Chapter Fourteen

As soon as that tidbit left Logan's mouth, everything went silent. And I mean everything. From the werewolves to the whooshing of the heater, even the birds that had been blissfully singing seemed to stop.

Elena looked stunned, her jaw hung just a tad askew. Her eyes were unfocused as if she was just decked.

Clayton was… furious and empathetic all at once. His eyes clearly said it was my fault that everything had happened and that his Pack was in danger. They also told me everything had just gotten a hell of a lot more complicated. His face and body language, however, told me that he understood what was going on. Maybe he remembered his early relationship with Elena?

"You have to admit, Clay, Elena, it makes sense," Jeremy interrupted whatever they were thinking about. "Kaine's the only female werewolf unrelated to Logan," he finished softly.

Finally, they snapped out of their respective trances. Now in control of their expressions, Clay glared at me almost as much as when I first met him. Elena was the one, now, that looked empathetic.

"I think we should take a walk," she commanded me.

Before I could nod, Clay and Logan were both on their feet. "I'm coming!" they both shouted, then started to explain all at once.

Logan reasoned, "What if that mutt still has someone watching her?"

At the same time Clay said, "We still don't know if we can trust her," with a nod towards me.

Elena smiled wryly, "I think we can manage Logan. Clay, I trust her, okay?"

Both men huffed and sat down, obeying their Alpha, wife, and… mom.

Kat muttered, "Men," and walked off.

Elena touched my arm and guided me outside where we took up positions on damp patio furniture.

"Kaine," she began awkwardly, looking at anything but me, "I know it's been… hard for you the last few weeks. I remember when I first became part of this world, and I understand what you're going through, truly. Helping you with this though, that would put my Pack in danger."

I nodded. I expected nothing less than total family commitment from Elena.

She grimaced, "More danger than even we're used to. Between the mutt and the U.K. Pack, who knows what they can do?" She took a deep breath and looked me in the eyes. I braced, preparing myself for a field trip to Europe by myself. "I just don't want to be the person who ends up deciding for the whole Pack rather we take the chance or not for an almost complete stranger. This is why I called an emergency Pack meeting to vote."

This information took me by surprise. I definitely didn't take the Pack for a democracy.

Quietly, I said, "I understand. When will they arrive?"

"It would take too long to get everyone here. I called all of them and they'll get back to me when they decide," She responded.

I nodded, made sense.

"Although," she continued, "I haven't told them about the latest development." Elena eyed me appraisingly.

I resisted the urge to glare at her as she scrutinized me. Instead, I crossed my arms over my chest.

Her eyes softened up, "Kaine, do you know what a mate even is?"

I nodded unsurely, "After my first Change, Kat told me it was a soul mate thing for werewolves."

"Yes," Elena confirmed, "that's part of it. It makes you so frustrated when you can't do anything but love them even when they piss you off," her eyes got dreamy, "but it's the best feeling you'll ever have. You'll want to protect that person- Logan-," she mildly glared at me like I had a choice, "with your life, and they'll reciprocate."

I stared at her, unsure what to say, "Sounds… intense." I finally offered.

"Don't worry," She assured me, "we raised Logan with manners. At least, I tried to, Clay didn't help." She chuckled, "Point is, he won't hurt you."

I growled, "I'd like to see him try."

The corners of Elena's mouth twitched up, and she laughed a little. "Anyway, I'll send out a text to the Pack. This will most definitely affect their decisions." She stood.

I blinked, "You can text?" My parents were lucky they knew enough about cells to hang up on telemarketers.

She smiled, "I should rephrase that, I'll have Kat send out a text. Clay, Jeremy, Karl, and I don't see the need to learn. Although I do hear Hope is trying to teach Karl." She sighed, "What I wouldn't give to see that."

I really didn't know what she was talking about, but it didn't sound important so I let it slide. She opened the sliding door and stepped inside, I followed. Both Clay and Logan looked relaxed when we reentered the den.

Kat was hanging up the phone, "Nick and Antonio say they'll help. Uncle Antonio said, quote, 'I liked her spunk'" Logan snorted and I looked at him pointedly before Kat continued, "And then Nick said he'd hadn't had an adventure in a while so he's in."

