Chapter Twelve
Logan
While Logan was by now accustomed to the two men being near to him at every moment, this was a whole new level of security. Despite the fact that they were all riding on the backs of horses over rocky hills at any one point he could feel either Hugh or Julian pressed against his leg. It was irritating him, but really annoying the golden colored horse underneath him.
Rico took them to his main grazing field, explaining as they rode how he alternated between fields to give the land a chance to regrow. In a few weeks, he had plans to move the huge pack of cattle from the field they currently spent their days lazily grazing to one on the other side of the river. He wanted to wait for the water level to go down so that the trip over wouldn't be so dangerous but would have to time the drive for just before the raining season.
As he explained, Lupe took over translating, since she was closer to Rico. Logan took a moment to stretch in his saddle, wincing as his muscles protested.
"Are you in pain?" Julian asked immediately slipping up beside him again.
Beneath him, his horse huffed. He opened his mouth to respond, but Hugh was coming up beside him, his eyes continually roving the land around them, searching for a danger that Logan wasn't even sure was there. Even he had heard of Chupacabra's. They were beasts of legend, best friends with the Loch Ness monster. It was likely the animal harming Rico's livestock was--
Logan's horse moved unexpectedly halting his thought process. Irritated by how close the other two had been, Logan's horse sprinted forward with a little kick to the two horses he left behind. He heard shouting behind him, but Logan couldn't do much more than hold on as the horse took off, bringing them down the hill, around the herd of cattle and to the other side of the field before he thought to try grabbing on the reins to get the horse to stop. The horse was slowing down, but because of a ravine that was ahead of them. He couldn't see how far down it went but saw dry brambles and leaves that likely would hurt pretty badly should he fall into them.
When he did pull back, the horse reared up, effectively sliding Logan off its back and onto his ass. He hit the ground hard. He heard more shouting and hooves pounding against the ground, so he got to his feet to let everyone know he was okay. Except, when he turned around, he took a wrong step, his feet sliding on loose dirt and he fell, tumbling down the ravine as the rest of his party rushed over. He caught a glimpse of Hugh and Julian, their faces masks of horror as he fell back.
Logan rolled down the steep incline, and when he came to a stop, he shook his head, coughing the dust he'd swallowed.
"Logan!" Hugh screamed down, his voice sounding like it came from very far away.
"I'm here. I'm okay!" Amazingly, he was. Logan pushed off the ground, realizing he'd put his hand in something squishy a moment too late. He pulled his hand to his face, expecting to see it covered in cow poop. It was smeared with something, but the color was a darker red than he would have expected. Logan spun around, taking in the space around him.
A few feet away, crouched behind a thorny bush was a black mass. It hunched with its body pressed low to the ground as if trying to look as small as possible. Logan blinked, wondering first if all the monsters from the fairy tales and urban legends were true. He couldn't recall what a Chupacabra was supposed to look like, but this animal was decidedly feline.
It looked like a panther, but that was crazy talk. Panther's didn't live in that part of Mexico. Whatever it was, it had a blood-red muzzle that was hard to miss.
Logan stepped back slowly, keeping his movements deliberate as he bumped into the thing he'd accidentally stuck his hand in. The cow had been recently killed, apparent from the way it was still warm. Like Mr. Santiago, Logan had unwittingly interrupted the beast during a meal. Except, the panther didn't seem angry. Just scared.
The panther wasn't without weapons though, his muzzle was proof of that. Logan also spotted his claws, and he couldn't help but notice they were sharp enough to easily tear through his flesh.
This was clearly the beast that had been taking Mr. Santiago's cattle, but was it also a shifter? Logan lifted his hand, giving the panther a small wave. "Um, hi."
The panther lifted its head ever so slightly toward Logan and took a big sniff. He made a noise in his throat, and Logan couldn't decide if it was angry or curious. He flinched back from it anyway. Then, he felt bad and stuck his hand out in that universal signal for come sniff me, I am a friend. The panther stretched even closer and then its ears went flat as a deep growl rumbled in its mouth.
"Logan get away!" Hugh sounded terrified.
"It's fine, I think—"
A gunshot silenced everything else he was about to say. Logan spun around, terrified to find the panther there. When he saw the space behind the bush was empty, he didn't know if he should be worried or relieved. Hugh slid down the hill like he was on a surfboard and the ravine incline was a big wave. He reached Logan a moment before Julian did, wrapping him up in a tight hug before pulling back to look for injuries.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," he said. "Who shot at us?"
Julian growled as Hugh frowned. "Us?"
"The panther, me, dead Bessie, us."
"Rico," Julian grunted. "I guess we found the animal that's been preying on his cattle."
"Which brings me to my first and most important question," Hugh said, lifting Logan in his arms as he started the trip back up the ravine. "Why were you trying to touch the dangerous predator?"
"You're a dangerous predator and I touch you!"
"That's different."
Logan realized when Hugh didn't say anymore that that was all he was going to get for an answer. He set him down when they reached the top. Rico was on his walkie, calling in the workers to come get what was left of the cow.
