Chapter 9
Logan gave his two weeks’ notice Monday morning, which his foreman was less than pleased about. He was so irritated in fact, he sent Logan packing, telling him not to bother hanging around since he was so easily replaced. The rejection stung, but Logan was secretly thrilled that he could go home and climb back into bed. He knew he’d given that job his all and no one outside of another shifter could have matched his production. His foreman was just a jerk which was another reason Logan was happy to see the jobsite fading away in his rearview mirror. Thirty minutes after leaving for work, Logan was back home walking into an empty house.
“Honey, I’m home!” Logan called out to no one. He was stripping off his clothes as he walked down the hall, intent on falling back into bed naked. It was a beautiful day outside and Logan wasn’t going to see any of it if he had his way. When Logan pushed the door to his room open, Judas looked up guiltily from his perch on Logan’s pillow. . That explained why his eyes were crusty every morning now when Logan first woke up.
“Just great. Move your ass, Judas. I’m tired,” Logan grumbled. Surprisingly, the cat sprang up and relocated to his usual spot in the middle of the bed without even a hint of complaint. Logan picked up his pillow and thumped it a few times to dislodge any stray hairs. Turning it over for good measure, Logan collapsed. He felt the thrum of Judas’ purr through the mattress and took more than a little comfort in the cat’s joy to see him again.
“I love you, too. Now go to sleep. I’m tired,” Logan mumbled his eyes still tightly closed. The purring stopped and Logan drifted off dreaming of their last hunt.
Logan eyes blearily opened while his brain tried to determine what finally stirred his consciousness enough to wake. He blinked repeatedly, shocked at how different the light in his room had become. He wasn’t kidding when he decided to sleep the day away, he realized. Logan was still in the same position he’d started in, curled around his pillow on his side. Judas’ purring started up again, this time vibrating through Logan’s muscular back in a much more forceful way. Logan quickly realized it wasn’t just the purring that was odd.
Logan was burning up. Damn, he never remembered the cat making him this hot before even when Judas was pressed right into the small of his back. Logan tried to roll away from the heat, but something was restraining him around the waist. Logan’s eyes flew wide when he realized he couldn’t move. He frantically flailed to free himself from his bindings and unknown limbs instantly wrapped tighter around him.
“Geez, Logan. Chill out, will you? I’m trying to sleep here,” a deep baritone spoke sleepily from just behind Logan’s ear. If that was meant to calm him, it failed. Logan started to fully freak the fuck out. As he continued to try to fight his way free, a heavy purr sounded from his captor’s chest. Logan flinched when a faintly raspy tongue painted its way up the side of Logan’s neck.
“Okay, if you won’t go back to sleep, I guess we can fuck instead. It feels like I’ve been waiting forever to taste you,” the voice said. Logan froze as the alarming words sank in. Logan gave up any hope of maintaining his pride and started calling out to his pack for help. When no one came, the other man chuckled in his ear.
“They’re all gone, Logan. It’s just you and me. Finally, I get you all to myself,” the man said and the purring intensified. The sound was strangely familiar and Logan froze, trying to place it. He shook his head slightly, refusing to believe the crazy direction his brain was taking him. Logan forced himself to stop fighting, realizing he was simply wearing himself out and getting nowhere closer to fully understanding his situation.
“Who are you? And what are you doing in my bed?” Logan questioned, dreading the other man’s answer.
“Aw, I’m hurt, Logan. You don’t recognize me?” the man said. The purring intensified as if the man was trying to jog Logan’s memory. Logan’s wolf nudged his human consciousness with annoyingly fond acceptance.
“Judas?” Logan asked faintly. The hand on Logan’s waist squeezed his hip gently right before it shifted to a giant orange and black striped paw. Each stubby digit was tipped with lethally sharp black claws. Logan felt his abdomen tense as it tried to pull itself away from this new threat.
Finally free to move, Logan rolled onto his back and gasped in surprise. Gone was the ugly housecat. In its place was a stunningly beautiful tiger that easily outweighed even Logan’s larger-than-normal wolf. Logan wouldn’t have recognized Judas at all, except the tiger had the same mismatched eyes -- one green and one blue. The tiger blinked and leaned forward to butt his head up against Logan’s shoulder, just as Logan remembered the cat doing so many times before. But this is not a cat.
Logan pushed the giant head away and leapt from the bed. Logan stood just inside the bedroom door, trying to work his brain around this unbelievable revelation. The tiger simply stayed sprawled out across the middle of the bed as if he owned it. It blinked its mismatched eyes in Logan’s direction and yawned. When the tiger’s sharp teeth sparkled in the dim light, Logan felt a shiver of unease.
Logan wondered why his wolf hadn’t come forth at the first sign of danger. There was a fucking tiger in his bed, for Pete’s sake. Logan couldn’t think of anything more dangerous at the moment, yet his wolf sat just under the surface practically vibrating with pleasure. Logan looked at the door and briefly thought about running. Before he could move another inch, the tiger spoke again.
