by Dena Christy
17
Logan held Faith close as Mason drove the truck back to the bar. They would get Connor and he would take them both home. He closed his eyes for a moment as he thought about how close he had been to losing his family. He was never going to let them go again and as soon as he and Faith were alone, he was going to tell her that. He was going to tell her everything that was in his heart. He loved her, she was his soul mate and there would never be another woman for him. He would do whatever it took to keep his pack together, but not if it meant giving her up.
Mason pulled the truck in the bar’s parking lot. “What the hell?”
Logan looked up and there, gathered in the gravel parking lot, had to be every member of their pack and a few more besides. If Logan wasn’t mistaken the members of the East Brook pack were there too. Mason shut off the truck, and looked at Logan.
“Give us a minute, would you?” Logan shifted his eyes to Faith so Mason would know that he needed to talk to her alone. With the entire pack here, now was the time to address them, to deal with his father and know one way or another if he was going to lead his pack and East Brook.
Mason nodded and got out of the truck. Faith raised her head and looked out the windshield to see all the folks gathered in the parking lot. “What’s going on?”
“I need to talk to them. I want to get you home and if you want to go back with Connor, I’ll take you and come back. But I want to deal with my father, and end all this tonight. This is pack business and I want you by my side if you’re up to it.”
Seeing the way the slow smile spread across her face told him that he was doing the right thing. He knew she had to be tired after what she went through tonight, but it was important for him to show her that she was a part of him. The pack needed to see that she was the mate that fate had chosen for him, that if he was going to lead them, she was a nonnegotiable part of his life.
“I’ll stay. Now please take me to our son. I need to make sure he’s okay.”
He needed to see his son too. There was no way he was going to rest easy until his family was together. He opened the door to the truck and shifted Faith so that she was no longer on his lap. He jumped out of the vehicle and turned to lift her down. He kept his arm around her as he led her toward the bar. The surrounding pack members separated, keeping a respectful distance from them.
“Mom! Dad!” Connor’s voice called to them from across the parking lot as the sound of his feet hitting the gravel carried over to them as he ran full tilt toward them.
Faith opened her arms and Connor flew into them. She held their son to her, and Logan stepped up to both of them and put his arms around them. Something settled inside him, a feeling of rightness that told him he would never be complete without his son and the woman he loved in his life.
The people around them faded into the background as he stood there holding the two most precious people in the world to him. There was no need for them to say anything, their embracing each other said it all. Finally, it was time to finish this, to end this night so that he could move forward with Faith and Connor at his side.
His hold loosened and he straightened up. Faith must have sensed that something important was about to happen and she put her arm around Connor and took him to stand at Logan’s side as he turned and faced the people in the parking lot.
“Please bring Michael Sawyer forward.” Logan’s voice echoed over the hush that had fallen over the crowd watching him. He saw a few members of the pack, the ones who had not gone to the camp and had not seen what had happened, turn to look at each other. They must have known that something serious was about to happen.
Mason and his enforcer, Rafe, pulled his father forward. Fortunately his father could see when he was beaten and he wasn’t going to humiliate himself by resisting when the two men on either side of him pushed him down on his knees while he waited for his alpha’s judgment.
“Michael Sawyer, you have committed crimes against your alpha. According to our laws a crime against the alpha is a crime against your pack. You withheld knowledge of the alpha’s offspring and jeopardized the child’s life by denying him knowledge of his heritage. You stole the alpha’s chosen mate in an attempt to manipulate pack business to your own ends. Do you have anything to say for yourself before judgment is passed on you.”
The silence in the parking lot stretched out and his father lifted his head. There was a deep hatred in his eyes, and while it hurt Logan to see it, he knew that his relationship with the old man had died a long time ago. It was time to move on and be a better father to his son than his father had been to him. Fortunately his father didn’t offer up any excuses, and simply shook his head.
“Michael David Sawyer, as alpha of the Cold Bay pack, I repudiate you. You are no longer a member of this pack. You are sentenced to spending the rest of your days alone, without a pack to offer you comfort. My lieutenant and my enforcer will escort you to your home, where you are to take only what you can carry and you are to be off Cold Bay’s territory by daybreak. No other pack shall offer you aid. By breaking the laws of the pack, you have declared yourself a lone wolf. You shall never again enjoy the benefits of pack membership. If you step foot on Cold Bay’s territory again, you will be killed.”
As punishments went, this was far more harsh than killing his father outright. To a wolf there was nothing worse than losing their place in the pack. The pack meant safety, security and his father would now have to make his way in the world alone. It would not take long for word to spread and he would find it difficult to find a place in any other pack. A wolf who has crossed an alpha would not be trusted anywhere.
Logan nodded to Mason and Rafe and they took his father away. One problem dealt with and now on to the final one he needed to see to before he could take his woman and his son home.
“As all of you have no doubt heard, the members of the Cold Bay pack and East Brook pack are entering a dangerous time in our history. I know that for many years there has been bad blood between our packs, but the time for feuding is over. We are in a fight for our survival, and we need to stand together if we are to resist a take over by the Batesburg pack.” Logan paused for a moment so that he could sweep his eyes over every person standing before him. He saw Grace in the crowd and knew that she was responsible for getting the East Brook members here. She gave him a discreet thumbs up.
