Blood Rites (2 page)

“
Hey wolf-man, they even thought of you and provided cover for
my markings.”
Jacque sent the
thought to Fane.

“
How very thoughtful of them, Luna, although you can’t honestly
think I would have allowed you to come in that dress without the
jacket,”
Fane
answered.

“
You are so lucky that you aren’t with in my reach right now
because that little comment would have earned you some retaliation
and it still might if I’m not feeling generous later,”
she scolded him.

His only response was
a soft chuckle in her mind and she thought she might have felt his
hand caress her face. Geez, Jacque thought, he is going to be the
death of me.

“Could you please
stop talking to your hunky wolf and tell us what you think of the
dress?” Jen said, snapping Jacque out of her thoughts.

“How did you know I
was talking to him?” Jacque asked.

“You always get an
intense look on your face, so I figure you are either constipated
or talking to Fane. If you aren’t talking to Fane then you ought to
see a doctor because you are constipated a lot,” Jen explained.
Sally was cracking up at Jen and Jacque was giving Jen an un-lady
like hand gesture.

“I have to admit, you
guys have outdone your selves,” Jacque told them. “It truly is
beautiful and tasteful and the jacket was the perfect touch. Thank
you guys so much. Oh crap, I think I’m going to cry,” Jacque said,
much to her chagrin.

“Don’t start the
water works, there will be plenty of time for that later,” Sally
teased her.

“Ok ladies, I need
something to eat before I slide into that, if I might add, much
more appropriate dress so let’s head downstairs so I can get my
grub on,” Jacque announced.

“Please tell me you
don’t say 'get my grub on' to Fane when you are talking about
eating,” Sally pleaded.

Jacque waved her
hands in the air in a whatever gesture. “He can either take me as I
am, grub and all, or not.”

“Oh I’m pretty sure
he wants to take you, and quite possibly as his grub,” Jen
snickered.

Sally gave Jen their
usual fist bump, “What would I do without you and your sexual
innuendos, my sweet, nympho friend?”

“You would be
square,” Jen told her, her fingers tracing the shape in the
air.

“Huh, so I would,”
Sally agreed thoughtfully.

The girls headed
downstairs and threw together some PB and J sandwiches. They were
quiet as they ate. Jacque finished first and just as she was going
to head upstairs to change, her mom came into the kitchen. “You
ladies need to hurry up if we are going to make it on time,” Lilly
told them.

“I’ve just got to fix
my hair and throw on my dress and then I’m game,” Jacque
answered.

“
Correction,
I
need to fix your hair.
There is no telling what kind of mess you would put together on
your head,” Sally added

“Did you decide to
cooperate with your partners in crime so you wouldn’t be the
world’s first living Little Red Riding Hood?” her mom asked
her.

Jacque glared at
Sally and Jen, giving them her best 'if I was a wolf I’d bite your
ass' stare. “Yea, they won this round, but you know what they say
about payback.”

Jen just laughed as
she and Sally trailed her up the stairs to help her get
dressed.

“Sit down, kick back
and chill-out so I can fix this unruly mess you call your
hair.”

“You have to do it up
off her shoulders because of the chomp, chomp thing, if you know
what I mean,” Jen said, her teeth snapping together.

“Gee, Jen. Thanks so
much for the reminder of the fact that I’m going to be a chew toy
later on tonight. I’m not nervous enough as it is or anything,”
Jacque told her.

“I’m just saying,”
Jen said with a roll of her eyes and shoulder shrug, "If it was me
who was going to get chomped on by a hot, drool worthy, Romanian
fur ball, let's just say I wouldn't make him chase me too
long."

"Yeah, well knowing
you, Jen, the so called fur ball wouldn't be the only one doing the
chomping," Sally teased her dryly.

"No doubt, my sweet
wall flower. But more to the point, it wouldn't be just my neck he
would be chomping on!" Jen apparently cracked herself up with that
one because she nearly fell out of her chair laughing, although the
shoe Jacque threw at her head didn't help matters.

"Jacque, quit
throwing shoes at Jen's head. Jen, if at all possible quite being a
pervert for like 5 minutes."

"Make it 2 1/2
minutes and we have a deal," Jen volleyed back.

