Logan drummed his fingers on the top of his desk while he waited for Grace to arrive. He rehearsed in his head what he was going to say to her, and realized that there was nothing he could do except tell the truth. After yesterday there was no way he was going to let Faith and Connor go at the end of the summer. He’d gotten a taste of what it meant to be a family, and he hadn’t had that since his mother walked out on his father.

There had to be a way to have Faith and save the pack too. There had to be something he hadn’t thought of, some way to avoid succumbing to Batesburg that would allow him to keep his son and the woman he wanted to be his mate.

There was a soft knock on the door and he got up out of his chair. Grace stood on the other side, looking a little brighter than she had when she’d been here the last time. Logan had made sure to time her visit for when Mason was not at the bar to spare her the pain of exposure to his continued hostility.

“I was surprised by your call.”

“It was one I wasn’t expecting to make but I find myself backed into a corner.”

Her face softened, and he had a feeling that she’d guessed what this was about. That notion was confirmed when she spoke again.

“You don’t want to mate with me, do you?”

“It’s not that you aren’t a wonderful woman. We've been friends for a long time, and any man would be lucky to call you his mate.”

She held up her hand and he stopped speaking.

“But you’re not in love with me and I’m not in love with you. The argument could be made that it might be better to have a union between us because things wouldn’t get messy if there wasn’t anything but friendship there. And I’m sure when this was first proposed to you that was what you were thinking, but now you have a family. You have your son and his mother. And you don’t want to give that up, do you?”

Logan nodded. Grace had always been very perceptive and she’d hit the nail on the head. Hearing Connor call him Dad for the first time yesterday had hit him right in the heart. He loved his son and would gladly lay down his life for him if that was what was required of him. But this wasn’t only about Connor. It was about Faith too. He couldn’t let her go without doing something to try to keep her.

“Do you know of any way that we can avoid a take over by Batesburg? There has to be something that we can do to make sure that neither of our packs are chewed up and spit out by those bastards.”

A frown knotted her forehead, and Logan’s stomach sunk. He was at a loss for any ideas but he’d hoped that she might have an answer. He was including her in this because she had just as much to lose as he did.

“Why don't we call Lucien. Speak to him and see if there is an other way we can avoid Batesburg.”

Lucien was the head of the council, and he was the one that had offered an alternative to being taken over by Batesburg. If it was up to the council they would have been taken over already. Lucien had managed to buy them some time, but Logan didn’t know what else he could do for them.

“Call him, Logan.”

They had nothing to lose at this point, so Logan picked up the receiver on his desk and dialed Lucien’s private number. Relief went through him when Lucien’s deep voice came over the phone.

“Lucien, it’s Logan Sawyer. I have Grace Mayer here with me.”

“So are you two ready to make it official and bind your packs together with a blood bond?”

“No.” The silence hung on the phone and Logan looked at Grace. She gave him an encouraging smile.

“So you are going to allow the take over by Batesburg to proceed? I have to admit that I’m surprised. The last time we spoke you seemed emphatic that it was not going to happen.”

“Oh, it’s still not going to happen even if I have to fight every member of the council and Batesburg to make sure it doesn’t. I want to know if there is another way, a peaceful way, to avoid the take over and combine Cold Bay and East Brook together that doesn’t require Grace and I to mate with each other.”

The silence on the other end of the phone stretched out and Logan gripped the receiver. Lucien had to have the answer. He was serious when he said he’d fight whoever he had to make sure that his pack didn’t succumb to a hostile take over but he knew that would be suicide and he had a lot to live for now. It wouldn’t help his son, his woman or his pack if he was dead.

“You have to understand why I told you to have a blood bond between the two packs. When the bloodlines between two alphas are combined it is the most unbreakable union. Not even the power of the council can break that bond. It is the only way to guarantee that your packs will be left alone.”

“So what you’re saying is there is no other way?” Logan felt sick as he watched Grace’s face pale. This was not going the way he had expected.

“What I’m saying is that nothing can break that bond. You can combine the packs but all adult members of both packs must agree to it. You are Cold Bay’s alpha, but East Brook must accept you as their alpha too. Even if that happens, if there is any dissent in the ranks you will be taken over. I can do what I can to fight your corner but you have to give me enough ammunition to do so. Is there no one else in your pack that has the blood of an alpha that could mate with Ms. Mayer?”

There was one person in his pack that was part of the same blood line and there was no way a mating between him and Grace would happen. Maybe fifteen years ago but not now.

