Logan's Mountain

Logan's Mountain Chapter 1

There are only a few things that a man wishes for more than he wishes to be left the Hell alone, but it is also true that one of those things is to be left alone with the right person...

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There was a scent in the wind that day-- something warm, something unwelcome. It was a scent that Logan knew shouldn't be on his mountain.

This caused him to huff, but no one heard his disgusted grunt, for there was no one on this mountain to hear the growl of displeasure. The grizzled wolf closed his eyes for a moment and inhaled deeply and as he did, the damnable smell became even more distinct.

Pack wolves. He hated them with a passion! Their heads were crammed full of ridiculous beliefs and their mouths were packed with incessant yammering. And while these things irritated Logan beyond measure, what really drove him to madness was their pathetic need to live their lives hip-deep in the pockets of others. He'd rather die than submit himself to that. No, not again.

He was alone on Ulysses Mountain for just that reason. This entire mountain was his, and he tolerated no one on it. Ulee, as he called it, was his personal domain. The pathetic pack wolves could refer to him as a 'rogue' if they chose. How they referred to him was of no concern to Logan, just so long as they stayed the Hell off of his mountain. The wolves, who were even now climbing towards him might not know it, but they had already signed their death warrants.

Beta Michael was also troubled; his Alpha had sent the three best Lojala warriors on this mission. So now Michael and the pack's only two Deltas were off on a goose hunt.

It was a strange request to be sure, the Alpha had sent the three most dominating warriors in the entire pack, and all they were being directed to do was to survey one lonely and uninhabited mountain.

To Michael, this seemed like a poor use of Pack resources. Was there something about this mountain that Alpha Brett was keeping to himself? Surely if there was anything dangerous here, the Alpha would have informed him about the risk before sending them headlong directly into it.

Then again, it was true that Michael didn't actually know or trust the new Alpha just yet. Brett... no, 'Alpha Brett' as he insisted everyone call him, had only recently taken control of the Lojala. The Alpha had been sent by the Council to assume command when the Lojala's longtime leader had unexpectedly died in a car accident.

The pack wasn't crazy about the new Alpha as they had loved the old one dearly. Hugo, the old Alpha, had been much beloved by everyone, and while he had led his wolves for well over a century, he'd never mated... and as such, he'd left no successor behind him to follow in his footsteps.

The only logical candidate for the Alpha position had been Michael. He'd been Hugo's Beta for decades, but Michael had always considered himself unsuited for an Alpha position, so he'd been more than happy to stand aside for the Council's choice when Brett had arrived accompanied by several members of that council.

Michael would admit that it hadn't been awful. Brett had quickly proved himself to be a natural Alpha, and while he was a bit arrogant for Michael's tastes, he had been good for the Lojala. Indeed, under his new leadership, the pack had expanded its borders for the first time in decades... and that is what had brought Michael and his Deltas to Ulysses Mountain.

Lojala was in the process of claiming all of the no-man's lands between itself and its neighbors. Some of the expansion had proven to be bloody a number of rogues had lived in the unclaimed area. No rogues had been spotted on this mountain however, and this fact worried Michael, because the mountain was teaming with the sort of wild life that rogues would naturally prey upon.