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Logan knew the moment that his mom died.
He’d known something was wrong when she’d stormed out of the school. The anger and embarrassment had been rolling off of her in waves and he’d vowed to talk to her as soon as he got home. He knew that she’d understood why he’d gotten into a fight but that didn’t mean she wasn’t angry about it.
He was a born werewolf, his control shouldn’t be as shaky as it was but his control had been all over since Lilly had died. His dad didn’t help with the way that he knew just how to hurt a werewolf. Just the memory of the belt coated in wolfsbane was enough to make him shudder. If werewolves could get scars, Logan’s back would be a mess of them.
At least his dad had never figured out how to work mountain ash. Logan could only imagine what his dad would do to him if he could barricade him in somewhere.
There’d been plenty of times when Logan had prayed that his mom would snap out of it and, at the very least, leave his dad. The best case scenario, the one that he had never admitted to anyone, was that his mom would rip his father apart.
She was an alpha. Until Logan had been born, she’d been the last remaining member of the Lester pack, the alpha spark passing to her by default. She hadn’t been the original heir but Logan had always hoped her instincts would override her need to lay low.
Sometimes, Logan wondered if Aaron Echolls had ever loved Lynn Lester and, if he had, when it had changed. He wondered if it was the knowledge that she was an alpha werewolf and yet let him have control that twisted the man somehow.
Or maybe he’d always been like that and Lynn had just never realized.
And now she was dead.
He’d grown up knowing not to draw attention to himself—well, in certain ways at least. When your parents were famous, attention was on you, no matter what. But there were special contacts that he wore that prevented the flash that happened to every werewolf when they were photographed from showing up. He learned that by acting out, most people would roll their eyes and dismiss it when there was a story about him printed in the tabloids. It became his best cover.
Then he’d had Lilly, Duncan, and Veronica and his control was better than ever when he’d had them.
The three of them, their little group, their little pack, had become his anchor.
Then Lilly was dead, Duncan might as well be for all that he was around, and Veronica had betrayed them.
But Veronica had still been one of his at one point which was probably the only reason he didn’t lash out when her scent reached him.
Logan listened as her heart stuttered at the sight of him and tried to control his breathing. He’d already had to fight back the urge to scream at the rush of power that had filled him the moment his mother had died.
“Logan?” she asked softly rather than greeting him with a snarky remark the way she normally would.
“Go away, Veronica,” he managed, pushing away the urge to ask her to stay.
Of course, this was Veronica Mars so she did the exact opposite of what he said and moved closer. He didn’t bother to open his eyes as he tracked her movements until she was settling on the ground next to him.
“Sorry, can’t do that.” She hesitated. “I haven’t seen you like this in a long time. What’s wrong?”
Logan hadn’t lied to his group of friends, swearing them to secrecy before revealing that he was a werewolf. They’d been surprised but all three of them had simply rolled with it, making sure to brush a hand over his shoulder or arm more often to scent mark him once he’d explained how much it helped him. Lilly and Veronica had taken to giving him what they jokingly referred to as hug attacks and Duncan had smirked and thrown his feet in Logan’s lap.
Rather than give her a verbal answer, he opened his eyes and turned to look at her. Veronica gasped when his eyes flashed red instead of the gold she was used to.
“You’re an alpha,” she whispered. Logan nodded and watched as she quickly put the pieces together, her expression crumbling. “Oh, Logan.”
“Yeah,” he choked out. “That about sums it up, doesn’t it?”
Veronica bit her lip as she stared at him for a few moments before she seemed to steel herself. “Can I touch you?”
Logan wished he was capable of turning that into an innuendo at the moment but all he could do was nod. His eyes slid closed again when Veronica’s arms slid around him, pulling him close.
“Hug attack,” he whispered, swallowing when he smelled salt in the air as Veronica’s eyes filled with tears at the reminder. He wrapped his arms around her waist and tugged her into his lap, burying his face against the curve of her neck. “Sorry.”
She shook her head. “It’s okay.”
They sat there silently though Logan knew Veronica was probably dying of curiosity. He wished he could tell her how much he appreciated the fact that she let him sit there quietly instead but he wasn’t sure he had the words. So he thanked her in the only he way he could at the moment.
“You can ask,” he said.
There was another few moments of silence and then, “What happened?”
He shrugged as much as he was able to. “I don’t know. She was here with Dad because of that fight I got into. I know that she was glad I held back but she was still mad that I’d reacted at all. Then she and Dad got into a fight and she walked out.” He paused. “A couple hours later, I felt our pack bond snap and suddenly I was an alpha.”
“Are...” Veronica took a deep breath. “Has there been any word of hunters in town? Are you safe?”
Logan’s arms tightened around her. “There’s no hunters around here.” He hesitated before saying what he’d avoided even thinking. “I think she killed herself.”
Veronica’s hands clenched against his back, her nails digging into his back. “I heard about her car being found on Coronado Bridge but I wasn’t’ sure what it meant,” she confessed. After all, a jump from a bridge might be enough to injure a werewolf but it wouldn’t usually kill one.
“I need to know,” Logan whispered. He had to find out if his mother, his alpha, had abandoned him willingly or if he was wrong about there being hunters in town.
Veronica didn’t hesitate. “I’ll help.”
Accepting would be the first step of letting Veronica back in, he knew. He hadn’t felt as angry at Veronica as he used to in a long time and he knew he’d already been on the way to thinking of her as a friend again. Accepting her would mean he was one step closer to thinking of her as pack again.
He nodded. “Okay.”