Chapter 33

Jacque turned and saw Alina still standing, as well as Vasile, and that’s when she realized Vasile must have done his Alpha voodoo, as Jen would say.

“I stand Alpha over this challenge,” Vasile began. “All rules will be followed. The penalty for any not followed is death at my hands.” Vasile paused and looked around the circle at each wolf that was kneeling. None met his eyes. None so much as moved. Jacque could tell some wanted to fight the orders Vasile was giving, but he was more dominant and he was Alpha, so they had no choice but to obey.

“Lucas Steele, come forward,” Vasile said looking straight at him. “Fane Lupei, come forward.”

Both men came to stand in front of Vasile. Neither looked him in the face. Both appeared to stare over his shoulder at something in the far distance.

“Lucas, you challenge Fane for the bonding ceremony to his mate, Jacquelyn Pierce. Is that correct?” Vasile asked the Alpha.

“Yes,” Lucas growled, still apparently under Vasile’s control and not liking it.

“Fane, you accepted this challenge understanding that it is to the death?”

“Yes.” Fane’s voice was steady, no growl, no sign of weakness. It made Jacque want to scream at how unfair this all was. She had only just found him. She shook it off and tried to focus.

“You will fight in wolf form. You will receive no help from your pack. The fight is to the death. Neither of you can choose to submit. If you submit, your opponent will still kill you. Do each of you understand the rules as I have laid them out in the presence of these witnesses?” Vasile asked them.

Both wolves spoke at the same time.

“I understand the rules as you have laid them out. I understand that should I choose to defy your orders, I will be put to death by your hands. Let it be as you have said, Alpha.”

Vasile nodded and then turned to walk toward the edge of the circle. He turned and gave the wolves a look. It must have meant something because they stepped apart, and in a matter of a few breaths, where men had been now stood wolves.

The first thing Jacque noticed was that Fane was the larger wolf. But Fane was a large guy, so it would only fit that he be a large wolf. Fane’s fur was pitch black while Lucas’s was a deep brown. They were both beautiful, and they were both snarling. Their hackles were raised, heads low toward the ground. The picture they made was terrifying.

“Begin,” Vasile said, and her heart felt like it had moved into her throat.

For a few moments, all they did was circle one another, and every so often one would take a step forward causing the other to snarl and snap their teeth. Alina still held Jacque’s hand, and Jacque was squeezing it so tight she hoped she wasn’t hurting her. Suddenly Jacque heard a sound to the left of her.

“Come on, Alpha, he’s just a pup,” one of Lucas’s wolves yelled. In an instant, he was on the ground whining as if in pain. Jacque turned to Vasile. Sure enough, the Alpha was looking straight at the wolf, and power was once again radiating from him. All the other wolves took steps back when they realized the Romanian Alpha was not playing.

Jacque heard a snarl. Turning back to the fight, she saw Lucas had taken advantage of the distraction and lunged at Fane. But Fane was ready and moved before Lucas could get near him. As Lucas turned to get Fane back in his sights, Fane circled around and snapped at Lucas’s back leg. The bark that came from Lucas made it clear Fane had hit his mark. Fane backed up quickly before Lucas could react. Jacque watched them circle and lunge, nip and bark. It looked almost like a dance.

She started feeling lightheaded, and Jacque realized she was holding her breath. She took a couple of good deep breaths and tried to relax her stance. Yeah, fat chance of that.

Suddenly, Lucas was on Fane. He had managed, somehow in their dance, to get close enough to get a solid grip on Fane’s rear right leg. Fane snarled and turned hard, trying to bite at Lucas. Lucas hung on with a death grip. Fane shook his leg violently. When that didn’t work, he began to roll his body, twisting his leg at the same time. Jacque froze. If he kept that up, he was going to break his leg. Jacque felt Alina tense. When she glanced at Fane’s mother’s face, she could tell Alina realized the same thing. Jacque started to say something, but Alina growled, so Jacque put her hand over her mouth as a physical barrier to keep quiet. But just as soon as she covered her mouth, she wanted to cover her ears because the snarls and whines coming from Fane were breaking her heart. Finally, she heard a crack and a whine mixed with a growl. When she looked up, she saw that Fane had managed to get free of Lucas, but he had done it at the price of his leg. He was now fighting with his right rear leg held limply off the ground.

Despite the injury, Fane was still fierce and quick as lightning, Fane lunged forward and had half of Lucas’ face in his mouth. Fane made a tearing motion as if he was ripping meat from a bone and jerked his head to the side. Jacque saw fur and flesh sling out of Fane’s mouth and heard Lucas howl in pain. Lucas was shaking his head erratically and desperately trying to keep an eye on Fane as he attempted to recover from the attack. As they circled again, Jacque saw that Fane had nearly ripped Lucas’ right eye out. There was blood all over his face, and there was no way he could see from that eye. Fane had just evened the playing field.

Okay, wolfman, let’s finish this.

Lucas took a running leap and landed on Fane’s back. It was far from over. Lucas didn’t stay on his back, but instead, he bit into Fane, tore his fur, and then jumped back. Lucas did this over and over, and within a matter of minutes, Fane was bleeding all over, his fur matted. Blood covered the ground. Jacque shook from the effort it took not to scream, not to beg someone to stop this. Tears streamed down her face, and her lips trembled behind her hand. This could not be happening. She squeezed her eyes tight and then opened them again.

