Four hours, 12 beers, and two bags of Cheetos later…
Matt was sitting on the love seat next to Jen while she rambled on about werewolves and how bossy they were. He figured she must've been into reading those paranormal romance books that chicks are so into. When she finally paused, Matt took advantage of her silence by placing his fingers under her chin and turning her face to him. Jen's eyes widened as he began to lean towards her.
"Has anyone told you how pretty you are?" Matt asked her.
Jen giggled. "On occasion." Jen turned her head, slightly cocking it to the side and asked, "What are you doing?"
"I'm going to kiss you," he answered bluntly.
"Huh, well I guess that's ok. It is for Jacque, after all."
Matt looked confused by her statement, but she wasn't refusing so he took that as an all clear. He leaned in the rest of the way and pressed his lips firmly to hers. Jen leaned closer into him and allowed him to part her lips with his tongue. This kiss lasted several seconds but Jen abruptly pulled back when she felt Matt's hand slip under the hem of her shirt and graze her skin.
"Oh, I don't think I'm quite drunk enough for that, big boy," she teased.
"Can't blame a man for trying when there's a beautiful girl sitting next to him, can you?" Matt winked at her.
Jen stood up then and would have fallen down if Matt had not steadied her. "Whoa, the floor is dipping. That can't be safe. You should probably tell someone to have that looked into," she told him as she continued to try and stay upright.
"Uh huh. Jen, I think it's time I got you back to your room."
"Room, shroom, I'm having fun. Aren't you having fun, Matty?" Amazingly, drunk Jen was still able to flirt.
"I'm definitely having fun, but I don't want someone to be worried about you if they come to your room and you are gone. Come on, you point me in the right direction and I will escort you safely, my lady."
"Ooo, you're my knight with the shiny armor." Jen giggled.
"That's right, beautiful." Matt smiled and wrapped his arm around her waist to help support her, and began to walk with her in the direction she pointed. She rambled the entire way there and when they finally got close, Matt froze at the sight of a big man standing in front of the door she indicated, arms folded across a wide chest. Matt swallowed hard as he continued forward.
"Hey!" Jen waved at the man and giggled when he lifted a lip at her and snarled.
Matt stopped moving forward, and when Jen realized he was nervous she stepped out of his hold and pointed, "Matty, don't be nervous, that’s just Splender." She turned and blew the man a kiss. "He's just grumpy."
Jen continued forward and when she reached the guy, she grinned big and pulled him into a hug, which looked awkward because the man remained stiff as a board.
"Hey Splender, how ya been?" Jen said as she relinquished her hold on him.
"It's Skender," he growled, "and what are you doing with that?" Skender pointed to Matt with a growl worthy of Decebel.
"Oh, that's Matty. He's my new friend, right Matty?"
"Uh, well yeah. But just friends, man, and I just wanted to make sure she made it back okay, so I'll just be going then. Bye Jen," Matt spoke rapidly and began backing away. He gave her a final wave and turned to hurry on his way.
Skender turned his scowl on Jen. "You had better get back in there before Decebel finds out you were gone with a guy."
"Oh, Slender, quit being a worry worrier." Jen stumbled forward and Skender caught her. He reached back and turned the knob on the door to her room, gently pushing her in.
"Go to bed and stay out of trouble," he growled again.
"What is it with you wolves and your bossy beingness? It gets old, you know. Hey Spender, is the room spinning or are you spinning? If it's you, could you please stand still." Jen was wobbling on her feet.
Skender took her by the hand and led her to the nearest bed. "He is going to rip my throat out with his bare hands," he was mumbling under his breath as he eased her to the bed and stepped back.
"Naw, he won't rip your throat out." Jen's inebriation did not keep her from understanding he was talking about Decebel, although her words were very slurred. "He won't be that quick about it. Geeze, Snipper. Don't you know him better than that? When he's in grouchy bear mode he wants to inflict pain. I see it every time he looks in my inspection, wait, that's not right. When he looks to my…well whatever it is ends in 'tion'. The points is pain. 'K, now stop spinning."
