“I stood for my clan, and I never harmed those who didn’t try to harm us first.” Kellen’s expression darkened, and he fisted his hands by his sides. “Not all of us acted without honor.”
“Not all, no.” Logan shrugged. “That’s why Eric made the offer to join us or leave. We didn’t kill anyone who wanted to go, you know. They got safe passage out of Cross Step and then were on their own. But here, there’s no more Lawless clan. We’re all Savage. You need to understand that.”
Kellen watched him, saying nothing, until he muttered, “I do. It’s just taking me some time to wrap my head around it.”
“I get that.” Logan looked around, feeling depressed at the emptiness of the room, and made a decision. “Come on. Let’s go someplace brighter.”
Kellen followed him without a word, and Logan took him outside into the bright sunshine. September in Kansas used to be colder, so he’d been told, but with the Voids in town, the weather always felt like a cross between spring and summer. Crops did well, and winter failed to appear. For over a hundred years, not a single snowflake had fallen in the city.
As they crossed the rich lawn toward the building Logan, Jesse, and Kate had been working on in their spare time, Logan felt the cool breeze of Voider autumn and watched the leaves start fall.
He stopped by the frame of the house. “Check this out.”
Kellen looked it over. The sun poked out from between the clouds and speared the ground with rays of sunlight, and he lifted his face and closed his eyes. Logan felt a stirring deep inside, caught by Kellen’s fierce beauty, by the longing on a face hardened by too many battles.
Kellen wasn’t as handsome as Jesse. Not as polished as Logan or gorgeous like Kate. But he had a powerfulguer, and the way he held himself spoke to Logan. As if Kellen used his size and fierceness to cover his hidden vulnerabilities.
The big male blinked and looked over at Logan, his dark gaze flat.
Or maybe Logan was losing it and Kellen was in fact a rabid killer who would turn on them the first chance he got.
Kellen raised a brow.
Logan did his best to stop daydreaming and looked at the framework of his new home with pride. “This is my future home.”
“You don’t live in the big house?”
“I do, but I’m moving in here with my packmates as soon as it’s done.” He eyeballed Kellen, noting the male’s size and strength, and smiled.
“What?” Kellen asked, wary. A Ravager of few words but a multitude of facial expressions that said what he needed to say.
Logan’s wide smile didn’t seem to ease Kellen’s tension. If anything, he seemed to grow more anxious.
“What the hell, Logan?” a deep voice snarled from behind him.
Kellen glanced over Logan’s shoulder, and his entire stance changed. From cautious to prepared for battle.
Logan grinned. “That’s my mate, Jesse. You’ll like him.”
Kellen looked from Jesse to Logan. “Your mated you brother?”
“Ew. No. I’m much better looking than that jackass. Seriously? You can’t tell?”
Jesse joined them and put a hand on Logan’s shoulder, his gaze serious, his tone annoyed when he said, “Who the hell is this? And why am I suddenly being shifted in duty because of him?”
Chapter Nineteen
Kellen looked from Logan to Jesse, noting their similarities. Both attractive, both lean and strong, the Savages before him felt like a unit. Theirguerresonated, vibrating in a state of harmony.
Yet he also sensed their differences. Logan’s laughing gaze and Jesse’s intent one. He could see how they fit, and how they differed.
Logan had been pleasant and kind, if firm.
Jesse seemed as if he’d just as soon rip through Kellen’s throat as look at him.
“Problem?” Kellen growled.
Jesse leaned closer, not intimidated at all. “Yeah, I got a problem. I—”