"Shameless," muttered
Jacque, "the nyphmo is utterly, undeniably shameless."

"We all gotta be
something, Jac." Jen just had to have the last word, so Jacque and
Sally finally relented.

Sally pushed Jacque
down into the chair by her desk and began to gather the various
hair items she would need to tame the wild curls. As Jacque sat
there staring off at nothing in particular, her mind was drawn back
to the events of the past week. It was hard for her to believe that
she'd only met Fane a week ago. She felt like she had known him
forever and already couldn’t imagine life without him. In one week
she'd learned she was half Canis Lupus, her father was full Canis
Lupus, and also that she was the mate of the Prince of the Romanian
Canis Lupus. She had been claimed by the lunatic Alpha of
Coldspring and had to watch Fane fight him for bonding rights. She
even thought she’d watched Fane die. If someone had told her last
week that all this was going to happen she would have said
something along the lines of, yeah, and George Strait is selling me
his ocean front property in Arizona as well.

“OWWW!” Jacque
hollered as Sally’s hair ministrations pulled her from her
thoughts.

“Well what do you
expect with this flaming mess on your head?” Sally asked her as she
continued to pull and tug on her hair.

“Just make sure you
leave me some hair up there, okay?” Jacque said, rolling her
eyes.

Jen walked over to
look at Sally’s handy work. “That actually looks pretty great, Sal.
I like the little glitter bobby-pins you put in, very fairy
tale-ish.”

“Okay, okay, let me
look already,” Jacque said as she stood up and went to the mirror
on her dresser. “Wow, Sally, it looks awesome. You made me look so
much prettier than I really am. Sweet! Thanks, chickadee.”

Sally grabbed Jacque
by the shoulders and turned her so they were face to face. “You are
beautiful, big, wild hair and all. All I did was bring attention to
that fact. The way Fane looks at you, you should never doubt your
beauty on the inside or out,” Sally told her.

“Man Sal, why don’t I
ever get pep talks like that?” Jen asked.

“If ever you are in
need of a pep talk, Jen, I will gladly deliver. As it is, you are a
walking ego, so most of the time you need to be brought down a
notch, not up. I say that with all the love in my heart,” Sally
teased her.

“Yeah, you are
totally blowing me away with all your quote, unquote love. How
‘bout don’t give me so much love next time, huh?”

Jacque grabbed her
dress and the jacket and began walking to the bathroom. “Ok, while
ya’ll work out your love issues, I’m going to get dressed. I expect
ya’ll to have kissed and made up by the time I get back.”

“Brush your teeth
before you put that dress on,” Sally told her.

“Yeah and don’t put
perfume on your neck, you know because of the chomp…” Jen
started.

“Chomp, chomp. Yeah I
got it, Jen,” Jacque interrupted.

Jacque closed the
door to the bathroom and leaned against it. She took a deep breath
and closed her eyes. “I can do this,” she said out loud. It wasn't
that she was scared of bonding with Fane, she wanted to be with him
more than anything. No, she was just a big chicken about pain and
wasn’t really looking forward to being bitten. Then she remembered
what it felt like when she thought he had died. She realized that
in comparison to that feeling, a bite would be a piece of cake. On
that thought she was able to move forward feeling much lighter.

“
Are you ok, love?”
she
heard Fane ask in her mind.

She smiled at the
warmth she could feel coming through such a simple question.

“
I
am excellent, wolf-man. Although, I am missing you,”
Jacque told him.

“
I
will see you soon,
micul incendiu (little
fire)
.”

“
Fane, stay with me,”
Jacque whispered in her thoughts.

“
Always,”
was his simple
reply.

True to his word,
Jacque could feel him like a shadow in her mind and it calmed her
nerves and made her feel cherished.

Jacque soon stepped
out of the bathroom and her two best friends stopped and stared,
open mouthed.

“Well, how do I
look?” Jacque asked them, a little unsure.

“You look amazing!
Fane won’t be able to take his eyes off of you,” Jen told her.

Sally nodded her
agreement but didn’t say anything. Jacque looked over to her bed
and saw that Sally had retrieved her suitcase and begun putting
clothes in it for her.

“Sally, you don’t
have to pack a whole bunch it’s just one night and then I will be
back here,” Jacque said.

