by Sara Summers
“I’ve been waiting nine months for that wall to come down so I could find you, I’m not leaving now.”
Ty nodded, approving of his decision, while I breathed a silent sigh of relief.
“What’s your name?” he asked my soulmate the question even I hadn’t remembered to ask. I felt a little embarrassed for forgetting to ask something as simple and important as his name.
My soulmate looked surprised at the question.
“Sorry, I thought you knew who I was. I’m famous, at least in the human world.” He admitted, holding his hand out to Ty. “My name is Logan Lush.”
“I’m Ty.” He nodded, back on guard after hearing who my soulmate was. “We haven’t seen any movies or heard any music made after the wall went up.”
“What?” Logan raised an eyebrow.
“We don’t even have Wi-Fi.” My mom stepped into the house, closing the door behind her. “The humans didn’t want us to have any contact with the outside world. Your car is the first we’ve seen in years.”
“That’s insane.” His forehead wrinkled. “I know people don’t like shifters, but I didn’t know it was that bad.”
“If you’re a celebrity, what will happen to you if you become a shifter?” I didn’t want to destroy his life by being his soulmate.
“I don’t know.” Logan shrugged. “But it doesn’t matter. I want to touch you more than I’ve ever wanted anything, and I think it would about kill me if I tried to walk away from you.”
“Do you want to walk away from her?” Tanner asked, walking into the living room and sitting down next to Ty on the coffee table. When he folded his arms, I realized he’d decided I needed another protector.
“Tanner, don’t.” I warned, narrowing my eyes at my younger brother.
“It’s fine.” Logan extended his hand out to touch my arm but stopped right before he did. I reached up to scratch my cotie, the itching just about driving me crazy. “No, I don’t want to walk away. Emma might want me to though.”
It surprised me when he said my name, and I stopped scratching.
“Why would I want you to leave? You’re my soulmate, I’ll either spend my life with you or all alone.” I frowned, curling my toes to stop myself from scratching the mark under my ear.
“Because if this becomes official, you’ll never have a normal life again. My mom’s a singer and my dad, my brother, and I are actors. People will follow you with cameras, they’ll think they have a right to know everything about your personal life. People all over the world will know your name and probably your whole family’s too.” He gestured to everyone else in the house.
I shook my head.
“You’re my soulmate for a reason. It will work out, somehow.”
“Emma’s right, the Creator doesn’t make mistakes. We can handle a few nosy reporters, we’re wolves.” Leah smiled, wrapping her arms around Ty’s shoulders. “It’ll be worth it for you two. Nothing in the world can compare to having a soulmate.”
“Alright, so I just touch you? It’s as simple as that?” Logan checked.
“Not here.” I shook my head and stood up. “Follow me.” I lead him up the wooden stairs, stepping over the creaky one like I always did. He followed me into my room and closed the door behind me.
I saw him look around the light purple room and bedspread, probably surprised by the girlishness of it. I was wearing an old dusty t-shirt and a pair of jean shorts that had been sitting on my front porch for at least three or four days and there was dirt tangled into my waist-length brown hair, so I didn’t exactly look girly.
“I haven’t changed anything since I was four.” I said sheepishly.
“It’s cute.” Logan shrugged, with the smallest of smiles. I noticed his clean, fancy-looking clothes again and cringed inwardly. I must’ve looked like a homeless person to him.
“I don’t want to get you dirty, I think I’ll shower first…” I said, biting my lip as I stepped toward the closet.
“I really don’t care.” He said, grabbing my hand and pulling me toward him. As soon as our skin touched, pain burned through the cotie on my neck. I took a sharp breath in as my chest hit his and we both saw stars. His arms locked around my waist while I clutched his upper arms, holding each other up.
When I looked up at Logan, he was gazing down at me with some emotion in his eyes that I’d never seen in anyone else’s before.
“I can’t believe you’re real.” He said softly, brushing his hand through the hair closest to my eyes.
Miraculously, his hand didn’t get tangled in it.
“I felt you for months and I thought I was losing my mind. I came here thinking I would realize I was crazy but here I am, with you. My soulmate. I can’t believe this is real.” He shook his head slowly, still not taking his eyes off of me.
I let go of his biceps—though they felt so nice I didn’t want to.
“I guess you’re a shifter now, since you have a cotie too.” I wasn’t sure if I should smile or apologize, though I was definitely relieved that I hadn’t lost my wolf side when I gained a soulmate.
“I’ll get over it eventually.” He brushed it off like being a shifter was an unfortunate situation that was difficult to accept. I pretended not to notice.
“So you’re an actor? What kind of movies are you in?” I asked, not wanting to get too personal too quickly. Growing up, my mom had always warned me that ‘soulmates’ was just a word, that we still had to get to know each other and choose each other if it was going to mean something.
“A little bit of everything.” He shrugged, and I noticed the hesitation in his voice. “My brother and I did a TV show when we were in high school.”
I decided not to push, nodding like I didn’t doubt what he was saying.
“What’s it like living here? What do you even call this place?” Logan turned to the window and glanced outside, lifting his eyebrows when he saw the wall towering over the forest outside.
