Piercing Silence (15 page)

“What kind of something?” Jacque’s forehead
wrinkled as her brow drew together.

Lilly seemed to be searching for the right
word or words. “I don’t know if you’d call it their humanity
because they aren’t human after all. But it’s like whatever is in
them that makes them rational, caring, and moral—something other
than impulsive monsters— is fading away.”

Jacque’s mouth dropped open and then closed
again. She opened it again and this time words came out. “Has
Cypher told Vasile about it?”

Lilly shook her head. “You know how the
different species can be. They are very protective of their own and
Cypher is worried that if he lets the wolves in on what is
happening then they will tell the Fae who in turn would feel the
need to step in.”

Jacque crossed her arms in front of her as
she nodded. “I can understand that. I mean the Fae are basically
the supernatural police. They are not exactly known for their
diplomatic skills. The Fae are just as likely to come in guns
blazing and eradicate the warlocks as to help them find a
solution.”

“Exactly,” her mom agreed. “Cypher wants to
see if he can figure it out and solve it on his own.”

“Is it affecting Cypher? I
mean, is he still
normal
, or well, normal for his
yellow-eyed self anyway?”

Her mom laughed. “Saying Cypher is normal is
like saying one of your Canis lupus males is reasonable.”

As they walked through the garden to the
door that led back into the mansion, Jacque touched her mom’s
shoulder. “You will tell us if things get worse?”

Lilly hesitated but finally nodded. “I
promise.”

Jacque stepped out of the garden and into
the hall to find Fane leaning against the opposite wall with his
arms crossed in front of his broad chest and his head bowed. Lilly
walked over to him and spoke softly into his ear, so softly that
Jacque couldn’t make out what she was saying. Fane’s shoulders
tensed briefly but then relaxed. As Lilly stepped away she winked
at Jacque before walking down the hall leaving Jacque and Fane
alone.

Fane raised his head and Jacque took it as a
good sign that his eyes had finally stopped glowing.

“Are you ready to talk to me now?” he asked
gently.

Jacque bit her lip as she nodded.

Fane reached for her hand, took it, and led
her back toward their room. “I need to warn you, Luna, that my wolf
needs action more than words at this particular moment.”

Jacque felt her pulse speed up. She knew
what Fane was saying. Just like their animal cousins, the wolves
craved touch―not just the intimate kind but also the reassuring
kind: a pat on the shoulder, a hug, or even just a hand grazing
across the back. They thrived on that touch and found comfort in
it―especially during times of worry, frustration, or pain.

Jacque was pretty sure
that Fane’s wolf didn’t just need the
reassuring
kind of touch.

“It is reassuring between
mates to share themselves with one another through physical
intimacy,”
Fane pointed out silently
through their bond. She knew he wasn’t going to be withdrawing from
her mind anytime soon, not after she’d closed him out.

As they entered their room, Jacque turned to
face Fane but that was as far as she got before her legs collapsed
beneath her as a sharp pain ripped through her abdomen.

Chapter 16

F
ane lunged forward as he watched his mate collapse. He caught
her just before her head would have slammed into the
floor.

“Jacquelyn!” Her name was a plea on his lips
as he watched her face turn a ghostly shade of white. “Luna, talk
to me. What’s wrong?”

She didn’t answer him. Instead she tried to
curl in on herself as she clutched at her abdomen. With every groan
that rolled out of her, Fane felt a piece of him wither away.

“Da!”
Fane called out through the pack bonds.
“Something is wrong with Jacque. I think it’s something with
the baby.”

“I’ll send Rachel. Is
there any blood?”
his father responded
immediately.

Fane’s heart plummeted; he hadn’t thought
about blood. He glanced down attempting to see if anything was on
her jeans.

“Not that I can tell.”

Fane carefully picked his mate up in his
arms and carried her over to their bed. Perspiration was gathering
on her forehead as she continued to writhe in pain. She still
hadn’t said a coherent word but when he turned to go to the
bathroom to get a towel, she grabbed his shirt. Her eyes were wide
with panic. His own panic began to well up inside of him, but he
fought to suppress it. He knew that he needed his wits about him
right now.

“Don’t leave me,” she ground out between
clenched teeth.

“I’m not leaving you, love. I’m not going
anywhere. I just wanted to get you a towel.”

She shook her head at him and clutched his
shirt tighter. Fane sat down next to her, realizing that he
couldn’t walk away from her for any amount of time when she looked
at him like that. With her large green eyes she was begging him to
fix it―to take the pain away. He wanted nothing more than to do
just that.

The door opened and Rachel and Gavril’s
scents poured in mixing with the smell of pain and fear. Fane
looked up as Rachel approached on the opposite side of the bed. Her
face was one of concentration and calm. She looked at him and met
his stare.

“Prince, may I touch your mate?” she asked
formally, reminding him that she was very, very old.

Fane nodded once but didn’t back away when
Rachel moved forward and placed a hand on Jacquelyn’s stomach. The
healer closed her eyes and Fane tried not to growl at her to hurry
up. He felt a hand on his shoulder and nearly turned to snarl at
whoever dared get near his mate in such a vulnerable state.

