Page 48 of Logan’s Acadian Wolves

“Fucking vampires,” he agreed with a small smile. She was a fighter. His fighter, filled with spirit. An Alpha for an Alpha.

“Hmm,” she moaned. “What happened?”

“Someone set off an incendiary device. Not sure how they got it on the car, but it had to be a vampire to get it on without anyone seeing or hearing.”

“Jake…he knew. He heard something.”

“We’ll talk about it later, baby. All right, my tough little wolf. Let’s get you out of here.” Logan hugged his arms under hers. “D, I’m comin’ out.”

Dimitri grabbed Logan’s hips, helping to hoist him and Wynter out of the car. When they were finally extricated, Logan scooped her up, never letting her feet touch the ground. Logan glanced to Jake who had blacked out on the pavement. Naked, he still hadn’t shifted. Second degree burns blistered along his cheek. He began to regain consciousness and groaned in pain.

“Come on, Jake. You gotta shift, man,” Logan heard Dimitri say. Zeke was bent down on his knees at his side.

“D, I need you to take Wyn,” Logan ordered. He couldn’t believe what he was about to do.

Logan had always known that decisions weren’t easy for an Alpha. Challenge after challenge, the brutal mauling between wolves had proved that fact early on in his reign. No, easy didn’t equate with what was right. Even though he’d just gotten his mate back, he’d have to relinquish her. Trust his beta. Jake was his responsibility and damn if he’d let him die because he couldn’t shift on his own.

Dimitri stood, sensing Logan’s internal struggle. But as he expected, his Alpha put pack first, above his personal needs. Arms outstretched, he patiently waited to accept Wynter.

“Hey, sweetheart,” Logan spoke softly to her. She slowly lifted her lids to look at him. “I need you to go with Dimitri for a minute.”

“No,” she protested with a small moan. Within the warmth and safety of Logan’s embrace, she didn’t understand what Logan needed to do or why he’d leave her.

“Just a minute, baby.” He kissed her cheek lightly. “Jake needs me. He’s burned real bad and is having trouble shifting. I promise you’ll be safe with D. This’ll just take a few minutes. Then we’ll go home. Trust me.”

“Okay,” she agreed quietly.

“Do not let her go. Not one second, D,” Logan instructed, his tone of voice deadly serious. His eyes locked on Dimitri’s as he gently placed Wynter’s body into his arms.

Dimitri cradled her head into his chest, breathing a sigh of relief. Jake desperately needed his Alpha. At this point, he was too far gone to heal on his own.

“I’ll be just a second,” Logan promised, running his hand lovingly over Wynter’s hair.

Sirens wailed in the distance. Naturally, someone had heard the explosion and had called the authorities. Logan wanted to get out of there before the police came asking questions. New Orleans had a supernatural police force, P-CAP: Paranormal City Alternative Police. But at the moment, Logan couldn’t trust anyone, not even P-CAP, to find Dana’s killer. He knew they’d come to him eventually when they found the charred car, but he’d deal with that later. It’d be easy enough to tell them it had been stolen. Besides, after they found the dead bodies riddled with bite marks, they’d be busy breathing down Kade’s neck for a while.

The Alpha crouched down to the pavement so that his head was level with Jake’s, taking his hand. He bent over so that his mouth was inches from his friend’s ear. Concentrating, Logan let his power flow, urging Jake to listen, to obey. No longer moaning, Jake could sense his Alpha. His eyes flew open, staring into space as if he was devoid of awareness. Jake’s comatose expression didn’t worry Logan; the mental connection to the injured wolf strengthened.

“Jake, now listen to me, buddy. It’s me, Logan. You’ve got some pretty bad burns here. I know you’re feelin’ tired but you’ve gotta shift. You hear me?”

Jake’s eyes closed and in that second, Logan’s heart caught in his chest. This would go a whole lot easier if Jake was awake. Jake coughed, his eyes darted to Logan’s in acknowledgement. The flesh on Jake’s forearm and face had already formed boils, and Logan could feel the pain radiating off his wolf.

“That’s it. Okay, we’re gonna do this together.” Logan began to strip, tearing off his own clothes as fast as he could until he was entirely nude. Calling on his Alpha demeanor, Logan brought forth his dominance. It was time to get his wolf to shift.

“Jake, this is your Alpha. You will shift, do you understand? No matter how tired you are, no matter how much pain you are in, your allegiance is to me and pack. On the count of three, you’re going to call on your wolf. Are you ready?” In truth it was a command, not a question.

A tear ran down Jake’s cheek as he gave a small jerk of his chin in acceptance. No matter the pain.

Logan stared into the young wolf’s eyes, until Jake averted his gaze. “Concentrate, Jake. Here we go. One. Two. Three.”

Effortlessly, Logan transformed into his wolf. Yet he was unable to supervise the ease of Jake’s shift. But at this point, Logan didn’t care whether or not his transformation went easily. The only thing that counted was that he shifted. Logan howled, his gray wolf scenting Jake’s. A whine alerted Logan that, even though Jake had experienced considerable torment, the shift was complete and effectual. Logan licked Jake’s snout affectionately, relieved at the outcome.

Barking at Dimitri, he signaled for the group to move out. Since the one SUV was destroyed, they’d take the other vehicle. Zeke opened the hatch and Dimitri moved to lay down with Wynter. Thinking better of it, he merely sat in the back, holding her, waiting for Logan. Jake, as wolf, jumped into the back seat.

Logan shifted back to his human form so he could address Léopold, who’d been sniffing around the wreckage.

“Vampire,” Logan called out to Léopold.

Léopold approached cautiously, recognizing the Alpha was in a fierce state of protection. Between his mate getting injured and the near death of another wolf, Logan would snap if pushed. Léopold held up his palms, lowering his eyes in an attempt to get the human part of Logan to rise to the surface.