My lips trembled.
Rose glanced at Logan then me. “Dark power?”
I ignored her interest and gave Logan the barest hint of a nod.
His mouth tightened into a thin line.
At that moment, the door opened. Wes strode in, followed by Brodie, Jake, Alexander, and the team who had been in the training center.
“That’s her!” The woman with the long brown hair raised a finger, pointing at me. “She’s the one who almost killed Phoenix!”
Wes stepped forward, deep wrinkles lining his eyes. Like all werewolves, he towered over six feet, but despite his age, steely strength and purpose oozed from him.
“Daria? Is it true? Did you hurt Phoenix?”
I wrung my hands. “It all happened really fast. I—”
“She didn’t know about the training rooms,” Logan cut in. “It’s not her fault.”
Wes put his hands on his hips. “I thought you told her to stay where she was.”
“I did, but I should have been more clear.”
Wes turned his gaze on me. “If Logan told you to remain where you were, why did you enter that training room?”
Humiliation washed through me. In hindsight, I should have heeded Logan’s warning.
I hung my head again. “I heard someone calling for help. I thought someone was seriously hurt, and I didn’t think. I reacted. I completely forgot that Logan said not to move.”
“She almost killed him!” the brown-haired woman yelled.
Wes held up a hand. “Priscilla, I know you’re angry, but this sounds like a genuine accident.”
Combat gear still covered Priscilla’s tall frame, and her lush dark hair looked like a chocolate waterfall down her back. She was truly striking.
Priscilla rounded on Wes. “Who comes here and doesn’t know better than to rush headfirst into a training room? Even if she’s some famous healing witch?” She threw up her hands. “This is the SF headquarters! Even my five-year-old nephew would know better than that!” She crossed her arms and cast me a scathing look. “And she used some kind of magic against us. Something erupted from her, some kind of red light, and it hit Phoenix, nearly killing him, and created a hole in the floor. That doesn’t seem like something a healer would do.”
No, but it’s something a killer would do.
I curled my fingers into the blanket so my hands wouldn’t shake.
Logan growled. “Phoenix would have died if it weren’t for Daria. She saved him.”
“Yeah,” Alexander agreed. “You should be thanking her.”
Brodie and Jake murmured their agreement.
Priscilla swirled around, anger exuding from her stance as she confronted the werewolves. “Thank her? Are you fucking kidding me? If it weren’t for her, he never would have been hit in the first place!”
“His hex hit her first.” Logan straightened, his voice rising. “She defended herself, as any of us would have.”
Priscilla bristled. “Why is she here, anyway? She’s not an SF member. She shouldn’t be here, even if she’s famous.”
I sank farther into the bed, wishing I could disappear beneath it. Logan and I had come to headquarters hoping for help and guidance. Instead, I’d almost killed an innocent SF member within my first hour of arriving, and I had an entire squad of members that apparently hated me and didn’t want me there.
“Priscilla’s right,” Ray said before crossing his arms. His dark skin blended into the night. Biceps as big as Logan’s flexed when he held his stance. If I hadn’t seen his magic in the training center, I would have assumed he carried werewolf blood. “If Daria hadn’t entered that restricted area when she did, none of this would have happened. She ran right into Phoenix’s blast.” His frown deepened. “Why was she left unattended, anyway? She’s not one of us. She shouldn’t have been left alone.”
The other three supernaturals who’d been training with Ray, Priscilla, and Phoenix—two men and a woman—all watched, not commenting but avidly listening.
The dark power rolled in my belly as fear sprang to life inside me. They’re going to kick me out! And then no one will be able to help me!
I frantically pushed the dark power down. If it erupted and did something to anybody in the room, I had no doubt the community would never welcome me back again.
“Daria’s here at my request.” Wes’s authoritative tone cut through the room. “As you can see, she has an extraordinary power. We’re hoping to teach other witches to cultivate magic similar to what you witnessed tonight.”
