Chapter 27

Jacque looked away when Vasile mentioned Fane might not win. The thought made her sick to her stomach. She was also scared beyond belief knowing she would not have her friends or her mother there for support. Granted, she would have Alina, and she was thankful for that, but she couldn’t help feeling very alone.

“You okay, puțină lumină, little light?” Fane asked her.

“No, wolfman, I’m not,” she answered.

“Jacquelyn.”

Jacque turned her attention back to Vasile when he called her name.

“I need to make some things clear to you. I imagine my son has kept these from you because of their ugliness. We Canis lupus are not human. Some of our traditions follow the way of the animal we carry inside us. When I say this is a fight to the death, that’s exactly what I mean. If Lucas gets Fane by the throat and submits him, which is to say that Fane stops fighting, Lucas will still kill him. Some fights are fought until one wolf submits or is killed. This fight is not that way because a wolf will not give up his mate. If another wants an un-bonded, mated female, he must kill her mate to have her.” Vasile paused. Jacque simply stared at him.

How am I supposed to just stand there and watch another kill him? Jacque felt like she was about to be sick.

“If Fane loses, you and your mother will have to come to Romania under my protection. Lucas will not give you up. He will expect you to become his mate. The only way to avoid it is to leave. Do you understand that?” Vasile addressed both Lilly and Jacque. Both nodded solemnly.

“I’m sorry to speak of this so bluntly. Please do not mistake it for a lack of care. He is my son, remember. I will have to watch him fight and maybe die, without intervening. Even though I know I could save him, I am not permitted to. Believe me when I tell you I understand your fear and pain. As your Alpha, I must make sure you understand the possible outcomes and results of those outcomes.” As Vasile finished there was a small sniffle, and when Jacque turned in the direction of the noise, she saw it was Alina crying. Jacque’s heart broke, and her own tears began to spill.

Jacque got up and went to sit by Alina, wrapping her arms around her. Jacque didn’t know what to say because she knew there was nothing to be said that would ease the fear. So, she just hugged her and cried with her. The room was silent, other than the soft cries from the two women who loved Fane so much. Tears streaked the face of both Sally and Jen. Lilly’s eyes were closed and her body trembled.

Finally, Alina and Jacque pulled themselves together. Fane got up, walked to his mother, and knelt in front of her. He touched her face gently and whispered, “Te rog, nu plânge, mamă. Îmi frânge inima. Please do not cry, Mother. It breaks my heart.”

Alina kissed Fane on the forehead. “I’m your mother. It’s my job to cry. Now comfort your mate before your Alpha begins to think you aren’t taking care of her,” she teased him, and then she turned to Jacque. “I can see already I am blessed beyond measure to have you as my son’s mate.”

“Thank you. The feeling is mutual,” Jacque responded.

Fane took Jacque by the hand and led her back to the couch.

“Okay, I’m good. Let’s keep moving. What else do we need to discuss?” Jacque asked Vasile.

“I think, for now, that is enough. I want Boian, Skender, and Decebel to go over to the Henrys’ and get some sleep. I need them at their best at the challenge.”

The three wolves were up and moving before Vasile finished speaking, Jacque felt Fane relax as the three walked out the front door. She turned and looked at him questioningly. “Is it really that hard to be around them?” she asked, heedless of those around them.

“We’ll talk about it later, Luna,” Fane told her gently.

Jacque shrugged. She was tired and, frankly, didn’t want to think about the challenge anymore. Alina must have seen this in Jacque’s face because she tactfully asked her if she would like to take a walk with her.

“Lilly, you don’t mind, do you?” Alina asked Jacque’s mother.

“No, not at all. I think it will be good for her to get out of the house and away from all this testosterone,” Lilly told her.

“Amen,” Jen and Sally said in unison.

Jacque stood up, looked down at her wrinkled clothes, and realized she had slept in yesterday’s clothes. What a wonderful first impression I must have made to Fane’s parents.

“Alina, let me take a quick shower. I feel all grimy,” Jacque admitted.

“Go right ahead. Take your time. I would love to visit with your mom as well since we’re going to be family,” Alina said.

“That sounds like a great idea. Alina, do you like coffee or hot chocolate?” Lilly asked as the two women headed in the direction of the kitchen.

Jacque turned to Fane and told him she’d see him in a little while, but apparently, that wasn’t sufficient, because as she walked away, he followed her to the bottom of the stairs.

“Jacquelyn, are you—”

“If you plan on finishing that question with the word ‘okay,’ I just might save Lucas the trouble and strangle you myself,” Jacque growled at him.

Sally and Jen walked past Fane and Jacque and up the stairs.

