The Wolf's Mate Book 6: Logan & Jenna (8 page)

“Sweetheart?”  The concern in
Logan’s voice brought her back from her strange thoughts and she shook her head
slightly.  “Are you alright?”

“I don’t know.  Yes, I guess
so.  I just had a really weird urge.”

“Which was?”

She chewed on her bottom lip
for a moment and said, “I wanted to bite you.”

His dark brows lifted.  “It’s
not unusual for a wolf to want to mark their mate by biting them.  Do fairies
do that?”

She snorted out a laugh,
picturing Kari biting Raynir.  “No, it’s not a fairy thing.”

Silence stretched between
them as he frowned in thought.  She touched his face again, drawing his
attention back to her.  Their eyes locked again, her silver to his chocolate
brown.

“You’re my truemate, Logan,”
she whispered, not wanting to break the spell between them.

His voice turned husky and
sent shivers racing down her spine.  “And you’re mine, Jenna.”

Lowering his mouth, he
brushed his lips against hers.  Then something buzzed against her hip and she
jumped with a gasp of surprise.

“Damn it.”  Logan lifted her
slightly and reached between them, pulling a cell from his front pocket.  He
glanced at the screen, gave her an apologetic look, and answered.  “Yes,
Jason?”

Not wanting to eavesdrop,
Jenna eased off his lap and carried both their plates to the sink.  When she
looked out the window, she saw that the sun was beginning to rise, which meant
she could contact her family.  In the Mortal Realm, it was easier for a
non-conjuring fairy like herself to contact the Fae Realm when the sun was up,
using the conductive power of sunlight to reach between the realms.

While Logan spoke to his
alpha, Jenna opened the back door and stepped out onto the concrete porch,
taking in a deep breath and letting the emerging sunlight heat her skin.  She
stepped down onto the grass and began walking towards the woods that surrounded
the house.  To the left was a garden that wasn’t doing well at all, and to the
right was a small shed with cracked boards and white, peeling paint.  She
entered the woods, aware when Logan opened the back door and followed her
quickly.

Pausing, she closed her eyes
and opened her fae-senses, searching for the best place to open the contact
portal.  She turned to the left and walked several paces until she reached a
hollow tree.  Kneeling in the soft moss in front of it, she pulled her shirt
off and dropped it to the side.

“Jenna?”  Logan said quietly.

Looking over her shoulder,
she said, “I’m going to contact my family, but I need my wings.”

He nodded silently and moved
back, and she smiled to herself, wondering if he would like her wings.  She
closed her eyes and her wings slipped free from the confines of her back,
unfurling, opening and stretching until the top points reached past her ears
and the bottom points brushed against the ground.  She heard Logan make a soft
sound of awe, and she couldn’t help but feel proud that he liked her wings. 
They were pale blue, streaked with silver.  Power rushed through her, and she
felt the remaining weakness from her ordeal disappear.  In the bathroom mirror,
she’d seen that her eyes were a dull, flat gray, and she knew that now they
would be true silver.

Since she only planned to
contact her family once using this tree, she didn’t create a true fairy circle,
but made a temporary circle using twigs on the ground.  She felt the sun rise
further, and beams of light shone through the trees, one landing on the hollow
tree in front of her.  She picked up her top and held it to cover her breasts
with one hand.  She planted the palm of her other hand on the tree and thought
of her parents.  The hollow tree trembled under her palm and then the air
swirled in front of her, creating a hazy surface, like a fog-covered mirror. 
Her mom’s face appeared.

“Jenna?  Is that you?  Are
you alright, darling?” her mom said, her tone laced with panic.

“Yes, Mom, I’m okay now.  I’m
in the Mortal Realm, and I’m with my truemate.”

Her mom pressed her hand to
her chest with a sigh of relief.  “Thank the heavens!”

Her dad peeked into view, his
face stern.  “What happened?”

