Blood Rites (15 page)

"Sit," she told him firmly.

Fane's eyes continued to glow and Jacque
noticed his human hands had claws. His wolf was still here to play.
Good to know, she thought.

Fane growled, or rather his wolf growled.
Jacque blew her breath out in exasperation. "Mate, you have made
your point, we all submit and yadda yadda, now will you please sit
down next to me?" When Fane didn't acquiesce, Jacque turned and
looked at Alina as if to say 'fix it'.

Alina walked over to where Fane stood and he
turned and growled at her. Alina bared her throat, careful to keep
her head lower than his and to not make eye contact. "The wolf is
in control right now, Jacque, so until Fane can pull him back some
he is going to respond just like an Alpha wolf in the wild."

"What do we do then?" Sally asked.

"Everyone just stay calm," Alina told them.
"Nobody but Jacque can look at Fane in the eyes right now, and keep
your head lower than his," Alina explained.

"Well that's not hard to do, he's a mountain
with legs, albeit a hairy mountain," Jen muttered to no one in
particular.

Jacque turned her notice back to Fane. She
took his hand, drawing his attention from his mother. He looked
down at her and she could see his eyes soften. She stood up slowly,
gingerly, because despite her rapid healing she was still in pain,
especially when she moved.

"You sit," his mate told him.

"No, I stand."

"Me Tarzan, you Jane," Sally mumbled.

"Snap, you beat me to it. Nice going,
Thelma." Jen grinned at Sally.

"I learned from the best, Louise."

"Damn straight." Jen and Sally bumped fists
and turned to look at Jacque who had cleared her throat louder than
necessary.

"What?" they both said in unison, shrugging
their shoulders.

"I swear I have my own tweedle dee, and
tweedle dumb." Jacque rolled her eyes and turned once again to her
mate.
"What can I do to help you?"
Jacque spoke through
their bond, hoping to soothe the wolf, who was still the one
manning the boat.

"Touch,"
was the wolf's response.

Jacque nodded her head in acknowledgment to
his response. She took his hands and placed them around her waist,
she wrapped hers around his waist and then put her hands up under
his shirt so that her skin was touching his, then she lay her head
on his chest and listened to the beat of his heart. She felt him
lay his cheek against her hair, and could hear him breathe in.
Jacque knew he was taking in her scent, which for some reason
comforted him. She ran her hands up and down his back enjoying how
smooth his skin was, how strong he felt.

"I love you,"
Jacque whispered into
his mind, pouring every ounce of emotion into those three words.
She felt his deep rumble in his chest and knew that this was what
he needed, just as wolves sought comfort through touching each
other, Fane's wolf needed to feel her, a physical reminder that she
was his, she was safe.

"Mulţumesc, Luna, doar poţi să-l calm
(Thank you, Luna, only you can calm him)."
Jacque exhaled a
deep breath at the sound of Fane's voice in her mind.

She pulled back just enough to be able to
look at his face. "Welcome back," she whispered to him. Fane turned
her so that his body was shielding her from view and he placed his
hands on either side of her face and just looked at her, like he
was trying to memorize her every detail.

"Dragostea mea, Aş dori să vă sărut acum (My
love, I would kiss you now)." Fane spoke so softly that Jacque
nearly missed it.

"What did you just say?" She asked, cocking
her head to the side quizzically.

"I said I wanted to kiss you now."

"Then why are we still talking?" She asked
with a wicked look in her eyes.

Everyone in the room ceased to exist at that
point, the only thing Fane could see was Jacquelyn's waiting lips.
He leaned down at the same time that she stretched up on her toes
to meet his eager lips. Usually when he kissed her it started
gently, but not this time. Fane let go of her face and wrapped his
arms firmly around her, pulling her close to his body. Jacque
ignored the stinging pain that having him so tight around her
caused because for this she would burn all over again. She wrapped
her arms around his neck and stretched even higher on her tiptoes
trying to get closer, if it was even possible. She felt his tongue
slide against her lips and a moan escaped her lungs. She heard
Fane's low growl in response. Jacque pulled back, and breathing
hard she looked around Fane's shoulder, remembering they had an
audience.

