Just One Drop (2 page)

Chapter 2

An hour and a half later…

Fane held up the piece of paper his father handed him. He looked at his father, then back to the paper in his hand. "You want me to tell my mate that you waited an hour and a half to inform me that her best friend left to board a plane headed back to the States?" Fane growled.

"I did not wait. I called you the minute she left. You didn't arrive for an hour and a half," Vasile answered, completely unruffled by the growl in Fane's voice.

"With all due respect, Alpha, you could have mentioned the reason you wanted to see me."

"No, I couldn't. I told Jen I wouldn't
say
a word," Vasile emphasized.

"Jen didn't catch that little loophole?" Fane asked, his eyebrows raised.

"Don't you think you ought to tell your mate what's going on? I don't know how much longer Sorin can stall the plane before Jen figures out something is going on."

Fane's head snapped up at his father's words. "She hasn't left yet?"

"Do you honestly think I would let her leave?"

"Luna, I need to speak with you. Could you please come to my father's office?"
Fane sent Jacque his question through their bond. It had become so strong since their mating that she was a constant presence and comfort in his mind.

"Why do I hear worry in your voice, wolf-man?"
Jacquelyn asked him suspiciously.

Without answering his mate, he glared at his father. "I will get you back for this, Alpha. Just to warn you ahead of time."

Vasile winked at his son. "A little lesson in dealing with conflict with your mate will be good for you."

Fane looked at his Alpha in amazement. "Father, you do realize who I'm mated to, right?"

Vasile cleared his throat. "You do have a point there." But he still offered no apology for his nonchalance in the matter.

"WHAT!" Jacque and Sally yelled at the same time, causing both wolves to grimace in pain because of their sensitive hearing.

Jen sat on the plane, drinking the second Coke Sorin had brought her while she waited for the runway to be cleared. Apparently, December in Romania got icy. Go figure. She didn't really care about the runway or the plane being ice-free, she just knew that the longer she sat here, not in the air, not moving towards North America, the more nervous she became that she would be discovered by her two neurotic best friends who she knew meant well, but didn't get why she had to leave.

Everyday Jen woke up hoping that she would go downstairs and find Decebel; she went to bed every night wondering why he left. She had no idea if he knew about her wolf blood, and she was to the point that she didn't want to care.
Easier said than done
, she thought. Why couldn't she fall in love with a normal guy, someone who didn't go furry at will?
No
.
That would be too stinking easy.

She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. Her mind wandered back to the night of Jacque and Fane's bonding ceremony. Her life forever changed when Dr. Steele had explained that the blood test she had run on Jen after the car wreck had come back abnormal. Abnormal as in not human. Jen remembered feeling like the walls of the room were closing in on her.

"What do you mean, 'not human'?" she had asked Cynthia.

"You have werewolf blood. Though it is a very minute amount," Cynthia had answered.

Sally'd been sitting next to her, and her reaction had been what Jen wanted to say: "SHUT UP." Sally yelled this, causing everyone around them to stop and stare. Jen hadn't really noticed. The only thing she'd been able to focus on was a certain wolf who had been eyeballing her all night.

"What does that mean, exactly?"

"It means that somewhere in your family, generations ago, was a werewolf." The doctor seemed baffled by this. "I don't even know how it's possible unless all of his descendants mated with humans and the bloodline gradually diluted."

Jen and Sally had listened to the doctor explain that maybe something as traumatic as the accident had triggered the very dormant gene – perhaps that was why her wounds had healed so quickly. Jen asked if she thought she would develop any other werewolf characteristics. Cynthia felt that since Jacque hadn't, and she was half-were, that Jen was in the clear. But she truly didn't know what it would mean for Jen or her future. "You are the first dormant I have ever met," she told Jen.

For two months after learning about the werewolf blood that lay dormant in her blood, she had been constantly watching for any other wolf-like attributes. The only thing that she felt was different was that she could sense emotions. Well, strong emotions to be exact. She didn't really understand it, but she could almost
smell
them and each emotion smelled differently. Jen mentioned it to Sally and Jacque and they both had wanted her to go to Dr. Steele. She never did.

Jen heard a car door slam, which brought her back to the present, to the wonderful fact that she was sitting in a plane, a plane that would take her away from all this werewolf stuff.

She tapped her foot impatiently and drummed her fingers on the arm of the seat. "What could possibly be taking so freaking long," she said to the empty plane. With an exaggerated huff she undid the seat belt and stood, tired of waiting. It was time to take things into her own hands.

She looked out a window and her breath froze in her lungs at the sight. Where there had only been one black Hummer, now sat two.
No way
, she thought.
It's not him
.
Vasile has, like, a million black Hummers
. She had long ago decided it was a wolf thing.

Jen stepped back from the window, taking some slow, deep breaths. She closed her eyes and tried to regain her bearings.
I got this.
Finally ready, she walked towards the exit sign.

To what, she didn't know.

