The Wolf and the Were

Chapter 7

Logan growled at the three females that had approached him. I'm not fucking interested! Haven't I made that clear enough already? When they backed off, but continued to stare at him, he finally shifted and crossed his arms, glaring at them. "I only want her," he said, indicating his mate. "I will fight any male for the privilege to claim her, and I will ignore you three no matter how much you fight with her. Do I make myself clear?"

The three females looked at each other, growling slightly, before one of them charged his mate. He glanced at the Alpha, who was watching closely. The fucker will kill me if I interfere. I don't doubt that. He can do it, too.

Logan forced himself not to move, fists clenched tightly at his sides as he allowed his mate to fight with the other female. They shifted back and forth between human and wolf, trading blows and bites with each other, before his mate was finally forced to submit, several wounds leaking blood.

In human form, the other female strode up to him with a smug grin, her eyes challenging him to acknowledge her. Logan obliged. He glared at her, then purposefully walked around her to shift and lie down next to his mate. When the female attempted to approach again, he growled loudly, baring his teeth. Had she not just wounded his mate, her look of confusion would have been hysterical.

She finally backed off, and Logan turned his attention back to his mate. She was licking wounds that didn't appear to be healing. She's like the males. They heal slowly, taking a day for bruises to recover. How long will these bites take?

It didn't take long for the wounds to stop bleeding, telling him that they did have regeneration. Unfortunately, it was clearly much slower than his own. When the remaining two females started fighting with each other, he forced himself to get some answer. There's too much I don't understand, here, and nobody's talking.

Logan walked to the Alpha. "Explain this. What's all this fighting about?"

The Alpha gave him an appraising look. "We mate by strength, just as any other wolves would. Surely you know this."

"Werewolves mate with whoever their mate is. What are you talking about?"

He smiled at Logan in amusement. "Werewolves do. We do not. I don't know why you think she's your mate, but you are causing problems by being here. Despite that, you have skill and endurance." He gave Logan an appraising look. "Remove your clothes."

"What?"

"Remove them!" The order didn't carry the weight of a werewolf Alpha. Despite that, Logan understood that it was an order with consequences for disobedience. He obeyed.

The Alpha took them and put them in one of the small tents. "Now you don't stand out. We wear clothes when we interact with humans in their towns. For now, we don't need them. If you want her as your mate, you must live as we do, not as you used to."

Logan nodded, but a new question was forming in his mind. "What are you?"

"Your kind calls us lycans."

A memory filtered through his mind, and Logan's eyes widened.

"Go, little werewolf, let's see if you can defend your claim on your 'mate'."

Logan returned to his post and eyed his mate through the eyes of a wolf. "The territory's shifted! They're coming!" he remembered a scout whispering in fear and awe.

"Who?" he'd asked. He'd been only fourteen at the time, still hoping he could challenge his older brother for the title of alpha when his father retired.

The scout had looked at him in irritation, like he was an idiot. "The Lycans. They're migrating. We have to move our patrols back. We don't want a war!"

Logan had never found out what lycans were. He'd just felt the pressure as they passed between his and the next pack's territories. When they'd passed, the territory lines had shifted, and no one had dared comment on it.

When he'd asked around, most members of the pack had scoffed at silly rumors of bogeymen. Only the scouts took it seriously. And his father. I've somehow joined a pack of lycans, something that terrified my father's scouts. What have I gotten myself into?