door. “Hello? Anyone in there?”
He listened closely but heard nothing. Then the doorknob turned, and he stepped back, prepared for the worst. The pungent scent of blood and entrails hit him hard, awakening his need to shift into hisguer. Past the room’s short hallway, he could see the lit bedroom. Dark red handprints covered the white duvet of the bed. A small hand reached out to him, hanging off the edge, the body smothering in pillows and rolled in a thick blanket.
“What the hell?” He took two steps into the room when the door slammed shut behind him and the sense of danger overwhelmed. Logan would know that fucked-up scent anywhere. “Will Lawless,” he hissed.
Before he could do anything about it, something solid slammed into his head and he saw nothing more.
* * *
Jesse sat up,breathing hard. His heart pounded, and he felt as if he’d just wakened from a nightmare. He looked beside him at the clock and noted the hour. It was nearing eleven in the morning. He and Kate had slept the night and the morning away. Little wonder after their marathon sexcapade.
He glanced around him in concern. Where the hell was Logan?
Jesse left Kate still sleeping soundly and showered and dressed. When he rejoined her in the bedroom again, he saw her stirring.
“Morning.” She looked so cute, sleepy-eyed as she yawned and sat up. Then the covers slid off her, exposing her beautiful body, andcutebecamesexy.
“Good morning,” he murmured, wishing he hadn’t yet dressed. He was hard from just the sight of her. A feminine hum sounded deep inside him, and he shifted, uncomfortable. Especially when his hard-on throbbed. He did his best to mute the connection.
“That’s me making you nervous.” Kate stood, not at all modest about her nudity. Another plus to having a Ravager mate. They had no problems with their bodies.
“Not nervous, hard.” He cupped his erection, pleased when her gaze narrowed on it and she smiled. “I’m always hard around you, Kate.”
“Good.”
