Chapter 27
held on to the handle on the roof of the small plane that Logan had procured once they had arrived in Dallas. She had never flown in one so small and had already decided after thirty minutes of the it rattling all over the place that she never would again.
"How long did you say this flight would take?" she asked Logan.
"We have about an hour and fifteen minutes left."
"Great," she muttered under her breath.
It hadn't been as difficult as she had thought to get Jacque loaded up into the plane. She did have to give her another dose of the sedative as Jacque had started to moan again. Cynthia was hoping that once they arrived at her cabin she could allow the sedative to wear off so that Jacque could tell her how she was feeling. There was no way for her to gauge the progression of her condition without Jacque's input.
Logan looked over at Dr. Steele and decided it was time for her to explain what exactly would need to be done to fix Jacque. He didn't want to have to wait to bond with her, he knew that even now Fane would be doing everything he could to locate her.
"Tell me again what is wrong with her," Logan said, more of a command than a question.
Cynthia took a deep breath and let it out slow, knowing it was inevitable that this conversation would take place.
"She received a transfusion of human blood. To put it simply, because she is half wolf that part of her blood does not recognize it. Therefore, it is attacking the cells. Cells that have already begun to flow through her heart, her liver, her kidneys, all her muscles. Blood is the nourishment of the body, taking nutrients and oxygen to the organs. Her body is trying to prevent that from happening because it thinks the blood she received is a virus."
Logan's face was somber when he asked what needed to be done.
"She needs werewolf blood to replace the human cells that her body is attacking," She explained.
"That will be easily remedied."
"I don't know if it's that easy, Logan. I don't know if she has to receive it by biting and taking the blood through her fangs, I don't even know if she has fangs, or if a transfusion would work," she admitted.
"Still easily remedied, we will do it both ways," Logan said, complete confidence in his voice.
The rest of the ride was spent in silence. Cynthia worried about Jacque and how Logan had practically salivated at the idea of Jacque taking his blood. Cynthia wasn't paying attention to the fact that she wasn't seeing any of the mountain ranges that outline the Colorado skyline.
She was brought out of her stupor when she heard Logan on his phone.
"Is it ready?" she heard him ask. "Good, we should be there in a few minutes."
Realizing something wasn't right, Cynthia looked out her window and could tell by the landscape that they were not in Colorado.
"What's going on, Logan?" she asked, her voice wavering, betraying how nervous she was.
"Change of plans," was all she heard before everything went black.
Logan looked over at Cynthia's slumped form, feeling a small pang of regret at having to cause her pain, but it was necessary. After he had decided to take her with him he realized that she could tell Jacque where they were and then Jacque could tell Fane. He wasn't about to let her ruin all his hard work if she suddenly decided to have a conscience. So he had called one of his wolves, Sam, because he knew was loyal to him and wouldn't contact Dillon, and asked him to rent a cabin in the Ozark Mountains in southern Missouri and send him the coordinates as well as find a place to land. His pack mate had done better than that. He had found a cabin with an empty field right next to it. Again, Logan felt like fate was intervening. He told Sam to get on a plane and fly to the airport nearest to his location, then to rent a car and, after getting groceries. to meet him at the cabin.
As he closed in on the location of the field, he began his descent. He saw the cabin to the right of the field. As the wheels touched down to the earth, the plane bounced at the contact. Overall it wasn’t too bad a landing, Logan thought.
Once the plane was fully stopped Logan jumped into action, not wanting Cynthia to wake up before he had her blindfolded and cuffed. He was still going to need her help with Jacque, so he figured he could allow her to be uncuffed under his supervision while she tended to her patient. He went around to the passenger side of the plane and opened the door. Cynthia's unconscious form tumbled out and he caught her just in time to keep her from hitting the hard ground. He grabbed a bag from the front floorboard and then headed in the direction he had seen the cabin.
When he got to the door he remembered Sam had told him that the place that rented the cabins would put a key under the mat. Gingerly leaning down to move the mat aside without dropping the doctor, he saw the silver key. To his eyes it was a small trophy proclaiming his victory at having finally arrived at his destination with his soon to be mate.
He stepped into the cabin, not bothering to look around, and hastily placed Cynthia on the first piece of furniture he saw. He reached into the bag he had brought in and grabbed a pair of handcuffs. He leaned her forward, pulling both arms behind her, and secured her wrists with the cuffs. Feeling like for now that would be enough, he headed back to the plane to get Jacque.
Logan grabbed the IV bag and laid it on Jacque's stomach for the transfer from the plane to the cabin. He lowered one end of the gurney onto the ground and then pulled it forward until the front wheels were at the edge of the doorway. Stepping into the plane, he grabbed the front of the gurney and lowered it to the ground as well. Logan grabbed the rest of the bags that Cynthia had brought with her and shut the plane door. He began to push the gurney forward as fast as he could without toppling Jacque from it.
