Blood Rites (36 page)

She sat down on the bed and looked up at
Fane, surprised by her own confidence as she stared into his
beautiful eyes. "So how does this work?”

"You will need to remove the dress, love."
Fane told her, eyes twinkling wickedly. Then he added, "If you want
you can go into the bathroom and there is a robe for you."

She grinned at him. "You're bad, you know
that? Trying to scare an innocent girl, you ought to be
ashamed."

Fane grabbed her hand and kissed it before
she could walk away. "I should be, but I'm not." Jacque felt Fane's
eyes on her as she retreated into the bathroom to change.

A few minutes later she stepped out in a
plush white robe that came to her knees. With her head bowed, eyes
hooded by her eyelids, she couldn't help but feel vulnerable
knowing there was nothing under the robe. But she reminded herself
again, as she had a hundred times while in the bathroom, Fane was
her husband and her mate. She heard the intake of Fane's breath and
she finally looked up. His jaw had dropped, his eyes wide as he
took her in from head to toe and back again. Jacque had never felt
more beautiful.

"You have never been more beautiful,
love."
She heard Fane's words and even in her mind they sounded
breathless.

He took a deep breath and ran both his hands
through his hair. Jacque could feel how restless he was and how
desperate he was to complete the blood rites, but he was trying to
be gentle with her.

She walked over to him and took his arms,
pulling them around her waist to encircle her. She didn't know what
to do so she just let instinct take over. She looked up into his
eyes with all the trust in the world. She tilted her head and
exposed her neck to him. She saw his eyes glow brighter and heard a
low growl. “You are sure you are ready?” Fane asked her, his voice
rough with emotion.

“Fane, I trust you.”

She felt him pull her closer, and then his
hand came up and pulled the robe gently until her neck and shoulder
were exposed. His fingers traced the mating marks on her back, no
longer marred from the claw marks, completely healed and whole.
Small chill bumps erupted all over Jacque's skin and she shuddered
under his touch. He cradled the nape of her neck and Jacque felt
him place his nose against her skin and heard him breathe in deep.
She heard a rumble from his chest. She tensed briefly and then
relaxed as she felt his lips on her skin. He gave her gentle kisses
from her chin to her shoulder then back up to her neck just below
her ear. Jacque felt his lips part and a stroke of his tongue, then
she heard a deep growl just as a sharp pain pierced her neck, then
it was gone. She could still feel Fane’s mouth on her, but where
she first felt pain she now felt pleasure. It was making her
stomach do weird things. She felt herself pushing against Fane’s
body and heard soft moaning. A moment later she realized the
moaning was coming from her. She should've been embarrassed but she
couldn't bring herself to feel that when this was her mate, the
other half of her soul who held her.

Then Fane was pulling away. She wrapped her
arms around his neck. desperate to pull him back, but Fane was
stronger and continued to pull back until he could see her face.
Jacque saw the tears that ran down his cheeks and felt the
intensity of his stare into her heart. The look changed abruptly to
concern as he looked at her neck. He reached for one of the towels
he had laid out and dipped it in the warm water, squeezed out the
excess, and brought it to her neck to clean away the blood. She
couldn’t help the wince that crossed her face as the water touched
the wound. Fane gently turned her face to his. “Did I hurt
you?”

“No. I mean, it hurt for a moment but
then...” Jacque didn’t know if she could even put into words how it
had felt once the pain had subsided.

“Then what, my love?” he asked.

Did he not know? Could he not hear her moans
and feel the emotions rolling off of her? Fane stepped closer, his
body brushing up against hers. “I felt your desire,” he whispered.
“I heard you, my love. I just want to hear you say it. You so often
avoid this topic altogether I was beginning to think maybe you
weren’t attracted to me.”

Jacque let out a breathless laugh. “Liar,”
she teased him.

“After the initial pain, it felt good. No, it
felt freaking awesome.” Fane chuckled at his mate, but Jacque
continued on undaunted. “I have always desired you, Fane. I’ve just
never been comfortable talking about it. But rest assured after
feeling your mouth do that on my skin,” Jacque shuddered at the
memory, “I without a doubt desire you, wolf-man.”

