The Wolf's Mate Book 6: Logan & Jenna (24 page)

Logan stuck out his hand and
shook Trick’s, watching as the sheriff walked into the backyard.  Floodlights
lit up the yard while the coroner took pictures and then prepared to take
Jasper’s body.

Bo walked into the kitchen
with Reika.  Logan pulled the gauze away from the wound and Jenna tensed but
didn’t make a sound.  Reika bent slightly and peered at the wound.

Straightening, she said, “I’d
be happy to heal this wound, Jenna.  What will happen is that I’ll shift into
my form and then gather the healing venom on my tongue.  When I lick the
wounds, it will deposit the venom into your skin.  It will burn and ache, and
your arm will likely be numb for a few hours.  It will aid your natural healing
abilities, and the marks should be gone fairly quickly.”

Logan looked at Jenna.  She
worried her bottom lip.  He used his thumb to ease her lip from her teeth and
said, “You don’t have to do this, Jenna.  With our blood bond, the wound will
heal eventually.”

He saw determination flash in
her eyes and she straightened slightly.  “No, it’s fine.  I want the marks gone
as soon as possible.”

Reika smiled and Logan told
them that Reika could shift in the spare bedroom.  Teller and Michael came into
the kitchen and stopped next to Jason.  Michael put his hands in his front
pockets and said, “The coroner just left.  The unconscious wolves were loaded
into an ambulance and escorted to the hospital.  Trick said his deputies will
stay with them until they’re released and can be taken to jail.”

Logan didn’t think he could
really articulate how much it meant to him that his pack had been there for
him.  They’d not only found and dealt with the two wolves, but they kept an eye
on things outside.  He’d been so consumed with Jenna’s well-being that it never
occurred to him to even deal with those things.

Jason said, “Trick’s going to
keep me posted on the prisoners and I’ll update you.  Teller scented the van
and said there were only the three wolves’ scents inside, so there aren’t any
others that came with them.  Regardless, Trick is going to open an
investigation into their leader’s background and see if he can locate the
others.  I have a feeling that they’re going to scatter once they hear that
their boss is dead.”

Teller added, “If they’re
smart they will.”

Logan heard the click of
claws on the linoleum and then Reika appeared, her black fur so dark it was
blue-hued.  Jason said, “We’re going to make sure everything is cleaned up
outside and then take off when Trick and his people are done.  You take care of
your mate and don’t worry about anything else.”

Overwhelmed once more, he
thanked his friends, painfully aware of how inadequate those two words were
when he felt such sincere gratitude.  His friends left, closing the sliding door
behind them.

Bo asked Logan to bring Jenna
into the front room and have her sit on the floor so that she would be closer
to Reika.  Logan sat on the floor in front of the couch and settled Jenna on
his lap so her right side was against him.

Bo sat on the coffee table. 
“Are you sure, Jenna?  Once her tongue touches you, there’s no going back.”

“I’m sure.”

Logan didn’t like the lack of
emotion in her voice.  He hoped she wasn’t going into shock.

Reika whined softly and moved
close.  Jenna tensed and buried her face in his neck.  Reaching for her left
hand, Logan clasped it and squeezed.

“I’m here, baby,” he assured
her as Reika opened her mouth.  She stroked her tongue, glistening with a thick
coating of the healing venom, across the wound on Jenna’s arm.  Once.  Twice. 
Three times.  Then she moved back to Bo and sat down on her haunches, laying
her head on his knee.

Jenna’s right arm, which was
around his neck, tightened.  Her hand dug into his shoulder as her heart rate
spiked and she began to pant.

Logan could feel her
struggling not to cry.  He looked at Bo and could tell that Bo understood.  “I
rode in with Michael so I’m going to drive Reika’s car home.  Call if you need
anything.”

When they were alone, Jenna
broke down.  “It hurts so much.”  She tried to move her arm but couldn’t, and
her hand, which had been squeezing his tightly, loosened.  The numbness had
spread down her arm.

