The Wolf's Mate Book 6: Logan & Jenna (5 page)

The rope was cut from her ankle, and cuffs clicked around
her wrists and ankles, compounding the pain.  Her vision dimmed as her power
seeped away with the poison filling her body.  Her wings slipped back into her
body.

“Please,” she rasped, her lips drying and cracking.

As her vision slipped in and out, she saw Jasper’s lips curl
up into a grin.  “Maybe a little pain will help you understand how serious I
am.  You
will
help me, or I’ll keep you locked up in iron permanently.”

Someone picked her up and she heard Jasper tell him to throw
her in the trunk.  Metal creaked and she was dropped, landing on rough, thin
carpeting.  She concentrated and could see that she was inside one of the
vehicles.  The man who had dropped her met her eyes with bored indifference,
slamming the lid shut and blanketing her in darkness.

The engine of the vehicle rumbled to life and vibrated the rough
carpeting under her.  Closing her eyes, since she couldn’t see anything anyway,
she concentrated on her truemate and began whispering the words of the spell. 
She could feel the poison leeching into her body from the cuffs and collar. 
Eventually it would kill her, unless someone took the iron off her body and
helped her to recover.  Iron was forbidden in the glen, because it was so
dangerous, but she knew it was used liberally in the Mortal Realm.

She wasn’t sure how much time had passed as she was jostled
around inside the trunk, being slowly poisoned to death, whispering the spell
for her truemate.  The car stopped and she heard doors opening and closing. 
Something in her subconscious warned her to be still, so she relaxed every
muscle in her body and slowed her breathing down, wondering what would happen
when they opened the trunk.

The lid creaked open and a gust of cool night air swept over
her.  She desperately wanted to open her mouth and gulp in the fresh air, but
she remained limp and didn’t move.

“Oh, fuck, she’s dead,” one of the wolves hissed.

“Are you sure?” another wolf whispered.

She felt something move in front of her mouth and she held
her breath.  “Yep, damn it!  Jasper’s going to kill somebody over this.”

She was thankful that the wolves didn’t seem to know how to
check for a pulse.  She knew if they touched her throat they would feel it
pounding wildly.  She also knew that wolves had enhanced hearing, but they
clearly couldn’t hear her heart beating because of the noise around them. 
They’d stopped in a city, she was certain, because she heard vehicles driving
by and lots of surrounding noises she couldn’t place.

The wolves moved away and she calmed herself, knowing that
at any moment, someone could grab her, trying to surprise her.  They thought
she was dead and she wanted to keep it that way.

A hand fisted in her hair and she managed to keep her
features still and her breathing to a minimum as her upper body was lifted
upwards.  She stayed limp despite her desire to stiffen and struggle, and was
able to keep up the charade because the poison was making her weaker by the
moment.

“You fucking idiots!”  Jasper roared, dropping her back into
the trunk, where her head bounced hard against the floor.  Fortunately Jasper
was too busy shrieking at the top of his lungs to hear the pained gasp she
made.

With the trunk still open, she could hear someone being hit
and imagined it was Jasper striking one of the wolves that he held responsible
for her death.  One wolf was stupid enough to point out that it was Jasper’s
order to secure her in iron, and Jasper snarled.  There was a scuffle and then
an audible snap, followed by a dull thud.  Had Jasper just killed one of his
men?

“We’re fucked for tonight,” Jasper growled.  “You two idiots
toss him in the trunk and go take care of the bodies.”

One of the men said, “What about the safe?”

“I’ll send Crusher to bring that idiot fairy here.  He’ll
help us or he’ll suffer the same fate as the bitch in the trunk.”

I’m not a bitch, you’re a bitch.

She almost screamed when something heavy was thrown on top
of her, but she managed to keep her wits.

“Where are we supposed to take them?” someone asked.

“I don’t give a fuck, but make sure it’s far the hell away
from here,” Jasper said.

The lid was slammed shut.  Jenna moved the arm that was
lying over her throat and pushing the iron collar into her flesh and shuddered,
knowing a dead body was laying on top of her.

