The Wolf's Mate Book 6: Logan & Jenna (16 page)

Logan shook his head in
amusement and turned to Jenna.  Pressing a kiss to her lips he said, “I
expected to find you darting into the woods to tease me, sweetheart.”

“I considered it.”  She
grinned.

“I thought so.”  He stood and
said, “I’ll see you inside, love.  It was nice to meet you, Darlie.”

A small rock went airborne
and hit Logan in the knee.  “Did she just throw a rock at me?”

Jenna covered her mouth with
her hand, trying not to laugh.  “Darlie!”

“I’m out of here before she
finds anything heavier to throw,” Logan said, flashing a smile at Jenna and
leaving her alone in the garden.

Darlie turned around when
Logan was back in the house and flew down to one of the rocks that made up the
ring.  “Are you certain you can be with such a brute?  Aren’t there he-fairies
that are nicer?”

Jenna laughed.  “He’s very
nice.  It’s different here in the Mortal Realm.  They don’t know a lot about
mythical creatures like us.”

Darlie hummed for a moment
and said, “Well, in spite of the brute, I think I’ll stay.  Your garden needs
tending, and I find myself tired of the darkness of the woods.”

“That would be wonderful.”

She tiptoed off the rock and
wiggled her toes in the moss.  Jenna watched her explore the garden a little
while longer, and as Darlie began gathering leaves and twigs to make a bed,
Jenna said goodbye and headed into the house to find her mate.

On Thursday, Bo and Reika met
Jenna and Logan for dinner at Lonestar’s, the only restaurant in Allen.  It was
run by Karly, Linus’s mate, and many members of the pack worked there, along
with humans who filled in during the full moon.  Logan had taken Jenna around
town on Monday, showing her the garage where vehicles were fixed, a private
neighborhood where older wolves lived, and the school.  Things were very
different in the Mortal Realm.  Vehicles were everywhere on the paved roads,
and everyone seemed to be in a hurry.

Jenna looked over the plastic-covered
menu and wasn’t sure what to get.  Logan slipped his arm around her shoulder
and looked at the menu.  “What sounds good?”

“I don’t know.  What do you
like?”

“I always get a steak.”

Jenna made a face.  She
didn’t want to think about steak after what had happened during the full moon. 
Logan chuckled.  “Okay, no steak.  How about a grilled pork chop with mashed
potatoes?”

Jenna shut the menu.  “Sounds
good.”

While they waited for their
meal, Logan and Bo talked about a fight that was going to be on TV on Friday
night, and she and Reika talked about cooking.  Jenna considered herself quite
a good cook, but she didn’t know how to cook the things that Logan liked. 
Reika promised to come over sometime with her brother, Ben, who was a
professional cook, for some cooking classes.

When Jenna took a bite of the
grilled chop, she hummed in surprise.  It was juicy and slightly smoky
tasting.  After finishing her meal, she was too stuffed for dessert.

She stood from the booth and
took Logan’s hand when he stood next to her.  All four of them walked out
together and Logan took her to Bo’s truck.  He bent to kiss her and she leaned
away.  “What are you doing?” she asked.

“I have to go to work, love. 
Bo and Reika are going to take you home.”

“Oh.”  She hadn’t realized it
was so close to the time for him to go to work.

Reika piped up.  “We can go
hang out at the bar for a little while.”

Logan eyes narrowed and his
jaw clenched.  Jenna knew then that he didn’t want her at his job.  She tried
not to let it bother her, but it did.

He growled and said, “It’s
not that I don’t want you there, but there will be unmated males there.  I’m
supposed to keep the peace, not knock heads because males are making eyes at my
mate.”

Jenna looked at Reika and
Bo.  “Bo doesn’t mind Reika going to the bar.”

“Actually,” Bo said as he
cleared his throat, “I do mind.  I don’t like Reika around unmated males,
either, but Logan feels it more acutely than I do because of the blood bond. 
And it’s different for him there anyway, because while I can sit with Reika and
growl at anyone that looks at her for a second too long, Logan would have to
leave you so he could work.”

