Blood Rites by Quinn Loftis
"When do you think we will know if the human blood is going to affect her, or how it will affect her?" Fane asked the doctor.
"There is no way to know, Fane. I know that is not what you want to hear. Over the next few days as her body begins to heal, her wolf blood should increase the speed of that process. If it doesn't then we will know that quite possibly the human blood is hindering it."
Chapter 7
Jacquelyn’s wounds showed much improvement over the next week, but Fane still continued to pace the waiting room area as he had since the day of the accident. He was beginning to feel like a caged lion ready to pounce on easy prey. He could tell that everyone was picking up on his edginess because they all seemed to be avoiding him like the plague. He couldn't help it, it had been a week since the accident and still neither Jen nor Jacquelyn had woken. They were both going through daily debridements and although it did appear that Jacquelyn's body was healing a little more quickly than that of a human's, it wasn't quick enough for Fane. He felt helpless. His wolf was restless and desired to be near their mate. He hated not being able to be by her, protecting her while she was in such a vulnerable state, but there was nothing to be done about it. He continually tried to reach out to her through their bond, but all he got was darkness and silence.
***
Dark silence occupied the space his Luna’s voice once filled, but he spent the second week attempting to pull her from the enigmatic place she resided. His concentration was broken when Decebel said, "I wish there was something I could kill," as they sat in the family waiting area on the burn unit floor, the same chairs they both had taken up residence in for the past two weeks.
"I could go for a kill right about now," Fane agreed.
Fane was pleasantly surprised to discover that he and Decebel, despite a huge age difference of 107 years, got along quite well. Up until now Decebel had always just been his father's Beta to him, a powerful wolf, and when he was younger actually quite scary. But as they had spent the past two agonizing weeks waiting in the hospital, they had at times been each other's only company and so had begun to get to know one another. Fane was glad for Decebel's company, otherwise he might have already torn down the door to where Jacquelyn lay too still for his own liking. Fane wasn't sure how much more waiting he could take before he demanded to be allowed to be with Jacquelyn all the time. It was getting harder and harder to convince his wolf to be patient.
***
Two more weeks passed and Fane marked the four week anniversary of the accident on the calendar he placed at Jacquelyn’s bedside, praying the strength of tonight’s full moon would return his Luna to her rightful place at his side. He gratefully stood next to Jacquelyn's bed during one of the limited visits allowed and couldn't tear his eyes from her. It was amazing how much she had healed in the past month. Her skin was raw and pink where the burns had been but you could see the new skin was knitting together rapidly. Dr. Steele had told him that her leg was completely healed. She had gone back through Jacquelyn's medical records to alter some of the past findings because there was no way she could justify a person's broken leg healing completely in four weeks. She had also told him that they still weren't out of the woods regarding the human blood she had received. Jacquelyn had been running a fever constantly for the past 3 weeks and Dr. Steele also said that her white blood cell count was elevated, which meant her body was fighting an infection. Whether that infection was from the burns, or had something to do with the blood, she didn't know. So he continued to wait, and wait some more.
Before he left, he leaned down and kissed her forehead, and as he did everyday he whispered her name through their bond. "Jacquelyn, come back to me." He longed to see her emerald eyes staring into his.
And finally someone heard his pleas. “Fane?”
Fane leaned closer, as if proximity would help with their mental bond. “I am here, Luna. Can you open your eyes for me?” he asked her, desperate to bring her back to this world.
She didn’t answer him, and he thought maybe she had slipped away again, but then suddenly he was looking into a sea of green. His breath left his lungs as he saw the light in them slowly return. Fane didn’t realize he had shed any tears until she whispered in a dry, hoarse voice, “Don’t cry wolf man, you didn’t think you could get rid of me that easy, did you?”
He could barely contain the relief he felt at hearing her speak, seeing her awake. “I want to hold you, Luna, but I don’t know where to touch you without causing you pain,” he confessed, it was his deepest desire that moment.
“I'm so doped up I can’t feel jack right now, so lay it on me,” she told him with a weak grin.
Fane leaned forward as gently as he could and placed one arm around her waist. He laid his head on her shoulder, effectively placing his lips right against the bend in her neck to her shoulders. He kissed her as gently as he could and felt his wolf rumble in contentment.
“I missed you,” Jacquelyn told him in a strained voice.
“I messed up, Jacquelyn. I left you unprotected, I could have lost you. It is inexcusable. How can you even want me near you?”
“Fane, this is not your fault. Don’t go all Alpha on me right now. I need you more than ever,” she told him without shame at her own dependence on him.
“I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere.”
The door to the room slid open and, true to his wolf nature, Fane took up a defensive posture in front of his mate. Okay, so maybe he was going to overreact for a while, but everyone would just have to deal with it. Lilly walked in with Dr. Steele at her side.
Lilly let out a shuddered breath and tears tumbled down her cheeks as she looked at her daughter. She walked forward as Fane stepped aside to allow her access to Jacque.
"So nice of you to return to the living," Lilly teased, even though her voice quivered.
