by R. E. Butler
The engine of the vehicle rumbled to life and vibrated the rough carpeting under her. Closing her eyes, since she couldn’t see anything anyway, she concentrated on her truemate and began whispering the words of the spell. She could feel the poison leeching into her body from the cuffs and collar. Eventually it would kill her, unless someone took the iron off her body and helped her to recover. Iron was forbidden in the glen, because it was so dangerous, but she knew it was used liberally in the Mortal Realm.
She wasn’t sure how much time had passed as she was jostled around inside the trunk, being slowly poisoned to death, whispering the spell for her truemate. The car stopped and she heard doors opening and closing. Something in her subconscious warned her to be still, so she relaxed every muscle in her body and slowed her breathing down, wondering what would happen when they opened the trunk.
The lid creaked open and a gust of cool night air swept over her. She desperately wanted to open her mouth and gulp in the fresh air, but she remained limp and didn’t move.
“Oh, fuck, she’s dead,” one of the wolves hissed.
“Are you sure?” another wolf whispered.
She felt something move in front of her mouth and she held her breath. “Yep, damn it! Jasper’s going to kill somebody over this.”
She was thankful that the wolves didn’t seem to know how to check for a pulse. She knew if they touched her throat they would feel it pounding wildly. She also knew that wolves had enhanced hearing, but they clearly couldn’t hear her heart beating because of the noise around them. They’d stopped in a city, she was certain, because she heard vehicles driving by and lots of surrounding noises she couldn’t place.
The wolves moved away and she calmed herself, knowing that at any moment, someone could grab her, trying to surprise her. They thought she was dead and she wanted to keep it that way.
A hand fisted in her hair and she managed to keep her features still and her breathing to a minimum as her upper body was lifted upwards. She stayed limp despite her desire to stiffen and struggle, and was able to keep up the charade because the poison was making her weaker by the moment.
“You fucking idiots!” Jasper roared, dropping her back into the trunk, where her head bounced hard against the floor. Fortunately Jasper was too busy shrieking at the top of his lungs to hear the pained gasp she made.
With the trunk still open, she could hear someone being hit and imagined it was Jasper striking one of the wolves that he held responsible for her death. One wolf was stupid enough to point out that it was Jasper’s order to secure her in iron, and Jasper snarled. There was a scuffle and then an audible snap, followed by a dull thud. Had Jasper just killed one of his men?
“We’re fucked for tonight,” Jasper growled. “You two idiots toss him in the trunk and go take care of the bodies.”
One of the men said, “What about the safe?”
“I’ll send Crusher to bring that idiot fairy here. He’ll help us or he’ll suffer the same fate as the bitch in the trunk.”
I’m not a bitch, you’re a bitch.
She almost screamed when something heavy was thrown on top of her, but she managed to keep her wits.
“Where are we supposed to take them?” someone asked.
“I don’t give a fuck, but make sure it’s far the hell away from here,” Jasper said.
The lid was slammed shut. Jenna moved the arm that was lying over her throat and pushing the iron collar into her flesh and shuddered, knowing a dead body was laying on top of her.
The adrenaline that had given her the ability to play the part of a dead body faded quickly as the vehicle was turned on and began to move. She slid in and out of consciousness, knowing that it wouldn’t be long before the poison would be too strong in her system for anyone to help. Whispering the truemate spell over and over, she willed the spell to bring her truemate to her rescue, even though she didn’t even know if that was possible. Truemate spells were supposed to draw the two together, not send one in to save the other. But she had no other choice. Unless she was found soon, she would be dead, never meeting her truemate.
The vehicle stopped and two doors opened and closed. She was barely conscious at that point, holding on by a string. The lid was opened and the body lifted off her, and then she was pulled out and slung over the shoulder of one of the wolves.
“You toss her over there; I’m going to walk Deiter this way a bit before I toss him, so people don’t find them together,” one said.
“Should we take the iron off her?” the other asked.
“Fuck no. I’m not doing anything that Jasper didn’t specifically say. Just get going, I want to get home.”
