Page 14 of Marked For A Bite (Rebellious Mates #2)

ELEVEN

ZOE

Z oe sat up in Logan's bed after he rushed out of the bedroom.

The cool air hit her naked skin as the reality of what had just happened settled over her.

Her fingers drifted to her neck, finding the tender spot where Logan's teeth had broken the skin.

The wound was small but distinct—two tiny puncture marks that throbbed with a strange warmth.

When she pulled her fingertips away, crimson droplets stained them.

A half-mark, her wolf whispered, restless and frustrated. He could have completed it.

The bite site tingled with an electric sensation that seemed to pulse in rhythm with Zoe's heartbeat.

More startling was the sudden awareness of Logan's emotions bleeding through what felt like an invisible thread connecting them.

His guilt crashed over her in waves, followed by self-recrimination so sharp it made her chest ache.

The bond between them hummed stronger now, even incomplete, and his pain was becoming her own.

He's suffering, she realized, distress flooding her system. The need to comfort him and to ease his torment overwhelmed every other instinct.

Zoe quickly slipped into her dark jeans and cream sweater, her movements urgent as Logan's emotional turmoil continued to assault her senses through their bond.

She found him in the living room, pacing like a predator trapped in a cage too small to contain him.

His white henley stretched across his broad shoulders as he moved and his hands were clenched into fists at his sides.

The sight of him—powerful, deadly, yet consumed by guilt over wanting her—made her heart clench. He'd obviously spent years building walls around himself—literally and figuratively—and she'd managed to crack them in a single day. No wonder he was spiraling.

Zoe approached cautiously, studying the rigid line of his jaw and the way his green eyes avoided her gaze. When she placed her hand on his forearm, he went completely still, as if her touch had short-circuited his system.

"Logan." His head snapped toward her, surprise flickering across his features as if he genuinely hadn't expected her to seek him out. The look on his face—vulnerable and almost bewildered—told her everything she needed to know about how alone he'd been. "Everything is okay. I'm not upset."

"You should be." His voice came out rough and strained. "I lost control. I almost marked you for life without asking first."

"But you didn't." She stepped closer, her thumb stroking over the corded muscle of his arm. "You stopped. And Logan? What we just shared was the best experience of my life."

His eyes darkened, searching her face as if looking for deception.

"I'm not just talking about the physical part," she continued, her voice softening with honesty. "Though that was incredible. I mean the connection. The way it felt like we were made specifically for each other."

The tension in his shoulders eased fractionally. "I felt it too," he admitted quietly. "That's why my wolf was so eager to claim you. He knows we belong together."

Logan's fingers ghosted over the partial bite mark on her neck, and she shivered at the contact. "But my life isn't meant for anyone to share it with me. That's why I live alone, why I keep everyone at arm's length."

"Why?" The question escaped before she could stop it.

A shadow passed over his features, transforming his face into something harder and more distant. "Because everyone I love dies."

The stark pain in those words made her chest tighten. "What happened to your family, Logan?"

For a moment, she thought he wouldn't answer. His jaw worked silently, and she felt his internal struggle through their bond—the desperate need to shut down warring with something else. Something that wanted to trust her.

"My father was the Beta of this pack fifteen years ago," he said finally.

"One night, human hunters came for us. I still don't know why.

" His voice turned mechanical, as if recounting someone else's story.

"My father and I tried to protect my younger sister, tried to get her out.

But we failed. They died, and I barely escaped. "

"Logan—"

"After that, I vowed I would never get close to anyone again. Never tie anyone to me." His eyes met hers, raw with old grief. "Because I'm not going to be responsible for another loved one's death."

Zoe's heart broke for the boy who'd lost everything, who'd spent fifteen years punishing himself for surviving. "That wasn't your fault."

"Wasn't it?" The bitter laugh that escaped him held no humor. "I was supposed to protect them."

"You did everything you could." She stepped closer, her hand finding his chest. "Sometimes it's not enough. But that doesn't make it your fault."

"I can't go through that pain again, Zoe." The admission seemed torn from him. "I won't."

Understanding flooded through her. She'd been doing the same thing—shutting everyone out since her mother died, afraid of losing anyone else she loved. "Maybe we can heal each other," she said softly. "Maybe that's why we found each other now, when we both needed it most."