Finally arriving at the front door of the cabin once more, Logan pushed the gurney into the cabin, and this time stopped abruptly, caught off guard by how open it was. The roof was pitched and rose at least thirty feet in the air. There was a loft across from the place where he stood that was open to look over into the main floor of the cabin. Below the loft there was long hall and he could see several doors that he assumed led to bedrooms. To his left along the back wall was the kitchen, the cabinets done in beautiful cedar. There was an old fashion Dutch oven in the wall to the right, and on the island that stood in the middle of the kitchen was a flat top stove. All of the appliances had matching cedar fronts that had to have been custom made. To his right he saw a huge rock fireplace and various chairs and a couch made out of cedar that appeared to have suede cushions, all forming a semicircle around the fireplace. There were blankets thrown across chairs and pillow stacked on the floor, making it obvious this was a place of comfort, to relax and push away the rest of the world. Logan's wolf rumbled in approval of the place he would call his den.
Needing to figure out the best place to put the women, he walked down the hallway towards the various doors. Two of them were just regular square bedrooms, each had a bed made of cedar and a bedside table. In between those two rooms was a small bathroom. The third door on the left was the master bedroom, it was larger than the first two and Logan could see double doors that opened into a spacious bathroom. Finally he walked into the door across from the master bedroom and stepped into an inviting space that appeared to be a library/study. There were shelves that lined the left side of the wall all the way across, filled with books of various sizes and colors. In the middle of the room was a fluffy rug that, at a second glance, he realized was a bear's pelt. Surrounding the rug were several cedar chairs with plump cushions and blankets thrown across their backs. On the furthest wall from the door was a beautiful cedar desk with a credenza with shelves that had lighting built into them. This was where he would put Jacque and Cynthia. They would be comfortable in here, and the best part was there were no windows in this room.
Logan went back into the living area and picked Cynthia back up. He carried her to the library and set her in one of the cedar chairs. Then he went and picked Jacque up off her gurney and placed her in one of the chairs that was more the size of a love seat. As he began to leave the room, he heard Cynthia moan and turned to see she was waking up. She moaned and tried to move her arms, her eyes snapped open as she realized they were stuck behind her. Looking around wildly, trying to get her bearings, her eyes landed on Logan.
"What have you done, Logan?"
"I couldn't have you telling Jacque where we were if you suddenly decided you couldn't go through with the choice you had made. So I decided it would be best not to go to your cabin. I regret having to cuff you, but until I can put a lock on the outside of this door you will have to say that way."
"You know, I could just shift and be out of these in a second," she challenged him, trying to hold his stare.
Logan growled and stepped towards her, his eyes glowing. Cynthia had to drop her gaze. Crap, he was more dominant than her. Of course he would be, he was a freaking Beta.
"You can try to change, but know this: there is only one reason I am not an Alpha of a pack. Can you guess what that is?"
Cynthia realized what he was telling her was that his power was strong enough to prevent her change. He would have to be Alpha material in order to do that. The only thing that would make him weaker than other Alphas of course, she thought, looking over at Jacque... "You don't have a mate," she answered.
"That will be remedied soon enough," Logan growled, his eyes still glowing.
Logan turned to leave the room, telling her not to move. Regardless of what he had said she tried to change, but Logan had been telling the truth. The power he had flowing through the house prevented her change.
Logan returned, carrying three more sets of handcuffs. He walked over to her and he grabbed one of her ankles and applied the cuff, then with the other end he cuffed the rail of the cedar chair. Cynthia glared at him as he watched him secure Jacque in the same fashion.
As Logan stepped away, he heard Jacque moan. He looked back at her and saw that her eyes were fluttering and she was trying to move. He stood frozen, waiting, but he didn't have to wait long as Jacque's eyes opened. She looked at him then tried to look around, her eyes finding Cynthia.
"Dr. Steele?" Her voice was hoarse and full of unasked questions. Jacque turned her head back to him. "Logan?" She groaned and tried to pull her legs up towards her chest but wasn't able since one was cuffed to the chair rail. When it seemed that the pain had passed she looked down at her foot, and then tried to pull her arms around, realizing she was handcuffed.
"Would someone like to explain to me why I'm handcuffed and not in the hospital?" Jacque asked, looking back and forth between Dr. Steele and Logan.
"You've been kidnapped, Jacque. Logan wants to make you his mate," Cynthia answered matter of fact like, and with much more truth that Jacque expected.
Once again, pain wracked Jacque's body and she closed her eyes, trying to shut it out. When she could breathe again she looked at Dr. Steele. "What's wrong with me?"
Cynthia explained to her the same thing she had to Logan in the plane, but stopped before she told her how she could be healed.
"Okay, doc. You can't possibly think that I don't know that you must know how to fix this. Why else would Logan bring you along?"
It was Logan who answered. "You need wolf blood. You will get it from me."
"Excellent," Jacque said sarcastically even as she reached for Fane with her mind.
"Fane!" She couldn't contain the fear that poured into the bond between them. She was in pain, she might die if she didn't get werewolf blood, and some crazy wolf had once again decided she should be his. Said wolf wanted her to take his blood and, yeah, scared was an understatement at this point.
Jacque felt arms wrap around her and a hand caress her face. “Jacquelyn." The desperate ache she heard in his voice was enough to bring tears to her eyes.