Chapter 8

Logan--

I don't know why, but I didn't expect to be having so much… fun. I knew Emory and I would have chemistry, and I even expected we would get along well together because we're mates. That's how mates work. What I didn't expect was for her to be so funny when I can finally get her to relax enough to think through the instinctive arousal– not that I mind that, either. 

When I first caught her heady scent after asking her to dinner, I thought I was going to pass out from all the blood leaving my brain. I can't even think of anything to compare it to, it's just… my new favorite smell. There’s a musky note, along with something sweet and floral– maybe orange blossoms? It makes me want to edge her all day every day, just so I can let that fragrance permeate my skin and hair and nose and every molecule of me– but then I realize everyone else like me would be smelling her, too, and I’m already far too possessive of her for that. It’s hard enough to share her smiles with anyone else. She sweetly said goodbye to the security team on the way out, while I tried hard not to make eye contact. Fortunately, they didn’t say anything to me.

I am, admittedly, struggling to keep my wolf leashed. His idea of a great ice breaker is to pull her into one of these filthy alleys, slam her against a wall, and make out with her. That might work with a she wolf, who could smell our connection as well as I can, but a human requires a lighter touch. Or no touching at all, in the very beginning. Another issue that my wolf is having is that she lives in a less-than-safe part of town. Our mate has to be alive and whole in order to be ours forever. I share this particular issue but obviously there isn’t much I can do about it until I find out who owns her building. If I can get them to sell, I can do an overhaul and make sure she has the best security measures available until we get to know each other well enough to move her in with me. I wonder if Ollie and James would have anything relevant to that project? I’ll have to ask him later. 

“So tell me, Emory, are you from the city? You have a Southern accent, so my guess is no.” I wonder how far she lives from her family? I just barely manage to step around a questionable puddle when I look over for her answer. 

“I’m actually from North Carolina, out in the boonies. I just felt so stifled, surrounded by cow fields and tractors. I love the options of the city, even if I miss the silence of back home sometimes. The traffic here is nonstop, and I'm sure one day I'll find it comforting like I do hearing the trains back home. The arguing of my neighbors is a little harder to get used to.” So she’s not a fan of her building. Cheap soundproofing is a hallmark of shortcuts taken elsewhere, and Emory deserves better and safer. I bet there's not even a lock on the front door. 

“My parents and siblings all still live there– scraping together a living until I ‘make it big’ and bring them all to live with me. I’m not sure we’d all make it if we tried to live together again, though. I remember some legendary fights between my brothers and I, growing up.” Good. She’s staying here. We’ll figure out a guest house for the rest of her family or something along those lines. 

“Brothers, plural? How many siblings do you have?” Brothers might be a problem. I have… a bit of a reputation… and I wouldn’t want to hurt them when we’re all just trying to make sure Emory is happy and safe. Best not to go in expecting enemies where I could find allies, though.

“Just three, two brothers and a sister. We alternated– boy, girl, boy, girl– and I’m the second of us. My older brother is Bryan, then me, then Hunter, then the youngest and most spoiled is Elliana. Hunter seems to think that just because he got bigger than me, that makes him my big brother too, but I’ll always remember putting dresses on him when we were little. Do you have siblings?”