The Wolf's Mate Book 6: Logan & Jenna (3 page)

He ground his teeth together as she turned his hand over and
the blood in his palm dripped into the wound on his mate’s hand.  To his
surprise, the wound in her hand seemed to absorb his blood.  Brigid wiped the
blade free of blood before putting it away.

“You are fully bonded now, wolf, save for the mating marks. 
Only a strong bond with her truemate could pull her back to consciousness and
help her body heal, reversing the damage that was done from her poisoning.”

Thanks to his natural accelerated healing, his wound began
to heal.  Brigid handed him a gauze pad.  He pressed it to his palm and watched
as she sprinkled a sand-like powder into his mate’s wound and then wrapped it
in gauze.

“She’ll need to stay here until she can walk out under her
own power.  It shouldn’t take more than twenty-four hours.  I will make
arrangements through the hospital to allow her to stay.”

She disappeared into the small bathroom and returned with a white
cloth and a plastic bowl filled with water.  She poured a vial of blue-tinted
liquid into the water and dipped the cloth into it, wringing it out and handing
it to him.

“The oil I poured into the water will not only cleanse her
skin but also rid her of any traces of iron left on the surface.”

He nodded, taking the cloth and picking up his mate’s hand
and stroking as gently as possible across the fading marks.  Brigid packed up
the remainder of her things.

“Wait,” he said as Brigid headed towards the door.  “How
long until she wakes?”

“I cannot say for sure.  When you have bathed her, lie
beside her on the bed and hold her close.  She will draw strength from being near
you.  When she awakens, she will need to eat to regain her strength.  I’ll be
around, Logan.”

As he finished cleansing her arm, he dipped the cloth back
into the water and said, “I’m here for you, baby, whenever you wake up. 
Whoever did this to you is going to suffer.”

Feeling a bit like a pervert, he cleansed her skin with the
water, which smelled slightly of rosemary and something else herbal he couldn’t
place.  He paid careful attention to the thicker wounds on her neck, wrists,
and ankles.

When he was finished, he patted her body dry and picked up
her slight form.  He carried her to the bed, pulled the covers aside, and laid
her down.  Pulling the sheet up, he covered her just as there was a knock at
the door.

He stroked her cheek with the back of his finger and went to
the door.  To his surprise, Jason and Michael were just outside with Ben, Luka,
Paul, and Drake.  He opened the door further and let them in.

“The boys told us what happened.  How is she?”  Jason asked,
keeping his voice low.

Logan explained about her injuries and that they were now
bonded mates through blood-sharing.  Jason’s brows rose.  “I’ve never known any
fairies.  They’re a very secretive group.  Drake told us where you found her,
and Bo is searching maps of the area to see where she might have come from. 
Did she say anything, except to ask for your protection?”

Logan shook his head.  The door to the room opened again,
and Toby walked inside carrying a duffel bag that had been in the bottom of
Logan’s closet.  He set it down on a small two-drawer dresser near the bed and joined
them.  “When I stopped to get your truck, I packed a bag for you since Ben said
you gave up your shirt for your mate.  I brought some things from your bathroom
for you, too.  You look like hell, bro.”

He’d never been so relieved to be insulted.  “Thanks, T.”

Toby nodded.  Jason suggested the boys go get something from
the cafeteria and handed them a few bills from his wallet.

When the four young wolves were gone, Jason and Michael sat
in two chairs against the wall and Toby stood near them.

Logan moved to the bed and pressed his hand lightly to her
shoulder, just to keep contact with her.  Until they were alone, he wasn’t
going to climb into bed with her.  It was too … intimate.

“A blood bond is a serious thing, Logan.”  Jason said.  “It’s
like a truemate bond on steroids.”

He didn’t know what a blood bond meant, but he didn’t care. 
The only thing that mattered was his precious little fairy waking up and
getting better.  He would deal with the mating and bonding stuff later. 
They
would.

Michael hummed.  “I don’t think he cares.”

Jason cleared his throat.  “Still, I just want you to know
that if you need anything from me, from the pack, that we’re here for you.  For
both of you.”

Logan stopped looking down at his fairy and looked at his
friends.

“Thanks.”

The boys returned with trays of vending-machine sandwiches,
chips, sodas, and coffee.  Logan set aside two sandwiches and sodas for his
fairy, and ate with his pack.  Conversation touched on everything but the
unnamed woman in the hospital bed.

