Cullen felt the pain start even through the fog. “What the muin is happening,” he growled. “She’s in pain.”
The others watched him and then stared at the circle. “What can we do,” Cadifor asked. “Is there a way to pull her out of there.”
“No,” Cullen paced angrily and then roared as he walked into the stone circle and around it.
When Aislinn crawled out from between the stones all of the others were already on guard and waiting for the worst. Jenna took one look around at the number of lycans there and turned and ran into the woods.
Cadifor immediately changed and started the chase. His group of guards went with him. Cullen ordered Sarah to stay with Aislinn and then led the others after Cadifor. Aislinn remained on the ground holding her head. A bloody tear streamed out of one eye and down her face. She had no idea what had happened.
Cullen was on Cadifor’s heels but they were still losing ground. When they realized that they weren’t going to catch Jenna the group pulled up. Cadifor had the fastest of his men continue following and pulled out his cell to call for help with a manhunt. It wasn’t until he was looking at his no signal that he remembered the damn reservation had no muin service. Cullen’s reservation was huge and there was more wild land surrounding it. A lycan could disappear into the mountains relatively easily. He was pissed.
“Cullen,” he growled. “How the hell do you call out of this place if you need to?”
“I got a satphone in the office.”
“Then we need to get back. I have some calls I have to make.”
Cullen, Cadifor and the rest of the group headed back to the cabin. When they got to the stone circle Aislinn was sitting with her back against one of the stones. Sarah took one look at the angry men and didn’t bother to ask. She knew that they hadn’t caught Jenna.
Cullen bent down and picked up Aislinn. She protested weakly at first, but quickly gave in and laid her throbbing head on his shoulder. As soon as they reached the cabin Cadifor was on the satphone and had helicopters on the way. They were going to try to use the gps in the phones that the others were carrying to track his men who were following Jenna.
Cullen took Aislinn upstairs and laid her down on their bed. She smiled at him weakly. “So say it,” she said.
“What?” He was still angry.
“Say ‘I told you so’. It’ll make you feel better.”
He looked down at her and smiled finally. “You know I was right. Just remember this next time.”
“Can I get some aspirin or something? My head is killing me.” She pulled the blanket up around herself and turned onto her side.
Cullen pulled the drawer in the stand next to the bed open. He figured she needed more than an aspirin. He took a vile of the healing drink the druids had made out of the drawer. Keith had been the one who decided that the alpha and betas should have the stuff readily available. He pulled the cork out of it and held it to her lips. “Drink this,” he said concerned. After she’d drunk the entire vile down he put it aside and wiped the bloody tear off her cheek. If Jenna had really hurt her he would hunt her down personally. “Do you feel like there is anything wrong besides the headache?”
“No. I don’t think so. It was weird. One minute everything was fine and the next minute Brennus said that he’d protect Jenna. Then my head started throbbing and there was a flash. The next thing I knew Jenna was screaming. Then I fell down and she turned and came at me. That’s when I crawled out of the circle and you guys took it from there.”
Cullen didn’t know what to think about it. “I need to talk to Cadifor. You gonna be alright ’til I get back?”
“I’m fine. Just a little tired.”
Cullen tucked the blanket in around her, kissed her, and then headed downstairs. Cadifor was in the process of swearing and coming in the front door as Cullen came down the steps to the main room. He growled impatiently pocketed his phone and then looked over at Cullen. “How’s Aislinn?”‘
Cullen shook his head. “She’s got a terrible headache. But appears find otherwise. I take it that we’re having no luck with Jenna?”
“No,” he said angrily. “She’s getting away. She’s gotten far enough ahead of my men that they’re having trouble tracking her. By the time the copter gets there, who knows.”
“Perfect. You don’t know how close I am to canceling things,” Cullen growled.
“You can’t,” Sarah said. “It’s all set. What’s she going to do at this point. She’s alone and running. She won’t be back here. She’s not that stupid.”
Cullen scoffed. “I’m not so sure about that.”
Cadifor shrugged. “You’ll have the same setup as last time. If she does something we’ll be here and she won’t get away with it. Who knows what you’ll have if you put it off. How long are you going to wait before mating that girl?”
Suddenly Cullen smiled for apparently no reason. I really can’t afford to wait any longer, he thought. The litter will be here before it should as it is. They were all staring at him curiously. “You’re right. It’ll be fine.”
Keith sat forward in his chair staring at Cullen and smiled himself. “What exactly changed your mood so suddenly?”
Cullen shook his head but the dumb smile was stuck at that point. “Nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
“Well,” Sarah said still staring at Cullen, “I suppose we should all just stay here tonight. Unless you’re going to wake Aislinn up and force her into a car ride. Are you sure she’s going to be alright for tomorrow? That’s the only excuse I would see as reasonable for cancellation.”
“Nah,” Keith grinned wickedly, “she just has to stand on her hands and knees for a while. Cull could handle doing all the work.” Some of the other guys chuckled at that.
Sarah glared at him. “I don’t see Aislinn as the type to be happy with allowing anyone to do all the work.”
Cullen smiled and nodded at that one. “No, she’s not that type. But I hope that the headache won’t last that long anyway. It wouldn’t be any fun.” There were smiles all around at that comment.
The rest of the evening was spent with Cadifor heading out to use the satphone, waiting for the others to get back, watching the omegas finish decorating for the next day, and checking on Aislinn. She told Cullen repeatedly to quit waking her up and leave her be.