The adrenaline that had given her the ability to play the
part of a dead body faded quickly as the vehicle was turned on and began to
move.  She slid in and out of consciousness, knowing that it wouldn’t be long
before the poison would be too strong in her system for anyone to help. 
Whispering the truemate spell over and over, she willed the spell to bring her
truemate to her rescue, even though she didn’t even know if that was possible. 
Truemate spells were supposed to draw the two together, not send one in to save
the other.  But she had no other choice.  Unless she was found soon, she would
be dead, never meeting her truemate.

The vehicle stopped and two doors opened and closed.  She
was barely conscious at that point, holding on by a string.  The lid was opened
and the body lifted off her, and then she was pulled out and slung over the
shoulder of one of the wolves.

“You toss her over there; I’m going to walk Deiter this way
a bit before I toss him, so people don’t find them together,” one said.

“Should we take the iron off her?” the other asked.

“Fuck no.  I’m not doing anything that Jasper didn’t
specifically say.  Just get going, I want to get home.”

The one holding her grumbled and began walking.  When he
stopped, he dropped her to the ground.

“Good enough.  Rot in hell, bitch.  I needed that cash.”

If I had the strength
… Jenna thought.  She waited,
holding onto consciousness, until she didn’t hear him anymore.  She counted to
one hundred just to be safe and then she rolled over and began to crawl,
breathing the truemate spell with each inch she moved, praying that her
truemate would find her in time, and know what to do.

Chapter 4

“Jenna,” a whispered voice said, as Logan lay on his side Sunday
evening and cuddled his fairy against his bare chest.

He jerked, looking around the dark room for intruders, and
then he realized why the voice sounded so familiar.  Glancing down at the fairy
in his arms, he saw she was awake.

“Wh-what did you say?”  He kept his voice low.

“My name is Jenna.”  Her voice was still soft.

“I’m Logan Anderson.  I don’t know what you remember, but I
found you in the woods near a highway and brought you into the hospital.”  He
realized he was wearing only boxers and that she probably thought he was a
total perv.

He started to ease away from her, but she gripped him
suddenly, her fingertips digging into his arm.  “Logan.”

He nodded.

“You saved my life.”

“I’m glad I found you in time.”

Awkwardness settled over them as he tried to think of
something to say, but all he could think about was how beautiful she was and
how much better she looked compared to when he’d found her.  He’d known his
wolf’s blood would help her heal, but he had no idea how powerful it really
was.  She still looked ill, but she definitely looked healthier and not
knocking on death’s door.

“Baby, let me get you something to drink, okay?”  He sat up,
slowly untangling his arms from around her.  He helped her to sit up and
reached for the sodas sitting on the table.  Popping the tab, he dropped a
straw in one and held it for her.

“It’s Coke.  I hope that’s okay?  The sugar will be good for
you,” he encouraged her, repeating what Brigid had told him when she’d been
back to check on her several hours earlier.  Logan had been lying with Jenna
for almost twenty hours.

She puckered her lips around the straw and drank, and Logan
brushed her hair off her bare shoulder.  The snaking purple lines and welts
were gone now, and her skin was the prettiest shade of ivory he’d ever seen. 
Jenna.  His mate’s name was Jenna.

When the soda was empty, he took one of the sandwiches and
opened the plastic wrapper, handing her one half.  She took it from him and
sniffed it delicately, making a small noise of curiosity before taking a tiny
bite.  She chewed quietly and then swallowed, looking at him.

“It’s turkey and cheese on white,” he offered.

She looked down at the sandwich as if she’d never seen one
before, and he wondered if that was true.

“Have you, um, eaten one before?”

Her mouth quirked up at the corner.  “Did you just ask me if
I’ve ever had a sandwich?”

He felt his cheeks heat.  “I don’t know anything about where
you come from, Jenna.  I wasn’t trying to be an asshole.”  He wanted to bang
his head against something solid.  Damn it.  He wasn’t trying to make her think
he thought she was dumb, and now she probably thought
he
was dumb.

A soft hand settled on his cheek.  Jenna crinkled her nose
and then smiled, a thousand-watt brilliant one that made his breath catch in
his chest and his heart stop beating for several moments.

