Jen knew in her heart that she wanted to marry Decebel. It was the logical next step, seeing as how he had just branded her name on his body and they would be exchanging blood in a short while. But, bloody hell, the barbarian could have asked! Without thinking, Jen stomped on Decebel's foot as hard as she could and though it probably more startled him than hurt, he snarled at her and reached to pull her to him. She wanted to kick him in the shin, but she didn't have her shoes on and it would hurt her more than him. So when his hand came down on her shoulder she turned her head and bit down as hard as she could.
Decebel pulled his hand back and snarled again.
"What the -" Decebel stopped himself just barely before he cursed at his mate. His eyes were glowing and he swore that Jen's blue eyes were lit up with their own faint glow.
"Jennifer, why did you strike out against your mate?" Decebel's voice was deceptively calm.
Jen crossed her arms over her chest and glared.
Decebel decided that if looks could beat the crap out of someone, hers would be doing it at this very moment.
"I can't believe you even have to ask. You just told me – TOLD ME – that I was going to marry you!" Jen threw her hands up. "Are you KIDDING ME, DECEBEL? SERIOUSLY?"
"Don't you want to marry me?" Decebel asked, truly at a loss as to why she was angry.
Just then a snicker from across the room made its way to him and his head whipped around to stare down the culprit.
"Quit glaring at my friends, you flea bag, and pay attention to the woman you just ordered to marry you. Of course I want to marry you."
"Then what's the problem? Let's get married. Now." Decebel started to pull her back in front of Vasile, but she jerked her arm back.
He growled again, stopping short when he saw her sway.
"Jennifer, please sit down. I don't want you to hurt yourself." This time his words were so gentle they virtually caressed her skin.
Jen smiled to herself. Screw it. I'm going to play the pity card, she thought and she purposely tried to look weaker than she really felt.
"Decebel."
"Yes, baby, what is it?"
Jen had to bite her tongue to keep from giggling at his sudden change in demeanor.
"Please kneel down so I don't have to strain my neck to look up at you."
Decebel was on his knees in front of her in a flash. Jen put her hand over her face to cover the laugh that was in her throat and tried to play it off as a stifled sob.
"Jennifer, baby, please. What can I do?" Decebel hated seeing her in pain and she knew it. So maybe she was going to hell for playing him, but she refused to marry him without being asked.
Finally composed, she dug down deep for the most pitiful voice she could find and because she had tears from the laughter that were so close to erupting, she even had them sliding down her now sad-looking face.
"Ask me." Her voice shook.
"Ask you what, baby?" Decebel moved forward close enough that he could cup her face. "Tell me what and I will ask."
Jen bit her lip, grasping composure again, and opened her eyes. A big grin stretched across her now-bright face. "Ask me to marry you, you big oaf."
It was Decebel's turn to drop his mouth open. He stared at his mate with part irritation and part awe. She had played him like the most skilled musician.
Jen waited for his reaction. Despite her acting, she really was beginning to fade. Finally he laughed at her audacity and ability to keep him on his toes. He looked deep into her eyes and pulled her body flush against his. He heard her pulse pick up and loved the effect he had on her – the effect she had on him. Slowly he leaned forward until his lips were touching hers. He blew a breath across her mouth and nipped her bottom lip. Jen was trembling and he knew she was fighting a moan.
"Jennifer, my love," he whispered.
She squeaked out a, "Mm-hmm?"
"I want you." He repeated the words he had professed to her that night in the garden, the night he'd first claimed her. "I love you. Please be my wife, please accept me in every way, my mate."
Jennifer's breathing had become shallow and she couldn't respond. She was surrounded by his scent, his touch, his breath. Decebel motioned for Vasile to get on with it while his mate was in a temporary stupor, drunk on his desire for her.
Vasile recited all the wedding vows and Decebel said "I do" at the appropriate moment. When it was Jennifer's turn, he looked into her eyes – he saw her acceptance and waited for her to verbally confirm it.
