As Dillon stood very still in the open door, Jen glared at Sally. "Did you have to point out to him that his daughter was making out with a boy, alone, in a bed, alone?" she muttered.
"Jen," Decebel grumbled.
Jen continued as if she hadn't heard. "I mean, geeze, Sally, why not suggest he go give them a condom just to, ya know, be on the safe side and while he was at it he could take a banana and demonstrate how to put it on, and-"
"JENNIFER!" Decebel finally snarled.
Sally and Jen both jumped and turned to look at him and they heard the guest room door clang shut. "What?" Jen growled right back.
"I think he was just trying to say that we all got the point, Jen," Alina said gently.
"Oh," Jen said taken aback. "Well, why didn't you just say so? You didn't have to snarl at me," she huffed.
"I didn't snarl at you." Decebel's voice was low and tight.
"Yes. You. Did," Jen argued.
"I have to agree Dec, there was definite snarlige going on," Sally said, nodding her head.
"Okay," Decebel said calmly. "I'm sorry I snarled at you," he told her.
"My name."
Decebel cocked his head and looked at her quizzically. "What?"
"My name," she told him. "If you are going to apologize to me, than you need to say my name." The look on Jen's face was completely wicked.
Decebel clenched his jaw. His eyes were beginning to glow gold, but he managed to say politely, "I'm sorry, Jennifer, for snarling at you."
Jen grinned and held up the phone she had been holding. "That's going to be my new ring tone, the big bad wolf apologizing to widdle ole' me." She batted her eyes innocently.
Sally was coughing back a laugh, at the same time hoping that Jen had not just prodded a sleeping lion.
Decebel didn't say anything as he rose. He walked towards Jen who had the good sense not to run from a predator, although her eyes did get a little wider. He stopped just beside her and leaned down so that his mouth was next to her ear. "A banana, Jen, really?" He whispered and then was walking away.
The door was nearly closed by the time her brain started functioning again. "Oh, Come On! It was all I had!" She yelled, knowing his wolf hearing would pick it up.
Alina and Vasile had sat quietly through the exchange. "Have I ever told you how glad I am that we don't have a daughter?" Vasile asked her under his breath.
Aline slapped his leg. "Hush, did you just see what I saw?"
"Yes," Vasile answered sounding very tired. "I saw it. I haven't decided what to do about it."
Alina looked at him dubiously. "Do about it? Alpha, you're going to leave it be and let fate take its course."
"Mina," Vasile started to argue, but Alina was already turning her attention back to Jen and Sally. Obstinate woman, he thought to himself.
"I will be home in a few days, Tanya," Dillon was telling his mate over the phone. She had called his cell phone several times and sent him text messages as well, all of which he had not responded to. To say the least she was ticked off.
"Why can't you tell me what you are doing? And don't tell me its pack crap, you always tell me what's going on between the packs." He could almost see her snarling at him as she spoke.
"It's not something to discuss over the phone, you are just going to have to trust me." Dillon was losing his patience.
"Dillon, just tell me."
"Enough!" Dillon growled.
Silence came across the phone, all he could hear was her breathing. "Tanya, I'm sorry love, I didn't mean to yell at you. I’m just a little stressed at the moment, will you please trust me? It wasn't right of me to leave without talking to you first, but what's done is done."
She didn't respond right away and Dillon was beginning to think she just might have hung up on him.
"I trust you, but you won't do this to me again, Mate. I am your Luna and deserve more than that." Her voice was calm and unwavering; she once again showed why she was his Alpha female. She was deceivingly small and quiet, but when Tanya needed to be Alpha she had no problem delivering.
"You are right, Luna. I won't let it happen again. I love you," Dillon told her just before he hung up.
He stood in his hotel room, nursing the scotch he had poured himself. He had called Logan and told him to pull the wolves back for now, that they would regroup in the morning. Logan insisted on staying at the hospital just to keep an eye on the Romanian pack. Dillon told him to make sure he stayed out of sight and didn't cause any problems. Dillon had underestimated Fane's reaction to his announcement that he would be taking Jacque home with him. He had no doubt what Vasile said was true, Fane would kill anyone or anything that kept him from his mate. Which is the way it should be, right? He would move heaven and earth for Tanya, the only reason he hadn't told her about Jacque was because he knew it was going to be one more reminder that she was not able to conceive. He didn't want his mate to hurt, to feel inadequate that she had not been able to bare him any pups. Dillon didn't care, he was perfectly happy with their life, or was, until he found out about Jacquelyn.
