The Wolf's Mate Book 6: Logan & Jenna (18 page)

The second floor of the house
was empty.  Logan called down that no one was there, and he and Bo headed back
down.  Teller and Jason said the first floor was empty, too.

Michael called up from the
basement, “You guys better come down here.”

They moved into the basement
and Logan’s eyes widened in surprise at the sight before them.  A young male
was chained to a metal pillar in the basement, gagged and bound tightly with
thick chains.  White feathered wings were unfurled from his back, and both of
them were hanging at strange angles.

“Is he dead?” Michael asked.

“He’s still breathing,” Jason
answered.

Logan walked over to the male
on the floor and looked down at him.  “His wings are broken.”

“Ouch,” Bo mused.

Logan moved behind the male
and looked at the padlock.  He said, “Anyone know how to pick a padlock?”

“Sorry, I just do doors,”
Jason said.

None of the wolves could, so
they began to walk around the basement, looking for something that would break
the padlock.  The basement walls were plain concrete blocks and the floor was
covered with thin, stained carpeting.  Metal shelves lining the walls held
boxes and tubs, and old furniture was scattered around the small area of the
half-basement.

They began pulling boxes from
the shelves and opening them.  Most of them were filled with photo albums,
clothing, and linens.  Michael said, “Eureka!” and held up an old claw hammer.

Jason snorted.  “Eureka?”

“What else do you say when
you find something you’re looking for?” he asked indignantly.

“I don’t know, maybe
something simple like ‘here’s a hammer’?”  Jason offered.

Michael flipped Jason off. 
Logan took the hammer from Michael and knelt down behind the fairy, which he
assumed was Maximus.  Only Jenna would know for sure, but he didn’t think it
was a coincidence that the male who had betrayed Logan’s mate was chained up in
the basement of one of Jasper’s crew.

The chains were too thick to
be broken with a hammer, but the lock was old and rusty, and a few well-aimed
strikes split it apart.

“Is this the guy that
betrayed Jenna?” Teller asked, helping to unwind the chains.

“I think so,” Logan said.

“We should fucking leave
him,” Michael said.

“I would, except I promised
Jenna’s parents that I would bring him back to the realm for trial if I ever
found him.”

The male slumped forward onto
the concrete floor once the chains were free.  Logan lifted him over his
shoulder and followed his pack out of the house.  Toby had moved the SUV
closer, and when they walked out of the house, he pulled in front of it and
pressed the button to open the back hatch.

Bo said, “You think the
neighbors will call the cops?”  All of the surrounding houses appeared dark,
but that didn’t mean that no one was home.

“I doubt it,” Logan said,
setting the fairy into the back and closing the door.  Another vehicle pulled
up behind them and Peter got out.  Jason said, “Michael’s going to stay with
you, Dad.  Stay out of sight and keep an eye on the place and let me know if
anyone shows up tonight.”

Michel and Peter got back
into the car and pulled away down the street, turning a corner onto another
street and stopping.  Jason said, “I’ve got a couple guys coming to relieve
them in the morning.  We’ll watch the house until they come back.”

Toby asked, “You so sure
they’re going to come back?”

Jason grunted.  “I don’t
know.  If they do, we’ll see what’s going on.  If not, then maybe the half-dead
fairy here will regain consciousness and give us a clue where Jasper and his
pack are.”

After climbing into the SUV, Logan
texted Jenna to let her know they were on the way home.  She’d been worried
about him going along, afraid that something would happen to him.  But there
was no way he was going to let his pack go hunting for these assholes while he
sat home and twiddled his thumbs.  Jenna was his responsibility.

Toby pulled into the parking
lot of Jake’s, where they had met up that night.  Teller offered to help him
take the fairy home, and Logan welcomed the help.  Logan had caught a ride with
Bo, so he said goodbye to his friends and got into Teller’s SUV.

Logan and Teller unloaded the
still-unconscious fairy from the back of Teller’s SUV when they arrived home
and carried him into the garage.