“Is a mingling of the two bloodlines absolutely necessary?” Logan didn’t want to put his responsibilities as alpha on anyone else. “If we can get full agreement of both packs to merge and accept me as alpha, will that stop the take over?”

“Like I said, there are no guarantees. You’ll be taking a gamble. If you can’t get full agreement, you’ll have to find a way to merge the bloodlines. It doesn’t have to be the alpha, as long as there is a direct bloodline connection. Without the blood connection you have to get all of East Brook to accept you as alpha.”

“I’ll take my chances with getting a unanimous agreement.”

“Okay if that’s what you want. I’ll back your play but just realize that it’s not a done deal. If you can’t get full agreement the council won’t even listen to a proposal to merge the packs. And if you don’t combine the blood lines as an alternative to full agreement, Cold Bay and East Brook will cease to exist. You better prepare yourself for that. I’ll fight for you as hard as I can but Batesburg has powerful friends on the council.”

The line went dead in Logan’s hand and he put the receiver down.

“What did he say?”

Logan debated for a moment how much he was going to tell her. She deserved to know everything without him sugar coating it.

“We have to get both packs to agree to merge and East Brook has to accept me as alpha. It has to be one hundred percent agreement and only then can Lucien go to bat for us with the council.”

“So what you’re saying is that even if we get full agreement there is still a chance that this isn’t going to work.”

Logan nodded. He hesitated for a second. There was one way to guarantee the take over wouldn’t happen. He could say the hell with this and he could give up Faith and his son for the sake of the pack. The thought was abhorrent to him, and if he wasn’t prepared to make a sacrifice like that for the sake of their packs, why should he ask her to make one?

“He did say that the only way to guarantee that the take over won’t happen would be to merge the bloodlines. Is there anyone else in your pack that has the blood of an alpha?”

“Not anyone that is of age. If there has to be a merger of blood it has to be me, but he said it didn’t have to be you, didn't he?”

“Yes. I’d still have to get the majority of your pack to submit to me as alpha but it wouldn’t have to be me who mates with you. Just someone from the same bloodline.”

Her face paled a little and he could see she was connecting the dots in her head. “Who else carries your blood?”

“You know who.” He and Mason shared the same grandfather, which meant that he carried the alpha’s bloodline in his veins. Grace shook her head and he knew that he could not ask her to do what he could not.

“He’d never agree to it. Not even for you. I hurt him too much.”

“That wasn’t your fault. If you told him what really happened—” Grace held her hand up and stopped him from saying any more.

“It was a long time ago and nothing good will come from stirring up the past. It’s over between Mason and I, and nothing I can do or say will ever repair it. If we aren’t going to bind ourselves together, then we’ll have to do it the other way.”

There was nothing that he could say that would change her mind, and it would be selfish for him to push her. They’d try it the way Lucien suggested and he hoped like hell that they got full agreement from both packs. The alternative was unthinkable.

* * *

Faith nervously sipped her diet cola as Bill read the business plan she'd prepared. She didn’t know why she had a funny feeling in her stomach. It could be that this was such a big step for her, to walk away from the life she’d built for herself and Connor and start all over again. As she took another drink, the thought came that this was what was best for Connor. Her boy had blossomed in this town, and she didn’t want to drag him back to the city and have him revert to the sullen and angry kid he’d been growing into.

Bill looked up at her and a smile spread across his face.

“So when are you going to hang out your shingle? You'll have one client already when you do.”

Faith set her glass down and blew out a slow breath. “It’s good?”

“Faith, it’s awesome. So when are you going to get started?” Bill put the package he’d read down and slid it across the table. She slipped it into her purse. Having everything written down on paper made it seem more real to her, and she was both nervous and excited about taking the necessary steps toward solidifying her family.

“I need to get my old life settled first. I’m going to call my mom and tell her what is going on. She knew I was coming here to find Connor’s dad, and I’ve been updating her on his progress. I haven’t told her that I plan to stay. I haven’t told anyone, except you.”

Bill’s eyebrows climbed his forehead. “You haven’t told Logan?”

How could she explain that she wanted to tell him but something was holding her back? When they first slept together they’d agreed this was going to be a summer fling. He hadn’t said a word about it being more than that.

“I want to make sure all my ducks are in a row before I tell him.”

Bill finished the last of his coffee and set the cup back in the saucer.

“Are you sure that’s all it is?”

