Logan Chapter 125

-Logan-

I leave work with barely any parting words from Anna, as has become routine lately, and text Emory that I’ll be home a little later than usual. I need to visit Deek and get some information from his brother. The elders of our pack didn’t have much to say about finding out where Emory’s shifter genes could have come from, or how to find out if she did have any at all. Maybe these partial shifts are just a quirk of the fated mate bond. Maybe she’s borrowing from my wolf? He’s been a lot easier to work with lately and I had chalked it up to having my fated mate, loving me and making love with me. He’s so smug it’s hard to put up with in my own head, sometimes. I suppose we’ll know the answer for sure if she ever fully shifts. If I recognize the wolf that comes out, it’ll be easy. I’ve never heard of a female shifter with a male animal before, though. I’m not sure how that would go.

All of the questions I and the elders have led me back to Deek’s older brother, Arthur. We made fun of him when we were little, despite him being older. It just seemed so strange for a wolf to hole himself up in a library all the time. It made him feel like prey, almost. We should have known he was smarter than all of us would ever be by the way that he never rose to the ribbing. He just accepted it as a phase of assholery by under-matured pups. I’m glad he did, because now we need him and he knows it. He could be an ass about it and none of us would even be mad. We know we deserve it- except Emory, of course.

Derek greets me with a bro hug, just like usual. “Hey man, let’s get my brother cranking on some answers, eh?” I pat him a couple of times on the back, glad to have such close friends that have resources similar to mine but different enough to cover more ground.

We walk through the front door to his building, side by side. “Yeah, I have to know what’s going on with Emory. You saw the rundown in the group chat, right? She didn’t think much of it because she was already running high on adrenaline, but it must be such a weird feeling if you didn’t grow up with it.” Deek nods his agreement.

He takes a quiet second to put in his code for the top floor that he and his family occupy. I’m not sure how he convinced a bunch of shifters to live in a high rise apartment building instead of having their own homes with at least a suggestion of a green space, but they all share the rooftop park and seem content. “Yeah, it sounded like a crazy afternoon. I’m so glad you’ve taken all the heat off of everyone else. I’ve never been so anonymous. It’s fucking blissful.”

I roll my eyes at him and lay the sarcasm on heavy. “So glad to be of service.”

Deek laughs. “Yeah, thanks bro! Listen, Artie has been in a bit of a mood lately, probably hard up for some companionship if you ask me, so do what you can to not be an asshole. You probably won’t entirely succeed, but any amount of effort should mitigate it.” We both laugh, because he’s always been way more of a problem than I have.

I give him a shove so I can walk through the door first. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll try to act less like you. Is it just me, or has everybody been crazy lately?” I’d been noticing everyone being off individually, but until just this second, I hadn’t noticed how widespread the personality changes were.

Deek gives me a confused look. “Everybody crazy? As far as I’ve seen, you’ve been the one most out to lunch. My investors have been thanking their lucky stars that I’m not you, lately.” Ugh, investors are a whole different issue.

I put my work life to the back of my mind for a minute and focus. “Sure, Emory and I were the first to go haywire, but haven’t you noticed James being even more uptight than usual lately? And Landon has been cagey and quiet, which you know isn’t like him. And my assistant has been weird lately, too- she’s clearly not sleeping like she should. Everybody is acting… off.”

We have a moment of silence as we both ponder this. “Hey, Logan? Have you considered… maybe it’s just you driving everybody else out of their minds? Landon is freaking out from having to be Alpha. He must’ve realized how much control he doesn’t have over whether or not you die and leave him to it. James is James. He’ll tell us if it’s anything real. Probably Anna worries she’ll be out of a job if you get fired from your own damn company. I bet if you told her I have an opening for a PA, she’d sleep better at night and go back to doing an excellent job for which I’d pay her excellently. There. Fixed all your problems!”

I lose my chance at a rebuttal as we finally make our way into the library that ended up being one of their common areas. Arthur has the apartment right next to it, but I bet he also has a cot hidden behind some of the bookshelves in the back somewhere. The place is too permeated with his scent for any other answer. It takes him a minute to notice us, but when he does, he breathes out a sigh and places a marker in the book he’s reading. He’s not happy to see me, but he’s willing to help. I’ll take it.