by Quinn Loftis
“He was standing in the window, ya’ll. I promise I did not imagine it.” Jacque sounded a little desperate.
“We believe you, Jac. Stop doubting that,” Sally said with conviction.
She's right, Jacque thought. They were her best friends and they would stick by her no matter what.
Chapter 4
Fane woke up and, without thinking, sought out Jacquelyn’s mind. It felt like second nature to him even though he'd just met her. Well, more like found her.
He spoke into her mind effortlessly, “Good morning, my Luna,” and instantly felt her panic and confusion.
He listened to Jacque tell her friends that she had heard his voice, or rather a voice she wasn’t completely convinced was his. And she wanted to know what 'Luna' meant. He also caught the passing thought that she was on her way over here…now.
Fane looked at himself in the mirror and quickly decided a shower was in order – and something more presentable than pajama pants with no shirt.
He quickly jumped in the shower and was out in a record five minutes. He was standing in front of the bathroom mirror, brushing his teeth, when he noticed something different on his chest and shoulder.
Fane, like every male Canis lupus, had markings that looked like tattoos. They appeared of their own accord once puberty hit. These markings revealed where in the pack order a wolf belonged, and the more elaborate the marking, the higher the rank. The tattoos varied in size, shape, and on what side of the body they were on. The marks were dark black, with curves and points at the ends of the lines. Fane’s were on his right side, which indicated he was a dominant. It started on his right shoulder blade and came over the top of his shoulder, going down onto his bicep and across the right side of his chest. The fact that it came around to the front of his body indicated he was an Alpha. Only Alphas had markings on the front and back of their bodies. That way, no matter what direction he was facing, all could see his markings and know the identity of the pack's leader.
Sometime between the night before and that morning, the markings had climbed up the right side of his neck – they looked like black flames.
Fane honestly didn’t know what it meant. He had never heard of the markings spreading. He decided he would have to call his father later today to find out what it meant. Meanwhile, he hoped the Henrys didn’t notice that the markings weren’t there last night, which might've been a little difficult to explain.
Deciding there was nothing to be done about it at the moment, he moved on and quickly ran a razor across his face and threw on some aftershave.
Fane walked over to his suitcase to pick out some clothes. He hadn’t bothered to unpack anything last night because he'd been so tired. There weren’t a whole lot of variations to his wardrobe: black, grey, and dark blue shirts mostly. He had a lot of long sleeved shirts because of the cold in Romania. He'd had to buy short sleeved shirts to prepare to come to the U.S.
He decided on a dark grey short sleeve t-shirt and his Lucky brand jeans. He pulled on his biker boots and grabbed his wallet, which had a chain attached to it.
Although motorcycles weren’t very popular in Romania – because of the temperature – Fane loved them and owned a Honda. He tried to ride as much as he could and, of course, was completely covered in leather when he did ride to stay warm.
He'd wanted to bring his motorcycle with him, but his parents had offered to buy him a used bike once he got here. He was planning on talking to Mr. Henry about that later today, to see if he would be willing to take Fane to a motorcycle dealership to pick one out. His parents had given him a credit card with a decent limit on it. It should get him a pretty nice bike.
Just when he was ready to go downstairs, his wolf perked up at the sound of footsteps in the street. He walked over to the window and parted the curtains. What luck, he thought to himself. His window was directly in front of Jacquelyn’s house.
He looked down at the street and saw three teenage girls walking with who must've been Jacquelyn’s mother.
His gaze shifted to the only one who mattered and she looked straight up into his face.
She is beautiful, Fane thought. Now that he could get a good look at her, he saw that she had wild, unruly, auburn curls. Freckles dusted her fair skin. She was on the short side, thin, but not skinny. She was wearing faded, holey jeans and a green shirt that said, “I’m not stubborn, my way is just better.”
So his Luna had attitude. Well, of course she would. It wasn’t like a meek woman could be Alpha to female Greys – they would tear a timid Alpha apart. Jacque turned to talk to her friends. While she was turned, he stepped away from the window to head downstairs.