“I know baby.  Let it out,
okay?  Cry, scream, whatever.”

She hugged herself closer
with her good arm, her tears soaking his shirt.  She sobbed hard, her body
trembling violently.  Rocking back and forth, he said, “I wish I could bear
this for you, Jenna.  You don’t deserve any more pain.”

After a few minutes, her
sobbing eased.  Either she was too tired to cry or the pain was lessening
enough that she could tolerate it.  “Will you help me clean up?”

“Yeah, love, of course.”

He stood and set her on the
coffee table, retrieving a pair of scissors from the kitchen drawer.  Swiftly
he cut her shirt off, and then helped her take off her jeans.  He left her for
only one more moment, dropping the bloody clothes into a bag and placing them
onto the back patio, calling for Trick to come and pick them up.

With long strides, he closed
the distance to his mate, picked her up, and carried her back to the master
bedroom.

“Bath or shower?” he asked,
kicking off his shoes.

“Shower.”  Her voice was
strained.

He turned on the shower and
stripped them both, supporting her as she stepped under the spray.  She tilted
her face up and closed her eyes, still holding onto him with her good arm.  He
pulled a puffy scrubber thing from the caddy under the showerhead and squeezed
some of her homemade body wash onto it.  As he lathered it with his hand first
before touching her skin, a sweet scent filled the air.

He stroked the sponge from
her neck down, avoiding her left arm, which she kept out of the water by
turning slightly to the left.  Blood had colored her skin, and his beast
snarled at the sight, another reminder of just how close things had been.

“I’m okay now,” she said, her
throat working as she swallowed hard.  Her eyes were still glazed with pain.

“I know, baby.  It just kills
me that you were in danger in the first place.  And you’re still in pain.  I
can see it on your face.”

“I’m trying not to keep being
such a mess,” she said in a thick voice.

“You don’t have to put on a
show for me.  I’m your mate, Jenna.  If you want to cry, then cry.  Just don’t
shut me out.”

She went quiet as he
continued to clean her skin, paying careful attention to her fingers and hands,
washing away any physical trace of the blood that had been spilled.  When the
soap was rinsed away, he turned off the shower and stepped out, grabbing her towel
from the hook.

He began to pat her skin
dry.  She was staring down at her left arm and he followed her gaze.  The wound
was healing quickly now.  Where it had been four angry, gaping slashes before,
it was now partially healed, the bleeding stopped and only pink scars
remaining.

“The scars will fade away
completely with time.  Can you move your arm?”

Her features tensed as she
concentrated, but nothing happened.  She lifted her face and he thought she
might cry, but instead she threw her good arm around his neck and pulled him
down to her lips.  “Distract me, Logan.  Make me forget everything for just a
little while.  I can’t handle breaking down again, I just can’t.”

Dropping the towel, he lifted
her up with his hands on her hips.  Her legs wound around his waist, and his
cock, which had been shamelessly erect since he stripped her naked and washed
her, nudged her pussy.  Her lips found his as her fingers slid through his hair
and her nails scraped his scalp.  She moaned into his mouth as he pulled her
down onto his cock, sliding into the hot, wet heaven of her body until they
were completely joined.

Holding her against him with
one arm, he felt his way out of the bathroom and to the bed, where he laid her
down but remained standing.  She stretched out on the comforter like a siren,
her body glistening with droplets of water, her eyes bright silver like coins. 
Gripping her hips, he pounded into her, giving her the distraction she needed
so she could settle her mind.  She wanted to forget for a while; he would give
her however much time she needed.  Holding tight to his control, he thrust into
her, holding her gaze.

He latched his thumb onto her
clit, rubbing the sensitive hood with the tip of his thumb in fast, light
movements.  Her body began to clutch his and he braced himself for her climax,
grinding his teeth together and forcing his body to resist the urge to follow
her.  It was too soon.  She cried out when she came and he leaned over her and
licked the drops of water off her skin, tasting the sweet, natural scent of her
skin and the soap that he had used.  When her pussy stopped pulsing, he began
to thrust into her again, lifting her legs up from his hips and resting her
ankles on his shoulders.  He smiled inwardly when her toes curled as one arm moved
across her calves and he leaned forward slightly, bracing on the bed.  The
shift in position made his cock go deeper with each stroke and she began to
gasp for breath, clutching the comforter with her good hand.

