Shifting Love

Chapter 31: The End Is Only The Beginning

"You did not punch him!" I giggled before falling over Hannah's shoulder as we laughed together.

We were all out to dinner like Dante promised to take my friends after the funeral. It had been an equally depressing day as yesterday but I didn't have another episode much to Dante's relief. Once I introduced him to all my friends again he insisted on taking them out.

Logan revealed to me that Dante broke his nose the first day they met. I found it hilarious but my poor mate looked slightly guilty in his seat next to me. He sheepishly flinched away from me when I pinched his shoulder in mock scolding.

"Well he was getting on my nerves. He kept questioning why you would let me mate you," he grumbled before stabbing his fork at a piece of lettuce. The poor salad.

"Logan!"

I turned from my mate towards my best friend to scold him this time. I knew they weren't going to get along but he was lucky to be alive. Questioning the mating of an Alpha was a punishable offense.

"He let you go off and get kidnapped. What was I supposed to do? Just sit around and be okay with it?" Logan glared across the table at his Alpha.

The once light atmosphere of our friendly dinner quickly turned into a hostile environment. Freddie looked uneasily over at Theo while Cooper and Teague were gripping their seats as they ready themselves to defend their Alpha at a moment's nod of Dante's head.

"Now is neither time nor the place to discuss this, Logan," I hissed at him.

"Then perhaps we should take this outside, Arianna," he growled back.

"Fine," I gritted out and stood up from my seat.

Dante rose up with me but I shook my head at him.

"Stay here."

"Like hell I am going to let you out there alone with him when he is like this."

My body tensed when I felt the anger pulse from his body onto mine. The whole situation was still bothering him. I could tell he still felt guilty about letting me get captured by the hunters. After this conversation with Logan I was going to have to talk to him as well. I couldn't let him continue to feel guilty for a decision I made.

I reached my hand up and gently caressed his scruffy jaw. He hadn't shaved in a couple days. His facial hair was starting to come in. I loved the feeling of it against my smooth skin.

"I am going to be fine. He is one of my best friends, Dante, and you are going to be right in here where you can still hear my heartbeat."

He sighed knowing there was nothing he could do to stop me from going outside alone with Logan. He placed a hard kiss on my lips. I giggled and rolled my eyes once his lips left mine. The kiss had nothing to do with showing me how much he loved me. It had everything to do with showing Logan his place in our pack.

"You have ten minutes."

I zipped up my jacket around me to protect myself from the cold winter air and followed Logan outside. He stepped onto the porch of the restaurant and looked out into the night. I walked up beside him and looked out at the night as well.

"I missed you," I whispered before leaning my head against his shoulder.

"I worried about you every day, Arianna. There wasn't a day that passed by I didn't think of you," he admitted, wrapping his arm around my waist.

"Now tell me what is going on in that thick skull of yours," I teased and tapped his head.

"You just let him into our pack blindly," he screamed at me, "You barely even knew anything about him. Tristan was around us our whole lives and look how he turned out. Dante had been around you for a whole six minutes and you were so willing to trust him! What were you thinking? Were you even thinking? No, of course you weren't. You just ran off with him because Tristan made a mistake and you couldn't handle it. You didn't even tell me that Tristan was your mate. Then you didn't tell us you were mating Dante or making him Alpha of our pack. You just expected us all to blindly accept him without having any concerns. I'm sorry if I wasn't going to just fawn over him like he's God's gift to freaking earth, Arianna. You need a reality check."