Priscilla snorted. “That was witch magic? I’ve never seen any witch do something like that. But that still doesn’t explain why she went into that room. She should have been supervised.” She gave a pointed look at Logan.
“I’m sorry.” The apology gushed out of my lips like water from a fire hydrant. “I should have stayed where I was. Logan told me not to move. I didn’t listen. Honestly, I’m so sorry that I harmed your friend.”
Priscilla twirled toward me. “My friend? My friend?” she screeched. “He’s not my friend! He’s my brother! And you almost killed him!” Fury filled her words, and I again wished I could disappear right then and there.
“Enough.” Wes held up a hand. “It’s quite obvious that everybody’s emotions are running high right now, and the more I hear about this, the more I see that it truly was an accident. A preventable accident—” Wes raised an eyebrow when Priscilla opened her mouth again. She snapped it closed then Wes addressed Logan. “You are not to leave her side again. Do you understand?”
Logan’s jaw locked. “Yes, sir.”
Wes clasped his hands behind his back and turned to Priscilla. “Last I heard, Phoenix was doing okay. He’s expected to make a full recovery. Now, we’re going to let Rose finish up so Daria can be discharged. I want everybody to turn in for the night. This matter is closed.”
“Seriously?” The other woman in the group stepped forward. Short, spiky red hair covered her head, and the pointy tips of her ears gave away her species—fairy. “She almost killed Phoenix, and we’re told she gets a free pass because of some freak magic she has? Don’t you think a warning sign should be hung around her neck? So everyone can steer clear of the new freak?”
I stiffened, the blood draining from my face.
“Watch yourself, Chloe,” Logan said in a calm but chilling voice.
“Or what, wolf? You’ll sic the new freak on me?”
Fear and humiliation shot through me, and the dark power rolled violently. My breath came faster as I tried desperately to control it.
But before I could respond, Logan pushed away from the wall, advancing toward her. “Keep your fucking mouth shut, Chloe, and show her some respect.”
“Or what?”
His jaw tightened, and veins in his neck strained. “Or…”
She took a step closer, her swagger cocky. “She’s a freak, and you know it.”
Logan’s body shook, and the muscle in his jaw looked about to poke out of his skin. He shook his head, as if struggling with something.
“You must have it bad for this bitch—”
Out of nowhere, dominant energy shot from Logan and poured through the room.
I gasped.
His magic was so strong that my breath stopped, and my heart seized. The urge to run and hide filled me with adrenaline. I’d never felt anything like it. It flowed over my skin, prickling my nerves.
My dark power stirred violently, but I fought it. I didn’t know what was worse. The coldness of my dark trying to erupt or the suffocating magic pouring from my boyfriend.
Nausea threatened to overwhelm me.
Logan’s hands clenched into fists, and he gritted his teeth before the sound of clothes ripping filled the air. Then the air shimmered, and a huge black wolf stood where Logan had been. His tattered clothes littered the floor.
My eyes popped. My boyfriend had shifted so fast, faster than Jayden had been able to, even quicker than the one other time I’d seen Logan
shift in Dillon Parker’s mobile home.
In his wolf form, the dominant energy flowing from Logan increased a hundredfold, pouring off him in waves as his teeth bared, his hackles rose, and a deadly growl tore from his throat.
If I’d thought I’d wanted to hide before, I now wanted to bury myself alive. It didn’t help that my control over my dark power was slipping. It fought violently inside me, wanting to rush to the surface.
Fuck me and fuck all of this. Don’t lose it, Daria!
I clamped my jaw shut and fought the dark power violently. I pulled and clawed at it as it repeatedly tried to rise to the surface. It felt as if my muscles would explode from the exertion. Already, sweat dripped past my ear.
Logan’s friends cowered behind him, while Chloe whimpered and stepped back, dipping her head. I continued to tremble under the covers while every other SF member crouched down, their shoulders folding inward.
Even Wes reacted.
Seeing that made my jaw drop. My dark power shot up at the opportunity. I snagged it at the last minute and pulled it down, but my surprise remained.