"They're gone," he whispered, his breathing
just as labored as hers.

"No wonder you were getting hot and heavy."
She grinned.

"The key words there Luna are 'were
getting,'" he told her as he gently led her to the bed where she
had spent the last month while her body desperately tried to heal.
Healing was not the thing her body needed right now.

"I'm sorry if I hurt you when I held
you."

"Wolf-man, if you are gonna hurt me like
that, by all means hurt me." She laughed when he fake growled at
her and bared his teeth.

She sat down on the bed and leaned back
against the pillows at Fane's prodding. He leaned across her,
propped up on one arm, careful to not put any weight on her legs.
With his free hand he reached up and pushed her hair away from her
neck, he ran his fingers down her collar bone and back up to her
neck. Jacque shivered at the sensation of this hand on her skin. He
continued to trace this same pattern from one collar bone to the
next and back up to her neck.

"I love touching you."
She heard his
deep voice in her mind.

She smiled at him and ran her fingers through
his hair, pulling a groan from him.
"I love hearing you make
those kinds of noises, and I love even more that I'm the one who
causes them."
Jacque couldn't believe how candid she was being
with him, and how unembarrassed she was. But she wasn't, not
anymore, this was Fane, her mate, her best friend, her love, and
the last person in the world she would ever need to feel
embarrassed in front of.

"I'm glad you're finally catching on,"
he said in response to her thoughts.

Jacque tugged at his hair in retaliation to
his eavesdropping.

He laughed. "It's not eavesdropping, love.
I've told you it's being attentive."

"So do I have your attention?" she whispered
as she traced his lips with her fingers.

"Undivided," he said, lips barely moving. He
was mesmerized by his mate, her touch, the only thing that could
bring his wolf to heel.

"Good, cause you might want to pay extra
close attention to what I'm thinking right," she paused as she
pictured in her mind what she wanted, needed from Fane, "now," she
finished.

"I think I can handle most of that," he said
as he kissed her fingers.

Jacque's brow furrowed.
"Not all?"

"You’re a wicked, wicked woman. You know
that, right?"
Fane teased her as he leaned forward and kissed
her neck, nipping gently where his mark would soon be.

"There we go with the whole 'soon'
thing."

"Hush, my love. No more words," Fane said in
between kisses on her neck, collar bone, and lips.

And there were no more for a long while.

Chapter 17

"I understand
what you need me to do, Logan.
I don't need you to explain it twelve different ways." Dr. Cynthia
Steele's frustration at the wolf showed clearly on her face.

"If something changes in the plan, if for
some reason Fane is able to stay with her tonight, we have to have
a plan B," he told her.

"Plan B is I come tell them that the blood
tests I took from Jen are abnormal and that I want to take Jacque
to the lab and draw more blood so I can compare the two. They will
be focused on the fact that I've said Jen's blood is abnormal," she
explained.

"And is it abnormal?" Logan asked her.

"That's patient confidentiality, Logan, you
know I can't tell you that."

"You are helping me abduct a future Alpha's
mate and you are worried about patient confidentiality?" he asked
her disbelievingly.

"I don't have anything against Jen, therefore
yes, I'm worried about her privacy. You only need to worry about
Jacque."

"Fine," Logan growled. "Just make sure that
one way or another we get Jacque away from those mongrels and that
she is sedated for our departure."

Dr. Cynthia Steele watched the wolf leave her
office. She wondered, not for the first time, if she was doing the
right thing. Then she would see her brother's face in her mind. He
had been so unhappy the last few years. She had known that his wolf
was growing uneasy at being unmated for so long, especially an
Alpha who could be more than dangerous. His death was a perfect
testament to what could happen when a wolf went after a female that
wasn't his true mate. So why was she helping Logan? It was obvious
that Fane was indeed Jacque's mate. The truth was she was angry and
hurt and Fane was the cause of that anger and hurt. She couldn't
challenge Fane for killing her Alpha, but she could hurt him just
the same. That's all there was to it. Fane had taken what was hers
and now she would take what was his. The papers she held in her
hand drew her from her thoughts as she once again went over the lab
results that belonged to Jennifer Adams. Although Jennifer looked
ordinary enough, but there was nothing normal about her blood, and
she knew if Logan knew, Jacque wouldn't be the only female he would
be trying to take to his pack.

