by Quinn Loftis
“Are those happy tears?” Costin asked, wearily.
Sally nodded.
“You are a woman of few words tonight love.”
“That’s because all too often, you render me speechless,” Sally told him, as she looked up into his eyes. He saw her heart in those eyes, a heart that she had fully given to him.
“I love you, and I can’t wait to be your wife.”
Costin smiled, flashing his dimple at her. “Oh brown eyes, I can’t wait either.”
Sally could see the wheels turning in his, too handsome for his own good, head. She started shaking her head. “Oh, uh uh, no way, that,” she pointed to where, moments ago she had been lying frozen with need and want, “will never happen again.”
Costin laughed so loudly, Sally was sure the entire mansion heard.
“You are one funny gypsy, my love, I’ll give you that.”
“I’m serious Costin, that, that was,” she tripped over her words, as she stared into his hazel eyes.
Costin leaned forward so that his lips were brushing against hers as he spoke. “That was only the beginning love. I hadn’t even gotten to the good part.”
Q
“I’m going, so you can stop your slamming crap and muttering under your breath. Besides, we have company so quit acting like a total butthead.” Jen sat next to Jacque on her bed, while Fane stood in a very Decebel like pose, leaning against the wall. Jen noticed that something in Fane was different, something in him had hardened, and the once gentle soul was gone. He watched Jacque constantly, attuned to the smallest movement, or even the change in her heart beat. Jen should have noticed it in Decebel as well, except Decebel had always been that way. She had never seen Decebel as young and un-jaded. By the time Decebel had found her, he was cold and thoroughly warped.
Decebel stopped in mid-stride and turned slowly to face his mate.
Jacque’s jaw tensed and she shivered internally as she watched her best friend bare the intensity Decebel’s stare. Fane noticed his mate’s reaction and pushed away from the wall to stand next to her.
Jen held Decebel’s stare and though part of her really wanted to crawl in a dark hole to hide from his anger, she knew it wasn’t really her he was angry at.
“How many different ways do I have to tell you no? How many languages would it take to make you understand that you will not be going anywhere near males that I do not know and do not trust?” Decebel’s eyes were glowing, though that was sort of a normal thing for him now, so Jen didn’t take that to mean he was at his breaking point just yet.
“Do I really have to pull out the, but everyone is doing it card? All the other mates will be there, backing their men up. How am I supposed to feel if you leave me here? What kind of Alpha female does that make me look like?”
“A PREGNANT ONE!” Decebel snarled. “There isn’t a male wolf there who wouldn’t be doing the exact thing that I am Jennifer. You are precious to me, our child is a miracle, and I will not put either of you at risk.”
Jen met his eyes as she stood and walked towards him. She didn’t notice Fane and Jacque slip out. Her attention was for her mate only.
“Don’t you get it?” She asked. “Did you ever stop to think that maybe I don’t want to be away from you, that I can’t be away from you?”
Decebel’s eyes widened and she saw that he really had never considered why she was so adamant about going, other than not wanting to miss out, which admittedly was usually a reason Jen wanted to participate. But, this was something else altogether and it made her sick to admit it.
He took a step towards her and cupped her face in his large hands. Her eyes were tearless, but he had been a fool to miss the terror that hid behind her ever present strength. Decebel forgot that it usually took an act of despair to get Jennifer to admit to anything that she would view as a weakness and because of that, he often didn’t treat her with the care she needed.
“I’m not fragile, Decebel,” she told him, having seen his thoughts. “I’m just struggling with everything. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” She was frustrated, because she felt so out of control. She felt weak, because when she closed her eyes she saw their faces, felt their hands. Mona’s curse still reverberated through her mind. She knew it was gone, but it still held power over her and that, above everything, angered her. But, if Decebel was with her, if she could see him, touch him, feel his touch, and then she was okay.
“Okay,” he told her, as he pulled her into his arms, “okay baby, you come with me, but you don’t step a foot away from my side.”
Jen nodded against his shirt as she buried her face in his chest. She was slightly disgusted with herself for needing him the way she did, but she was giving herself a pass because she was pregnant, and she was going to play that card anytime she began to feel crazy, weak, or desperate.
“I need you the same way. Are you disgusted with me?” Decebel asked her.
She looked up at him and, as usual, his good looks were nearly painful to look at. His amber eyes glowed possessively at her as his hand stroked up and down her back.
“You’re a dude, you’re supposed to need me,” she reasoned.
Decebel chuckled. “If we’re going to go with that logic then I think you would win in the needs category.”
“Why, because I’m a nympho?” She narrowed her eyes at him. “Are you complaining?”
Decebel leaned down and kissed her gently, enjoying the privileges that came with being a mate and husband. “I would be happy to show you how not complaining I currently am.”
Jen laughed. “I think we’re supposed to be meeting in the gathering room remember? Just a second ago you were all ready to go ape shniz on some dudes.”
“Ape shniz?” Decebel smirked.
“I’m trying to curb the tongue since we’re going to have a rugrat running around repeating everything I say.”
