by Fel Fern
Darkfall Mountain Pack 10
Logan’s Second Chance
Logan Bowen is an Omega who got more than he bargained for. After his mate died, Logan’s heart and soul is shattered, but he doesn’t have time to grieve. He needs to lead his decimated pack to sanctuary and find strong allies to take vengeance on the humans who killed his mate and other pack members. The answer lies in Darkfall Mountain, but will the most powerful pack in the country help a few stray runts?
The one thing Logan doesn’t see coming is Raul. Fierce and protective, Raul is an enforcer of the Darkfall Mountain Pack. Logan doesn’t he think he deserves a second chance. However, the more time Raul and Logan spend with each other, the brighter the heat between them burns. When pack politics and an old enemy resurface, they need to work together and fight for their love.
Genre: Alternative (M/M, Gay), Paranormal, Vampires/Werewolves
Length: 38,151 words
LOGAN’S SECOND CHANCE
Darkfall Mountain Pack 10
Fel Fern
EROTIC ROMANCE
MANLOVE
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Erotic Romance ManLove
LOGAN’S SECOND CHANCE
Copyright © 2016 by Fel Fern
E-book ISBN: 978-1-68295-380-8
First E-book Publication: July 2016
Cover design by Harris Channing
All art and logo copyright © 2016 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
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Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Letter to Readers
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DEDICATION
To my readers, I hope you enjoy Logan and Raul’s story.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
About the Author
LOGAN’S SECOND CHANCE
Darkfall Mountain Pack 10
FEL FERN
Copyright © 2016
Chapter One
“Excuse me, let me through.” When the wall of muscle and bodies didn’t move, Logan pitched his voice louder. “I’m the Alpha’s mate.”
The others parted for him. Seeing the five other werewolves crowding around the hospital bed, Logan’s heart dropped. So few. How could there only be five of them left?
Ten members formed the Blue River pack. Ray took his toughest and strongest shifters with him, but only Ray came back, though he didn’t return completely intact.
Seeing Ray’s broken body on the bed, Logan let out a cry.
Despair crested over Logan like a wave, drowning him. Falling to his knees by Ray’s bed, Logan told himself he wouldn’t shed tears. He might only be an Omega and fell on the lowest rung of the pack ladder, but he was the Alpha’s mate. Logan had to be strong for the others, because who else would take the mantle?
“Ray? Baby, can you hear me?”
Logan desperately reached for Ray’s bandaged hand. No reaction from the barely recognizable man on the bed. He wanted Ray to squeeze his fingers in reassurance, to tell him he’d be up and running soon. Tears filled the corners of Logan’s eyes. Damn it.
“Logan, he’s—” Marty, one of the wolves, began.
“Don’t,” Logan cut him short. “Tell me the bad news later. Please.”
The others fell silent. Finally, Davis said, “Come on guys, let’s give Logan some space.”
Once they left, Logan could no longer hold his tears back.
“You bastard,” Logan whispered to Ray’s unconscious body. “Why did you have to go even though I begged you not to?”
The only sign Ray was still alive was his even breathing and his pulse, but even his heartbeat was weak now.
Ray’s Beta, Gamma, and two enforcers had died trying to get the hostages out. When the pack heard of a privately run facility up in the secluded area of their forested territory, Ray and the others had been instantly suspicious of the barb-wired fence manned by private security with guns. This was their territory.
While the Blue River pack was far from the strongest pack in the area, the shifters protected their land and the humans and paranormals living in it. Once they learned the human scientists, backed by Alpine Industries, a powerful pharmaceutical company, were running experiments on shifters, they had to act. They didn’t know why the humans were kidnapping shifters, only the fact they needed to put a stop to it.
The human authorities wouldn’t help, especially when things between the humans and supernaturals were tense right now. They were essentially on their own.
Logan cautioned Ray and the others not to rush in, to call for help, but as Jack, the Beta reminded him, Logan was only an Omega, not one of the pack leaders. According to Jack, Logan had to leave the decision-making to them, but where did that lead? Ray and he had the worst fight ev
er. Hell, Ray didn’t even kiss him good-bye before they left for the dangerous rescue mission.
“I’m sorry for getting mad at you, baby. Please, wake up. The pack and I need you. Without you or the other leaders, what will happen to us?” Logan whispered.