Chapter 3

"Don't you think you should call him?" Jacque asked Fane as they walked out to the car, moving slowly, trying not to slip on the snow covered ground. Fane opened the passenger door for Jacque but she didn't get in. He realized she wasn't moving until he answered all of her questions.

"My father will be the one to decide if Decebel should be called."

"That's not good enough," Jacque growled. "Not when it's
my
friend making possibly the biggest mistake of her life." She turned and, holding her arms out for balance on the slick ground, headed back into the mansion.

Sally stood next to Fane, her arms folded around her waist in an attempt to ward off the cold. She watched her friend leave. "She's going to tell your father what he should do, isn't she?"

"I keep telling her it's going to bite her in the butt one of these days.”

Jacque pushed the door to Vasile's office open without knocking. Alina stood in front of Vasile's desk and Jacque stopped beside her.

"What would lead you to believe that Jen would listen to Decebel?" Vasile asked. "It was my understanding he was the reason she was leaving."

Jacque's jaw dropped open. "She told you that? She actually told
you
about how she felt about
him
?"

"Well, not in so many words, but I saw how she looked at him at your ceremony. There is only one reason a woman looks at a man like that." Vasile winked at his mate.

"You did?" Jacque asked as her brow furrowed. "What did he say? Is he going to go and get her? Did he care at all?"

"Slow down, little one." Alina chuckled.

Vasile stood from his desk and walked around to Jacque. "I can't speak for Decebel's feelings. Although, the snarl he let out when I told him Jen was leaving would lead one to believe he felt something for her. And yes, he is going to see her. Hopefully Sorin can continue to stall the plane without Jen getting suspicious."

"Crap," Jacque whined. "She's probably already snuck off the plane and decided to swim to North America. This is Jen we're talking about. She's suspicious of everything."

"I would advise that you three stay here and let Decebel handle this for now," Vasile said soberly, making it clear to Jacque that it was really more of an order.

"Yeah, yeah. Soak it up, wolf-man," Jacque said, narrowing her eyes at her mate. "Your dad advised that we stay here and let Decebel handle it."

With her mind made up, Jen quickened her steps towards the plane exit. She grabbed the handle, yanked it open, and walked into a solid wall.

"Ummph" Jen grunted, then froze. She knew that smell.
Great
, she thought,
there I go with the smell thing again
. But she did know that smell: woodsy, spicy, and male. A very, very pissed off male. She took a step back and slowly raised her chin to look up into the face of the wolf whose memory had haunted her for the past two months.

"Going somewhere, Jennifer?" Decebel asked, eyes narrowed and lips drawn tightly.

Jen stared up into glowing, amber eyes. She couldn't speak, couldn't move, and at this point even breathing seemed to be too much for her body to ask of her. The spell was broken when she heard Decebel growl and realized that she was staring him straight in the eyes. His wolf would see that as a challenge. She took a step back but, challenge or no, did not avert her eyes. Slowly, the anger and hurt that plagued her came rushing back in, flowing through her numb body, giving her life and the ability to speak again.

"As a matter of fact, I am going somewhere. Not that it's any of your business." Jen raised one eyebrow as she folded her arms across her chest. "So if you would kindly leave, I can be on my way." Jen couldn't believe the pain that pierced her heart as she told Decebel to leave. It took everything she had not to flinch at her own words.

Undeterred by Jennifer's haughty attitude, Decebel stepped into the plane. And unless Jennifer wanted his chest pressed to her, made her take another step back.

"I have to disagree with you. I consider it very much my business when it concerns you."

Decebel watched the emotions play across Jennifer's face, so transparent to him. He waited for her to respond, knowing it would be quick-witted and sharp, one of the many things he admired about her. She did not disappoint.

"Funny that," she began. “If I'm so much your business, where have you been for the past two months? If I am so much your freaking business, then you must have a phenomenal excuse for not even coming to my eighteenth birthday party." Jen couldn't hide the hurt behind her words. She ducked her head, biting her lip to keep from crying. It didn't work.

Decebel took a step forward, drawn to her for reasons he didn't yet understand. All he knew was that standing there seeing her hurt was unbearable to him. He placed his fingers under her chin and raised her face to look into her tear-filled eyes. In that moment he was in a different time and place. He looked into a face with green eyes, not blue. A face with dark chocolate locks framing it instead of blonde. He watched as he held her fragile body in his arms, her life draining away. He held on until her form was still, only a shell left to wither from the earth.

"Decebel." The sound of Jennifer's voice brought him back to the present, but the memory of that lifeless body reminded him what happened when he cared about someone, what happened when he was unable to keep those he loved safe. He dropped his hand from her chin and took a step back, not missing the hurt that flashed across her face.

"You are my business because you are my prince's mate's best friend. As Beta it's my job to keep you safe," he answered, his demeanor suddenly much more formal.

"Well, I'm relinquishing you of that
job
by leaving. So no worries, Dec. I'm perfectly capable of sitting on a plane by myself." Jen turned to go back but didn't get far before she felt a strong hand close around her arm. Decebel turned her to face him and she could see emotions running across his handsome face. For the life of her she didn’t know what they were.