Chapter 19

CHAPTER NINETEEN

L ogan stopped breathing as a disheveled and tear-stained Wren threw herself into his arms. He hadn't been expecting her to be here. He'd thought she would stay home today. He should have known that she wouldn't sit at home and wallow in the horrible way he'd handled their mating last night. But he hadn't come here for her, he'd been coming to confront his father after Vivian told him he'd gone in to work instead of staying home to deal with their mother's funeral arrangements.

The last thing he'd expected was to catch his mate running from the office in a fit of tears.

"Wren? Are you okay?"

She buried her head against his chest even as she gave a shake, "No. No, he…"

"Wren. Look at me." He used his grip on her shoulders to push her back so he could look her in the eyes. Her cheeks were pale and her eyes were red. Mascara ran down her face in rivulets and worry swamped him. "What's wrong? Are you hurt?"

She gave a shake of her head and his brows furrowed. He glanced from her to the office she'd just come flying out of and he hissed the moment he put it together. His father was in there and Wren had come fleeing out the door like the devil himself was on her heels, because he had been. Logan clenched his jaw so hard he thought he might break a tooth at the thought of what could have happened.

"Did he touch you?"

"He.. He tried, but I didn't let him." She shook her head. "I got away."

"That bastard…" Logan practically vibrated with fury. "Viv, stay with her. I'm going to deal with him once and for all."

Wren blinked and wiped at her eyes. She turned slowly, as if she was only just realizing they weren't alone. Vivian was standing a few steps behind him and she was looking between them with a horrified expression.

She was putting together what had happened too and he knew she was going to argue with him before she even opened her mouth.

"Logan, maybe now isn't the time." Vivian started but he cut her off with a growl.

"If not now, when? I won't let him hurt anyone else, Viv. He's done abusing his power and controlling us through fear. It's time he faces the consequences of what he's done."

"Logan…" Vivian tried again but he looked back to Wren.

"Stay here with my sister. I'll deal with him." He moved to go around her, but she put a hand on his arm to stop him.

"Wait, you could get hurt. You don't have to do this. You don't have to defend me."

He turned back to her and the pain in her eyes gutted him. He leaned down a little so they were eye to eye. He cupped her cheek gently as he spoke, not even blinking so that she could see clearly in his eyes that he meant every word.

"Wren, you're mine. You're my mate. You're my future. You're everything to me. I know we argued last night and I walked away but I didn't leave you. I could never leave you. You matter to me and I won't let anyone hurt you. You're mine to protect now, do you understand me?"

She still seemed wary but she gave a small nod, "I'm yours."

"And I'm yours." He leaned down and softly kissed her forehead before pulling away to glance at his sister. "Viv, keep my mate safe until I return."

"Logan, wait, at least let me call Dominic for backup. He's your second."

He scowled at the idea but he had to admit it wasn't a bad one. It would be good to have his second in command here for this confrontation. He was about to go up against the Alpha of the pack and having an unbiased, or at least unrelated, witness would be better for the pack.

"Fine. Call him."

He pulled Wren back into his arms as his sister used her phone to call in reinforcements. Wren rubbed her face against his chest and he nuzzled the top of her head. She sniffled and it nearly broke his heart. He was going to make sure she never cried over him or his family ever again.

Vivian must have put the phone on speaker because he heard it ring once, twice and then a breathless but familiar voice came through from the other end.

"Vivi? You never call. What's wrong?"

"Um, hey, you're on speaker." Vivian's gaze winged up to her brother's before darting away again. "I'm with Logan and Wren. We're at the Alpha's office and we need your help. Can you..."

"I'm on my way."

The line went dead and Logan gently released his mate, "Stay here with Viv. Dominic will be here soon. In the meantime, I'm going to have a little chat with my father."

"Logan, you should wait…" Vivian spoke up but he pinned her with a stare.

"Keep her safe, Vivi ." he stressed the nickname and watched his sister wince.

He didn't have time to deal with his little sister's childhood crush on his best friend. He really didn't have time to think about how worried Dominic had sounded when he picked up that phone or the way he'd called Vivian that nickname that she'd never let anyone call her. He didn't have the time or the bandwidth to deal with either of them right now.

"I'll be back for you in a minute." He kissed Wren one last time and pushed her towards his sister who wrapped her in a hug and then he turned and walked into the office.

As soon as he stepped inside, the scent of Wren's fear made his hands clench. He'd scented it on her outside but in the confined space of the office it was overwhelming. He also smelled blood and only the reason he was able to hold his human skin and not let his animal half rip free was the knowledge that it wasn't Wren's blood.