The one holding her grumbled and began walking. When he stopped, he dropped her to the ground.
“Good enough. Rot in hell, bitch. I needed that cash.”
If I had the strength… Jenna thought. She waited, holding onto consciousness, until she didn’t hear him anymore. She counted to one hundred just to be safe and then she rolled over and began to crawl, breathing the truemate spell with each inch she moved, praying that her truemate would find her in time, and know what to do.
Chapter 4
“Jenna,” a whispered voice said, as Logan lay on his side Sunday evening and cuddled his fairy against his bare chest.
He jerked, looking around the dark room for intruders, and then he realized why the voice sounded so familiar. Glancing down at the fairy in his arms, he saw she was awake.
“Wh-what did you say?” He kept his voice low.
“My name is Jenna.” Her voice was still soft.
“I’m Logan Anderson. I don’t know what you remember, but I found you in the woods near a highway and brought you into the hospital.” He realized he was wearing only boxers and that she probably thought he was a total perv.
He started to ease away from her, but she gripped him suddenly, her fingertips digging into his arm. “Logan.”
He nodded.
“You saved my life.”
“I’m glad I found you in time.”
Awkwardness settled over them as he tried to think of something to say, but all he could think about was how beautiful she was and how much better she looked compared to when he’d found her. He’d known his wolf’s blood would help her heal, but he had no idea how powerful it really was. She still looked ill, but she definitely looked healthier and not knocking on death’s door.
“Baby, let me get you something to drink, okay?” He sat up, slowly untangling his arms from around her. He helped her to sit up and reached for the sodas sitting on the table. Popping the tab, he dropped a straw in one and held it for her.
“It’s Coke. I hope that’s okay? The sugar will be good for you,” he encouraged her, repeating what Brigid had told him when she’d been back to check on her several hours earlier. Logan had been lying with Jenna for almost twenty hours.
She puckered her lips around the straw and drank, and Logan brushed her hair off her bare shoulder. The snaking purple lines and welts were gone now, and her skin was the prettiest shade of ivory he’d ever seen. Jenna. His mate’s name was Jenna.
When the soda was empty, he took one of the sandwiches and opened the plastic wrapper, handing her one half. She took it from him and sniffed it delicately, making a small noise of curiosity before taking a tiny bite. She chewed quietly and then swallowed, looking at him.
“It’s turkey and cheese on white,” he offered.
She looked down at the sandwich as if she’d never seen one before, and he wondered if that was true.
“Have you, um, eaten one before?”
Her mouth quirked up at the corner. “Did you just ask me if I’ve ever had a sandwich?”
He felt his cheeks heat. “I don’t know anything about where you come from, Jenna. I wasn’t trying to be an asshole.” He wanted to bang his head against something solid. Damn it. He wasn’t trying to make her think he thought she was dumb, and now she probably thought he was dumb.
A soft hand sett
led on his cheek. Jenna crinkled her nose and then smiled, a thousand-watt brilliant one that made his breath catch in his chest and his heart stop beating for several moments.
“I was just teasing. The glen where I’m from is in another realm. Fairies travel back and forth between the realms all the time. I have a cousin who lives in Belvin, Kentucky. I have no idea where I’m at in relation to Belvin, but I’ve been all over North America on vacations with my family.”
He relaxed slightly, assured that she didn’t think he was stupid. When her hand returned to hold up her sandwich as she took another bite, Logan felt the loss of warmth immediately.
“We’re in Kentucky, but not close to Belvin. It’s about two hours from here.” He swallowed hard before he said what he knew he needed to say. “Would you like me to call your cousin?”
“Why would I want you to do that?”
“I just thought you would want to see your family,” he offered lamely.
“I don’t know my cousin’s phone number. But I do need to contact my parents; I just can’t do that with a phone. It can wait until I’m released from this place and you take me home.”
“I don’t know how to get to the realm where you live.” He frowned.
“I meant your home.” She took another bite of sandwich, chewing thoughtfully.
