Chapter 2
As his limo pulled up to the house where Fane would be staying he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. Not necessarily in a bad way, he just felt unsettled, restless, and tense.
Well, it could be because he was more than a thousand miles away from home, he knew absolutely no one, it was his senior year in high school, and he was going to be spending it in a country he had never been to before. “Yes I imagine that might make a person tense,” Fane said to himself. He looked at the house and noticed it was quite large; two stories with a wrap-around porch. It actually looked like a house you might see out in the country not in a suburb. The yard was nicely manicured with short green grass. There was a tall, full tree to the right of the walk way with a bench underneath. On the porch there were two rocking chairs and a porch swing, a little table in between the rocking chairs had a potted plant with one of those water globes sticking out of it. Overall it was a charming home, a home in which a person would feel comfortable; a normal home.
Fane hoped this was the case because normal was not usually in his vocabulary. He was, after all, from a family of werewolves, specifically a Grey wolf (Canis lupus), not only that, but he just happen to be the son of the current Alpha. Wait it gets worse, his name, Fane Lupei, literally meant “Crown Wolf” how fitting for the prince of the Romanian Greys. What could possibly be normal about your family being able to change into wolves, or being a prince of wolves as well? Nothing in that scenario could ever be normal.
“You made this choice,” Fane told himself, “now you have to live with it so get out of the car.”
Fane wasn’t really sure why he even decided to apply to the foreign exchange program; he just knew he felt a pull, like a moth to a flame, to come to the United States and not to just any city but to Coldspring, Texas. Why he thought it was a good idea to leave his home in Romania, which has largest numbers of Greys in the world, he didn’t know. There are other places that Canis Lupus hold as territories like Ireland, the Balkans and Poland, even Italy and Spain have some Grey wolves. One would think that a Grey would go to another territory where Grey’s were, but the problem is wolves are extremely territorial and unless a wolf wanted a fight, especially a male wolf, you didn’t wander into another’s territory. Fortunately there weren’t any Canis lupus in the small town of Coldspring, Texas so Fane was free to come and claim his own territory, which was completely in his nature to do.
Ok no more stalling Fane thought. He looked up at Sorin his driver and friend, and said, “I guess this is it, mulţumesc (thank you) my friend for coming all this way to drop me off, I appreciate it.”
“Think nothing of it my prince; it is always an honor to serve you.”
“Oh, come now don’t go getting all formal on me. Here in Coldspring I’m just a high school student, not a prince,” Fane said.
Fane knew this was hard for his friend, though Sorin’s title was actually “Guard to the Prince” and had been since Fane was a child. Sorin had actually wanted to stay in the U.S. with Fane, but Fane insisted Sorin go home and let him be on his own for a while. There were no other Greys in this area so it wasn’t likely that he was going to get in a territory battle.
Sorin got out of the car to open Fane’s door but Fane was unfolding his tall form before Sorin could even get around the front of the car. Fane stood six foot two inches tall which was a good five inches taller than Sorin, so once out of the car he had to look just a little lower to meet his long-time friend in the eye. Sorin bowed only slightly, a show of respect and love for the prince and then broke formality and hugged him. Wolves take great comfort in touch; it is as much in their nature as breathing and even in human form they tend to touch more than humans. Fane patted Sorin on the back and stepped away.
Out of nowhere Fane caught a passing thought in his mind that caused his wolf to perk up, “He must be more than just his driver.Now isn’t this strange, a foreign exchange student arriving in a limo?”
Fane turned his head to look toward the thought’s origination and locked eyes with a girl in a window of the two story house across the street.
Since the belief by humans that men “change” into werewolves is false, Fane is able to do what the Canis Lupus call phasing. The wolf and the man are one, there is no changing from one to the other, a change would mean that once a man is in wolf form he is no longer a man but fully wolf and when in human form he is fully human. This is not the case, a Canis Lupus is always aware of his wolf as is the wolf always aware of the man, they exist together usually harmoniously. When Fane is in his wolf form he can still think and reason as if he was in his human form. When he is in his human form he can call on his wolf to phase only the parts he needs to use instead of phasing his entire being.
He phased just enough to let his wolf eyes do the looking. Although the Grey wolf’s eyesight isn’t as good as its hearing, his night vision was the best of all the breeds of wolves. He found himself looking into deep green 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, their mate. His wolf growled possessively, and it 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 to not phase into his wolf and go pining at her window like a love sick pup. He couldn’t get her scent so her window must have been closed. A wolf’s mate also carries 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. Confirming even more 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, meaning she had power that other female Greys did not.
Fane turned, ignoring his wolf instincts to go to her, and walked up to the house 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 is what they were called in the exchange program. This was the first time he had ever seen them and was surprised to see how young they were. They both looked to be in their early thirties. Mr. Henry was a little shorter than Fane with 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; she had a short, cute nose and rose-colored cheeks.
“Welcome to our home Fane.” Mrs. Henry said reaching out to hug Fane at the same time.
Fane was a little surprised since he knew Americans to be stand-offish when it came to touching. Once again he found comfort in that 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 so why don’t we show you your room and let you get settled for the night. If you are hungry, I can show you the kitchen and you are welcome to help yourself to anything you find. We can visit more tomorrow and get better acquainted once you have rested,” Mrs. Henry stated.
Fane followed them both upstairs where they turned right at the top of the stair way, the
y went down a long hall passing several doors. “We will 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 his mate, who he could possibly have had to wait an eternity for, was just across the street.
Finally at the end of the hall, 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 would like. So, we will leave you to it, sleep tight.”
“Mulţumesc,” he stated formally in his native tongue. The Henry’s 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, again 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 wall had a mural on it of a winter forest; in the distance there was a wolf on a snowy hill, his head tilted to the sky posed 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 bath tub. There was a long marble counter top with a deep bowl-style sink. The mirror that hung above the sink was antique-looking with a large curved pewter frame. The floor was stone tiles, and the light fixtures on the wall were old world style lanterns. The hanging light fixture was 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 his territory, 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 as he began to fall asleep was of emerald eyes; he couldn’t see the color of her hair because he had never gotten past her eyes; the shock of whom and what she was had distracted him enough that he didn’t look her over. Still, those emerald eyes led him to sleep.