For the first time in hours, Ian smiled. Jealousy jackknifed through Logan’s body, but when Ian glanced over at him, he looked away.

“He’s notgoing to kill you, Nicky, and don’t try to hide behind me. I’m not coming between you and Marco. You probably won’t sit down for a week once he gets you home, but he won’t really hurt you. He’ll be too glad to see you alive and in one piece.”

Sounds grew closer at a rapid speed and the small clearing filled with the big bodies of the wolves exploding from the brush. A big silver one shifted right in front of Logan and went straight for Nicky. Marco pulled Nicky into his arms and then plopped down with him in his lap, patting his body over carefully in between soulful kisses.

A similar scene went on beside Logan with Casey and Rory. Rory tried to shrug away Casey’s hands, embarrassed to suffer that kind of treatment, but Casey held onto him tightly. When he continued to struggle, he got a hard slap on the rear, and Casey whispered furiously in his ear. Rory stopped struggling and sat very still.

Things were a little confused for a while, with Marco talking in a low voice to Nicky, and Nicky nodding and saying, yes sir, over and over. Casey alternately shook Rory and kissed him. Logan thought for a moment he would throw him down right there in the clearing and have sex with him, but finally both Casey and Marco put their mates on the ground and went over to Ian, slapping him on the back and talking to him urgently. Logan was so muddled hecouldn’t follow most of what they said. Exhausted and cold, he swayed as he sat beside an embarrassed Rory and a subdued Nicky.

Marco turned to the three of them and gave them all a stern look. “We’ll stay here until morning and then go home. I know it’s cold, but we’re too close to the Hunters’ compound for a fire. They’ve discovered Logan and Ian are missing by now and will be searching. We have a lot to say to all three of you, but it can wait until morning.” He turned to Ian. “Ian, keep Logan warm until morning, and we’ll do the same for our mates.”

“Let him freeze to death for all I care,” Ian said, his face a cold mask.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Ian. He’ll die of exposure on a night like this.” Casey said. “If you won’t keep him warm, he can sleep with me and Rory. Come over here, Logan.”

Ian jumped to his feet, a low growl coming from his throat. “Don’t touch him.”

“Then you do it, before he freezes to death, He’s about to pass out as it is!”

Ian stalked over to Logan with a snarl and jerked him up roughly by his arms. Logan didn’t resist, allowing Ian to pull him over to the tree and hold him close, Logan’s back to Ian’s chest. Blessed warmth radiated through him, a gift from the wolf’s higher body temperature. Ian felt so good, so right to Logan, he never wanted to move.

Ian growled softly in his ear. “Don’t think this means I’ve forgiven your betrayal. I haven’t. I never will.”

“I know,” Logan said wearily in heartbroken acceptance. Nothing he could say would ever change Ian’s mind. He’d never trust him again.

Warmed against Ian’s huge, warm body, he sank down quickly into a deep sleep and dreamed of wolves racing through the forest. Sometime later he awoke to a frosty morning. He shrank back against Ian’s warmth and twisted in his arms to face him. Ian, deeply asleep, still shifted to make room for him. Logan put hisface up into Ian’s throat and snuggled close. Unable to resist, hetucked his hand between Ian’s legs near his crotch. Ian moaned softly but came awake with a snarl and flipped Logan to face away from him. Yet he spooned him tightly and pulled Logan’s ass right up into his crotch and hard erection. Logan trembled a little with the cold, and Ian pulled him even tighter, almost tucking him underneath his body to keep him warm. Logan fell asleep again, half crushed, but feeling safer than he’d felt since the horrible night they took him away from Ian.

The next morning the wolves held a hurried conference. Their cars were about two miles away through some rough country, and Nicky was ill, or acted like he was, in no shape to make it the remaining distance after the long trek and cold night in the woods. Logan suspected he acted worse than he was to garner some of Marco’s sympathy and put off the punishment he knew was waiting for him at home. Marco put him on his back to carry him.

Ian glanced at Logan. “What about you?Are you going to have to be carried back too?”

“I can walk.” Logan said, showing a little defiance.

They started out, but soon Logan lagged behind, not because he couldn’t make the walk with the training he’d had.He couldn’t keep up to the superhuman pace even with the boost being Werekin gave him. An irritable Ian marched back and without a word, threw Logan over his shoulder. It was an uncomfortable, bumpy walk to the cars, but Logan dared not complain. After finally reaching the road, Ian dumped Logan at one car and went to the other. When they arrived back at Mountainwood, Ian came to Logan’s side of the car, threw him over his shoulder again, and carried him inside and up to their apartment. Logan closed his eyes in humiliation as everyone stared at them, calling out to welcome Ian, no one seeming to mind in the least that Ian was naked.