He stalked into the inner office and snarled when he caught sight of his father. He was red-faced and breathing hard, leaning against the line of file cabinets as though he couldn't hold up his own weight. But Logan didn't buy the old man's weakness for a second.

Not when he was holding a blood covered letter opener in one hand and the other oozed blood down his arm as he held it upright.

A tinge of pride swelled in his chest at the sight. Wren had said she got away but he hadn't asked her how. Clearly she'd used the nearest weapon at her disposal and she'd done a damn good job of defending herself. She might not need him to defend her after all, but that didn't mean his father wasn't still going to receive his full wrath.

"What did you do?" He grit his teeth as his father sensed his presence and glanced up at him.

"What do you mean, what did I do?" The old man's eyes flashed gold for a split second before going gray again, "That little bitch stabbed me!"

"Call my mate a bitch again. I dare you."

Byron pushed himself upright, "Oh, you think you're a big man now that you're mated, huh? Think you can come into my office and talk to me like that? I'm still the Alpha of this pack and you know what I can do to you."

"What I know is that you're weak and pathetic. You don't deserve to lead this pack." Logan held himself firm as his father sneered at him.

"I suppose you think you can take it from me?"

He took a deep breath, trying to rein in his anger and be reasonable. He had to try to do this peacefully. For the good of the pack, he couldn't simply give in to the urge to release his wolf and let the animal tear his father to pieces. He had to give him the option of doing the right thing, even if he knew the bastard would never take it because he had never done the right thing, not by his family or his pack.

"I know I can take you, if you make me, but I'm asking you, here and now, to step down. You brought me home to take over. That's what I'm doing. You can limp off to die alone and nobody will care because you're an evil, despicable excuse for a man, let alone an Alpha."

"You think you're so much better than me?" Byron snarled.

"I am better than you, and not because I'm all high and mighty. I'm twice the man you are simply because you set the bar so low."

"You don't know…" His father started but Logan growled.

"I know everything! I know what you did. I know about the girls, about the families that left, about the ones who didn't. I know what you've done and what you'll keep doing if I let you because you're a monster."

"I'm your father!" Byron snapped back at him.

"You may have contributed to my DNA but you were never a father. A father doesn't do the things you did. You used your power to destroy the person I loved. You killed her and you let everyone think it was me. You let me blame myself and worse, you silenced me so that I couldn't tell anyone the truth." Logan saw the flash of panic on his father's face and smirked, "I shouldn't even be able to say that, should I? But I figured something out last night. You're weak, old man. Weaker than you've ever been because you don't have the bond with Mom to siphon her strength anymore. You killed Mom and in doing so, you killed yourself because you're not strong enough to fight without your mate."

"I am not weak."

"You're not even healing, Dad. Look at your hand. You're still bleeding because you're weak and you're dying and I am so, so tempted to watch you bleed out, slowly, knowing that it was my mate who got to kill you, because she deserves to have her vengeance."

Byron glared at him with a cold, emotionless expression, "That's what you're really mad about, isn't it? It always comes back to that slutty little bitch you were so enamored with, but I did you a favor taking her off your hands. After all, you're mated to her sister now, isn't that right, so she was never yours to begin with."

"You poisoned her against me, against everyone. You groomed her and you raped her and then you killed her." Logan spit the words out, ignoring the twinge of pain that still lingered in his throat as he fought against his father's command not to speak about the past.

"I didn't rape her." Byron scoffed, "She was more than willing to lay with the Alpha."

"I'm sure you tell yourself that about all of them, but we both know it isn't true."

"That little bitch mate of yours might not have been willing but she'd have liked it in the end, just like her sister did."

Red flashed across Logan's vision and he felt his father's words like a knife plunging into his chest. It was that little half curve of his lips, that self-righteous tone of his voice, that did it. He'd warned him not to call Wren that and the reminder of what his father had tried to do to her sent him over the edge.

He snapped and lunged for his father. Byron tried to step out of the way but Logan tackled him to the ground. The old man rolled, knocking Logan in the jaw with an elbow, before he regained his balance enough to rear back and throw a punch.

His fist connected with his father's face and he heard the satisfying snap of bone as his nose broke. Blood poured down his chin and Byron roared in pain. The sound was so loud it made Logan's ears ring and he knew before his father even opened his mouth what he was going to do.

Before his father could use his Alpha voice to command him to stop, Logan reared back and punched him again. He was blind with the fury of his hatred and he used his other hand to lean against the bastard's throat. He kicked and flailed, trying to block Logan's next punch but he was weak, just as Logan had known he was.

He didn't have the strength to defend himself. Just like all those girls he'd hurt, the girls who hadn't been able to defend themselves against their Alpha. He was the one person in the pack who should have protected them at all costs. Instead, he had been the nightmare none of them could escape.