“Inside?”  Teller asked as he
held the fairy’s feet.

Logan frowned.  He didn’t
really want this asshole anywhere near his woman, but he couldn’t exactly just
leave him lying around.  “Fuck.  I guess so.”

The door into the house
opened and Jenna stuck her head out and then gasped in alarm.  “Logan?  D-did
you hurt Maximus?”  She looked ill.

“No, baby.  I didn’t touch
him.  Jasper and his crew left him like this.”  He walked backwards into the
house as Jenna moved quickly into the kitchen ahead of them.  She wrenched open
the back door and moved onto the porch.

“Where are you going, baby?” 
Logan stopped moving.

“I have to call my parents. 
We have to take him home immediately!”  She sounded panicked, and Logan looked
down at Maximus and then at Teller.

Teller shrugged.

Following Jenna out onto the
porch, Logan and Teller settled the wounded fairy on his side on the soft grass
and stood outside of the garden.  Jenna was already stripping her shirt off and
kneeling in front of what she called the
fairy ring
, which was some kind
of portal that worked not only like a door into the Fae Realm but also like a
video phone.

“Jenna?”  Logan said, a
little more sternly than he meant to.  He was frustrated that she seemed overly
concerned about the asshole who’d caused her abduction.

She looked over her shoulder
at him.  “You don’t understand, Logan.  Both of his wings are broken.  If he’s
not taken to a healer right away, he could die.”

Logan snorted derisively.  “I
hate to break it to you, sweetheart, but he deserves it.  That asshole sold you
out to a psycho wolf.  He’s lucky they didn’t kill him or that I didn’t leave
him to die.”

Her chin lifted and anger
flashed in her eyes.  He expected her to argue with him, but what she did felt
far worse.  She dismissed him by silently turning to face the ring and
releasing her wings from her back.  When the wings spread out, it felt like a
wall had just been thrown up between them.

The portal looked like a
piece of glass.  Through it, he couldn’t see anything but black until it cleared
suddenly and he was looking into a room inside a home.  Jenna’s mother said,
“Darling?   It’s very late.  Is something wrong?  Are you ill?”

As she told her mother what
was wrong with Maximus, Teller said in a low voice, “I guess wings are serious
business to fairies.”

Unease settled through
Logan.  Did Jenna blame him for what happened to Maximus?  Or did she think him
some Neanderthal because he thought the jackass got what he deserved?

A little green bug buzzed in
front of his face.  “You!  Brute!  Did you harm that he-fairy?”

“Hello, Darlie,” he sighed. 
He wasn’t in the mood to play nice with the obnoxious sprite.

“Don’t try to sweet-talk me,
brute.”  She flew a little further away from him so he could see her more
clearly.

“I’m not, Darlie.  And no, I
didn’t hurt him.  He’s the one who betrayed Jenna to the wolf pack.”

Darlie huffed.  “You wolves
are nothing but brutes.  All of you.”

The tiny creature buzzed
angrily at him and flew over to Jenna, resting on her bare shoulder.  Moments
later, the portal began to grow.  It lengthened and widened until it was the
same size as a door.

Jenna turned and said, “Bring
Maximus quickly, please.”

Logan said, “I’ll do it,
Teller.  Keep an eye on the house for me and let Jason know that I’ll be back
when things are settled in the Fae Realm.”

“You bet,” Teller said.

Logan went to Maximus, hefted
the male over his shoulder and walked to the garden, stepping over the fence
and joining Jenna.  He could see her parents standing in a room watching them.

Jenna said, “Teller, if you
need to speak with Logan, come to the garden and find Darlie and she’ll contact
me.”

Teller nodded and Darlie
preened with delight at being given a responsibility.  Jenna took Logan’s hand
and stepped through the portal.  He had to crouch forward slightly so he didn’t
bump Maximus’s wings against the top of the portal.  Going through the portal
felt like pushing through extremely cold, thick air.  As Logan looked behind
him, the portal closed, and he was looking at the wall of a room.

