Blood Rites (9 page)

Logan was trying to work out in his mind at
what point would be the best time to take Jacque from the hospital.
He decided he was going to suggest to Dillon that after he invoked
his Alpha rights to have Vasile pull his wolves from guard duty and
instill his own. Since he was the head of the pack enforcers he
would set the guard rotation for the night, which would be the most
vulnerable time, when the staff was minimal, and the cover of
darkness would aid him in his task. He was so close to his goal, so
close to having the first thing he had truly wanted in a long time,
and he would have her. No matter what it took, Jacque Pierce would
be his.

Chapter 9

Once
the plane had landed at a small private
air strip Colin had found, they had a rental car waiting. Dillon
found himself wondering, not for the first time, what he would do
without Colin, he seemed to think of everything.

Logan knew the location of the hospital so he
drove while Dillon found Vasile’s number in the directory of
Alphas. Yes, they had a book with all the Alpha’s numbers in it.
Dillon couldn’t help but think that somebody else had a Colin as
well who had come up with the idea. Dillon dialed the number and as
he listened to it ring all he could think was how this was going to
be interesting. Vasile answered on the fourth ring.

“Vasile,” he answered with his name instead
of a hello.

“Vasile this is Dillon Jacobs, Alpha of the
Denver Pack. I wanted to inform you that I am in Coldspring. Is
there another Alpha I need to call?”

Vasile was silent for several beats before he
responded, “No, the pack here in Coldspring is not official yet. I
will notify the Alpha that you are here.” Dillon heard Vasile take
and audible breath and then let it out slow.

“Do I want to know why you are here, Jacobs?”
Vasile asked, using his surname.

“I have a feeling you know. I want to speak
with Lilly and I want to meet my daughter. It is my understanding
that she has been in an accident.” There was a slight growl in
Dillon’s voice as he answered Vasile.

“How, may I ask, did you learn about
Jacquelyn, or the accident for that matter?” Vasile asked, his
voice laced with skepticism.

Dillon decided to let Vasile draw his own
conclusion by giving half truths to his questions.

“Pack members talk, Vasile. You know how it
is. A group of wolves together is worse than a beauty shop when it
comes to gossip. So naturally, when I heard that there had been a
challenge given to the strongest Alpha’s pup, and it was in Lilly’s
home town, I checked into things.”

Dillon did not mention that he'd had Logan
following Jacquelyn, or that he'd been at the scene of the
accident. He didn’t think Vasile needed those details.

“We are on our way to the hospital now. Would
you please ask Lilly to meet me in the entrance? And I would ask,
Vasile, that you not let Jacque know I am here yet.”

“I will let Lilly know, however, I will not
guarantee that she will see you." Dillon started to interrupt but
Vasile cut him off. "Jacque has been unconscious for a month. Lilly
has been through hell for that month, she is stressed out enough
right now. Nevertheless, I will let her know. If you get here and
she isn't waiting in the lobby, then call me tomorrow, we will go
from there. However, I must know, how is your mate going to feel
when Lilly sends you home in a pine box, because you have to know
this isn’t going to go well,” the Alpha told him.

“I will deal with Lilly. I have five of my
wolves with me, my Beta and my first four. We are not here as a
challenge in any way to you or yours. I simply want to meet my
daughter,” Dillon told him, his voice never betraying the subtle
lie. He didn’t just want to meet her, he planned to take her home
with him.

“Understood,” Vasile answered. "I would ask
that you and your wolves lay low, and treat this as if it were my
permanent territory. In other words, don't give me a reason to
regret having let you remain here. My Beta, Decebel, will be
waiting with her as he is the most neutral party when it comes to
Jacque and I think you will need some neutrality while you are, as
you said,
dealing
with Lilly. You will have to let me know
how that goes,” Vasile said in sarcastic amusement. “What is your
ETA?”

“My Beta says we will arrive in ten
minutes.”

“Ten minutes, how courteous of you to give
ample notice of your arrival.” Vasile had hung up before Dillon
could respond to the jab.

“Did that go as you expected?” Logan asked
him.