Something shifted in Logan's expression at her words, a flicker of recognition passing through those deep green eyes. He moved his hand to cover hers where it rested against his chest, the warmth of his palm grounding her.

"Maybe you're right," he said quietly. "But I think there's something bigger at play here too."

Zoe could feel Logan's heart beating steadily beneath her palm, the rhythm matching her own as their incomplete bond hummed between them.

"What do you mean?" she asked, though part of her already sensed she wouldn't like his answer.

Logan's jaw tightened, and she watched him wrestle with whatever he was about to reveal.

"After my sister and father died, I carried that grief for five years.

It nearly destroyed me." His fingers traced along her knuckles where they pressed against his chest. "One day I decided to become the pack's enforcer.

I thought if I could channel all that rage and pain into something useful—into protecting others—maybe it would mean something. "

Zoe's heart clenched at the raw honesty in his admission. She could picture him at twenty-four, devastated and angry, choosing violence as his outlet because he didn't know how else to survive.

"Did it help?" she whispered.

"For a while." His laugh held no humor, only bitterness.

"The first few years, it felt like justice.

I was a weapon pointed at the right targets, keeping our people safe.

But as time passed..." He trailed off, his free hand running through his auburn hair.

"The High Council's demands became more questionable.

More cruel. They started asking me to do things that had nothing to do with protection and everything to do with sending messages through fear. "

Oh God, Zoe thought, pieces of a horrifying puzzle beginning to fall into place. Through their fragile bond, she could feel Logan's self-loathing, the weight of years spent following orders that went against every moral instinct he possessed.

"Right before Kieran sent me to extract you," Logan continued, his voice dropping to barely a whisper, "the High Council gave me a mission.

They wanted me to go to Portland and kill a human.

Not just kill—they wanted it violent and brutal.

A message to anyone else who might interfere with our kind. "

Zoe's blood turned to ice in her veins. "What did you say?"

"I said no." His eyes met hers, and she saw the confusion that still haunted him. "I'd never refused a mission before. I'd questioned the Council's demands and methods maybe. But something in my wolf wouldn't accept that mission. He was restless and agitated in a way I'd never experienced."

The implications hit her with force. "When Kieran told you about the hybrid in Portland?—"

"I realized it was you when I saw the address." Logan's hand tightened over hers. "Same address, same timeframe. My wolf knew before I did that you were my mate. That's why he wouldn't let me take that mission. That's why I was so eager to go when Kieran gave me the extraction order instead."

Zoe stumbled backward, her hand falling away from his chest as the full weight of his revelation crashed over her. "The High Council wants me dead. They were going to send you to—" She couldn't even finish the sentence.

"Those human hunters at your house," Logan said grimly, stepping closer when she retreated. "I discovered they were sent there by the High Council."

"I don't understand." The words came out strangled. "I've lived my entire life thinking I was human. My mother never told me about my father's true nature and never gave me any indication I was different until that letter."

Logan's expression darkened, every line of his body radiating the controlled violence that made him so dangerous. "Your father. What did your mother tell you about him?"

"Nothing, really." Zoe wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly cold despite the warmth of the cabin. "She always made it sound like he died when I was a baby. Whenever I asked questions, she'd get this look—sad but also scared, like talking about him might summon something terrible."

"Maybe it would have," Logan said quietly. "If the Council is tracking hybrids, if they found out your father had a daughter..."

The thought made Zoe's knees weak. "You think they killed my mother too?"

"I don't know." Logan's honesty was both comforting and terrifying. "But we need to find out. And we need to tell Kieran and Maya."

"Why? What can they do?"

Logan moved closer. "If the High Council is using human hunters to eliminate threats and they're willing to kill innocents to maintain their secrets, then the corruption runs deeper than any of us suspected. And that means you're in more danger than I originally thought."

Zoe felt her world tilting again. The foundation she'd thought was becoming more solid was now crumbling beneath her feet.

First discovering she was part wolf, then finding her mate, and now learning that the governing body of Logan's world had marked her for death before she'd even known what she was.

"What does this mean for us?" she asked, hating how small her voice sounded.

Logan's eyes blazed with possessive intensity.

"It means I'm never letting you out of my sight again.

It means anyone who wants to hurt you will have to go through me first." His thumb brushed over the new mark on her neck.

"And it means we're going to tear down whoever is responsible for this corruption. "