Den of Sorrows (4 page)

Sally held up her hand. “Sorry, barkeep, but you’ve been blocked.” She made a motion of her shoulder. “Prego is in there asleep on our couch.”

Costin frowned. “Doesn’t she have her own couch?”

“Yes, but apparently it was too far to walk.”

“I can hear you, ya know?” Jacque hollered.

“I always forget she has the whole wolf thing going on,” Sally told him.

“So we can’t go in our room?”

The pitiful look on his face had her laughing.

“When I said I can hear you, what I meant was go away you annoying supernatural beings because I’m trying to take a nap,” Jacque called out again.

“Wow, she’s grumpy,” Costin said with a grin.

“Why does that make you smile?”

“Because that means Fane is having to put up with her.”

They heard a loud thump against the door. “Yep, poor Fane,” Sally said as she took Costin’s hand. “You can go with me to talk to Rachel about the new healers. And on the way you can share with me why you and the other guys are blocking the bond from us.” Her voice was sweet but the look in her eyes made it clear she wasn’t as cool about the situation as she sounded.

“I’m guessing that’s not code for having a make out session in the potions’ room and then pillow talk afterwards?”

She grinned at him. “No, my love, it’s not and why do you insist on calling it a potions’ room?”

“Sounds better than gypsy healer lab. But we could call it the luuuve potion room.” He winked at her.

Sally laughed. “Is that all you think about,” she asked as she tugged him after her.

“Yes,” he answered immediately and then amended. “Well, that and food.”

Chapter 3

“Secrets suck. The only good thing about a secret is that when Decebel is keeping one, and he knows that I know he’s keeping one, I have leverage. Leverage is good, especially when you’re mated to a bossy, domineering, possessive, though undeniably sexy, werewolf. Yes, leverage is very important when mated to one of these fur balls.” ~Jen

“
I
want you to build a doghouse,” Jen said as she lay sprawled across her mate’s bare chest.

“We don’t have a dog,” Decebel pointed out.

“But Thia will need a dog at some point. It would be good for a puppy to grow up with her, and then she’d have a buddy and protector.”

“I will protect her.”

Jen huffed. “What about when you’re out doing Alpha stuff? Who’s going to protect her then?”

“I’ll assign her a guard.”

“And what happens when, as she grows up, this guard and she fall in love because they spent so much time together?” Jen bit her lip to keep from laughing as she felt Decebel’s irritation grow. He always got growly anytime Jen brought up Thia and boys.

“Fine, I’ll build the doghouse.”

“Tomorrow.”

He growled at her. “Why tomorrow? We don’t have the dog yet.”

“It’s good to be prepared,” she pointed out. Decebel began to mutter under his breath in Romanian. Jen couldn’t help it that she found it incredibly sexy when he spoke his native tongue. She trailed a finger up his stomach and across his chest. “Are you grumbling at me in Romanian? You know what that does to me.”

He grabbed her hand to keep if from wandering further. “You’re purposely aggravating me.”

She shrugged, not denying it. “You’re keeping a secret. You know I don’t like it when you keep things from me. Therefore, you have to build a doghouse for a dog we don’t have.”

“Jennifer,” he growled. “You accused me of thinking about other women. As if I would need to think about other women when I have you in my bed.”

“Flattery will only get you one place, but that’s not happening until you explain to me what it is that you are keeping from me.”

Decebel growled.

“NO.” She sat up folding her arms across her chest. “You don’t get to growl at me. You blocked me from your mind tonight and then when I asked you why, you gave me some bull crap about Vasile ordering you not to tell. You’re a freaking Alpha of your own pack. You don’t take orders from Vasile.”

“Everyone takes orders from Vasile,” he pointed out calmly. “I am powerful. I might even give Vasile a run for his money, but I would never challenge him. I respect him. He asked us not to discuss what was said in the meeting tonight and I will honor that.”

“Then you can build two doghouses. I’ve decided Thia’s dog should have a friend for when Thia can’t play.”

Decebel groaned and threw his head back against the pillow. “You’re pushing me, female.”