“Pretty much, although Vasile seems very calm
for such a dominant Alpha. Those are often the most deadly ones.
They never betray their emotions, so one never knows what their
next move is.”

“Sounds like he would be a good poker
player,” Logan said dryly.

Dillon didn’t acknowledge his Beta’s words,
instead he thought about the best way to keep Lilly calm enough to
let him see Jacque before he dropped the whole 'I’m here to take my
daughter away' bit. Unfortunately there were no bright ideas that
fell from the sky, nor had he come across a book called
how
to appease the lover you scorned for dummies
.

They pulled into the hospital parking lot. It
was packed, so Logan had to park the rental a good ways away from
the front entrance.

“I’m going to go in and talk with Lilly. I
want all of you to stay here. She is already upset about Jacque
being unconscious for so long and having me here is adding insult
to injury, so I don’t want to freak her out more by having a pack
of unknown wolves descend on her.” Dillon knew that talking with
Lilly would probably be harder than talking to Jacque. He had
history with Lilly. The kind of history that leaves a wound on your
heart that will never heal. It scabs over, often repeatedly, but
when the scab comes off it is just as raw and painful as the day
the wound was inflicted. Dillon was lucky, he had his mate, whose
presence often held the scab in place. Who did Lilly have, he
wondered.

Dillon was brought out of his thoughts at the
sound of Logan’s voice. “At what point to you plan to claim the
rights of an Alpha regarding a minor?”

“I will decide that after I meet with Lilly,”
he told him.

Without another word Dillon opened his door
and stepped into the warm Texas heat, and though it was hot, that
was not what had him sweating. He shut the car door and turned to
walk to the entrance of the hospital. At that moment he truly
couldn't say what would be worse, facing a lover that you had hurt,
or chewing on a mouthful of thumb tacks. When Dillon reached the
entrance and opened the door the first thing he saw was Lilly’s
beautiful face. He knew then that he would much rather chew thumb
tacks any day over facing the betrayal in her eyes.

Chapter 10

Sally
was waiting in the hospital room as her
two best friends were brought in. She stood anxiously, twisting her
fingers together. The worry she had been feeling for the past month
was etched on her tight lips and raised eyebrows which put wrinkles
in her forehead.

“Oh, come on Sal. If you keep looking at me
like I’m a sick puppy you found in a ditch I’m going to smother you
with a pillow in your sleep." Jacque winked at her friend despite
her tough words.

“Bloody hell, here I thought I was the
reigning female dog in this posse.” Jen grinned at Sally.

"Bloody hell? Female dog?" Jacque raised her
eyebrows at her usually snarky friend.

"I'm trying to clean up my potty mouth, you
know how near death experiences change how you live and what not."
Jen shrugged.

"Jen, bloody hell is profanity. You know
this, right?"

Jen looked at Sally and rolled her eyes.
"Only to the English so it doesn't count."

"I don't even know how to respond to that,"
Jacque said dryly.

“I thought you two would never wake up. Jen
still looks like a mummy all wrapped up and you look like a freshly
cooked lobster," Sally told them as she pulled up a chair in
between their beds.

“I was just getting my beauty sleep." Jacque
looked over at Jen and grinned wickedly. "So what took
you
so long?" Her implication was clear.

"Oh, Jacque, your innocent little mind
wouldn't be able to handle what was going on in my head that kept
me from returning to reality." Jen yawned and patted her mouth
demurely.

“You don't know, maybe my subconscious is
more adventurous than the conscious version."

"Well in that case, as a favor to Fane, we
will be sure to knock your ass out the night of your bonding
ceremony," Sally said dryly.

Jen laughed, but it came out more like a
strangled cough. “Don’t make me laugh, my lungs are char broiled. I
feel like a Burger King hamburger, always cooked over an open
flame.”

“Your way, right away, baby,” Jacque
added.

“There are so many better ways to use that
comment than on a stupid hamburger commercial,” Jen said in
chagrin.

“And she’s back,” Sally teased as she watched
life slowly seep back Jen’s eyes, body, and overall demeanor.

"I need to say thank you. You guys saved my
life and I just want you to know I love you both and I will be
forever grateful," Jacque told them as she wiped a tear from her
cheek.

