Blood Rites (14 page)

Decebel got to her before Logan could touch
her. "Jacque, stay here please. Logan and I will be right outside
to see what is going on."

"Okay, please make sure Fane is okay. He is
blocking his thoughts," Jacque told him.

Decebel nodded and then turned back to Jen
and Sally. "You two stay put."

"Once again I am reminded that I should be
wearing a collar that says 'if found please call the bossy werewolf
who thinks he is my owner at 1-800-butt-head'," Jen said
sarcastically.

All three girls heard Decebel mutter under
his breath, "Little, mouthy smart ass." As he followed Logan out of
the room and into the hall, it was a complete wreck. Chairs had
been thrown, glass in the family area broken, Fane had gone crazy.
Decebel turned to Logan. "If anything happens to any of those
girls, you will die by my hand after I have declawed and neutered
you."

"I will protect them," was Logan's only
response.

"HE CAN'T HAVE HER!" Fane yelled. His voice
had gone guttural, his wolf pushing to take over. His claws had
pushed through his fingers and his eyes were glowing wolf blue. His
canines had begun to elongate.

"Fane, STOP!" Vasile growled at him.

Vasile had taken him down to the Emergency
Room and was using one of the family holding areas to talk to his
son. Alina and Lilly had gone with them.

"Ea apartine cu mine, cu ranita noastra (She
belongs with me, with our pack.)," Fane pleaded with his Alpha.

"It's pack law, Fane. I cannot stop him."

"ARRGGGHHH!" Fane slammed his fist into the
wall, punching a huge whole. "Nu ma intereseaza despre ranita
legea, ce ti-ai legii. Ea este colega mea, sufletul meu si ma
intrebi pe mine sa mearga intr-o parte din ei (I don't care about
pack law, about your law. She is my mate, my soul and you ask me to
walk away from her)." Fane grabbed a chair and threw it across the
room, shattering the glass windows. He didn't even pause before a
ripped the television out of the wall and threw it out the window,
following the chair to its fate.

"Fane este de ajuns (Fane that is enough)."
Vasile's power flowed over the room, driving Fane to his knees.
Fane's shoulders slumped in defeat, his head hung. His hands were
balled into fists, the claws that had begun to shift digging into
his hands, cutting deep.

"What would you do if it was mama?" Fane's
voice was so low that Vasile only heard it because of his wolf
hearing.

"I would kill anything and anyone who kept
her from me," Vasile admitted. "But Jacque is not in any danger,
and it's not for forever, it's just two months and then you can
complete the bond and blood rites." Vasile knew he was asking the
impossible, he wouldn't want to be separated from his mate for even
two days let alone two months, but Fane and Jacque were both still
minors and not bonded. By pack law, Jacque's father had every right
to do what he was asking. What could Vasile do?

"You can be with her during the day, but he
asks that you don’t spend the night with her," Vasile told him,
trying to speak as calm as possible, knowing he was prodding an
already angry beast.

"
El
solicită
?
Vrei să spui
că
ţi-a spus
,
Alpha
la
cel mai mare
pachet de
lupi
gri
din
lume
,
el
vi sa poruncit,
că
nu am putut
sta
cu
partenerul meu
pe timp de noapte?
(He asks? Do you mean he told
you, Alpha to the largest pack of Grey wolves in the world, he
commanded you, that I could not stay with MY mate at night?)" Fane
growled.

"Înţeleg
că
sunteţi
supăraţi,
am
înţeles
sunteţi
doare
,
dar
eu sunt
încă în stadiul
alpha
-ul tău,
vă
va prezenta
la mine,
Fane.
(I
understand you are angry, I understand you are hurting, but I am
still your Alpha, you will submit to me, Fane). You know I will not
let anything happen to Jacque, trust me. If not as your Alpha, then
as your father."

After a few moments of silence Fane finally
stood up and looked at his father. "I don't know if I can do that.
You ask too much, Dillon Jacobs asks too much. I may not be the
Pack Alpha of the Romanian Greys, but I'm more dominant than
Jacobs.He will not take what is mine. I'm sorry, Alpha, but in this
I cannot obey." Fane didn't wait for his father to respond as he
turned and left the waiting area, headed back to Jacquelyn's
room.