“I was just teasing.  The glen where I’m from is in another
realm.  Fairies travel back and forth between the realms all the time.  I have
a cousin who lives in Belvin, Kentucky.  I have no idea where I’m at in
relation to Belvin, but I’ve been all over North America on vacations with my
family.”

He relaxed slightly, assured that she didn’t think he was
stupid.  When her hand returned to hold up her sandwich as she took another
bite, Logan felt the loss of warmth immediately.

“We’re in Kentucky, but not close to Belvin.  It’s about two
hours from here.”  He swallowed hard before he said what he knew he needed to
say.  “Would you like me to call your cousin?”

“Why would I want you to do that?”

“I just thought you would want to see your family,” he
offered lamely.

“I don’t know my cousin’s phone number.  But I do need to
contact my parents; I just can’t do that with a phone.  It can wait until I’m
released from this place and you take me home.”

“I don’t know how to get to the realm where you live.”  He
frowned.

“I meant
your
home.”  She took another bite of
sandwich, chewing thoughtfully.

Relief flooded him.  She wanted to go home with him.  Maybe
she
did
know they were mates.  But what if she didn’t?  Should he tell
her?

Indecision plagued him and he wrestled internally with what
to say.  His wolf wanted him to pounce on her, mark her, and ravage her.  His
human side kind of felt that way, too, but knew enough about trauma to know
that she’d been abused and didn’t need him drooling all over her right now.  She’d
almost died, and someone had put that iron on her.  His body tensed as he
thought about the assholes who had nearly killed his mate.  The soon-to-be-dead
assholes.

A soft touch along the top of his hand snapped him from his
dark thoughts.  He looked at Jenna, who looked worried.

“Are you angry with me?”  Her voice trembled slightly.

“What?  Of course not.  You didn’t do anything wrong.”  He
shook his head, but the concern on her beautiful face didn’t go away.

“You look so mad right now.  I’m sure that a male like you
has many females in his life.” Her frown deepened and she withdrew her hand. 
“It’s not supposed to happen so quickly.  I have probably completely upset your
life.”

She scooted back on the bed and swung her legs around,
turning her back towards him.  As she made the motion to stand, her words finally
sank into Logan’s mind.  She thought that he was pissed at her for interrupting
his life.

He put his hand on her shoulder and stopped her from getting
up.  “Jenna, I’m not angry with you at all, and you’re not upsetting my life.”

She looked over her shoulder at him, hope blooming in her
eyes.  “You shouldn’t be walking around anyway, sweetheart, you’ve been
unconscious for a long time.  Your body is weak from the iron poisoning.”

She shifted back around to face him, and he became aware
that she was very naked and he was only in underwear, which was becoming
increasingly tight as his cock hardened at the luscious sight of her.  He
pulled one of the thin blankets from the bottom of the bed and laid it over her
shoulders.

She grasped the blanket and held it closed with one hand. 
“I thought you might be unhappy that I spelled for you.”

Logan tugged the sheet across his lap and frowned.  “I don’t
know what that means.  You
spelled
for me?”

Nodding, she told him everything that happened to her, from
her plans to cast a fairy spell to bring her and Logan together, to her pre-birthday
party with her best friend, to the betrayal by her ex and the werewolf named
Jasper who’d almost killed her.

She ran her fingers over her throat as she spoke, her silver
eyes looking reflective.  “I really don’t think he knew that the iron would
poison me.  I think he thought it would just hurt.”

Logan scoffed.  “Whether he knew what it would do or not, it
doesn’t change what happened.  He will be held accountable for your injuries,
regardless of how well you’re recovering now.”  His wolf growled in his head
and the sound spilled from his lips before he could stop it.  He hadn’t told
her anything about himself yet; he wasn’t sure she knew he was a wolf.

Her eyes widened — then she dropped the blanket and threw
herself into his arms.  “You’re a wolf!”

He wrapped his arms around her tightly, pressing her lush
body against his and drinking the sweet scent of her.  She smelled like flowers
and sugar.  Her legs brushed against his erection and he stifled a groan. 
Forcing a chuckle past his clenched teeth, he said, “I guess this means it’s
okay that I’m a wolf?”