Blood Rites (28 page)

Her body shook uncontrollably as the tears poured
from her eyes. She could feel Fane pushing in her mind, trying to
get through, but she kept the walls in place. How could she face
him when another's blood was in her, when another's teeth had
pierced her skin? She could feel her stomach clenching, preparing
to expel the poison Logan had made her swallow, but nothing would
come up. No matter how hard she heaved, nothing would leave her
body. She cried until she thought she couldn't possibly have any
tears left. She was wrong.

"My love, I'm here."

The tears began anew at the sound of that voice in
her mind, at the feel of the lips she felt press to her forehead
through their bond. Shame washed over her as she thought about
Logan's lips on hers and the retching began all over.

"I'm sorry, Fane. I'm so sorry."

Jacque pulled her knees as close to her chest as she
could with her leg cuffed to the chair. She tucked her chin in to
her chest as the blood dried on her back and the pain continued to
pulse through her. She closed her eyes and shut the world out.

Chapter 30

Fane
stood in the hotel room looking out over
the city of Denver and off into the mountains. The soft murmur of
Jen, Sally, and his mother was behind him. It had been two days
since they arrived and still they knew nothing more than they had
before. Fane's father had questioned over half of Dillon's pack and
so far everyone had been truthful, no one knew anything about
Logan's actions or whereabouts. To add to Fane's frustration, he
was having trouble staying in contact with Jacquelyn. She kept
blocking her thoughts from him and at first he figured it was to
keep him from knowing how much pain she was in, but now he was
beginning to worry that there was more to it than that. He closed
his eyes against the thought of the other wolf putting his hands on
Jacquelyn. He knew thinking like that wouldn't help him find her,
it would only succeed in Fane wanting to kill something or someone.
Fane reached out through their bond, and as he had been able to all
the other times, he felt her but couldn't hear her thoughts. She
was only letting him through enough to know she was alive, and
okay…according to her. Fane didn't know he was growling until he
felt Sally's hand come down on his shoulder.

"You okay?" she asked him.

Fane shook his head in frustration. "Something isn't
right." Fane stepped away from her touch, not consciously realizing
he couldn't stand the touch of another, not when it couldn't be his
mate's hands. "I can feel her," he continued as he paced the
expanse of the room, "but that's all. Every now and then she will
give me a brief comment but then she shuts me out."

Sally could see the visible signs of Fane's
frustration written across his brow. His eyes narrowed and he
looked out the window as if he could see her if he searched hard
enough. She turned to see Jen come stand beside her, arms folded
across her chest in an identical pose to Sally's.

"What's up with lover wolf?" Jen asked Sally and,
regardless of the words, her tone denoted how much she cared about
Fane and Jacque.

"He says he thinks something is wrong with Jacque,
but she won't tell him," Sally explained.

"Of course she isn't going to tell him. She knows he
would go all claws and fangs up on someone if he thought she was
being hurt. That's not to say I'm not royally ticked at her for
keeping something from him, because that means she's keeping it
from us as well."

Sally's reply was interrupted by a curt knock on the
door, followed by an uninvited Decebel. Jen rolled her eyes and let
out a huff of air. "You got the knocking part right, fluffy, but
you forgot the part where you are asked to come in. You don't just
knock and then walk in." Jen turned to Sally, shaking her head.
"You would think they at least have some sort of puppy training
class or something."

"If you aren't careful, he's going to be picking
Jen-kibble out of his teeth after his next meal," Sally whispered
under her breath as Decebel continued to stare Jen down.

Jen's gaze never wavered as she responded to Sally.
"And what makes you think I object to being dinner?"

Sally choked, and Jen slapped her on the back as she
winked at Decebel, finally breaking their standoff.

"Fane, Dillon has called and says he has two wolves
who want to speak with you and your father," Decebel said as he
turned his eyes from Jen.

Fane's head snapped around and met with his father's
Beta. Decebel immediately dropped his eyes and stepped to the side
to leave the doorway open. Fane began to say something as he passed
Jen and Sally, but was cut off. "Don't even say it. We are going
with you even if it means we have to hide in the car." To
everyone's surprise it was Sally who made this announcement as she
grabbed Jen's hand and tugged her along. Decebel looked to Fane who
simply shook his head as if to say, just leave it.