She could feel that the
temporary circle was not going to last much longer.  “I was betrayed by Maximus. 
He sold me out to some werewolves in the Mortal Realm.  I escaped and my
truemate saved my life.”

Her dad cursed.  “I will skin
that muck-sucking toad alive!”

“If we ever find him,” her
mom said with a snort of derision.

“He’s disappeared?”  Jenna
asked in surprise.

Her dad nodded.  “He told the
authorities that he tried to save you from being taken, but we didn’t believe
him for a second.  And then when Kari woke up from being drugged, she told the
truth of what happened.  The authorities went to take him into custody to
question him about where you were, but they found him gone and his home
ransacked.”

She was thankful that Kari
was okay.  Chewing her lip, she said, “He was probably taken by the same scum
that took me.”

“Are you safe, honey?”  Her
dad asked.

“I am.”  She felt Logan kneel
behind her and she leaned slightly to the side so he could be seen through the
portal.

“I’m Logan Anderson, Jenna’s
truemate.  I swear to you that I will keep her safe,  find the ones that hurt
her, and put a stop to them.”

Her dad nodded, respect
shining in his eyes.  “Do what you want with the wolves, but Maximus must be
returned alive to our realm to stand trial for his crimes.  He doesn’t have to be
free from harm, mind you.”

“I understand,” Logan said,
his voice low and deadly.

“When will you come for your
belongings, honey?” her mom asked.

Jenna glanced at Logan and he
shrugged.  She said, “The full moon is in a few days, and I need to build a
proper fairy circle so I can come through with Logan.  Two weeks should be long
enough.”  Already she was making a mental list of what she would need in order
to complete it.

“We’ll see you in two weeks
then, darling.  Logan, we’re looking forward to meeting you,” her dad said. 
Both her parents told her that they loved her and Jenna returned the sentiment,
lifting her hand from the tree and swiping the twigs away so the circle was
broken.  The air dissipated immediately.

“Can I?”  Logan asked, and
she had to look up at him to understand what he meant.  He was looking intently
at her wings.  She nodded, smiling as he moved slowly, tracing first the edge
of one wing before shifting behind her and brushing his fingers down both wings
at the same time.  He followed the contour of both wings from top to bottom,
and then he said, “They’re amazing.  Can you fly?”

Letting her wings recede into
her back, she slipped her shirt on and turned around to face him, leaning back
against the trunk.

“No.  Only warrior he-fairies
can fly.  Their wings are made of feathers, and it’s a hereditary trait.  I
have some warriors in my family line, but my father has wings like mine.”

“You said you needed to build
a portal?”

Nodding, she made the motion
to stand, and he stood quicker and drew her up with him, lifting her into his
arms as he began to stride back to the house.

“I
can
walk.”

He glanced in her direction
and then looked ahead.  “I know that, Jenna.  Would you do me a favor and not
disappear again like that without telling me where you’re going? I don’t mean
to be a dick, but one minute you’re in the kitchen and the next minute you’re
disappearing into the woods.”

She opened her mouth to tease
him, but the tightness around his eyes told her that he wasn’t really in a
teasing mood.  She leaned forward and nuzzled his neck, inhaling the spicy,
male scent of him.  His gait hitched and his arms tightened around her, but he
kept walking.

“I didn’t think you’d mind,
but I won’t do it again.”

He grunted and she smiled
against his neck, pressing her lips to the place where his pulse beat
steadily.  As he walked up the porch steps and into the house, she took in another
deep breath and her body flooded with heat and desire.  She opened her mouth,
her tongue stroking across his pulse.

“Fuck, Jenna,” Logan
growled.  She loved how he said her name.  Like a prayer.