She looked down at her hands, which were laced together on the table. She should have known that Bill was much more perceptive than she gave him credit for. He’d been like that on the one and only date they'd had. He’d known, perhaps even before she acknowledged it herself, that Logan was the man for her.

“What if this blows up in my face? What if being with me isn’t what he wants? What if it is but things go off the rails down the line?”

She didn’t expect Bill to be able to answer these questions for her, hell she didn’t have the answers herself.

“Where is this coming from? Has Logan said anything to you to indicate that he doesn’t want to build a family with you and Connor.”

“No. Part of the problem is that he hasn’t said anything either way. When I’m with him, when we are all together it feels right. We feel like a family. But I’ve felt that before and it didn’t last.”

She wanted to add that in her experience it never lasted. When she was little, when her father and mother were together, they were a happy family. At least that was how it appeared on the outside, but an affair changed all that. Her father left and her mother spent years trying to find someone to replace him.

“There are no guarantees, Faith. If you’re holding out for one, you’ll be waiting a long time.” Bill signaled to Alex, who was working the bar, for more coffee by lifting his coffee cup. “I can tell you one thing. I’ve lived in this town a long time, and while I don’t have a lot of friends among the furrier residents, I can tell you that Logan is the real deal. He’s the kind of man you can depend on and he takes his responsibilities seriously.”

She knew that of course. He’d proven it when he’d stepped up immediately when she’d shown up out of the blue with Connor in tow. And there was no doubt in her mind that he loved his boy. What was a little foggier to her was whether or not he loved her.

Alex came over with the coffee pot, and poured Bill a fresh cup. The smell of it hit her and her stomach lurched.

“Can I get you anything Faith?” Alex turned to her with a smile and she gritted her teeth. She shook her head no because she was afraid if she opened her mouth she was going to throw up all over the table.

She blew out a few short breaths and finally the wave of nausea passed.

“Are you okay? You look a little green.” Bill looked at her with concern over the edge of his coffee cup.

“I’m fine.” The smell of the coffee hit her again and she had to put her hand up to her mouth and swallow hard. “I’m okay.”

Bill looked at the coffee and at her. “I didn’t know the smell of coffee upset your stomach. I can get rid of it if you want.”

“No. It’ll pass.” Faith swallowed again, but this time it was to push down the thought that popped in her head. There was only one other time in her life when the smell of coffee bothered her. It was when she was pregnant with Connor.

She asked Bill how things were going with the motel to keep him talking and as he told her about the large group of hikers who’d just left, she did some quick calculations in her head. She’d finished her period a few days before she left to come here, and what she’d failed to notice was that she hadn’t gotten it since.

Could she be pregnant? The idea thrilled her and made her nervous all at the same time. This was a chance for Logan to share with her all the experiences he’d missed with Connor. And if she was honest with herself, what she wanted to experience with him.

She wouldn’t tell him until she knew for sure. If this was just a fluke, if there was some other reason that her period was late and the coffee smell was bothering her, she didn't want them both to be disappointed.

She and Bill were almost finished, and she managed to get her mind back on the conversation. She had so much to do. She needed to get a pregnancy test. How she was going to do that in a town this small, where everyone knew Logan and would remark on the fact that she’d bought one?

She glanced toward Logan’s office door, and to her surprise it opened and a blond woman walked out. She didn’t know who she was, but that wasn’t unusual. The only person she really knew in town was Bill.

Logan stepped out of the office too, but he didn’t glance her way. He reached out and hugged the woman for a long moment, and Faith felt her stomach lurch. Who was she and why was he hugging her?

She tore her eyes away and looked at Bill.

“What is it?”

Something of what she was feeling must have been written on her face. She held up one finger as her eyes tracked the woman as she walked across the barroom floor and out the door.

“Do you know her? The blond woman?” She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the strange woman as she walked across the parking lot toward her car. Who was she and why was Logan hugging her? Was she a relative and that hug completely innocent?

“I’ve never seen her before. Whoever she is, she doesn’t live here.”

She could still be a relative, but somehow Faith doubted it. If Bill didn’t know who she was, she definitely didn’t live in this town. But who was she and why had Logan been meeting with her in his office and hugging her when she left?

Faith finished the rest of her diet soda and tried to put the blond woman from her mind. She had other things to worry about, like whether or not she was carrying Logan’s baby. Once she knew for sure, she was going to sit down with him and have a long talk. Logan had not given her any indication that he was running around, and honestly he didn’t seem the type. There could be all sorts of innocent explanations for why he was hugging a woman that she’d never seen before.