In truth he was once again being a coward, just like when he walked out on Lilly without a word. And now he had left without a word to his mate about a child he didn't know he'd had because he was afraid she wouldn’t want him to have a relationship with Jacque. He had a lot of groveling to do when he got back. First he had to set things straight with Jacque and Fane. He didn't want to lose her, but forcing her to come with him wasn't going to make her stay, he realized now, it would only drive her further away. He would tell her tomorrow that he had been wrong, and weren't those the hardest words for any Alpha to choke up. It seemed like those were the only words Dillon needed to say to the women he cared about.
Logan stood in the parking lot of the hospital. He had been watching and listening to any information he could get about what Vasile or Fane's plans were regarding Jacque. They didn't suspect anything of Dillon or his pack, even after Sorin, Fane's apparent childhood bodyguard, had found the mechanism he had placed on Lilly's vehicle. Vasile had decided it must have been the Coldspring pack retaliating, and sent two of his other wolves out to meet with their new Alpha. Of course, the new Alpha had no clue of the mutiny taking place in his own pack, so Logan was safe on that end. His next move was going to be to call Dr. Steele as plan B was going to have to be executed. Fane would not be leaving Jacque tonight, so they would just have to get Jacque to leave Fane. He pulled out his phone and mashed the number two where he had put the doctor on speed dial.
"Dr. Steele," she answered.
"You're going to have to get Jacque by telling them about her friend's blood. Fane is staying," Logan told her.
"Ok," she paused. "It's 5:30 p.m. now, so, give me a couple of hours. I will have to wait until one of the labs is clear. Once I have her in the lab and under sedation you can come help me put her on the gurney to wheel her out. I will have to get you some hospital scrubs to put on so you don't look suspicious pushing what appears to be a dead body through the hospital."
"I will wait for your call." Logan didn't wait for her response, he simply hung up.
Taking a deep breath, he turned his face up towards the setting sun, feeling the heat even this late in the day. He hated the heat, it depressed him, even his wolf. He would be glad to get back to his mountains in Denver. An iniquitous smile stretched across his face, his wolf eyes glowing. He wouldn't be returning to his mountains alone. That thought perked him and his wolf right up.
Chapter 18
After Decebel had left the waiting area, Jen and Sally had decided to find a deck of cards and chillax, as Jen liked to say.
"So, do you think Fane and Jacque have…" Sally let the word draw out in a question.
"Have what?" Jen asked as she looked at her cards. "Do you have a two of hearts?"
"Go fish," Sally said absently. "Have, ya know, done it." Sally whispered, leaning across the table.
Jen was looking at her cards with such concentration it was almo
st as if she were willing the one she needed to appear in her hand. "Done it? What, you mean has he bitten her? Three of spades?" she added.
"Go fish. No, Jen, that is not the 'it' people refer to when they are talking about 'it'." Sally was making quotations signs with her fingers as she spoke, which effectively gave Jen a look at her cards.
"Six of clubs, excellent. Give it up, I saw it," Jen told her, holding her hand out, making a 'give me; gesture.
"It's not even your turn, you cheat. Now listen to me," Sally tried again
"Sally, good grief. How you and Jacque have stayed so pure with me as your best friend I'll never know. Sex, say it with me. S-e-x," Jen said, sounding it out letter by letter.
"Shhh! Don't say it so loud." Sally looked around to see if anybody had heard.
"Why? It's not like people don't know what it is, or don't know that everyone is doing it. Now give me your six of clubs, hussy."
"Fine, here," Sally growled, slamming the card on the table.
"Touchy, touchy," Jen muttered as she placed her own six of clubs on top of the one Sally had laid down.
"The answer's no," Jen said absently.
"No what?" Sally asked and then added, "Jack of diamonds."
"Damn," Jen mumbled and handed Sally the card she had requested.
