“My work here is done. I have other lives to ruin. Tootles!” And before Fane could blink she was gone.
Fane put his hands over his eyes and tried to push the images away.
“Not real, not real,” he said over and over, but the images of Jacquelyn’s death poured into his mind. He watched as her body was attacked by the wolves from the battle between them and Mona. She was ripped limb from limb and Fane could not reach her no matter how quickly he ran. He sank to his knees and screamed in agony.
Then she was standing whole before him. She reached for him.
“Why did you let them kill me Fane? Why didn’t you save me?” she asked him, her eyes full of pain.
“I tried my love, I tried.” Out of nowhere Fane watched Mona aim her hands at his mate and saw Jacquelyn crash to her knees, screaming in agony. She called out to him, begging him to rescue her.
“FANE! Please, I need you! Please come, please, please.” Her cries became weak and feeble as Mona continued to torture her. Fane tried to crawl toward her. He reached for her, watching blood begin to flow freely from her nose, eyes, and ears. He closed his eyes, trying to tell himself once again that it wasn’t real, but it didn’t matter how often he told himself. All he could hear were the anguished cries of his mate.
Tears streamed from his face as he cried for her. “I’m here, Jacquelyn. I’m here, baby.” She did not acknowledge his words.
He watched her bleed to death, watched as she was crushed time and time again by his enemy, watched as she was taken by Lucas Steele, violated and beaten. He screamed and screamed to no avail. The images continued to come and continued to rip at his soul. He wanted to die, he wanted her to die, once and for all so that she never suffered again. He knew he would break before this was over. He would not make it out of this hell a whole man. His love was being tortured and killed before his eyes and he couldn’t save her.
He closed his eyes and curled into a ball, trying shut out the images, but her cries broke through.
~
Vasile stared at the pond where his only son had disappeared.
Suddenly the water began to bubble and a coughing and sputtering Jacquelyn emerged. Vasile began to go in after her but was stopped by Crina.
“Let me, Alpha,” she told him as she went into the water.
Crina reached Jacque and wrapped an arm around her and under her arms as she pulled her on her back toward the shore.
When she reached it Vasile and Adam helped pulled her up. Rachel ran to her side and knelt down, checking to see if she was breathing and if her heart was beating.
Rachel let out a deep breath. “She lives,” she said as relief poured over her.
Alina knelt next to her daughter in-law and held her cold, wet hand.
“Alpha, where is my son?” she asked emotionlessly.
Vasile’s eyes still hadn’t left the pond. He waited and waited to see if Fane would resurface, but deep down he knew he wouldn’t. He knew he wasn’t dead because he would have felt the loss in the pack bonds, but he also knew that something terrible was happening to his son. He could feel the torment pouring through their bond and there was nothing he could do. He would have to wait until Jacque woke to see if she could reach him through the mate bond.
Something told Vasile that she wouldn’t be able to and knew that it was going to terrify her.
Glancing down, he caught the eyes of his mate and held her stare. “He is gone, but alive. We will get him back. For now we must tend to Jacque and figure out our next step.” Vasile leaned down and picked up his daughter, for that was what she had become to him – a daughter, a pack member, the beloved of his son. She mustn’t die, because if she died so would Fane, and neither of those deaths were acceptable to Vasile.
He carried her and the others followed solemnly back to their camp. All of them were on alert as they walked back through the forest in the cool darkness. The fire from their camp still burned up ahead as if no evil had touched their group this night.
Vasile placed Jacque on a pallet that Alina laid out for her. Adam, after checking that Crina was alright, took watch on the edge of the camp as the others sat around the fire.
“What do you think happened to him?” Alina asked her mate.
“I think Mona has influenced the pixies far quicker and more effectively than I would have thought possible. They are such a finicky race. But I have a feeling it was their spell on the pond, and for whatever reason it called to Jacque. Mona knew that Fane would go after Jacque, so if her intent all along was to get Fane, then all she needed to do was get to his mate. The same will hold true with the other mated pairs.”
“We need to let them know,” Rachel spoke up. Gavril stood behind her, his hand on her shoulder in silent support.
Vasile nodded. He took out his phone and called to Adam.
“Adam, I need a little help with my phone. I would ask you to seek out Peri, but I have a feeling you won’t be leaving your mate.”
Adam grinned. “You would be right, Alpha. Crina will not be leaving my sight.” He reached out and touched Vasile’s phone, giving it a charge.
Vasile dialed Decebel’s number and waited.
~
“How do you think they’re doing?” Jen asked her mate as she lay in his arms.
Decebel growled. “I think you need to be worrying about what is happening in your own bed, mate, and not in someone else’s.”
Jen laughed. “You certainly have a way with words.”
Decebel rolled her over until he covered her body with his own. He kissed her gently and then placed kisses on her eyes, her nose, her cheeks, down her jaw, and to her neck. He chuckled as she moaned, pleased at her response.
“Do you think everything is okay with Vasile and the others?” she asked him through a gasp as he bit gently on the mark he had left on her from their blood rites.
