35. Logan

35

LOGAN

ROME

Presents exchange at the festival?

I glanced down at Ivy snoozing against me. The nest had felt oddly empty last night.

LOGAN

She’s still sleeping. But sounds good. We’ll meet you there at 11.

JAMES

Stanley might run me out of town if I do my present in public

What the hell had he gotten her?

JAMES

Just kidding

sort of

Starlight Grove’s Valentine’s Day festival was, in Stanley’s words, the ‘crown jewel of New England’s February festival season’.

I dunno. Seemed like red decoration suppliers made a lot of money off us.

Ivy was excited though, bouncing on her heels in the circle of my arms. She wanted to wait for Rome and James to arrive before exploring. But I could see that brain of hers calculating the exact route she wanted to take.

“Ivy!”

Rome had an alarmingly large bouquet of roses. James had coffee which seemed much more useful.

But I suppose the roses were more of a surprise for Ivy, who gasped, hands flying to her face. “For me?” she squeaked.

Rome laughed and kissed her hello. Bending her backwards like a snapshot from a Hollywood film. “For you,” he said grandly, once she had collected herself.

Ivy nearly toppled off balance from the bouquet and Rome had to take it back for the time being.

“This is from all of us. Happy Valentine’s Day, gorgeous.” James kissed her too — suspiciously chaste, in my opinion — and when he stepped back there was a small velvet box in her hands.

Ivy opened it, eyes widening at the gold watch lying inside. Swiss. Classic. Expensive as all hell but it was worth it.

“Oh. That’s so pretty,” she whispered, tracing her finger along the edge of it.

She wasn’t a big jewelry person but this felt perfect for her. James helped her put it on and then couldn’t resist being… James.

“I got you this too,” he said offhandedly.

A little handmade-looking book passed between them. Ivy’s brow furrowed as she flicked it open. “A coupon book?” A couple more pages and her eyes widened before she clapped it shut against her chest. “James, why are these all coupons for…” she looked around furtively making sure no one else could hear. “ Pussy eating ,” she hissed.

“Think of it as a present for both you and me.”

“Oh my god.”

I snorted. “Princess, I’ve got you covered with a lifetime supply already.”

“Shh!”

Her face matched the paper hearts strung up everywhere.

“Well, I have a present for all of you too.” She straightened her big blue coat, trying to wrest some semblance of decorum back.

“What? You didn’t have to get us anything,” Rome protested.

Ivy waved an envelope in his face. “Too late,” she crowed. She slid it between his coat lapel and sweater and jumped back.

Rome extracted it with an affectionate shake of his head and opened it. His head snapped up from the unfolded pages. “Ivy, what is this?”

I took it from him, my brows shooting up.

An itinerary for five nights at Moonfall Valley in the summer?

The sleepy little town several hours away was known for many things. A sprawling winery, artisan cheesemakers and scenic drives. I also had a sneaky suspicion the famous chocolate factory was a big part of why she’d picked it.

She’d noted potential stops and activities for each of us. A local blues lounge for Rome. A list of thrift stores James might be interested in. I don’t know why seeing my name next to a steakhouse dinner hit me so hard. Her neat little handwriting — really good reviews, not too upscale. I found myself again beside a morning hike in a national park. I smothered a smile behind my palm at her note — maybe leave Rome with James .

Ivy was organized, meticulous and endlessly dedicated to her work.

Now she’d turned those skills to making us happy.

“The dates will work for all of us.” Ivy was talking a mile a minute, clearly nervous. “Rome and I will be on summer break. Logan, I spoke to Lars and he’s happy to take any emergency jobs that pop up during that time. Oh and James, your coworker Mark always stays in town because his parents like to come visit around that time so hopefully if you put in your holiday request it’ll be accepted.”

Thoughtful. Down to the last detail.

Ivy looked down at her boots, digging her toe into the frozen ground. “There will still be times during the school year when it will be hard for me to make time for us. Even with all the extra support I’m getting.” She gave Rome a grateful smile. “But I-I wanted you to know that I’ll never stop doing my best to make this pack my priority.”

