Page 7 of Marked For A Bite (Rebellious Mates #2)
FIVE
ZOE
Z oe stood frozen beside Logan's Jeep, her wrists still tingling where his thumbs had traced her pulse points. The autumn breeze carried his scent back to her—mountain rain, leather, and something uniquely masculine that made her wolf stir restlessly.
Mate. The word whispered through her mind again, insistent and mystifying.
She watched Logan's broad shoulders disappear between the towering firs, his grey henley stretching across his powerful frame as he moved with predatory grace through the moonlit forest. The way he'd caged her against the Jeep had awakened something primal in her—not fear, but a fierce, possessive hunger that should have terrified her.
"Well, shit," Zoe muttered, running a trembling hand through her curls.
Several feet away from her, Tabitha cleared her throat diplomatically. "Honey, why don't we get you inside? Logan will?—"
"No." Zoe spun around, her hazel eyes flashing gold in the darkness. "He was about to kiss me."
Tabitha's eyebrows rose. "Was he now?"
"And then he just... stopped. Walked away like nothing happened." Frustration bled into Zoe's voice. "What kind of alpha male behavior is that?"
"The kind that suggests he's fighting something bigger than himself," Tabitha replied carefully. "Logan's... complicated."
Zoe laughed, but there was no humor in it.
"Complicated? The man broke into my house, killed two people to protect me, helped me kill two more, and drove me to a safehouse while looking at me like he wanted to devour me.
And now, he almost kissed me and ran away like a scared teenager.
I'd say complicated is an understatement. "
The crescent moon birthmark on her inner wrist throbbed with an uncomfortable heat. Every instinct she possessed told her to chase after Logan and demand answers about this electric pull between them that made her feel like she was drowning and flying simultaneously.
"Listen, sweetheart," Tabitha said gently, "Logan's world is dangerous. Maybe it's better?—"
"Better for who?" Zoe's voice sharpened. "Everyone keeps making decisions for me, telling me what's better, and what's safer. My mother hid my father's true identity for twenty-five years. Logan just decided I'm better off with strangers than with him. When do I get to choose?"
The words hung in the cool air like a challenge.
Zoe's breath came in short puffs, her body still humming with the memory of Logan's proximity.
The way his green eyes had darkened when she'd whispered his name.
How his control had visibly cracked before he'd yanked himself back from whatever precipice they'd been approaching.
He wants you, her wolf purred confidently. But he's running from it.
"He makes me feel..." Zoe trailed off, searching for words that could capture the inexplicable calm that settled over her chaotic thoughts and feelings whenever Logan was near. "Safe. For the first time since my mother died, I don't feel like I'm fighting this world alone."
Tabitha's expression softened with understanding. "And now he's walking away from you."
"Well, I'm not letting him." Zoe's chin lifted with stubborn determination.
"I've spent the past year letting grief control my life and letting fear isolate me from everyone except Naomi.
I'm not letting the first person who makes me feel whole just disappear into the night because he's decided what's best for me. "
She turned back toward the treeline where Logan had vanished, her enhanced hearing picking up the distant sound of his boots on fallen leaves. He was moving deeper into the forest, probably thinking he was being noble or protective by putting distance between them.
Stubborn idiot, Zoe thought with surprising fondness.
"I'm going after him," Zoe announced.
"That's not wise," Tabitha warned. "When Logan is... conflicted... he can be dangerous."
Zoe snorted. "I just discovered I'm half-wolf shifter two days ago. I attacked an art critic at my museum exhibit, got arrested last week for assaulting my neighbor, and killed a hunter tonight with claws I shouldn't have. Dangerous seems to be my new normal."
She started toward the forest edge, her blood-stained hoodie rustling against her black yoga pants. Every step sent anticipation crackling through her veins like electricity.
"Besides," Zoe called over her shoulder, pausing at the treeline, "someone needs to tell that wolf shifter that running away after almost kissing a girl is terrible form.
Especially when said girl has been through hell and just wants to understand why her entire world makes more sense when he's around. "
The moonlight filtered through the forest canopy overhead, painting silver patterns across the ground where Logan's boot prints pressed into the soft earth. Zoe's newfound senses tracked his path easily, following the trail of his scent deeper into the wilderness.