Skender went to the door to leave, but turned back before he closed the door behind him. "You going to be okay?"
Jen gave him a thumbs up. "I am better than good, Spenster. I'm fantabulishisness." Skender shook his head as he closed the door.
Jen stood up and wobbled over to the stack of clothes lying on the other bed. For some reason a shower seemed like a splendid idea. As she reached for her clothes, she noticed a lump under the covers. She leaned forward and poked the lump, there was a grunt and then nothing else. Well, she thought, it's a lump and although she should probably investigate she figured the lump would still be there when she was done with her shower. Nodding her head in agreement with herself, she headed off to the shower…without the clothes she had picked up and set down while she poked the lump.
Chapter 23
Fane paced the waiting room of the ICU while Decebel and Vasile played cards. He looked in their direction and growled.
"Fane, it's not that we don't care, but this room would get rather small if all three of us were pacing, and the cards keep our minds busy. So keep your snarling to yourself," Vasile growled back.
"It's just driving me crazy," Fane admitted. "The constant waiting, the not knowing. I can't pick up any of her thoughts, it's making my wolf very restless."
"The doctor must have sedated her, which is a good thing since she was in so much pain. She will be fine, Fane. You know I will do anything in my power to keep her safe and get her well."
"I know, thank you," Fane told his father.
Logan's phone vibrated, indicating he had a text message. He picked it up and looked at the lit-up screen.
Cme to 4th flr. Use staff elevtr 2 avoid wt rm, I will buzz u n the doors.
Logan stood up and put his phone in the pocket of the lab coat Dr. Steele had left for him. He grabbed the keys to the car the Coldspring pack had loaned him and headed to the fourth floor. He couldn't help but be nervous with Vasile and his wolves still in the hospital. When the elevator doors dinged and opened, he stepped out and immediately froze. One of Jacque's friends was standing in front of the doors that had the words ICU on them, trying to figure out a way to open them. If she was trying to sneak she was very lousy at it. He crept up behind her, his wolf helping him be silent while he stalked his prey. Just as the girl was about to turn around, Logan placed his hands on the point between her neck and shoulder and squeezed. She crumpled like a house of cards. He caught her before she hit the floor and the only thing he could think to do was put her in the elevator and hit the button that would take her back to her floor and hope she would be okay. He placed her limp body on the floor of the elevator and pushed the button to her floor and watched as the doors closed. That was a development he had not been expecting but he couldn't worry about it now. He walked back to the ICU doors and heard a loud buzz and the doors opened. Directly in front of him was the nurses' station, a circular desk that gave them a clear view of every glass-encased room. Dr. Steele stood waiting in the doorway of a room directly to his right.
"She's heavily sedated. I have her hooked to an IV drip to keep her under. I also figured that since she would have to have the IV attached that if stopped, we would need to have a reason to be wheeling her out of the hospital, so I forged transfer papers to the burn unit at Children's Hospital in San Antonio. Not really plausible but it may buy us some time if caught."
Logan was impressed with the doctors' forethought. "Thank you."
"Let's just get this done," she growled. Logan wondered if the good doct
or's conscience was nagging her. He thought about reminding her about what Fane had done to her brother, but decided it would be better to just keep his mouth shut, get Jacque, and go. Dr. Steele had wheeled a gurney into the small room, right up against the bed that Jacque was lying in. Logan thought she looked pale, even with her still-pink healing skin.
"I need you to grab that end of the sheet and on my count, pull. It will slide her smoothly across," Dr. Steele was telling him as he stared at the woman he had chosen as his mate.
Logan grabbed the end as instructed and pulled smoothly on the doctor's count of three. He covered her with a blanket up to her neck and Dr. Steele placed and oxygen mask over her face. She said it was just to help make it harder to identify Jacque. They began to wheel the gurney out and it struck Logan that there was no one else around.
"Where are the nurses?"