Clay sighed and shook his head disparagingly at Nick's reasoning.

Elena gestured to Kat and they left the room together.

I stood there looking lost for a minute while everyone else (Logan, Clay, and Jeremy) looked at me silently.

"Kaine," Jeremy said, "Call the Russian Pack and ask for their assistance in this matter."

I stared at him confusedly, "But you don't even know if you're going to help me."

Jeremy smiled the first actual smile I'd ever seen on him, "Yes we will. Elena won't take no for an answer, supposing someone does say no. And even in the event you do go alone," Logan scowled at that, "you'll still need all the help you can get, including the Russians."

"Umm, okay," I said rather stupidly.

"Clay," Jeremy ordered next, "Make flight arrangements to Belfast, Ireland."

With only a slight disapproving look, Clay grabbed the phone from the cradle and walked towards the kitchen.

Jeremy looked back towards me indicatively, and then I remembered I was supposed to be making an international call. I nodded silently and took my cell up to the guest bedroom I had stayed in.

After two rings a young boy's voice answered, "Zdravstvuite?"

"Hello?" I replied unsurely because I was suddenly questioning rather or not I had the right number.

"Oh! American!" the boy exclaimed in only lightly accented English.

"Is Roman there?"

Without answering, the boy yelled to someone on his line of the phone, "Papa!"

I heard shuffling, and someone said 'American' and then Roman's familiar voice, "Hello."

"Hi, it's Kaine." I wondered if he was getting tired of hearing from me.

"Ah, I wonder if you call with any news," he grunted, and then I heard a child's squeal (probably the boy's). "Good news I hope?"

I sighed, "No such luck. Look, you told me to call if I needed help, is that offer still on the table?"

"Dmitri, go play with one of your uncles," Roman said to the boy. "Yes, that deal on table now. What do you need help with?"

I exhaled in relief, "The United Kingdom Pack, they took William. They want me to trade myself for him. The mutt scientist did it. He joined the Pack and got their support. Someone told them where I was, and they took William. The whole Pack is behind him!" I was started to get hysterical as it all set in.

"Ah, they always use kidnapping situations." He paused then continued, "What do American Pack plan?"

I sighed, "Nothing yet, they're doing a vote on rather or not they should help me. I don't blame them; they don't owe me anything and hardly know me." I sat down on the bed and started to pick at the blue comforter in distraction.

"Humph! You mate with son, they owe it as family obligation to help you!" Roman huffed.

I suddenly stopped playing with a loose thread as I comprehended what he had said, "Roman, how'd you know that?"

"Know what?" he asked confusedly.

"About me and Logan," my voice rang with suspicion.

"You told me," he answered gruffly.

"No, no I didn't," I insisted.

"But…" he faltered and was probably running a memory check, "someone… Sasha! He told me!" I just knew he wasn't lying about it either, which made me incredibly worried.

"Then how'd he know?" I was starting to shake. If this Sasha knew this, then he probably knew everything, which wouldn't have stopped him from telling the mutt. Of course, I was jumping to conclusions, I didn't even know Sasha, why would he have it out for me?

"I, I not know," Roman seemed genuinely confused. "I talk to him. Now," he changed the topic abruptly, "where you flying in at?"

I went along with the topic change even though I wasn't too happy about it, "Dublin, Ireland. Apparently, it's near the UK headquarters."

If it's possible, I could hear him nod on the other line, "Very well. We meet you at airport. We find plan to get brother back, with or without Americans." He seemed very final on that, as if nothing but death would change his mind.

"Okay. Thank you so much Roman. Goodbye."

He hung up and I followed suit. I sat on the bed and wrestled with my emotions. I didn't know rather to cry (for a number of reasons such as frustration, sadness, and relief) or get up and punch something (for just about the same reasons). For a while I just sat there staring blankly at a small painting on the wall farthest from the bed. I really even didn't comprehend what it pictured. Finally, I felt satisfied in my emotional state to regain my hard mask and walk back downstairs.