"No, I don't think they have done the deed."
"Why not?" Sally asked, surprised.
"One," Jen said, leaning back in her chair, tilting her head to the side as she looked at Sally. "Jacque won't until she's married."
"Yeah, but it's Fane. I mean look at him. You're telling me if you got that alone you wouldn't throw those ideas out the window?" Sally interrupted.
"Do you really want to talk about what I would do if I got that," Jen nodded her head toward the direction of the hospital room where they knew Fane and Jacque were, "alone?"
Sally shook her head and waved her hands. "Point taken. Okay, move along, what was number two?"
"Two, Fane is too chivalrous with all that, 'I respect your choice to wait' crap. He could seduce her if he wanted. Jacque would fold like a bad hand of Texas hold 'em. And three, we'd know if they had." Jen began to look at her cards again as if she had just cleared up the mysteries of the world.
"What do you mean we would know?" Sally asked her, laying her cards down. Jen lifted her eyes to Sally and slowly reached across the table and picked up her cards. She picked out the ones that matched hers then laid them back down."I don't have anything you need, so go fish."
"Jen, I'm serious. How would we know? I don't think Jacque would tell us, she's too embarrassed about that kind of stuff. She never told us about what she and Trent did."
"Trent was not Fane," Jen began. "We would know because it would be written all over her. She would have the morning after glow, the little grin on her face of knowing that her innocence is gone and she lost it to a freaking Greek god."
"Huh," Sally said thoughtfully. "I've never seen that look on you before." She looked at Jen questionably.
"Of course you haven't, I'm a virgin. That and no Greek gods have offered themselves to me lately, but I haven't lost faith." Jen threw that out there like it was no big surprise.
Sally's jaw dropped. "You’re a WHAT?" Sally's words came out just as Decebel walked up.
"Yes, Jen, you’re a what, exactly?" He asked her, voice serious as ever, eyebrow raised.
Jen glared at Sally. "One word, Sally,"
Sally held her hands up in surrender. "Oh, believe me, I have not forgotten what you will do if I say a word when I'm not supposed to. I knew I should have gotten rid of those damn dolls," she grumbled.
"Hi Decebel," Jen said, grinning innocently and acting as if she had just noticed his appearance.
Decebel narrowed his eyes at her, then his face wiped clean like a cloth running across a dry erase board. "Vasile and Alina wanted me to invite you both to come eat with everyone in the hospital cafeteria."
Jen tossed down her cards. "I could eat. What about you, Sally?"
Sally was still staring at Jen with shock-filled eyes. "You, you, Yoooouuu," Sally kept saying to Jen, with different inflections in her voice.
"Sally, let's move past this and get on to more important things, okay?" Jen took her IV pole in one hand and Sally by the other hand and began pulling a reluctant Sally away with Decebel to follow.
"What could be more important than the fact that you're a mmrrm." Jen had slapped her hand across Sally's mouth. She was trying to keep from losing her balance and knocking her IV over and she looked back at Decebel, who was watching in curiosity.
"You will have to excuse us for a sec, Dec, she swallowed her tongue. I'm just going to help her cough it up. We can meet you down there," Jen said sweetly while she continued to keep Sally's mouth covered.
"Okay then." Decebel sounded unsure as he walked past the two girls. He looked back at them one more time before turning and walking away muttering in Romanian.
"What is wrong with you?" Sally sputtered when Jen finally uncovered her mouth.
"I have a reputation to maintain. You can't just go flapping at the lips that I'm as pure as you and Jacque," Jen said, hands on her hips, lips set in a tight line.
"Oh, believe me, Jen, no one would ever confuse you with being pure, virginity be damned," Sally shot back at her sarcastically. "Out of curiosity, does Jacque know?"
"No and she doesn't need to know. What's the big freaking deal, Sally? So I'm not as experienced as I let on. What does it even matter?" Jen was getting irritated at her friend's curiosity in her sex life, or lack thereof.
"It's not really that it's a big deal as much as it's just, kind of disappointing," Sally said, sounding deflated.