Fifteen minutes later, Fane, Vasile, and Decebel got
out of the rented vehicle to go into the Denver pack's
headquarters. Fane looked back at the four remaining in the
vehicle, Sally, Jen, Lilly and Alina. Worry was etched on each of
their faces. "We will be back shortly," was all he said, then he
was gone.

"Have I said yet how much this just sucks?" Jen
muttered under her breath.

Lilly patted her hand. "We are going to find
her."

"I'm the one who's supposed to be saying that to you,
Ms. P."

"Vasile, these are the two wolves who wanted to talk
with you." Dillon indicated the two wolves who sat across the table
from them in the dining room.

"Michael, Sean, tell them what you told me,
please."

Michael and Sean both looked slightly nervous, but
only because they were sitting in front of one of the strongest
Alphas in the world, not because they were guilty of anything.

"All we know is that Sam said he was getting a flight
to Springfield Missouri a few days ago," Michael told Vasile.

"Why would you think that would be important
information?" Vasile asked.

"Well, because Sam is Logan's best friend and we
heard you were asking if anybody in the pack had helped Logan. If
anybody did it would be Sam."

Fane growled low, showing that he was losing his
patience. "What does Sam going to Springfield have anything to do
with helping Logan?" he growled.

It was Sean who answered this time. "If Sam was going
to Springfield then that probably means he is going to Ozark."

This time it was Decebel who growled. Vasile eyed
both of his wolves and then turned back to Michael and Sean.
"Please forgive their manners, they are a little stressed at the
moment. Please explain the significance of Ozark."

"Oh, right. Sorry." Sean continued, "Sam owns a cabin
in Ozark, Missouri and when he goes there he usually flies into
Springfield."

Vasile grabbed Fane's arm before he could leave,
cocking his head to the side, a very wolf-like gesture. "Excuse me
for asking, but why would a wolf that lives in Colorado own a cabin
in the Ozarks?"

Michael looked at Dillon for permission to answer.
When Dillon nodded he turned back to Vasile. "Sam's father is the
Alpha in Springfield, Missouri. When Sam goes to visit his family
he usually stays at the cabin on the land that the Springfield pack
hunts on."

"This just keeps getting better and better," Decebel
grumbled.

Fane turned around slowly as Michael finished
speaking. He looked at his father and then at Dillon. "So what he's
saying is, my mate has been kidnapped and taken into the territory
of an Alpha who doesn't know she is there and placed in the middle
of his hunting ground?"

"Yes?" Michael's voice was nearly a squeak as he
watched Fane's eye glow brighter and his canines lengthen.

"Dillon, do you know where this cabin is located?"
Vasile asked, his eyes never leaving his son.

"No, but I will contact Sam's father. If I tell him
what is going on maybe he will be willing to help."

"Or once he figures out his son is involved he may
decide it's in his best interest to just stay out of it," Decebel
added.

Dillon nodded his agreement as he pulled out his
phone and dialed the Springfield Alpha's number.

When the interrogation had ended and Fane returned to
the car, he slammed the door of the SUV, causing the four women
waiting to jump.

"Things went that good?" Jen muttered under her
breath.

Vasile and Decebel climbed in with less fanfare.
Vasile was already on the phone with Sorin as he pulled out of the
Denver pack's driveway.

"Sorin, get the plane ready. We're going to
Springfield, Missouri." There was a pause as Vasile listened to
Sorin on the other end of the phone.

"Yes, we're taking everyone. Get us a hotel. I'm not
totally sure about all the details yet so we will need a place to
regroup." Vasile ended the call and looked in the rearview mirror
at Lilly, who waited patiently.

"Logan has been getting help from a pack mate whose
father is the Alpha in Springfield and has some land with a cabin
in Ozark. We think this is where Logan is holding Jacque."

"Well, that's good news, right? So what's with the
obvious anger?" Sally asked.

"The Alpha is not cooperating. He wouldn't give us
the location of the cabin. All he said was that he wouldn't let his
son know that we knew their general location," Fane growled
out.