Relief flooded him. She wanted to go home with him. Maybe she did know they were mates. But what if she didn’t? Should he tell her?
Indecision plagued him and he wrestled internally with what to say. His wolf wanted him to pounce on her, mark her, and ravage her. His human side kind of felt that way, too, but knew enough about trauma to know that she’d been abused and didn’t need him drooling all over her right now. She’d almost died, and someone had put that iron on her. His body tensed as he thought about the assholes who had nearly killed his mate. The soon-to-be-dead assholes.
A soft touch along the top of his hand snapped him from his dark thoughts. He looked at Jenna, who looked worried.
“Are you angry with me?” Her voice trembled slightly.
“What? Of course not. You didn’t do anything wrong.” He shook his head, but the concern on her beautiful face didn’t go away.
“You look so mad right now. I’m sure that a male like you has many females in his life.” Her frown deepened and she withdrew her hand. “It’s not supposed to happen so quickly. I have probably completely upset your life.”
She scooted back on the bed and swung her legs around, turning her back towards him. As she made the motion to stand, her words finally sank into Logan’s mind. She thought that he was pissed at her for interrupting his life.
He put his hand on her shoulder and stopped her from getting up. “Jenna, I’m not angry with you at all, and you’re not upsetting my life.”
She looked over her shoulder at him, hope blooming in her eyes. “You shouldn’t be walking around anyway, sweetheart, you’ve been unconscious for a long time. Your body is weak from the iron poisoning.”
She shifted back around to face him, and he became aware that she was very naked and he was only in underwear, which was becoming increasingly tight as his cock hardened at the luscious sight of her. He pulled one of the thin blankets from the bottom of the bed and laid it over her shoulders.
She grasped the blanket and held it closed with one hand. “I thought you might be unhappy that I spelled for you.”
Logan tugged the sheet across his lap and frowned. “I don’t know what that means. You spelled for me?”
Nodding, she told him everything that happened to her, from her plans to cast a fairy spell to bring her and Logan together, to her pre-birthday party with her best friend, to the betrayal by her ex and the werewolf named Jasper who’d almost killed her.
She ran her fingers over her throat as she spoke, her silver eyes looking reflective. “I really don’t think he knew that the iron would poison me. I think he thought it would just hurt.”
Logan scoffed. “Whether he knew what it would do or not, it doesn’t change what happened. He will be held accountable for your injuries, regardless of how well you’re recovering now.” His wolf growled in his head and the sound spilled from his lips before he could stop it. He hadn’t told her anything about himself yet; he wasn’t sure she knew he was a wolf.
Her eyes widened — then she dropped the blanket and threw herself into his arms. “You’re a wolf!”
He wrapped his arms around her tightly, pressing her lush body against his and drinking the sweet scent of her. She smelled like flowers and sugar. Her legs brushed against his erection and he stifled a groan. Forcing a chuckle past his clenched teeth, he said, “I guess this means it’s okay that I’m a wolf?”
She laughed and the sound was so sweet and pure that he thought it must be what angels sounded like when they laughed. Leaning back slightly in his arms, Jenna cupped his face with her small hands and smiled. “You saved my life, Logan, without knowing who or what I was. You could sprout horns and hooves and it wouldn’t change how grateful I am to you for what you did, or the fact that we belong together. When I whispered the truemate spell, I wasn’t sure it would work. I was afraid you wouldn’t find me in time, but you did. And I’m glad.”
Their eyes met and held, and Logan felt like he could see everything about their future in that one, hot second. The life they would build in Allen, their children, the family they would have. Her eyes slipped to half-mast; she tilted her head ever so slightly and her full lips parted, inviting him to taste her, to seal this relationship with a kiss.
Heart pounding in his ears, Logan moved forward fractionally, closing the distance to her mouth. Just before their lips touched, there was a knock on the hospital door and then it opened abruptly, breaking the mood instantly.
Logan spun, shifting Jenna carefully behind him so she was hidden from view, snarling softly in warning to whoever was coming into the room. To his surprise, it was Brigid.