The scene in the den was pretty funny. Kat was on the phone with somebody who was clearly frustrating her- her face was almost purple- and shouting such things like, "Make up your damn mind Karl!" and, "Goddamn, it's not that hard to decide!" and, "Yes, I'm sure they mated! They haven't stopped making googly eyes at each other since they met!" This comment made me blush.

Clayton, acting much like his daughter, was also shouting at the phone, "I told you, eleven tickets to Dublin! What's so fucking hard about that?" His face was also a peculiar shade of purple. I couldn't help but feel bad for the unfortunate person on the other end of that call. Clay could be scary.

Elena was running around frantically pushing aside papers and books on the desk and every bookshelf in the room. She was muttering something like, "Passports, passports, you have to be around here somewhere! Where the hell are you?" She moved to a different desk drawer, "Logan! Get your ass in here and help me!"

Logan wasn't to be found.

And of course, there was Jeremy. He sat in one of the wing backed chairs in the midst of the chaos with a small amused smile on his face. His legs were crossed and he was sipping something from a small glass cup. I almost laughed at his calm demeanor.

"Ahem," I coughed to politely get everyone's attention, "the Russians are in."

"Great," Logan said as he walked in with Morgan at his side.

I looked at Morgan and mentally wondered how he got here so fast. He noticed my gaze and smiled, "I only live a half an hour away." He looked at where Elena was standing at the desk, "And I was planning on coming here anyway, I had something to tell you."

Elena stopped her paper shuffling and looked up at Morgan, "What was it?"

"There's been some… suspicious stuff going on around my place. I think it's a vampire, the police have found two bodies drained of just enough blood to kill them, but the wounds were already closed. There's lots of panic."

I looked up at the mention of vampire. That was the one race highest on our list of suspects for people who had been spying on me. Looking around, I noticed everyone else must have been having the same idea because they were all looking at me. "What are we going to do?"

Clay spoke up, "It's no use tracking down the vamp, they already know where you are. You're going to Belfast so they have no reason to keep watching you. I bet the vampire is moving on now."

Elena nodded in agreement. I didn't nod, but I knew he was probably right.

Morgan spoke again, "Anyway, when I got your call, I figured I might as well come out here early. Oh, and I'm in."

I smiled.

Kat had finally hung up the phone, "So is Karl. Finally."

Jeremy looked at Clay, "And the tickets?"

"Booked," he growled, most likely reliving the conversation with the poor airport worker.

"What now?" I questioned.

Elena sighed, "I guess we wait for Reece and Noah to call in."

I looked at Kat, "Where's Noah?"

"What do you mean?" she questioned.

"Doesn't he live with the Sorrentino's? Which means he already knows the situation?"

Kat sighed, "Unfortunately, Noah has also picked up the habits of the youngest Sorrentino. He's probably passed out at some girl's house contracting STD's as we speak."

"Oh." Awkward pause, "Oh! What time is it?" I asked even as I fished my phone from my pocket.

"5:07," answered Elena.

"Shit!" I looked around frantically, "I told my parents me and William would be home by the time they got off work. What do I tell them?"

"Calm down!" Kat snapped. "Call them and tell them that you're coming with us to Ireland for Pack business. Tell them William is coming with us on a mini vacation. Promise them it's not dangerous." Noticing my skepticism, she added, "Yeah, they'll probably figure out it's a lie sooner or later, but for now all we need is for them to not nag."

"Right, sounds good." I could only hope that when we got back Willy really would be with us.

Elena, me and Logan (he surprisingly wasn't a bad cook) made dinner. Mostly because we we're the only ones who could cook without burning and or unintentionally poisoning the food. We made more than enough for the U.S. Army, but just enough for us.

I was a nervous wreck throughout it all. I couldn't not think of William, and what would happen if we didn't manage to save him. And even though it was clear the majority of the votes were for going to help, I kept wondering what Reece and Noah would say. Also, I absently wondered if Alex got a vote in the matter.

At one point, I dropped a pan of bread on Logan's foot in a moment of distraction.

"Shit!" Logan hopped around on one foot dramatically.