She felt herself being tipped
backwards, but she knew that Logan wasn’t going to drop her.  Her back landed
on something soft; the couch in the family room.  Logan moved over top of her
and all she could see was his big body.  Keeping his weight carefully off her,
he held her eyes with his own for just a heartbeat, and then kissed her.  Gone
was the tentative kiss from the bedroom, replaced with a demanding kiss that
made her squirm underneath him.  One of his legs was between hers, pressing
against the apex of her thighs.  She canted her hips, moaning at the friction
as she wound her arms around his neck and pulled him closer.

He kissed across her cheek to
her ear, his hot breath washing over her as he bit gently on the lobe and then
kissed down her neck.  Tilting her head to the side, she let out a breath she
hadn’t realized she’d been holding as goosebumps prickled her skin.  Logan
pressed his forehead to her shoulder and panted.

“Jenna,” he said, his voice
hoarse, his muscles tense.

She slipped her hands from
around his neck down his sides, tugging on the tight fabric of his shirt.

“I wanted —” he groaned when
she tugged the shirt from the confines of his jeans.

“Tell me,” she whispered,
raking her nails lightly up his back.  He shuddered and groaned and she felt
his teeth graze the flesh of her neck.

“To take things slow, treat
you right.”  The last word came out on a growl that was halfway between aroused
and frustrated.

He lifted his head from her
shoulder and she saw want and need stirring in the depths of his eyes.  By his
own account, he hadn’t ever had anyone special in his life, just a string of
unsatisfying encounters.  That he wanted their first time to be special touched
her heart.

“Slow’s good.”  She rubbed
her thumb along his jaw, feeling the scrape of stubble.  “For now.”

He moved fast and she found
herself sprawled across his body as he lay back on the couch.  She laughed and
brushed the hair from her eyes.  “Did I say thank you?”

“For what?”

“Everything.  Saving me,
taking care of me, fixing me breakfast.”

“You’re welcome, but you
don’t need to thank me.  You’re my mate.  It feels natural to take care of you.
I can’t really explain it.  We don’t know each other, but I feel like I’ve
known you forever.”

She nodded in agreement.

“What now?” she asked,
settling down on him.

“The grocery store is open
now, we could go shopping.  What kind of stuff do you need to be able to open a
portal?”

“Lots of plants.”

His brows lifted.  “I have a
garden.  Well, I tried to do a garden but so far nothing has really wanted to
grow.  I may have a brown thumb when it comes to gardens.  Can you use it?”

Nodding, she talked to him
about making a portion of the tilled area a fairy garden, including a full-sized
fairy circle, so she could contact her family and travel between the realms.

“I know you said that in
order for someone not from the Fae Realm to go through the portal they need a
fairy with them, but what’s to stop other fairies from coming through it?”

From the frown on his face,
she was betting he was thinking about Maximus.  “It’s a private portal that I
control.  It can’t be used without me.”

The frown eased immediately. 
“Good.”

They chatted for a little
while longer, and then got up.  He drove them to a food market and carried a
plastic basket for her as they wandered up and down the aisles.  She wasn’t
really a picky eater, but she did enjoy fresh fruits and vegetables.  Logan
told her there was a farmers’ market in the next town that started up in May
and went all summer, and she looked forward to exploring it.

She chose several organic
blends of tea to try, including peppermint, chai, and green tea with lemon. 
After locating the local produce, which was relegated to a small corner of the
large, commercially-grown fruits and vegetables section, she picked several
things, loading up the basket while Logan held it for her.

As they walked up to a register
to pay for their goods, she noticed that a lot of people were paying attention
to them.  As Logan gathered the purchased goods in the bags and carried them
outside the store, she said, “People were staring at us.”  She twisted a lock
of her hair as she sat down in his truck and looked up at him.  “Do you think
it’s my hair?  The metal streaks?”  She was worried that her differences might
embarrass him.

He shook his head.  “If
anyone was looking at you, it’s because you’re gorgeous and they’re wondering
what a sweet-looking female like you is doing with a nightmare like me.”  He
shut the door and she hummed in her throat as he walked around the front of the
truck and opened his door.  He slid the bags behind his seat and sat down.