Logan gasped out loud and shot his seed deep inside her, his eyes flicking to lupine and back to human again.
“I love you,” he whispered hoarsely. “I love you, Nadia.”
He collapsed onto her, breathing hard, kissing her with hot, swollen lips. Nadia wrapped her arms around his massive body, making the demon in her ease back from his life essence.
It was over. Logan’s life essence tingled through her fingers a moment longer, then it was gone. She closed her eyes so he wouldn’t see her tears.
Logan lay heavily next to Nadia while she slept. Her chest rose and fell with her even breathing, her nipples dark against pale skin.
Taking his life essence seemed to make her rest peacefully. Logan was glad of that, because the exhaustion that had been etched on her face had finally smoothed away.
Logan was tired too, but he didn’t feel drained. This mating between himself and Nadia had sealed the bond between them. For the first time in his life he felt fulfilled rather than empty.
Nadia had looked stunned when Logan had declared he loved her, her eyes betraying her deep shock. Logan smiled a little. He’d have to get her used to the fact that a life-magic creature loved every bit of her. He’d also have to explain that he needed her as mate. His wolf had already decided that, but Nadia had to choose.
Restless, Logan rose from the bed and quietly pulled on his jeans. Nadia continued to sleep, her lashes black crescents on her white face. He gently tucked the cover around her and went to the table to pack for the journey back to Los Angeles.
As much as Logan longed to confront Matt and tear his head off, it was more important to get Nadia home safely. Samantha would let Nadia stay in the matriarch’s mansion in Beverly Hills, a place with security so tight Matt would never be able to penetrate it. Samantha’s house was the only demon stronghold in the world with an Immortal warrior protecting it. Samantha and Tain would make sure Nadia stayed safe.
After that, Logan would get with Nez and return to flush out the werewolves and find Matt. Logan was tired of Matt’s games and ready for a final confrontation. If it had to be a fight to the death, then so be it.
Logan turned off the water in the bathroom, which had gone ice cold. He pocketed the hotel room key and stepped out into the snow and darkness. He’d pay the bill up front so he could wake Nadia, and they could leave right away.
The tired-looking woman in the office fished out the list of charges and took Logan’s credit card. In the room behind her, two children yelled at each other over the blaring television.
“What’s this charge?” Logan asked, pointing to a number on the receipt she’d given him.
The woman glanced at it. “Phone calls.”
Logan had only made one, to Nez. “Can you break it down for me?”
She gave him a blank stare, sighed, and pushed keys on the computer keyboard. The printer spit out another sheet, which the woman shoved at Logan before she turned to the back room, obviously finished with him.
Logan looked at the list. One call was his to Nez. Another call was to an 805 area code—Los Angeles vicinity—and two calls to a number that made Logan’s blood freeze.
Logan stared at the white sheet with the sharp black numbers on it, stark and damning, but they didn’t change.
Someone in room five had called Matt Lewis.
Logan slammed out of the office and strode back to the room, never noticing the chill. His fury mounted at every step, as did the bile in his throat.
He swung open the door , letting the freezing air slice through the room. Nadia was still sleeping on the bed, and didn’t stir.
The wolf in Logan snarled. How easy it would be to become the werewolf, rip the covers from Nadia’s body, and tear into her. She lay asleep, trusting him, as Logan had trusted her.
Logan had even let her take his life essence, weakening himself for her. And he’d smiled and said, I love you.
Logan felt his face start to change, his teeth sharpen, claws sprout from his hands. He forced himself to stay human. Logan didn’t wish to kill Nadia. He wanted to look her in the eye and demand to know why she’d betrayed him to Matt.
He strode into the bathroom and snapped on the faucet at the sink, splashing cold water on his face. Wolf’s eyes looked back at Logan from the mirror, yellow and angry. Logan splashed more water on his face until he calmed down a little.
When he went back into the bedroom Nadia was still asleep, still beautiful. Her hair curled against her forehead, her cheek rested on one slim hand.
Logan dragged in a breath and jerked the covers from Nadia’s body.
