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I take a hesitant step toward where Logan is sitting on my bed. I'm hyper aware of fact that it's just the two of us alone in my bedroom, with the door closed, and that all I'm wearing is this silky, saffron dress. I don't even have shoes on, and my hair is wet, which somehow makes things feel even more intimate. At least I've got stuff on under the dress, but just thinking about my underwear around Logan makes my cheeks flood with color.
"Um... what do you want to talk about?" I ask, blushing even harder.
"Come, sit." Logan pats a spot on the bed next to him, seeming completely oblivious to my racing thoughts and obvious discomfort.
I gulp, hesitate again, and then close the rest of the distance between us. I should probably be thinking about whatever it is Logan wants to talk about anyway, but my mind refuses to move past the bed... and the fact that when I sit down, we're both on it, even though I leave a huge gap of space between us.
Is Logan thinking about that too? Does he wish I sat closer, close enough that our legs touched? Close enough that he could kiss me? I look up at him, and catch his gaze trailing down a strand of my wet hair to my bare shoulder. I touch the strand nervously and Logan lets out a loud growl and jumps to his feet.
"What?" I ask in surprise. Did I say or do something to make him move across the room to where I was standing moments earlier? Why did he ask me to sit down if we were just going to switch spots?
"Father's going to make the announcement soon." Logan growls, loudly, like he's about to lose control of his wolf. He grips his hands behind his back, and the muscles on his arms bulge with the obvious strain.
"What announcement?" I ask. And why do I get the feeling that whatever it is, it's bad news? Oh yeah... because we're talking about POW here.
"Well," Logan suddenly grins, and I rethink the 'bad news' part, "now that you can link and you've proved you're not an Omega—"
"Wait," I jump to my feet, "I can link?"
"Yeah." Logan nods like it's no big deal. Which I guess it isn't—for him. He's been able to do it his whole life, but I haven't. "You don't remember?"
"No." I frown. Did it happen while I was recovering? I guess it must have, but it doesn't really matter. Not when I can link. "Can we try it?" I ask, feeling a wave of excitement. Please, I beg silently, hoping Logan will be able to hear me over the link.
A second passes, then two, then three, but Logan doesn't reply.
"Hello?" I wave a hand in front of his face. "Can we try it? Please, Logan?"
"Not again," Logan snaps.
"Why not?" I ask, feeling a wave of hurt.
"No, that's not what I meant." Logan throws his hands up in frustration. "You linked. When you were in the infirmary. You linked. You should be able to do it again."
"Are you sure?" I ask.
"Of course I'm sure." Logan growls, but I ignore his obvious anger and try to remember my time in the infirmary.
The whole chunk of memory from the time of the Rogue attack to the moment I woke up with Luna sitting next to my bed is kind of a blur. I do remember fighting the Rogues, but it's more like a far-away dream than something that really happened. After that, I recall shouting Logan's name, and him shouting mine. Then a jumbled mess of nightmares. The one that keeps coming back is of POW shouting at me to shift, his eyes blazing bright red and his head growing three times it's size... pretty sure I dreamt that one. I also remember him questioning me about what happened, and telling me everyone's fine, but that almost seems like a dream too. Even Logan making me drink that vile medicine feels like it happened to someone else. I guess whatever it was that doctor lady gave me must have been some powerful stuff.
"Listen, Saf." Logan suddenly crosses the distance between us and pulls me down to sit on the bed facing him. He holds my hands in his, but this time he looks so serious—and so worried—that all the awkwardness at my end disappears.
"Yeah?" I ask, responding to the urgency in his voice.
"It's really important that we get you to link in the next..." he takes out his phone and glances at the screen, "eighteen minutes."
"W-what happens in eighteen minutes?"
"That's when Father makes the announcement. If you still can't link by then, I... I'll have to tell him. It could ruin everything!"
Logan looks so horrified that I start to freak out too. Pissing off the Pissed Off Wolf is a bad idea. A very bad idea. If I can't hear whatever announcement he makes... "Wait! Couldn't you just tell me what he's saying?"
"What?" Logan frowns.
"You know... when he links? Can't you just repeat it aloud? Or tell me later?" I could always nod along and pretend to hear this announcement.
"Saf, it doesn't work that way. Someone's going to figure out you can't link, and they'll tell Father." Logan shakes his head. "He'll kill me for not telling him."
"Okay." I nod. "Well, you said I linked before. That means I can do it again, right?"
"Right!" Logan perks up.
"Then lets do this."
"Okay." Logan grins and his grip on my hands tightens. "Just relax and find your wolf."
"Okay." I nod, pulling away from him. There's no way I can focus on anything while we're holding hands, especially not relaxing. Logan lets go and I rest my hands on my lap before closing my eyes. I focus on taking deep breaths, on relaxing each part of my body before all I'm aware of are the recesses of my mind.
I focus my attention on the cage I have my wolf in, and it slowly starts to materialize. The memory of what happened last time I did this makes my palms sweat, but I know I have to do this now, before POW finds out. I have to take this risk.
I urge myself to hurry, but I still find myself mentally tiptoeing around the cage I have my wolf in. It takes many slow, agonizing seconds before I've finally worked up the courage to open it, and then I force myself to give my wolf a mental nudge.
I expect her to be drowsy and hard to reach, like last time, but she reacts as soon as she feels my presence. She jumps to her feet and starts to wag her tail with obvious excitement. Let's run, she cries, and I feel a wave of longing for the forest.
"I think—" I grin, about to tell Logan that it's working. Then my wolf goes berserk.
Mate! Mate! Mate! Mate! She screams over and over again, telling me to hook up with Logan like I'm some animal. Then, images assail me. Images of throwing myself at Logan—of mating with him.
I jump to my feet and take an instinctive step back, away from him, then another and another. As my feet carry me backward toward the door, I focus all my mental energy on my wolf. On shoving her back. On locking the cage. Of getting away from her. My back is flat against the door before I realize that Logan is saying something.
"Saf? Saf! What's wrong?" he cries and I realize that he's crossed the room after me and is standing right in front of me.
"N-nothing," I stutter. "My wolf wanted... she kept telling me to... to..." I blush at the mental images of Logan that my wolf left behind. Images of doing it with him.
1. Should Saf tell Logan why she's freaking out?
2. If you were Saf, would you tell Logan what just happened? Or would you be too embarrassed to say anything?
3. Should Saffron finally link? No? Ok!
4. What would you like to see happen in the next chapter?
5. Did you forget about Jess again?
6. I bet you forgot about Jess again!
7. Ooooh, also... I started this chapter in Logan's POV, then rewrote it as Saf because it worked better. I kept the old version though. Do you guys want to read it? I can always post it in "STAWP Bonus Stories" on my profile.