In truth he was once again being a coward, just like when he walked out on Lilly without a word. And now he had left without a word to his mate about a child he didn't know he'd had because he was afraid she wouldn’t want him to have a relationship with Jacque. He had a lot of groveling to do when he got back. First he had to set things straight with Jacque and Fane. He didn't want to lose her, but forcing her to come with him wasn't going to make her stay, he realized now, it would only drive her further away. He would tell her tomorrow that he had been wrong, and weren't those the hardest words for any Alpha to choke up. It seemed like those were the only words Dillon needed to say to the women he cared about.

Logan stood in the parking lot of the hospital. He had been watching and listening to any information he could get about what Vasile or Fane's plans were regarding Jacque. They didn't suspect anything of Dillon or his pack, even after Sorin, Fane's apparent childhood bodyguard, had found the mechanism he had placed on Lilly's vehicle. Vasile had decided it must have been the Coldspring pack retaliating, and sent two of his other wolves out to meet with their new Alpha. Of course, the new Alpha had no clue of the mutiny taking place in his own pack, so Logan was safe on that end. His next move was going to be to call Dr. Steele as plan B was going to have to be executed. Fane would not be leaving Jacque tonight, so they would just have to get Jacque to leave Fane. He pulled out his phone and mashed the number two where he had put the doctor on speed dial.

"Dr. Steele," she answered.

"You're going to have to get Jacque by telling them about her friend's blood. Fane is staying," Logan told her.

"Ok," she paused. "It's 5:30 p.m. now, so, give me a couple of hours. I will have to wait until one of the labs is clear. Once I have her in the lab and under sedation you can come help me put her on the gurney to wheel her out. I will have to get you some hospital scrubs to put on so you don't look suspicious pushing what appears to be a dead body through the hospital."

"I will wait for your call." Logan didn't wait for her response, he simply hung up.

Taking a deep breath, he turned his face up towards the setting sun, feeling the heat even this late in the day. He hated the heat, it depressed him, even his wolf. He would be glad to get back to his mountains in Denver. An iniquitous smile stretched across his face, his wolf eyes glowing. He wouldn't be returning to his mountains alone. That thought perked him and his wolf right up.

Chapter 18

After Decebel had left the waiting area, Jen and Sally had decided to find a deck of cards and chillax, as Jen liked to say.

"So, do you think Fane and Jacque have…" Sally let the word draw out in a question.

"Have what?" Jen asked as she looked at her cards. "Do you have a two of hearts?"

"Go fish," Sally said absently. "Have, ya know, done it." Sally whispered, leaning across the table.

Jen was looking at her cards with such concentration it was almost as if she were willing the one she needed to appear in her hand. "Done it? What, you mean has he bitten her? Three of spades?" she added.

"Go fish. No, Jen, that is not the 'it' people refer to when they are talking about 'it'." Sally was making quotations signs with her fingers as she spoke, which effectively gave Jen a look at her cards.

"Six of clubs, excellent. Give it up, I saw it," Jen told her, holding her hand out, making a 'give me; gesture.

"It's not even your turn, you cheat. Now listen to me," Sally tried again

"Sally, good grief. How you and Jacque have stayed so pure with me as your best friend I'll never know. Sex, say it with me. S-e-x," Jen said, sounding it out letter by letter.

"Shhh! Don't say it so loud." Sally looked around to see if anybody had heard.

"Why? It's not like people don't know what it is, or don't know that everyone is doing it. Now give me your six of clubs, hussy."

"Fine, here," Sally growled, slamming the card on the table.

"Touchy, touchy," Jen muttered as she placed her own six of clubs on top of the one Sally had laid down.

"The answer's no," Jen said absently.

"No what?" Sally asked and then added, "Jack of diamonds."

"Damn," Jen mumbled and handed Sally the card she had requested.

"No, I don't think they have done the deed."

"Why not?" Sally asked, surprised.

"One," Jen said, leaning back in her chair, tilting her head to the side as she looked at Sally. "Jacque won't until she's married."

"Yeah, but it's Fane. I mean look at him. You're telling me if you got that alone you wouldn't throw those ideas out the window?" Sally interrupted.

"Do you really want to talk about what I would do if I got that," Jen nodded her head toward the direction of the hospital room where they knew Fane and Jacque were, "alone?"

Sally shook her head and waved her hands. "Point taken. Okay, move along, what was number two?"

"Two, Fane is too chivalrous with all that, 'I respect your choice to wait' crap. He could seduce her if he wanted. Jacque would fold like a bad hand of Texas hold 'em. And three, we'd know if they had." Jen began to look at her cards again as if she had just cleared up the mysteries of the world.

"What do you mean we would know?" Sally asked her, laying her cards down. Jen lifted her eyes to Sally and slowly reached across the table and picked up her cards. She picked out the ones that matched hers then laid them back down."I don't have anything you need, so go fish."

"Jen, I'm serious. How would we know? I don't think Jacque would tell us, she's too embarrassed about that kind of stuff. She never told us about what she and Trent did."

"Trent was not Fane," Jen began. "We would know because it would be written all over her. She would have the morning after glow, the little grin on her face of knowing that her innocence is gone and she lost it to a freaking Greek god."

"Huh," Sally said thoughtfully. "I've never seen that look on you before." She looked at Jen questionably.

"Of course you haven't, I'm a virgin. That and no Greek gods have offered themselves to me lately, but I haven't lost faith." Jen threw that out there like it was no big surprise.