“They were going to anyway,” Nicky said.

“There’s more,” Marco said, reluctance showing on every plane of his handsome face. “He meant to keep the two of you alive, monitoring both blood levels for a time, then killing you andputting Logan on another wolf’s blood to see if he could survive on it—Logan lied to him about needing only yours—monitoring that for a time, and if he survived that, taking Logan off wolf’s blood completely to watch what happened to him.He’s got some screwed up ideas about Werekin too, that Logan never corrected.”

“My God, oh my God.” Ian moaned, holding Logan tight, and the note clutched in his hand.“I’m so sorry, baby.”

“Logan wasn’t surprised to hear it,” Nicky put in.

“I was dead to him the momentI was captured,” Logan told him. “In his eyes, I’d already failed,and he expected me to break under the torture he was sure you’d use.”

Ian’s fingers trailed down Logan’s back. The cuts and scabs had long ago healed and he wasn’t scarred, thanks to being Werekin, but the new healed skin showed in faint marks through the darker, tanned skin on his back. Logan had kept his back turned away from Nicky and didn’t think about what Ian had seen when he undressed him until Ian asked, “They did whip you?Why did you act like they hadn’t?”

Logan answered over Nicky’s gasp. “It hurt me, Ian, that you believed something so bad and wrong about me. A floggingwouldn’t have made any difference to you then anyway. You’d have believed it was for the reason he said and had nothing to do with me trying to save you. The doctor came in every day to monitor the healing process. Just another one of his experiments.” He gave them a twisted grin, more like a grimace. “Not nearly what my father wouldhave liked to do to me, I’m sure.”

“I’ll kill him if he ever tries to touch you again. Hell, I might kill him anyway.”

Logan snuggled even closer. He was hurt by his father’s actions, but he was not going to let him destroy his happiness. In a murmur, he teased,“Maybe another sympathy fuck would help ease my pain.”

Only Ian knew what he referred to, blushed a bright red, and burst into laughter. He hugged Logan furiously. “Okay, but don’t you think it’s going to become any kind of habit.” He bent, kissing his mouth hungrily. Going to a whisper for Logan’s ears only, he said, “One of those compromises, maybe. Then you could do something for me. I got pretty turned on with you all tied up.”

Suspecting Ian enjoyed being fucked more than he’d admit, Logan whispered back, “I can teach you about your prostate.It’s a very interesting little gland.”

He twisted on Ian’s lap, wrapping his arms around him and deliberately ground his ass in the rapidly growing bulge in Ian’s pants. With a growl, Ian told him, “I’ll show you how interesting it can be.” He spoke to Marco. “Alpha, if you wouldn’t mind.”

Marco went to his feet, Nicky in his arms. “We’ll meet for lu—” His concentration broke when Nicky bouncedhis hip into Marco’s crotch. “Make that dinner.”

Nicky gave Logan a self-satisfied little smirk. Logan laughed out loud as both wolves looked from one to the other, trying to decide if the joke was on them.

Left alone afterMarco’s hurried exit, Ian turned sober. “I hate what that bastard wanted to do to you.You mustn’t think his sickness reflects on you.”

“I used to, but Idon’t anymore.” His hands worked the fasteners of Ian’s pants. “I love you, Ian, with all my heart and soul, just like I said in that note. I made my choice a long time ago, and I’ll never change my mind.”

Epilogue

“I respect fullyrequest permission to speak to the council,” Logan said, knowing even showing up in the council room was stomping all over wolf protocol. Nicky stood by his side in silent support.

“What is it, Logan , Nicky?” Marco asked.

“A couple of things, sir,to do with weaknesses in security.”

Casey practically bolted out of his chair, making Ian tense to a defensive posture, ready

to interfere if Casey moved to threaten the young men. Casey only retorted, “A pet is going to tell us about security?”

“I just ask you hear me out then judge for yourself.”

Marco waved Casey down. “Go ahead.”

“You’re trusting the humans in town too much. I know their economy depends on you, and you’ve always had a good relationship with them, but they are human. While most of them are grateful and satisfiedwith the way things are, there’s too much chance of one of them thinking a handful of money beats working for a weekly paycheck. I know the Hunters have information they didn’t get by watching Mountainwood. Most of it is skewed and incomplete, but it’s still info they didn’t get from observation. One example is they knew you had a new mate, Alpha, and his name is Nicky. They even knew what he looked like. The information the workmen you’ve brought in already know and have passed on can’t be helped, but you need to stop letting the humans up here, even to work, until the war with the Hunters is ended.”