He took his keys from Toby, and thanked his packmates for
their help and support.  He’d never really had a support structure in a pack
like he did with the Tressel Pack.  Once his grandmother passed away, he hadn’t
really had anyone in his corner.

When he was alone with his fairy, he shucked his boots and
jeans and lifted the sheet, climbing into the bed slowly so he didn’t jar her
too much. 
She looks better
, he thought, as he flipped the button to
turn off the light and settled carefully next to her.  Sliding one arm under
her neck and the other across her stomach under the sheet, he pulled her
against himself and closed his eyes, resting his forehead against her temple.

His wolf prowled in his mind, anxious for her to wake up,
and he found himself talking nonsense to her, asking her wake up, telling her
how badly he wanted to get to know her, to see her healthy, that she was safe
forever with him.  He had no idea how much time passed before he drifted off to
sleep, clinging to the hope that she’d wake soon.

Chapter
3

*One Day Earlier*

“Oh, Jenna,” her best friend Kari grinned as Jenna twirled
in front of her, “you look fantastic.”

“Thanks.  It’s my last bash before I spell for my truemate. 
I’m going to have a blast.”  Jenna looked in the full-length mirror, lifting
her mass of brown hair up to decide how she wanted to do her hair.  The silver
strands in her hair sparkled in the overhead light.

Kari joined her and took her hair in both hands, twisting
the long length this way and that.  “Are you sure you want to spell for your
truemate?  You’ll have to leave the glen and go live wherever he is.”  Kari
shivered as if it were the worst idea in the history of fae-kind.

Jenna was fairly certain that spelling for her truemate was
one of the best ideas she’d ever had.  There were no he-fairies that she was
interested in, and even if she had been, as a
lockinfae
, she wasn’t
considered a female of worth to her people.  Lockinfae were the blue-collar
workers of the fae world, those that couldn’t conjure magic, unlike her friend
Kari, who was a
blosomfae
and used her magic to control nature.  Jenna
could unlock anything.  It wasn’t a glamorous ability, but she’d never had to
carry a key, and her parents were honest and hard-working.

Tonight, on the eve of her twenty-fifth birthday, she would
party like the world was ending; then in the morning, on the first day of the
twenty-fifth year of her life, she would cast an ancient fae spell that would
lead her to her truemate.  Somewhere outside of Harom Glen was her truemate.  A
shifter; a wolf perhaps, or maybe a big cat.  He would feel compelled to find
her, and she him, tethered by the spell until they met.

In her mind, there were fireworks and stringed instruments
playing as she met her truemate for the first time.  Then he’d gather her into
his arms and kiss her until the whole world dropped away and it was just the
two of them, cementing their new life together with the most passionate of
kisses.

Kari twisted and clipped Jenna’s hair into a complicated
mass on her head.  Then she opened her clutch and withdrew a small paper
envelope.  She opened it, turned it over Jenna’s head, and sprinkled the
contents — small seeds — into her hair.

Kari waved her fingers over the seeds and they began to
sprout into delicate, dark-green vines no thicker than thread, which wove in
and out of the locks of Jenna’s hair.  The vines sprouted miniscule silver
flowers that complemented the silver strands of Jenna’s hair, making the
classic style look even more elegant.

Kari held one more seed between her fingers and set it on
the top of Jenna’s wrist.  As it began to grow into a light green vine, it
circled Jenna’s wrist several times over, so a thick circlet of vines lay on
her wrist like a bracelet.  Delicate blue flowers, like the sky in the summer,
popped up and filled the vines.

Jenna touched the bracelet gingerly, her eyes misting with
tears.  “It’s so pretty, Kari, thank you.”

Kari hugged her and smiled down at her.  Jenna was shorter
than her best friend, who towered over her five-foot-four frame by four
inches.  “It’s my pleasure, Jen.  You’re my best friend and I love you.  I wish
you weren’t leaving the glen.  I’m worried I’ll never see you again.”

Kari, not only powerful but beautiful, was betrothed to a
he-fairy named Raynir, a captain in the fae-army.  He had high status among
their people as a warrior, and he seemed entirely devoted to making Kari happy.

“I visit my cousin, Leah, in the Mortal Realm where she
lives with her truemate.  You can visit me anytime, and I’ll come back here to
visit, too.”

