The Wolf's Mate Book 6: Logan & Jenna (27 page)

She opened the garage door
with the remote clipped to the visor, and then buckled her seatbelt and turned
on the truck.  She bounced excitedly in the seat.

Each time they got in the
car, he went over the basics.  “Alright, baby, what do you do first?”

“Check the mirrors.”

“Good.”  When she did that,
he said, “Now what?”

“Look behind me as I shift
into reverse.”

“Right.  Go easy with the
gas.”

She backed out of the garage
as slow as a snail, stopped long enough to put the door down, and backed all
the way into the street.  Shifting into drive, she kept her foot on the brake
and looked at him expectantly.

“Do you remember everything
we talked about in your lesson yesterday?”

She grinned.  “I remember
your version of a reward for doing well.”  When they came back from their
lesson, they’d made love for hours.

“But do you remember what you
learned?”

“Yes, Logan,” she said in a
sing-song voice, grinning so hard her cheeks had to hurt.

“Do you think you can get to
Jason’s on your own?”

“I’ll try.”

“Then let’s go.”

She carefully switched her
foot from the brake to the gas and drove down the street.  When she stopped at
the stop sign at the end of the street, she looked at him, reaching out and
squeezing his hand.  “Thank you for being my teacher, Logan.”

“You’re welcome, love. 
You’re doing really well, just keep your eyes on the road and both hands on the
wheel.”

She rolled her eyes and
returned her attention to the road as she turned down the next street and
picked up speed.  “You don’t keep both hands on the wheel.”

True.  One of his hands was
usually either on her thigh or holding her hand.

“I’ve been driving for a long
time, baby.”

“I think you just like
touching me.”

“I don’t like it, I love
it.”  He put his hand on her knee and her leg jerked, her foot pressing harder
against the gas and the engine revving.  He laughed and removed his hand.  “You
are too easily distracted.”

“It’s not my fault you’re
irresistible.”

“So are you, baby.”

She made it to Jason’s house
without needing directions.  She stopped in front of Jason’s home, parking
between Michael’s SUV and Bo’s truck.  Peeking out the side window, she said,
“Pretty good, yeah?”

He chuckled.  “You’re
crooked, but otherwise you did really well.  You’ll be ready to take the driver’s
test in no time.”

She got out of the truck and
met him at the front, looking back at her parking job.  She huffed.  “It’s
barely crooked.  In fact, I’d say it’s
mostly
straight.”

Cupping her face, he kissed
her.  “I love you, sweetheart, but you’re utterly delusional if you think that
mostly straight counts.”

She laughed and they walked
into the house together.  Everyone was milling around the kitchen, and since
they were apparently the last to arrive, the meeting could start.  Logan kissed
Jenna and watched her join the mates, who chattered excitedly over the things
she had made.  She cast her eyes back to him and smiled, and he returned it.

“We’ll eat after the
meeting,” Jason said as he sat down at the head of the kitchen table.  Cades
sat on his left and Michael on his right, then Bo and Linus on opposite sides. 
Logan sat next to Bo and Teller sat across from Logan.

After everyone was settled,
Jason cleared his throat and rested his elbows on the tabletop, clasping his
hands together.  “The Tressel Pack territory has been in my family for over two
hundred years, before the town of Allen was founded.  We’ve always lived
harmoniously with the human residents, and aside from minor skirmishes over the
years, as a pack we’ve never had any real issues with the humans around us. 
Linus?”

Linus stood and walked into
the mudroom, returning a few moments later with an old-fashioned jaw trap.  The
iron trap had been tripped, the thick, sharp-toothed jaws closed.  Linus said,
“This was found just inside the far western territory last night.  A few of the
younger wolves were practicing hunting in teams to prepare for the full moon,
and found it buried under some leaves.”

Michael asked, “How do you
know it’s been set recently?

Teller said, “Aside from the
fact that we patrol the borders regularly, the trap was set with fresh deer
meat.”

