by Quinn Loftis
He phased just enough to let his wolf eyes do the looking. Although the Grey wolf’s eyesight wasn’t as good as its hearing, its night vision was the best of all the breeds of wolves. He found himself looking into eyes the color of emeralds.
It registered in Fane’s brain at that moment that he had “heard” her thoughts. There was only one person in the world that a Grey could hear thoughts from – his mate. His wolf growled possessively, and he took several deep breaths to keep from phasing. He discovered for the first time was what it was like to not be in harmony with his wolf. The wolf wanted out, he wanted to go to his mate, his other half. Fane knew it was a better idea not ti phase into his wolf and go pining at her window like a lovesick pup. He couldn’t get her scent, so her window must have been closed. A wolf’s mate also carried a certain scent that only he would recognize.
Reflexively, he sent her a thought as he picked her name out of her mind. “At last, my Jacquelyn.” It was so natural to claim what was his, and she was without a doubt his, whether she knew it yet or not.
Judging from the look on her face, she had heard him, and for a minute he thought she just might pass out from shock. Further confirming that she was his mate, he could feel her distress and confusion. But he knew she would be fine, she was strong. She had to be because she was the mate of an Alpha and she was to be his Luna. She was so named because she, like the moon, had a pull over many things – she had power that other female Greys did not.
Fane turned and, ignoring his wolf's instincts to go to her, walked up to the house, so breaking the gaze that had locked them together. As he knocked on the door, he couldn’t help himself and sent her another thought, one to assure her this encounter wasn’t their last.
“Soon,” he thought, and once again felt her confusion.
The Henrys were the family he would be living with for the next year – the “host” family was what they were called in the exchange program. This was the first time he had ever seen them and he was surprised at how young they were. They both looked to be in their early thirties. Mr. Henry was a little shorter than Fane and had sandy brown hair and brown eyes. He was thin, like a runner, and had a friendly face. Mrs. Henry was much shorter, with dark brown hair and pale brown eyes. She was average in size, neither heavy nor thin, and had a short, cute nose and rose-colored cheeks.
“Welcome to our home, Fane,” Mrs. Henry said, reaching out to hug him.
Fane was a little surprised, as he knew Americans to be stand-offish when it came to touching. But he found comfort in the touch and sank into that feeling.
Mr. Henry held out his hand and Fane responded by shaking it. “We are very glad to have you here with us,” Mr. Henry said.
“Thank you for allowing me to stay in your home. I appreciate your generosity greatly,” Fane said sincerely.
“You must be tired from your long trip. Why don’t we show you your room and let you get settled for the night. If you're hungry, I can show you the kitchen and you're welcome to help yourself to anything you find. We can visit more tomorrow and get better acquainted once you have rested,” said Mrs. Henry kindly.
Fane followed them both upstairs and they went down a long hall, passing several doors. “We'll give you the full tour tomorrow,” Mr. Henry told Fane.
That was fine with Fane. He was very tired, but his brain was going ninety to nothing thinking about what he had just discovered. The wolf inside was restless knowing that his mate, who he possibly could've had to wait an eternity for, was just across the street.
Finally at the end of the hall, at the last door on the left, Mrs. Henry stepped aside and said, “Here is your room. We took the liberty of decorating it a bit, but you are welcome to change it anyway you like. So we'll leave you to it. Sleep tight.”
“Mulţumesc,” he stated formally. The Henrys looked at him quizzically. “Oh, that means ‘thank you’ in Romanian. Sometimes I forget and start speaking my native language, forgive me.”
“Oh, no. That’s great, Fane,” Mrs. Henry said. “I would love to learn your language and culture. Please feel free to use it anytime you want.”
“Well then, mulţumesc and noapte bună – which means good night,” Fane told them.
With that, the Henrys turned and walked away, leaving Fane to explore his new territory.
He walked into his room and immediately felt at home. They had inadvertently decorated his room in winter tones with wolves as the dominate theme. How fitting, Fane thought. The walls were painted a white that glistened like snow and one had a mural of a winter forest; in the distance there was a wolf on a snowy hill, his head tilted to the sky in a lonely howl. The bed was a full-size with a thick blue comforter and lots of pillows.
To the left of the bedroom door was another door. Fane opened it, and walked into a huge closet with built-in drawers all along one wall. The back wall had a clothing bar across the top. Along the right side of the closet were various sizes of shelves from floor to ceiling. All in all, it was quite a sight – there was even a built-in shoe rack along the bottom of the closet all the way around the perimeter.
Fane stepped out of the closet and turned right to go into the other door and walked into a spacious bathroom with a glassed-in shower and separate bathtub. There was a long marble counter top with a deep bowl sink. The mirror that hung above the sink was antique-looking with a large curved pewter frame. The floor was stone tiled, and the light fixtures on the wall were old-world style lanterns. The hanging light fixture featured electric candles in a metal circular frame. It was becoming more and more obvious that the Henrys were quite wealthy.
After checking out all of his new territory – even in his human form Fane couldn’t help seeing things as his territory or not – he decided to take a shower and wash off the smell of crowded airports and unfamiliar people. He took his time enjoying the hot water and finally decided he was ready to go to bed.