Logan was dominant enough that he caused the SF general to cower? Yet despite that, Logan willingly let Wes order him around for his job? What the hell did that mean?
A few more seconds passed, the power still emanating from Logan. Then, as quickly as he’d shifted to a wolf, he shifted back to human. Before I could blink, he was standing on two legs and wrapping a blanket that he’d snatched off a chair around his waist.
Some of the thick energy pulsing from him abated. I sucked in a breath, for the first time feeling that I could actually breathe as my dark power calmed.
“Fucking-A,” one of the guys in Priscilla’s group whispered.
The other four SF members of the separate squad all moved skittishly, keeping their gazes down but still giving Logan sharp, resentful looks when they dared to peek up.
When Logan finally dissipated whatever dominance he’d unleashed, the fear on Chloe’s face turned to fury.
She stepped closer to him. “You dare go alpha on our boss?” Chloe’s gaze drifted to Wes. Given the veins protruding in Wes’s neck, he was livid. “I wonder what Crystal will think about that.”
My heart skipped when I heard another reference to the mystery woman just as Wes roared, “That’s enough! All of you”—he pointed at the door—“out!”
Priscilla, Ray, Chloe, and the other two all glared at me when they stalked from the room.
Alexander, Brodie, and Jake gave me appeasing looks before they followed. Once the door closed behind them, I was left in the room with a terrified-looking Rose huddling in the corner, Wes, and Logan.
Wes stepped forward until he stood toe-to-toe with Logan. Barely controlled fury lined his face. “We’ll speak tomorrow about what just happened here. My office, oh eight hundred hours. Right now, you’re to take Daria back to your quarters and spend the night there. You are not to leave your residence. Is that understood, Major Smith?”
Logan’s nostrils flared, but he still dipped his head, if a bit reluctantly. “Yes, sir.”
Leaning closer to him, Wes said under his breath, “Don’t make me regret giving you a chance in this role.”
With that, the SF general spun on his heel and marched out of the room. Rose scurried after him, muttering something about getting me potions.
When it was just Logan and me in the room, he came to my side.
I swung my legs over the bed, but I let my gaze drift to his muscled chest, unable to help myself. “What the hell was that?” A few goose bumps still peppered my skin.
His jaw tightened, his head dropping. “That was me losing control.”
“So you’re what? An alpha? Dominant over other werewolves? Over every other species? What just happened?”
Logan pulled my shoes out from under the bed and slipped them on my feet. The mundane domestic task was in complete contradiction to the absolute authority he’d just wielded over everyone, never mind that only a blanket covered his nakedness from the waist down. From his nonchalant attitude, his nakedness didn’t perturb him at all, not even in a public place.
“Logan!” I said, my annoyance getting the better of me. “Answer me.”
“Something like that,” he finally replied.
From his quiet and reluctant tone, I knew he didn’t want to talk about it, but I opened my mouth anyway. “So what is your role—”
“Here we are!” Rose breezed into the room, carrying two vials. A ruddy color filled her cheeks. She cast Logan a wary look, giving him a wide berth.
I swallowed the words on the tip of my tongue as Logan retreated to the corner. I stared at him, but he refused to make eye contact with me.
Rose handed me the two vials, forcing my attention to her. Her hands were shaking when she dropped the small bottles onto my palm. “Take these if you’re in pain or need to sleep. One drop of the purple will give you a full night’s rest without dreams, and one drop of the blue will ease your pain for an entire day. Apply them to your tongue and swallow.”
I studied the liquid contents. The dark blue one was see-through liquid, and the other opaque violet one was thicker.
“Potions?” I asked, holding them up to the light. My nan had taught me how to make a few simple potions that any witch could manage, but like most of my magic that didn’t involve healing, I rarely made them. My healing tours had completely taken over my life.
Rose’s lips lifted in an overly bright smile. “Yes, that’s correct. Two potions.”