Nadia stirred and blinked sleepily. She put one hand up to rub her eyes. “Logan?” she asked, her voice muzzy. “Has something happened?”
For answer, Logan held the list of phone calls in front of her face, Matt’s phone number sharp and clear on it.
It took Nadia a few sleep-drenched seconds to figure out what she was looking at. Logan held the piece of paper rock steady in front of her face, showing Nadia the evidence of her phone call at the bottom of the list of numbers.
“Logan,” she said quickly.
Logan’s eyes were glittering gold and impossibly still. “Get up and get dressed,” he said clearly. “And then get the hell out of my life.”
Nadia sat up, pulling the bed’s dingy coverlet over her bare breasts. “Logan, he didn’t give me a choice.”
“You told Matt where I was. When is he supposed to get here?”
“He already knew you were here. The front desk clerk told him.”
Logan’s expression remained like flint. “What do you get out of this? Money? Or the satisfaction of taking down a werewolf? Or was it my life essence you were after the whole time?”
Nadia sat still, tears trickling down her face. She’d done what she had to do, and she’d known she’d lose Logan for it. But she hadn’t realized how much it would hurt. Her dreams about finding a happy ending with him were dissipating like the smoke they were.
“I was eighteen,” she began.
“When you met Matt?”
“No, when I got pregnant.”
Logan turned away. He was already dressed, the bag on the other side of the room half packed.
“I don’t need to hear your life story. I’ll read it in your police file.”
Nadia wiped her eyes with the heel of her hand. “I’m telling you for a reason. When I was eighteen I fell in love with a human called Terry. I met him at a department store in Westwood, where I worked. They liked demon girls because we could make ourselves look good and entice in human customers. I thought he loved me. I was naïve. I had Terry’s baby, a son. Joel is ten now.”
Nadia broke off, swallowing her grief. It was difficult to talk about it, but Logan had to understand. He might still hate her, but at least he’d know why she’d done what she had.
Logan tossed loose clothes into his duffle bag. He wouldn’t look at her, made no indication he was listening.
“Terry didn’t want Joel,” Nadia said. “And he didn’t want me, not the real me. My family and clan is very old-fashioned. They don’t think demons should mix with other races, and they refuse to acknowledge Joel. Joel lives with his human grandparents now. The Snyders are good people, ashamed of the way their son treated us.”
Logan continued to silently pack, his movements stiff.
“I worked the clubs to support my son,” Nadia went on. “I wasn’t about to make Terry’s parents pay for everything. Terry didn’t contribute at all, just went on to seduce the next demon woman he could fool. He was always driving around in flashy cars, and one day he killed himself in a wreck. I’m pretty sure it was an accident, not of my demon family taking revenge or anything. The entire Lamiah clan had shut me out by then.”
Logan finally turned around, his expression forbidding. “What the hell has all this got to do with Matt?”
“I’m getting to it. You were right that Matt had someone in Los Angeles watch you, until he figured out every p
erson you got close to. He knows how fond you are of Samantha, but he wasn’t stupid enough to use the matriarch of a powerful demon clan to trap you. Besides, he heard about Tain, and decided it was a bad idea to piss off an Immortal.” Nadia felt herself smile, but her heart was empty. “Matt decided I was much more vulnerable.”
“I’ve figured out most of Matt’s plans by myself,” Logan said tightly. “That he used you to lure me up here. What you’ve left out is why you helped him.”
Tears stung Nadia’s eyes. “Because he threatened Joel. Why else? Matt said that if I didn’t get you up here, he’d kill my son. He has some of his own people following Joel, waiting for their orders. All Matt has to do is make one phone call, telling them either to go ahead and kill him or to call it off. If I do what Matt tells me, he promised me Joel will never even know he was in danger.”
Logan’s hard look didn’t change. “So the hunt through the woods, your capture, was all a setup for me?”
She shook here head. “No, it was real. I hitchhiked and took the bus, like I told you. The van met me. When I woke up from the tranquilizer, Matt pushed me out of the van and told me to run. My fear had to be real, he said, or you’d know something was wrong.”
