by A J Jarrett
“Now that’s a promise I’d never thought I’d hear,” Quinn said, never looking up from the table.
Logan stepped out from behind Trevor to talk with the witch. He seemed normal, well as normal as a man with pink hair could be.
Talking with Trevor and Carter was fun. It was almost like being around Leo.
“Hey, guys.” A large man offered a greeting as he walked into the kitchen. The man wasn’t fat large but tall and ripped with Incredible Hulk type muscles. But he had a soft, inviting face. Logan didn’t fear the giant of a man. His smile seemed genuine.
“Abner, how’s it going?” his mate asked.
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Logan watched as Abner looked over to Carter, who was acting like he didn’t notice the big guy entering the room. Which was an impossible feat since the man was larger than life. “It’s been better.”
Abner grabbed one of the premade sandwiches off a tray then left the room.
Why can’t he look at me? Can’t he see that I’m hurting, too? I just want him to love me like I love him.
Logan looked over to a downtrodden Carter. He laid a hand on the witch’s shoulder and gave a soft squeeze. “Have you told him how you feel?”
“Huh?” Carter’s faced paled. “What are you talking about?”
“You said that you’re hurting, too, and that you l—”
Carter covered Logan’s mouth with both his hands and eyed him warily. “What are you?”
Logan’s eyebrows drew together in confusion at the question.
Carter still had his hands covering his mouth, and Logan couldn’t speak.
“Carter, what are you talking about?” Finn asked as he got up to come stand by Logan.
“He knew things I was thinking. That’s not common.” Carter moved forward into Logan’s space and took a deep breath.
“Yeah, we discovered that earlier.” Finn looked to him. “Logan can hear people’s thoughts. I was going to ask him about that, but we got distracted.” A blush flooded Finn’s cheeks.
“I smell magic on you,” Carter said as he leaned back against the counter and took a drink from his cup.
“Magic? I have no magic. I’m human.” Logan looked to Finn.
“Well maybe it’s the mating thing.” He looked back to Carter.
“Maybe that’s what you’re smelling.” Logan lowered his voice. “Or maybe from us, you know, having sex.”
“That might be true if he currently had his dick up your ass and was fucking you at this very moment.” Trevor began to laugh. “And
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from the sounds I heard coming from your room earlier, it was the other way around.”
“What the hell!” Finn shouted. “Have you ever heard of a thing called privacy?”
“Yeah I have.” Trevor took another sip from his mug. “But I don’t get out much, so overhearing all you mated couples go at it is my only source of entertainment. Well, that and online porn.”
“Dear god,” Quinn mumbled.
Logan watched as Quinn rubbed his temples in earnest as he held his eyes shut. Stress was apparent in his tight hand movements. Logan could relate. Nothing ever seemed to bother Trevor. He’d say anything that popped into his head, and now Logan felt embarrassed because his new friend overheard him and Finn making love. The house Finn lived in might be big, but maybe not big enough.
“Being mated and having sex with Finn wouldn’t leave a trace of magic in you. Finn was turned into a shifter by magic, but it doesn’t make him a magical being.” Carter never broke eye contact with him as he spoke.
“What does that mean?” Logan shook his head. His skin began to prickle, and the hairs on his arms stood on end.
“It means you have magic in you.” Carter pointed a finger at him.
“I’m guessing passed down from a distant relative or something. I can feel the magic just barely, but it’s there.”
“So what you’re saying is that Logan has witch blood in him?”
Finn asked Carter.
“Yes.”
“And this is why my mate can hear voices?”
“I’m not sure on that.” The witch turned his attention back to Logan. “Do you hear voices or thoughts often?”
“Not really. I mean I hear stuff, but not every little thing,” he confessed. “It’s only like personal stuff.” Logan dropped his eyes.
“Like what you said about Abner.”
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“What did he say about Abner?” Trevor asked as he leaned forward on the counter, enthralled in the conversation.
“Shut up!” everyone in the kitchen shouted at Trevor.
“I think you might be an empath.” Carter reached out and grabbed Logan’s hand. “I’m a past reader. Would you mind if I flip through your memories to see if anything is hidden in your mind that might help us figure out what’s going on with you? Or in the very least what witching family you descend from.”
Logan shrugged his shoulders. What did he have to lose? Finding out he might be a witch had knocked him off balance. It was like being on a rocking boat and the waves crashing against the side sending everything scattering out to sea.
Carter took Logan’s hands, then the witch closed his eyes. A feeling of warmth jolted through Logan, but he didn’t let go. He watched as Carter’s face pinched together. Logan looked over to Finn who just nodded his head.
After a couple of minutes, Carter opened his eyes and dropped Logan’s hands. “I didn’t see anything. I mean I saw that your parents died and you grew up in foster care but nothing else. No witches at all in your past. That’s kind of weird. Usually witching families like to keep it all in the family if you know what I mean.”
“So I’m a witch?” Logan asked.
Carter took a drink from his glass then set it on the counter. He took Logan by the shoulders and smiled at him. “Yes. I can sense it in you.”
It was all too much. Logan didn’t know how to react to the news.
