Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 92376 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92376 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Logan stays close by my side, and I offer him some seeds, setting them in his palm.
“Found him on the property, two years ago, after he was attacked by a fox. He barely escaped, and that gave me time to scare the fox off before taking him in.”
“You rescued him?”
“I’ve rescued all my birds. Something I started to do in my early twenties, can’t really say why.”
“How did you manage to keep this from me for so long?”
“We’re just getting to know each other, aren’t we? Here, hold your hand up, and let’s see if he will meet you.” We put our hands together. “Come on, Willie. Say hey to your new daddy.”
As though I’d planned it out with him to impress Logan, he flaps his wings and jumps over to Logan’s hand.
Logan’s smile expands as Willie nibbles away at the seeds. “Can I pet him?”
“Be very gentle, not that I think you wouldn’t be.”
He places his finger against Willie’s neck, moving gently down. I’m surprised by how Willie stays perfectly still, allowing Logan to stroke him. The light in Logan’s eyes has returned, and I can’t help but think that I’m not worthy of this incredible man. Beautiful, passionate, caring, thoughtful… All those things that first nudged at me, all those things that made me want to make him mine. All the things I’m going to adore now that he’s my husband.
“So Killian Lorde, bird rescuer?” he asks, his gaze locking with mine. “Maybe this dark image you have as a psychopath without feeling is overstated.”
As he says it, a darkness moves within me. One that knows better. “I wish I could say it was a noble impulse, but I must admit, I like when they get injured and I’m able to rescue them.”
Logan’s smile shifts to concern, and once again, I find myself in the position where I think I might have been better off if I’d kept that sort of thought to myself.
“Then they can be your victims?”
“I just… Once I meet them, I get very attached, and I want to possess them.”
“Why?” he presses.
It’s not something anyone’s ever asked, but I know the answer right away: “Because if I possess them, then I know they’ll be taken care of. That I can give them everything they need. They don’t ever have to live in the wild and be at risk of being killed or captured or tormented. They can be…”
“Safe,” he says, finishing my sentence for me. His gaze travels around my face as though he’s searching for something. “Have you considered that this has something to do with your family?”
My thoughts scramble. “What?”
“You started rescuing in your early twenties. Was it after your family was attacked? I can’t help wondering if you like being able to keep an eye on these birds because you couldn’t keep them safe.”
It seems so obvious, yet it never occurred to me to look at it that way. Is that what this urge with Logan has been all along? When I saw this special thing in him, I wanted to possess him to ensure I could protect it? Protect him?
He swallows, just as there’s a sound at the door. Willie flies from Logan’s hand, breaking our eye contact.
“Hey, you two horndogs need to be getting out here,” Rage calls over. “Ceremony’s about to start.”
“Yeah, yeah, asshole,” I say. “We’ll be there in a second.”
He heads off, and I refocus on Logan, whose gaze is locked on me, as if he’s pondering what I just shared.
I take his hand. “I can’t ever love you, but I will keep you safe and I will protect you.”
“I know,” he says softly.
As our gazes lock, I know that if there were ever a man I could fall in love with, it’d be someone as amazing as Logan Wilde.
33
LOGAN
I stand behind my brothers at the entrance to the Rothguard ballroom as the Mozart sonata Killian selected fills the air.
I went out to the greenhouse earlier, hoping for some privacy before the ceremony. Grappling with the fate I’d chosen for myself, which I now fear even more. Going off my initial impressions of Killian, I’d say he’s trying to drive me out of my mind. When he first told me he wanted to possess me like a falcon, I thought it was selfishness, but after hearing what he said about the birds he rescues, I realize I’ve unearthed a layer to him I hadn’t previously considered—all this desire for control and power over me, maybe it’s because he wants to keep me safe. Because he knows it’s the best way to do it, having a psychopath like him on my side. It doesn’t excuse the way it’s manifested and his brutal way of going about it, but it explains so much. This damned obsession to possess the man his father asked him to marry to protect our families.