“Get dressed. You have forty-five minutes,” he said, looking at his watch.
“Jesus, Logan. Come on,” she felt her voice escalate. “I need to talk to you.”
“Right now, Wynter, this is not about you. Or me. There is a woman, a wolf. My wolf,” he stressed in his dominant tone that told her he was all business. “She’s dead. My pack needs me. They need me strong, whole and calm. I can’t do that when I’m with you. Not now.”
Wynter hung her head and closed her eyes. She wished she could hide her face from him entirely. His withdrawal was too much to bear. She bit her lip; the pain was a welcome distraction from the suffocation blanketing her crushed heart.
Logan could sense her pain as clear as if it were his own. He wanted to take her into his arms, tell her they’d work it out, and then make love to her all night long. Gathering every ounce of willpower he had, Logan turned and walked out the door. After the funeral, she’d be his, he promised himself. Until then, the pack held his full attention.
As Logan walked out the door, Wynter allowed the tears to flow. As if swept into a storm, she no longer knew which direction she was traveling. Having lost her only life preserver, she struggled to keep her head above the swelling waves, yet it wasn’t enough. She stumbled into the bathroom and turned on the shower, allowing the cold water to pelt her skin. She slid down the wall, until her bottom hit the floor and she crawled into a ball, sobbing, wishing she had never heard of wolves.
“What’s up?” Dimitri nodded to Logan, handing him an umbrella.
“Good, here comes Jake,” Logan responded, not answering Dimitri directly.
Jake slid open the door and shook the rain off his head.
“Hey,” he greeted. “Nothing like a rainy funeral in the dark. Good stuff.”
“Yeah, I don’t expect many of us to shift if this rain keeps up,” Dimitri added.
“Alpha, you okay?” Jake asked with genuine concern. The anger rolling through the pack earlier had rocked them hard.
“Yeah, I’m good,” Logan lied. “I should be asking how you’re doing. You took a hard one out there last night.”
“Good to go. Thanks to you,” he nodded. “Hurt like a motherfucker. Stayed wolf all last night, though, just to be sure I was okay.”
“I’m gonna walk over to Fiona’s and meet the girls there,” Logan told them.
Dimitri cocked an eyebrow at Logan. “Hey man, let me preface this by ‘I’m not tellin’ you what to do’.”
“But you’re going to anyway? Let’s hear it.”
“That’s what your beta is for.” Dimitri clapped his hand on his shoulder. “First, it’s raining cats and dogs. You could just take the car with us. Second, you think it’s a good idea to be around the girls without Wynter? I mean, this mating thing doesn’t seem to be going so smoothly for either one of you and I’d hate to…”
“I’m not going over there to fuck them, D. Fiona’s sister died. I’ll be careful not to touch them a lot, but let’s be clear, okay, tonight is about Dana. Not me. Not Wynter. And it’s sure as hell not about my mating,” he huffed. “And yeah, this whole mating thing is not exactly what I thought was going to happen, but then again, I never thought in a million years that my mate was going to walk into my life as soon as I became Alpha. I certainly didn’t expect her to be human.”
“Yeah, not optimal,” Dimitri concurred.
“I’ll deal with this…with Wynter, when we get out of the city. I’m not looking to hurt her, but I’ve got to be with the pack. You know this. Fiona. Luci. They are pack and need me too…especially tonight.”
Logan slid open the door and righted the umbrella.
“As for a little rain, it never hurt anyone. Might actually do me some good to breathe in the petrichor. Love it.”
“Petrichor?” Dimitri asked, shaking his head. Someone had been doing crossword puzzles again. A strange stress reliever for his Alpha, but whatever it took.
“The smell that comes with the rain, my friend, the smell. Nothin’ better.” Logan laughed and pressed open the black canopy.
Dimitri laughed but then his thoughts turned dark. He hoped his Alpha worked out things with Wynter sooner than later. He’d caught the wince on Logan’s face upon hearing the faint sound of crying coming from his little wolf upstairs. They’d both tried to ignore it as if it wasn’t happening. He knew Logan was giving his full attention to the pack, trying to concentrate on maintaining a sense of tranquility for them. And it wasn’t the time to get involved between him and Wynter. Sometimes it was better just to let the dust settle.
He looked into a mirror that hung in the kitchen and adjusted the knot in his tie. He hated funerals. Luckily he hadn’t attended many for wolves, but still, many of his human friends had passed over the years. As he glanced down at his black shoes, ones that seemed uncomfortably tight, he sighed, knowing what the night had in store for them all. The funeral was going to be as much fun as…well, a funeral.
Within minutes, the clicking of heels let him know Wynter was ready. She rounded the corner, dressed in black with a small tote in her hands. Wet ringlets surrounded her reddened face. Wearing no makeup, she still looked beautiful and determined. She made low maintenance look chic, Dimitri thought. Unsure of what to say, Dimitri gave Jake a knowing smile and went to the closet. Logan had bought Wynter some things she’d need for the trip, and he’d asked him to give them to her.
Wynter had pulled it together after a five minute crying jaunt. Angry and confused, she refused to let life or her lack of control over it hold her down. Ever since her parents died, she’d been fighting. She wasn’t sure if or when she’d work things out with Logan, but she still had a purpose: get the data, work on a treatment for Emma. Her other goal was to get through the shift. If Logan rejected her because of a human mistake, then she’d leave and go back to New York. As Jax had explained it, she didn’t have to mate him if she didn’t want to do it or if he decided a human wasn’t suitable for an Alpha’s mate. She’d be devastated but she’d get through it. Like the loss of her parents, like being held captive and tortured, she’d dig deep and continue with her life. Self-preservation was a strong motivator.
As she glanced down to her black oxford shirt and matching pencil skirt, she wondered if Logan had selected the outfit himself. And what if he didn’t? What if he’d asked those women to do it for him? She shoved the nasty green monster to the back of her mind. No, she would not go there. Still, it hadn’t been with the clothing Dimitri had originally brought her to wear, nor were the black leather pumps.
She sighed. None of this really belonged to her. It was merely an illusion of reality. Her life had been stolen. Everything she’d had in her purse was gone, taken by her captors. Smoothing down the soft fabric of her sleeves, she made a mental note to contact Jax’s secretary to have her forward her mail. She also needed her home laptop in order to report her credit cards stolen. Every last shred of her personal information was digitalized. His secretary could just download the info and send it to her. She could purchase a new laptop online, but she still needed a cell phone. Maybe tomorrow, she’d arrange to go to a local cell phone carrier where she could purchase a new one.
Dimitri’s hand on her shoulder startled her out of her daydream.
“Here, Wyn.” Dimitri held up a royal blue trench coat. “Go ahead, put it on. It’s nasty out there.”
Gratefully, she shrugged into the garment, noticing it was from Burberry. As she buttoned it up and buckled the thin black leather belt around her waist, she considered how she’d never splurge on something so extravagant. She looked up to Dimitri who attempted to give her a black patent leather clutch. Was he giving her someone else’s purse?