"What the hell! Vasile, can't you do anything to this
Alpha? Give him a good shake by the scruff or something?" Jen
asked, her frustration obvious.

"Did you just say a good shake by the scruff?" Sally
asked her dubiously.

"What? I'm just saying."

"If it comes to that, then yes. But I don't have my
whole pack with me and the Springfield Alpha is no weakling,"
Vasile answered.

"Oh, right. Geeze, this SUCKS!" Jen growled out.

The drive back to the hotel was quiet. The tension
was palpable and the waves of frustration rolling off of Fane were
enough to cause motion sickness.

They hadn't been back in the hotel room five minutes
when Fane collapsed to the floor. He grabbed his head, fighting the
stabbing pain. As he squeezed his eyes closed he realized it was
Jacquelyn's pain he was feeling. Something was seriously wrong. He
reached out to her but she was pushing as hard as she could to keep
him out. Fane pushed harder. He got a very brief sense of fear, or
terror rather, and then she slammed the walls down even harder.

"Ahhhh!" Fane yelled.

"Fane, what's wrong? Is she okay?" Sally and Jen were
both kneeling on either side of Fane, who continued to growl so
menacingly that for the first time Sally really was afraid.

Decebel let out his own growl as he gently took Jen's
arm and pulled her away from Fane's side.

"Hey, what the-" Jen began to protest, but when she
looked up at Decebel's face she shut her mouth. Decebel's eyes were
glowing and his canines had lengthened. Something told her it would
be better to just sit this one out.

Fane tried again to reach Jacquelyn,
"My love, I'm
here."
And what he heard in response tore his heart in two.

"I'm sorry, Fane. I'm so sorry."
Jacquelyn's
voice in his mind was so broken and helpless sounding. He knew then
that he would rip Logan's heart from his chest for being the cause
of that.

"Jacquelyn," Fane groaned as he knelt on the floor,
the depths of his despair etched in every syllable of her name.

"Fane, please, what's wrong? Is she okay?" Sally
asked him gently.

Fane looked up into Sally's fearful eyes. "I don’t
know." Then he looked at Jen. "I don't know if she's okay."

Jen sat on the park bench and although she looked to
be watching some kids play on the playground, her eyes were glazed
over, her thoughts far from where she sat. Moisture rolling down
her cheek snapped her out of her stupor. She couldn’t remember a
time when she felt so helpless. Even during the wreck she was at
least able to do something to help, but all she could do right now
was wait. Wait for Vasile to get the travel arrangements made, wait
for Fane to hear from Jacque that she was okay, wait for the
freaking world to open up and swallow her because she couldn't
imagine a world without Jacque. She wanted to scream at the
injustice of it all. Jacque was one of the nicest, most loyal
people she knew. Why was this happening to her? Jen closed her eyes
and tried to fight the overwhelming fear that threatened to crush
her spirit. She felt a big, warm body sit next to her on the bench
and for some reason she was not startled or surprised at his
arrival.

"What's wrong, Jennifer? I've never seen you so
distant." Decebels voice conveyed the worry he was trying to
hide.

"I'm tired, Decebel. I'm worried and I don't have any
humor left to help ease the tense situation." Jen's face showed the
fear that for the first time she allowed him to see. "I know I'm
sarcastic and I joke a lot, even in the most serious situations.
It's how I deal, how I cope so I don’t fall apart. But I don't have
the strength to be the one who lifts the spirits of everyone. I
don't have it in me to hide the sick ache that threatens to choke
me for fear that I will never see Jacque again or that something
horrible has happened to her."

Decebel pulled Jen close in a show of gentleness that
she was beginning to notice he only displayed with her. "You don't
always have to be the strong one."

"That's where you're wrong, Dec. I do, for them.
Sally, Lilly, and at times even Fane. I have to be the one who
believes so strongly that we will get her back that I
can
be
sarcastic. That I have the luxury of bringing humor be it light or
dark into this majorly messed up situation. And not that we will
just get her back, but that we will get her back whole. There are
worse things than death to a woman, Decebel."