She saw Lucas lunge again and bite into Fane’s right side. Fane stumbled. He snapped as Lucas jumped back but only got the air. Blood poured from the bite in his side, and she saw Fane fall on his front paws. That was all she could stand.

“STOP! STOP THIS,” Jacque yelled as she fought against the grip the other wolves had on her.

“Jacque, be still,” Alina said.

Jacque swung around and glared at Alina. “I WILL NOT BE STILL, DAMMIT! LOOK AT WHAT HE IS DOING TO YOUR SON. DO YOU NOT SEE?” Tears poured out of Jacque’s eyes. She didn’t care. She was broken inside, and she couldn’t stand it any longer.

Fane struggled but finally stood up, and the two wolves continued to circle. Fane got a couple of good bites in, and at least now Lucas was bleeding and his fur was coated in blood as well. Both wolves stopped and were very still, just staring at each other. Jacque cried and fought the grip Vasile’s wolves had on her. And just as quickly as the stillness had come, it was gone. Lucas moved in low this time, grabbing Fane under his muzzle on his throat. As Lucas grabbed Fane, Lucas slid and pulled Fane up and over him so that Fane landed on his side. There was a tremendous thud, a low growl, and a high whine. Everyone was still, almost like someone had pushed the pause button on a movie, and then someone hit play. Fane lay still beneath Lucas’s jaws. Lucas’s wolves growled and howled. Alina stood next to Jacque, still as a statue. No tears streaked her face yet. Jacque lost it. She screamed and cried and pulled against the wolves.

“FANE, GET UP! GET UP NOW! DON’T YOU DARE LEAVE ME! DON’T YOU DARE.” Jacque shook with her sobs. The wolves holding her got distracted for a moment, and it was her window. She tore loose from their grip and ran as hard as she could. She plowed into Lucas, pushing with all her might. “GET OFF HIM LUCAS! GET OFF MY MATE, OR SO HELP ME I WILL RIP YOUR THROAT OUT WITH MY BARE HANDS!” Jacque yelled and pushed to no avail. Lucas did not budge. Jacque was vaguely aware of someone wrapping an iron-strong arm around her waist and jerking her back hard. Jacque frantically grabbed at anything she could get her hands on, which happened to be Lucas’s fur. She struggled against whoever was trying to pull her away. Instead of being able to hold on, Jacque just ripped out handfuls of hair from Lucas and, under different circumstances, she would have found it gratifying, but at the moment all Jacque could see was Fane. Fane on his side, blood pooling around him. Fane not moving, Fane under the other wolf whose teeth were still sunk into his neck.

“Please.” Jacque sobbed. “Vasile, get him off Fane. God, how can you let him die? I’m begging you. Please don’t let him die!”

“Get her out of here.” Vasile turned and growled at the wolves holding Jacque. When they didn’t move, he snarled. “NOW! Get her out of here, now!”

“NOOOOOO! I won’t leave him. Fane, please, please, GET UP!” As the wolves began to drag Jacque away, which they had to do because of her struggles, her pleading got softer but lost none of the desperation.

“Fane, I love you. Do you hear me? I love you. I don’t want a life without you. Please, love, don’t leave me.” Jacque’s tears stained her face and shirt from where they poured off her face. It was no use. Jacque was not strong enough to fight the wolves. She gave up struggling and instead turned inward to her pain. She began to cry so hard she started throwing up, and when she had nothing left in her stomach, she simply retched up air over and over. The wolves must have gotten close to where Jen and Sally were parked because in between sobs and retching, she heard Jen’s voice.

“Jacque,” Jen shouted as she came plowing toward her. “Get the hell off her, you mangy mutts!” Jen began yelling at the wolves all around her. In turn, the wolves growled. “Oh, hell no, you did not just growl at me. I will castrate you while you sleep and then hang them on your car antenna, so BACK THE HELL UP!”

The wolves must have decided Jen was crazy enough to act on her words because they backed up, hands in the air in surrender.

“We will not leave her, but we will let you take her into your care,” Decebel told them.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Now, what happened. Where is Fane?” Sally asked.

The wolves all bowed their heads, and their shoulders slumped in defeat. It was Decebel who spoke. “He has fallen.”

With those words, overwhelming dread poured over Jacque. She jumped up, turned back toward the circle, and ran. The wolves were there in a flash, once again holding her around the waist, only this time Decebel turned Jacque toward him and held her. It made her think of how Fane had held her just like that when she had been crying in fear, and it only made her cry harder. Jacque pounded her fist on Decebel’s chest as the pain seeped out of her into the night air.

“This cannot be happening. It just can’t be.” Her body shook, and that made Decebel hold her tighter. He spoke to her softly in Romanian, and once again she thought of Fane. She couldn’t take it. Her brain was not able to control her emotions, and so it finally just shut down. The last thing on Jacque’s mind before she blacked out was Fane’s voice saying “Soon.” She didn’t know if it was her imagination or if it was really him. Whatever it was, she clung to it as the darkness took her.