“You so did not just say that. I mean, good freaking grief man, is that all you wolves talk about?” Jacque asked, obviously annoyed.
Lucas looked a little confused and then caught on. “Are all human females this silly?” he asked her.
“I am not silly,” Jacque said indignantly. Then his eyes wandered down to the front of her shirt and she realized he'd noticed the vampire depicted there. She smiled and turned around to show him the back. Without thinking about it, she pulled her hair up so he could read the words.
At first she simply heard him smirk, but then she heard a deep, feral growl.
Jacque dropped her hair back down and turned around slowly. Lucas’ eyes were glowing and his teeth had grown quite long. His breathing was fast and she could tell he was struggling to keep his wolf under control.
“He wasn’t lying when he said he could prove you were his mate,” Lucas said, his words a little difficult to understand because of the length of his teeth.
Jacque’s eyes got big as she realized he had seen her marks. Just then she heard a ferocious snarl and realized that Fane had caught that last thought.
“I’m sorry, Fane. I was just showing him the back of my shirt and I forgot my marks,” Jacque told him quickly.
“Pay attention to Lucas, Jacquelyn. Look at him and let me see his face,” Fane instructed her.
Jacque pictured Lucas in her mind just as she was seeing him.
“Jacque, you must be careful. He is not in control of his wolf.”
“Yeah, ya think?” Jacque accidentally said aloud.
Lucas snarled and his eyes narrowed. “Are you able to speak through each other’s thoughts? Are you speaking to him now?” he asked her.
“Umm, maybe and not your business,” she answered.
Lucas lunged at her, grabbing her by the arms. Jacque slammed the wall down in her mind so Fane could not see what Lucas was doing. She knew he would come to her house and raise all kinds of hell, and quite possibly try to kill Lucas.
“Do not play games with me. I am Alpha and you will answer me truthfully, mate,” he growled in her face.
Jacque jerked her arms free and stepped back from him.
“Listen carefully, Lucas Steele, because I will only say this once. I am NOT your mate, I will never be your mate, and if you ever put your hands on me again I will cut them off along with other body parts you might want to use one day. Got it?” Jacque told him with as much force as she could put behind her words.
“That’s a shame, too, because you’re kind of cute. But it happens to the best of them,” Jen said as she sauntered into the living room with Sally right behind her.
“And the worst of them,” Sally finished for her.
Both girls stood on either side of Jacque with their arms crossed, an obvious wall of solidarity against Lucas.
Lilly walked into the living room and took in the scene. She looked at Jacque and saw the red marks that were now appearing on her arms from where Lucas had grabbed her. Lily's mouth tightened in anger.
“I think it’s time for you to go now, Mr. Steele,” Lilly told him with forced politeness.
Lucas turned his gaze on Lilly, who took an involuntary step back. He drew in a deep breath, obviously trying to compose himself. Then he looked at Jacque. “I have challenged Fane for the bonding ceremony. If I win, you will be mine. Nothing and no one will keep you from me.” And with that he turned to walk out the front door.
All four of them followed him out to watch him go, and when they got out the door they saw Fane jump from his second story window and take two bounding steps and land right in front of Lucas.
“Oh
[email protected]#T! Jen hollered
“I second that,” Sally said
“I third it,” Jacque said, eyes so wide they threatened to pop out of her head.
Chapter 22
Fane saw Lucas lunge for Jacquelyn before she could put the wall up between their minds, and the rage he felt called his wolf out. He was nearly completely phased when he heard Sara downstairs. That was enough to pull him back and keep from becoming a huge, black, snarling wolf in his bedroom. It wasn’t enough, however, to keep him from growling like a dog with rabies. The anger he was feeling was tangible; it was making it hard for him to breath.
Lucas had touched his mate, he had put his hands on her in a threatening way, and by doing so had violated the challenge rules. That meant that Fane would be allowed to see Jacquelyn for the duration of the two days they had to wait until his father arrived. Because he was Jacquelyn’s true mate, challenge rules said he could protect her if the challenger caused physical harm to the female.