“The Cage.” I hoped that didn’t offend him somehow.
“Really?” Logan grimaced. I knew it probably wasn’t worse than whatever the humans called it.
“It’s great living here though. Everyone is friendly and we all do our part to keep everything clean and beautiful. We have the forest to run in, and we have each other. We might live in a cage, but at least it’s a good cage.” I reasoned, brushing my hair behind my ear. The dirt didn’t usually bother me since it was an unavoidable part of shifting multiple times a day, but I felt self-conscious being so dirty next to someone so clean.
“That’s good, I guess.” He nodded. His phone rang in his pocket, and I walked over to my closet to pick out a pair of clean clothes and give him some privacy.
Three
Even with the distance between us, I could hear every word of the conversation. Shifter ears heard better than human ones.
“Hey, mom. What do you need?” he asked.
“Logan Tyler Lush, what are you doing in the shifter dump?” his mom demanded, very loudly.
My cheeks warmed but I focused on the closet, acting like I hadn’t heard anything. I felt his eyes lift to check on me, to make sure I wasn’t offended.
I was, but kept my expression neutral so he couldn’t tell.
“Don’t call it that. I told you, I have a soulmate. I found her and I’m kind of a shifter now.”
His mom loosed a long, loud string of curses that I don’t care to repeat. He held the phone away from his ear, grimacing.
“That shouldn’t even be possible!” She finally stopped swearing and shrieked into the phone.
“I know, but it is and you’re going to have to learn how to love shifters.” Logan said firmly. He walked to furthest part of my room, probably hoping I wouldn’t be able to hear what his mom said next.
“I could never love someone who grew up in the dumpster.” His mom’s voice was dark and still extremely loud. “If you go public with this it will ruin your career, maybe the rest of ours too. Do not let that girl talk to anyo
ne.” She ordered.
Logan sighed, frustrated.
“Mom, we’re a packaged deal now. You get me and Emma or you don’t get either of us. I’m not bringing her home if you’re going to talk to her like this.”
His mom swore again.
“Alright, I’ll go talk to my therapist. By the time you get back here with her, I’ll be as pleasant and charming as I am on camera.” She paused for a moment. “Are you serious about her? Will you act like a married couple the way soulmates did before they were thrown in the dump?” his mom checked, still speaking loudly but not yelling anymore.
Logan glanced over at me again, and I still pretended to be going through my drawers.
“Definitely.” He told her, not leaving room for debate.
His answer made me feel a little better about the whole “shifter dump” thing.
“Then the elopement party will be tomorrow night. I’ll meet you at the airport with a car and take her to the salon right away. You’ll take pictures at five and the party will start at seven. Teach her some manners on the way here and get out of the dump before anyone knows you were there. Oh, and make sure she keeps the mate mark covered.” She instructed.
“Her name is Emma, and you’ll treat her like a person if you want us there at all.” He warned.
“She’s an animal, Logan. I’ll call her Emma if you want but don’t pretend she’s like us.”
Logan glanced over at me again and grimaced.
“Bye, mom.” He hung up and switched the phone to silent so he wouldn’t know when she called back.
“I’m just going to shower really quick…” I brushed past him and entered the bathroom with my clean clothes bundled carefully in my hands, closing the door behind me. He barely managed to stop it from closing, stepping inside and shutting the door behind himself.
“You’re a terrible actress.” He said, taking the clothes out of my hands and putting them on the counter so there was nothing between us.
“So are you.” I folded my arms, though the comeback didn’t exactly work gender-wise. “What movies are you really in?”
“I was in a series of three romances.”
I opened my mouth and unfolded my arms, then stepped back.
I’d seen some old romance movies with Leah, and things got extremely sexy between the actors and actresses in them.
“Now you see why I didn’t want to tell you.” He held up his hands. “I took a break when I started to feel you, okay? I wasn’t trying to cheat on you or make you uncomfortable, acting is just my job. Lots of married people act in romantic movies and TV shows.”
“Humans might, but no shifter would ever cheat on their soulmate like that.” I countered, my fists clenched at my sides.
“It’s fake, Emma, it’s called acting for a reason. I never dated any of my costars, and we never really slept together. It was fake. We were watched and surrounded with lights and microphones and tons of people telling us to stop and how to position ourselves. It was completely fake.” He stepped toward me, but he repeated the word “fake” so many times that it felt even more difficult to believe him.
“Yet if I watched one of your movies I would see you practically naked with another woman. It wouldn’t feel fake.”
Logan closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he opened them again.
“Emma, there is nothing I can do to get rid of those movies and TV shows. Millions of people have seen them and there’s nothing I can change about it. I wasn’t raised knowing I’d wake up one day with a soulmate so I didn’t live like you existed. When I felt you in my head, I canceled a contract I’d signed and texted my agent and my brother to get me into action movies.” He took my hands, which were still dirty.
Despite his being a celebrity and dressing fancy, he didn’t seem to mind the dirt at all.
“It’s going to take a while for me to accept that.” I warned, though I felt a little better after what he said. “You really canceled a movie because you felt me? I thought you said lots of married people act in romance.”
