Blood Rites

Jacque ran blindly, her arms thrown out in front of her, desperately trying to keep herself from running face first into a tree. She felt horrible for leaving Cynthia but the thought of Logan getting his hands on her was just too much. She stumbled over a fallen tree branch, falling forward but caught herself on her hands. She pushed herself up again and started forward without bothering to dust her hands off.

"Fane! Logan found us. I freaked out and took off running and left Cynthia behind. I don't know where I am." Jacque reached out for him, hoping that maybe he was close to her.

"We are tracking him. We just passed the cabin about a mile ago. Keep running, Jacquelyn. I will find you.”

Jacque nodded her head and then remembered he couldn't see her.

"Please hurry." Jacque heard a loud howl not far behind her. "He's getting closer."

Jacque kept running, but fell to the ground when the pain that was becoming more intense wracked her body. She rolled onto her side, biting the inside of her cheek to keep from screaming.

"Luna, what is it? I can feel your pain."

"The pain is getting worse. Whatever is happening to my body, it's getting worse." Jacque squeezed her eyes closed and tried to take slow, deep breaths. Pushing past the pain, she rolled onto her hands and knees and began to crawl. If crawling was all she could do at the moment then so be it but she wouldn't just lay there on the ground and wait for Logan to come rip her apart. Unfortunately, she didn't make it far before she heard a low growl behind her. She turned her head and sure enough a huge black and grey wolf stood there. His head was down low, all his hair on his large body seemed to be standing on end. Jacque turned, not wanting her back to him and fell onto her butt. She began to try to scoot back away from him as he began advancing on her.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked him, hoping maybe to distract him. "Why would you want me when you know I am not your true mate?"

Jacque squeaked when all of a sudden there was no longer a large wolf before her, but a naked man instead.

"Do you have any idea what it's like to be alone? To be empty on the inside and feel like you are being consumed by it? That is why I'm doing this. I need a mate. There are so few females and Fane is still a pup. He has plenty of time before the darkness begins to drive him mad. But me, I'm old. I need a mate."

Jacque kept her eyes firmly planted on his face as she listened to him. She could see the pain on his face but after what he had done to her she couldn't feel sorry for him.

"You have to already realize that I will not make the darkness go away for you. You have to know that only your true mate can do that," she tried to reason.

"It will be better once we mate. That will make us one and then the madness will be contained."

"Logan, it's not going to happen. I am not yours! I will never be yours."

Logan lunged at her, pushing her onto her back. He grabbed her hands and pushed them down into the ground as he leaned forward placing his nose against her neck. Jacque whimpered at his closeness, hating the feel of his skin against hers.

"You don't even smell like him anymore," he growled. "You smell like me. Do you really think he is going to want you once he smells another wolf all over you?"

Jacque looked Logan straight in the eyes. "Fane will always want me no matter what you do to me."

Logan snarled at her boldness but didn't back away. He took her hands and raised them above her head, holding both wrists with one of his hands. He took his free hand and grabbed her chin, holding her face in place as he leaned forward. Jacque realized he was going to try and kiss her and she began thrashing wildly. He held her tighter and she flinched at the pain in her wrists. He gripped her face tighter as his lips came brutally down on hers. She thrashed her body trying to throw Logan off but he was too big. Before he could pull his lips away, Jacque opened her mouth and bit down hard on them.

Logan snarled as her released her mouth. Glaring down at her, Jacque shivered at the feral look in his eyes.

"It's like that, is it?" He asked her as he pulled his hand back. Jacque realized he was going to hit her and tried to move her head out of the way. She squeezed her eyes closed, waiting for the blow. It never came. Instead, the weight that was Logan was suddenly gone as he was thrown from her body. Jacque opened her eyes to see Fane leaning over her.

"Fane?" she whispered his name as tears began to stream down her face.

"I'm here, love." Fane reached for her but stopped when she cried out in pain.

"It's getting worse," she ground out through clenched teeth.

"We're going to get you out of here just as soon as the others catch up." Fane was cut off when he felt teeth sink into his arm. He growled loudly and turned to face Logan. Fane lunged for Logan and phased in mid air.

"Fane!" Jacque yelled as she watched two large wolves clash in the air. Sounds of snarls, growls, and teeth snapping filled the air. Jacque pulled herself up so she could see the battle that raged before her. She gasped as she saw Logan grab onto Fane's side, but he must not have had a firm grip because Fane slipped away. She was so entranced with watching Fane and Logan that she didn't notice the five other wolves that slowly crept up to her. She startled when she felt a cold nose touch her arm. It was then that she noticed that Decebel was carrying Cynthia in her wolf form.

"Decebel, is she alive?"

"She is. She has two broken legs but I think those are her only injuries," Decebel told her, "Jacque, we are going to take you to the car that is waiting with your mom and friends. Can you walk?"

"I'm not leaving Fane," she said firmly.

The largest of the five wolves growled low at her. She looked at him and knew it had to be Vasile. The power flowing off him was unmistakable.

"I'm not leaving him, Vasile. You can growl and snarl all you waaa..." Jacque couldn't finish as she grabbed her stomach and tried to breathe through the pain.

Decebel looked at Vasile. "Let me help him finish this. It would be over quicker and we could get her out of here."

Vasile shook his big wolf head once and snarled. Jacque decided that must have been a no. They all snapped their heads back to the fight when there was a loud howl. Jacque couldn't believe the amount of blood that matted Fane's fur, it was everywhere. She covered her mouth to keep from screaming out. Surely that wasn't all his blood, she prayed it was not all his blood. She watched as Fane leapt forward and latched onto Logan briefly, then giving his head a quick jerk she saw him tear away fur and flesh as more blood poured out of Logan. As she continued to watch, wanting to turn away but not being able to wrench her eyes away, she realized that every time Fane lunged forward he would literally take another bite out of Logan. There were holes all over Logan's body and blood poured from him. He was weakening from blood loss and she watched him stumble. Fane took advantage of Logan's moment of weakness. He lunged, landing on Logan's back and sunk his teeth into his neck. She watched as Fane began to thrash his head back and forth like a puppy with a new chew toy and then heard a loud snap. Logan's body went limp in Fane's jaws. Jacque realized that Fane had broken the wolf's neck.