Blood Rites (20 page)

"Well, I was just going to end my shift," he
began, but Jen interrupted with a squeal.

"Yay! See, this was fate. You were going to
leave work and be bored, and I was going to have to sit in my bed
all alone and be bored, but instead we met. Pretty awesome if you
ask me." Jen grinned at him adoringly. She wrapped her arm in his
as she said, "Lead the way, handsome."

Matt took her to a room marked 'Dietary' in
bold letters. "We have beer that is kept on the floors for people
who come in and are alcoholics."

"Shut up! Really?" Jen asked.

"Yep, the docs have to write a script for it,
though. It's not the greatest but it'll get the job done in a
pinch." He grinned at her and Jen saw that he had dimples. She
groaned inwardly, if only she hadn't given her heart to another.
Wait, WTH, she hadn't given her heart away, what was she thinking?
Matt interrupted her inner dialogue when he took her by the hand,
and after he had filled his backpack with beer he pulled her out of
the room and continued down another hall. They came to a small
waiting area tucked around a corner where it was virtually
impossible to see. Matt set down his bag and pulled out two beers.
He handed her one and kept the other for himself. Jen sat down on
the love seat and stared at Matt over the rim of the beer can as
she took a sip. "So Matt, what do you do exactly?"

Four hours, 12 beers, and two bags of Cheetos
later…

Matt was sitting on the love seat next to Jen
while she rambled on about werewolves and how bossy they were. He
figured she must've been into reading those paranormal romance
books that chicks are so into. When she finally paused, Matt took
advantage of her silence by placing his fingers under her chin and
turning her face to him. Jen's eyes widened as he began to lean
towards her.

"Has anyone told you how pretty you are?"
Matt asked her.

Jen giggled. "On occasion." Jen turned her
head, slightly cocking it to the side and asked, "What are you
doing?"

"I'm going to kiss you," he answered
bluntly.

"Huh, well I guess that's ok. It is for
Jacque, after all."

Matt looked confused by her statement, but
she wasn't refusing so he took that as an all clear. He leaned in
the rest of the way and pressed his lips firmly to hers. Jen leaned
closer into him and allowed him to part her lips with his tongue.
This kiss lasted several seconds but Jen abruptly pulled back when
she felt Matt's hand slip under the hem of her shirt and graze her
skin.

"Oh, I don't think I'm quite drunk enough for
that, big boy," she teased.

"Can't blame a man for trying when there's a
beautiful girl sitting next to him, can you?" Matt winked at
her.

Jen stood up then and would have fallen down
if Matt had not steadied her. "Whoa, the floor is dipping. That
can't be safe. You should probably tell someone to have that looked
into," she told him as she continued to try and stay upright.

"Uh huh. Jen, I think it's time I got you
back to your room."

"Room, shroom, I'm having fun. Aren't you
having fun, Matty?" Amazingly, drunk Jen was still able to
flirt.

"I'm definitely having fun, but I don't want
someone to be worried about you if they come to your room and you
are gone. Come on, you point me in the right direction and I will
escort you safely, my lady."

"Ooo, you're my knight with the shiny armor."
Jen giggled.

"That's right, beautiful." Matt smiled and
wrapped his arm around her waist to help support her, and began to
walk with her in the direction she pointed. She rambled the entire
way there and when they finally got close, Matt froze at the sight
of a big man standing in front of the door she indicated, arms
folded across a wide chest. Matt swallowed hard as he continued
forward.

"Hey!" Jen waved at the man and giggled when
he lifted a lip at her and snarled.

Matt stopped moving forward, and when Jen
realized he was nervous she stepped out of his hold and pointed,
"Matty, don't be nervous, that’s just Splender." She turned and
blew the man a kiss. "He's just grumpy."

Jen continued forward and when she reached
the guy, she grinned big and pulled him into a hug, which looked
awkward because the man remained stiff as a board.

"Hey Splender, how ya been?" Jen said as she
relinquished her hold on him.

"It's Skender," he growled, "and what are you
doing with that?" Skender pointed to Matt with a growl worthy of
Decebel.

"Oh, that's Matty. He's my new friend, right
Matty?"