“Easy,” Vasile’s voice and power cascaded
over him, allowing him to keep his anxious wolf from lashing out,
but only just.

R
achel pushed her power into Jacque as she searched out the
problem that was causing the female so much pain. The first thing
that she felt was Jacque’s panic and fear. She was terrified for
the life of her child.

“Easy, Jacque,”
she whispered softly to her as she attempted to
assuage some of her terror.
“I’m going to
see what the problem is, and then we are going to do everything we
can to make sure that you and the baby are okay.”

“Please, please, don’t let my baby die.”

The desperate appeal made Rachel even more
determined to protect the pair. After all her years serving the
packs, how many young Canis Lupus had Rachel seen born? How many
small gifts had they been given? It was only a handful. She
returned her energy and attention to Jacque’s womb as she inspected
the uterus, placenta, and then the child within. The infant’s heart
rate was rising. Jacque’s own panic seemed to cause it to rise even
further.

“Peace, little
one,”
Rachel crooned to the child as she
let her power surround the womb. It was only a few minutes later
that Rachel realized the source of the pain and why the heart rate
was increasing. Jacque was having contractions, and not just minor
ones. These were labor contractions that, if allowed to continued,
would lead to an early delivery.

“It is not time yet. You
have to stay safe and warm for a little longer.”
Rachel attempted to stop the contraction but all
she was able to do was to lessen the intensity of it. She was
surprised that she couldn’t do more, but then she remembered that
Jacque was half human, and it might take human medicine to help
where her healing powers would not.

She kept her hand on Jacque and continued to
focus on holding back the contractions as she pulled her
consciousness back out. She looked at Fane and met glowing wolf
eyes.

“She’s in premature labor. I am able to
lessen the strength of the contractions but I cannot stop
them.”

“What can stop them?” Vasile asked from
behind his son.

Rachel glanced up at the Alpha and then back
to Fane. “I think she will need human treatment of some kind.”

J
acque could hear the voices around her but it was difficult
to make out what they were saying. Her attention was too focused on
the pain and her distress for her baby. Her hands clenched down on
her stomach as another bout of pain rolled through her, though it
wasn’t as bad as the last one. She’d heard Rachel’s voice and
caught the word labor. Jacque didn’t want to panic because she
figured that losing control wouldn’t help the situation, but at six
months pregnant, she was pretty sure going into labor was not a
good thing.

The sound of Jen’s voice snapped her out of
her internal musings. She kept her eyes closed because the one time
she’d tried opening them the room had been spinning.

“Decebel, you have to wait in the hall.
Crap, man, look at Fane’s face. Do you really think he wants
another dominant male near his pregnant mate?” Jen sounded truly
exasperated, which Jacque knew was a common occurrence between the
blonde and her mate.

“Now,” Jen said, sounding closer than
before, “would someone please like to tell me what is going
on?”

Jacque listened this time as Rachel
explained to Jen that she was in premature labor and would need
human medicine to stop it. Once again she fought the panic that
threatened to rise up and strangle her. She must have made a noise
because she felt Fane’s breath on her face as he whispered to
her.

“I hate that you are hurting, Luna. I want
to take your pain.” He sounded frustrated and helpless all at the
same time. “We’re going to fix this; trust me to take care of
you.”

“Save our baby,
Fane,”
she sent the thought to him, still
struggling to keep her thoughts clear.

“I will save you both. That’s my privilege
and duty.”

She believed him. Fane
would walk through the fires of hell,
had
walked through the fires of hell
for her, and he would do it as many times as he needed to in order
to protect her and keep her safe. He would do the same for their
child. Of that she had no doubt.

Chapter 17

J
en glanced at Jacque but couldn’t offer her friend more than
that. It was too hard to see her hurting like that. After all of
the times they each had been in danger, after all of their close
calls and by the skin of their teeth moments, Jen was gun shy. She
knew that the females of their species frequently lost children—if
they were able to conceive at all. But with a healer in the pack it
was supposed to be less common. She had to bite her tongue to keep
from snarling at Rachel and asking her why in the hell her friend
was in such a situation now.

“Okay, so we get her the medicine,” Jen
stated matter-of-fact like. Why were they all just standing here
staring at her? Why hadn’t someone already gotten their asses in
gear and done something? Maybe it was because she nearly lost her
own child, or maybe it was because she was a mom now and she fully
understood just how protective mothers were of their babies.
Whatever the reason, the thought of Jacque losing her baby was
beyond Jen’s comprehension. It just wasn’t an option, sort of like
Dec being feminine or Vasile wearing a leotard; it just wasn’t
going to happen, not on her watch.

“Just going and getting human medicine isn’t
as easy as it once was,” Rachel told her gently.

Jen felt her heart stutter. She hadn’t
forgotten what Cynthia had done for them, how could she? Her and
Dec’s child was named after the doctor, but she hadn’t thought
about the fact that Cynthia had been their only link to the human
medical community.