It all seemed surreal.
“You said he’s an empath. What’s that mean exactly?” Finn wrapped his arm around Logan’s waist. Immediately relief flooded his senses. Logan leaned into Finn’s embrace, trying to soak up his lover’s strength.
“Empaths get emotional readings from other people. You said you only hear thoughts at random, and it would appear you only hear
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deeply personal thoughts. I’m guessing you hear stuff when people are upset, sad, happy, or aroused.”
“Yeah.” Logan nodded. “But not all the time. If I were truly a witch and an empath, wouldn’t I be bombarded with other people’s feelings all the time?”
“Not necessarily. You have a small amount of magic, so I’m guessing this witch bloodline you descend from has thinned out through the generations and probably didn’t show up in your other relatives or even you parents.” Carter grinned up at him. “You just got lucky I guess.”
Lucky? Is he insane?
Sweat started to break out across Logan’s brow, and the moisture dampened his hair just above his ears. His breath started to rush in and out, and he grabbed his chest. The vision at the corner of his eyes started to fade in and out, and black spots clouded his eyesight.
“Logan?” He could faintly hear Finn’s voice as if he was shouting down a long tunnel. “Honey, calm down. You’re hyperventilating.”
Logan looked to Finn as his lover shoved him into a chair and pushed his head down between his legs.
“Take deep breaths. Carter, are you sure?” Finn questioned the witch again.
“Yes, but do you want to get Klaus down here to talk to him?”
Carter offered. “He’s a stronger witch than me, so he would be able to sense more, but it won’t change anything. Your mate is a witch or at least part witch.”
Gentle hands tilted his head upward, and Logan met Finn’s golden eyes. “Honey, it’ll be ok
ay. I know this isn’t how you thought your life would turn out, but we can get through this.” Finn took a deep breath. “Just don’t leave me.”
Finn’s words broke through his panic attack and brought Logan back to the present. “Leave you? Are you fucking insane? Am I freaking out here? Yes. But I love you, and everything that we just learned doesn’t change that.” He kissed Finn’s lips softly. “I’d never
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leave you. I just hope you aren’t disappointed that you’re mated to a witch.”
“Never.” A smile curled the corners of Finn’s mouth as he leaned in for another kiss. Logan was happy to oblige the request and opened wide for his lover’s invading tongue.
“Boo,” Trevor bellowed as he threw potato chips at them. “No kissing or groping in front of me. It gets me all worked up, and I can’t take any more self-pleasure. I’ve developed calluses on my hands.
Here look.” Trevor held his hand up high, palm outward for them to see.
“Maybe fang boy has a point. I don’t want to put on a show for all to see.” Finn helped him to his feet.
He smiled at the man he loved, knowing deep down he’d never leave him. He caught a glimpse of pink hair heading toward the door.
“Carter, wait a minute.” Carter turned around at his calling. “I have more questions for you.”
“Okay shoot.”
“How come I can’t hear Finn’s thoughts?” He darted his eyes to his mate to see what Finn’s reaction would be.
“You can’t hear me?” Logan shook his head. “Oh thank god! Ever since I learned you can hear voices, I’ve been panicking that you could hear my dirty thoughts.”
Logan eyed his lover up and down. Dirty thoughts. That had him intrigued.
“It might be a mate thing.” Carter suggested. “It might be fate’s way of keeping you two on equal ground in your relationship.
Because honestly, I wouldn’t want to know every thought my mate is having. It could really hurt your relationship.”
With that Carter turned around and left the room. Logan could still feel the witch’s pain. Whatever happened between him and Abner, it must have been bad. Maybe in time the pair could repair what was so obviously damaged between them.
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The heat radiating off Finn’s body warmed Logan straight through his clothes. He sank back against his lover and thought about what Finn had confessed earlier. Logan would be a liar if he said he didn’t want to know what dirty thoughts had been cascading through his mate’s mind. This was the first time Logan wished his gift worked on command, but it didn’t.
“So what sort of dirty things have you been contemplating in that head of yours?” Logan asked as he leaned farther into Finn’s chest.
“I’d bet you would love to know. But I think it would be better to show you,” Finn purred into his ear, causing Logan’s body to tremble.
“Okay, you two, take it to your bedroom.” They both looked toward Trevor.
“Gladly.” Finn grabbed his hand and raced out of the kitchen, and it took everything Logan had to keep up.
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Chapter Ten
Logan lay entwined with Finn. The warmth coming off the man warmed him to the bone. He had never felt more loved than he did when with Finn. Being with his mate was like coming home. There was no greater feeling than that.
The light snoring coming from Finn didn’t bother him in the least.
Logan just hugged the man closer to his chest as he slept.
He lifted his hand to run down the side of Finn’s hip but his arm screamed in protest. Finn had kept him up most of the night, redefining the Kama Sutra. They made love on every piece of furniture in the man’s bedroom and in the bathroom. Hell, they even got it on in the closet just to see if they both could fit in the tight quarters. The burn and strain in his muscles never felt so good.