Jason said, “Last week, one
of the customers at the garage said that he’d heard a rumor about some coyotes
stealing chickens from one of the farms that butts up to our territory.  We’ve
never seen any evidence of natural coyotes in our territory, but that’s not to
say that there aren’t any outside of our land.  It’s entirely possible that
whoever set the trap didn’t mean to put it in our territory.” He touched the
trap.  “This is an old trap, but it’s been taken care of.  These sorts of traps
can shatter bones, the teeth can puncture arteries.  If one of our people were
caught in this trap, they wouldn’t be able to shift into their human form to
figure out how to open it, and they could bleed to death before anyone found
them.”

Cades said, “Jas and I are
going to the neighboring farms to speak to them about the traps and see if
anyone owns up to them.  Then we’ll know if we have a real problem or just a
simple misunderstanding.”

Jason nodded.  “Nevertheless,
for the foreseeable future, all wolves have to hunt in packs of three or more
to assure that no one is left alone.  Any wolves that go off on their own will
be punished by me personally in front of the pack.  And Teller is going to head
up more frequent patrols of the borders as well.”

Silence settled over the
group as they all stared at the trap. Logan wanted to believe that it was
something as simple as one of the other landowners around the pack’s territory
not knowing where the border was, but he had serious doubts.  And judging from
the dark looks on the rest of the men at the table, they had doubts as well. 
He’d only been part of two packs his entire life, and both packs had lived in a
town populated by humans.  They interacted with humans — worked, shopped, and
lived around them — and both sides respected the others.  But there were humans
out there that despised shifters for no valid reason, as well as wolves that
hated humans.

Jason spoke for a few minutes
longer about pack business, but once Logan heard Jenna’s sweet laugh, his
thoughts refused to stay on anything but her.  He had a surprise planned for
her, but not until later.

When the meeting adjourned,
they joined the mates outside.  Logan sat next to Jenna at a picnic table, across
from Logan and Reika.  They were joined by Jason and Cades, the others sitting
at a second picnic table nearby.  The meal of barbecued ribs, sweet corn, and
potato salad had been prepared by Karly earlier in the day.  The dessert of
pink champagne cupcakes for the women and black forest cake for the men came
courtesy of Lonestar’s baker-extraordinaire Mrs. B., who had been Karly’s
neighbor before she met Linus.

Logan held a bite of cake up
to Jenna’s lips and she took it, making a happy sound and licking her lips. 
The afternoon passed quickly as they lounged around the backyard and talked. 
Logan couldn’t remember a more relaxing day.

Instead of going home, they
headed to her cousin Leah’s home for dinner.  Leah and her mate, a were-fox
named Todd, lived in Belvin.  Logan drove, since Jenna wasn’t comfortable with
highway driving yet.  When they were on the way she said, “So I made thirty
dollars.”

“Yeah?  Look at you, Miss
Moneybags,” he teased.  “Do you have any plans for the money?”

She hummed.  “Can I give it
to you?”

“Nope.  You worked hard for
that and I want you keep whatever you make.”

“Really?”

“Sure, love.  So whatever you
make with your girly stuff, I want you to keep and do whatever you want with
it, okay?  I know I’m a little old-fashioned, but I like being the one that
works in our family.  And I really like coming home to you.  If you worked away
from the house, then I’d have to share you with others and that would make me
pretty damn miserable.”

She leaned over and hooked
her arm around his, resting her cheek on his shoulder.  “I love you, Logan.”

“I love you, too.”

Belvin was a town similar to
Allen, but mostly human.  Jenna said that Todd was a rogue were-fox, and that
they lived away from his family and pack, or what foxes called a
leash
.  Logan
had never met a were-fox before, but Jenna said he was a nice male, if not
extremely overprotective.  Leah and Todd’s home was a small brick ranch on a
few acres of land next to a cornfield.

A tall, thin young man opened
the door for them.  “I’m Todd.  Leah’s in the kitchen, come on in.”