She walked brusquely to the bed and put her patchwork bag on the table. Logan felt Jenna peek around his shoulder and she said, “Oh, you’re a fairy!”
Brigid introduced herself and said, “I felt you awaken. Before you and your wolf consummate your mating, I wanted to speak to you both.”
Jenna covered herself with the blanket again, her cheeks darkening in a blush, as she scooted closer to him on the bed. Logan wanted to tell Brigid that she didn’t know what she was talking about, but judging from the knowing look in her eyes, the old woman knew that it wouldn’t be long before Logan would feel compelled to mate with Jenna and make her his in truth. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that wolves mated their mates when they found them, and delaying that just made them cranky. Like he was feeling now. He wanted to go back to that almost-kiss and find out if she tasted as good as she smelled.
Brigid took one of Jenna’s hands in hers and rubbed her thumb across the place where the iron-induced wounds had been. “You feel well?”
Jenna cleared her throat. “Pretty good. A little weak, I guess. It was close, wasn’t it?”
Brigid nodded. “Another hour and you would have been too far gone. But your wolf wasn’t about to let that happen.” Brigid smiled, briefly, and then said, “I wanted to explain about the blood bonding.”
When Jenna looked confused, Brigid told her about using Logan’s blood to heal her. Jenna turned her left hand over and looked at her palm, which now had a star-shaped wound in the center like Logan’s. Brigid explained what she had done to Jenna to save her. Jenna held her left hand next to his, looking between their palms at the matching scars.
“A blood bond between a wolf and a fairy is different than a normal bond between two wolves,” Brigid said, clasping her hands together. “When Logan’s blood entered your body, Jenna, it bonded the two of you together in a supernaturally powerful way. You’ve taken wolf blood into yourself, and although you won’t shift into a wolf, you will most likely discover some slight changes.”
Her voice squeaked. “Changes?�
�
Logan felt compelled to comfort her and slipped his arm around her shoulder. She relaxed against him immediately. He hoped she felt safe with him.
Brigid hummed. “In truth, I’ve never known a wolf and fae to enter into a blood bond under these circumstances, so I’m not certain what might come. I would simply suggest that you stay vigilant.”
Jenna looked up at him, and her silver eyes were filled with worry. Brushing a thumb across her cheek, he said, “Whatever comes, sweetheart, we’ll get through it together. You’re safe with me.”
She smiled, but the worry in her features didn’t ease. Turning back to Brigid, Logan said, “Is there anything else?”
Brigid shook her head, opened her bag, and pulled out a bundle of folded papers and scrubs. Handing the scrubs to Jenna, Brigid gave the papers to Logan. He opened them and found discharge instructions from the hospital. When he scanned the last page, which was the bill, he found the amount paid in full. Looking at Brigid in confusion, she shrugged lightly and said, “Fairies look after each other. I wish you and your mate well, young wolf. Licht ir faun vulfen lar portaly.” Bowing her head slightly, she plucked the bag from the table and left.
“What did she say?” Logan asked, standing from the bed and reaching for his jeans, which were laying over a nearby chair.
Jenna’s head popped free of the scrub top and she untucked her hair with a flip of her hand. “She said that I was lucky to find an honorable wolf for my truemate.”
After securing the zipper and button of his jeans, Logan finished dressing, turning away to pull on his shoes while Jenna wiggled into the scrub pants. He gathered his things in the bag that Toby had brought and shouldered it.
“We’re free to go, Jenna. Let me carry you.”
She said, “I’d like to use the bathroom first.”
Idiot. Of course she would. She was unconscious for a day, abused for a day before that, and nearly poisoned to death. Get your head out of your ass!
He lifted her into his arms and strode to the bathroom, putting her down gently. Opening his bag, he handed her a spare toothbrush and toothpaste and a hairbrush. She smiled and shut the door. Logan leaned against it, dropping his head into his hands. If he wasn’t careful, she was going to think he was a mental patient who had never been around women before.