Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX

W ren ran. She ran away like the coward she'd accused Logan of being. She ran as hard and as fast as she could, knowing she had to put as much distance as possible between them. She ran until her side ached and she wasn't sure if she couldn't catch her breath because of her pace or the sobs that were wracking her body. She ran for what felt like ages before she finally reached the safety of home.

Home. Not the house she'd lived in when she was a kid but the home that she had made for herself. She had worked hard to afford it, to fix it up, to make it her own. The white siding could use a new coat of paint and the blue trim had faded in the harsh Oklahoma summer sun, but it was all hers. Her safe space where she didn't have to keep her facade or her guard up.

She ran inside, slamming the door behind her. As soon as it clicked shut, her legs gave out and she collapsed to the floor. A cry of absolute despair escaped her and she curled in on herself, trying to hold it together as her wolf threatened to seize control.

Her animal was furious. She didn't understand why they'd left their mate behind. She didn't understand why Wren refused to go back. Her wolf had gotten a taste of the man she only knew to be theirs and she wanted more.

The wolf didn't understand but how could she? Even Wren didn't fully comprehend what had just happened, or how. It didn't make any sense.

"Wren?"

It was her sister's voice that pulled her back to reality and she looked up to see a figure step into the living room. Her vision was blurry from the tears so she couldn't see Raven's face but from the gasp of surprise and the way her younger sister rushed to her side, it was clear she was horrified to find Wren in such a state.

"Wren? Honey? What's wrong? Are you hurt?" Raven was on her knees beside her in an instant, running her hands over her head, her arms, everywhere she could reach, trying to find an injury.

Wren could only shake her head, the sobs still coming too hard and fast to do more than suck in her next gulp of air. Besides, what was she supposed to say? Everything was wrong. Yes she was hurt, not in the way Raven meant.

"No." Raven caught her by the cheeks and forced her to look at her when she tried to duck her head into her knees. "No. You don't get to shut down right now. Tell me what's wrong. You clearly went for your nightly run but you've never come back this upset before so tell me what happened?"

Wren cried harder and Raven's stern voice softened as she pulled her big sister into her arms. She held her as best as she could as Wren cried. Her body shook with the force of her sobs but her wolf calmed a bit in Raven's presence, sensing that the moment to take control had passed.

Raven was a good sister. She was a better sister than Wren deserved after what she'd done tonight. But she was still grateful that her little sister was there to hold her together when she felt like she might break into a million pieces.

Lark never would have held her like this.

The thought broke Wren's heart all over again. It felt like a betrayal to think badly of her big sister, even if it was the truth. Lark had never been the kind to comfort or soothe others. She'd have told Wren to suck it up and stop being a baby if she were there. But if Lark were there then Wren never would have felt that confusing, overpowering, infuriating link to Logan in the first place because he was supposed to have bonded with her sister.

Only, in the back of her mind, she knew that wasn't how mating bonds worked. Fate didn't just give you a second chance because your other half died or you couldn't find them. Bonds were a special magic between two shifters whose souls had always been meant to be one. You only got one mate, one chance, and if she and Logan had sparked a bond then that meant he and Lark hadn't been fated after all.

Right?

She felt like her head was spinning and she wanted to be sick. She couldn't seem to stop crying. She couldn't face the guilt of what she'd felt when Logan had kissed her any more than she could face the truth of what they were to one another.

"Oh Wren. It's okay. It's all going to be okay." Raven held her for a long time.

She stroked her hair and let Wren cry. Her solid strength helped, having someone to lean on helped, and Wren thought she might actually be able to pull herself back together until Raven spoke again.

"You're scaring me." her sister spoke softly. "I haven't seen you cry since Lark's funeral."

Wren whimpered and Raven sucked in a breath.

"Is this about Lark?"

Wren gave a shaky nod.

"What is it? Did you go back to the office and find something?" Raven pulled back enough to look her in the eyes.

Wren shook her head.

"Come on. Talk to me. Please."

Her voice was hoarse and croaky from all the crying but Wren managed to force out words, because she owed her sister that much, "I-it's Logan. H-he's back."

"What? He's here? In Shadow Pines?" Raven's eyes went wide.

Wren nodded.

"You saw him while you were out for your run?"

Wren's bottom lip trembled but she nodded again.

Raven tilted her head, pity darkened her eyes, "Oh, Wren, You didn't just see him did you? You confronted him about Lark?"

Wren sniffled and Raven must have taken that as confirmation because she sighed and pulled her sister closer again.

"It's okay. It's going to be okay."