Before that thought was even complete in his mind, and without any thought to who might see him, he leaped out his window into the front yard and jumped right in front of Lucas Steele. Sometimes life just threw you a bone when you needed one.
Lucas crouched low, immediately growling. “If you touch me you forfeit the challenge.”
“Sa patesti ce este al meu (you harmed what is mine),” Fane growled.
“Oh crap, he’s talking in Romanian. That means he’s pissed doesn’t it? They always talk in their native tongue in the movies when they’re fixing to kick somebody’s a-” Jen tried to finish, but Jacquelyn slapped her hand over Jen’s mouth and shook her head from side to side.
“Let me translate for her,” Sally said. “Shut the #@$% up, Jen!”
“My bad,” Jen whispered once Jacque had uncovered her mouth.
Fane could not remember a time when he had been so angry. He could feel his wolf pushing to come out, to defend their mate.
“Ai violat regulile provocare (you violated challenge rules),” Fane growled.
He knew he needed to calm down but when he glanced over and saw the red marks on Jacquelyn’s arms, his wolf won. He phased in the blink of an eye and had Sorin not lunged in front of him, he would have torn Lucas Steele’s throat out.
He felt a hard object throw him back and let out a grunt as he hit the ground. In an instant, he was back on all four feet, head low, eyes narrowed, and teeth bared. He was taking slow, calculated steps to place himself in between Lucas and his mate. He saw Jacquelyn step back when he got near her, and it hurt to know she was afraid of him in his wolf form.
He continued to move forward, pushing Lucas farther away, and was preparing to lunge again when he heard Sorin yell,“Fa ne nu ating de el! (do not touch him).”
Fane stopped in his tracks, he didn't move closer but he continued to growl and glare at Lucas.
“As Fane has said, you have violated the challenge rules by causing harm to Fane’s mate, therefore it is Fane’s right to stay with her while we await the arrival of his Alpha,” Sorin informed the wolf.
“I did not harm the female!” Lucas snarled.
“Hey, flea bag, the female has a name!” Jen spat at him.
“Jen, now is not the time, hon. Keep your trap closed,” Sally said through pursed lips.
“Oh right, sorry. I just get so carried away. I’m good, carry on.”
Sally and Jacquelyn rolled their eyes.
Lucas must have decided during that little interlude that he needed to be more diplomatic, because when he spoke the second time it was quite a bit nicer.
“I did not mean to cause Jacquelyn harm. I do not think red marks on her arm constitute a so-called violated challenge,” he told Sorin.
“What you think does not play into what simply is. It is time for you to take your pack and leave. You will be notified immediately when our Alpha arrives,” Sorin said in finality, and just to punctuate that he was done with the conversation, he called Fane to him. “In privinta, mea print, va rog sa veniti. (With respect, my Prince, please come).”
Fane gave Lucas one more snarl for good measure and trotted over to where Jacquelyn stood. He put his head against her thigh and nudged her backwards.
“You gotta be kidding me. You’re bossy even when you're in wolf form,” Jacquelyn told him, rolling her eyes. He nudged her a l
ittle harder. Finally relenting, she turned to go back toward the house.
“Come on, girls. Show’s over…for now anyways.”
Sorin waited outside until Lucas and his wolves had driven off.
Once in the house, everyone filed into the living room, which had quickly become the “meeting” room. Jacquelyn knelt down in front of Fane and ran a finger down the center of his muzzle. Fane closed his eyes and a low hum came out of his throat.
“You were great out there, you know?” she whispered to him.
Fane opened his eyes and they just stared at each other for a minute. Then Fane licked Jacquelyn smack on the face. “EWWWW! You have GOT to stop kissing me in public. Really, it’s getting out of hand,” Jacquelyn told him, wiping her face. Fane simply looked at her with his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth in a goofy grin.
“Fane, I think we need you back in your human form, please,” Sorin told him respectfully.