He didn’t know the details of what went down. Ray had used his remaining strength to drag his injured body in wolf form back to town before fainting. A human passerby had rung up Martin. Jack and the others were presumed dead. Worse, they might be taken by the humans to experiment on.
“Ray, you’re the heart of the pack. You always made the decisions,” Logan whispered.
He clutched at Ray’s fingers. In the books and movies, the guy in the coma always woke up when their beloved came to break their spell. This wasn’t fiction though, but Logan’s cold new reality.
He would find no answers in this room. Logan didn’t know where he found the strength to rise to his feet. Tucking back the stray strands of hair that had fallen over Ray’s face, Logan decided Ray wouldn’t want to see him like this.
If Ray were alive, he’d tell Logan to be strong, to be the new heart of the pack.
They had to leave, or lay low awhile at least. The humans would trace their way to the remaining members of their pack and wouldn’t want to leave evidence alive. The humans already killed half of their pack. It would be easy to take out the rest, but over Logan’s dead body.
Logan reached for the scrap of paper he’d shoved in the pocket of his jeans. After Ray and the others left, Logan broke into Ray’s private office and snooped around. Even before the pack leaders came to a decision, Logan had another plan forming in his head.
Logan remembered Ray telling him he used to belong to another pack before deciding to break away and lead his own. Ray had a falling out with one of his old pack members, an old lover.
That small pack Ray used to be a member of was now considered one of the strongest and most vicious wolf packs in the region. Even better, Logan heard that group had faced down any enemy that came at them. More recently, they went head-to-head with one of Alpine Industries’ experimental labs and won.
They needed strong allies. Logan’s mother, bless her heart, always told him as a weak Omega he needed to cling to the toughest kid on the playground. Fate brought Logan and Ray together, and Logan thought he’d been the luckiest man alive. Shutting his eyes, Logan stuffed the paper back in his pants.
Logan gave Ray a brief kiss on the lips, hoping in some way the Alpha would sense his presence and urgency. By reflex, he twirled the gold band on his ring finger. It hurt to remember, but he conjured up the day Ray asked him to be more than his mate, to also be his husband on paper.
Could fate really be so cruel to take Ray away from Logan right after they found each other?
“Mr. Bowen?” a nurse interrupted.
Logan straightened up and rubbed the remaining tears away. “Nurse, I’d like to see the doctor.”
Logan didn’t know what to expect from Dr. Hoffman, good news maybe, but deep down, he knew the answer. When he touched Ray, he could hardly feel Ray’s strong beast, which usually surged to meet his.
He barely heard Dr. Hoffman’s words. All that time, his gaze lingered on Ray’s form, but the doctor’s last words doused cold water right over his head. “It’s unlikely your husband will wake again.”
Logan’s stomach plummeted.
“As in never again?”
“Like I said—”
“It’s okay. I get it.” Logan pushed his way past the doctor to sit at the edge of Ray’s bed.
“Excuse me, Mr. Bowen. If you have any questions, or need anything, call the nurse.” Dr. Hoffman left the room.
Martin had tried explaining it earlier, but naturally, Logan refused to listen. Breathing hard, Logan reached for the piece of paper again. It wouldn’t hurt to try ringing up the number. Hastily scribbled above the cell phone number was a woman’s name.
“Michella Esteban,” Logan read out loud.
The last name sounded familiar. Didn’t the Alpha of that pack carry that family name?
There was a knock on the door.
“Logan? We heard you managed to talk to Dr. Hoffman?” Martin asked.
Martin entered along with the others, Davis, Kian, Nathan, and Bran. What a sorry bunch they all looked like, but Logan couldn’t ask for more loyal companions. He didn’t know every man there well, but like him, they were all young, in their mid-twenties and falling at the lower rungs of the pack ladder.
Martin was his best friend since kindergarten, and he went to high school with Davis. The other three Logan wasn’t familiar with, except they were new to the pack. Bran looked more spooked than the others.
Remembering Ray telling him Bran just ran away from his abusive mate, Logan softened. Brothers Kian and Nathan came from less than stellar backgrounds, too. Unlike some picky Alphas, Ray never refused anyone from joining their pack but, as a result, had an equal ratio of strong and weak werewolves. Logan wouldn’t change a thing.