“Man, Sally, you would think getting to sleep on the couch with her man would have put her in a better mood. Maybe he’s not as good as he looks if you know what I mean,” Jen said.

“Jen, we really, really need to have a conversation about when to keep your mouth shut, and if you don’t, then how fast you should run,” Sally retorted as she followed her mouthy friend up the stairs.

Jacque shook her head, feeling overwhelmed. She knew she needed to give herself a pep talk or a good kick in the ass, which was even more effective. She was not a “wuss,” dammit. She was not a frail, little flower that withered at the slightest show of bad weather. So, what on earth was her problem?

“It’s the bond, Jacquelyn. It makes you feel things on a whole different level than a human. I know it’s hard to understand because it’s all so new to you. You aren’t weak, love. Your spirit recognizes that I am your other half, and it rebels against any notion of being separated from me. Just as my spirit rebels against being separated from you, and even worse, I’m constantly fighting to keep my wolf under control because all he sees is that you are our mate, you are in danger, and you need to be bonded to me,” Fane explained to her.

Jacque lifted her head and looked into Fane’s beautiful blue eyes, eyes that she wanted more than anything to be what she saw every morning when she woke up and every night when she closed her own. Fane was right, she didn’t understand. She wanted to, but it’s like her brain couldn’t keep up with her emotions. She would just have to come to grips with it all and accept it, maybe then it wouldn’t be so scary.

“Thank you, Fane. I can imagine it must be frustrating for you because I am so clueless. Crap, it’s frustrating for me because I know I must be frustrating you,” she admitted to him.

“I am not frustrated, Luna. How could I possibly be frustrated with the one person who gives my existence meaning? If you begin to understand anything at all, I hope it’s that you have given me what every male Canis lupus longs for, needs, and can never be complete without. You, and only ever you, complete the very core of who I am. No, love, I am not frustrated with you. I am wholly, ardently, unabashedly in love with you.”

Jacque put her arms around his waist, holding onto him as if it would keep the storm raging around them from tearing them apart. She laid her head against his chest and listened to his heart, allowing the rhythm to calm her. Fane kissed the top of her head and gently rubbed her back. As he had done before, he whispered words in his language, and they seemed to ease the tension from her mind.

“I love you, wolfman,” Jacque whispered, and knew with his wolf’s hearing he wouldn’t miss it.

She took a deep breath and pulled away from him. He reluctantly let her go but did not take his hand off her hips.

“I’m gonna go now, ’k, so I can spend time with your mom. What are you going to do?” she asked him.

“I’m going to be with my father when he calls Lucas, and then I think I will sleep for a little while. I didn’t realize how tired I was until the pack left and I was able to relax,” he told her.

“That reminds me… Are you going to tell me what the whole staring contest was about with the guys leaving and you suddenly deflating like a balloon with a hole in it?”

“I will tell you about it, Luna, but not right now. You go take your shower. I know my mother is eager to get to know you, and seeing as how I plan to have you all to myself tonight, she better get her fill during the day,” Fane said as he pulled her close one more time and kissed her on the lips.

Jacque pressed closer to him, wrapping her arms around his neck and pushing her lips firmly against his. She loved it when he kissed her. His lips were so soft and gentle. Fane pulled back much too soon for her liking, but she let him go.

“I’ll see you later,” he told her.

Just like before when he was leaving to go back to the Henrys’, Jacque felt an impending sense of doom at the idea of him not being with her. She hated how desperate it made her feel. She was not the desperate type. She never had a problem if she and Trent went several days without talking. At the sound of Fane’s growl, she realized her mistake.

“Remember, love, when you are emotional you tend to broadcast your thoughts. I try not to listen, but sometimes it’s a little too tempting not to, and when I hear his name in your mind, I can’t tune you out,” Fane explained. “I know in my mind I don’t need to be jealous, but the wolf in me considers you mine even when I didn’t know you.”

Jacque grinned at him having just realized she would probably be able to get some dirt on him about past girls from Alina.

“I guess I will just need to be more careful about not broadcasting when I’m emotional,” she told him innocently.

“That’s a thought, or you could just not think about him,” Fane told her, his voice getting deeper as they continued the topic.

“That’s a thought, too, albeit not a reasonable one, but a thought nonetheless.” Jacque winked at him as she turned to climb the stairs.

“See you later, wolfman,” she called over her shoulder. Jacque heard him growl and couldn’t help but grin. If nothing else made her smile, she could count on aggravating him doing it every time.

“Glad I can amuse you, my love,” she heard Fane’s voice in her head.

“Me too,” she replied, which earned her another growl.