Chapter 23
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.