Ian carried him inside and dumped him on the sofa, standing over him, glaring down at him. “I’m going to take a shower to wash off the Hunters’ stench. Fix me something to eat.”

He turned on his heel and walked off, leaving Logan gaping after him. The shower turned on a minute later. Logan went into the kitchen. It seemed so strange to be back. Just two weeks after leaving, he already felt like a stranger. Most of the fresh food they’d gotten because Ian knew he was more comfortable eating in the apartment than the common room was ruined, but rummaging through the pantry, he found some canned gravy. He put that in a pan and took out frozen biscuits from the freezer. Ian liked gravy and biscuits for breakfast. He put a pot of coffee on to brew and returned to the sofa to wait. Ian had made it clear he didn’t want him anymore, so he didn’t know where he would go. Maybe the alpha would tell him. He lay down on the sofa and closed his eyes for just a minute, pulling a blanket over him.

He woke up to see Ian sitting across from him, cleaned up, wearing jeans and a blue sweater, drinking a mug of coffee. Apparently Logan had been asleep a good while—from the looks of the table, Ian had finished his breakfast. He must be on his second cup of coffee. Logan rubbed his eyes and tried to wake up. He blinked at Ian, wondering what he was thinking, afraid to ask. He looked big, handsome, and totally worn out.

Logan cleared his throat. “What now?”

“We go see Marco and the others. They’re waiting for us. I was just trying to wake up a bit.” He put down his cup and headed for the door. “C’mon,” he called over his shoulder. “While I’m still on my feet.”

Logan hurried along behind him to the council room, missing Ian holding his hand as he used to do. Nicky and Rory sat on one side of the table, facing Casey and Marco. Ian took his place beside them, and Logan sat beside Nicky.

Marco looked at the three younger men grimly. His voice was soft, but held a hint of anger. “You know why you’re here. Two of you disobeyed the wishes of your alpha. Nicky and Rory, you deliberately sneaked out of the compound, stole a car, and put yourselves in extreme danger, knowingly going against my direct orders to stay out of the situation. Do you have anything to say before I pass judgment?”

Nicky spoke up. “Marco, be reasonable. You and Casey were planning a raid, and many of our pack would have been killed. Casey and I were able to go inside the compound, because we’re not so giant-sized. They didn’t suspect us. Nothing went wrong. We were able to get rid of the guards—well, Rory did that—and the rest was a piece of cake.”

“Just whose idea was this harebrained scheme, or do I even have to ask?”

Rory hid a smile by looking down. Nicky sat up straighter. “It was my idea, and it worked!”

“And you decided to ignore the fact that when you told me you wanted to help, I told you it was out of the question? Youdeliberately disobeyed?”

Nicky opened his mouth to argue, but Rory clapped a hand over it. “Yes Marco, we admit it. We’re sorry we worried you and Casey.”

“Worried me?” Casey yelled. “I damn near went out of my mind!”

Nicky threw off Rory’s hand. “Well, what are you going to do? Throw us in the slammer? Put us in chains?You’re ignoringthe fact we saved them!”

“Nicky, the end doesn’t justify the means. It’s wonderful you were lucky, but it could have had a very different ending. I can’t ignore this behavior. I’m sentencing you both to a month of chores. Chopping wood, washing dishes, cleaning up, whatever there is to do, you’ll do it. Ian will set you both up on one of the work crews. Once he’s back on his feet, he’ll oversee the punishment.”

Nicky folded his arms. “And if I refuse?”

“Nicky,” Marco said warningly.

“No, I’m not doing it . Put me in jail instead.”

“You’ll do as you’re damn well told!”

“I damn well won’t!” Nicky yelled back, jumping to his feet. “I have a right to serve my month in jail. I demand you send me there right now.”

Marco growled, his eyes flashed, and he called for the gammas in the hall. “Take him down to the cells in the basement. Lock him in!”

The gammas looked back and forth at each other. “Nicky? You want us to take Nicky?”

“Yes, Nicky, dammit!” Marco roared. “Take him out of here!”

Nicky sauntered to the door between the two without so much as a backward glance. Marco turned to Rory. “What about you, Rory? Are you going to take your punishment or pitch a fit like Nicky just did?”

Rory glanced at Casey and back to Marco. “I’ll take the hard labor, sir.”

Marco sat for a couple of minutes trying to calm himself. He was breathing so hard and his face was so red, Logan thought he might have a stroke. Nicky, he’d learned, was the only one who could make Marco angry enough to lose control. Marco took a deep breath and turned to Logan.