Logan introduced himself,
shaking his hand.  Leah came out from the kitchen and she and Jenna squealed
and hugged, bouncing together and talking so fast that Logan had trouble
following the conversation.  Leah had Jenna’s dark hair streaked with silver,
but that was where the similarities ended.  Leah was several inches taller than
Jenna, and thin, with a narrow face.

“I’m glad you guys could come
by.  Beer?” Todd asked.

“Yeah, thanks.”

After meeting Leah, Logan
followed Todd to the back patio.  Todd sat down in an Adirondack chair and
Logan sat in a nearby one.  The view from the backyard was of the cornfields,
and far in the distance, a farm house.  They chatted about their work and being
married to fairies.  Logan found Todd to be an easy-going guy.

After a leisurely dinner in
the kitchen, they returned to the patio and the girls sat on their mates’ laps.

“I’m so glad you could come
visit,” Leah said.

“Me, too.  Next time, you
guys can come over to our house for dinner,” Jenna said.

The girls chatted until the
sun set and the stars came out.  With a bit of a drive ahead of them, they said
goodbye and headed home.  Jenna yawned, leaning on his shoulder again.

“Sleepy, baby?”

“A little.  You and Todd
seemed to get along well.  Do you know why he left his
leash
?”

“He said that when he and
Leah got together, the leader of his
leash
thought it was a mistake and
was quite verbal about it.  It didn’t take him long to take off and they’ve
been in Belvin ever since.”

“Leah works at a health-food
store, where they sell all-natural foods and home goods.  She said if I make up
a few batches of soaps that she’ll sell them for me.  They’re always looking
for good quality items, and Leah knows my products first-hand.  I used to bring
her things whenever I visited here.”

“She doesn’t make her own?”

“She could if she wanted to,
but she’s never been inclined.”

He kissed the top of her
head.  “Sounds good, sweetheart.  As long as you’re happy.”

“I’d be really happy if we
were home now and naked.”

“Won’t be too long,” he
chuckled.

She managed to stay awake
until they got home, and he debated about giving her the surprise then or not. 
It wasn’t until she stepped out onto the back porch and remarked on how pretty
the sky looked, with all the stars shining brightly, that he knew the timing
was just right.

He went into the garage and
pulled out the box he’d arranged the day before while Jenna had been working in
the shed.

“Baby?”  He asked, coming out
onto the porch.  “Can you open this?  I found it on a back shelf.  It belonged
to my grandma and it’s locked.”

The key was sitting in a tin
on a shelf in the garage where he’d left it after he locked the box.  The size
of a shoebox, the box had been made by his grandpa as an anniversary gift for
his grandma.  The oak had been shaped and polished by hand, the top carved with
the image of a she-wolf.

“Sure.”  Jenna took the box
and looked at it for a moment, and then laid her hand over the brass lock. 
When there was a tiny audible click, she lifted the lid.  The box was empty
except for one thing.

“What’s this?”  She lifted
the ring from the box and held it up.  “Oh!”  She gasped and the wooden box
tipped from her hand.  Logan snatched it before it could fall.  Setting the box
on the porch, he took the ring from her fingers and got down on one knee.

Taking her left hand in his
he said, “Jenna, I never expected to love my truemate so fiercely.  We’re
already married by fae and wolf standards, and the only thing I’d change about
you is your last name.  Will you marry me by human standards and do me the
honor of becoming Mrs. Anderson?”

“Oh, Logan, yes!”  She
sniffled and laughed as he pushed the ring onto her finger.  He stood and
caught her in his arms, kissing her deeply and holding her close.

“I love you, Logan,” she
said.

“I love you, too, sweetheart.”

He carried her into the house
where they made love until the sun chased the darkness from the sky.  As his
mate cuddled against him, her left hand resting on his chest, he smiled at the
ring on her finger.  Whoever said that one man couldn’t have everything didn’t
have the love of a spectacular woman like Jenna.  He knew how ridiculously
lucky he was to have her in his life.