It wasn't, but Raven couldn't know that. Not yet. Because Wren couldn't tell her. Not tonight. Tonight she needed the only sister she had left and if she told Raven what had actually happened she was absolutely certain there would be no more hugs and reassurances.

She would have to tell Raven the truth soon, but not tonight.

Tomorrow she would admit to what she had done and face the look of disgust that would color Raven's beautiful features. Because Raven would be disgusted. Hell, Wren was disgusted with herself and if their roles were reversed she knew how she would see her actions.

She had somehow sparked a bond with the man who Lark had loved, the man Lark had intended to spend her life with, the man who should have been Lark's fated mate, not hers. And he was the same man who had either killed her sister, or at the very least helped cover it up. He was the same man who had walked away from her sister's graveside and gone out into the world to live his life without any consequences or repercussions.

It felt like a betrayal of Lark, of their older sister's memory, of everything she had been and wanted in life and if it had been Raven and not her, Wren would have railed against her weakness and hated her for giving him another chance to ruin their family.

She knew how she would feel because at that moment, she hated herself. She hated her weakness. She hated fate and whatever fucked up mind games it was playing with them.

She couldn't go back in time and undo any of it but she could give herself just a little longer with her remaining family before her entire world blew apart. Tonight, she would get cleaned up and let Raven hover and take care of her the way her little sister always wanted to. She would soak in the love and the support because if she was right, this might be the very last time Raven ever spoke to her.

She held tight to her sister like a life preserver as her roiling emotions threatened to drown her.

Logan stormed into the house and up the stairs to Vivian's old room. He didn't care where his father was. He didn't have time for him. He had texted his sister that he was on his way and to get her things together but she hadn't been waiting outside for him like he'd asked. He cursed as he was forced to climb the stairs of the old house he'd had no intention of stepping foot inside again.

"Viv." He growled from her doorway when he caught sight of her standing by the window, looking out over the backyard. He didn't move any further into the room. Didn't want to catch even a glimpse of that view. "Come on. We have to get out of here."

She turned back towards him, brows furrowed, "Why?"

"What do you mean, why? We were tricked into coming here and we're leaving."

Her eyes were dark in the dimly lit room and he felt them studying him, "No."

"No?" He scowled.

"Not until you explain what's going on. You said you'd stay until we got answers."

"Viv. Please, just get in the car."

She held her ground, "You said you talked to Dominic. You said he needed your help, that the pack needed your help. You said you…"

"Have a mate." The words came out coated in the agony that was eating him alive. "I have a mate, Viv."

Her eyes went wide and she took a step towards him, "What? What do you mean? You can't have a mate, not if…"

When she trailed off he groaned and moved to sit on the edge of her old bed, and dropped his head in his hands, "Not if Lark was truly my mate. I know."

"Oh, Logan." His sister moved to sit at his side, a hand on his back.

He shook his head, "All this time, I thought it was Lark. It had to be Lark. I loved her. Some part of me still does, even after everything… But she wasn't eighteen when the… when she…"

"I know." Vivian didn't force him to say the words and her kindness somehow only made him feel worse.

"It was just a feeling we had. We were teenagers. We were in love. We thought we knew what fate had in store for us but if she'd lived until her eighteenth birthday, I think we would have realized we were wrong."

"I don't understand. You loved her. How could that be wrong?"

"Loving her wasn't wrong but…" He shuddered out a breath. "I think, maybe, that's all it was. Teenage hormones, lust and love. I don't think it was the mating bond. How could it be when I just felt the real thing spark to life inside of me?"

"I don't know." Vivian admitted. "Maybe because she never came of age, fate saw fit to gift you with a different fated mate?"

"If it was someone else, maybe I might believe that but it's more complicated than that."

"What do you mean? Who is it, Logan? Who sparked the mating bond and has you so out of sorts you're demanding we leave town?"

He licked his lip hesitantly but that only reminded him of what he'd done. Reminded him of the way she'd tasted. Reminded him of how right she had felt in his arms. Reminded him that the bond between them would continue to grow and the mating heat would only get stronger until they couldn't deny their wolves and sealed their fates forever.

"Logan?" Vivian pressed and he knew she was too stubborn to give in until he answered.

"I ran into Wren when I was leaving Dominic's and…"

"Wren?" Vivian's voice was practically a screech and he winced. "Wren Culvert?"

"Do you know another Wren?" he groaned as Vivian all but leapt up from the bed and started pacing the room, her agitation making his already riled up wolf nervous.

"You're telling me that your fated mate is Lark's sister?"

