Prince of Wolves (22 page)

“
You’re just too pleased with yourself, aren’t you?”
she heard Fane say.

“
Hey, get out of my head, you perv. I’m trying to get dressed.”
Jacque feigned outrage.

“
Sorry, love. I was just curious to see what you would pic. Your sense of humor is one of the things I love most about you. Please be safe, don’t provoke Lucas – oh, and maybe it would be wise to keep Jen away from him,”
Fane told her.

“
Good idea. I feel like I should say bye, or talk to you later, but that’s just weird,”
Jacque told him.

“
How about I just tell you I love you?”
Fane asked her.

Jacque smiled.
“I love you, wolf-man.”

The last thing Jacque heard was Fane’s deep chuckle. She could feel him pull away from her thoughts and she felt bereft. She took a deep breath and started going through her jeans and picked out a low-rise pair of cargo pants.

She walked out to the bathroom to dress and throw her hair up in a pony tail. She realized once her hair was up that the marks on her neck came above the collar of her shirt.

“
Hells bells,” she huffed as she pulled her hair back down. She pulled her bangs out of her face and secured it back with bobby pins. “That’s as good as it’s gonna get,” she told her reflection in the mirror.

When she walked back into her room, Sally and Jen were both up, stretching and yawning. They both took one look at her shirt and cracked up laughing.

“
You're my hero,” Jen told her.

“
Kill 'em with sarcasm. I always knew that was your motto.” Sally still laughed.

“
I’m sorry I crashed on ya’ll like that last night. I was just so tired. I don’t think I've ever been that tired,” Jacque apologized.

“
Well, it’s not like you’re under any stress or anything,” Jen said sarcastically.

Jacque grabbed a pair of flip flops from under her bed and slipped them on. As she reached for her phone she heard Jen’s phone start playing the
Jaws
theme song. Sally and Jacque looked at her.

“
It’s my mom's ring tone.”

“
Nice,” Sally and Jacque said at the same time.

Jen answered her phone and then stepped out in the hall to talk to her mom.

“
Do your parents know you're still here?” Jacque asked Sally.

“
Yeah, I called them last night. Your mom talked to my parents and Jen’s,” Sally answered.

“
She did? What did she tell them?” Jacque asked.

“
She asked them if they minded if we stayed the rest of the week for a final vacation before school starts. Just the girls, doing girl things like facials and pedicures and whatnot. They totally bought it and thought it was so nice of your mom. You know, to let us all get one final week of relaxation before our stressful senior year starts.” Sally put the back of her hand on her forehead and swooned.

“
My mom totally rocks,” Jacque said.

“
I totally do, don’t I?” Lilly said, standing in Jacque’s doorway.

“
Hey, mom. What’s up?” Jacque asked her.

Lilly looked at her daughter’s shirt and gave her thumbs up. “Nice job on the shirt.”

Jen scooted in past Lilly and plopped back down in the floor. “My mom just wanted to know if she could bring anything over for us – brownies, nail polish. Ya know, girly stuff. I told her we had it covered. She told me to tell you thank you again, Lilly.”

“
Your mom wouldn’t thank me if she knew the big bad wolf was coming over to play,” Lilly said. “Speaking of, Lucas Steele is here.”

Jacque’s mouth dropped open. “
Here
here? As in, in this house here?”

“
Yes, Jacque, he is
here
here.” Lilly answered. “He's asking to speak with you in private.”

Without even thinking, Jacque reached for Fane’s mind.
“He’s here.”

“
I know, love. I saw his car drive up. Are you ok?”
Fane asked her.

“
I’m ok. I’m fixing to go talk to him. Be with me.”

“
Always,”
Fane responded.

Jacque asked Sally and Jen to wait in her room; she didn’t want them brought to Lucas’ attention.

As she walked into the living room, she saw him sitting on the couch, arms spread over the back, looking quite relaxed.
Smug little fur ball
, she thought to herself and was pleasantly surprised to hear Fane’s chuckle in her mind.

“
Are you comfortable?” Jacque asked Lucas as she walked into the living room.

When he turned to look at her, Jacque was caught off guard by his eyes. They were two different colors. His right eye was crystal blue and his left green as ivy. He had brown, wavy hair that he wore messy, but she could tell it was a carefully placed messiness. He had a five o’clock shadow across a strong jaw line and when he smiled at her a dimple appeared on both cheeks.