Decebel smiled wickedly at her. “I’m sure I can find a way to keep your tongue busy so there is no chance of slipups.”
“I totally walked into that one,” she laughed.
“Totally,” he agreed, as he pulled her to their bed.
“Dec, really we’re supposed to go, like, now.” Jen struggled, uselessly against his hold.
“I told you when I took you as my mate that you would always come before the pack, before all others. Look at me and tell me you don’t need me.” Decebel watched her closely.
Jen looked down at her feet in a very uncharacteristically submissive act. Decebel tugged again and this time Jen went without a fight.
“I totally did not admit anything,” she told him as he kissed her.
“I know baby. I’m glad to take one for the team until you’re ready to admit that you need me with the same desperation that I need you.”
Jen laughed. “Take one for the team, that’s classic.”
“Jennifer,” Decebel growled as he tugged at her shirt.
“What?”
“Shut up.”
Jen started to speak but snapped her mouth shut when Decebel’s hands did what they did best.
“What do they do best beautiful?”
“I forgot, I think you should remind me.”
Decebel soaked up his mate’s laughter like a plant soaks up the rain after a long drought. For that sound alone, he would be late to any meeting no matter the importance.
Q
“Fane, are you alright?” Jacque watched her mate as they stood in the gathering room. It was slowly filling up with more and more males and Fane’s posture grew more tense with every minute.
“I’m fine Luna.”
His face, his voice, his whole everything, told Jacque he was lying. He was anything but fine.
“Why won’t you talk to me?”
Fane turned and looked at her, glowing blue eyes bore into hers.
“This is not the time for words. Stay near me please.”
Jacque knew that look and that clipped tone. Fane’s wolf had taken over. She took a step closer
to him and placed her hand on his back. He subtly leaned into it and that gave her a small amount of peace. He had grown exceedingly distant as the day had worn on and, to her surprise, hadn’t even tried to keep her from coming with him. She had tried several times to engage him in conversation, but each time he had simply grunted at her or given her one word answers. He hadn’t been mean to her, and he had been just as touchy as normal, if not more so, but Jacque and her wolf could feel that something was off in their mate and it was rubbing them the wrong way.
She continued to stand close to him, reassuring him of her presence as the room filled. She caught Sally’s eye when she and Costin walked in. Jen and Decebel were just behind them. Both males looked ready to rip some one’s head off with their bare hands. And, as curious as the other packs were about the females, one glance from Costin or Decebel and they dropped their eyes. Jacque hadn’t noticed until then that not a single person was facing her direction. Fane was obviously giving the males the same challenging look and it was working rather well.
Jacque gave a small wave to Crina and Elle who were standing across from her with Sorin and Adam. She hadn’t gotten to spend much time with them and hoped that they were recovering all right. They had both kept to themselves since they had returned and she figured that it was to have a chance to spend with the mates they had barely had time to get to know. Rachel and Gavril moved in beside the two couples and she saw Gavril give Fane a slight nod.
“How are things?” Jacque asked Jen as the two mated pairs came and stood next to she and Fane.
Jen glanced up at Decebel and then back at Jacque. “I’ve promised to be on my best behavior.”
Jacque smiled. “For once, I actually believe you.”
Sally laughed. “I guess there is a first time for everything.”
Sally’s laughter brought the rumbling room to complete silence. Everyone froze and their heads turned as a collective whole to where the three girls stood. Low growls rumbled in Costin, Decebel, and Fane’s chest, but the fascination with a gypsy healer was too great to be dissuaded by growling mates.
A flash of light and thunderous boom at the front of the room snapped the attention to the front where Peri stood, smiling at her grand entrance.
“Saved by the fairy,” Jen muttered, under her breath.
“Word,” Jacque and Sally whispered back.
Their attention was drawn to the front along with everyone else’s at the sound of Peri’s voice.
“FOR THE PACK!”
Chapter 20
“Do you ever have that feeling where the hairs on the back of your neck rise, goose bumps suddenly appear all over your arms and your stomach feels like hornets are buzzing around to the tune of the Battle Hymn of the Republic? Take that feeling and magnify it a thousand times, then you will have a small idea of what it’s like to walk into a room full of dominant wolves.” ~ Lilly
“For the pack!” The entire room repeated Peri’s declaration. They stood as one, united in purpose, and joined by a common goal.
Peri let the light around her fade until she finally looked like the Peri they all knew. It was apparent to everyone in the room that, though she now looked less majestic, she still wore power equal to the strongest of Alphas.
“I know it has been a very long time since any of you have seen a healer, if you ever have. That does not excuse rude behavior. You who are Alphas and dominants know better than any, how protective your males are of their mates. So, show the respect they deserve. Show the healer just how precious she is by not acting like rampant idiots.” Peri met each Alphas eyes and held them, letting them see that she was not going to play dominance games with them. She was here as their equal and they would either accept that or not. It would be much wiser of them to just let it be.
Peri saw Vasile and Alina as they approached the entry. She motioned for the wolves to look behind them.
