Logan glanced up, surprised. He lowered his gaze again quickly, unable to
keep eye contact. “I-I feel bad. ”
“Why?”
“Because-because, damn it, I don’t like to make you mad at me. I don’t understand why!”
“That’s right. I know you don’t understand, but it will always make you unhappy to disobey me, Logan. The more defiant you are, the more unhappy you’ll become. ”
Ian caressed the side of his face, and Logan experienced such a surge of relief it almost brought tears to his eyes. What was wrong with him when he cared so much for what this wolf thought of him?He didn’t understand it, but deep inside he knew he cared very much. He turned his face into Ian’s hand.
Ian bit into his wrist again and held it to Logan’s mouth. “You obviously need to feed again. Suck, Logan. When you’ve finished, I’ll take you home. ”
Chapter Three
Logan stared at Ian in a daze. He dressed in the black leather pants Ian handed him in the same way. He couldn’t get his head to work and didn’t have a clue why. During the night, he’d been so fucking horny he was in agony, but Ian kept his word, staying on his side of the big bed. He woke Logan around eleven o’clock the next morning, fed him, and buckled a leather collar around his neck, smiling at him proudly.
“You look as beautiful as I thought you would. ” Ian took him to what looked like a beauty shop. With orders to Logan to do whatever they told him and stern orders to them not to cut a bit of hair off his head, he left Logan there. He spent a painful couple of hours getting somethinghe didn’t want but couldn’t muster up enough energy to complain. A complete body wax, including his crotch and underarms, took off every single hair that wasn’t on his head. The nagging little voice in the back of his head told him he should be embarrassed with a woman doing that to him. He didn’t seem to care, and his penis stubbornly refused to be aroused even though the woman was bare from the waist up. He laid there like a lump of clay except for the grunts and groans from the pain of having his body hair pulled out by the roots. The women at the shop called Ian when Logan was ready to be picked up, making him soundeven more like a poodle who’d just been groomed. He wanted to be angry over it, but couldn’t summon up the emotion.
Afterward, Ian took Logan to a tattoo artist, who’d inscribedIan’s name on his backside, something else he rebelled against, deep inside, but couldn’t bring it to the surface. Being permanentlybranded as Ian’s property was demeaning and painful. Yet it gave him an erection when Ian told him about it, and he reached for Ian’s hand like a damn kid, wanting him to make the pain of the needles stop. Ridiculous, when he was the one who ordered it done in the first place, but still he craved Ian’s closeness. Soon his humiliation was complete, and he was dressed like a male whore in nothing more than tight black leather pants, collared, and tattooed, too apathetic to be angry.
Ian took him by the arm and led him to the council room. Outside the door, he’d whispered to him. “Don’t be nervous. Just tell them the truth and let me handle any problems that come up. ”
Problems? What the hell was going on? What was happening to him? Why couldn’t he get mad? When it came to Ian, he was powerless to stop anything the wolf wanted. He tried to relax and let Ian handle the problems. Ian said he would, whatever they might be.
“Alpha, this is my new mate, Logan. ” Logan raised his gaze to meet the interested stare of the pack alpha. He immediately remembered him as one of the huge wolves who had held him down for Ian to bite him the first time and witnessed the sex-crazed weakling he’d become afterward. He tried for a moment to return his challenging gaze, but after only a few seconds a tingling he took for a warning twisted in his chest, and he had to look down at the floor. Instinctively he leaned toward Ian, who put a comforting hand on his arm. He instantly felt more at ease, though he hated being so dependent. He could feel the interested stares of the other big wolves in the room, and one of them in particular, loomed close to him, Casey, the big wolf who had interrogated him in his cell with such intensity.
Coming right up to him, Casey pointed at Logan’s waxed chest and smiled at Ian. “Looks very good, Ian. Does he have his tattoo?”
Ian turned him around and put a hand on his upper back to make him bend over slightly, hooking a finger into his waistband, and pulling it down. Logan’s entire body went red with embarrassment as his ass went bare. The big alpha called for order and motioned them all to sit down, saving Logan a measure of humiliation. Ian sat next to the alpha and pulled Logan down beside him. Logan was the only human at the table and leaned so his arm touched Ian’s, while he studied the rest of the wolves covertly. They were gammas by what he knew of the pack rating system. Alphas always sat at the head of the table with their beta next to them. All the rest, no matter what their nature, were the gammas or the soldiers. Casey, the mean one, was by his nature, an alpha, but the pack could have only leader, and that most definitely was Marco.
Marco began. “What’s your full name, Logan?”
Glancing at Ian, he mumbled under his breath, but Ian squeezed his arm in encouragement. He cleared his throat, trying again. “Logan Winters. ”
“Elias Winters is your father?”
“Yes. ”
A few gasps could be heard around the table. Logan glanced up and then quickly lowered his head again. He was grateful for Ian’s hand on him. These huge men frightened him, though he couldn’t quite remember why he was supposed to be so afraid of them. He was also felt a kind of antipathy for them. He had no idea where it was coming from, either.
“Logan,” the alpha continued. “Do you understand what has happened to you?”
Glancing at Ian, Logan shrugged. “No, not exactly. I seem to be having trouble with my memory. ”
He was waking up though. Across the table, Casey snorted, and Ian growled low and menacingly, half-rising out of his chair.
The alpha spoke firmly. “That’s enough. ” Ian settled back beside him, and Marco turned to the wolf directly across from Ian. “Casey, Logan is Werekin now, Ian’s mate. Whatever he was before is irrelevant. The slate has been wiped clean. ”
Casey hesitated, showing his reluctance before he spoke directly to Ian. “Sorry, but it’s hard to think of him as Werekin. He was a Hunter. He may have even killed some of our own. ”
Ian frowned at him, but Marco spoke up, interrupting them both. “Logan is one of us now. Once Ian gave him the first bite, he became one of us, even more so when Ian mated with him. You’ll treat him with the same care as you treat all of our pets, or you’ll answer to me, personally. ” Marco turned toward Ian. “May I continue with him, Ian, or does Logan need a minute?”
Logan wondered with irritation why they were asking Ian if Logan needed a break, but Ian shook his head, and the questioning continued.
“Logan,” Marco continued, “You were a Hunter, a member of a group sworn to kill all of us, including Ian. Your group thinkswe’re all monsters, but you understand we’re far from being monsters, don’t you?”
Logan nodded slowly, not really sure of anything, but trying to be agreeable. Ian smiled, so Logan spoke up. “I don’t know about any of that. ” He put a shaky hand to his head. He did know yesterday, he thought, when he stood up to Ian. At the moment, he could hardly think. “It seems like I should know, but II can’t…”