Until Wren.

"Oh my God! Logan! Stop!" A feminine voice screamed, and he blinked, surprised by the sound. "You're going to kill him. Stop."

His head jerked towards the figure that had come into the room but it wasn't Wren. Instead he saw his sister rushing towards him. Vivian looked scared but she threw herself at him and tried to pull him backwards, off their father.

Logan's momentary distraction was enough for his father to get his bearings and he lashed out. A big hand smacked into the side of Logan's head, knocking him off-kilter. His head slammed into a file cabinet and he winced when he felt the sting of a cut blossom above his eye. Blood dripped into his eyes and he blinked, trying to wipe it away so he could see. He didn't get the chance because big hands grabbed the back of his shirt and shoved him into the file cabinet again.

"Stop it!" Vivian screamed again.

Logan grunted as the hands that had held him let go and he caught himself awkwardly, twisting his wrist. He winced but scrambled onto his knees, spinning to face his father. He blinked, trying to see past the blood that was already drying over his eyelid.

Vivian had jumped on their father to get him off of Logan. She clung to his back and the old man twisted violently, trying to dislodge her. Logan didn't have time to do anything but cry out as Vivian lost her grip and the force of their father's swing sent her flying through the air.

As if in slow motion, Logan watched as his sister fell backwards, her head smacking against the corner of the desk. The sound it made was loud and seemed to reverberate through the room. Vivian collapsed in a heap on the floor and the smell of her blood thickened the air.

"No!" Logan screamed in pain as he crawled across the floor to his sister. "No, Viv. No!"

This couldn't be happening. It couldn't. Not Vivian. He'd told her to stay outside but she hadn't. Of course she hadn't. She was so damn headstrong. She'd come in to make sure he didn't kill their father, not because she had some twisted loyalty to the man but because she'd wanted to protect Logan.

Tears blurred his vision as he pulled Vivian into his arms. There was blood everywhere. Too much blood. He held her head in his hands, slick and sticky and looked around wildly, finding their father staring down at them.

"Call an ambulance!" he screamed. "She's alive. Call an ambulance."

"I… I…" Byron made a high-pitched noise that Logan didn't understand and he was about to scream at him again when he saw the old man grab at his chest.

His eyes went wide and then they rolled back. He stumbled and fell on his ass. He didn't make a sound as he rolled onto his back and Logan watched in shock as he stilled. His chest didn't move and he didn't so much as twitch.

His heart, Logan realized as he stared at his father lying on the ground, unbreathing. He'd grabbed at his chest as though he was having a heart attack. Someone had mentioned that his heart was weak due to the illness but Logan had thought that might have been an exaggeration, part of the ploy to get him back here.

The years of illness, the loss of his mate, even the fight with Logan, and his father had survived it all. But the sight of his daughter lying broken and bloody had been the breaking point. Byron's heart, or whatever black, diseased organ that had kept him on his feet all this time, had seized at the sight of Vivian, hurt by his own hand.

But Logan didn't have time to even consider going to help his father.

He was already busy pulling the phone down from the desk. It clanged loudly as it thudded to the floor beside him. He had never been so thankful for a landline in his life because he had no idea where his cell phone was. He dialed emergency services with one hand and held Vivian with the other.

He spoke quickly when the person on the other end answered. They asked him to stay on the line as they dispatched an ambulance but he barely heard them. Footsteps sounded outside the office and he dropped the phone as Dominic rushed into the room with Wren right behind him.

"Oh fuck." Dominic's gaze winged around the room and he put a hand to his mouth. "No. God, no."

"Logan?" Wren rushed straight to his side, her hands moving over him. "You're bleeding."

"It's not mine. It's Viv." He choked on the words and Wren slid an arm around him, rubbing his back.

"She's strong. She'll be okay."

Out of the corner of his eye, Logan saw Dominic slowly move to where Byron lay. His friend knelt down beside him and Logan closed his eyes and looked away. He already knew that his father wasn't breathing, just as he knew that if Dominic felt the need to try and save him, then that was his right, but Logan wouldn't, couldn't, do it himself.

He let himself lean on Wren, into the warmth of her touch, and when he felt the curls of energy seeping into him he had to fight more tears. He nuzzled his face into her neck and breathed in that incredible scent that came from the mix of their mating bond. She was hurting too, he could sense it through their connection, but she was actively pushing her strength into him through the power of their bond.

He wanted to tell her what it meant to him, that she was trying to take care of him, to help him heal, but the words wouldn't come. Not now. So he simply leaned on her and hoped she could feel him too and that it would be enough for now.