Jen looked at her through half-hooded eyes. "Okay, so what I'm hearing you say," Jen started then paused, shaking her head in disbelief."You're disappointed that I'm a virgin? Did I misunderstand you? Is my hearing going bad or are you just a dumbass?"
"Okay, let me esplain it like this, Lucy."
"By all means, Ricky, esplain away," Jen responded dryly.
"So, you know how when you are a kid and you see Disney World on T.V.?" Jen nodded her understanding as Sally continued. "It's so amazing and bigger than life, they show you the fireworks above the big beautiful castle that every little girl dreams of living in, and you think 'wow, I want to go there'."
"Are you seriously comparing me to an amusement park?"
Sally shushed her. "Wait for it."
Jen motioned for Sally to get on with it.
"Finally your day comes and your parents take you to Disney World. You're going to see the beautiful castle you've seen so many times on T.V. Only when you get there and walk up to the big castle, you realize it's just a big castle-shaped building with a hole going through the middle where people are walking in and out." She blew out a deflating breath. "Even though it was still a pretty awesome place, it was a little disappointing that the castle wound up being a fake."
Jen just stood there staring at Sally. She didn't really know what to say, she was truly baffled by the fact that this news was having such a detrimental effect on her best friend. "Sally, you do realize that you just compared the news of my virginity to an amusement park castle right? Just want to be clear on that."
Sally nodded, biting on her bottom lip. "Yeah, now that you put it like that it's really kind of disturbing," she said, closing her eyes and shaking her head. "I guess I was just expecting you to be the one to tell me what it was like, ya know? Kind of like how you were the first one of us to shave your legs, and try tampons, and wax your bikini line," Sally said wistfully.
"Well, the night's still young my sweet, innocent flower. Who knows what could happen between now and tomorrow morning?" Jen laughed at Sally's dubious look.
"Come on, Virginia, let's go get something to eat." Sally darted out of Jen's reach, knowing she was going to try and hit her at the sound of her new nickname.
"Sally," Jen growled out a warning, unable to move quickly
due to the annoying IV.
"Did you say something. Virginia?" Sally continued to tease. darting here and there to stay out of Jen's slapping hands.
Fane and Jacque looked up from the table when they heard Sally's singing all through the cafeteria. She was belting out at the top of her lungs Train's "Meet Virginia". A very pissed off looking Jen was dragging her IV pole as quickly as she could without falling, trying to catch up to her quarry. By the time Sally had reached the table, she had tears streaming down her face from laughing so hard. She leaned over the table, panting, finishing her serenade. "Her confidence is tragic, but her intuition magic, and the shape of her body, unusual, meet Virginia!" Sally ended dramatically, arms in the air like Vanna White indicating where Jen now stood. Much to Jen's chagrin the entire cafeteria broke into applause.
Jen pasted on her most dazzling smile and waved at everyone adoringly, but to Sally she muttered under her breath, "This is war."
Sally bowed to her audience and then to the table where all friends sat clapping as well. Decebel stood up and walked over to Jen. It was obvious he was trying not to laugh, and Jen was disappointed because she really wanted to know what he looked like when he was cracking up, but it was at her expense so she could stand the disappointment.
"Why don't I help you to your seat?"
Jen grabbed Sally's hand. "That would be nice, thank you, Decebel." She drug Sally behind her as she followed Decebel to the seats he indicated. As he was pushing Jen's chair in behind her while she sat down, Decebel leaned forward and whispered in her ear. Jen's body went rigid. Sally looked at them curiously, then looked at Jacque to see if she was seeing this. Jacque shrugged her shoulders in an 'I have no clue what's up' manner. Sally watched as Jen tilted her head up to look at Decebel. She batted her eyes sweetly and smiled a very sensual smile. Sally noticed Decebel's eyes begin to glow. "Hey, Fane," Jen raised her voice about the noise in the room.
"Yes, Jen?"
"Didn't you say something about your kind healing fast?" She asked him, never taking her eyes off of Decebel. It was then that Sally noticef Jen had placed her hand around Decebel's wrist of the hand that he was propping himself up on the table with. It looked like a flirtatious gesture unless you were seeing it from Sally's view and could see that Jen's other hand was wrapped around the butter knife next to her plate.