"Oh! Sorry!" I bent down to get the bread, but Logan had the same idea, so we hit heads like in one of those cheesy romance movies. But before I could say so, the phone started to ring. I shot back up to my full height and couldn't help the rising hope that a Pack member would be on the other line agreeing to go. I just hated sitting around here doing nothing.

The ringing stopped and Clay's voice echoed in the suddenly silent house, "Hello?" Pause, "No." The phone was put back down on the table, "Telemarketer."

A sigh escaped my lips, what do these people not understand about urgent? I knelt back down to pick up the forgotten bread. Logan joined me on the floor and began to pick up crumbs with his fingers.

"It'll be okay," he murmured, "We'll go no matter what. We're just waiting to see how many of us are coming."

I nodded, "thanks," I whispered and stood back up. He did the same.

I looked around for the garbage can and noticed the looks Elena and Clay (who was now sitting on a bar stool) were giving us. I immediately felt like I was five again and had been caught stealing extra food from the pantry.

I might have blushed as I threw the ruined bread away. I really hope not though.

As Kat, Logan, and me were taking trays of food to the sun room table, the front door opened. I peeked my head out the doorway and saw Nick, Antonio, and Noah walk in. I know that when I saw them I smiled so hard it hurt. Yeah, sure I knew they had already said yes, but actually seeing them made me so happy. I turned to the other two and said, "I think we'll need more food."

"No need," Antonio's loud voice said from the hallway, "we just ate on the way."

Kat and Logan also smiled at the arrival of their… uncles? I wasn't sure just what they knew Nick and Antonio as. Nick came into the sunroom followed by Noah, then Antonio who was whispering to Jeremy- low enough that even with my super hearing I couldn't hear what they said.

Nick walked over to Kat and gave her a hug that lifted her off the ground, and then gave Logan a man hug thing where they shake hands first. He turned towards me and tried to look stern, but I really don't think that was in his nature because he broke down and gave me huge smile and a wink (which I thought was completely unnecessary).

"So we're here to save your brother," Nick stated.

I nodded. I don't know why it's taken me this long to figure out, but I don't talk much.

"Even though he's not really related to you, you're willing to get us all killed to save him." His face was blank, so I had no idea what made him say that.

Even so, I felt my temper rising, "Look, you guys don't have to come. I'd be more than happy to just get on a plane now and trade myself in. Really, I have no problem with that." Either I growled or Logan did, one of us certainly did though.

Nick tilted his head and his eyes showed curiosity, "Then why aren't you already gone?"

I nodded my head towards Logan in answer, "Someone won't let me." This time, I know Logan growled.

Nick laughed, "No, I don't suppose he would. And Kaine, I'm just kidding, I would love to help you. I was just trying to see how far I could go before he," he pointed to Logan, "would jump me." He turned around, "I'm guessing not much longer."

I slept over at their house on the couch, since Nick and Antonio were in the guest bedroom. Noah was bunking with Logan. I wasn't sure where Morgan was sleeping.

For most of the night, I lay staring at the dying fire from earlier. I wasn't sure rather my conscious or my body was preventing me from actually falling asleep. It didn't really matter though because at about 3:45 I was still awake. As the fire finally went out, I heard footsteps padding around the kitchen.

Being the paranoid freak I was, I slipped out from under the warm blankets and stalked out of the den toward the kitchen. Yeah, it was probably just one of the houseguests getting a late night snack, but if found that vampire out there, it was going down, fangs and all. After what it did to Willy, I wasn't even going to wait for its name.

Almost to my disappointment, it was Logan.

"Why are you skulking around the house at this ungodly hour?" he asked without turning around.

I sighed and straightened up, "Couldn't sleep, you?"

He turned around to face me. In his hand he had a huge sandwich which he shook at me, "Growing wereboy's gotta eat."

"Ahh," I sat down at the counter on a high stool. We just stared at each other for a moment before he spoke up, "You should get to sleep, we leave for the airport at 6:00"

I ignored the comment and focused on the granite counter top, "Do you think we can actually do it?"

He finished the last bite of sandwich, "Yes."