He nodded and Vivian looked as horrified as he felt.

"Oh brother. This is bad."

"I know."

"I remember when Lark died. Wren blamed you. She thought you killed her sister."

"She still does."

Vivian shook her head, "And you can't tell her…"

"Anything. I can't say anything and even if I could, what would it change? I'm the reason Lark is dead. She's right about that much."

"Logan, no." Vivian sat down beside him again, "Don't say that. I may not know everything that happened back then but I know you, and I know that you loved Lark and you never would have hurt her on purpose."

"It doesn't matter. None of it matters. Not anymore." He pushed to his feet, "Fate made a mistake. Wren hates me and she has every right to. I won't hurt her any more than I already have so I'm not going to claim her. That's why we need to leave, right now. I need to put as much distance between us as possible."

His sister stared up at him from her childhood bed. It was the same bed she'd been in when he snuck into her room six years ago and told her that he was leaving and he wanted to take her with him. She hadn't put up a fight then but he could tell from the stubborn look on her face that this time, she had no intention of going quietly.

"Viv…"

"Leaving isn't the answer, Logan." She spoke over him. "It didn't fix anything last time and it won't this time either. You scented one another and the bond sparked. We both know what that means. Even if you run, the moment your wolf takes control on the next full moon, he's going to go crazy trying to get back here to mark her. You could run to the other side of the world and you might have a chance of outlasting the mating heat but the odds aren't in your favor."

Logan touched his bottom lip self-consciously. He could still feel the sting of Wren's teeth slicing the sensitive skin open. He could still taste the copper tang of his own blood. And he could still sense the way the bond had expanded from a tenuous string to binding ropes when his blood became a part of Wren.

Vivian's eyes widened and though the cut on his lip had healed, he knew he'd given himself away, "Oh! You didn't just scent each other, did you? You already gave in to the heat."

"I didn't mean to." he groaned. "Neither of us meant for it to happen. One second we were arguing, fighting, in each other's faces and the next second… we were kissing."

"Kissing?" Vivian raised an eyebrow.

"It felt more like a battle to be honest and… it got bloody."

It was the truth. The raw and unvarnished truth was that neither of them had wanted the bond but the heat between them had been impossible to ignore. The anger had bubbled over into passion but it had been no less violent than if they'd been trying to rip one another apart.

"Oh, Logan." Vivian sighed. "There's no escaping this. Not now. You know that."

"There has to be a way. I can't be mated to Wren. I can't have a mate who despises me, a mate I can't tell the truth. Not Lark's sister. I just… can't."

"Okay. Okay." Vivian stood and moved closer to him again. "I know you don't want this and I'm certain she doesn't either so maybe there is a way to undo it."

"You think so?" He didn't believe her but he wanted to with every molecule in his body.

"Maybe. I don't know. But the next full moon is a week away. I can use the pack library, try to find something in the histories that might help."

"But we have to stay for you to do that."

She nodded.

He rubbed a hand across his cheek, "And staying… this sudden need of yours to be home, it doesn't have anything to do with your… condition?"

His sister scowled at him, "I'm trying to help you, Logan. Don't piss me off by turning this mess back around on me."

"Fine. Sorry, I just…"

"I know what you just ." she snapped and he sighed.

"I'm sorry. I'm an idiot. Ignore me."

"You've dealt with a lot today so I'm going to let it slide for now, but Logan…" Vivian pointed a red tipped fingernail at him. "Don't you dare mention it again. Not here. Not in this house where they might overhear and not in town where anyone else might. You have your secrets. I have mine. Deal?"

He wanted to argue with her about how different their secrets were and how she wouldn't be able to keep hers hidden forever but he was tired so he nodded, "Deal."

"Good. Now go away so I can get some rest. I'll face the daunting task of finding a way out of a mating bond for you tomorrow."

He nodded, "Okay."

"Okay."

"Oh and Viv?" He paused in the doorway to turn back to his sister. "Thank you for always having my back."

She smiled softly, "It's us against the world. Always."

He returned her smile before leaving her alone in her childhood bedroom. He hated the idea of spending the night in this house, where the memories of that last night with Lark were so vivid, but he knew he didn't have any other options at the present moment. Vivian was right about needing to be here to find answers and while she searched for a way out of his unwanted mating bond, he would use his time and his access to figure out exactly what their father had been up to.

And in the meantime he just had to put Lark out of his mind and avoid Wren as much as possible, the latter shouldn't be too hard he figured, since he was certain she would be doing her best to avoid him as well.