Fane decided not to torture her any more with
questions about her physical affections for him. Instead he
reminded her that the blood rite still wasn’t complete. “Are you
ready, Luna?”

Jacque took his hand and led him over to the
bed. She pushed him down to sit on the edge. With him sitting and
her standing, her face was level with his neck. Jacque watched as
Fane undid the buttons on his white dress shirt until they were all
open and then shrugged the shirt off. She looked at him and
although she had already done this twice, this time it felt
different, more intimate. Fane turned and exposed his neck as she
had done for him. Something deep inside Jacque stirred at the sight
of the bared neck. She felt a desire to mark it, claim it, to claim
him. She leaned towards Fane and placed her arm around his strong
shoulders. She kissed his cheek and down his jaw to his neck just
as he had done. She kissed him down to where his neck met his
shoulder. At that point instinct took over, the wolf blood in
Jacque came forward to claim their mate. Once again, as she had
felt the first two times she took Fane's blood, Jacque felt her
teeth lengthen just a little and when she ran her tongue across
them she realized they felt much sharper. Before she could stop to
think about it she opened her mouth and sunk her teeth deep into
Fane’s flesh. She heard a groan coming from Fane’s chest and then
the low growl she had become accustomed to. Fane wrapped his arms
around her waist and pulled her close. Jacque closed her eyes as
she tasted Fane's blood. She felt something, like her very soul was
being knitted into Fane's. The bond, she thought, the bond was
complete.

After a couple of minutes she felt Fane
pulling her away, reluctantly she relented
.
Neither of them
spoke for several seconds. Jacque kept her eyes closed as her
breathing slowed. When she opened her eyes to look at Fane she saw
the blood running down his neck. Just as he had done, she wet one
of the towels and gently wiped the blood away. Fane sat there
quietly, watching every move she made. Finally Jacque couldn’t
handle the silence anymore. “What are you thinking?” she asked
him.

“You don’t have to ask, Luna, you could just
look.”

“I know, but I want you to tell me. I want
you to share your thoughts with me without me invading your
privacy,” Jacque explained.

“I am your mate, Jacquelyn. We are bonded.
You have every right to invade my mind, but if you want me to talk
then that’s what you shall get.” He grinned at her and grabbed her
hand to pull her on to the bed next to him. Fane scooted until his
back was against the headboard of the bed.

When he reached to pull Jacque up against him
she started to resist. “I want to be able to look at you while we
talk.”

“In a moment, Luna. First let me hold you. I
can feel our bond growing stronger now that we have shared our
blood. My blood is in you now and you will always carry my scent.
Let me and my wolf hold you and enjoy our scent being all over
you.”

Jacque rolled her eyes but acquiesced to his
wishes. “Your mom was right when she said you were possessive,
overbearing barbarians.”

“I never claimed otherwise, my love,” Fane
teased her.

He pulled her close and she rested her head
on his chest, her legs tucked up against his side. Jacque felt a
rumble in his chest and a smile quirked her lips as she thought
about her telling him he purred.

“
I do not purr, mate, I rumble.”

Jacque glanced up at Fan., “Your wolf is
doing that more and more you know?”

“The bond is strong now. You will feel him
and hear him more easily now. He is very smitten with you, you
know?” Fane told her. Jacque laid her head back on his chest and
enjoyed Fane’s hand rubbing up and down her arm.

“You were supposed to tell me what you are
thinking, remember?” Jacque asked.

“I’m thinking about how in awe I am of you,
of your ability to take all that has happened since we met and
still smile, tease, take me as your husband and mate. You could
have turned away from me, running for your life.” Fane paused for a
moment and Jacque just waited patiently to see if he would say
more. “I’m thinking that I am the luckiest wolf in the world to
have found such an amazing mate.”

“Funny that,” Jacque said. “I was thinking
the same thing about you.” She felt Fane kiss the top of her head
and she snuggled closer.

