Blood Rites

"My love, I'm here."

The tears began anew at the sound of that voice in her mind, at the feel of the lips she felt press to her forehead through their bond. Shame washed over her as she thought about Logan's lips on hers and the retching began all over.

"I'm sorry, Fane. I'm so sorry."

Jacque pulled her knees as close to her chest as she could with her leg cuffed to the chair. She tucked her chin in to her chest as the blood dried on her back and the pain continued to pulse through her. She closed her eyes and shut the world out.

Chapter 30

Fane stood in the hotel room looking out over the city of Denver and off into the mountains. The soft murmur of Jen, Sally, and his mother was behind him. It had been two days since they arrived and still they knew nothing more than they had before. Fane's father had questioned over half of Dillon's pack and so far everyone had been truthful, no one knew anything about Logan's actions or whereabouts. To add to Fane's frustration, he was having trouble staying in contact with Jacquelyn. She kept blocking her thoughts from him and at first he figured it was to keep him from knowing how much pain she was in, but now he was beginning to worry that there was more to it than that. He closed his eyes against the thought of the other wolf putting his hands on Jacquelyn. He knew thinking like that wouldn't help him find her, it would only succeed in Fane wanting to kill something or someone. Fane reached out through their bond, and as he had been able to all the other times, he felt her but couldn't hear her thoughts. She was only letting him through enough to know she was alive, and okay…according to her. Fane didn't know he was growling until he felt Sally's hand come down on his shoulder.

"You okay?" she asked him.

Fane shook his head in frustration. "Something isn't right." Fane stepped away from her touch, not consciously realizing he couldn't stand the touch of another, not when it couldn't be his mate's hands. "I can feel her," he continued as he paced the expanse of the room, "but that's all. Every now and then she will give me a brief comment but then she shuts me out."

Sally could see the visible signs of Fane's frustration written across his brow. His eyes narrowed and he looked out the window as if he could see her if he searched hard enough. She turned to see Jen come stand beside her, arms folded across her chest in an identical pose to Sally's.

"What's up with lover wolf?" Jen asked Sally and, regardless of the words, her tone denoted how much she cared about Fane and Jacque.

"He says he thinks something is wrong with Jacque, but she won't tell him," Sally explained.

"Of course she isn't going to tell him. She knows he would go all claws and fangs up on someone if he thought she was being hurt. That's not to say I'm not royally ticked at her for keeping something from him, because that means she's keeping it from us as well."

Sally's reply was interrupted by a curt knock on the door, followed by an uninvited Decebel. Jen rolled her eyes and let out a huff of air. "You got the knocking part right, fluffy, but you forgot the part where you are asked to come in. You don't just knock and then walk in." Jen turned to Sally, shaking her head. "You would think they at least have some sort of puppy training class or something."

"If you aren't careful, he's going to be picking Jen-kibble out of his teeth after his next meal," Sally whispered under her breath as Decebel continued to stare Jen down.

Jen's gaze never wavered as she responded to Sally. "And what makes you think I object to being dinner?"

Sally choked, and Jen slapped her on the back as she winked at Decebel, finally breaking their standoff.

"Fane, Dillon has called and says he has two wolves who want to speak with you and your father," Decebel said as he turned his eyes from Jen.

Fane's head snapped around and met with his father's Beta. Decebel immediately dropped his eyes and stepped to the side to leave the doorway open. Fane began to say something as he passed Jen and Sally, but was cut off. "Don't even say it. We are going with you even if it means we have to hide in the car." To everyone's surprise it was Sally who made this announcement as she grabbed Jen's hand and tugged her along. Decebel looked to Fane who simply shook his head as if to say, just leave it.

Fifteen minutes later, Fane, Vasile, and Decebel got out of the rented vehicle to go into the Denver pack's headquarters. Fane looked back at the four remaining in the vehicle, Sally, Jen, Lilly and Alina. Worry was etched on each of their faces. "We will be back shortly," was all he said, then he was gone.

"Have I said yet how much this just sucks?" Jen muttered under her breath.

Lilly patted her hand. "We are going to find her."

"I'm the one who's supposed to be saying that to you, Ms. P."

"Vasile, these are the two wolves who wanted to talk with you." Dillon indicated the two wolves who sat across the table from them in the dining room.

"Michael, Sean, tell them what you told me, please."

Michael and Sean both looked slightly nervous, but only because they were sitting in front of one of the strongest Alphas in the world, not because they were guilty of anything.

"All we know is that Sam said he was getting a flight to Springfield Missouri a few days ago," Michael told Vasile.

"Why would you think that would be important information?" Vasile asked.

"Well, because Sam is Logan's best friend and we heard you were asking if anybody in the pack had helped Logan. If anybody did it would be Sam."

Fane growled low, showing that he was losing his patience. "What does Sam going to Springfield have anything to do with helping Logan?" he growled.

It was Sean who answered this time. "If Sam was going to Springfield then that probably means he is going to Ozark."

This time it was Decebel who growled. Vasile eyed both of his wolves and then turned back to Michael and Sean. "Please forgive their manners, they are a little stressed at the moment. Please explain the significance of Ozark."

"Oh, right. Sorry." Sean continued, "Sam owns a cabin in Ozark, Missouri and when he goes there he usually flies into Springfield."

Vasile grabbed Fane's arm before he could leave, cocking his head to the side, a very wolf-like gesture. "Excuse me for asking, but why would a wolf that lives in Colorado own a cabin in the Ozarks?"