"Dillon, just let him stay the night with
her," Lilly was saying, "I don't see what the big deal is."

"The big deal, Lilly, is that she is only 17
and you're saying its okay for her to have a guy spend the night
with her. What else are you okay with our daughter doing?" Dillon's
nostrils were flaring as his frustration at the situation rose.

Jen, Sally, Vasile, Alina, and Decebel all
sat in the family waiting area that had become the undeclared
meeting spot. They all looked on as Lilly and Dillon squared
off.

"Does he realize what a major no-no he just
made?" Sally whispered to the group.

"Ahh, you are right Sally. He criticized her
parenting. That was probably the dumbest thing he could do," Vasile
agreed.

Alina patted her mate's leg. "I knew you were
smart when I met you."

"Come now, Mina. Don't be too shy to admit
that you were so taken with my good looks that you could not focus
on anything else."

"He's remembering it backwards," she
whispered conspiratorially to Jen and Sally. "The first time we met
the only words he could say were Luna and mina, and even then he
didn't say them in the correct order." The girls laughed with
Alina.

"Ahh, my love, now you are just being mean,"
Vasile whined, and to hear an Alpha whine only made them laugh
harder. Jen caught Decebel watching her but he quickly looked away
when she caught his eye.

A loud slap brought their laughing to a halt
as they all turned to see a shocked Dillon Jacobs standing with a
red hand print across his face.

"You can go to hell, Dillon Jacobs, and take
all your damn smelly, flea infested wolves with you." Lilly turned
on her heel, slamming through the waiting room door. They all
jumped when it slammed closed.

"Do all of you think we have fleas?" Decebel
asked as he looked at Jen and Sally.

"I think we just make an assumption because
of the hair and what not, that you, ya know, might have a problem
with the little buggers when you are in your wolf form." Decebel's
face got more dubious with every word Jen spoke.

"Well, crap! Everything else with fur has
fleas what did you expect us to think?" she snapped at him.

Decebel's only response was a slight lifting
of his lips that might have even passed for a smile…maybe.

Sally looked at Decebel with an obvious
question written across her face. When Jen was no longer looking,
Decebel winked at Sally, a silent acknowledgement that she knew
something was up, and he wasn't sharing.

Vasile walked over to Dillon and took a deep
breath. He placed his hands on his hips and looked at the ground
for a long moment.

"Are you sure this is still what you want to
try and do?" he asked Jacobs.

"I don't know any more," Dillon admitted.
"Lilly's angry with me, Jacque probably hates me, and your son
would just as soon kill me as look at me. But Vasile, she's my
daughter, she's so young."

"She is young, and so is Fane, but that does
not change the fact that they are true mates. His marks are on her
skin."

"What?" this remark had Dillon's head
snapping up.

"You didn't know?" Vasile asked him.

"No," Dillon said, shaking his head in
disbelief.

"If you try to separate them Fane will just
come after her, and he will kill every wolf that gets in his way.
He may be young, Dillon, but he is more dominant than any wolf I
know, myself included," Vasile admitted.

Dillon clenched his jaw and ran his hand
through his hair, he felt like he had aged twenty years overnight.
He still hadn't told his mate what he was really up to. That
conversation was going to add another twenty years to his
shortening lifespan. He took a deep breath, let it out, then looked
at Vasile. "Let me think about it tonight. I'm tired, everyone's
tired. Fane can stay with her tonight. Your wolves can guard her if
that's what you want. I will talk to all of you about it in the
morning." Dillon paused as he was opening the door to leave. "Tell
Jacque goodnight for me, I have a feeling it wouldn't be the best
idea to go see her right now."

"Considering she's probably thoroughly lip
locked with white fang, then, no it would definitely
not
be
a good idea to go see her. Oww, WTH Jen?" Sally rubbed her arm
where Jen had smacked it.