"He says he needs to move the cattle today," Lupe said. "And he wants to know if we can make it back to the house by ourselves."
"He doesn't need one of us to stick around?" Julian asked.
"The panther won't hurt him," Logan said.
The other three stared at him.
Logan couldn't explain his trust in the beast. Maybe spending so much time with Hugh and Julian was giving him a sixth sense.
A beast sense. "I just…he already ate…right?"
"Uh huh, right," Hugh replied slowly. "Come here, you'll ride with me."
Logan didn't want to get back on his own horse, but he also saw the problem with loading another full-sized man onto the back of a beast that was likely at its limit already. "No way, the poor horse would collapse beneath us. I'll ride with Lupe."
"Logan, you should—"
"I'll ride with Lupe," Logan cut him off. He didn't miss the flash of arousal in the shifter's expression.
Logan was beginning to understand the men were always concerned with keeping him safe, but that didn't stop it from being annoying. The panther hadn't meant him any harm. Whether that was because he was full or could turn into a human, he wasn't sure.
But, it felt more than that. Like the panther had been trying to connect with him. Though, if that was the case, why not just shift and speak?
He hadn't once growled at Logan or showed his teeth. He'd been scared at first and then curious. Then scared again when Rico shot at him.
Logan pulled his body up into the saddle and waited for Lupe to crawl up behind him. She settled into place, and Logan urged the horse back toward the ranch.
When Logan had suggested they stay at the ranch longer, his motives had been purely selfish. That wasn't something he was proud of, but he knew that returning back to Acapulco with Julian and Hugh meant making a choice. His mind couldn't fathom allowing people into his life, but his heart told him it was too late. Delaying that trip back meant delaying the choice that would force Logan to break his heart.
"Can we go faster?" Lupe asked, her tone bored. "Abuela said she wanted to go through some of mom's old clothes."
Logan urged the horse forward. On his own, he'd been scared to go faster than a walk, but now that he'd fallen off, the worse had happened. He pushed the horse into a trot that had them both bouncing and made Lupe laugh. When they pulled to a stop in front of the barn, Logan told Lupe he would take the gear off and put the horse back in its stall so she could get inside.
Lupe seemed way more interested in clothes and inside things than she was with being out on the farm and working with the animals. If that was the biggest problem she had here, then she was going to grow up happy.
Julian and Hugh arrived on their own horses. Logan smirked at their matching groans of pain when they jumped off and their legs bent back the way they were used to bending.
"Glad you could make it," Logan quipped as he lifted the saddle off his horse's back. Julian appeared in seconds to take it from him.
"You need to know," Julian began. "Just because Hugh and I are friendly shifters, it doesn't mean they all are. If that beast was a shifter, which we aren't even sure about, that doesn't mean it means you no harm."
"I know that."
"How do you know? We're the only shifters you have met, and we ended up being your mates."
The word had the power to twist a hole in his heart.
"Why did your heart begin pounding when I said that word?" Julian asked quietly, setting the saddle down on its storage post.
"I don't know what you are talking about," Logan replied, pulling the bridle down his horse's face. The gentle animal shook his head thankfully, getting used to not having the metal in his mouth.
"That's why you want to stay," Hugh said then.
Logan sensed them both behind him as he led his horse in his stall and shut the door.
"How could you go through everything we've been through and still not accept that you are our mate and everything that that means?" Julian asked. The heartbreak in his tone was enough for Logan to go back on his stance, to agree they were meant to be together forever.
Until they weren't.
"You are asking me to just forget about who I am as a person. It's as if you simply expect me to ignore every part of me that screams that I should run, that you two will hurt me, that I will hurt myself if I don't put a stop to it now." He took a quick step away from Hugh who had been about to embrace him. "The dumbest part is that I don't want to stop it. It isn't fair that I should meet you now when I am…so…"
"Scared."
Logan spun around facing Julian with his finger out, getting as close to him as he dared. "I am not scared. Cautious. And what man wouldn't be? You jump into my life, take over every part of it and tell me your semen will make me crave you."
"And are we lying?" Julian asked, his arms crossed over his large chest.
Logan turned away from him, unwilling to give the man the satisfaction of seeing that he was right. Logan was no stranger to self-sabotage. Julian and Hugh had given him no reason not to trust them. Their biggest flaw was that they were perfect. How could they not see that that was what made Logan feel the need to push away? His bears weren't going to make this easy on him, and they also weren't going to give him the space necessary to clear them from his head. He felt them behind him, the heat of their bodies rivaling that of the sun. His body yearned to turn around and sink into whichever was closest.
"That isn't the point," he said, hearing how haughty he sounded and hating it. "People crave things that are bad for them all the time." Logan took a deep breath and steeled himself. "Maybe it isn't that I don't feel it, but that I don't want it."
"I see."
Two words. Julian spoke two words, but they sounded like nails slamming into a coffin.
"Julian," Hugh said, following his mate out of the barn.
Logan thought he could feel Julian's pain. It was a pain they shared.
When Logan turned around, he saw that he had finally gotten what he said he wanted. He was alone.