"There are only two ICU nurses at night and I sent one to get me some more antibiotics from the pharmacy, and the other to my office to get my phone."
"But you have your phone," Logan said before thinking.
"Yes, but she doesn't know that now does she? Now hurry before they get back," she told him as she pulled the door to the room Jacque had been in closed. They pushed the gurney through doors opposite the ones that Logan had come in. It brought them straight to an elevator that had the doors held open by a large steel trash can. Dr. Steele was ahead of the game, Logan liked that. As they rode down, the sound of elevator music filtered through the speakers and although the music was meant to be calming, it was grating on Logan's nerves, and he really just wanted to rip the speakers out. Calm down, he told himself, it's almost over.
The elevator doors opened and they pushed the gurney into a hall with harsh fluorescent lights that shined against white walls and white linoleum floors. Logan could hear sounds emanating from the right end of the hall. The emergency room, he thought. They turned left and quickly wheeled the gurney away from the noise. The hall seemed to go on forever, although Logan knew that it really wasn't that long. At that moment, pushing the gurney with Jacque on it even five feet would be too long. Just when he thought he might have to take off in a sprint, they were finally in front of the doors that would lead to the car he had waiting for them. Dr. Steele pushed a button on the wall and the doors opened automatically.
Logan had parked the SUV directly to the left of the doors, and as they wheeled Jacque over to the back passenger door Logan realized that with Jacque sick, things just got a whole lot more complicated, so he made a split second decision. When Dr. Steele walked to his end of the gurney so that she could get the IV bag to hang on the clothes hanger hook above the back seat window, Logan grabbed her by the neck. She froze as she felt Logan's claws pierce her skin, a warm trickle of blood slid down her throat.
She didn't know what the hell Logan was up to, but she did know that her role in this game had just changed, and not to her benefit.
"I cannot manage all these medicines for Jacque, so until you tell me what I need to do to make her better you are going with us," Logan growled low, his eyes beginning to glow.
Her wolf naturally wanted to submit but she just wanted to spit in his face. She looked down at Jacque. The girl really was sick and she held no ill will against her, she just happened to be caught in the crossfire. Once again to help justify her actions, and allay her guilty conscience, she would comply with Logan. "Okay, I will go with you. But as soon as I have shown you what you need to do to heal her I'm out, got it?"
Logan gave her neck one more squeeze for good measure. "We'll see, doc," he told her, his look promising retaliation if she did not keep her end of the deal.
They got Jacque loaded into the back seat. She hung the IV bag from the clothes hook above the window, then climbed into the passenger side taking a deep breath and letting it out slow. What have I gotten myself into, Cynthia thought to herself. She watched as Logan pushed the gurney back on the sidewalk, not bothering to take it back into the hospital. He walked to the driver side door and climbed into the vehicle. Without a word he started the SUV, put it in drive, and slipped off into the night while Jacque's mate waited in vain to hear of news of her well being. Cynthia couldn't have stopped the tear that slipped down her cheek if she had wanted to.
Chapter 24
Sally woke up groggily. It took her a moment to get her bearings, but then she remembered she was in the hospital because Jen and Jacque were both healing from the wreck. She put her hands to her head and moaned, her head felt like it was splitting open. As she stood up slowly, she realized that there was singing coming from the bathroom. She looked around and noticed Jen was not in her bed, and then she remembered that Jacque was really sick and in the ICU. She looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it was 5:00a.m. Walking over to the bathroom door, she tried in vain to remember what had happened last night. She gave up and knocked on the door. When the singing continued and no one answered her, she turned the knob experimentally to see if it was locked. It was. She pressed her ear to the door and realized then that it was Jen singing. Pressing closer, she strained to hear her.
"You're so hypno-something, could you be the devil, could you be an angel, your touch is something good, feels like going floating, leave my body glowing."
"Katy Perry? She's singing Katy Perry in the hospital bathroom. Just when you think you've seen it all," Sally mumbled. She knocked on the door again. Still no answer, so she started banging. Then she was banging and hollering, "JEN! OPEN THE FREAKING DOOR!" Wouldn't you know, she just sang louder. Why am I not surprised, she thought.