“I’ve never been to a bar
before.  What if I promise to stay with Bo and Reika the whole time?”  She knew
she was playing the guilt card with him, but she wasn’t ready for the evening
to end.  And she was very curious about the bar and wanted to get to know his
friends better.

Logan seemed to seriously
debate the situation, his brows drawn and his lips pressed into a thin line. 
After what seemed like forever, he finally sighed grudgingly.  “Fine.  But you
don’t leave their sight.”

Bo clapped him on the
shoulder.  “She’ll be safe, man.  Only a brain-dead idiot would mess with your
mate.”

Logan snorted and took
Jenna’s arm, leading her to his truck.  They drove the short distance to the
bar.  A large wooden sign over the front door of the nondescript building read
Jake’s
in script.  The dark lettering glowed under the spotlights.  There was a line
down the front of the bar and a large man was sitting on a stool checking IDs. 
She recognized him as Toby, one of the wolves in the pack, and the other
bouncer at the bar.  Toby worked the human door, which meant that he was in
charge of who got into the bar and who didn’t.  The wolf pack had a separate
entrance at the back.  Logan parked in the pack-only parking lot at the back of
the bar and came around to her side of the truck to open her door.  As she took
his offered hand and stepped down from the truck, Bo and Reika arrived and
parked next to them.

Logan held open the heavy
back door for her and Reika, and he and Bo followed.  He took her hand again
and strode down a long hallway covered in dark paneling.  They passed several
doors, which Logan told her were the bathrooms, an office, and storage rooms. 
She could hear muffled country music through the walls, and when he opened the
door into the bar, the sound increased dramatically.

Jenna’s eyes adjusted quickly
to the dim lighting.  There was a large mahogany bar at the back of the main
room.  Tables and chairs surrounded a wooden dance floor, booths lining both
sides of the open space, and an elevated stage took up the far wall.  The stage
was empty, and Reika said that the house band only played on Fridays and
Saturdays.

All the booths were full, and
Jenna assumed they were going to find a table near the dance floor, but Logan
and Bo led them over to a booth that was full of young men.  Without a word,
the men scrambled out of the booth as if their lives depended on it and found
an empty table to sit at.

Jenna laughed.  “How did you
do that?”

Bo waited for Reika to slide
into one side of the booth and then sat down.  “Reputation.  High ranks get to
sit wherever the hell they want.  Those pups knew to get going quick.”

Jenna sat down on the vinyl
seat and scooted in a little, looking up at Logan.  He stood next to the booth
but was looking intently around the bar.  There weren’t a lot of people there,
thirty perhaps, scattered around the tables and booths.

Logan looked down at her and
slid his fingers along her jaw.  “Don’t go anywhere alone, baby.  I’ll come
back when it’s break time.”

He leaned down and kissed her
and then walked towards the long bar, stopping and shaking hands with Peter and
Tina Gerrick.  They had taken over management of the bar when the former owners
had left town.  Jenna knew it was an important place for the pack, so they had
somewhere to go where they could have the support of their friends and not
worry about getting into trouble.

Tina came over after a few
minutes and greeted them warmly.  “What can I get for you?”

Jenna hadn’t had much
opportunity to drink alcoholic beverages while she was on vacations with her
parents over the years.  Fairies drank their own spirits, fermented fruit
concoctions and ales.

“Something sweet?”  Jenna
asked. “I don’t know what would be good.”

Tina smiled.  “I know just
the thing.”

After taking Reika and Bo’s
orders, she left and returned several minutes later, placing a tall glass of
dark soda in front of Bo, a glass of wine in front of Reika, and a tumbler
filled with pale green liquid and ice in front of her.

“It’s called a Melon Ball,
and has vodka, melon liqueur, and pineapple juice in it.  I think you’ll enjoy
it.”

Jenna took a small sip from
the tiny straw and was pleasantly surprised to find it tasted just like a
honeydew melon.  “Oh, it’s good!”

