Blood Rites (33 page)

"None of what you just told me could ever
make you pathetic and if you think that then you are going to think
I'm completely psycho, because I'm never letting you out of my
sight again, nor will another male ever be close enough to touch
you."

Jacque couldn't stop the small laugh that
escaped her lips.

"Why do you find this funny?" Fane asked,
truly confused by her response.

"You can't very well keep every male away
from me forever."

"Yes I can. I am the next Alpha in line. I'm
the prince of the Romanian Grey wolves. If I say they are to stay
fifty feet away from you at all times then that is what they will
do."

Mischief glimmered in Jacquelyn's eyes.
"Fifty feet? Are you sure that's enough? Maybe you should make it,
I don't know, several hundred feet. That may be more
reasonable."

"Are you making fun of me, Luna?" Fane asked
with a low growl.

"Why yes, Fane, I am. However could you
tell?"

Fane glowered at her as she smiled
innocently, then surprised her by kissing her on the nose. "I'm
glad to see that you haven't lost your sense of humor."

"Wolf-man, if you keep making outrageous
statements like that then my sense of humor will only improve
because I will have you to make fun of."

Fane stood and walked again towards the motel
room door and as he pulled it open he said, loud enough for
everyone to hear, "So glad I could be of service to you,
Jacquelyn."

Jacque turned bright red as everyone filed
in, their eyes darting between the two.

"Is that what they're calling it these days?"
Jen asked. She looked at Sally. "That's what I've been doing wrong.
I haven't been saying I wanted to be serviced."

Every male in the room coughed to cover up
laughs as Sally swatted Jen's arm.

"I'm just saying, you learn something new
every day," she said, winking at Jacque.

Fane shook his head, a smile on his face
simply because his Luna was smiling.

Vasile was the first to recompose himself as
he looked at Jacque. "How are you feeling?"

"A little better. I was telling Fane the pain
is bearable."

"So you think you can travel? It's a long
flight to Romania," Vasile told her.

"Yeah, I'm good. I'm ready to get off this
continent. I'm convinced it has something against me."

Fane looked at Cynthia, who stood off to the
side looking like she wanted to crawl in a hole. "Do you think it
is okay for her to travel?"

Cynthia looked at Jacque and then at Fane.
"If she says she feels up to it then, yes. If she begins to hurt
badly again you will just need to give her more of your blood."

Jacque blushed as Fane looked at her with a
wicked grin.

Jen looked between the two and then at Sally.
"Do you see that fine wolf grinning wickedly at our best
friend?"

Sally looked apprehensively at Jen. "Yes,"
she answered cautiously.

"I thought I told you I wanted one. Where is
he?" Jen asked dryly.

"And I thought I asked if you wanted fries or
tots with that and you said you preferred whipped cream. Much as it
pains me to tell you this," Sally took Jen by the shoulders and
looked into her eyes in all seriousness, "and you might want to
brace yourself, apparently wolves don’t do whipped cream. They all
said it makes their hair sticky."

Jen grinned at Sally as the entire room
erupted into laughter, holding out her fist for her to bump.
"Niiiiiice."

Vasile turned to Fane still grinning,
obviously enjoying the lightheartedness after so many days of worry
and fear. "Get them ready to go, Sorin has the plane waiting."

Fane nodded, still smiling. "As you say,
Alpha."

Chapter 34

Jen
and Sally boarded the private plane
Vasile had charted. Jen whistled while Sally's jaw dropped open at
the sight of such luxury.

"Sally, I take it back. I don't just want a
wolf and whipped cream. I want a
rich
wolf with whipped
cream.

"Ok, let me just write that down for you
since you seem to think I'm your personal assistant," Sally
responded, her tone clipped.

"You ever noticed how assistant starts with
ass? Do you think that’s a coincidence?" Jen shrugged her shoulders
as she raised her eyebrows at Sally.

"Oh, how I've missed my two snarky best
friends," Jacque quipped as she boarded the plane, closely followed
by Fane.