"Yeah, well, you would be lost without me so I had to come back." Jacque leaned into her mom as Lilly kissed her gently on the forehead.
"I love you, Jacque."
"I know you do, mom," Jacque responded with her usual remark to her mother's words; it was an inside joke between them. Lilly always said that Jacque was too big for her britches and Jacque continued to prove her right. At the sound of Dr. Steele's voice, Lilly turned away from Jacque to look at the doctor.
“Good, she’s awake,” Dr. Steele acknowledged. "Jennifer has woken as well, about an hour ago."
"How long have we been out?" Jacque asked apprehensively. Somehow she knew it hadn't been only a few hours.
"A month, Luna," Fane told her gently as he brushed some hair from her forehead.
"A month?" Jacque's eyebrows rose with question in her voice.
"I have had it arranged that she will share a room with her friend, Jen. Lilly has consented to that. Jacque, is that okay with you?" Dr. Steele asked her.
“Nothing would make me happier,” she told the doctor, a weak smile joining her words.
Fane and Lilly stepped out of the room when transport arrived to move Jacque to the room she would share with Jen. As she wheeled past, she gave Fane a quick wink and challenged, “Race you to the room.”
Chapter 8
Dillon was joined by his Beta, Logan in his office to go over the weekly update on how Jacque was healing. It had been four weeks since the accident and finally Logan had some good news to pass on.
"Jacque has awoken from her coma," Logan informed him.
"Do you know anything else about her well-being or just that she is awake?" Dillon's voice was gruff with emotion despite the wreck having been a month ago.
"From what I can gather she is healing rapidly, nearly as well as a full blooded wolf."
Dillon couldn't help thinking for the thousandth time how Fane could have left her, or any of them for that matter, completely vulnerable especially after the challenge he had taken part in. Then a thought that he kept coming back to occurred to him again. He spun around, glaring at Logan. “You were there, why didn’t you help her?”<
“I was going to, Alpha, but Fane got there so quickly and he would have known what I was had I revealed myself. I realize now Jacque’s safety should have been my first priority, not my cover,” Logan told him, eyes down, neck exposed in submission
Dillon appreciated the gesture as he was hanging on to his wolf by a thread and any defiance on Logan’s part would surely forfeit his life.
“I was going to stay out of this. I was going to trust Lilly to know what was best for our daughter, but these past weeks the more I go over it in my head, I just can't, not now. Jacque could have been killed and all because her supposed mate, who is little more than a kid, didn’t protect her as is his responsibility.” Dillon knew in the rational part of his brain that maybe he was being too hard on Fane, but he couldn’t help it, that was his daughter, and had she died he would never have had the opportunity to know her. That was unacceptable in his book. Jacque was still a minor, he could invoke his rights as her Alpha, that he take her under his care until she was an adult. Lilly would probably hate him for it but she would eventually see that it was better for Jacque this way. She was too young to mate, and worse, Fane was too young to be her mate. He didn’t understand what it meant to be a mate, the responsibility that came with it.
Dillon turned to look at Logan. “You said there were four wolves besides Vasile and his son?”
“Yes, Alpha.”
“Get the pack's first four, with you and myself that will make six. We will be walking in with an even number of wolves so as not to appear like I am challenging Vasile, but enough to show that I have support. Also have Colin charter a private plane, I want to get there as soon as possible.”
Colin was Dillon’s assistant, for lack of a better word, and took care of any pack business and acted as a liaison to other packs. Because of his Omega status, he wasn’t considered a threat or a challenge to other packs, nor was he a submissive which would allow other packs to walk on him.
Logan nodded at his Alpha’s request and turned to go.
“We leave in an hour,” Dillon told his retreating back.
His plan could not be working out any better, Logan thought to himself. Although he hadn’t wanted Jacque to get hurt, how was he supposed to know that a simple blown tire would cause the car to roll, and then catch fire? Logan’s heart had been in his throat when he had watched Jacque’s still form being pulled from the burning SUV. He had nearly rushed forward to help but he had picked up the sound of the other wolves' vehicles and had gotten in his car and driven across the median to the opposite highway. He had been driving the opposite direction as Fane and his family. They'd never even looked his direction, their eyes only on the wreckage. Logan had thought that over the past few weeks Dillon's anger would abate, but much to his dislike it had only increased.
Dillon walked into the pack defense room where he knew the 4 top members of the pack would be this time of day. Each was in various states of cleaning their assigned weapons and monitoring the parameter of the mansion on the various TV screens that were wired to the cameras all around the grounds. It seemed like an archaic thing to do as they had not had another pack attempt to challenge them on their territory in over a century. Old habits die hard, and as Dillon told them you can never be too prepared.
“Lee, Phillip, Dalton and Aidan, I need you with me. Assemble your weapons. At this point you will not carry them on your person, but I want them available in case they are needed. Go pack enough clothes for three days' time and then meet me and the Alpha in the main garage. I will explain what is going on while we are en route to our destination. Move out.” Without a word the 4 wolves assembled their weapons and then left the room to comply with their Beta’s instructions. Logan always felt a sense of pride when the pack obeyed without question, it was a sign of trust, trust that he was going to have to betray. Better not to think of that now, he told himself, just do what needs to be done, ask for forgiveness later.
