Page 24

24

EVE

“ Y ou dragged me.” The words exploded from my mouth the second I could find my footing, my legs shaky but stubbornly upright as I stumbled away from him.

“Are you hiding?” he asked, sounding neither amused nor worried.

“I’m taking a moment.”

I still couldn’t believe what was happening, despite my condition. My hair clung to my face, damp with sweat and dirt, and the hem of this awful dress was torn and muddy. My entire body felt raw, scraped, and bruised.

Logan didn’t flinch. He didn’t even look at me as he pulled his clothes out of the small bag strapped to the back of his bike and started dressing, his movements calm, methodical. The perfect picture of a wolf who thought he had everything under control.

I, on the other hand, was a literal mess.

“You were knocked out. Gently, I might add.” He poked his head out from behind the tree. “Need I remind you that I came to kill you? The fact that you’re here at all right now is because I’m still undecided on what to do with you. Being dragged isn’t the greatest of your concerns.”

“And you’re going to drag me to your pack like I’m some sort of prize?”

“No,” he said simply. “I’m taking you back because it’s the only place you’ll be safe while I decide what happens next.”

“So I’m your prisoner.”

“Would you have preferred I left you there?” His tone was even as he buttoned his shirt with the kind of focus I wanted to slap off his face. “You’re alive, for now.” He finally turned to me, his face unreadable. He set his palm on my cheek, and I flinched. Then everything in me suddenly relaxed. “You’re alive, and you’re here. That’s what matters.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but nothing came out. He was right—I was alive. For now.

My freedom had been my dream for so long, the one thing that kept me going. After everything I’d endured, I was here. With him.

Logan’s jaw tightened. “I’m not your enemy, Eve,” he said softly, but still unyielding. “You don’t have to trust me, but as I said, you’re coming with me.”

I wanted to scream, to push him, to demand answers to the hundred questions swirling in my head. Including why when he touched me my mind emptied of every thought. Like magic, like a spell.

Like a curse.

The Heraclids. Grayson. My wolf stirred weakly within me, as if to remind me that she was still there, still watching. Still waiting.

For now, this was the best choice I had.

“You make a habit of tying up unconscious women?” I asked even as exhaustion tugged at my limbs. “Or is this just a me thing?”

“Just you.” Then he added, “You don’t make it easy to save your life.”

I sighed, running a hand through my tangled hair. “Fine,” I muttered, my voice barely audible. “If you so much as think about dragging me again?—”

“You’ll make me pay,” Logan finished, his lips twitching into the barest hint of a smirk. “Got it.”

I glared at him, the spark of anger reigniting enough to keep me upright. “Damn right, I will.”

Without another word, Logan opened the compartment of his bike, put the helmet on me and adjusted it. His touch was tender, as if he were tying a child’s shoelace.

He swung his leg over the bike and cocked his head to the side. I hesitated, my pride warring with practicality, before finally giving in, climbing on, and gripping the edge of the seat.

This wasn’t freedom. Not yet. But maybe it was the first step toward something that could be.

“You’d better hold on to me.” Logan wrapped my arms around his waist, and I instantly calmed behind him. I still hated that he had that effect on me… but I didn’t hate this feeling.

Not one bit.

His body responded. His abs tensed under my touch and he let out a quick breath. I fluttered my hands across his chest and midriff, trying only to find a place where we could both forget that we were this close.

My hand grazed his cock. Thick and hardening. I held my breath at its throbbing presence.

“Let’s go,” he rumbled, and we were off like a flash. I’d never been on a bike before, so any curiosity about what was happening in him would have to wait.

I held on to him for dear life.