These pups were his to watch out for, for now at least. Logan knew an Omega couldn’t lead a pack or be what Ray had been for all of them. Ray was a friend, guardian, and protector, but Logan could do his best.
“Ray wouldn’t want to continue living like a vegetable,” Logan said.
God, those words were a lot harder to say than he realized. They were true nonetheless, and practical. If they left Ray here, the scientists would only be eager to get their hands on him. Taking Ray with them hadn’t been an option either. If Ray had been alive, he’d object to being carried around like dead weight.
“H-how can you say that, Logan? He was your mate, still is,” Bran corrected.
“Bran, do you understand the situation we’re in?”
“Jack and the others would come back,” Bran insisted, although he sounded hesitant.
“They won’t and you know it,” Davis muttered. “The humans won’t want to leave loose threads hanging either. They know there are more of us. Heck, they might be sending spies or killers to us now.”
Bran’s blue eyes widened in shock. “They wouldn’t.”
“Wake up, Bran. If they killed Jack and the others and left Ray in that state, what would they do to a bunch of weaker werewolves?” Nathan demanded and then looked at Logan. He gave Logan a solemn nod. “My brother and I will follow you, wherever you chose to lead us.”
“Do you have a plan, Logan?” Martin asked anxiously.
Davis frowned when Logan showed him the piece of paper. “What’s that?”
“Salvation, a means for vengeance, or that’s what I’m hoping.” Logan drew a breath and showed the other the determination in his eyes and voice.
All Logan wanted to do was curl into some pathetic corner and weep his eyes out, hoping the world would swallow him whole. He held grief back though, locked it tight in a little box. Logan had never been strong, but if he pretended hard enough, the others might be convinced to have hope.
“Pack your bags, guys.”
“Where are we going?” Martin asked, grabbing his shoulder. Logan could see the concern in Martin’s eyes. Unlike the others, Logan wouldn’t be able to completely fool Martin.
“To Darkfall Mountain, the pack there—”
Kian snorted. “Everyone knows the pack living there aren’t welcoming of outsiders. Jesus, Logan. Are you insane? I heard the same humans set up shop there and no one came out alive, the humans anyway.”
“I don’t hear good things about the Darkfall wolves,” Bran whispered.
“I share the doubts of the others,” Davis muttered. “Can we trust them?”
“No, but Ray used to be a pack member back when they were as small and weak as our pack,” Logan said with confidence he didn’t feel.
“Ray was?” Bran asked brightly.
“Ray didn’t want the help of others. That was a mistake, and we need allies.” Logan met everyone’s gaze. “I’m not forcing anyone. Those who want to come, follow me, but those who want t
o go their own way, I wish you all the best.”
Davis shrugged. “You know Martin and I are sticking by your side all the way.”
Martin grinned. “We’ve always known you’re Ray’s voice of reason anyway.”
Nathan and Kian looked at each other. Finally, Nathan nodded. “We’ll follow you to Darkfall. If the wolves don’t accept us, we’ll find our own way.”
“Bran?” Logan asked.
“I have nowhere else to go.”
“Thanks, guys. Come on. Let’s make plans. We can’t afford to waste any more time.”
Chapter Two
Killing his mate and saying one final good-bye turned out to be harder than Logan anticipated. No, Logan repeatedly went through Ray’s file the night before. Machines kept Ray’s lungs breathing and heart pumping, but his brain was dead. Doctors would argue that, in a way, Ray was dead.
Standing there in Ray’s room, Logan knew it was true. His wolf mourned inside him, hardly able to feel Ray’s dominant beast. Ray shouldn’t be lying in bed, unmoving and pale, his wounds still healing. The Ray he knew had been full of life, always busy. It felt wrong letting Ray linger a second longer in the world.
“Mr. Bowen,” the nurse began, but Logan interrupted her.
“Please, give me a few more minutes.”
The nurse gave him a pitying look. Logan approached the bed and linked his fingers with Ray’s.
Each second was precious, and Logan knew it. The others were waiting for him downstairs, bags packed. Once he pulled the plug, they’d ride out of town. As if it was that easy. Like him, Ray had been an orphan, so it was only natural Ray gave him the medical power of attorney. Jesus, it had been a joke between them. That felt like ages ago, right after they’d married.