Jen could no more deny him than she could cut off her own hand. And, to be fair, he had asked.
"I do," she answered breathlessly.
Decebel wrapped his arms around her and was kissing her before Vasile even got his final words out. The kiss started out fierce and desperate, his lips conveying the fear of her rejection. When he felt her hold on him weaken, he softened the kiss until he finally pulled away. He looked at his mate, his wife – she was beautiful. She smiled at him as she pulled back from his embrace.
Suddenly Jacque and Sally were by her side, hugging her and laughing.
"You deserve a freaking Oscar for that performance. I mean, I'm tempted to kiss your feet in awe." Jacque was grinning at Jen as she held out her fist for a fist-bump. This one even called for the hand explosion after the bump complete with sound effects.
Decebel looked from girl to girl, shaking his head. "You three are so odd."
Jen grinned at him and started to say something, but all she got out before she began to crumple was his name. And it was a plea so desperate that he moved quicker than he ever had. Her body landed in his arms before she could connect with the floor. Decebel looked down to her face, then her chest. There was no rise and fall.
"She's not breathing." He hurried in the direction of her room, his words a boom behind him. "Healer, with me!"
Chapter 21
"Quickly, Decebel," Sally was saying as she laid her hands on Jen's chest. She didn't know what to do for her friend. There was no blood in her lungs this time. It was like her body was giving up. Decebel tore into his wrist, not caring about the pain. He waited to place it over Jennifer's mouth until Sally had given her two breaths of air. Sally began chest compressions while Decebel placed his wrist over her mouth and rubbed her throat, trying to get her to swallow.
Jacque looked on as Sally and Decebel worked on the broken body of her best friend. Tears filled her eyes and Fane's strong arms wrap around her.
"This isn't supposed to happen, Fane. She can't die. She just can't." Jacque turned into Fane and buried her face in his shirt. She was getting nauseated listening to Sally press on Jen's chest, waiting to see if Jen would breath on her own. Minutes ticked by, and still Jen lay lifeless.
Sally stopped her chest compressions and raised her head to look at Jacque. Her eyes swelled with tears and the sound that came from her tore at every heart in the room.
"I can't save her." Sally's voice started out more outraged than in pain until the truth sank in. Jen was gone, and there was nothing Sally could do. Her body shaking with rage as she stood up. "What the hell good am I if I can't SAVE MY BEST FRIEND!" She was quickly losing it.
Jacque started to go to her, but Fane held her back. Costin rushed around them and took Sally in his arms. She fought him at first, hitting his chest, denying his comfort.
"Sally mine, let it out. Scream, kick me, hit me. Do whatever you need to. I've got you and I'm not letting go."
Sally sagged against him, weeping, shaking, and utterly broken. Costin picked her up and carried her out of the room. She needed to pull herself together and he knew she couldn't do that with everyone staring at her.
Fane turned to his father as he watched realization fall over Decebel.
"He's not going to be safe."
Vasile nodded. "Get the females upstairs. The males stay here. It will take all of us if we have to take him down."
Decebel brushed Jennifer's hair from her face. His blood was on her lips, yet he kissed her anyway. S
he was so still – so very, very still. The healer had stopped the compressions but Decebel refused to give up. He gave her two breaths and resumed pumping her heart. She couldn't die. She would not die. He would not survive without her, and the world would not be able to handle the wrath that Decebel would reign down on it. Jennifer was the only good thing left in him.
He felt arms pulling him back and voices telling him to let go.
Let go? Are they crazy? He would never let her go. She was his. She was bonded to him, married to him. The demons from hell would have to devour him before he ever let her go.
He growled and snarled. An arm came into view and Decebel snapped at it with his huge teeth. They all jumped back, as well they should. He would kill the first one who attempted to take her from him.
When he looked down at her again, willing her to breathe, and her heart to beat, it hit him like a hundred ton truck. She was gone. No light shone in her face, no sassy smiles or cutting glares. The woman who only moments ago he had kissed, had teased, had claimed, was gone.
