Blood Rites (4 page)

“Fane, it’s
beautiful. I recognize the band as the one that I gave you to hold
onto until you met your mate, but where did you get the stone?” his
mother asked him.

“
The day I
spoke with Da and he told me Sorin was coming, I called Sorin and
asked him to look in the vaults in the pack mansion for a red stone
for the band. I figured with the vast size of the vault and the
centuries of things accumulated he could surely find one. I knew
the bonding ceremony would be taking place sooner than we
originally planned and I wanted the ring to be ready. The day that
Sorin took Lilly to her book store he made a stop at a jeweler
while Lilly was working and had the stone set. I wanted red for two
reasons. One, she is my
micul incendiu (
little fire),
with so much personality packed into such a small package, and two,
it will be a reminder of this day when we both shed blood to bind
our souls to each other.”

Fane suddenly fell onto the couch, face held
in his hands. “Mama, how is it possible to love someone so
intensely, so much that at times it feels like it’s going to make
your heart explode because you just can’t contain it?” Fane looked
up at his mother, his eyes drawn together, mouth tight.

Alina sat down next to him on the couch,
handing back the black box, taking his free hand in hers. “I don’t
know if there is any way to explain or truly understand the bond
between mates. It’s not human; it’s beyond the realm of reason and
that makes it hard to believe it is even possible. I know you
haven’t known her long, I know you are both young, but you will
grow close faster than you can imagine. She will become your best
friend and you will become hers. Even now I know you feel it, that
no one in this world will ever love you as she will. You were born
to love each other and that love will grow stronger as time goes
on.” Alina wiped a tear from her cheek as she looked upon the face
that she had watched grow from an infant to a strong Alpha
male.

“What if I don’t make her happy?” Fane’s
voice was so soft, laced with fear and worry.

“Oh, Fane.” Alina began wrapping her arms
around her only son, pulling him close. “You will make her happy.
You will also make her mad, sad, and annoyed, probably a little
claustrophobic at times, but you will make her happy. Your wolf
will step in when your human side steps out of line. The wolf only
sees black and white, all he understands is that she is your mate,
that you must love her, protect her, provide for her, play with
her, and make her content. Your human side will fill in the gap of
emotions the wolf does not understand. She will make you a better
Alpha, a better man. You will give her what no other man ever
could: the other half of her soul.”

Alina stood up to go, but first handed him a
piece of paper. “These are your vows, you can add to them but the
first part must be said, for it solidifies the bond.” Then she
turned to go.

Fane stood up, and before his mother could
make it out the door he said, “Mother, my Alpha, thank you.” And he
turned his head, baring his neck.

Alina looked Fane in the eye and held his
stare as she told him, “Te iubesc fiul” (I love you son), and she
turned and walked out the door, closing it behind her.

Fane unfolded the piece of paper and with
hands shaking read:

On this day I kneel before you, my mate, to
ask if you will make me whole. Will you give yourself to me,
finally calming the beast inside, bringing order to chaos, shining
light where there has been only darkness? Will you bind your life
to mine, your fate to mine, and your soul to mine and in doing so
complete the mate bond?

After Fane read that it would be Jacquelyn’s
turn to respond with her answer and her vows. Once they read the
formal vows, if they so chose they could recite their own vows. Up
until a few moments earlier, Fane hadn't been sure what to say, but
his mother had remedied that. Everything his mother had said was
what he was feeling. Fane grabbed a pen, sat down, and quickly
wrote out the words he would pour from his heart to his mate.

Checking his phone for the time, he saw that
he only had fifteen minutes until he was to be in the garden where
the ceremony would take place. He grabbed the suit hanging on his
bedroom door, stripped faster than he thought possible, and was
slipping into his jacket when he suddenly heard a scream in his
mind. He fell to the floor from the force of the emotions coming
with that scream. He felt confusion, pain, and most of all fear,
all-consuming fear.

“
JACQUELYN!”
Fane sent the thought
through their bond.
“Where are you? What’s happened?”
Fane
waited for her response but no words came through, only fear and
pain. She was scared and she was hurt. Fane took off at a dead run
through the house and out the front door and nearly collided with
his father.