Jacque had begun to follow Jen and Sally when
she felt Fane tug her hand. She turned back to look at him.

"Let me check the plane before you and your
friends go exploring." He gave her hand a quick squeeze and then
walked towards the back of the plane. Jacque noticed that there was
a small hall that was blocked off from the front of the plane.

"This thing is huge. Where do you think that
goes?" Sally asked pointing in the direction Fane had disappeared
down.

"I don't know, but I intend to find out,"
Jacque said to her friends with a wink.

The three girls sat down on a plush seat that
ran the length of one side of the plane. On the opposite side of
the plane were bucket style seats, two to a row. Each set of two
faced opposite another and there was a small table in between each
set. Jacque counted three sets. To the right of her on the wall
that separated the back of the plane from them was a large flat
screen television and below that was a bar with various drinks in
the glass case.

Fane came and stood next to Jacque,
apparently finished with his inspection. Jacque, Jen, and Sally
watched as the others began to board the plane. Alina and Lilly
took one set of the bucket seats while Sorin and Vasile sat across
from them. Jacque had to pinch Sally when she started laughing
because Boain had attempted to sit on the bench seat next to Jen,
and Decebel snarled something in Romanian at the poor wolf, causing
him to pale and jump up so fast it looked like he had been stabbed
in the butt with a hot poker. Jen acted as if she didn't
notice.

Cynthia sat next to Skender across from the
now trembling Boain and the frowning Decebel. Fane reached down and
grabbed Jacque's hand, tugging at her as he indicated the bucket
seats for them to sit in. Jacque stood up, motioned to Jen and
Sally to join them in the seats across from each other.

With everyone safely buckled in, the plane
began its journey down the runway, picking up speed until finally
Jacque felt her stomach drop as the plane's wheels left the ground.
As the plane rose higher into the sky Jacque felt like she was
finally getting away from the nightmare that she had been living
this past month. That is until the pain ripped through her
again.

She leaned forward in her seat, arms wrapped
around her middle as she laid her head on the table in front of
her. She heard startled voices but could not make them out. Not
with the sound of blood rushing in her ears as she tried not to
scream out. She thought that since she had taken Fane's blood that
she was better, but Cynthia was right when she said it would take
more than one time. She felt someone undo her seat belt and then
strong arms were around her lifting her. She curled her body into
the strength that she knew had to be Fane.

Jacque didn’t open her eyes until she felt
him laying her down on a soft surface. She didn't bother looking
around, the only thing she wanted to see were Fane's eyes. She
watched him as he stretched out beside her never taking his eyes
from hers.

"You need more blood, Luna," he told her
gently.

Jacque watched as he unbuttoned the first
three buttons on his black shirt and pushed the collar back to
expose his throat. As the pain continued to course through her body
she barely registered that her canines had lengthened the moment
Fane bared his throat to her.

Fane gently wrapped his hand around the nape
of her neck and guided her mouth to his skin. This time Jacque
didn't hesitate. As soon as her teeth met his flesh she pierced it
without a thought. Once again Fane's spicy essence poured into her
as she closed her eyes and welcomed his healing blood.

Fane pulled Jacquelyn close, sheltering her
with his body as she took what he offered.

He whispered in her ear using his native
language, telling her how much she meant to him and how he could
never imagine a life without her. And when he told her he loved her
he felt her body tremble in his arms. She pulled back this time on
her own and Fane saw the tear tracks down her cheeks.

"Why do you cry, love?" he asked her
gently.

"I knew you would come for me, but I didn't
know if I would be the same person when you found me."

Fane watched as she moved forward and he felt
her tongue run across where she had just bitten him. As she pulled
back he saw that her cheeks were tinged a soft red and as he ran
his fingertips across her face he felt the heat on her skin.

"Sorry, there was, um, some blood." She let
her words trail off.

Fane chuckled as he wiped away the evidence
of her tears. "You don't have to be embarrassed, Luna. You can run
your tongue across my neck anytime. I assure you I will never
object." He laughed as she swatted at him, but was glad he had
gotten a smile out of her.