Behind her, Tabitha sighed. "Logan's going to hate this."
"Good," Zoe muttered, pushing aside a low-hanging branch. "Maybe it'll teach him not to cage a girl against his Jeep and then run away like a coward."
Zoe inhaled deeply, trying to focus on Logan's scent—that intoxicating blend of mountain rain and leather that made her pulse race. For the first twenty yards, his trail remained clear, leading her deeper into the moonlit forest where ancient firs towered overhead like silent sentinels.
But as the canopy thickened, blocking out more of the silver light, Logan's scent began to fade.
Zoe pressed forward, her tennis shoes crunching on fallen pine needles, following what she hoped was still his path.
The earthy smell of moss and decomposing leaves overwhelmed her untrained senses, masking the subtle traces she desperately needed to track.
Come on, wolf, she thought, willing her inner beast to help. You protected him tonight. Now help me find him.
Her birthmark pulsed with warmth, but her supernatural senses remained frustratingly unreliable.
After another ten minutes of stumbling through underbrush that caught on her yoga pants, Zoe finally admitted defeat.
Logan's scent had completely vanished, swallowed by the forest's complex tapestry of smells.
Panic crept up her throat. The darkness pressed in from all sides, transforming familiar tree shapes into threatening shadows. Every rustle of wind through branches sounded like approaching footsteps. Every snap of a twig could be another hunter tracking her.
Don't scream his name, she warned herself, wrapping her arms around her torso. You don't know who else might be listening.
The rational part of her brain knew Logan was fine here in the forest and would eventually come out—she'd witnessed his lethal efficiency firsthand. But the newly awakened wolf in her whimpered at the separation, an ache spreading through her bones like a physical withdrawal.
The truth hit her with startling clarity. She felt the safest when Logan was near. Not because she was helpless, but because something fundamental in her recognized him as her anchor in this chaotic new world. Without him beside her, the forest felt hostile instead of magical.
"Okay, Raymond," she whispered to herself. "New plan."
Retracing her steps proved easier than following Logan's scent trail. Within fifteen minutes, she emerged from the treeline to find the safehouse still glowing with warm yellow light. Tabitha had gone inside, leaving Logan's Jeep sitting in the gravel driveway like a promise.
Zoe marched to the vehicle with renewed determination. She grabbed her backpack from where it had fallen beside the Jeep, then climbed in and clicked all the locks. The familiar scent of Logan's cologne and something uniquely masculine enveloped her like a protective embrace.
"If he thinks he's ditching me here, he's about to learn how stubborn a hybrid can be," she muttered, peeling off her blood-stained hoodie.
The crimson stains made her stomach clench as memories of the night's violence flashed through her mind.
She'd killed someone. Actually taken a human life with claws that had sprouted from her fingertips.
The weight of that reality should have crushed her completely, but instead, she now felt oddly.
.. proud. She'd protected Logan. She'd fought beside him as an equal partner rather than a helpless victim.
That's not normal human behavior, she acknowledged, pulling a fitted white t-shirt from her backpack. The soft cotton clung to her curves as she tugged it over her head, accentuating her breasts and narrow waist. But then again, I'm not entirely human.
Once dressed, Zoe reached into her backpack and withdrew the two worn photographs. Her fingers traced the edges reverently as she studied the images in the Jeep's dim interior lighting.
The first showed her mother's radiant smile beside a much younger version of herself. Her mother's ebony skin glowed with happiness and her brown eyes crinkled with laughter. "Mom, I wish you'd prepared me for this," Zoe whispered. "But I understand why you kept his secret."
The second photograph depicted her father—the mysterious white man with penetrating blue eyes and an aura of contained power that now screamed 'wolf shifter' to her awakened senses.
She'd always wondered why her artistic eye had been drawn to Pacific Northwest tribal art, particularly pieces featuring wolves. Now she understood the genetic pull.
"Dad, wherever you are—dead or alive—I need guidance." Zoe's crescent moon birthmark began to warm against her wrist as she spoke. "Logan makes me feel safe and complete, but he's running scared. How do I make him understand that I'm not some fragile flower?"