"They said I'm afraid, you're not like the others, futuristic werewolves'
different DNA, they like to command you," Jen continued.
"Can't you at least get the words right if you're going to be so stinking loud!"
Just as Sally was going to resume her, so far fruitless, banging the hospital room door flew open. She turned to face the would-be intruder. "Why don't you freaking wolves ever knock? Has ever occurred to you that we might be naked up in here?"
Decebel at least had the good grace to look embarrassed. "I apologize. I heard banging and yelling. Is everything okay?" He asked, glancing around the room. Before Sally could answer he spoke again. "Where is Jen?"
Before Sally could answer they both heard Jen.
"Kiss me, k-k-kiss me, infect me with your love, and fill me with your poison,
take me, t-t-take me, wanna be your victim, ready for abduction boy, you're a werewolf, your touch is so furry, its supernatural, extra-werewolf-iestrial," Jen sung as loud as she could.
Sally was shaking her head in disbelief, "This is gonna be good. I mean, she might actually be embarrassed when she finds out you heard all that."
Decebel cocked his head as if listening for something, then he sniffed the air, taking in a deep breath. "I smell alcohol. Have you two been drinking?" Decebel asked in disbelief.
"Of course not!" Sally said with obvious offense.
Decebel didn't acknowledge her answer but continued to ask questions. "Why were you banging on the door?"
"It's locked and Jen won't answer me. It's like she can't hear me."
"So, she might be drunk and she's trying to take a shower?" Decebel asked skeptically.
"That. could be. a bad thing, right?" Sally pushed out the words.
Decebel was already in action, he was banging on the door so hard the hinges shook. Werewolf strength, must be nice.
"JENNIFER, OPEN THE DOOR!" he yelled.
There was a pause in the singing and all they heard was the water from the shower. Both of them held their breath waiting for her response. One beat, two beats. "Knock, knock?" they heard her ask.
"Jen, open the door. This isn't funny," Sally tried.
"Jen, open the door, this isn't funny who?" Jen repeated and snickered.
"Okay," Sally said to Decebel. "You're right, she's tore up from the floor up."
"Jennifer, I want you to back away from the door," Decebel told her. r />
"What are you going to do, Decebel?" Sally asked him apprehensively.
Decebel didn't answer her, instead he braced both hands on either side of the door, pulled his leg back and kicked hard. The door didn't resist at all, it splintered where his foot hit and then swung open. Steam came flowing out of the bathroom looking like a living being, slipping around Decebel, seeming to pull him in towards Jen. He started to enter but before he could put a foot over the door jamb, Sally grabbed his arm. "Hey buddy, she could be naked all up in here so wait. If I need you I will call."
"You are right, I will wait here. But hurry," Decebel relented.
Sally stepped into the steam. Jen was standing in the shower, dancing to music that Sally couldn't hear until Jen decided to share, that is.
"There is this decibel, on another level, boy, you're my lucky werewolf, I wanna walk on your wave length, and be there when you vibrate, for you I risk it all. But you're not an option, wanna be a victim, ready for objection, and I don't remember the words, something about poison. You're an alien, wait I mean a werewolf, let me see your furry paws, don't know what rhymes with paws." All of this was to the tune of Katy Perry's E.T. song. Man, she is going to be so freaking embarrassed when I tell her she sang about Decebel and his paws. Sally actually laughed out loud at the though., Jen turned at the sound of Sally's voice. Sally saw more of Jen than she needed to in an entire lifetime.
"SALLY!" which actually came out more like Swally. "Hey chica, how'd you like my singing, pretty good right? You be my backup, the Sonny to my chair, or like the, um," Jen screwed her face up, struggling to come up with an adequate combination, which she didn't. "Like the black eye to my peas." Jen laughed and nearly fell over.
Sally jumped forward to catch her friend and keep her from cracking her skull. "Crap! Jen, stand still."