“Our packs need to be united, and the easiest way to do that would have been for me to bind myself with Grace Mayer, and mingle our bloodlines. I’m not going to take the easy way, because that’s not who I am. I cannot mate with Grace because I have already found the mate fate has intended for me to be with. She is the mother of my son and the love of my life. I am a better man and a better alpha with her at my side and I am not letting her go.” Logan reached out to his side and took Faith’s hand. If this didn’t go the way he wanted he was prepared to walk away from his pack, from everything in his life, in order to keep her by his side.
“I cannot promise that without a blood bond that we will succeed in keeping our independence. But I can promise you that if you accept me as alpha I’m not going to roll over and present my belly to the council. I will fight them tooth and nail for you, but I need you with me. I need you behind me, one hundred percent. We need to fight the take over together and that means solidarity, both Cold Bay and East Brook alike. Members of the East Brook pack, accept me as your alpha and we can do this together. There may not be a bond of blood between us, but I will fight for you the same as I would fight for any member of the Cold Bay pack. Stand with me.”
Logan roared out the last few words and for a second it seemed like everyone was frozen in time. Then one by one, members of the Cold Bay and the East Brook packs got to their knees and bowed their heads. His breath whooshed out of his lungs and he tightened his fingers around Faith’s hand. He'd done it. He’d swayed the packs and by kneeling before him like this, it meant that he had the endorsement of both packs to combine them under his leadership.
He tilted his head back and a howl of triumph ripped from his throat. Everyone surged to their feet and a cheer went up in the crowd. He held his hand up for quiet, and the crowd fell silent again.
“Everyone is welcome to stay at the bar. Drinks are on me, but I think you’ll understand why I need to take my family home.”
Faith felt like a rung out dishrag by the time she came down the stairs to join Logan. Connor had been understandably clingy and he asked her if she could lay down with him until he fell asleep. She held her son to her, so thankful that he had been brave enough to help save her. There was so much of his father in him that she knew what kind of man he would grow up to become. And thankfully his parents would be together as they watched their boy grow up.
“Is he settled?” Logan sat on the couch waiting for her and held his hands out to her. He pulled her down beside him and put his arm around her.
“Yes finally. I think it’s going to take us all some time to recover from tonight.” She snuggled in close to him and rested her head against his shoulder. If there was any doubt in her mind that this man loved her, it had been put to rest when he stood in the bar's parking lot and declared it to two wolf packs. “I love you. I’m sorry that I didn’t stay and hear you out when I found out about Grace. I was just so hurt because I thought it meant that you didn’t feel for me what I felt for you.”
“Oh, baby.” He shifted her so that she sat on his lap, and tilted her head so that she could see into his eyes. “I was a stupid ass. I have everything I want right here, and I was too pig headed to realize it. I’m sorry that I let you walk out my office door, that I wasn’t there to protect you. I let you down and I’m sorry.”
She pulled his face down so that she could kiss him. “You couldn’t have known that your father would take me away. You’re not responsible for what he did. We are both at fault for me being alone and vulnerable, so let’s put this behind us and move forward.”
“Okay. I don’t want there to be any more secrets between us. I promise from now on I won’t hide anything from you.”
As he said it Faith thought about the one thing that he still did not know and she shifted off his lap. He looked surprised when she went to get her purse, which they’d retrieved from the motel on the way home.
When Logan had seen the damage his father had done, when he realized just how much she’d been terrorized, a cold rage had swept over him. He’d held her close to him for a moment, not saying a word. Then they’d turned their back on the destruction, with Logan saying he would pay Bill whatever he needed for the damages.
“There is one more thing. Something I suspect but don’t know for sure.” She reached inside the purse and pulled out the pregnancy test. Logan stood up and came over to her, taking the box from her hands so he could see what it was. His eyes flew to hers as he put it back in her hand.
“How long have you suspected?”
“I bought the test this morning. It’s one of those ones that can be taken any time. Do you want to find out if you’re going to be a daddy again?”
His Adam’s apple bobbed as he put his arm around her and walked her to the bathroom. She went inside and closed the door. After she peed on the stick she set it on the counter and waited. It was supposed to take three minutes to find out the results and it was the longest three minutes of her life as she stared at the test stick and waited.
When she finally had her answer, she opened the bathroom door to find Logan pacing the hall waiting for her.
“Well?” He came back to her and took her hands. A huge smile spread across her face as she blinked through the tears in her eyes and nodded.
“You’re going to be a daddy, again.”
He pulled her to him and twirled her around the hall. When he set her on her feet, he cupped her face and pressed a gentle kiss on her lips.
“I didn’t think it was possible for me to be any happier with you and Connor as my family. Knowing that we are having another baby together only adds to it. I missed so much with Connor and I don’t want to miss a minute with this one.”
“And you won’t have to. I’m here to stay. You, Connor and this baby are my home and I’m not leaving, ever.” She put her arms around his waist and leaned into him.
“Did I tell you that I love you?”
“Actually you did announce it in front of two wolf packs.” She tilted her head up to look at him. “But I could always hear it again.”
“I love you.” He scooped her up in his arms and carried her down the hall toward the bedroom that they’d spent so many nights making love in this summer, and would spend every night together for the rest of their lives.
Author’s Note
I hope you enjoyed Faith and Logan’s story. If you did please consider leaving a review. Reviews let other readers like you know if they would enjoy this book.
Mason and Grace’s story is coming up next. If you want to be the first to know when, consider signing up for my mailing list using the link below:
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While you are waiting for Mason and Grace’s story I have other books that you might enjoy. They are listed on the following page.
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Dark Gods, Dark Wolf Series Book 5
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Alien Rescue, Latrothian Warrior Series Book 2
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