LOGAN!!
Logan nearly drove off the road at the sound of Marie’s frightened scream in his mind. There was so much pain and panic in her voice that it made Logan’s blood run cold. Bringing the bike to a complete stop at the side of the road, Logan pressed his hands to his temples, breathing heavily.
What’s going on, kid?
Log--
When Marie’s voice cut off suddenly, Logan made his decision. It wasn’t even a decision at all.
Making a quick U-turn that earned him angry shouts and honking horns, Logan turned the bike back towards the mansion. In his desperation to get back as soon as possible, Logan flipped the switch that would release the nitrous oxide into the intake valve below the carburetor. At that moment, Logan was exceptionally grateful that Scooter had installed the “Go, baby, go!” switch. It would get him back to the mansion in probably at thrid of the time that it would have taken without it.
Kid, talk to me, Logan pleaded, accelerating the bike faster. Tell me what’s going on.... Marie! Kid, I’m beggin’ ya, talk to me!
Marie’s continued silence terrified Logan to no end. He knew Marie well enough to know that she wouldn’t scare him like that on purpose. It was the one ploy she would never use. She’d threaten and whine and beg and manipulate, but she would never make him think that she was in danger. It was a cruelty that Marie wouldn’t even consider.
“Damn you, Scooter,” Logan cursed under his breath as he took a sharp turn to the right that would lead him back in the general direction of the mansion.
In truth, though, Logan knew that he should be cursing himself for having listened to the younger man. He had allowed his doubts to get the better of him and actually paid attention to words that he otherwise would have ignored.
Bombarded on all sides by people attempting to convince him to leave Marie be, Scooter had managed to convince him that he wasn’t good enough for her. He was a rough, bad tempered old man and she was innocence. Logan had no reason to corrupt her. There had been a time when Logan would have merely laughed in his face, but, for some reason that Logan couldn’t comprehend, he had actually listened to the boy wonder.
Now Marie was in danger because of it.
Logan couldn’t figure out why he paid such attention to what the self righteous Scooter had been preaching. But the combination of Chuck and Jeanie’s lecturing and Scooter’s preaching had Logan out of there faster than most could blink.
“You’re no good for, Logan. She’s barely more than a child,” Scooter had told him as he bared into Logan’s room while Marie was in the rec room with Jubilee and Kitty.
“She’s old enough to make her own decisions, One Eye. We both chose to look out for each other. Far as I’m concerned, she’s family,” Logan countered, his claws itching to come out. “She’s the only family I have and there’s nothing you can do to make me give her up.”
“You are a danger to her!” Scooter insisted, raking his fingers through his normally perfect hair.
An angry growl erupting from his throat, Logan allowed his claws to pop free as he lunged from the bed. “Believe what you want, Scooter, but I can guarantee you that Marie will agree with me.”
“Then maybe you should be the grown-up and end it yourself. Leave this place before you put her in even greater danger!” Scooter yelled, his face reddening as his anger increased.
“Fuck you, Scooter!”
That conversation put Logan even more ill at ease than Chuck and Jean’s intervention had two days prior. Why he allowed them to interfere, Logan didn’t have the slightest clue. The three of them knew nothing about his relationship with Marie. They thought that Logan was some old pervert who had the hots for a kid.
What they failed to comprehend was the fact that he would have loved Marie whether she was seventeen or seventy-one. It was her heart that he had fallen in love with. The fact that she could even stand to be around him after all she had been thought because of him amazed Logan to no end. She’d let him touch her without the slightest bit of fear.
Still, Logan had let them chase him away from the only person who mattered to him. He had given her his tags then he had run.
He had run.
Now, because he had run, Marie was in danger. How much danger, Logan had no clue. He had a sinking feeling in his gut, though, that it was bad. Very bad. Logan knew, deep in the pit of his stomach, that something was wrong and he just couldn’t shake it no matter how fast he drove. Logan was breaking every speed limit known to man and still he knew that he wasn’t going to get there in time. There was no possible way. He was just too far away from her.
I’m begging ya, kid. Talk to me. Let me know that you’re all right, Logan pleaded, pushing the motorcycle still faster. Come on, baby, let me know you’re all right.
I’m sorry, but Marie’s not here right now. Please leave a message after the scream....
That voice is his head was female, but most certainly not Marie.
LOGAN!!
That time it was Marie.
“Shit! What the fuck is going on?” Logan roared, gunning the engine as hard as he could.
The entire world was passing in a blur and that suited Logan just fine. His mind wasn’t ready yet to comprehend what he had just heard. That first voice he heard had been anything but Marie. It was deep, it was husky and there had been no telltale Southern accent. Logan’s fear jumped about fifty notches in those few words.
Logan was still about twenty minutes away from the school when he’d heard the voice. He wanted to go faster, but he was already pushing the bike as far as it would go. The engine was smoking and Logan knew that he’d be lucky if he even made it back to the mansion with the bike still in working order.
Just hang on a little longer, kid. I’m coming.
There was a bark of bitter laughter echoing in his head. You’re acting as though I care, big boy. I ain’t Marie.
That sent Logan’s temper over the edge. Then who the fuck are you, bitch?
Insults, insults. Better be nice, big boy, or I’ll hurt you’re precious Marie, the woman taunted, her voice full of glee.
You hurt her and I swear I’ll gut you! Just try me, bitch!
The laughter grew even more. Gut me and you gut your previous Marie. We are one, Wolfman.
At that moment, Marie decided that she was going to kill whoever put Marie in danger. Whoever let the insane chick near Marie was going to die along with the insane chick herself. No one hurt his Marie. It just wasn’t allowed.
The school was in an uproar by the time that Logan finally reached it. There were kids running around screaming and Scooter was rushing towards the elevator faster than Logan had ever seen him run.
“Scooter, what the fuck is going on?” Logan shouted as he loped after the bespectacled geek. “What happened to Marie?”
Scooter stumbled slightly, sparing a quick glance at Logan before continuing on. “How do you...? Nevermind, come on, Logan. I just got a message from Jean.”
The elevator ride down to the lower levels of the mansion was the longest trip that Logan had ever taken. It was taking everything that he had to keep his claws from popping out of his knuckles. The intruder in his mind was giggly madly, thoroughly enjoying his discomfort. Logan couldn’t keep from growling, low, continual and deep in his throat.
“Calm down, Logan. Growling won’t get us there any faster,” Scooter said calmly as he watched the numbers above the door change from one floor to the next.
“Shut the hell up, pretty boy. I don’t have time to deal with your smart comments,” Logan snarled, allowing the claws in his right hand to extend inches away from Scooter’s nose. “I want to find out what happened to Marie.... Then I’m gonna kill whoever’s behind it.”
“That won’t be necessary, Logan. She’s already dead,” Chuck announced as the doors of the elevator slid open.
The maniacal laughter sounded loud and clear once again. Only this time it wasn’t in Logan’s mind.
It was coming from the main room of the med lab.