Kari smiled and wiped at a stray tear, turning around to
gather the makeup supplies that she had brought over to help Jenna get ready. 
Jenna kept her thoughts about the Mortal Realm to herself.  Kari didn’t really
understand what it was like to be an outcast in this world, to live on the
sidelines.  As a member of the lower class, Jenna hadn’t enjoyed the plush life
that Kari had, going to parties and being courted by the most handsome
he-fairies in the glen.  Jenna had only been courted by a handful of he-fairies
since she turned eighteen, and none of them had led her to believe that their
potential marriage would be anything but one of convenience and duty.  Jenna
didn’t want to be married to man that didn’t want her, didn’t love her.  She
wanted to be swept off her feet by a strong pair of arms and kissed senseless,
driven to ecstasy by talented fingers and lips, not groped blindly in the dark
and left unsatisfied.

Jenna and Kari left her bedroom, where her bags were packed,
ready for her spell.  She would travel to the Mortal Realm and stay with her
cousin, who was married to her truemate, a were-fox.  She’d been practicing the
spell in her mind for weeks.  Although she was unable to conjure, the truemate
spell was different and — just this once — she would be able to conjure a spell
to connect to the one male that was meant to be hers.  Her parents were excited
for her, but also sad to see her leave, as she was their only child.  But
they’d been lucky, growing up together in the same glen, best friends and a
natural fit together.  Jenna hadn’t been that lucky, so she needed a little fae
magic to help her out.

“Have fun tonight, sweetie,” her mom said as she gave her a
hug.  “I’ll make your favorite breakfast for you tomorrow morning.”

“Thanks, Mom.”  Jenna kissed her cheek, smiling as her
mother tried to rein in her emotions.

“Now you two look after each other,” her father said
sternly, but with a hint of a smile.

“Yes, sir, Mr. Odile,” Kari said, saluting him with a silly
wave of her hand.

Jenna shook her head.  “I’m not saluting you, Dad, but I do
love you, and I’ll be careful.  I promise.”  She kissed his cheek and said
goodbye, waving at them both as she stepped out onto the front porch of the
small home.

Kari had arranged for a driver to pick them up in a gorgeous
white carriage draped with pink and blue blossoms.

“You didn’t have to go to all this trouble,” Jenna said,
taking the driver’s hand as she stepped up into the carriage, which was being
driven by four blue stallions from Jenna’s parents’ private stables.  Their
color was deep royal blue and their manes and tails were varying shades of pale
blue.

“It’s not every day my best friend turns twenty-five and
then makes plans to leave me.  I want us both to remember this night forever.” 
Kari sat down next to Jenna in the carriage and the driver shut the small
door.  The street lamps were on as the sun fell and dusk turned into night. 
The driver climbed into the front of the carriage and picked up the reins, whistling
sharply to the horses, who neighed and began to trot, pulling the carriage away
from Jenna’s childhood home.

Their first stop was dinner, where they were catered to by a
dozen staff members as they ate.  Then they were taken to a popular dance club,
The Beacon
, to dance the night away.  Friends and acquaintances were
waiting for them.  After Kari gave a short speech extolling Jenna’s virtues and
making her blush, the band began to play and they took to the floor to lose
themselves in the music.

After dancing until her feet hurt, Jenna found a seat at a
table and sat down with a sigh.  Jenna had danced with a dozen he-fairies, but
none that made her belly quiver the way the thought of meeting her truemate did. 
It would have been much easier if she’d found a he-fairy to marry, if any one
of them over the years had been worth her time or her heart, but none had, and
she didn’t regret her decision.

A voice that made her cringe broke her from her thoughts. 
“Happy birthday, Jen-Jen.”

Jenna winced at the awful nickname and looked up to see the
one person she’d been assured wasn’t invited:  her ex-boyfriend, Maximus
Eitri.  He leaned on the table with one hand, his white-blond hair braided at
his temples, signifying his acceptance into the fae-army.  He had put on some
muscle since she had seen him last, when she’d dumped him for cheating on her. 
All her friends had thought that Max was perfect for her.  As a member of the
warinfae
,
he came from a family of warriors and would go far within the ranks of the army. 
Warinfae could conjure battle spells to give them advantages in fights.  Most
in the fae-army, including Kari’s betrothed, were honorable males, but Max most
certainly was not.  Jenna had watched him cheat during training, using illegal
spells and even permanently maiming those who went against him.  The
relationship was over almost as soon as it had begun, but Max took great
pleasure in humiliating her by reminding her, loudly and publicly, that she had
once taken him to her bed.  A fact she sincerely regretted.