“Something is wrong, I can feel it in in the
pack bonds. What is going on?” Vasile asked.

“I heard Jacquelyn scream and felt her fear
and pain and now I can’t get her to answer me,” Fane answered.

“When was the last time you spoke with
her?”

“She told me around 12:15 that they were
headed our direction. She sounded fine, in no distress,” Fane
answered. He couldn’t keep from looking at his surroundings,
expecting at any moment to be ambushed, but by what, he didn’t have
a clue.

Vasile was halfway back to the main house
before Fane even realized he had walked away. Running to catch up,
he heard his father on the phone with Decebel.

“Get the vehicles started and the pack
loaded. Skender and Boian together, Sorin and you together, I will
have Alina and Fane. I want each vehicle to take a different route
going towards Lilly’s house. Keep your phones on, be prepared for
anything. We don’t know if they were just in an accident or if this
is the act of an enemy.” Vasile didn’t wait for a response before
he hung up. Just as they reached the door to the house Fane’s
mother stepped out dressed in black cargos, a fitted black t-shirt,
and combat boots, her fighting gear. She threw Fane a gun and then
turned to her mate.

“We ready?” she asked him.

“Yes, let's go. You drive, Mina, just in case
we have to engage anyone. Fane, you keep trying to get in touch
with your mate. Do you have her cell phone number?”

“No, I never asked for it because we’ve
always just spoken through our thoughts,” Fane said in frustration,
shoving the gun in the waist of the back of his pants. “Wait, I can
call the Henrys and see if they know anything.”

Brian picked up on the second ring.
“Hello?”

“Brian, it’s Fane. Did you see Lilly and the
girls leave today?” Fane spoke in clipped tones, holding it
together by a thread.

“No Fane, I didn’t see them leave. Is
something wrong?”

“I don’t know, but I think something may have
happened to them. If you hear from them please call me right away.”
Fane hung up before Brian could respond. His hands shook as he set
the phone down on the seat next to him. He closed his eyes and
concentrated as hard as he could on Jacquelyn, on her face, the
sound of her voice, the color of her hair, every detail he could
think of and he reached out with a push of his power.
“Jacquelyn, tell me where you are.”
Nothing.
“Luna,
please answer me, if you can’t with words give me something, a
feeling, a picture in your mind, something to tell me you are still
with me.”
Fane was getting more and more desperate the longer
he went without hearing a response from her.

He laid his head on the head rest,
frustration threatening to pour out in the form of a huge black
wolf. Fane just wanted something even if it was just a memory of
the last thing she saw. As they got closer to town, Fane called on
the wolf to use his superior hearing and heard the faint sound of
sirens.

“Da, do you hear that?”

“Yes, it sounds like it’s coming from
downtown,” Vasile answered

“Lilly’s book store is downtown,” Fane told
his mother.

“Were they planning to go there on their way
to our home?” his mother asked.

“Not that I know of, but I still haven’t been
able to communicate with her. When she let me know they were on
their way she did not mention stopping by the book store,” Fane
told his parents.

Vasile's face looked somber when he said, “If
you are unable to communicate with her it more than likely means
she is not conscious.”

At the thought of his mate so helpless Fane
struggled to hold onto his wolf, and his father, realizing that he
was about to lose it, turned to him and placed his hand on his
shoulder and let out a low growl. Fane’s wolf submitted
reluctantly, but only just, by the presence of his Alpha. Finally
they turned the corner and were on the street of Lilly’s book
store. As they drove in front of it they didn’t see any sign of
Lilly’s vehicle but could hear sirens up ahead. The further on they
drove they began to see smoke and then bright orange flames
surrounding an SUV that lay upside down in the ditch. As soon as
Fane saw the fire, and before his mother could stop the car, he was
out the door running at wolf’s speed, not caring if it drew
attention, not caring if people realized that there was no way a
human could run that fast. As he got closer to the vehicle he saw
four figures across the ditch close to the road, as far from the
burning wreck as they could get without being in the road. Four
figures, two sitting up, two lying down, neither of the latter
moving. Fane’s wolf pushed forward, his eyes going wolf blue, his
teeth getting longer as he struggled to hold his form, running to
his unconscious mate.