“Logan, don’t go. It’s okay. My tiger isn’t going to hurt you.” Logan looked back to find the naked man back in his bed. Logan admitted he was still discomfited by the tiger’s human form. Miles of golden skin were on display and Logan felt something peculiar swirl in the pit of his stomach. The tiger’s familiar yet foreign eyes stared back at him and Logan’s heart started to pound.
“I didn’t mean to scare you, Mate. I just wanted to let you see my tiger’s form so you would know that I am worthy,” the other man offered in a voice thick with obvious desire. Logan stared, eyes as wide as saucers as he absorbed the other shifter’s crazy words.
“What the fuck are you talking about, Judas? You can’t be my mate. You’re not even my species,” Logan said as he slowly backed toward the door shaking his head. Logan felt his upper lip curving in a sneer of disgust. Judas sighed and ran his huge hands through his thick strawberry blond waves as he sat up. Logan could feel the other man's gaze as it painted him up and down like a caress.
“Wolves can be so rigid sometimes. I am your mate, Logan, whether you choose to accept it yet or not. And my name is Jude, not Judas. Jude Hawking. That prick Kai thought the play on my name was funny, so he butchered it for his own pleasure. Frankly, I’m sick of it. I’d appreciate it if you could call me by my proper name,” Jude said.
Jude climbed out of bed and dug through Logan’s dresser, pulling out a pair of Logan’s basketball shorts and shimmying into them. Logan stood just inside the doorway staring as the other man moved around the room, making the bed. Apparently satisfied, Jude slid past and nosed up the side of Logan’s neck, inhaling deeply.
“You better put on some clothes before I lose control and claim you, Mate. I know you aren’t ready for that yet,” Jude said. Logan felt the flame of a full-on blush flood his face as he looked down, just now realizing he was still stark naked after his nap. Jude smirked and stepped back, apparently comfortable in giving Logan some much needed space.
“I’ll see you in the kitchen,” Jude said as he walked away. Logan exhaled the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding and told his heart to stop trying to race away. With legs like Jell-O, Logan sat down on the end of the bed and wondered what the hell had just happened.
Logan was fully dressed when he finally talked himself into leaving the pretend safety of his bedroom. Jude looked up from his place at the kitchen table and Logan froze, uncomfortable again with the way Jude watched him like he was getting ready to pounce. Finally, Jude broke eye contact and got up to make Logan a cup of coffee.
“You take it black, right?” Jude asked, holding the steaming mug at arm’s length. Logan nodded and took the offering. He sat all the way at the other end of the table, but Jude ignored Logan’s bid for separation, instead moving his own mug and claiming the seat directly across. Logan held his mug between two hands like some sort of protective barrier between them. Jude chuckled and Logan was forced to drop his feeble attempt.
“What’s the matter, Logan? Cat got your tongue?” Jude finally asked sardonically. Logan felt his usual temper rising to the surface as he pushed forcibly back from the table, one of the chair’s legs squealing across the laminate floor.
“What the fuck is going on, Jude? I mean, is this some sick joke to you? Pretending to be a cat this whole time? Fucking watching me? Sleeping with me?” Logan was pacing the kitchen, running his hands repeatedly through his thick black hair and pulling on the strands. “And then popping out all naked and shit and claiming I’m your mate?! How more fucked up can you get?” Logan found his back pushed up against the thrumming refrigerator as Jude stared down into his wide icy-blue eyes.
“I would never joke about finding my mate, Logan. You should know that being a shifter yourself. Yes, I’ll admit it’s unexpected, but you are my mate and you will come to accept it no matter how hard you are fighting it now,” Jude’s deep baritone growled. Jude’s hands pressed against the wall, caging Logan’s head.
“I’m sorry for how we met originally, but I had no choice in my original appearance. I don’t know why that warlock chose to do this to me, but I was under Kai’s spell. I probably would have stayed that way forever if you hadn’t admitted you loved me. So don’t deny our connection too hard. It was your love after all that freed me from that hateful form,” Jude explained.
“I said I loved a cat. An ugly, mangy, terrible cat. Not this. Not you,” Logan whispered. He saw the flash of pain in Jude’s mismatched eyes just before the other man closed them and stepped back, releasing his hold on Logan’s hips.
“I get that. I really do. I understand this is a shock and I’m willing to give you time to find your way back to me, Logan. What kind of mate would I be if I forced something on you that you weren’t ready for, after all?” Jude said as he widened the distance between them. Logan stayed where he was, his back still pressed to the refrigerator, and watched as Jude headed for the front door. He had the strange urge to tell the man he couldn’t go outside as he had told the cat a million times before.
“I’ll be back later. I’m going to go out for a bit and burn off some energy. I can’t stay here right now. It wouldn’t be safe for you,” Jude said meaningfully and opened the door. Before he stepped out, he turned back and faced Logan again.
“Please be here when I get back. I don’t know what my tiger would do if he thinks his mate ran away from him. I promise I won’t do anything you’re not ready for, but please don’t run, Logan,” Jude said plaintively.
“What if I’m never ready?” Logan asked before he’d even planned to speak. Pain flashed again through Jude’s expressive eyes and he exhaled dejectedly.
“Then I’ll be the perfect mate and watch you from afar, protecting you with my life,” Jude said and shut the door behind him.