“Thank you,” Tina said and
left them to their drinks.

Bo left Reika and Jenna to
their ‘girly chat’ while he played a card game on his cell phone.  Jenna really
liked Reika and enjoyed getting to know her.

It was nearly two hours later
when Jenna had to use the bathroom.  Reika stood with her, kissing Bo on the
cheek and promising to be right back.  As she walked through the bar with
Reika, she detoured to where Logan was watching things from the back of the bar
and told him where she was going.

“Be quick woman, it’s almost
time for my break and I’d like to sit with you.”  He pecked her cheek.

She nodded and followed Reika
to the bathroom.  After they used the facilities and were washing their hands,
Reika asked, “How are you feeling after your drink?  Is it very strong?”

“No, it’s just perfect.  I’m
feeling fine.  A little warm, maybe, and happy, but not drunk.  It’s not much
different than other drinks I’ve had in my realm.”

“Good.  I don’t think Logan
would be happy if we got you drunk your first night out with us.”

Jenna chuckled, wadding up
the paper towel and tossing it into the trash.  As they exited the bathroom,
they heard a commotion coming from inside the bar.

“Do you hear that?”  Reika
asked, pausing just outside the bathroom.

“Yeah.  Sounds like fighting.”

Muffled yells and the sounds
of breaking furniture could be heard through the walls.  Jenna shuddered and
rubbed her hands up and down her arms.  She was glad she hadn’t been inside the
bar when it happened.

The door leading from the
hallway into the bar opened and two men slunk through.

They look awfully
familiar.

The men broke into a dead run
suddenly, eating up the distance to the two women in seconds.  Jenna knew why
she recognized them.  They were part of Jasper’s pack!  She opened her mouth to
scream for help, when one man knocked Reika against the wall and the other
snagged Jenna around the waist and hauled her over his shoulder.

The wind was knocked from
Jenna’s lungs, but she knew she had to fight back.  The man carrying her was
charging towards the door that led out into the parking lot.  If they took her
again, she wasn’t sure what would happen, but she had a feeling that Jasper
would not make the mistake of assuming she was dead again.

Wrenching up off his
shoulder, she shrieked, “LOGAN!” and beat on the back of the man carrying her. 
He grunted at her blows but only tightened his grip on her legs.  She saw Reika
struggling to get free of the man holding her, but he had her pinned against
the wall.

The man shouldered the back
door open, and as he ran through, Jenna’s head knocked against the opening and
she winced, grabbing her head with a groan and falling back over his shoulder. 
Tears clouded her vision, but the crunch of gravel under his boots reminded her
she had to get free.

She raked her nails up the
man’s back, digging through his shirt and trying to draw blood.  The man
growled and grabbed her side, twisting her flesh sharply until she cried out
and released her hold on his back, ripping some of his shirt in the process.

“Fucking bitch,” he snarled.

“Quit fucking around!” 
Jasper’s voice broke through the haze of pain and Jenna struggled even harder
to get free.  She knew she couldn’t be taken.  It would be her death.

“Hey!” a woman’s voice
shouted, and the man stopped walking.  “Put her down, asshole.”

Jenna lifted her hair from
her face and saw three young women that she recognized as pack members standing
nearby.  One of them held a baseball bat, one held a crowbar, and the other
held a knife.

“Mind your business, little
girls, this isn’t your concern,” Jasper said.  “Toss her in.”  He stood next to
the open door of a van.  She saw shackles lying inside the vehicle and she
screamed in fear, kicking and hitting as much as she could.

“No.  No!” she yelled.

The man carrying her dropped
her suddenly as he went to his knees with a pained grunt.  Jenna fell off his
shoulder and hit the ground hard, scrambling away from him.  The woman with the
crowbar had thrown it at him, nailing him in the legs.

The other two women were
advancing on Jasper.

The one with the bat said,
“Get over here, honey.”

Jenna scrambled to her feet
and ran over to them.  They pushed her behind them.