I shoved the potions into my pocket and eyed Logan, who was studying the ceiling as if it were the most fascinating piece of artwork.
Swallowing my irritation, I asked, “Is that a large part of your job here? To make healing potions for the sick?”
Rose nodded. “Of course. Only witches can heal.” She winked, giving me a knowing smile.
She bustled to the corner and picked up my backpack and my purse, skittering away from Logan as quickly as she could. I’d completely forgotten about my things. Apparently, somebody had collected them for me after I’d left them by the elevator.
After helping me stand, she gave me my bags. Other than tired, I felt surprisingly fine.
“Just stop by or give us a call if anything doesn’t feel right, but I have a sneaking suspicion you’ll be as right as rain tomorrow.” She eyed my leg. The white gauze still wound around my calf. “And I think you can take that off, dear. Whatever injury you had under there seems to be healed now.”
With that, she turned and left the room, leaving me once again with an aloof werewolf who seemed intent on not answering my questions. But the last thing Rose said made me eye my lower leg. The bite on my leg is already healed?
Before I could check it, Jake, Alexander, and Brodie strode through the door. Jake chucked a bag of clothes at Logan.
Logan dipped his head in thanks before heading to the bathroom.
“You ready to get outta here?” Jake asked. He stepped forward and took my bags from me. A minute later, Logan emerged from the bathroom, once again fully dressed.
Alexander offered me his arm after pushing his glasses up his nose. “Can I help you walk?”
Following that, Brodie opened the door wide, gesturing for me go first.
Their attentiveness had me stammering, “I’m fine. Really, I am.” I walked forward on my own, surprised at how good my leg felt, considering I’d been bitten by a werewolf only a day earlier and had survived a lethal hex only a few hours before.
I gave Logan another questioning look, but apparently, something on the bedspread was fascinating, because he seemed intent on studying it.
“You coming, bro?” Brodie asked Logan hesitantly.
The deeply brooding expression on Logan’s face didn’t waver. Not bothering to reply to Brodie, Logan strode through the door, leaving the rest of us to follow.
Frustration over my boyfriend’s sudden distance rose in me. But as quickly as that came, so did a dose of curios
ity. Just who exactly was Logan Smith?
Chapter 13
Cool, nighttime wind caressed my cheeks when we stepped through the double doors of the healing center to the outside. Logan’s friends seemed intent on not letting a moment of silence pass. If one wasn’t asking me what I thought of the headquarters, then the others were relaying stories of missions they’d gone on and near-death experiences they’d dodged.
Some of their tales kept my attention, which I supposed was the entire reason they were telling them.
But every now and then, one of them would glance anxiously at Logan.
Logan still walked ahead of us, and he still refused to talk. His broad shoulders blocked my view of the barracks, and stiffness that hadn’t been there earlier marred his gait. Even the beautiful night sky and the peaceful calm of the outdoors didn’t lighten the mood.
“This is us,” Brodie said a moment later, giving Logan another anxious side-eye.
We’d reached the barracks, and Brodie waved at the first door into the building. Similar to dorm buildings at colleges, the barracks looked like an apartment complex. They each stood three stories high and were dotted with windows, the brick exterior contrasting with the concrete buildings behind us.
Brodie reached for the door handle. “You two … uh … turning in for the night too?”
Logan nodded curtly.
I cocked my head. “So you’re not going to the bars tonight, Brodie?”
Brodie raised a blond eyebrow. “That’s where I’d be right now if you hadn’t tried to kill somebody.” As soon as he uttered the joke, he gave Logan another anxious look, but Logan’s attention was focused on something in the distance, as if he wasn’t even listening to us.
I offered a genuine smile. “Sorry to ruin your plans.”
Brodie’s shoulders relaxed a little before he winked. “Don’t be. This was more exciting, anyway.” He dipped his head before he turned and strolled inside.
“Goodnight, Daria. See you tomorrow.” Jake handed over my bags, which he’d insisted on carrying the entire way, before giving Logan a wide berth.
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