Logan turned away again, a muscle in his back jerking. “More like a reality show then.”
Nadia studied the blanket, her voice subdued. “Matt forced me to choose between you and Joel. I had to pick Joel. You have to understand that.”
Nadia finished, drained of words and emotion. Logan continued to stare at the table, his black T-shirt tight against his back.
Logan had said he loved her. And Nadia loved him back.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked, voice grating.
“Because Matt would kill Joel if he thought I ran straight to you.”
Logan swung around, eyes blazing. “I meant about having a kid at all. Did you think I’d hate you for having him? Or for letting Matt use you? He’s a twisted bastard who’d use his own mother to get his way—he has, in fact. Or is everything you’ve just told me bullshit, so I’ll feel sorry for you?”
“It’s all true.” Nadia sat up straighter, letting anger give her strength. “I’ve never lied to you.”
“Omitting big chunks of truth is the same as lying. You still haven’t answered me—why didn’t you tell me what was going on? Did you think I wouldn’t try to keep your son safe?”
“I don’t know what I thought. I only know that if I told you, and you went after Matt or back to help Joel, Joel would die. Matt said that once he had you, he’d tell his men to leave Joel alone. But if they don’t get Matt’s call tomorrow, either way, they’ll kill my son. Matt promised that. He told me I had to keep you here and a long way from help.”
Logan raked his hand through his hair, looking tired. “So you called Matt told him where we were. And then did your best to keep me here.” His voice turned bitter, and the look in his eyes broke Nadia’s heart. “Your technique was very effective.”
Nadia got to her knees, the covers still around her. “I swear to you, that had nothing to do with Matt.”
“Sorry, sweetheart, I don’t believe you.”
Logan gave her a grim smile, then turned back to his duffle bag. Anger flowed from him in waves, rage at her betrayal, at Matt, at himself. Nadia hated that she’d had to choose to hurt Logan, but she’d never let her son be sacrificed.
“I don’t plan on letting Matt kill me,” Logan said calmly, but she heard the fury in his voice. “I always thought that, when I walked away from my pack, this would be over, but I guess not.”
“Why didn’t you fight him before? When you were Packmaster? I wish you would have. Then I’d never have met him,” Nadia finished, tasting bitterness.
Logan met her gaze, his unwavering. “I walked away, because I knew I’d kill Matt if I fought him. The pack would then either have to accept me as leader or destroy me for killing Matt. Those are the rules. That’s what Kayla wanted, and I wasn’t about to give her the satisfaction.”
The deadness in his voice hurt her worse than his anger. “Logan, I’m so sorry.”
Logan shrugged. “Not your fault you got caught up in my joke of a life. Not your fault you did what you could to keep your son safe. I’m only pissed off at you for not trusting me.”
Nadia gave up sadness for exasperation. “Think about it, Logan. You’re a werewolf, a life-magic creature. I’m a death-magic creature—you’re my natural enemy. You’re paranormal police, and I’m a demon woman who used to work the clubs. I can’t imagine why I didn’t automatically trust you.”
His scowl didn’t soften. “You were happy to go out with me. I could talk to you about anything, and I stupidly thought we could be close. And in all that time, you never once mentioned Joel.”
Nadia’s face heated. “You know why? Because gorgeous guys like you don’t always like to go out with single moms. When they date a woman, they don’t necessarily picture a kid popping up between them. I needed to get to know you better before I let you in on that side of my life. Sue me.”
Logan’s mouth flattened to a hard line. “And here I’d thought we were building a relationship. Getting close. I guess that was my wishful thinking.”
“I could have said nothing, you know, even now. I could have let Matt take you by surprise.”
Logan growled. “You only told me now because you got caught.”
Nadia fell silent. He was too angry to listen, and it wouldn’t matter what she said. She tossed back the covers and slid out of bed, not caring if he saw her unclothed body.
Logan turned away. “Get dressed,” he said tersely. “I’m taking you back to L.A.”