Fane had to admit he was a little nervous about meeting her. He had never been nervous with girls. Then again, he hadn’t really dated much. No one ever seemed to catch his eye so he'd figured, why waste his time? The few girls he had dated never produced even a quarter of the attraction he felt for Jacquelyn.
He wished now that he'd gotten up earlier and called his father to talk to him about this whole mate thing. He had learned a little growing up, but he still felt very unprepared to handle it. Especially since she was human and knew nothing of his world.
As Fane came to the bottom of the stairs, the doorbell rang. He heard Mrs. Henry coming from the right side of the house. As she came around the corner, she saw that he was there and smiled at him warmly.
“Good morning, Fane. Did you sleep well?”
"Bună dimineaţa," Fane said gracefully. “I slept very well, thank you.”
“I take it that 'bună dimineaţa' means good morning?” Mrs. Henry asked.
“That was a very good pronunciation. And yes, it means good morning,” Fane explained.
“Oh, I guess I better get the door,” she said just as the doorbell rang again.
As Mrs. Henry opened the door, Fane felt his stomach tighten in anticipation. What am I going to say to her? he wondered. Well, naturally he couldn’t very well declare her his mate in front of all these humans – they would think he was mad.
So he settled with a simple, “Hello my name is Fane.” Yes, he thought. That's a very normal thing to say. And normalcy was what he wanted, after all.
The four ladies were standing at the threshold of the door.
“Lilly, how sweet it is of you to come over to meet our guest!” Mrs. Henry announced kindly.
“We come bearing a homemade southern meal for the newcomer,” Lilly responded.
“Come in! Let me introduce you to Fane. He's from…well, here. I’ll let him tell you. He can speak for himself, after all,” Mrs. Henry said as they all filed into the entryway.
“Sara, why don’t we set this food in the kitchen? Then we can sit in the living room to make our introductions. That suit you okay?” Lilly asked.
“Oh, of course, of course. You all can’t stand here in the front door holding all that food. You would think I’ve never had company before. Come on, girls, and let’s set it on the counter in the kitchen,” Mrs. Henry said, sounding a little flustered with herself.
Sara, Fane thought. So that's Mrs. Henry’s first name. He hadn’t even thought to ask when he'd met them last night.
Once the food was left in the kitchen, they all met in the living room. Lilly sat on the rocking chair by the fireplace, while the three girls sat on the couch next to the rocking chair. Mrs. Henry and Fane both sat on the love seat across from the couch. There was a wooden coffee table in between the couch and love seat that had various magazines and some coasters sitting on it.
Fane realized that while he'd been cataloging the room, the five ladies had all been looking at him expectantly. He noticed Jacquelyn’s gaze linger on the markings on his neck. His wolf liked that she noticed even though she didn’t know what they meant.
He cleared his throat and started speaking. “Good morning, doamnelor (ladies). My name is Fane Lupei and I am from Romania. I am seventeen and I will be a senior this year.” Fane looked at each of the ladies, pausing bri
efly on Jacquelyn. “Should I say more?” he asked.
Lilly looked at him quizzically. “What does dome-na-ler mean exactly?”
Fane tried not to grin too much at her poor pronunciation. Romanian, after all, was a very difficult language to speak.
“It means 'ladies'. I was saying good morning. I have a bad habit of mixing my native language with my English, I beg your pardon,” Fane said to Lilly.
“I don’t mind. It’s actually pretty neat to hear you speak Romanian. It’s not a language one hears very often, if ever,” Lilly assured him.
There was an awkward pause for a moment, and then the blond-haired friend of Jacquelyn’s looked at him poignantly and asked “So why Coldspring, Texas?”
Fane cocked his head to the side, just like he would do in his wolf form. “Scuzaţi-mă (excuse me)?” he asked. “I do not understand the question.”
“Why did you choose to come to our little blink-of-an-eye town?” Jen asked, speaking slowly, as if to a child.
Jacquelyn elbowed her, which made Fane smile.
