Blood Rites

"The room we are in has no windows. It looks like a library or study."

Fane waited, feeling her intent to examine her surroundings.

"Okay, it looks like maybe it's a log cabin. The furniture is made out of some sort of wood and the walls are all wood like a cabin. I don't see anything else that would give any clue as to where we are." Jacquelyn's voice was beginning to sound panicky.

"Luna." Fane gentled his tone to a whisper in her mind as he pictured himself caressing her face, wrapping his arms around her and holding her close. "I will find you. You are mine, I will always come for you."

"Fane, hurry. Please."

The please is what got him. His Luna didn't say please even in the most dire of situations, his Luna commanded. There was something she wasn't telling him, but he wouldn't push her right now.

"Jacquelyn, I need to let my father know that you have contacted me. We are leaving shortly to go to Denver to question Dillon's pack. We are hoping that he confided in one of the other wolves and maybe revealed where he was taking you," Fane explained, wanting her to understand if she didn't hear him it wasn't because he was gone.

"Okay. If I'm able to figure out anything that I think might help, I will let you know."

And because he could not tell her, he pushed the image of him kissing her to her mind as he whispered, "I love you, my Luna."

"Fane, stay with me."

"Always." His word was a solemn promise to her alone.

Fane threw open her door and rushed down the stairs. His father and the other wolves were all gathered in the living room. He didn't see any sign of the girls and assumed they had not made it back yet.

"Jacquelyn has contacted me through our bond," he announced, slightly breathless, not because of excursion but from the frantic beat of his heart, knowing she was alive and as of yet unharmed.

"Was she able to tell you anything? Give you any clues to where they might be?" Vasile asked his son.

"All she could tell me was that she thinks he has her in a log cabin. She said the room that she is in has no windows, but that the furniture is made from wood and the walls were wood like a log cabin."

"Did she mention Dr. Steele?"

"She said that Logan kidnapped them both. It sounded as if Dr. Steele was just as much a victim as Jacquelyn, but something about that doesn't sit well with me," Fane admitted.

Vasile nodded. "I agree with you. I don't see Dr. Steele as the victim type. She's an Alpha female, she makes her own choices." Vasile looked at each of his wolves. "If you are not packed then do so now, and be quick. Dillon, I will leave you to command your wolves. I will not step on your authority."

"I appreciate that, Vasile. I have already sent Dalton and Lee to get our things from the hotel, they should be back any moment."

"At this point the only thing left to do is wait for Lilly, Alina, and the girls to get back."

"Do you think Lilly can convince their parents to let them go with us?" Fane asked his father.

"If Lilly cannot, there are few who can resist your mother." Vasile gave Fane a knowing smile, and for the moment because he could feel Jacquelyn's presence in the back of his mind, he was able to give a small smile back. It was true, after all. His mother always seemed to get her way. Somehow she was able to make people think that whatever it was she was wanting had been their idea in the first place. They went along with her with a smile on their face, completely oblivious. He had never seen her use it with ill intent, his mother was too kind-hearted for that. He nearly laughed at the thought of poor Sally and Jen's parents falling unknowingly under her spell.

Fane felt Jacquelyn stir in his mind. "Share with me what is assuaging your anger, Fane."

"My mother and your mother are at Sally and Jen's house trying to convince them to let Sally and Jen leave for Romania today. Obviously, that's not true but we have to tell them something so that Jen and Sally can come along, seeing as how they would hitchhike if we didn't bring them."

"I see you are learning," Jacquelyn teased.

"Funny, my love, but Jen said the same thing to my father." He could feel the humor she felt at this and he was glad he could give her some small amount of distraction.

"What I was thinking was how my mother seems to have the ability to get whatever she wants; people just go along with her. I almost feel bad for their parents, with my mom there, there is no way she won't get them to agree to let the girls come and on top of that, they will think it's the best idea of the century."

Jacquelyn was quiet for a moment. Fane couldn't pick up what she was thinking or feeling, her ability to block him was getting stronger.

"Luna, you would tell me if he has hurt you." Fane made it a command instead of a question.

"I see that distance doesn't affect your ability to be bossy."

It didn't go unnoticed by Fane that she had dodged his comment.

"Jacquelyn." He let her hear a growl in her mind.

"Under the circumstances I am as good as can be expected, wolf-man. Tell me when you are around Jen and Sally, I could use a dose of their kind of medicine."

"As you say, my love, so shall it be." Fane would give her the world if she asked it of him, and he would move mountains to make it happen.

Jen and Sally sat in the backseat of Alina's SUV, both dumbfounded by what had taken place at their homes. One minute their parents were completely unsure about letting them leave and then the next Alina was hugging them and letting them know they were welcome to come to Romania any time. She even told them that Vasile and she would pay for it, and get this, their parents were eating out of Alina's hands like she was serving the best thing since sliced bread.

"Thelma, could you please tell me what happened back there?" Jen mumbled, her voice in a trance like state.

"I'm as lost as you, Louise," Sally said, looking just as confused as Jen.

Alina smiled at the girls in the rear view mirror. "It's all in the presentation, girls. If you can set a flawed diamond in front of someone, at first all they see is the flaws. But if you pick it up and turn it just right in the light, suddenly the flaws fall into the background, bringing forth the radiance that lies behind those flaws."

"Damn, she's good." Jen grinned.