"Uh, well yeah. But just friends, man, and I
just wanted to make sure she made it back okay, so I'll just be
going then. Bye Jen," Matt spoke rapidly and began backing away. He
gave her a final wave and turned to hurry on his way.

Skender turned his scowl on Jen. "You had
better get back in there before Decebel finds out you were gone
with a guy."

"Oh, Slender, quit being a worry worrier."
Jen stumbled forward and Skender caught her. He reached back and
turned the knob on the door to her room, gently pushing her in.

"Go to bed and stay out of trouble," he
growled again.

"What is it with you wolves and your bossy
beingness? It gets old, you know. Hey Spender, is the room spinning
or are you spinning? If it's you, could you please stand still."
Jen was wobbling on her feet.

Skender took her by the hand and led her to
the nearest bed. "He is going to rip my throat out with his bare
hands," he was mumbling under his breath as he eased her to the bed
and stepped back.

"Naw, he won't rip your throat out." Jen's
inebriation did not keep her from understanding he was talking
about Decebel, although her words were very slurred. "He won't be
that quick about it. Geeze, Snipper. Don't you know him better than
that? When he's in grouchy bear mode he wants to inflict pain. I
see it every time he looks in my inspection, wait, that's not
right. When he looks to my…well whatever it is ends in 'tion'. The
points is pain. 'K, now stop spinning."

Skender went to the door to leave, but turned
back before he closed the door behind him. "You going to be
okay?"

Jen gave him a thumbs up. "I am better than
good, Spenster. I'm fantabulishisness." Skender shook his head as
he closed the door.

Jen stood up and wobbled over to the stack of
clothes lying on the other bed. For some reason a shower seemed
like a splendid idea. As she reached for her clothes, she noticed a
lump under the covers. She leaned forward and poked the lump, there
was a grunt and then nothing else. Well, she thought, it's a lump
and although she should probably investigate she figured the lump
would still be there when she was done with her shower. Nodding her
head in agreement with herself, she headed off to the
shower…without the clothes she had picked up and set down while she
poked the lump.

Chapter 23

Fane
paced the waiting room of the ICU while
Decebel and Vasile played cards. He looked in their direction and
growled.

"Fane, it's not that we don't care, but this
room would get rather small if all three of us were pacing, and the
cards keep our minds busy. So keep your snarling to yourself,"
Vasile growled back.

"It's just driving me crazy," Fane admitted.
"The constant waiting, the not knowing. I can't pick up any of her
thoughts, it's making my wolf very restless."

"The doctor must have sedated her, which is a
good thing since she was in so much pain. She will be fine, Fane.
You know I will do anything in my power to keep her safe and get
her well."

"I know, thank you," Fane told his
father.

Logan's phone vibrated, indicating he had a
text message. He picked it up and looked at the lit-up screen.

Cme to 4th flr. Use staff elevtr 2 avoid wt
rm, I will buzz u n the doors.

Logan stood up and put his phone in the
pocket of the lab coat Dr. Steele had left for him. He grabbed the
keys to the car the Coldspring pack had loaned him and headed to
the fourth floor. He couldn't help but be nervous with Vasile and
his wolves still in the hospital. When the elevator doors dinged
and opened, he stepped out and immediately froze. One of Jacque's
friends was standing in front of the doors that had the words ICU
on them, trying to figure out a way to open them. If she was trying
to sneak she was very lousy at it. He crept up behind her, his wolf
helping him be silent while he stalked his prey. Just as the girl
was about to turn around, Logan placed his hands on the point
between her neck and shoulder and squeezed. She crumpled like a
house of cards. He caught her before she hit the floor and the only
thing he could think to do was put her in the elevator and hit the
button that would take her back to her floor and hope she would be
okay. He placed her limp body on the floor of the elevator and
pushed the button to her floor and watched as the doors closed.
That was a development he had not been expecting but he couldn't
worry about it now. He walked back to the ICU doors and heard a
loud buzz and the doors opened. Directly in front of him was the
nurses' station, a circular desk that gave them a clear view of
every glass-encased room. Dr. Steele stood waiting in the doorway
of a room directly to his right.

"She's heavily sedated. I have her hooked to
an IV drip to keep her under. I also figured that since she would
have to have the IV attached that if stopped, we would need to have
a reason to be wheeling her out of the hospital, so I forged
transfer papers to the burn unit at Children's Hospital in San
Antonio. Not really plausible but it may buy us some time if
caught."