“We need them. How else are we to complete the work?” one gamma asked while all the others thoughtfully considered what Logan said.

Logan took a deep breath, bracing himself. “Use the Werekin.”

As he expected near bedlam broke out. For once, Casey wasn’t yelling the loudest. Rory had never stopped working, but then Rory, as a wolf and mate, was a special case. Marco finally stood and shouted the others into silence.

“Is that all?” he asked of Logan.

“No, sir. The Werekin need to be trained in self-defense at the veryleast…”

The roar of protest drowned out Logan to such a degree he gave up. Again, it was what he expected. What he didn’t expect was Marco demanding quiet and saying, “Yes. I agree.”

Some were stunned into just staring. Others yelled in outrage, though they quieted quickly when Marco turned his fierce gaze on them. The strongest objections carried one common word, feral.

Logan leaned down, speaking above the turmoil to tell Marco, “I have a theory on the feral thing.”

Marco nodded, holding a hand up to him while he waited for the others to calm down enough for him to quiet them and speak. He glanced at Nicky and smiled.“I’ve nearly lost Nicky twice now, not because he isn’t brave enough or even strong enough against any human attacker, but because he doesn’t know how to fight properly. He didn’t even remember to stay away from the front end of a rifle two men fought over until Logan yelled at him. As the dangers to us escalate, even as closely as we guard those we love, someone could be attacked or kidnapped right out from under us.”

“If we train them to fight, they’ll go feral for sure,” an older man cried.

“I don’t think so. Nicky’s had some experience with that, more than anyone here. We all know he defied me, but what turned him feral wasn’t his rebellion. It was going without feeding.”

Nicky nodded.“That’s true. Logan has a theory I think all of you will be interested in hearing.”

“You have a theory?” Ian asked of Logan.

“He hasn’t discussed any of this with you?” Marco asked.

“No, he’s just asked me a bunch of questions on our history,” he answered and from his expression Logan guessedhe’d hurt Ian.

Logan explained quickly. “I didn’t want you in the middle of it. I wanted you to hear it all for the first time the same as everyone else so your reactions would be to what I said, and they couldn’t accuse you of…”

Ian smiled at him. “It’s okay, baby. Tell them what you think.”

Logan took another deep breath. “From what Ian tells me, you think your heritage comes from the Cherokee Indians.” Nods went around the room. “When a written history started, most of the laws were transcribedwithout any explanation as to why.” Again nods went around and several leaned forward to listen.“I think it’s possible the oral legends had been twisted, things left out, others added through interpretation and even personal beliefs. From what I could find in my research, you’re not descendants of the Cherokee, but the Creek Indians. The Creeks were mostly driven out of this area by the Cherokees, but there was a small population here in Western North Carolina, much more savage than the Cherokee.” He paused, knowing he was treading a thin line. “I think your true ancestors came from a branch of the Creek. I think they were the shifters.It’s well known they killed and wounded their enemies, and even raped on their raids, to humiliate and prove their superiority.

“Without fully understanding their own natures then, in a blood lust they bit without even thinking ofwhat it would do. They didn’t practice leaving live captives, but if just a Werekin bite saved Nicky, their bites could have saved victims they left for dead. This may be where the stories of monster werewolves came from. These poor victims were turned and without the care and protection of the one who turned them, without the feedings, they went feral and were quickly killed by their own people. Your beliefs about keeping your humanborn Werekin under strict control so theywon’t go feral may have developed from all that. I think there were feral-werewolf creatures, but not as a result of a lack of control and discipline of Werekin in the clans. I think they were victims of these attacks, bitten and abandoned during raids. The same basic thing may have happened in Europe where the Hunters originated, going all the way back to the Viking raids by shifterswho didn’t have any more understanding of what would happen during a raid than the Creek did.”

A general discussion broke out, most of it angry. Ian, however, beamed at him with pride, making Logan brave enough to blurt out the rest.

“I think my father is planning to create ferals.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Casey demanded.

“Why would you think that?” Marco asked in a calmer voice.