Dillon stood in the main garage, waiting on his pack to join him. He was trying to be calm knowing that the pack would feel what he felt, he didn’t want them to have to shoulder his burdens. It was his job as Alpha to protect them from unnecessary stress, but this was a situation that he had never dealt with before, and for the first time he didn’t really know how to handle it. He called on his wolf, knowing that he would be less emotional and more practical; he would do what needed to be done. Dillon could worry about the emotions when the situation was under control. Logan had just shown up and right behind him were his top four pack members, all dressed in black fatigues.
“Have you briefed them on the situation yet?” Dillon asked Logan.
“No, Alpha. I figured I could do that en route.”
Dillon nodded his head in agreement. “Alright, let's load up into the Hummer. Phillip, you drive.”
Once on the road, Logan began to fill the wolves in on the situation in Coldspring.
“It is imperative at this point that this information stay within this group. Dillon will be the one to decide when the rest of the pack will know,” Logan told them.
Dillon spoke up then. “It may make you all uncomfortable since she is your Alpha as well, but I have chosen at this time not to disclose this to my mate. Speaking of, excuse me from the conversation for one moment, I need to inform her that I will be gone for a few days.” He said no more on the topic.
Logan heard Dillon tell Tanya that he was taking a business trip to discuss pack relations and ways to improve pack communications and that he would be meeting with some of the Texas packs. She didn’t question him and once again Logan noted the simple trust, trust that was being broken even as the Alpha spoke to his mate. It was for the best, Logan decided, and just like he needed to take matters into his hands regarding Jacque, Dillon had to make the difficult decision of dealing with this situation without the added stress of his mate’s emotions. Once the situation was contained, then Dillon could sit down with Tanya and explain things. Logan would be sure to be busy when that conversation took place. Tanya was hot-headed, and more often than not spoke before she thought. It was going to be a volatile mess when it came time to explain things to her. Yea, good luck with that, Alpha, he thought to himself.
“So the plan at this point,” Dillon began after he had disconnected with his mate, “is once we arrive in Coldspring I will contact Vasile first per pack law and let him know we are there. I am sure he will tell Lilly, who will in turn tell Fane who you now know has declared himself Jacque’s mate. You will not engage Vasile’s wolves unless I command it. Is there any confusion about this?”
Each of the wolves shook their heads and bared their necks in submission.
“After Lilly is notified I will set up a time to meet with her to discuss my meeting Jacque. At this point I am not going to say anything about the fact that I am there to invoke my rights as her Alpha. I will do that after I have met her. I will also only do that in front of Vasile, his pup and his Beta. During that time only Logan will be permitted to be with me,” Dillon explained.
By the time he was done telling his pack what would take place, they had arrived at the airport and were boarding the charter plane that Colin had secured for them.
As the plane took off, Dillon sat back in his chair and closed his eyes. He tried to envision what Jacque would say when he introduced himself to her. Would she be angry that he had not been a part of her life? Would she be happy to finally meet him? He was usually so confident in himself but at this moment he couldn’t remember ever being so unsure of himself.
Logan was trying to work out in his mind at what point would be the best time to take Jacque from the hospital. He decided he was going to suggest to Dillon that after he invoked his Alpha rights to have Vasile pull his wolves from guard duty and instill his own. Since he was the head of the pack enforcers he would set the guard rotation for the night, which would be the most vulnerable time, when the staff was minimal, and the cover of darkness would aid him in his task. He was so close to his goal, s
Chapter 9
Once the plane had landed at a small private air strip Colin had found, they had a rental car waiting. Dillon found himself wondering, not for the first time, what he would do without Colin, he seemed to think of everything.
Logan knew the location of the hospital so he drove while Dillon found Vasile’s number in the directory of Alphas. Yes, they had a book with all the Alpha’s numbers in it. Dillon couldn’t help but think that somebody else had a Colin as well who had come up with the idea. Dillon dialed the number and as he listened to it ring all he could think was how this was going to be interesting. Vasile answered on the fourth ring.
“Vasile,” he answered with his name instead of a hello.
“Vasile this is Dillon Jacobs, Alpha of the Denver Pack. I wanted to inform you that I am in Coldspring. Is there another Alpha I need to call?”
Vasile was silent for several beats before he responded, “No, the pack here in Coldspring is not official yet. I will notify the Alpha that you are here.” Dillon heard Vasile take and audible breath and then let it out slow.
“Do I want to know why you are here, Jacobs?” Vasile asked, using his surname.
“I have a feeling you know. I want to speak with Lilly and I want to meet my daughter. It is my understanding that she has been in an accident.” There was a slight growl in Dillon’s voice as he answered Vasile.
“How, may I ask, did you learn about Jacquelyn, or the accident for that matter?” Vasile asked, his voice laced with skepticism.
Dillon decided to let Vasile draw his own conclusion by giving half truths to his questions.