Sally’s face fell a
tiny bit. “You will be back, but only for a few days. Then you will
be packing more than an overnight bag,” she told her, sounding so
lost.

“I really hope you
guys are considering coming to Romania for our senior year. Alina
looked into the foreign exchange program, and found that it would
look really good on college applications, and she has offered to be
ya'lls host family. Have either of you talked to your parents about
it yet?" Jacque asked.

“I mentioned it to my
parents and once I pointed out that it could give me a leg up in
getting into the international business degree programs I just
happen to all of a sudden be interested in, they were surprisingly
okay with it,” Jen explained. “ I kind of think my mom wants a
break from me. You both know that if my mom and I are in the same
room for too long it’s like two pissed off cats who have been
tossed in cold water and are ready to rip someone’s eyes out. So I
was going to surprise you later but now’s as good a time as any.
Romania won’t know what hit them when I get done,” Jen teased,
although the statement was more true than not.

Jacque squealed in
child like delight and hugged Jen tight. “This is so great!”

“You do realize that
squeal is totally not sexy and if we are in Romania together and
you are with me while I’m trying to get my game on that you are not
permitted to make such a noise, right?” Jen told her, sounding put
out.

“Oh, shut up and let
me be all sentimental for a sec.” Jacque hugged her for a minute
more and then backed up, holding her hands in a surrender gesture.
“Okay, I’m good, it’s all under control.”

Jacque turned to
Sally, who had been watching the exchange. “So what about you,
Sally? Have you talked to your parents?”

“I did and I told
them the same thing Jen told hers, considering we rehearsed it with
each other complete with back up guilt trips if the whole college
reference didn’t work, and hell must have froze over, pigs must
have sprouted wings, and you must be half werewolf…wait, that last
part is true, the point is they said yes!”

This time Sally and
Jacque squealed in unison. “Oh come on, surround sound squeals?
REALLY?” Jen whined. “You two are not invited when I go hottie
hunting,” she growled at them.

Sally and Jacque
relinquished their squeals to turn and look at Jen. “Did you just
say hottie hunting?” Sally asked her incredulously

Jen turned her chin
indignantly. “Spot on, Sherlock.”

“Just checking. I
want to be completely clear on what I should say to your new beau
when you finally nab him,” Sally teased. “Something along the lines
of, 'Hey Don Juan, did Jen tell you about her hottie hunting days
back in the day, as in a couple of days ago back in the day?'”

“My sweet Sally, the
point is you just admitted that I will be successful in nabbing a
new beau, hence the hottie hunting will undoubtedly work. Ding ding
ding, I win,” Jen chimed.

Jacque rolled her
eyes at her two best friends. “I’m thinking your parents aren’t
considering it a hardship to have you two go to Romania. I don’t
know, just a hunch.”

Sally glanced at her
phone and saw that it was 12:15. “We've got to head if we want to
make it on time.”

Sally and Jen each
grabbed a bag and headed for the stairs with Jacque following.

“
Wolf-man, we are heading your way, hope you’re ready for
this,”
Jacque sent to
Fane.

“
I
have been ready for you since I laid I eyes on you. Be safe, I will
see you shortly.”
Fane sent
the words with a caress that caused Jacque to shiver.

As they pulled out of
the driveway, Jacque leaned her head back against the head rest,
closed her eyes, and pictured Fane’s face, her future.

Chapter 2

Across
two state lines in Denver, Colorado,
Dillon Jacobs paced the floor of his office. The Alpha of the
Denver pack was flipping through photos that Logan, his Beta, had
taken of the daughter he hadn’t even known existed until recently.
He was struck with the fact that life as he knew it was irrevocably
changed. Word had traveled fast in the Canis Lupis world that
Vasile, one of the strongest Alphas of the Grey Wolves was in the
States, not only in the States, but specifically in Coldspring,
Texas. Coldspring just happened to be the town where Lilly Pierce
lived, the woman whom he would have married had he not been a wolf
who could only have one mate, the one nature choose for him. Not
that Dillon didn’t love his mate beyond words, but Lilly had been
his first love. The loss had faded over the years, but the memories
were still there, packed away in the recesses of his mind gathering
dust. Until now.