Jacque held out her left hand and studied the
writing on the band. She remembered the words that Fane had said
were engraved on it and she felt warmth fill her. “It’s the most
precious thing I have ever received, Fane.” Jacque’s voice was
filled with awe at the beautiful gift he had given her. She
remembered then that he had told his father that the second
offering was something he wanted to give her in private. “So where
is my second offering, oh wolf of mine?” Jacque asked him in the
haughtiest voice she could muster as she sat up and turned to look
at him.

“Oh yeah, about that,” he began.

Jacque interrupted him quickly. “Don’t you
even try to act like you don’t have something, fur ball.” She
slapped his leg playfully.

“Have I ever told you that you are a violent
little thing?” Fane asked her as he reached to open the bedside
table drawer. He handed her a box wrapped in purple paper with a
simple ribbon tied around it. Jacque untied the ribbon and
unwrapped the package to find a shoe box. “Um, shoes. Great, thank
you,” Jacque said, trying hard to keep the confusion out of her
voice, knowing she was failing miserably. Fane’s face was blank.
Jacque could read no emotion on it nor could she pick anything up
from their bond.

“The shoes represent my ability to provide
foot coverings for you and maybe one day our children.” Fane
cleared his throat and continued, fumbling along as he went. “You
see, it is important that you know that you won’t be without
something on your feet, so-”

Jacque held up her hand to stop Fane from
going any further. “There are no shoes in this box, are there?”

Fane shook his head once. “Not one.”

As Jacque began to open the box Fane heard
her mutter under her breath, “Furry little liar.” He started to say
something in response but stopped when he saw Jacque’s face light
up as brilliant as the sun breaking through the early morning dew.
“Fane! I can’t believe you remembered!” Jacque pulled out the first
edition copy of
Where the Sidewalk Ends
by Shel Silverstien.
She held it so reverently and ran her hand across the cover.

“Open it,” she heard Fane tell her. When she
pulled open the cover she could feel the binding bending for the
first time, the newness of the book apparent. If it was possible
her face got even brighter as she saw the hand written autograph on
the cover page.

“This is so freaking awesome,” Jacque told
him as she closed the book and flung herself into his arms. Fane
was surprised by the motion but caught her easily and held her
tight. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” he heard her whisper.

“If I had known you would react this way to a
book I would have proposed with it instead of a ring,” he
teased.

“The book is amazing, no doubt. But that you
remembered something so random, yet so important to me means so
much to me. You got skills, wolf-man. Serious, mad skills.”

Fane kissed her gently on the lips and then
let her pull away from him. She sat flipping through the book and
he was content to just watch her. Jacque finally looked up from the
book when she felt Fane begin to rub her back. She couldn’t help
the big grin that spread across her face. He was hers; she could
feel the mate bond growing stronger now that the blood rites had
been completed.

“Will it continue to grow stronger?” Jacque
asked him.

Fane's brow furrowed as he thought and was
quiet for a moment. “From what my father has told me it will be
stronger because of the blood rites, but once we consummate our
mating it will be its strongest.”

Jacque's eyes widened at his words, and Fane
realized how that had sounded. “Jacquelyn, I’m not trying to rush
you. I know you said we would make love once we were married but if
you aren't ready I will wait for as long as you need. I will never
pressure you. Do you believe me?” Fane asked her and desperation
coated his voice.

Jacque looked up at him. “I believe you and I
love you all the more for your patience. But it's not necessary.
I'm ready, Fane. I'm ready to be yours in every possible way.”

Fane sat frozen at her words, then a slow
grin stretched across his face. Jacque felt that grin from the
bottom of her feet to the tips of her red hair. He stood up and
Jacque watched as he began blowing candles out until there were
only four left burning, one in each corner of the room. Fane
stepped close to Jacque. She tilted her head back to look up at him
as the candle light danced shadows across his face. Jacque's breath
caught as she saw Fane's eyes glowing wolf blue.

He took her face in his hands and kissed her
gently, then whispered to her, "I can't believe you're here, and
you're mine." His body shook with emotion as he stared into her
eyes. "I love you, Jacquelyn Lupei. I will love you until my last
breath."