“Didn’t you hear me? Matt wants . . . ”
“Screw what Matt wants.” Logan swung around again. His eyes had changed to wolf eyes, claws lengthening his fingers. “He won’t keep his side of the bargain, sweetheart. Werewolves don’t have levels of oaths or any respect for demons. They’re very direct.”
Nadia’s heart squeezed with fear. “Logan. Please. This is my son, a little boy who has nothing to do with this.”
“That’s why we’re going back to L.A.” Logan’s face looked more human, but his eyes still shone with rage. “To save your son from Matt. After that, what you do is up to you.”
Logan made two phone calls while Nadia dressed. She pulled on her clothes right there in front of him, but he deliberately didn’t look at her.
As they left the motel and raced away to the highway on the Harley, Logan felt Nadia’s body warm against his back, but too much rage boiled through him to appreciate it. It was all he could do to stay human and ride.
Nadia had betrayed Logan, but Matt would betray Nadia. That’s what Matt did—used people and discarded them. If Matt fought Logan and won, he’d kill Joel and Nadia as part of his vengeance on Logan. A werewolf victor was allowed to do whatever he liked with his rival’s women, children, and possessions. Even in these more enlightened days, the human police probably wouldn’t look too hard at the deaths of a demon and her half-demon get.
Logan had no intention of letting Matt win, but Matt would do his best to inflict grief upon Nadia, and even kill her, before he died.
Logan used his skills as a biker to eat up speed on the back highways without alerting local law enforcement. He made it to the southbound freeway in a couple of hours, and then opened it up and went as fast as he dared.
It was nearly dawn when Logan saw the glow of Los Angeles on the horizon, the city having long since flowed around its barrier of mountains and out into the desert. Because it was so early, the traffic was only slightly maddening as they rushed from the 405 to the 101 and west. Logan would find Joel and make sure he and Nadia were safe, and then he’d end this.
Nadia directed Logan through the streets of Thousand Oaks, up through residences with neat lawns, until they reached the house of Joel’s parents. It was a moderate-sized home, very cozy and normal. Except now every light inside the house was on, and she
felt the presence of too many life-magic creatures in and around it.
She leapt off the motorcycle as soon as Logan stopped, and yanked off her helmet. “Joel?” she called as she started up the driveway.
A powerful hand closed on her shoulder and jerked her back. Nadia gasped and looked up into the face of the most frightening man she’d ever seen.
He had red hair cut short, a face scarred with fighting, and a patch over one eye. The other eye was piercingly blue, and two wicked-looking swords stuck out from sheaths in his belt. An overwhelming wave of life-magic rolled off him, swamping her and making her dizzy.
“Tain,” Nadia exclaimed, relieved and alarmed at the same time.
Logan came up beside them. “Tain, what’s going on in there?”
Tain’s blue gaze raked over Nadia, and she read pity in him. “They’re holding everyone hostage inside the house,” he said in his lilting accent. “Waiting for you, Logan. I’d have taken them down, but Samantha is afraid they’ll kill the boy, and I think she’s right.”
Nadia went still, her heart freezing as her worst fears assailed her. “No,” she whispered, then she shook off Tain’s grip and darted forward again.
Chapter Twelve
Logan grabbed Nadia and yanked her back once more. “Where do you think you’re going?” he demanded. “Those are werewolves ready for a dominance fight. I can smell it.”
“Joel is in there,” Nadia said, her face wan.
Tain studied the house. “This pack leader of yours brought wolves loyal to him,” he said to Logan. “Ones he’s promised to promote. Forming a new pack, do you think, since your old one is in danger of splitting?”
“Maybe,” Logan growled, wondering how Tain knew that. But Immortals had ways of getting information that no one else did. “What better way to prove he’s still strong enough to be pack leader than taking out the Packmaster?”
“Inconvenient,” Tain agreed.
“That’s my son in there,” Nadia snapped at him. “Don’t you dare say it’s inconvenient.”
Wolf Hunt Page 8