Jen and Sally came over and climbed onto
Jacque's bed. "You got anything coming in on your reception, Jac?"
Jen asked her.

"If you mean is Fane talking to me, then no,
he's blocking his thoughts. I am getting intense anger, though.
Whatever it is, Fane is royally pissed off," she answered.

"No pun intended, but" Jen laughed, "get it?
Royally pissed, cuz he's a prince…anyone, no… no takers? Okay
then."

Sally patted her on the leg. "Any other time,
I would have totally given you props, but a werewolf just nearly
tore the hospital apart, so right now props are all on hold."

"Noted." Jen clicked her tongue and winked in
acknowledgment to Sally's statement.

Jacque was beginning to get a little panicked
over the fact that Fane would not respond to her through their
bond. What could be making him so mad?

"This is ridiculous," Jen grumbled as she
began to rise off the bed and trudged slowly toward the room door,
her IV pole in tow. She pulled it open and stuck out her head.
Decebel was standing to the left of the door in his usual pose,
arms across his chest, looking for all the world like he would be
happy to rip someone's arms off given the chance. Be that as it
may, Jen had to take two seconds, okay, maybe three to acknowledge
that the man had a nice chest. Not an option, she told herself and
decided that would have to be her mantra when she was around
Decebel.

"Is there something wrong, Jen?" he asked her
in an annoyingly calm voice.

"We just heard what sounded like a tornado
ripping through this hall and you really want to ask me if
something is wrong? Really? That's all ya got? Are you seriously
going to stand there and act like everything is peachy keen jelly
bean?"

Decebel raised a single eyebrow at her.
"Which question would you like me to answer first?"

Jen growled at him. "Oh forget it," she said
as she grabbed her IV pole and began to walk past him. "I'll find
out what the hell happened without the help of Mr. 'I'm a big bad
werewolf, I will eat you'." Her voice got deeper with each
word.

As she passed him, in a voice so low she
nearly missed it, she heard him mutter, "You might like it."

Jen whipped her head around, nearly losing
her balance and knocking her IV pole over.

"Did you just make a joke? Because if you did
then we need to get on the phone with air traffic control to tell
them to be on the lookout fat little pigs with wings, and maybe
even channel hell to see if the lakes of fire have frozen
over."

"I don't know what you're talking about," he
told her, his face dead pan as he gently took her arm and led her
back to the room. He gently pushed her inside and pulled the door
shut behind her.

Jen stood there completely dumbfounded.

"Did you find anything out?" Sally asked.
Both her and Jacque were looking at their friend in
expectation.

"I..." Jen couldn't get her mouth to spit out
what her brain was trying to piece together, so she just stood
there looking thoroughly confused.

Sally got up and walked over to Jen and began
to help her back to the bed. "Is it just me, Jac, or does it look
like little miss thang has been rendered speechless?"

"Never thought I'd see the day," Jacque
agreed. "But for clarification purposes, Jen, snap out of it and
tell me if you found out anything."

Sally snapped her fingers in front of Jen's
face. This finally brought her brain back online. "Okay you," Jen
pointed a finger at Jacque, who in turn pointed to herself and
mouthed "me" to Sally. Sally just shrugged her shoulders. "I have
no information to give you other than the hall is a mess, that is
all I know." Jen then turned and looked at Sally. "I did however
find out Decebel has a sense of humor…I think, maybe, sort of, crap
I don't know."

Before Sally and Jacque could ask Jen to
clarify, the door to their room opened and Lilly walked in, looking
very tired.

"Mom, what's going on?" Jacque asked her
mother.

"We need to talk."

"That's never a good sign," Jen said.

"Sally, Jen, you both need to stay and
listen, this will affect you both."

"No Jen,
that
is never a good sign.
The last time she asked you guys to stay I found out I was half
werewolf," Jacque said, her voice wavering.

Before Lilly could get started there was a
light knock on the door.

"Come in," all three girls yelled.