Logan was impressed with the doctors'
forethought. "Thank you."

"Let's just get this done," she growled.
Logan wondered if the good doctor's conscience was nagging her. He
thought about reminding her about what Fane had done to her
brother, but decided it would be better to just keep his mouth
shut, get Jacque, and go. Dr. Steele had wheeled a gurney into the
small room, right up against the bed that Jacque was lying in.
Logan thought she looked pale, even with her still-pink healing
skin.

"I need you to grab that end of the sheet and
on my count, pull. It will slide her smoothly across," Dr. Steele
was telling him as he stared at the woman he had chosen as his
mate.

Logan grabbed the end as instructed and
pulled smoothly on the doctor's count of three. He covered her with
a blanket up to her neck and Dr. Steele placed and oxygen mask over
her face. She said it was just to help make it harder to identify
Jacque. They began to wheel the gurney out and it struck Logan that
there was no one else around.

"Where are the nurses?"

"There are only two ICU nurses at night and I
sent one to get me some more antibiotics from the pharmacy, and the
other to my office to get my phone."

"But you have your phone," Logan said before
thinking.

"Yes, but she doesn't know that now does she?
Now hurry before they get back," she told him as she pulled the
door to the room Jacque had been in closed. They pushed the gurney
through doors opposite the ones that Logan had come in. It brought
them straight to an elevator that had the doors held open by a
large steel trash can. Dr. Steele was ahead of the game, Logan
liked that. As they rode down, the sound of elevator music filtered
through the speakers and although the music was meant to be
calming, it was grating on Logan's nerves, and he really just
wanted to rip the speakers out. Calm down, he told himself, it's
almost over.

The elevator doors opened and they pushed the
gurney into a hall with harsh fluorescent lights that shined
against white walls and white linoleum floors. Logan could hear
sounds emanating from the right end of the hall. The emergency
room, he thought. They turned left and quickly wheeled the gurney
away from the noise. The hall seemed to go on forever, although
Logan knew that it really wasn't that long. At that moment, pushing
the gurney with Jacque on it even five feet would be too long. Just
when he thought he might have to take off in a sprint, they were
finally in front of the doors that would lead to the car he had
waiting for them. Dr. Steele pushed a button on the wall and the
doors opened automatically.

Logan had parked the SUV directly to the left
of the doors, and as they wheeled Jacque over to the back passenger
door Logan realized that with Jacque sick, things just got a whole
lot more complicated, so he made a split second decision. When Dr.
Steele walked to his end of the gurney so that she could get the IV
bag to hang on the clothes hanger hook above the back seat window,
Logan grabbed her by the neck. She froze as she felt Logan's claws
pierce her skin, a warm trickle of blood slid down her throat.

She didn't know what the hell Logan was up
to, but she did know that her role in this game had just changed,
and not to her benefit.

"I cannot manage all these medicines for
Jacque, so until you tell me what I need to do to make her better
you are going with us," Logan growled low, his eyes beginning to
glow.

Her wolf naturally wanted to submit but she
just wanted to spit in his face. She looked down at Jacque. The
girl really was sick and she held no ill will against her, she just
happened to be caught in the crossfire. Once again to help justify
her actions, and allay her guilty conscience, she would comply with
Logan. "Okay, I will go with you. But as soon as I have shown you
what you need to do to heal her I'm out, got it?"

Logan gave her neck one more squeeze for good
measure. "We'll see, doc," he told her, his look promising
retaliation if she did not keep her end of the deal.

They got Jacque loaded into the back seat.
She hung the IV bag from the clothes hook above the window, then
climbed into the passenger side taking a deep breath and letting it
out slow. What have I gotten myself into, Cynthia thought to
herself. She watched as Logan pushed the gurney back on the
sidewalk, not bothering to take it back into the hospital. He
walked to the driver side door and climbed into the vehicle.
Without a word he started the SUV, put it in drive, and slipped off
into the night while Jacque's mate waited in vain to hear of news
of her well being. Cynthia couldn't have stopped the tear that
slipped down her cheek if she had wanted to.