The birthmark's heat intensified, pulsing in rhythm with her heartbeat. Whether it was her parents' spirits responding or simply her wolf acknowledging the truth, Zoe felt a surge of confidence flow through her veins.
When Logan returned from his brooding session in the forest, she'd be waiting. And this time, she wouldn't let him walk away without answers about what 'mate' meant in the wolf shifter world—and what it meant for their future.
Fifteen minutes later, the sound of boots made Zoe's pulse race.
Logan emerged from the treeline like some forest god, his grey henley stretching across his broad chest and his dark jeans molded to his powerful thighs.
Moonlight caught the auburn highlights in his hair, and those deep green eyes found hers through the windshield with laser precision.
He soon knocked on the driver's side window with knuckles that bore faint scratches. The sound reverberated through the Jeep like a command.
Zoe hit the unlock button, her heart hammering as Logan settled into the driver's seat. The confined space filled with his scent, making her wolf practically purr with contentment.
His gaze swept over her fitted white t-shirt with barely restrained hunger, lingering on how the fabric clung to her curves before snapping back to her face. The air between them crackled with tension thick enough to cut.
"What exactly do you think you're doing?" His tone held that commanding edge that made heat pool low in her belly.
"Waiting for you." Zoe lifted her chin defiantly, refusing to be intimidated by the predatory intensity radiating from him.
"You should be in the safehouse settling in for the night."
"Well, I'm not." She crossed her arms, which only emphasized her breasts beneath the thin cotton. Logan's jaw clenched as he forced his eyes back to her face. "I'm not leaving you, and I'm going wherever you're going."
"That's not what's supposed to happen." His fingers gripped the leather steering wheel with white-knuckled control.
"Okay, then enlighten me. What is supposed to happen?"
Logan exhaled slowly, like a man fighting for patience. "My Alpha ordered that you stay here. Kieran will meet you tomorrow to start integrating you into our pack for protection."
His Alpha. The words sent an unexpected spike of anger through Zoe's chest. She didn't want Logan following someone else's orders about her life.
"I only want your protection." The words slipped out, raw with honesty.
Logan's eyes darkened, his pupils dilating as her scent spiked with arousal. The Jeep's interior suddenly felt too small and too intimate.
"That's really not a good idea." His voice dropped an octave, rough with restraint. "I don't know how I'll explain this to Kieran."
"I can explain it to him myself." Zoe's hands trembled slightly as she spoke, but her voice remained steady. "It's my choice, not yours or his. This is my life, and I get the ultimate say in what happens to it."
A slow, dangerous smile curved Logan's lips as he studied her defiant expression. The predator in him seemed to approve of her stubbornness.
"Alright then." He turned the key, the engine purring to life. "But don't say I didn't warn you against this choice. My world is dangerous, Zoe."
"I know." She buckled her seatbelt, excitement and nervousness warring in her chest. "But danger seems to be my new middle name these days."
Logan's laugh was low and rich, sending shivers down her spine as he pulled out of the gravel driveway. "You have no idea what you're getting yourself into."
Maybe not, Zoe thought, watching his strong hands navigate the steering wheel with practiced ease. But I know I belong beside you.
As they wound through the mountain roads, Zoe finally gathered the courage to ask the questions burning in her mind.
"Logan." Her voice came out softer than intended, almost breathless. "What does mate mean in the wolf shifter world?"
His hands tightened imperceptibly on the wheel, but he didn't answer immediately.
"And what does that mean for our future?" she pressed on, her inner wolf practically vibrating with anticipation. "Because my wolf seems to think I should already know, but I don't."
Logan's eyes found hers briefly, hungry and intense, full of promises that made her breath hitch.
"I'll explain it all very soon," he said, his voice holding a rough edge that sent heat spiraling through her core. "When we get to my cabin."
Something in the way he said 'my cabin'—like it was a sanctuary where all pretense could be stripped away—made Zoe's heart flutter with anticipation and her body ache with a primal hunger she'd never experienced before.
What am I getting myself into? she wondered, but the thought held no fear, only electric anticipation for whatever Logan planned to show her in the isolation of his domain.