“Then I suggest you don’t stand on the edge of a cliff because, right now, I’d gladly push you off!” Jen’s eyes were glowing and her wolf was itching for a fight. She didn’t like it when their mate kept things from them. They were supposed to be a team.

He moved before she knew what he was doing and had her pinned to the bed. “Maybe I just need to tire you out so you can’t be angry and you can’t order me around.” He trailed his nose up her collar bone and neck until his lips were pressed against his bite mark on her neck. He nipped her flesh and she shuttered.

“I’m not interested.” She turned her face away from him and bit the inside of her cheek to keep from groaning when she felt his hand trail up the outside of her thigh until it rested on her hip.

“Your words may say so, but your body is telling me something different, Jennifer.” His words were practically a purr. “Do you want to know what your body is telling me?”

“I want you to shut up and go build me those doghouses.”

He chuckled. “Ugh, even that was hot.”

“I think you want to know. I think you want to know that when I touch you
here
.” —he ran his hand across her stomach— “your skin erupts in little bumps. When I kiss you
here
” —Decebel pressed his lips to the hollow of her throat— “your breath catches. When I press you firmer into our bed, like
this
” —he lowered his larger frame over hers, pressing her into the mattress beneath them— “your heartbeat increases and your skin flushes a beautiful shade of red.”

Jen threw up a wall in her mind, not wanting him to see what he was really doing to her. Yes, her body was responding in all of those ways, and more, because Decebel got to her on a level that was beyond physical. He was able to reach inside of her and touch a part of her no one else could. Okay, so that nearly made her laugh out loud because, wow, that sounded bad.

“What are you hiding from me, baby?” he asked her as he continued his assault on her senses. His hands continued to roam and his lips found every tender piece of flesh available. “Are you trying to keep me from feeling what I make
you
feel?”

The smugness in his voice almost gave her the strength to push him away. Almost, but not quite, and as she always said, almost only counted with hand grenades and bad hair days. Okay, so maybe she didn’t really say that, but she’d probably read it somewhere and totally agreed with it. Her breath suddenly rushed out of her body as her mind was brought back to the present. Decebel had her full attention, but it would be completely unlady-like to say why.

“I’m not finished,” he growled. 

Well neither am I
, she thought to herself with a laugh that she didn’t let out. He must have picked up on the fact that her mind had been wandering. Dec just didn’t understand how she could possibly think of anything except him when they were being intimate. Jen just told him it was a chick thing. His response was usually something along the lines of, chick things are unimportant when my hands are on your body. That usually made her hush and pay attention.

“Are you still not interested?” he asked her as he looked into her eyes, his wolf glowing back at her. Jen felt her own wolf respond and when her she-wolf joined the party, her other senses suddenly joined as well. Decebel’s scent hit her like a freight train. His pheromones danced around her, coaxing her to respond. Had she been in her wolf form, she would totally have been rubbing up against him shamelessly. “Hussy,” she huffed at her wolf.
Mate, mine,
her wolf growled back.

“Your wolf definitely smells interested,” he added with a grin.

“Quit sniffing my wolf,” she said, intending the rebuke to come out with a little bite. Instead it was breathy and pathetically lustful. She should just give in and admit defeat. She could deny it all in the morning and then make him build two doghouses and a playhouse for when Thia is older. Jen snickered to herself. Yes, having leverage was nice. Then again, having an attentive lover for a mate was even nicer.

So she gave in and pulled his face to hers, kissing him just like she knew he liked it—little nips, in-between open mouths and dancing tongues. She heard him groan but that was the last truly coherent moment as clothes came off in a blur and whispered words followed hungry lips and hands.

“Decebel,” she breathed out as he pressed his lips to her stomach.

He grunted his response.

“You’re still going to be building those doghouses tomorrow.” She wasn’t about to let him think she’d caved just because she’d allowed him to seduce her.

“Jennifer, shut up and let me love you,” was his growled reply.

And when his mouth started doing what it did best, she did shut up—at least about the doghouses.