Chapter 4

Lilly’s
phone rang as they turned off their
street onto the service road, headed towards the estate Fane’s
parents were renting. She answered it without looking to see who it
was.

“This is Lilly.”

“Lilly, it’s Jeff from the store,” she heard
her employee say and she noticed that he sounded nervous.

“Jeff, is everything okay? You sound a little
tense,” Lilly told him.

“Well, there is a little problem. We have an
irate customer demanding to see you, saying something about being
ripped off. He won’t go into details, but he is really angry and I
didn’t know if I should call the police or what so I called
you.”

“If he hasn’t hurt anyone don’t call the
police, we don’t need to bother them with this if I can solve it by
me coming up there and talking to the man. Give me five minutes and
I will be there,” Lilly told Jeff.

Lilly hung up the phone and took the first
turn that would lead to her bookstore.

“Mom, what’s up? Is everything okay at the
store?”

“I’m not real sure. That was Jeff, he is one
of my assistant managers, and he says there is an irate customer
demanding to see me. Jeff seemed pretty apprehensive about it so I
think I need to stop by, but I will make it quick.”

“It’s no big thing, wolf-man can wait a few
moments. I’m not going to tell him we are making a detour, let’s
make him sweat a little when I don’t show up exactly at 1:00,”
Jacque said with a mischievous smile.

“I don’t think you and Jen should be allowed
to hang out any more, Jacque, she’s beginning to rub off on you and
I can’t handle more than one evil witch at a time,” Sally said
sarcastically.

Jen rolled her eyes. “There’s nothing wrong
with making the man sweat a little. I mean, come on, he did fake
his death and nearly drive our sweet little Jacque out of her mind.
All’s fair in love and war, baby.”

“Well, there is that,” Sally conceded.

They pulled up to the curb in front of the
book store and all four of them piled out of the car. It was way
too hot to sit in the car even with the air on and besides that
Jacque didn’t want her mom facing some lunatic by herself. Once
they were in the store, Lilly started looking around, expecting to
see or at least hear this so-called irate customer, but there was
nothing. Everyone in the store was quiet, perusing through the
store, some talking softly to one another. She walked up to one of
the employees and asked where Jeff was.

“He said he had to leave, something about an
emergency,” the employee named Lisa answered.

That’s weird, Lilly thought. “Well what
happened to the customer who was so upset?” Lilly asked.

“What customer? There haven't been any upset
customers this morning.”

Although Jacque had noticed that she hadn’t
been picking up emotions lately, she could feel something wasn’t
right. “Mom, I’m not really liking the sense of this whole
situation. Let's go, okay?” Jacque told her mother.

“Yea, I’m with ya, Jac. I’m getting a bad
vibe,” Jen added

Lilly felt the same way; something was wrong.
They needed to leave but she didn’t feel comfortable leaving the
store open. She turned back to Lisa and told her to politely tell
the customers there had been an emergency and that the store needed
to close, and then asked her to lock up.

As they all got back into the car, Jacque
couldn’t stop the chill that ran through her body. She was blocking
her thoughts from Fane and even trying to block her emotions
because she knew if he thought she was even in the tiniest danger,
or that there was even a potential for danger, he would come flying
to the rescue and she didn’t feel like the situation was that
dire.

As Lilly began to pull away from the curb,
Jacque asked, “So mom, what do you think that was about?”

“I’m not really sure. Jeff has always seemed
honest. I don’t understand why he would lie about an irate
customer,” Lilly answered.

“Maybe he’s one of those disgruntled
employees who’s gotten his panties all in a twist because he didn’t
get that raise he wanted. Or maybe he’s got one of those problems
where you hallucinate and see things that aren’t there. Or maybe
he’s on crack so he’s hallucinating and seeing things that aren’t
there, or hmphmm -” Before Jen could continue, Sally slapped a hand
over Jen’s mouth.