"How are you feeling now? Has the pain
lessened?" he asked in a much more serious tone.

Jacque took a deep breath and let it out
slow. She closed her eyes, concentrating on her body. She could
still feel a dull ache but it was even better than after the first
time he had given her his blood.

"I feel much better," she told him honestly.
Her brow furrowed when she asked, "Fane, will this affect the Blood
Rites since I've taken your blood?"

"No, Luna. Because I have not taken your
blood, the Rites are not complete yet."

Jacque nodded her understanding. She rolled
onto her back and for the first time looked around at her
surroundings. She realized they were in a small but luxurious room.
There was soft overhead lighting along the edge of the room. They
were lying on a queen sized bed that almost completely filled the
space.

"Is this the back of the plane?" she asked
him.

Fane nodded. "This is the only cabin on the
plane. I came back here when we first boarded to make sure it was
ready should I need to give you blood again."

Jacque's face once again took on the rosy red
coloring. "I suppose they," she indicated with a nod in the
direction of the front of the plane, "all know why we came back
here."

"Well, I'm sure they are assuming it's
because you needed my blood, but we could give them a reason to
believe it was for something else," Fane teased as he started
tickling her and she couldn't hold back the soft laughter that came
pouring out of her.

Jen and Sally sat tensely in their seats as
the wondered if Jacque was okay. She had been so pale when Fane had
carried her off. Alina kept trying to reassure them that Fane would
take care of her. Still, they couldn't help worrying. About the
time the plane hit cruising altitude they all heard a gentle
giggling from the direction Fane had carried Jacque. Jen rolled her
eyes as she unclipped her seatbelt.

"Oh, for crying out loud," she said as she
stood up. "If Jacque gets to get her freak on at 80,000 feet, I'm
at least going to get my game on." She turned to look at the other
wolves. "Skender, Sorin, Boain," but was interrupted before she
could finish.

Decebel stood up, nearly ripping the seatbelt
before he remembered to unbuckle it. "Jennifer," his voice was
deathly soft, "what the bloody hell do you mean to get your game on
with three of my pack mates?"

Jen had to slap Sally on the back as she
started coughing at Decebel's words.

"Well, when you put it like that it does
sound pretty bad. But those were your words, Sparky, not mine." She
turned to Alina, ignoring the daggers that Decebel was glaring at
her. "Do you have a deck of cards on this ride?"

Alina's eyes crinkled as she smiled. "I bet
we could find some." She unbuckled her seat belt and started going
through various compartments that didn't look like compartments
until she started hitting buttons that made them open. Finally,
after a few moments Alina held up a deck of cards triumphantly.
"We're in business," she said, smiling at Jen.

Jen took the deck as she looked at Sally.
"You in?"

"Always."

"Okay, boys. Let's see what you got," Jen
taunted as she sat down on the bench seat across from the
others.

The three wolves looked tentatively at
Decebel.

"Oh, for crying out loud, Dec. Tell them you
won't beat them if they play cards with the two humans." Jen glared
at him.

Decebel had not taken his eyes off of Jen
since she had declared she wanted to get her game on. Finally he
relented and turned to his pack mates, who all cringed under his
scrutiny.

"No touching," he said,as he sat back
rigidly, angled so he could watch every move of the game.

The three wolves joined Jen and Sally.
Uncertain of where to sit they all sat right on the floor in front
of the bench seat Jen and Sally occupied.

"So are we playing hold 'em?" Skender asked
Jen.

Sally snorted as Jen continued to deal the
cards. "Hold 'em's for sissies," Jen teased with a wink. "We're
playing something a little less civilized."

"What would that be…exactly?" Sorin asked his
eyebrows raised and his lips slightly down cast.

"Strip poker, of course," Jen said innocently
while all three wolves coughed into their hands. "But remember,"
she added with a wicked look directed at the brooding wolf sitting
behind the other wolves, "no touching."

The low sound that rumbled from Decebel's
chest had the other wolves cringing. "Jennifer,” Decebel growled in
warning.