Fane turned and trotted up the stairs to Jacquelyn’s room. “I don’t know what he thinks he is going to find up there unless he likes his pants super tight and ten inches too short,” Jacquelyn told Sorin.
“I will get him something from my bag,” Sorin offered.
He returned with a pair of jeans and a shirt and handed them to Jacquelyn.
“Uh, what am I supposed to do with these?” she asked Sorin.
“Wait, hold on,” Jen said, holding her hands up. “This is obviously a job for a woman who appreciates a fine looking specimen like wolf-man up there.”
Jen tried to take the clothes from Jacque, who stepped back, holding the clothing out of Jen’s reach.
“Like I’m going to let you, the nymphomaniac of our posse, take these clothes up to Fane. Seriously, how delusional do you think I am?” Jacquelyn asked her.
“I could really use some clothes, Luna. You keep your room kind of cold,” Fane told her through their connection.
“I’m bringing them, but you better have a towel or something wrapped around you,” Jacquelyn said sternly.
“I make no promises, love. You will just have to risk it.”
Jacquelyn huffed out a breath and headed up the stairs. All the while, Jen and Sally were letting out cat calls. Fane could hear the girls from Jacquelyn’s room and could only imagine how red his Luna’s face was.
He heard her knock very gently on her bedroom door. Fane grabbed a blanket from the floor and wrapped it around his waist.
“I’m decent, Luna. Come in,” Fane told her.
Jacquelyn walked in and her head was down with her hair falling in her face so she could not see anything in front of her. She reached out and tried to hand Fane the clothes, but he grabbed her wrist and pulled her all the way into the room. She let out a shriek as she collided with Fane.
“Sorry, love. Didn’t mean to pull you quite that hard,” he said with a sly grin.
“Uh huh, sure you didn’t,” Jacquelyn said as she twisted her wrist to get free of his grasp. Fane let go easily, but did not step away from her, so Jacquelyn took the initiative and stepped back.
“What are you doing? Don’t you think you need…” Jacquelyn began, but stopped mid-sentence when she let her eyes wander over Fane’s torso. Fane realized she was looking at his markings and it made his wolf happy that she noticed them.
“What do you think?” he asked her.
She begun to walk around him, circling him like a predator seeking out its prey. Her eyes narrowed as she followed the lines of the marks. A couple of times her hand reached out like she wanted to trace the marks. It took all of Fane's control not to lean into her hand. Like the wolf, he craved her touch.
“It’s beautiful. I didn’t realize the marks would cover so much of you, but you said that they come across your chest because you’re Alpha, right?” Jacquelyn asked, still completely mesmerized by the marks.
“That is correct. I have more marks than others and my marks match my mate’s.” Fane reached out and ran a finger across Jacquelyn’s neck as he said this. Jacquelyn slapped his hand away. “No touching while you’re standing in nothing but a blanket,” she told him, trying to sound firm but not able to wipe the grin off her face.
When she finally stopped and just stared at him he couldn’t help but tease her. “Have you gotten your fill or do you need a few more minutes? I’ll be happy to let you study them if you’d like,” Fane told her with a wink.
“Yeah, I bet you’d like that, wouldn’t you?
“Well, if you are not going to take advantage of me while I am so vulnerable, I suppose I should get dressed.” Fane grinned.
When she didn’t respond or turn to leave Fane decided to shock her into action. He acted like he was going to unwrap his blanket. “Of course, if you want to watch me dress you are welcome to. Seeing as how you are my mate, you could even help if you’d like.”
Jacquelyn turned bright red and abruptly turned around to face the door. Fane dressed quickly and tried to keep his mind out of hers, although he was very curious as to what she was thinking about.
“Ok, love, you can turn around.” He was slipping his shirt over his head as she did.
“You know you’re beautiful, don’t you?” Jacquelyn asked him.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean you, all of you. Your skin is beautiful, you’re all buff and built, your eyes are incredible. You’re just beautiful,” she explained.
“Well nobody has ever told me that, so no, I did not know I was beautiful. Thank you,” he said, placing his hand over his heart and bowing his head.