Vasile and his mate walked through the wolves as they parted, each of them dropping their eyes and the Alphas bowing their head slightly to Alina in respect. When they reached the front of the room, Vasile turned to face them.
“We all know why we are here,” he told them. “Our creator, the Great Luna, has seen the evil that threatens our species, as well as all of the others, and she has called us to stand against it. She created us for such a time as this.” Vasile’s voice carried throughout the room, strong and clear. “She made us stronger, more resilient, and more cunning than other species. She made us wolves, because a pack protects its own. Pack protects the weak. Pack protects when all others choose to look away. Thankfully, we are not alone in our stand against the evil that has grown. We have friends who have agreed to help and we will welcome them into our pack and hear what they have to say.”
Vasile motioned towards the back of the room where Cypher, Lilly, Thalion, and Cyn stood with a slew of warriors behind them.
Cypher turned and said something to the others and the warriors stayed behind as the four proceeded forward. The room was quiet as they walked. Cypher and Thalion kept their head straight forward not making eye contact with any of the wolves. Lilly looked everywhere, searching for Jacque, Jen, and Sally. When Lilly’s eyes finally landed on Jacque and her friends her face broke into a huge smile.
Jacque was out from behind Fane and running towards her mother faster than Fane could react. She was barreling through the males not caring who she ran into or how it might affect Fane to watch his mate sprint through a room full of males that he did not know. Sally and Jen were right behind her and all three males tore after them.
Jacque knew what she had done was foolish, but all she had seen was her mother and all she could think about was making sure she was safe. She should have known that Sally and Jen would be right behind her, because they loved her mom every bit as much as she did.
Jacque reached her mom and ran straight into her arms, and for a brief moment, she thought that her little stunt might not be a disaster. She should have considered that a pregnant chick was running full speed behind her in a room jam packed with bodies.
Jen stumbled and Tyler reached out to catch her, but Decebel was there before he could touch her. Decebel glared at the Alpha and Tyler held his hands up and took a few steps back. The room was still as they waited to see how Decebel would respond.
“Hey B,” Jen elbowed him. “Help a pregnant chick out and carry me through the masses?”
Decebel looked down at his mate and shook his head as he swung her up into his arms.
“You are a pain in my a…”
“Tsk, tsk, Dec, no cursing remember?” Jen admonished, as she patted her stomach. Decebel growled, but held his tongue.
Lilly wrapped her arms around all three of the girls as the huddled close. She hadn’t realized just how badly she had needed to see that they were okay. She wiped tears away as she stepped back to look at each of them.
“Look at you three,” she swooned. “You’re beautiful. Romania agrees with you.”
Jen laughed. “That’s about the only thing.” Decebel raised a brow at her when she looked back at him and winked.
Decebel, Fane, and Costin had formed a protective circle around the women and Adam, Sorin, and Gavril had stepped forward as well. The ladies were completely oblivious to their surroundings as they fired questions at one another, barely giving themselves time to answer. A loud throat clearing finally tore their attention from one another.
“I realize that you all want to catch up, and I assure you there will be time for that,” Vasile told them, not unkindly, “but there are other matters that need to be dealt with.”
“We are going to talk as soon as this pow-wow is over,” Jacque told her mom as Fane tugged her by the hand back to where they had been standing. Decebel, Jen, Costin, and Sally followed close behind them. Everyone seemed to gather themselves back together and the four newcomers commenced the progress towards the front of the room.
Cypher pulled Lilly close to him as they reached the front of the room. He didn�
��t feel threatened by any of the wolves, but he still didn’t want Lilly away from his side. He shook Vasile’s hand and nodded to his mate.
“Vasile, it’s been a very long time,” Cypher told him.
Vasile nodded. “That it has. I see that the Fates have blessed you,” he nodded toward Lilly.
“Hi Vasile,” Lilly smiled. “Good to see you again, though I wish it were under different circumstances.”
“Likewise.”
Alina stepped forward and gave Lilly a hug. “How are you holding up?” She asked her.
Lilly gave Alina a small squeeze as she answered, “I’m good.”
Alina looked at her face as she stepped back from the hug and she could see in Lilly’s eyes that, despite all that was going on, she was happy at Cypher’s side.
Thalion stepped forward and bowed slightly to Vasile and Alina.
“I am Thalion, Prince of the Elves.”
The room erupted into murmurs at Thalion’s introduction. Vasile silenced them with a look, and then turned back to Thalion.
“I’ve heard of you, though in all my time we have never met,” Vasile bowed in return.
“We have kept to ourselves for far too long, and for that I am sorry. I have come to hopefully right some of that wrong.”
Vasile reached for the Elf Prince’s hand and grasped it tightly. “We welcome you, friend of the pack.” He looked at Cypher and Lilly and added. “We welcome all of you.”
The rest of the meeting was spent with Cypher telling them of everything they had been through since Mona showed up in his forest with her proposition. Several times Vasile had needed to remind the group of dominants to pull themselves together, when they growled at something Cypher said and they disliked. But, by then end, everyone seemed to be on the same page.
Vasile addressed the room a last time before dismissing everyone.