“Oh, I see. Well, honestly, I’m not sure. When I applied for the exchange program they sent me several candidates for my host family. I read about them and something about the Henrys felt right. I don’t know if I explained it right, but that is only how I know to say it,” Fane answered.
“Your English is very good,” Jacquelyn’s other friend, the brunette, stated.
“Da (yes), my parents have always spoken both Romanian and English to me. They thought it would be foolish to think I would only need to know Romanian language and culture,” Fane explained to her.
“So you have studied American culture as well?” Mrs. Henry asked.
“Da. American culture is quite different from mine. What I have been taught by teachers has not always stood true in real life.”
“Okay,” Lilly said firmly. “Enough of the Spanish inquisition. Girls, let’s briefly introduce ourselves and be on our way so Fane can get settled in.”
Lilly simply introduced herself from where she sat. “Fane, my name is Lilly Pierce and I’m Jacque’s mom. I own a bookstore on the square downtown to which you are most welcome anytime to study or chat. Please call me Lilly, as I am not my mother. She was Ms. Pierce. I am so glad to know you.”
“Meu doamnă, acesta este un onoruri,” Fane said, bowing ever so slightly.
“In your language I said,' my lady, it is an honor',” Fane translated.
Jen stood up and held out her hand. “I’m Jennifer Adams, a.k.a. Jen. I am also seventeen and a senior. Glad to know ya,” she said as he took her hand.
To her surprise, he did not shake it. He simply brought her hand to his lips, just barely laying them on the top of it.
Fane looked up at Jen after lightly kissing her hand and said, “Sa o placere sa te cunosc.”
Jen looked slightly dazed and confused.
“It is a pleasure to meet you,” Fane translated.
Sally stood up, gently pushing the hazy-looking Jen back down to the couch and then held out her hand.
“I’m Sally Morgan, seventeen, senior, and it’s nice to meet you,” she said with natural cheer.
Again, Fane took her hand and lifted it to his lips, placing a feather soft kiss on the top of it. Then he repeated what he'd said to Jen. “Sa o placere sa te cunosc.”
Sally sat down next to Jen and, when Jacquelyn made no move to stand up, Jen reached over and pinched the back of her arm.
“Oww!” Jacque yelped.
She glared at her friend but finally caught on to what Sally was silently telling her.
Standing up to introduce herself, Jacque began to speak, and for a moment her mouth wouldn’t spit out what her brain was telling her to say. “Oh, um, I, um...” Good grief, Jacque thought to herself, spit it out already. “I’m Jacque, seventeen, and a senior as well. Lilly is my mom.” She made no move to give Fane her hand.
The surprise on her face was obvious when he reached out and took her hand anyway. Fane bowed over as he brought it to his lips, and this time they lingered there.
As he held her hand to his mouth he took in her scent and found to his pleasure she smelled of cotton candy and fresh snow, an odd, but strangely familiar combination. He tried not to growl possessively, but couldn’t quite suppress the urge completely. Fane knew Jacquelyn had heard him because she tensed even more.
He lifted his eyes to hers and just as he had said to Sally and Jen, he told her, “Sa o placere sa te cunosc.
The only difference was as he spoke to her with his mouth he also sent her a message with his thoughts.
“I am so honored to finally meet you, my Luna,” he told her. “We have much to learn about each other.”
Chapter 5
From the moment she had stepped into the Henrys' house, Jacque’s nerves had been rattled over being around the strange exchange student. Not to mention, as soon as she locked eyes with Fane she felt a weird tingling sensation across the top of her shoulders and behind her neck. She reached up and placed her hand on her neck, tilting it a bit as if it were stiff. That was weird, she’d thought.
Mystery guy was standing at the bottom of the stairs. He was wearing a dark grey t-shirt, jeans, motorcycle boots, and the wallet in his back pocket was attached with a metal chain. The guy could make a plastic bag look sexy.
The look on his face was one of curiosity and what she thought might be nervousness. That surprised her because at first glance he did not appear to be the nervous type.
Mrs. Henry told them all to bring the food into the kitchen and then everyone was to go to the living room to be introduced to their guest.