The front door opened and a
handful of other people walked into the room, two of them carrying a wooden
stretcher between them.

Logan was directed to lay
Maximus on his side on the stretcher, and he did so, being as careful as
possible considering he was under the watchful gaze of so many fairies.  He
stepped away from them and moved next to Jenna.

“Get that beast out of here!”
a man with graying blond hair shouted as he looked down at Maximus, who was
being tended to by the two men who had carried in the stretcher.  “He’s
responsible for my son’s wounds!”

Jenna’s lips curled back and
she linked her arm through Logan’s.  “He most certainly is not, Representative Eitri. 
My truemate rescued Maximus, where he had been beaten, chained up, and left to
die by a wolf pack that
he
betrayed me to.”

Jenna’s father stepped
forward.  “Do not insult my
cher
, Eitri.  He brought him home when he
could have left him to die.  And he
should
die, for what he tried to do
to my only daughter!”

Eitri sniffed.  “I don’t
believe it.  Maximus is an honorable fae from a long line of war heroes.”

Logan snorted.  “I hate to
burst your bubble, but your son is an asshole of the highest order.”

Jenna elbowed him with a
grimace as Eitri’s milky white face turned beet red.  Jenna’s father stifled a
chuckle under a short cough and said, “I’m sure you want to get your son to the
healers, Eitri.  We wish him a quick recovery.”

Eitri made a face that looked
like he’d smelled something awful and adjusted the lapel on his jacket.  “Yes,
he certainly won’t recover in a hovel like this.  Good day.”

With a flourish, he swept out
of the house and the fairies followed quickly, the still-unconscious Maximus on
the stretcher.

Logan looked around the
house.  Hovel?  It was a small, quaint home.

Jenna saw him looking around
and sighed.  “You know how in the Mortal Realm they have the wrong side of the
tracks?”

“Sure.”

She shrugged.  “This is the
wrong side of the tracks in the Fae Realm.  The fae that work for a living and
do not have spell-casting abilities and are not part of the political machine
of the fae ruling system are considered unsavory.  Max’s dad never could handle
that Max wanted to be with me.”

Logan looked down into her
silver eyes and cupped her cheek.  “I guess we’re not so different.”

She smiled, but there was
still a hint of worry in her eyes.  “Baby?” he prodded gently.

She let out a long sigh and
leaned into him, wrapping her arms around his chest and resting her ear over
his heart.  “When a warrior fae’s wings are broken, a chemical is released into
their bodies.  It’s like a toxin.  It will literally rob them of their
strength.  If left untreated, the chemical can kill them.  Even if the healers
can save his wings, he’ll most likely never be able to fly again, which means
he’ll lose his place in the military.”  She looked up at him with drawn brows. 
“I know he was a sniveling toad, but no one deserves to be crippled for
amusement.”

Logan brushed his lips across
hers.  “You are more compassionate than I could ever hope to be.”

After a few quiet moments,
her father cleared his throat.  “Don’t you think you should introduce us,
Jenna?”

Jenna chuckled.  “Sorry.” 
She moved to his right side, one arm still around his waist.  “Mom and Dad,
this is Logan Anderson.  Logan, these are my parents, Brokk and Rhoswen.”

Logan extended his hand to
Jenna’s father and he shook it heartily.  Her mother took his hand, looked at
it for a moment, and then said, “You saved our daughter’s life.  We’re forever
grateful to you, and welcome you to the family,
cher
.”  Rhoswen hugged
him tightly around his middle and then stepped back to her husband, her eyes
filled with tears.

“
Cher
?”  Logan asked,
looking down at Jenna.

Brokk answered, “It means
son.”

Logan was given a tour of the
small home.  It was two stories with two bedrooms, one on each floor, and a
large open downstairs with a kitchen and living area.  Her parents left them in
her room, saying that dinner would be ready in an hour.  Jenna sat down on the
end of the bed and looked up at him.