"You would have done the same for either of
us, Jac," Sally told her.

"Well, now that you are forever in my debt I
will have to think of ways to put your gratitude to good use," Jen
teased dryly.

Sally and Jacque both laughed and rolled
their eyes at their forever obstinate friend.

Jen looked around the room, noticing that it
was just the three of them. “So where is the wolf entourage?” she
asked Jacque.

“They all stepped into the hall just before
they wheeled you two in. Vasile took a phone call and when he came
back he beckoned for everyone, but told me to wait here for ya'll,”
Sally explained. “I figure it must be important if it got Fane away
from his woman. He has refused to leave the hospital for even a
minute since she was brought out of the operating room,” she told
Jen.

“For some reason I can’t say I’m surprised
her hottie Mcwolf man is glued to her side. She was nearly freaking
killed,” Jen exclaimed.

“You did not fare any better.” A gruff voice
had them all turning towards the door. Jacque saw Fane push around
Decebel to come to her side. It was Decebel who had addressed Jen’s
words, and Decebel who stared at Jen like she had grown a extra
appendage on her head.

Jen glanced at Jacque and then at Sally,
looking for some sort of clue as to what to say, but neither could
throw her any bones because they knew about as much as she did
about Decebel, and it added up to zero, zilch, and nada.

“Ooookay, and you would be here why?” Jen
asked him with obvious confusion

“I’m here to guard you. I mean guard all of
you. Not just you, but each one of you at the same time, not
alone,” Decebel stumbled along.

“Yeah, I got it, no need to hurt yourself
further,” Jen told him sarcastically.

Decebel’s head jerked up to look her in the
eyes. Jen saw what she could only describe as hurt. Had her words
hurt him? She swallowed and felt a knot forming in her throat at
the cold look in his eyes. After several seconds he turned and
looked at Fane. “I will be downstairs for a few minutes. The Alpha
will be standing guard with Alina.” Without another word or glance
back, he strode out of the room.

Everyone in the room let out a deep breath
none of them had realized they'd been holding.

“Would one of you yahoos like to explain to
me what has his tail in a twist?” Jen asked, looking from person to
person, waiting for some plausible explanation.

“Okay, one," Sally said holding a finger up,
"we have no clue, he has just been like that since we got to the
hospital. And two, did you just say his tail was in a twist?” Sally
asked with repressed laughter at her friend.

“If I did it’s only because half my body has
been deep fried and I feel like someone beat me with a
sledgehammer. So, that said, I am allowed some dumb ass remarks.
Lay off, Polly Perfect, or I’ll have M&M’s personalized with
your phone number on one side and
for a good time
on the
other,” Jen threatened irritably.

“And she’s back again,” Sally grinned.

Jen flipped her off.

Yep, Jacque thought, we’re going to be okay.
Jen’s being a female dog, as she put it, Sally is egging her on,
and I’m in the corner staying out of the line of fire laughing my
butt off. Things will be back to normal in no time. Jacque looked
up at Fane as he leaned down and kissed her on the forehead.

“What was that for?” she asked him.

“For every smile I see on your face I will
kiss you,” he told her lovingly.

“What do I get for a laugh?” she asked, her
voice thick with suggestion.

Fane grinned at her, flashing those amazing
dimples. “I don’t think now is the appropriate time to demonstrate
that love.”

Jacque thrust out her bottom lip, attempting
to pout, which only made Fane grin bigger.

“So what was so interesting in the hall?"

Fane hesitated just long enough for Jacque to
wonder if he was being totally honest. He had his thoughts closed
off, which also made her wonder what was up.

“It’s nothing big. My father got a call from
a pack that is driving through the area, and he likes to make us
aware when another pack is about.”

Something in Fane’s nonchalant tone told
Jacque that Fane was hiding something. It didn’t make her mad
because at this point she knew he was going to try to protect her,
even if it was just from a fly wielding a toothpick as a sword.
Fane would not leave her unprotected ever again. She had a feeling
the number of fights they were going to have in their long lives
had just increased exponentially.