D
ecebel stared at his sleeping mate. He’d propped himself up on his arm and leaned over her, creating a shelter around her body. Her face was relaxed, serene even. There was only one other time that Decebel could classify his mate as looking serene and that was when she was holding their beautiful daughter, who was currently asleep in her own bed in the room just beside theirs. Decebel had been surprised when Jen had announced that it was time for their five-month-old daughter to move to her own room. When he’d asked why, especially since she was still nursing, Jen’s response had come with a wicked gleam,
because mama wants to play with daddy and playing with daddy when Thia is in the room feels like I’m giving her an education she is way, way too young for.
So, they’d moved Thia into her own room, and he had to admit, it was nice having their space back. He absolutely adored his daughter, but he needed alone time with the child’s mother, just as much as Jen needed alone time with him. He smiled as he gently pushed his mate’s hair over her shoulder revealing the mark his bite left. Such a small thing, and yet, every time he saw it, emotions swelled inside of him.

She was his—his mate, his wife—and together they’d made a child. If someone had told him a year and a half ago that by now he’d be mated and a father, he’d have laughed. Decebel was pretty sure that no male of his race truly believed there was a true mate out there for him until he actually met her. It was as though they were a myth, a fairy tale that their parents told them to help them deal with the growing darkness inside of them. He thanked the Great Luna that true mates weren’t myth, but real and priceless.

She stirred but didn’t wake up. He needed to sleep, especially since he was going to be building doghouses for a dog they didn’t have, all the while trying to dodge Jen’s attempts at getting through the barrier in his mind. He dreaded the moment when he’d have to tell her about the children and how they’d died. He knew his fierce Alpha female would be out for blood. If she could, she would single-handedly kill every vampire on earth for touching one child, let alone eighteen or more. He dreaded telling her because he knew that she was going to want to be involved in whatever plan he and Vasile formulated. He’d try to play the Thia card, and it might work, but even if it did, he knew he’d be sleeping in one of the doghouses she wanted him to build. Decebel decided then that he’d better make at least one of them big and comfortable.

F
ane was sound asleep as Jacque stood staring out of the window into the cold night air. Spring was only a couple months away and she was ready for the warmer weather. She was ready to see flowers bloom and green things grow. Winter was beautiful, but for some reason it seemed ominous to her as she stared out at the snow. She heard the sheets ruffle and turned to see if her mate had woken up, but he was still asleep. Jacque had considered pushing his butt out of the bed after the argument they’d had, especially since he’d simply rolled over and nodded off like they hadn’t just had it out.

She’d asked him repeatedly why he was blocking his thoughts from her. Jacque felt as though she had a pretty good reason to be freaked out by his mental wall, considering they’d recently endured months of mental separation. Jacque had been tortured by Desdemona’s curse, and Fane had lived every second of it as if it were real. His resulting anger had caused him to shut her out completely, leading to his own internal turmoil. He had repeatedly told her that this had nothing to do with the hell he had gone through, but it was hard for Jacque to take him at his word. Of course then he pulled out the
you don’t trust me
card and also reminded her of the fact that only a couple months ago she’d tried to convince the Fates to change her past. She’d thought that if Fane had never met her, then he would have avoided his suffering entirely. Yes, that had not been one of her brighter ideas. What was she supposed to say to that? Well, what she did say was something along the lines of,
damn right I don’t trust you, not when you’re blocking me from your mind and attempting to placate me by practically patting me on the head and telling me to run along
. And she might have also pointed out that they were talking about
his
actions, not hers. Fane hadn’t taken too kindly to her heated comments. It was at that point that he had informed her that there was no point in continuing to argue about it and they should just go to bed. He’d rolled over and that was that.

So here she was, wide awake, out of bed, unable to sleep after their argument. Jacque pressed her hand to her nearly eight-month pregnant stomach and smiled as she felt their baby kick.  There wasn’t much she liked about being pregnant, but feeling their child move was one of the few things she treasured. She found herself wondering what he or she would look like. Would the baby have her red hair and Fane’s blue eyes? Or maybe her green eyes and his dark hair. Jacque got so caught up in her thoughts that she didn’t hear her mate approach. She jumped when strong arms wrapped around her settling on her stomach where their child grew. He pulled her into his warm chest and she wanted to kick herself for being so easily affected by him when she was still upset with him.