The smile on his face fell to a settled grin as he lay next to his lover. After all he had learned, he’d be a liar to say he was disappointed with the path his life had taken. Granted, it wasn’t every day a person woke up to discover they were a witch, but Logan could get through it if Finn was the person he got to come home to at the end of the day.
The soft chirping of his ringtone had him pulling his arm free from underneath Finn. Finn didn’t stir. He just grunted and rolled to lie on his stomach. A soft moan crossed Finn’s lips as he burrowed down into the blankets, and Logan couldn’t help stopping to stare.
Finn looked so young and peaceful, like a teenager trying to catch that extra five minutes before getting up for school.
God, he’s beautiful and all mine.
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Logan found his jeans discarded by the bathroom door and fished out his cell phone. He looked down to see Leo’s number flashing across the screen.
“Hello.”
“Logan, we have a problem.” The concern in Leo’s tone was palpable through the phone.
“What?” His heart began to beat frantically. “Are you okay? Is it Mrs. Parker?”
“No, we’re both fine, but”—there was a long pause before Leo finished his sentence—“but L&L Coffee Stop isn’t. We’ve been broken into. The sheriff is on his way over.” His best friend’s voice began to crack.
“Leo, don’t go inside the store until the sheriff gets there.” Logan hopped around on one foot trying to pull his pants up. “Whoever did this could come back.”
“That’s what the lady at dispatch said.” Logan could hear Leo take slow, uneven breaths. “I can’t believe this has happened to us.
We’re good people, Logan. Who would do such a thing?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know.” He slid into his shoes, and he shouldered the phone to his ear. “I’ll be there as soon as I can. It’s going to be oaky, Leo.”
Logan disconnected the call and shoved the phone into his back pocket. He snatched his shirt from the ground and pulled it over his head.
“What’s going on?” Finn asked as he finished putting on his shirt.
Logan wasn’t quite sure when Finn woke up, but the man was completely dressed and ready to go.
“That was Leo. Someone broke into our coffee shop. The police are on their way there now. I need to get there.” He headed for the door but was stopped short by a hand on his shoulder.
“Logan, honey, you don’t need to do this alone.” Finn lightly rubbed his thumb over Logan’s knuckles. “We’re a team you and I.
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What affects you affects me.” His grin had Logan smiling, too. “Plus if you think I’d let you out of my sight, you’re nuts.”
They rushed out of Finn’s room and down the spiraling staircase.
Logan appreciated the fact that Finn wanted to be there for him. He was afraid what he’d find when he got to the business he and Leo built from the ground up.
“Where are you two headed in such a hurry?” Lawson said as he walked out of one of the open rooms off to the side.
“Logan’s coffee shop was broken into last night. The sheriff is on his way there now. Leo, Logan’s best friend and business partner, is there by himself,” Finn explained to the man.
“No shit.” Lawson headed toward the door. “I’m coming with you. Just in case.”
Logan looked from Lawson back to Finn. “Just in case what?” He didn’t understand what they were so worried about. It was his business that was robbed. It was his livelihood in turmoil at the present, not theirs.
“Hon, there are other paranormals living in this town, and we were attacked a few days ago. That’s why I had to cancel our first official date.” Finn grabbed his hand, and Logan held on tight.
“Remember me telling you being a Warrior of the Light was dangerous?” He nodded. “Well this is part of it. There’s a lot of evil in the world who would like to see us fail in our mission of protecting innocents.
They’re not above attacking our human mates or their friends and families. If it could possibly hurt us, then Dark Warriors wouldn’t think twice about doing it.”
“That’s insane.” Logan braced his hand against his forehead trying to ward off the headache crushing his skull. “Just because I’m with you, they would want to destroy my business? That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Logan, if the Warriors of Dark kill you, it weakens Finn and therefore makes ending his life a piece of cake,” Lawson said bluntly.
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“What?” Logan stood stock-still looking at his mate. His ability to breathe had ceased to work, and his hands trembled slightly. These men talked of death and killing like it was normal, but it wasn’t in the world where Logan lived.
“You asshole!” Finn shouted. “I hadn’t told him that part.”
“So it’s true?” Logan’s voice was barely above a whisper.
“Yes. Being mated has connected our souls, so if anything happens to you, I’d be rendered helpless. The loss of a mate is like someone ripping out your heart. Most who survive that loss are altered. They’re never the same. So either way I’d be a dead man walking because living without you isn’t possible.”
Logan fell into Finn’s embrace as soon as the man’s strong arms encompassed him. What Finn said made sense. After only knowing him for a short time, Logan knew that he couldn’t go on without Finn either.
“Come on, you guys, let’s go.” Lawson opened the door, and Logan let Finn lead him outside.
Finn kept darting his eyes over to his mate, trying to gage the level of trauma his mate was suffering through. He couldn’t decide what was worse for Logan, his business being broken into or knowing that the vows till death do us part took on a whole new meaning now that they were mated.
He wanted to punch Lawson for his tactless way of informing the man he loved of the severity of the bond they shared. Most paranormals lived many years. Some never died. But being a Warrior of the Light made him a target regardless of what rank he was within the council. They were the good guys, and good and evil would forever be fighting one another to gain the upper hand.