I don’t know how she managed to make calling us ‘a priority’ sound so romantic.

We hugged her close and thanked her. Kissed her until her pupils were a little too wide, hair tousled from wandering hands. Townspeople pretended not to stare at us and hid it badly.

“I’m really grateful you went out wandering in that blizzard, princess,” I murmured. “Even though I never want you to ever do anything like that ever again,” I added as a stern afterthought.

Ivy smiled and stroked my beard affectionately. “I don’t think Mother Nature needs to do any more matchmaking with me.”

Stanley made us wear costumes in the Cupid’s Counsel tent.

There was a reason Cupid rhymed with stupid.

The elastic of the barely fitting cheap feathered wings dug into my shoulders. Humiliating and painful.

Ivy was cute as fuck though. Not only did the wings fit her perfectly but she had a foam bow and arrow with a love heart on the end. She swung it in James’ direction and he clutched his chest like he’d been hit before lunging in her direction and smothering her giggles with kisses. Unfortunately, our first ‘client’ walked in before they could do anything to get us banned from volunteering in the future.

Turned out the rest of us were dead weight anyway because Rome managed to do our job all on his own. He got a couple disagreeing about what time they went to bed to realize the conversation they had before they fell asleep was really what they were trying to preserve. He sternly made a hard-mouthed husband admit he messed up chores on purpose so he could stop being asked to do them. Ivy was very unimpressed during that one.

Little Eleanor wandered in right near the end of our shift. Rome listened patiently as she launched into a lengthy explanation of why mermaids were real. Eventually her frazzled mother found her and escorted her out apologetically.

I admired him. I was grateful for the way he’d brought me into the fold. He was the reason Ivy was coming home earlier, chattering a mile a minute at the dinner table about the changes she was already seeing at school.

James whipped a blanket out of nowhere and laid it over Ivy’s knees. He had a knack for pre-empting what she needed. Getting that squeaky, red-cheeked laugh out of her that was only for him.

What did I have to offer her?

I held her tighter against me, relieved when her gingerbread scent warmed up and sweetened.

Keeping her omega content was the least I could do until I figured my shit out.

Fifteen year old Amir came in right as we were handing the reins over to Ivy’s friend Olive and her pack. The young man was shaking like a leaf and panicked at the sight of so many alphas. “I’ll come back!” His voice warbled as he tried to exit.

Easton was having none of it, throwing his arm around the kid and almost bringing him to his knees. “I’m here to help, buddy! Tell me everything.”

“Well, um, there’s this girl in my English class…” Amir dodged all eye contact as he recounted his failed attempts to even speak to his crush. Poor guy.

I wordlessly handed my wings to Lars. The big blond giant was going to struggle fitting into it as much as I did. He looked down at it and sighed.

“The things we do, huh?”

“Yup.”

Easton was dispensing some seriously alarming advice. “Amir, you remind me a lot of myself. When you know, you know, right? The secret to getting with your one true love is stalking. Find out her schedule and follow her to every class,” he said magnanimously.

Luckily Olive was there to set him straight. “Do not listen to him! That is illegal behavior!” She tugged on his earlobe disapprovingly.

“Ow! Worked with you, didn’t it, baby?”

I shook my head. That pack had to be chaos. Ivy had already ducked out of the tent and I followed her.

My blood ran cold when I saw that she wasn’t alone.

This. Fucking. Guy.

I thought Ivy’s ex only returned to Starlight Grove over Christmas. So why the fuck was he here?

Hated the sight of him. Hated that he existed. Hated that he was breathing the same air as Ivy and I wasn’t allowed to crush his windpipe for it.

I couldn’t hear what he was saying. That big fucking mouth of his curled into a smirk. But that wasn’t why there was a red haze clouding my vision.

I watched the way his words made her shrink. Her shoulders caved in, scent souring. Making her believe she was less than the fucking miracle she was.

I was going to jail for murdering Sean Prior tonight.