Once seated in the Henrys' living room, they all listened to Fane introduce himself. Finally, something to call him other than mystery guy and hottie, Jacque thought.
Jen asked why he had chosen this little town and when he didn’t understand the question the first time, she asked him again and spoke down like he was a child. This earned Jen an elbow in the ribs, courtesy of Jacque. After all, was it really any of their business why he came? But Jen just shrugged her off and waited for Fane to answer. He appeared confused and cocked his head in an odd way, kind of like she had seen dogs do. Oh, that’s so gracious of me, comparing the Romanian to a dog. Jacque wished someone would just put her out of her misery.
Sally mentioned that Fane's English was very good and he explained that he'd been taught English right along with Romanian all his life.
Lilly finally stepped in and suggested each girl introduce herself, so they could get going and let Fane and the Henrys get settled.
Lilly’s mom was the first one to speak. She told Fane her name and occupation, and instructed him that he was to call her Lilly.
Then her friends were next. He’s gonna think we are absolutely crazy, Jacque thought.
When Jen stepped forward to introduce herself, she held out her hand to shake Fane's. To everyone’s surprise, instead of shaking it, he kissed it.
Jacque was completely dumbfounded when she felt herself having an extremely irrational wave of jealousy flow through her. In that moment she wanted to wrench Jen’s hand from Fane’s and growl at her. Growl! Are you freaking kidding me? Jacque thought.
She noticed that Sally had to push Jen down to the couch because she was slightly dazed from the encounter. This did nothing to calm Jacques raging emotions.
Jacque had to brace herself, as Fane was now lifting Sally’s hand to his lips. She couldn’t understand why she was feeling like this. It was totally obvious that his greeting was completely non-romantic – which, by the way, shouldn’t matter to her anyway – and yet she did not want him to touch another female. Okay, Jacque thought, it’s official. I have dived headfirst off the deep end.
Out of nowhere, she felt a sharp pain. Yelping, she turned to look at Jen – who had just pinched her. She realized then that Fane was looking at her expectantly and she had just been sitting there like an idiot in her own little bubble.
Jacque stood u
p but made no move to give him her hand. She introduced herself, sounding so eloquent when she couldn’t spit out what she was trying to say. She was getting ready to sit down when Fane reached out and grabbed her hand. She was a little startled, but that quickly faded into something else entirely when he bowed over her hand and pressed his lips firmly against it. Jacque could swear she heard him take a deep breath through his nose and growl low in his throat. That was really weird, she thought. But once again, for her things couldn’t simply be weird, they had to be downright insane.
As Fane repeated what he had told Jen and Sally, Jacque also heard the voice in her mind.
“I am so honored to finally meet you, my Luna. We have much to learn about each other.”
Jacque blinked a few times, trying to clear her thoughts. What on earth could it possibly mean by “finally meet”? she thought. Did this voice know it was waiting for me? It was time to go home, Jacque decided. She needed to talk to Sally and Jen about Fane, she needed to decide whether or not to confide in her mother, and she needed to have a good, cleansing panic attack. Not necessarily in that order.
Jacque pulled her hand from Fane’s grasp and he didn’t try to keep her from doing so. She turned to look at her mom, raised her eyebrows and asked, “Are you ready? I’m good to go. Sally, Jen, ya’ll ready to go?”
Jen and Sally both nodded at the same time, quickly catching Jacque’s mood.
Lilly looked at her daughter suspiciously, but merely nodded and turned to Mrs. Henry. “Thank you, Sara, for having us over. It was really nice to see you. Fane, it was great to meet you. Don’t make yourself a stranger. You’re welcome over at our house anytime.”
Fane bowed slightly, placing his hand over his heart. “As we say in my country when parting, pînă la următor timp Mai art.hot. Moon lumină al tău patetic. It means: until next time, may the moon light your path.”
Jen looked at Fane and in her outspoken way asked, “Is that kinda like an Irish proverb? Only, ya know, like a Romanian proverb instead?”