“Why do you insist on bringing others into our bed, Jennifer? I must be doing this wrong if all you can do is think of others.”
Then, as he continued to kiss her and love her, he surrounded her. Her every thought was centered only on him and she decided very quickly that he was doing everything just right.
~
Jen opened her eyes slowly and realized right away that she wasn’t really awake. She was in a dream world, a dream world that looked just like the place that Peri had found her in when she died.
“This cannot be good,” she said into the bright, empty space. She turned in a circle, thinking that maybe Peri would show up again, but no such luck. It was just her and the bright space all around.
She began to walk, not knowing where she was going, if anywhere. For all she knew she was walking in place since the scenery never changed. Gradually she noticed the light was growing dimmer around her. Shivering, she felt the air was get colder. She looked down and realized all she had on was the shorts and tank she had gone to bed in. Decebel was like her own personal space heater in their bed – too many clothes and she would sweat all night.
When all of the light had been swallowed and she stood in pitch black, a sliver of light suddenly pierced the darkness and grew larger. She realized it was a door opening and stood there, debating the wisdom of going through that door. After a few moments' deliberation, she decided there really wasn’t another option unless she happened to wake up. She did pinch herself for good measure, just to see if she could draw herself out of this bizarre dream.
Jen walked slowly toward the open door, all the while trying to calm her racing heart. She didn’t want to be afraid. She had already died once, surely a second time wouldn’t be all that bad. As she crossed the threshold of the door, her eyes widened at what was before her.
It was a large room with stairs leading down from the doorway to a platform. On this platform were three beings – she didn’t really know what else to call them. They were definitely not human and they didn’t really have physical bodies, but they were very much alive. They seemed to glow and pulsate as their form changed co
nstantly.
From what she could see, they would hold the form of featureless human and shift to strange-looking animals, then shift to something else entirely. She felt a pull that she could not ignore and it drew her down the stairs. Almost in a trance, she walked slowly, step by step by step. Her mind was screaming out a warning, but no amount of telling her legs to stop was doing any good. So she gave into the pull and let it bring her before the three beings.
Once she was mere feet away from the three beings she came to an abrupt stop, as if she had hit a wall. And when she heard the voices in her mind she felt the blood run cold through her body.
“Jennifer Adams, daughter of Jeffrey and Michelle Adams, former resident of Coldspring, Texas, mate to Decebel Anghelesco, former Beta of the Romanian pack, now Alpha of the Serbian pack. We are the Fates and have called you to stand before us to honor your debt.”
“I knew I shouldn’t have gone through that door,” she muttered under her breath.
“Your life was to end at 18 years of age. Your time on the earth was done.”
“Are you kidding me?” Jen interrupted. “My life was – is just beginning. How can you say that at 18 my time is done? I haven’t done anything. Don’t you have to have done something in order to be done?”
“SILENCE!” All three voices reverberated in her head.
“A simple 'shut it' would have sufficed,” she grumbled.
“Perizada of the Fae interrupted your life cycle. She took your death from us. The price for that is a life. So it has always been – a life for a life. Since your death was not collected, then another’s must be.”
“Do you three always talk about yourselves in the third person? Because if you’re going for creepy, you have far surpassed it without adding that little weird quirk.” Jen couldn’t help the sarcasm that seeped out of her mouth.
Once again, she thought, my nerves have turned off the valve that filters the wise statements from the “going to get bitch slapped” statements.
“The life cannot be just anyone's. It has belong to someone to whom your soul calls out. The price is great for the choice you made and our decision is decided, the life has been chosen, and will be taken henceforth.”
Jen felt like the air had been knocked from her lungs. Someone to whom your soul calls out. There was only one that qualified for that and it was her mate.
“NO!” she yelled. “You will not take him – you can have me! I will accept my fate. But do not take his life for mine.”
“You misunderstand, Jennifer, mate to Decebel. Your fate was changed the moment Perizada took you from us. Your choice has consequences and you must face them.”
“But I love him. He shouldn’t suffer because of my choice,” Jen said firmly.
“The one who will fulfill this debt is not male, nor has her life begun. Your offspring has been chosen as the price. In nine months’ time the debt will be paid.”
Jen felt her legs crumble beneath her as she hit the floor. Even in her dream she felt the pain radiate through her. She tried to suck in air but her lungs wouldn’t work. Her body began to shake and she felt herself falling into a black hole. Darkness wrapped her up like a blanket. Her brain did not want to believe what they had told her – her heart was already breaking for the life that she had not, until moments ago, even known existed.
Her offspring, they had said. Decebel and she had created a life. She allowed herself to feel the joy of that revelation briefly but squelched it just as fast. How was she going to tell Decebel, the father of their baby, that she had essentially killed their baby? Not male, the Fates had said. A daughter – she had killed their daughter. How could he ever forgive her for that? And how was she going to live after losing the one they had created out of love?
She felt tears pouring down her cheeks and her body being shaken by someone. A familiar voice broke through the darkness, a voice she was not ready to hear.
“Jennifer! Wake up, baby. Please wake up.” Decebel’s voice was deep and filled with worry.
