Page 7 of The Alpha's Sin
I nod.
“U-Store-It Storage in Tampa, Florida.”
“Maybe you’d better call them and see,” Logan says.
I twist my fingers together, feeling my cheeks get hot again.
“I, er, I can’t,” I admit. “Dirk didn’t pay the bill and my phone service got cut off.”
Logan looks angry again, but this time I know he’s not mad at me.
“Okay, we’re going to get that paid for you ASAP but in the meantime, you can use my phone to call.”
He takes it out of his pocket, unlocks it for me, and hands it over. I have to admit, I’m surprised at this. Dirk would never let me touch his phone. He said phone privacy is important for couples.
“I wouldn’t ask to use your phone, babe,” he told me, when I had left my phone upstairs and asked to use his to Google something. “I don’t think you should ask to use mine either.”
But Logan doesn’t seem to feel that way. Then again, we’re not dating—he’s my brother-in-law—so he doesn’t have anything to hide from me.
I accept the phone gratefully and look up the number of the storage place. But by the time he brings in the last of my boxes, I’ve gotten hold of the front office and found out what I already knew in my heart.
“Let me guess—more fucking bad news,” Logan growls, when he puts down the last box at my feet and gets a look at my face.
I nod dejectedly.
“He didn’t pay the rent. Then, when they gave him a courtesy call about it, he authorized them to auction off the contents of the whole unit.”
I feel like crying all over again. All my Grandma’s furniture has been sold to the highest bidder. The brass bed I slept in growing up…her upright piano where she taught me to play…the old-fashioned hurricane lamps that she had in the living room for as long as I could remember…and so much more. All of it, gone. Just…gone.
Logan swears and rakes a hand through his hair.
“Fuck! If I catch that little shit I’m going to break every bone in his body,” he growls and he really looks like he means it. His eyes are almost glowing and there’s an air of animalistic menace about him—a primal fury unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.
“They wouldn’t say how much it went for,” I say, wrapping my arms around myself. “Just that they sent him the money a few weeks ago. Oh God, I wish I’d never met him!”
“I don’t blame you!” Logan is pacing again, wearing a hole in the dark blue carpet of the bedroom. “God, that little shit!”
“It doesn’t matter—I can’t get back to Florida anyway and even if I could, I’d have no place to put all that stuff,” I say dully.
But still, it hurts. I’m not a materialistic person—I’ve never been someone who feels the need to have the biggest or the newest or the best stuff. It bothers me, though, to lose things that have value to me—things that have memories attached to them. Dirk didn’t just auction off my Grandma’s furniture—he auctioned off my childhood. At least, that’s what it feels like.
Suddenly, Logan drops to one knee before me. I’m so surprised I don’t react, other than to widen my eyes—even when he takes my hands in his.
“Listen, Poppy, I swear to you, I’m going to make this right,” he says, searching my eyes with his own. He’s so big that even with him kneeling and me sitting on the side of the bed, we’re eye-to-eye. “I swear it by the First Pack and by Lady Moon. I’m taking you under my protection and if I can’t find Dirk and get back your property and money, I’ll pay my no-good brother’s debt in full.”
“Oh, no, Logan!” I protest, finding my voice at last. “I don’t expect you to pay for what Dirk did. That’s crazy—none of this is your fault!”
He gets a stubborn look on his face.
“I won’t take no for an answer. Dirk’s my younger brother. I should have tried harder to rein him in when our parents died. After all, he’s just a Beta and I’m an Alpha—I could have exerted more influence over him.”
I have no idea what he’s talking about, but I nod—mainly because of the way he’s staring at me so intently. The way those pale gray eyes look into mine gives me a little shiver down my spine. Also, why does he smell so good? Like fur and spice and leather? It must be his cologne, right? Is it weird that I’m noticing this now? It’s probably weird and wrong—after all, he’s my brother-in-law.
“Um…” I manage and then run out of words. I literally feel weak in the knees. It’s a good thing I’m sitting down. “Okay, thank you,” I say at last, uncertain what else to say.
“Good.” He squeezes my fingers gently—he’s so big that my hands are completely swallowed up in his. I can’t help noticing how warm his skin is. “It’s a pact,” he adds. “You’re under my protection until I can either find my brother or I pay his debt to you.”
Then he rises smoothly—he moves with an animalistic grace that’s surprising for such a large man—nods at me, and leaves the room.