Her body was flushed with
passion, the sweet scent of her arousal like a beacon for his wolf.  His fangs
erupted from his gums as he pounded into her.  She was his woman.  His to
love.  To pleasure.  To protect.  Forever.

Dragging the edge of his fang
lightly down the arch of her foot, he watched as she squirmed.  He leaned
forward further, until her breath hitched and he knew he’d found her sweet
spot.  Focusing on nothing but bringing her to climax once more, he drove
himself into her again and again, until there was nothing but the two of them
and their bodies coming together.  Her stomach tightened and she made mewling
cries of pleasure.  Her body clutched his, her pussy flooding with heat, and
she screamed his name, her back arching off the bed.  He couldn’t have stopped
himself from coming for anything.  It was too raw.  Too amazing.  His cock
emptied deep inside her as she writhed under him, panting and whispering his
name.  His knees felt like rubber when he finally stopped coming, and he eased
her legs down and lifted her up into his arms, carrying her further up the bed
where he rolled onto his back with a groan.  She lay next to him, her leg
tucked between his and her left arm across his stomach.  As their heartbeats
returned to normal, he reached for a throw at the side of the bed and pulled it
over them, making sure she was covered.

Silence filled the room that
had just minutes before been full of the sounds of their lovemaking.  He
thought she might have fallen asleep, but she cuddled a bit closer and said, “I
killed someone tonight.”

“He would have killed you,
Jenna.  There’s nothing wrong with protecting yourself.  I wish I’d been here,
to save you from having to do that.  I would trade places with you in a
heartbeat.”

“Have you ever?”

He knew what she was asking. 
Had he ever killed another person.  There were parts of his life that he kept
locked away in his memories because they were dark times.  Angry times.  He
hadn’t shared this particular memory with anyone since he’d started his life
over in Allen, but he wouldn’t keep secrets from Jenna, not when she needed
him.

“Once.  When the rank
fighting first started, the win-at-all-costs attitude had taken over the pack. 
We weren’t supposed to use weapons.  It was against the rules.  Rank was
supposed to be about strength and cunning and fighting ability, not a lucky
throw with a knife.  I grew up with a guy named Vik.  We did everything
together — hunted, drank, got into bar fights — but he was always low-ranked in
the pack because he had a temper and didn’t like to follow the rules.  He
wanted to get in favor with the new alpha.”  He paused, remembering the way
that Vik had been determined to get higher in the ranks.  Vik had been the
definition of a slacker, but he’d been fueled by Yoric’s promise of benefits
for those that were high in rank.

“When we were picked to fight
against each other, it was for the second position of rank, in the alpha’s
inner circle and with all those ‘benefits’ he kept crowing about.  I knew I
could beat Vik.  We trained together as youngsters and he was a lazy fighter. 
I expected to knock him out and be done with it.  But he came at me like a man
possessed.  I tried not to hurt him, because he was my friend, but he wouldn’t
stay down.  The fighting was going on for long enough that Yoric was growing
bored.  Vik noticed at the same time I did, and he pulled a knife from his
shoe.  He cut me before I realized what he had in his hand.  I could see it in
his eyes.  He was going to kill me if he had the chance.

“I warned him.  I told him if
he didn’t put the knife down that I was going to kill him before he got another
chance to use it on me again, but he didn’t care.  He launched himself at me,
partially shifting so his fangs and claws came out.  I got the knife away from
him and he continued to shift into his form.  No matter how good of a fighter a
man may be in his human form, there’s very little you can do when a pissed off
wolf is coming at you.  Before he shifted completely, I threw the knife and it
embedded in his throat.  He fell to the ground and bled out quickly.”