“You are exquisite. Did you know that?” he asked her.
“I wouldn’t say exquisite. I mean, I don’t think I’m Sandra Bullock or Julia Roberts, but I suppose I don’t break the mirror,” she responded.
“No female I have ever seen holds a candle to you, Luna.”
They were quiet for a moment. Fane was looking at her face, her beautiful green eyes and endearing freckles. He let his eyes wander down her neck to her shoulders and then arms, where the red marks that were quickly becoming bruises caught his eyes. He growled low.
“Come here please, Jacquelyn,” Fane told her.
Jacquelyn had stepped back a step at the sound of the growl.
“I am not growling at you, meu inimă. I merely want to look at the marks that mongrel left on you,” he explained.
“It’s nothing. They don’t even really hurt anymore,” Jacquelyn fibbed.
“Jacquelyn, love, don’t tell me un-truths. I know when you aren’t being honest with me.”
“Who are you, Santa Claus?” Jacquelyn retorted.
“Just come here, please. Or do I need to come over there?” Fane asked with a wicked gleam in his eyes.
“Pipe down, I’ll come to you.”
Jacquelyn walked over to him and he gently touched each arm where the bruises were. Jacquelyn flinched, unable to hide the fact that his touch hurt. Fane leaned down and kissed her arms gently over the bruises, wishing that he could heal them. He had failed to protect her, his mate. She'd needed him and he had not been there.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I’m sorry I was not there to protect you. I should have been.”
“Fane,” Jacquelyn reached up and ran her hand down his check, “this was not your fault. You were not allowed to be there, and how was anyone to know that psycho fur ball would hurt his so-called mate? You have nothing to apologize for so just knock it off. Got it?”
Fane looked into her eyes and could see the sincerity there, no condemnation or anger, and he was so thankful. She was truly amazing, and she was his. Thank the moon that she wanted him because he would have hated to have to spend the rest of their lives pining after her.
“I am grateful that you do not condemn me. Nonetheless, you are my mate and I should always be there to protect you, which is why you will not be out of my sight until the challenge. I will trust no one to protect you but me,” Fane told her.
Jacquelyn began to remind him that her mother
would not approve of this but he stopped her with a finger to her lips.
“I will talk to your mother. As I said before I will not put your safety second to her approval.”
When he removed his finger from her lips, she stepped forward and kissed him. When she stepped back Fane looked at her quizzically. “What was that for?”
“Just because I can, and I wanted to,” Jacquelyn told him simply.
“Oh. Well, in that case...” Fane grabbed her around the waist and tossed her on the bed, covering her body with his. Jacquelyn let out a squeak. He held his weight off of her by supporting himself on one forearm. Then he leaned down and nuzzled her neck with his nose. Jacquelyn began to giggle and push at his chest.
“Stop that, that tickles,” she told him, laughing. “I’m not kidding, Fido, you’re going to make me pee on you.”
Fane pulled his head back to look at her. Her eyes were crinkled with laugh lines.
“I’m a wolf, not a dog, love. And if I don’t get to pee on you, then you most certainly do not get to pee on me,” Fane teased her.
He leaned forward and kissed her gently, then a little harder. By the time he pulled away they were both trying to catch their breath.
“I think we better go downstairs now,” Fane told her, still trying to get his breathing under control.
Jacquelyn reached up and stroked his face and gently pulled him closer. “Or not,” she said just before she began to kiss him again.
Fane let it go on a moment more before he finally pulled away and stood up, pulling her up at the same time.
“As much as I would love to stay right here with you, love, Jen might come looking for us soon and finally get that show she’s been waiting for,” Fane told her as he winked again.
“Ugh, fine, have it your way. But you’re the first guy I’ve ever heard of that has walked away from a willing female,” Jacquelyn told him.
Fane pulled her back as she tried to walk past him. “We have plenty of time, meu inimă, and I don’t want a just a willing female, I want my mate bonded to me, wearing my mark.”