His final thought of the night was of Jacque's emerald eyes. He couldn’t see the color of her hair because he had never gotten past her eyes. The shock of who and what she was had distracted him. Still, those emerald eyes led him to sleep.
Chapter 3
The morning sunlight shone into Jacque’s room as she yawned noisily and stretched her limbs. She glanced over to where Sally and Jen had fallen asleep and saw they were snoozing soundly. I’ll let them sleep while I get a shower, she thought. She still had things she needed to process from her encounter with hottie from across the street.
“Thanks, Jen,” she muttered under her breath. Now she couldn’t think of him as the foreign exchange student because Jen had so eloquently named him the “hottie.”
Jacque would have to watch herself and make sure not to introduce herself by saying, “Hi, it’s nice to meet you, hottie.” Yeah, that wouldn’t be embarrassing at all.
She gathered up some clean clothes, and as she stared in her closet she realized it was taking quite a long time to pick an outfit to wear to meet the hottie – grrr...the exchange student. Jac, she thought, say it to yourself. Ex-ch-an-ge student.
Finally she chose a pair of jeans that had holes in various places along the legs. Of course, they weren’t there through any fault of hers; they were $125 jeans made to be ripped up…go figure. She picked a baby doll tee that said “I’m not stubborn, my way is just better.” Better to let him know up front that I'm sarcastic, Jacque thought.
She headed to the bathroom to take a hot shower, hoping it would help settle her nerves. She didn’t really understand why she was so nervous about meeting the exchange student – way to go, Jac, you didn’t call him the hottie – but she was very nervous. It could be, she thought, because he might have spoken to me in my head.
“I’m mean, what the heck,” she muttered.
Jacque took her time in the shower, finally getting out when the water started to get cold. She dried off with a towel and got dressed, then took her time fixing her hair. She couldn’t decide if she should wear it up or down. “Good grief
,” she told herself, “you never have this much trouble getting ready.” She just couldn’t shake the feeling that something major had happened last night when she'd locked eyes with that handsome stranger.
Settling on wearing her hair up – it was summer in south Texas, after all, which basically meant frying eggs-on-the-side-walk hot – she headed back to her room to see if Sally and Jen had decided to join the living.
Sure enough, they were both sitting in the floor. Each had bed-head and looked a little dazed.
“You’re up bright and early…and dressed,” said Jen, sounding surprised.
“Well, I woke up with just a few things on my mind and knew it would be impossible to go back to sleep. Also, I need to go talk to my mom about us going over with her to greet the hot...I mean exchange student. Thanks to you, Jen, I will probably introduce myself to him by calling him hottie.”
“Well if you do, I will be sure to do you the honor of laughing my ass off.” Jen said graciously.
“Oh, thanks sooo much,” Jacque retorted.
“Okay, kids. Let's play nice. We have plans to make, so let’s not waste time competing over who can be the snottiest sista,” Sally said in her best motherly voice.
“Okay, okay. Why don’t ya’ll take turns getting a shower. I will go talk to my mom about when she plans to head over to the Henrys'.”
“Sounds good,” Sally answered.
“Go team,” Jen said with fake enthusiasm.
Jen could often be just as sarcastic as Jacque, which at times caused them to be the best of friends and the worst.
Jacque headed downstairs to find her mom already in the kitchen, cooking up a storm. Lilly Pierce was not your average woman. She had a sketchy background growing up in a foster home, not knowing who her real parents were. She often had these “feelings” about things that were going to happen, and the scary thing was she was usually right. Jacque and her mom never really talked about it, though Jacque was beginning to show signs of a similar nature. Only Jacque didn’t know things, she could feel things – like others' emotions. It was very subtle at times. She might be in a room with her mom and, without Lilly ever saying anything, Jacque would know without a doubt her mother was sad or worried or confused. She didn’t know how she knew it, she just did. It wasn’t reliable, though, because she could go days without feeling another’s emotions. Jacque didn’t want to know things, or feel things; she just wanted to be normal.
As Jacque looked around the kitchen, she saw there was a pan of fried chicken on the stove and corn in a pot of boiling water. Her mom was steadily mixing a bowl of mashed potatoes, adding milk and butter as she saw fit.
“Hey, mom. How goes the southern meal making?” Jacque asked.
“I’m almost done, I just need to put some rolls in the oven. Would you mind getting them and putting them on a pan? They aren’t homemade, just those Hawaiian rolls, but they’re really good.”
“Yeah, I can do that.” Jacque bent down to grab a pan. “So, Sally, Jen and I were wondering if you needed help carrying all this over to the Henrys',” she said, trying to sound casual. Her mom looked at her questioningly and Jacque figured she hadn’t even come close to casual.
“Are you really wanting to help or is this just a perfect opportunity to meet the new exchange student? It is a guy, right?” Lily asked.
“Yes, he is a guy, and maybe we would like to see who he is. But we do also really want to help you. I don’t think you can carry all this over on your own,” Jacque answered.
“Well, I was going to ask you to help me anyway. And I thought you girls would be interested in meeting the new young man, especially since you and Trent split up.”
