She knew that she wouldn't want to be lied to, nor would she want the truth sugar coated, so she wouldn't do that to one of her patients either. "It's going to get a lot worse, Jacque. Your body is going to continue to attack itself and if you don't get the wolf blood your organs will begin to shut down. I know that's not what you want to hear, but I will always be honest with you."

Jacque nodded. "Do you know how long it could take? I mean, do you think I will be able to hold out until Fane gets here?"

"You sound so sure that he will find you." The look in Cynthia's eyes said she didn't think Fane had a hope in hell.

"He will find me, of that I have no doubt," Jacque said with confidence. "But the interim is what concerns me. You see, I'm not too keen on the idea of taking Logan's blood. So I'm just trying to prepare myself."

Jacque watched as Cynthia met her gaze and without ever blinking, told her, "Prepare for the worst."

Jacque didn't say anything more after that. She slept when the pain would abate but would come awake screaming when it returned. She was constantly trying to focus on keeping her shield up in her mind so Fane wouldn't know how bad she was hurting. Every now and then she would simply say his name through their bond just to hear his response. She remembered waking a couple of times to the sound of Cynthia telling her to eat, but food had no appeal because she knew she would just throw it up. Another time she was awake, Cynthia tried to get her to drink something but again Jacque refused. She didn't know how long she had been in this room with Cynthia, she didn't know if it had been hours or days. All she knew was the pain was getting worse and though she bit her lip fighting the need to scream, it didn't work.

"Ahhhhhhh!" Her scream died down into sobs that shook her body. The door to the room flew open and Logan came rushing in.

"Cynthia, what's wrong?" He looked over to see Jacque writhing in pain, her face so contorted it hurt to watch. "Fix her!" Logan yelled at the doctor who was sitting across from Jacque, syringe of pain medication already in hand.

"The pain medicine isn't lasting as long. Sedating her would be the only way to stop the pain," Cynthia snarled, her lips curling back to show her teeth.

"NO!" Jacque ground out. The thought of not being able to reach Fane was unbearable, she would rather endure her present torment. "No sedation, please, no."

Logan knelt down beside her and tried to take her hand is his, but Jacque jerked away. "Don't touch me!"

Logan growled, his eyes narrowed, and his lips drew into a thin line. He turned to Cynthia. "Tomorrow we will try giving her my blood."

"No, no blood," Jacque moaned as she continued to fight through the hurt.

"Jacque, the blood will make you better, you don't know what you saying," Logan tried to persuade her.

Jacque opened her eyes and looked directly at Logan. "Not your blood. Never your blood," she ground out through her teeth, but loud enough for him to hear.

Logan snarled at her as her rejection slapped him in the face. He felt a ragecome over him and wanted to break something, anything. He grabbed Jacque's arm and jerked her forward so that her face was inches from his. The hold he had on her felt like at any moment her bones would snap in half.

"You will take my blood, you will be mine, and there's nothing that pup can do about it." His eyes were glowing dangerously as he snarled at her and although she knew she shouldn't provoke him more, all sense of survival went out the window.

"You may have taken me," her voice was barely a whisper, "but I will never be yours." As if to punctuate her words she snarled back and then spit in the wolf's face. Jacque watched as his canines lengthened, felt his nails turn to claws against her skin. Logan dropped her back to the chair and slapped her so hard she was sure some teeth came loose.

"LOGAN! What the hell is wrong with you?" Jacque heard Cynthia yell.

When Logan turned at the sound of her voice, Cynthia saw Logan's eyes looked wild, his breathing rapid and uncontrolled. Logan was being consumed by madness. She knew that males who lived too long without mates could go insane, but he seemed to be progressing at an incredible speed. In the four days she and Jacque had been with him she had noticed his hunched shoulders, the constant furrowed brow and narrowed eyes as his mood grew darker and darker. The only thing that Cynthia could figure was that maybe the idea of having Jacque wasn't truly doing anything to combat the madness because she wasn't his true mate. The woman he thinks is the one who will fill that dark abyss is rejecting him and the precarious dam that had been held in place by the promise of a mate had broken when Jacque had told him she would never be his. It was then that Cynthia realized that Logan would do whatever it took to have Jacque submit to him, even if it meant beating it into her. She lunged for him, trying to grab the hand that was rearing back to hit Jacque again.

Logan turned at the last minute and his fist connected with Cynthia's face. She felt her jaw break and then the lights went out.

Jacque saw Cynthia hit the floor from the force of Logan's fist. Before she could call out to the doctor, Logan had jerked her up by her hair. Jacque screamed at the sharp pain that burst through her scalp. She squeezed her eyes shut as she felt him lean into her neck, taking in a deep breath. She wanted to vomit at the idea of him taking in her scent, her skin crawled at the contact of his against hers.

Logan sat down on the chair and pulled Jacque onto his lap. He continued to grip her by her hair holding her in place. She watched in sick fascination as he brought the forearm of his free hand to his mouth and with the canines that had lengthened bit down. The bite was so deep that his blood ran freely from the wound. Logan turned and looked at her, the blood on his mouth dripped down his chin as he spoke. "You shouldn't have pushed me, Jacque. It could have been special, it could have been good, but you pushed, so now we do it the hard way." As soon as Jacque realized his intent, the pain was forgotten and her sole focus was on doing whatever it took to get out of Logan's grasp. She kicked, she clawed his arms and face, but he was too strong.