I looked up to find him suddenly a lot closer than were he was a moment before, "Are you just saying that?"

He sat up at the stool across from me and leaned forward. All of a sudden, I was very aware of the thin tank top I was wearing, and the fact that Logan had no shirt on. "Would I lie to you?"

I shrugged, "To make me feel better, yes."

He grinned a little and I knew I was right, then his beautiful smile disappeared, "But I'm not lying now. Trust me, my parents wouldn't have agreed to help unless there was at least a fifty-fifty chance of winning."

"Do they even have a plan yet?"

"They're working on it, listen," he whispered.

Sure enough, if I listened really hard, I could make out faint murmurs from upstairs.

I took my eyes off the ceiling and looked back into his incomprehensively beautiful blue eyes. "What do you think we should do?"

He looked calculating, "Well, if we had a cloning machine-"

I punched him before he could continue, "I'm serious! My brother's life is on the line here!"

He looked like that punch had crushed him and then rubbed the spot where I hit him, "You hit hard for a girl."

I grinned, "What do you expect, I'm a genetically mutated werewolf. I'd be a losey weregirl if I couldn't hit hard."

We both just sat there grinning like idiots at each other for way too long for my taste (though I couldn't stop to save my life). Logan finally pulled his gaze away, "We really should get to sleep. We're going to have to get up early tomorrow."

I must have looked disgusted at the thought because then he added, "Don't look so upset, just think, you'll get to see my beautiful face bright and early."

I snorted playfully, "Oh, I can only count the minutes." I leaned back and stretched my arms, and then got off the stool.

Logan, being the gentleman that he is, told me he'd escort me to the den. "Although," he added, "I really just want to get away from Noah as long as possible."

I looked at him quizzically, "You don't like him?"

He shrugged, "It's not that, it's just that all he does is pine over Kat, and he's like ten years older than her!" he grimaced.

I grinned, "Big brother getting overprotective?"

He just gave me a 'duh' look and stopped in front of the den doorway. I walked over to the couch and sat down, pulling the blankets up around me. "Night," I whispered.

He smiled, "Good night."

The plane ride was terrible. The space was cramped, the air smelled like sweaty people, and my butt was sore after only three hours. And then, not that I would ever tell anyone, but on top of my worry for William, a constant nagging in the back of my head kept replaying all the horror stories I had heard about 9/11. Sure, it had happened before I had even been born, but still, I was constantly reminded about it whenever the anniversary came around.

I sat in a window seat, Kat sat next to me, and then Logan in the aisle. The rest of the Pack was scattered around the plane, because even with Clay's charm and violence towards the ticket worker we hadn't been able to secure eleven seats in the same part of the plane.

We were now somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean, and the next time we stopped it would be in the airport in Belfast. The Russian Pack was already scheduled to meet us there, where we would take a car (actually many cars) to a hotel where we would then plan. A lot.

Kat and Logan alternated between playing those kid games like paper, scissors, rock and watching the movie that was showing. Something with a very dreamy Orlando Bloom. I sat there reading the book I had brought.

By the time our plane finally landed, I couldn't feel anything below my waist and I had finished my book an hour ago. As we unloaded, I bumped into somebody who was milling around the exit. He was tall with a stocky build. He had reddish hair and blue eyes, he was actually pretty handsome. But that wasn't what interested me. No, that would be the fact that he didn't smell. And no, I don't mean he didn't smell bad, I mean he didn't smell at all.

He must have seen the recognition in my eyes because he took off like a rocket. And of course, I followed him. Now if we were in an open field, or the woods, or really anywhere there wasn't moving people, I'm sure I would have tackled him in an instant. But of course, I was in an airport, and after about thirty seconds of sprinting, I was receiving glares from travelers, air port security, and some big guys who had suddenly taken to following me.

Before I could slow down though, I burst through a door that the vampire had just gone through. Just as I heard the door click behind me, I felt big, strong hands grasp my arms and a cloth was under my nose.

I remember thinking, Of course, I hadn't seen that vampire by coincidence, it was completely planned.

And it was then- I think- that I passed out.