“Do not go there, Mom! This has nothing to do with him. It’s only natural to want to meet someone new, and especially since he’s not from our country,” Jacque stated firmly.
“Okay, okay, you don’t have to be defensive. I will be ready just as soon as those rolls are done warming. I’m going to call the Henrys now to make sure they're okay with us coming over in ten minutes.”
Jacque put the rolls on the pan in straight rows. As her mom was stepping out of the room to call the Henrys, she caught the briefest hint of worry coming off of her. It had been a while since she had picked anything up from her mom so it kind of made her take a step back. I wonder what she's worried about?
She headed back upstairs to see if the girls were done getting ready and to let them know the plan was in motion. Man, she felt ridiculous as she thought about how it sounded to have a “plan” to meet a guy, and not meet him like “hey, what’s up,” but meet him like, “hey, are you a weirdo or something?” What was her world coming to? Oh, well. Could be worse. She could be hearing voices...oh wait, she was. Well, crap.
Sally was done with her shower and doing her hair when she got upstairs. Sally could be very efficient when she needed to be, and she wasn’t one to be overly fussy about her looks. Of course, that could've been because she would be pretty even with a paper bag over her head. Her long coffee-colored hair was striking against her mocha-colored skin. She honestly didn’t look like a Sally. Whatever, Jacque thought. I didn’t pick her name.
Jen was still in the shower and Jacque could hear her singing Martina McBride’s “Independence Day.” She was belting it out proudly and tunelessly.
Jacque banged on the door and hollered, “Yeah, yeah, you’re strong, free and independent, we get it. Hurry up! We’re rolling out ten minutes ago!” Jen just sang louder. Jacque rolled her eyes and went back to her room.
“If she’s planning on blow drying that blond mess on her head then we’re leaving her here,” Jacque told Sally, looking over to see her shoving her feet into shoes.
“Well, I’m ready when you are, Sherlock. Let's go check hottie out,” Sally said with a wink.
“How lucky I am to have you, my dear Watson,” Jacque said, smiling.
Jen stepped into Jacque’s room fully clothed, hair up in a French twist.
“What’s taking you guys so long? I’ve been ready for two minutes,” Jen said with fake exasperation.
“Oh, a whole two minutes? How dare us make you wait. Please don’t have us flogged, your majesty,” Jacque retorted.
“It’s about time you realized who the queen is in this outfit,” Jen said, grinning.
“Girls, I’m ready if you all are!” they heard Jacque’s mom yell.
Well, here we go, Jacque thought. She felt in that moment that she was walking into the lion's den. Just what had she gotten herself into?
“I think I am officially going to be sick,” Jacque said with a slight moan.
“Take slow deep breaths. If you pass out while we’re over there, I once again tell you I will laugh my ass off,” Jen said.
“Man, you're just a ball of warm fuzzies, aren’t you?” Jacque said, glaring at Jen.
“I’m just saying,” Jen laughed.
Turning in a circle with arms out and palms turned up, Jacque said “How do I look? Is this shirt a little much?”
“No, I think it’s perfect. It makes a statement like, 'hey, I’m not scared of your little mind gibberish',” Sally encouraged.
“But I am scared of his mind gibberish. If it is really his mind gibberish and not something else entirely,” Jacque said, sounding forlorn.
“Oh, come on. Pull yourself together, man. He’s just a guy, okay? Nothing more and nothing less,” Jen stated with utter confidence.
The only thing was that Jacque didn’t believe mystery guy was just a guy. No, he was more, much more. She just didn’t know what yet. As they began to descend the stairs, a thought touched her mind, one that was not her own.
“Good morning, my Luna,” Jacque heard.
She stumbled a few steps on the stairs. Jen reached out to steady her. “Are you okay?” she whispered.
“I just heard the voice again,” Jacque said shakily.
“What did it say?” Sally asked.
“'Good morning, my loona',” Jacque answ
ered. “What the stink does that mean?” I can’t believe I thought it was a good idea to go over there, she thought.
Jacque’s mom was standing at the bottom of the stairs, watching them closely. She had that look that Jacque knew all too well – her mom knew something was up. She could feel her emotions strongly and, according to them, Lily Pierce was very concerned.
“Are you girls coming?” her mom asked.
“Lead the way, Ms. Pierce,” Jen said.
Each of the girls carried a dish of food; Jacque’s mom had even made sweet tea. After all, what’s a southern meal without sweet tea?
As they stepped out of the house and onto the walkway, the sun shone brightly down on them. It was ten am and it was already blistering hot.
Although the grass on some of the lawns was still healthy and green, Jacque’s lawn was brown and dead. Of course, that could've been because her mom mowed it way too short last time in hopes she could go longer than a week between mowing. She'd inadvertently killed the grass in the process. Oh well, Jacque thought, it’s not like we're going for first place in the prettiest lawn competition. Goodness knows both she and her mother would rather pull their toenails out than work in the yard in that ridiculous southern Texas heat.
As they crossed the street, Jacque saw the curtains of the right second story window part. Briefly, she saw the handsome face looking back at her. She looked away to get the attention of Sally and Jen, but when she looked back to point him out the curtains had closed.