“They do. I just couldn’t take feeling like I was cheating on you at work every day. It doesn’t feel like that for the others I guess, but for me it did.”
I nodded and grudgingly decided not to be upset over his past.
“Please don’t lie to me again.”
“I won’t.” he promised, squeezing my hands. “I’m sorry about what my mom said, and I could tell you heard everything. She had a bad run-in with a shifter before the walls went up and she’s hated them ever since. She’ll warm up to you being one.”
“But she wants me to pretend I’m human.” I reminded him, letting go of his hands and stepping away. My calves pressed up against the tub but I didn’t care.
“It’ll only be for a few days until she gets used to the idea of it before the rest of the world finds out. She’s always wanted a daughter so I know she’ll love you. Are you okay with it?” Logan checked. He didn’t take my hands again, but the look on his face said he wanted to.
“I guess. It seems pointless to pretend, but if you really think that’s what we should do then I’ll do it.” I agreed, tucking a strand of dirty hair behind my ear. The feel of it made me cringe.
“Thank you.” He stepped closer and reached out to touch the side of my face. “Don’t be so worried about the dirt. If it bothered me I would tell you. A little dirt never hurt anyone.”
“I feel junky next to you though. You’re Dillard’s and I’m the dollar store. I don’t have any clothes that would make me look as good as you look in a t-shirt and jeans. If I at least wash off the dirt I’ll won’t feel so crappy.” I gestured toward his clothes.
“Emma, you couldn’t be the dollar store if you tried. You’re more beautiful than any actress I’ve ever seen and you’re not even wearing makeup. They have professional teams dedicated to making them look good. And the clothes? You’d look better if you weren’t anything at all, just saying.”
I rolled my eyes and pushed him away, making him laugh.
“Just get out so I can take shower. It’s too early to talk about being naked together.” I shook my head at him, though I couldn’t say the idea wasn’t appealing.
The action only made his grin stretch wider as I pushed him out of the bathroom.
“I never said we both had to be naked.” He spread out his arms and I promptly closed the door in his face.
I bit back a laugh and turned on the shower, stepping under the water to let the warm stream wash away the dirt I’d been collecting all day.
Four
When I got out of the shower, I found Logan asleep on my bed. His sandals were on the floor and his arms were propped up behind his head as a pillow. Somehow, he looked even more attractive than I remembered.
I snuck past him in my towel, not wanting to wake him up. I’d gotten the clean set of clothes too dirty when I carried them into the bathroom, so I threw them into the laundry basket and opened my dresser again.
Usually my standard of cleanliness wasn’t so high—I shifted at least four or five times a day every day and got dirtier every time—but I had Mr. Clean laying on my bed so I couldn’t just accept being covered in dirt.
I decided on my one pair of jean shorts that wasn’t ripped and an old red t-shirt with a chili-pepper on it. Though I felt like I should wear something nicer, all I had was t-shirts. All anyone in the Cage had was t-shirts. The US government provided us with enough food to survive and enough clothes to cover our butts and boobs.
That was it.
But the faded red color looked good on me, so at least there was something.
I was about to pull my towel off when Logan cleared his throat. Spinning around, my hand clutched the fabric. It was more of an automatic response than a real fear of being naked in front of Logan.
Being a shifter, I’d been naked in front of people I’d rather not be naked in front of on at least a hundred different occasions. Logan Lush wasn’t someone who would make that list.
“You were fake snoring?” I raised my eyebrows.
“Well I don’t actually snore if that’s what you’re suggesting.” He sat up and grinned. “Now you can go ahead, since I warned you.”
I grabbed a baseball off the dresser and tossed it up in the air, catching it easily.
“I was on the boys’ baseball team in high school, you don’t want to mess with me.” I warned, only half joking. While stripping in front of random people was pretty much an occupational hazard for every shifter, I wasn’t quite ready to flash Logan yet. The hour we’d known each other wasn’t enough time for that.
“You wouldn’t risk hurting the other half of your soul.” He challenged me.
I wasn’t one to back down on a threat.
So, I launched the ball across the room. Logan barely managed to dodge it.
It was a good thing he dodged too, because while I’d been aiming at his stomach, the ball had been flying toward his head.
Hey, I said I had played baseball, not that I was good at it.
“Fine, you win. I’m leaving.” He slipped out of the room, no other warning required. Luckily, he closed the door behind himself.
I got dressed and wrung out my waist-long hair, tugging a brush through it before I opened the door. Logan was waiting outside, leaned up against the wall.
“Can I come back in now?”
“Yep.” I left the door open and walked over to my bed, taking a seat on the edge. Logan sat down next to me.
“My mom wants us to fly to New York tonight. That’s where I live when I’m not filming. I know you heard, but are you okay with that?” he checked. Logan wasn’t joking around anymore, and I had to admit that I liked how easily he went from laughing to be serious.
“As long as you’ll bring me back to visit every once in a while.” I nodded.
I’d grown up expecting to move with my soulmate whenever he showed up, and while New York was much further away than I anticipated, away from home was away from home.