Her eyes reluctantly flicked open and she saw his tightly drawn face through her tears. He pulled her into his lap and held her close as she continued to cry and shake. She wasn’t ready to talk, she just needed to be held. She needed to have this time with the man she loved with every fiber of her being. Because once he found out that she was pregnant and that their daughter was destined to die because of her, he would never want to hold her again.
After a while, Jen finally began to calm down – that or she was just out of tears. He pulled back so he could look at her face. Jen was not allowing herself to think of what she had learned in her dream. She was burying it deep beneath a lie.
“Baby, did you have a nightmare? Are you okay?” he asked her gently as he wiped the tears away.
Jen nodded. “It was a nightmare. I..I was just dreaming about the worst outcome possible for all of this. I’m worried about Jacque and how we haven’t heard from them, I’m worried about Sally and Costin, and I’m worried about Sorin and Elle. I guess everything caught up with me and it’s just a lot, ya know?” She couldn’t believe the ease with which she told him the lie, but she knew that in that moment she would not be able to handle the his disgust if she told him the truth.
“I’m okay now.” She tried to pull away from him but he wouldn’t relent.
“Jennifer, you were shaking and crying. At one point you said, 'he’ll never forgive me'. Who were you talking about? Who won’t forgive you?”
Jen closed her eyes, pulling her mind back from his, and felt his breath hitch at the pain of it.
“Why?” he growled.
“I just need a minute, Dec. Please let me collect myself. It was a very realistic dream.” She shifted against him. “Let me go wash my face and then I'll show you what I dreamed, okay?” She tried to keep her voice gentle.
He nodded and let her pull away from him and stand. She walked to the bathroom and shut the door behind her, then she turned on the sink and locked the door. Pushing reality to the back of her mind, she thought up some of the fears she had regarding the coming days. She thought about the plan that Mona had set in motion, about the possible outcome for her pack, for their future. She splashed water on her face and pulled herself together.
Jen didn’t know who she could talk to about this. She was so ashamed that her child would pay the price for her selfishness. How do you tell your mate, your best friends, your pack something so horrific? No, she had no idea what she was going to do; she had no idea how she would survive this. She did know that she would do anything it took to save the life of their child. Whatever it took to see what she imagined as the amber eyes and dark, thick locks on their daughter's face, she would do.
Once she'd completely pulled herself together, she opened the bathroom door to find Decebel on the phone. Her stomach dropped when she saw the look on his face. She walked over to his side and sat down and waited.
When he finally ended the call he looked at her. He brushed some wisps of hair from her face and let out a long breath.
“Fane is missing,” he said roughly.
Jen inhaled sharply. “Jacque?” she asked.
“Unconscious. She was lured into a pond with magic. Fane went in after her and never resurfaced. Jacque came back up right after Fane was taken under.”
“He isn’t dead if Jacque is still alive,” she said. Though, even knowing it, she still wasn’t confident in the truth of her words.
“That is correct,” Decebel agreed.
“What is Vasile going to do?”
“Right now they are waiting for Jacque to wake up. They need to see if she can contact Fane through the bond. We are going to begin heading their direction in the morning.”
Jen nodded. “Good, I want to be with Jacque and I know Sally will also once she finds out. Should we go tell them?”
“No, let’s let them have their one night.”
Jen agreed with that as well, and couldn’t help the heavy weight in her stomach at knowing he
r nights with Decebel were numbered. She unconsciously rubbed her stomach.
“Is your stomach upset?” Decebel asked her.
She jerked her hand back with a small gasp. “Oh, um, maybe a little.”
“Lie back and rest, baby. It’s a few hours 'til we have to leave.”
Jen did as she was told and closed her eyes. Her heart was breaking. She didn’t know how long she could keep this from him. She was more afraid of telling Decebel her fate than of any evil she had faced or would ever face. The thought of seeing the love for her fade and turn to hate was more than she could bear. She fell into a fitful sleep and even when Decebel’s strong arms came around her, peace still eluded her grasp.
~
Mona looked into her scrying bowl and smiled as she watched the wolf prince howl in agony. That was too easy, she thought. Now all she needed was to get the other males out of the picture, and based on how Fane reacted to his mate being in danger it wouldn’t be too difficult.
There was one day left until she met with the warlock King. One day left until she rained down her wrath on a world unworthy of her. She had been surprised at how well Lilly had been taking everything. She expected the human to freak out and go into hysterics, but she had totally kept her cool.
She might actually make a pretty good witch, she thought. And then with a rueful smile, said out loud, “Nah.”
Mona cackled a laugh into the empty room.
~
Lilly awoke to a gentle knocking on the door of the room she had slept in. She sat up and wiped the sleep from her eyes.
“Come in,” she said in a clear voice.
The door opened and Cypher stood there, towering in the entrance.
“How did you sleep?” he asked in his deep voice.
“Not too bad, considering I’ve been kidnapped by a crazy witch, am being held by a handsome, albeit somewhat scary, warlock King and I don’t have a clue how my daughter is. So, all in all, I slept decent.”