Alina walked in apprehensively. "Lilly I
thought maybe I could help explain things if there were any
questions."

"That would be great, Alina, thank you,"
Lilly told her.

"Ok," Lilly said, pulling up a chair to sit
down. She placed her elbows on her knees and leaned her head down,
running her hands through her hair. "let me get this out before
Fane gets here because once he gets here no one will be getting
near you, Jacque."

"Mom, you're making me nervous, what's
wrong?"

"Dillon is invoking Alpha rights as your
father because you are a minor," Lilly told her, frustration from
her earlier encounter with Dillon leaking into her voice.

Jacque stared at her mother blankly, knowing
she should be outraged she just wasn't sure about what exactly.
"Alina, translation please," Jacque asked, turning to look at
Fane's mother.

"First, I want you all to promise not to say
anything until I have explained completely," she told them. "Do I
have your word?"

"Word," all three said dryly.

"Dillon does not think you and Fane are old
enough to mate."

Jacque started to interrupt, her face full of
obvious outrage, but the look in Alina's eyes was pure Alpha and
Jacque's mouth snapped closed. Alina nodded her head in approval
and continued. "Since he is your father, it also helps that he is
the Alpha of his pack, and you are under the age of 18, he can
invoke what is called Alpha rights. Basically, he is saying he can
keep you and Fane from becoming bonded until you are 18. He wants
you to go back to Colorado with him and his pack for the next two
months until you turn 18. He thinks that you and Fane need to
mature some, that Fane is not ready to be a mate and protect you as
you ought to be protected." After Alina finished talking, she
waited for the inevitable but it didn't come. Instead, Jacque sat
still as stone, her breathing even, her lips drawn tight in a
straight line.

"Fane, I know you can hear me. I need
you."
Jacque sent the thought to Fane, allowing him to feel her
anger, her fear and worry.

"I am on my way. You need to know,
Jacquelyn, I will kill anyone who tries to take you from me.
Anyone."
Fane's voice was like death itself, cold, dark and
unrelenting.

Jacque shivered at the sound of it in her
mind.
"Just hurry, please,"
was her only response to his
edict.

"Well, if Jacque is not going to share with
the room the fury which she is undoubtedly feeling, by all means
allow me," Jen announced. "Dillon Jacobs and what furry army is
going to try, and let me just reiterate that, as in will, endeavor,
strive, aim, seek, and albeit unsuccessfully attempt to take Jacque
away from us?"

Sally looked at Jen and couldn't help the
grin that spread across her face. "Your vocabulary never ceases to
amaze. Just when I think all you know is profanity and perversion
you come out with a speech worthy of Braveheart. Well done."

Jacque would have acknowledged her friends
efforts to defend her had the door not flew open and a raging,
pissed off werewolf prince walked in. His power swirled around them
so strong that Alina let out a whine, sounding alarmingly like a
wolf in pain. Even Jacque felt the dormant wolf gene in her wanting
to submit to the power of the Alpha wolf in Fane. It was getting
hard to breathe the air was so thick with his anger. He walked over
to Jacque, whose head was bowed and turned so that her neck was
bared. It was like she knew instinctively to submit so as to not
provoke the dominant wolf and hopefully she would subdue him in her
surrender. Fane's wolf must have been the one in control of the
wheel because he leaned down over Jacque and growled low. He placed
his face against her neck, breathing deep, and his voice was
guttural when he spoke. "Mine."

Jacque turned her head slightly and did what
no other would ever be able to do when this Alpha was at this
point, she looked him in the eyes. "Yes, I am yours." As soon as
the words were out of her mouth, Fane pulled his power in and all
of a sudden it was like a weight had been lifted and they could
breathe again.

"Note to self," Sally coughed to clear her
throat, still trying to drag air in, "never anger an Alpha."

"Good call, Sherlock," Jen said sarcastically
as she fell back on the bed, taking in deep breaths. She threw her
arm across her face and tried to calm her racing heart.

Jacque looked around. "Everyone okay?" When
everyone nodded in agreement she turned and looked at her mate.