Logan Chapter 57

-Logan-

Waking up has never been so sweet. My gorgeous mate is wrapped around me like climbing roses, she knows all of who and what I am, and she’s not afraid of me. Also, I have opposable thumbs again. It’ll be awhile before I take those for granted. I take just a few moments to enjoy Emory’s presence against me, playing with her hair and stroking her back. I’d like to wake her with a bang, but we’re not there yet. This is almost as nice, gentling my darling to the day. From the month stuck as a wolf, I know she’s not a morning person- it takes her a moment to catch her bearings and remember her plan for the day. She’s not a coffee addict like I’ve seen some people be; she just struggles through the first hour or so of her day until her mind firmly comes online.

I hear her sigh in pleasure at my ticklish touches, and she snuggles her face into my chest before she wakes enough to remember herself. I kiss the top of her head in acknowledgement of her wakefulness. “I don’t know if I miss you greeting me with ‘hey there good boy’ every morning or not. Am I still good to you, little rose?”

She covers her face with her hands in her embarrassment. “Well, you do more bad as a man than you did as a wolf. It’s too early for philosophy. Bathroom first.” She takes one huge breath, and then rolls out of bed to stagger into the bathroom to start her morning routine. I’m struck all over again by the sight of her in my shirt, and I have to take a long moment to flex my quads to pull blood away from my groin.

Morning wood added to an irresistible mate doesn't make a good combination for a productive day, and we have a lot scheduled. We’re starting our day in my downtown office with the shareholders and Anna, then a quick video chat with the guys to introduce them all to Emory- James a bit more formally, Oliver and Derek for the first time. I haven’t even talked to the other two, but I got the meeting request in my email right as I woke up. I suppose it was nice of James to give us the rest of the day ‘to ourselves’ to acquaint Emory to Landon. I thought for sure Nanette would visit, but the busybody probably wanted to give us time to create some good gossip before she came to harvest it.

After talking to the guys, we’re jetting back here to talk to the elders and deal with the most pressing pack matters. I’m sure they’ll all want to take Emory’s measure, but hopefully they won’t be obvious about it. On the one hand, I want to shelter her- she doesn’t know much of anything about our culture, didn’t know without question that we exist as a people until yesterday, knows only that as a human she’s physically weaker than even most of the children. We’ll have to find a way to teach them how to play gently with her without losing respect for her. There’s just so much to catch up on for her with our people that it feels like no matter how well our first date went, we would have started out behind. With the intervening month of holding pattern and unavoidable pain for both of us, it seems like we’re losing the race. I don’t lose, though, so we’ll have to find a way to come back from behind.

With my day ordered in my head, I get up to join Emory in the bathroom. I noticed that she didn’t bring a change of clothes in with her, so I figure we’ll do a swap while she gets dressed out here. I don’t plan on being so shy. I tap her ass when I walk behind her. “You awake yet, gorgeous?”

She rolls her eyes in the mirror and finishes brushing her teeth before she answers. “Mostly. I must still be sleepier’n I thought, though, ‘cause I don’t remember tellin’ you I was ready for you to come in here.” There’s the eyebrow, and accent. We’re starting off spicy this morning.

I give her a shit-eating grin, just to keep that strength flowing in her veins. She’ll need it today. “I could just feel the vibe through the door. I got the feeling that you were missing these muscles and figured I would do you a favor.” I should find a way to get her fight ready for the day without needling her. The look on her face now says that my balls might be in danger later. Something about it turns me on, though. It would be good to win the upper hand with her instead of taking it as my due in the bedroom. We’ll see if I can get her to play around with it.

She apparently chooses to drop it with another eye roll. “How do we russell up breakfast here? Are we gonna have to cook for my whole family when they get here? ‘Cause my Momma is gonna lecture me every single day about my cookin’ if that’s the case. I’d like her to get some semblance of a vacation while she’s here.”

I love how she’s comfortable enough with me now to speak how she grew up speaking instead of what she thinks sounds more intelligent. I know she’s whip smart no matter how many contractions she uses. “Nah. Nanette has a couple of the younger wolves that she’s teaching how to cook, so they come here to practice on us and we give her our critiques until she decides they’re skilled enough to use in her restaurant. We’ll probably have biscuits and gravy every day your family is in, but with some pretension thrown in.” My turn to roll my eyes. They always try to be hotshots when they first start cooking for someone they don’t know well. That’s why Nanette made the deal to let me ‘break them in’ for her. I let them down easy until they make the foods I actually like, and when she employs them they actually listen to her. It works out pretty nicely, minus a few awkward conversations every few months.

I notice that Emory has gone still. “You have people come cook for you? Like some kind of royalty? Do you have maids, too? Is there a fleet of staff I’m going to have to learn how to live around?” I think of her apartment in contrast to how I’m asking her to live, and realize how different both our lives just became.

“It’s not as serious as all that, baby. We have teenage wolves all the time that need to learn how to better handle responsibility. They pick up odd jobs throughout the pack until they’re old enough to drive and have real jobs. Plus Nanette likes to test drive her cooks here. Think of them more as apprentices than anything else. Nothing pretentious.”

She takes a deep breath before she starts moving again. “Okay. I can handle kids.” With a determined nod, she heads back to the bedroom to get dressed and firmly closes the door behind her. She’ll be just fine.