He picked her body up and moved toward the bed, laying her down reverently.
"Get out. All of you. If you value your lives you will get out of this room. Now." Decebel didn't raise his voice. He didn't have to. Death was in his eyes and hell would follow.
He paid no attention as, one by one, they left. The last was his Alpha, who paused at the door. Decebel didn't acknowledge the action but continued to look at his mate. His broken, dead mate.
He fell to his knees with a huge crash. He buried his face in her stomach, absorbing as much of her scent as he could. He dreaded the moment he would begin to feel the heat leave her body. He remembered what it was like when he held Cosmina, her body cold and stiff. This was nothing like that. This felt like someone was ripping him apart. His heart fought to beat, his breath was short, and he struggled for each one. Maybe he was dying. Maybe he could follow her to the other side. He wanted no life here without her – he would welcome death as a lover, embracing her cold darkness. But death didn't come.
Decebel stayed there on his knees, his face on his mate. One hand brushing her hair, the other holding her hand. He couldn't bring himself to move. If he moved, then it was real. If he moved, they might take her body from him and then he would have nothing left of her. So he wouldn't move, he would stay here and hold her until the world returned to the dust it once was. He knew it wasn't rational, but he no longer cared what rational was. In fact, he was so far gone that he decided if she was going to the other side, she would go bearing his mark.
Decebel eased up closer to her face. He pushed her hair gently from her neck and pulled her dress down slightly, revealing her shoulder and neck. He kissed her softly on the spot he would soon mar.
"I love you, baby. I will be with you soon. Very, very soon." Decebel leaned in and, without hesitation, sunk his teeth into her flesh. Her blood was still warm, but only just. She tasted better than he could have ever imagined – she was made for him, her blood was perfect for him. He pulled back and licked her wound, then he brushed a kiss across her lips and laid his head back down on her stomach.
"There now, love. Now it is done. You will bear my mark for eternity." Tears slid down Decebel's face as he finally wept for his loss. He shook with the knowledge that he would never see her smile again, never feel her kiss, never hear her sarcastic words or her whispered declarations of love. He would never know her as a wolf knows his mate, or as a man knows his wife. He would never have the opportunity to, as she put it, make babies with her. He wept and wept for all the things he was losing, not just her, but the life he was supposed to have with her.
The first thing Jen noticed was how good she felt. It seemed like she'd been in such pain earlier – had it been a dream?
Opening her eyes, she knew immediately she was not in her room or the house beyond the veil. Slowly, she stood and looked around.
"We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto," she muttered into the emptiness.
There was no color, no darkness. Just light, a whiteness all around her. It was silent and, if she were honest, really creepy. This was definitely not a dream. It all felt too real.
"Hello?" She didn't yell, but spoke firmly and loud enough for someone not standing in her vicinity to hear.
She waited.
"Okay, you brought me here. The least you can do is show a girl around."
Nothing.
"At least tell me if I'm dead or not."
"That is the question, isn't it?"
Jen swung around in the direction of the voice and saw, to her shock and confusion, Perizada.
"What are you doing here?"
"I've come to interfere where I should not. But then, obeying was never my strong suit."
Jen snorted. "A woman after my own heart." She paused and glanced around. "So am I dead?"
"Technically, yes. But also no."
"Wow, you are very forthcoming," Jen said sarcastically.
"You are supposed to die. But I have seen what happens with your absence in their lives. It is not pretty. So I'm defying the fates. I think they've got this one wrong."
"You know, I said that very thing about God giving me blonde hair. You would think these guys would get it right, being professionals and all."
Peri smiled at Jen's spunk and appreciated that she wasn't groveling or freaking out. So many humans resorted to freaking out when they didn't understand things.
"So how do I get back?"
Peri raised a single eyebrow at her. "You are not worried about defying the fates?"
