I Never Loved You Anyway Chapter 05
“What are you doing?”
Logan demanded, closing the distance in quick strides and yanking me hard against his chest. His grip was shockingly forceful, squeezing my wrist until the bone ached.
He shot a cold, warning glare at Micah.
“Mike, stop acting so casual.”
“She’s my mate. Don’t use the behavior you picked up on the outside on your own family.”
Micah didn’t look angry at all.
Lazily raising both hands in mock surrender, he slowly swished his silver-white wolf tail back and forth in the still night air.
“Logan, don’t be so tense. Roxanne had a little too much to drink and almost dropped her diamond ring off the balcony. “
“I was just being a nice guy and caught it for her.”
He smiled at me, a provocative glint in his eye as he deliberately drawled out the words.
“Right, Roxanne?”
I kept my head down, biting my lower lip hard as my heart hammered against my ribs.
Just hearing him say my name sent a sharp, sudden ache straight through my chest.
He wasn’t dead.
The badly injured wolf from the fighting arena was actually Micah—Logan’s twin brother—who had just gotten back from overseas.
Later that night, Logan practically shoved me into his car.
He drove in a rigid silence, absolutely seething. The tension in the cab was suffocating.
Figuring I was drunk and had mistaken him for someone else, he pinned me back against the seat and kissed me.
It felt like a punishment—rough and urgent. He was trying to assert his claim, desperate to scrub away the lingering ghost of Micah’s touch.
I just kept my eyes closed and went limp.
My mind was a million miles away, entirely fixated on Micah’s wagging tail and the thick scar stretching across his palm.
It was an old injury—from a hyena bite at the arena years ago, back when he’d fought to protect a single piece of moldy bread.
After that anniversary party, I never saw Micah again. Logan made damn sure to keep us apart.
All that changed early this morning.
I was lying in bed, faking sleep, when I overheard Logan on the phone out on the balcony.
“Please, Mike. I’m begging you. “
“Just take my place for a week. Just one week…”
Listening to his hushed pleading, I didn’t feel the sting of betrayal.
Instead, I felt this wild, desperate urge to laugh at how absolutely absurd the whole thing was.
I thought,
“Logan, you thought you were so clever hiding the truth from me. You assumed I was stupid enough to mix up my own mate.”
“You had no idea you were willingly handing me right over to the exact person who wanted me.”
The sun was shining the next morning.
Logan stood in the entryway with his suitcase, acting like everything was perfectly normal as we said our goodbyes.
“Work just threw a last-minute business trip at me,” he said. “It should take about a week.”
He leaned down and kissed my forehead.
I caught a fleeting flash of guilt in his eyes, and his tone was unusually soft.
“Wait for me here. Text me if you want me to bring you anything back.”
I nodded obediently, getting up on my tiptoes to straighten his tie while flashing him a perfectly practiced smile.
“Okay. Have a safe flight. Don’t work too hard.”
The second the front door clicked shut, I let out a long breath and collapsed onto the sofa.
About an hour later, the deadbolt turned.
A man walked in wearing a gray trench coat identical to Logan’s.
He had Logan’s whole vibe down—keeping his expression stern, dialing back his usual intense energy to seem aloof and distant. He even slowed his walk to pull off that calm, detached look.
“I’m back,” he said quietly, dropping his pitch to perfectly mimic Logan’s deep baritone.
I just sat on the couch, peeling an orange, and watched the show.
Honestly, his acting was pretty damn good.
If it weren’t for the wolf tail behind him—stiff with nerves and bristling slightly—I might have actually bought it.
Logan’s tail usually hung completely relaxed, only ever wagging when he was seriously pissed off or dealing with Genevieve.
But the tail right in front of me clearly wasn’t used to this cold, restrained routine. It was trembling uncontrollably just below the hem of his coat.
“Weren’t you going out of town? Why are you back so soon?”
I swallowed a slice of orange and widened my eyes, playing dumb.
Micah’s body visibly stiffened. He brought a fist to his mouth and gave a polite, fake cough.
“My flight got canceled. They switched everything to virtual, so I’ll be working from home for the next few days.”
He changed into his slippers and made a beeline for the study, walking fast just to put some distance between us.
“What do you want for lunch, honey?”
I called after him, laying it on thick with the pet name.
Micah stumbled, his shoulder nearly clipping the doorframe.
“Whatever,”
He muttered without looking back.
He hurried into the room and slammed the door behind him.