Jen shook her head, rubbing her face with her hand. "I just bonded with my mate and married the man I love. I didn't even make it from the altar to our bedroom. I mean seriously, woman, have you seen his body? Well, I'm sorry, but I've waited too long and been way too good to not get a piece of that. So you will excuse me if I'm not shaking in my dead body about defying the fates. I want to go back; I need to go back. They need me. You've seen that ragtag bunch. Who the hell will keep them all in line if I'm not there?"
Peri was chuckling by the time Jen finished her rant. "Oh my, you are going to be fun to have around, Jennifer, mate of Decebel. Well, I think your mate has suffered long enough. He hasn't killed anyone yet, but the time is drawing near when they will attempt to take your body. Someone will die if we don't get you back into it."
"Well, a little less talking, my fairy friend, and a little more action."
Peri walked up to Jen and put her hands on either side of her face. She was speaking a language that Jen didn’t know. Suddenly Jen felt like her body was being eviscerated and then she was falling. She tried to scream, but no noise would come out.
Then she stopped. She felt warmth envelope her and air fill her lungs. Her eyes flew open and she gasped as she sat up, knocking something hard from her lap. She looked down into the completely shocked eyes of her mate.
Chapter 22
"Decebel?" Jennifer's voice was hoarse, like it hadn't been used in a while.
Decebel thought he might be hallucinating, but then remembered that he didn't care. He had thrown rationality out the door.
"Jennifer." Decebel opened his arms to reach for her, but before he could get there she flung herself into them. She pulled him so tight against her.
"Are you -" He tried to pull back so he could look at her. "Are you real?"
Jen snorted a laugh. "Do you want me to show you how real I am, big guy?"
Decebel smiled and stroked her face. "You are, aren't you? But -" He stumbled over his words as he stared at the woman he thought he had lost for good. "You came back to me."
"Nothing could keep me from you, Decebel. Not even death."
He took her face in his hands and kissed her deeply, then he picked her up and sat her in his lap, lowering himself onto the bed. When he finally pulled back all he could do was stare at her, stroke her cheek, her hair. He leaned his head around to her side where the dress she still wore revealed her markings. They were there, unchanged.
Decebel ran his fingers across them and pulled her tight. "Mine," he whispered in her ear.
"Always." She kissed him on the nose and giggled when he returned the gesture.
"I can't believe you're alive." And over and over as he kissed any part he could reach or touch, he whispered, "I love you. You're mine. I'm never letting you go."
Jen let him hold her and do the things he needed to reassure himself that she really was here, in his lap, breathing. She could imagine what it must have been like for him to watch her die and then to realize he had lost his mate, his other half.
Finally when he seemed to have calmed down and gathered himself, she stroked his face as she looked at him.
"Shouldn't we go tell the others that I'm not dead?"
Decebel nuzzled her neck and kissed the spot where he had bitten her. "I'm not ready to share you just yet." He kissed her neck again and Jen flinched.
"Why does that hurt?"
Decebel actually looked guilty. "I kind of bit you."
Jen narrowed her eyes. "'Kind of' bit me? How do you 'kind of' bite someone, fur ball?"
"I didn't want you to go to the other side not bearing my mark. And I wanted to taste you." he confessed reluctantly. "You're my mate, my wife. I couldn't let you go without having a part of you in me. At least for the little time I was going to be here. I planned to follow you within a matter of days."
Jen gasped. "What? What are you talking about?"
"I won't live without you. I can't. I'm dangerous without you. I would have killed anyone, Jennifer, ANYONE – Jacque, Sally, Vasile – if they had tried to take your body from me. Do not look at me with anger, love. I would be protecting the world from my wrath."
Jen could see that Decebel was really hurting by her reaction. She didn't want to be the cause for anymore of his pain.
"I'm sorry, baby, I didn't realize." Jen ran her fingers through his hair and pressed her cheek to his. "I won't live without you either. I do not hold it against you."