“
I am, actually. Thanks for asking,” he responded.

He had a deep voice, but not quite as deep as Fane’s. She had to admit he was an attractive guy. She heard Fane growl.
“Chillax, wolf-man. I only have eyes for you,”
she told Fane.

“
Jacque.” The sound of her name got her attention. She realized Lucas was now standing in front of her and she had to look up to see his face. He was at least 6 feet, maybe a little taller. “My name is Lucas Steele. I’m sure Fane has told you that I am the Alpha of the Coldspring pack.”

“
Yeah, he told me. He also told me that you are under some sort of delusion that I am going to be your mate,” Jacque retorted.

“
I distinctly remember advising you not to provoke him, Luna. Do you remember that?”
Jacque heard Fane's voice in her mind.

“
I don’t know. Some things seem kind of hazy at the moment,”
she responded vaguely. Fane growled again.
I have a feeling he’s going to be doing a lot of that being mated to me
, she thought to herself.

“
I claimed you before he even knew you existed. You should be mine,” Lucas told her calmly.

Jacque was staring at him intently, trying to get a lock on how old he was. She could tell he was definitely older than her but she couldn’t tell how much older.

“
How old are you?” she finally asked.

He looked a little surprised by her question.
That’s good, keep him on his toes.

“
I’m twenty two,” he answered.

“
You do realize that I am not eighteen yet? That makes me jail bait.” Jacque pointed out.

“
Human laws do not matter to Greys. Besides, I’m not saying we have to consummate our relationship, just that you will bond with me,” Lucas told her.

“
You so did not just say that. I mean, good freaking grief man, is that all you wolves talk about?” Jacque asked, obviously annoyed.

Lucas looked a little confused and then caught on. “Are all human females this silly?” he asked her.

“
I am not silly,” Jacque said indignantly. Then his eyes wandered down to the front of her shirt and she realized he'd noticed the vampire depicted there. She smiled and turned around to show him the back. Without thinking about it, she pulled her hair up so he could read the words.

At first she simply heard him smirk, but then she heard a deep, feral growl.

Jacque dropped her hair back down and turned around slowly. Lucas’ eyes were glowing and his teeth had grown quite long. His breathing was fast and she could tell he was struggling to keep his wolf under control.

“
He wasn’t lying when he said he could prove you were his mate,” Lucas said, his words a little difficult to understand because of the length of his teeth.

Jacque’s eyes got big as she realized he had seen her marks. Just then she heard a ferocious snarl and realized that Fane had caught that last thought.

“
I’m sorry, Fane. I was just showing him the back of my shirt and I forgot my marks,”
Jacque told him quickly.

“
Pay attention to Lucas, Jacquelyn. Look at him and let me see his face,”
Fane instructed her.

Jacque pictured Lucas in her mind just as she was seeing him.

“
Jacque, you must be careful. He is not in control of his wolf.”

“
Yeah, ya think?” Jacque accidentally said aloud.

Lucas snarled and his eyes narrowed. “Are you able to speak through each other’s thoughts? Are you speaking to him now?” he asked her.

“
Umm, maybe and not your business,” she answered.

Lucas lunged at her, grabbing her by the arms. Jacque slammed the wall down in her mind so Fane could not see what Lucas was doing. She knew he would come to her house and raise all kinds of hell, and quite possibly try to kill Lucas.

“
Do not play games with me. I am Alpha and you will answer me truthfully, mate,” he growled in her face.

Jacque jerked her arms free and stepped back from him.

“
Listen carefully, Lucas Steele, because I will only say this once. I am NOT your mate, I will never be your mate, and if you ever put your hands on me again I will cut them off along with other body parts you might want to use one day. Got it?” Jacque told him with as much force as she could put behind her words.

“
That’s a shame, too, because you’re kind of cute. But it happens to the best of them,” Jen said as she sauntered into the living room with Sally right behind her.

“
And the worst of them,” Sally finished for her.

Both girls stood on either side of Jacque with their arms crossed, an obvious wall of solidarity against Lucas.

Lilly walked into the living room and took in the scene. She looked at Jacque and saw the red marks that were now appearing on her arms from where Lucas had grabbed her. Lily's mouth tightened in anger.

“
I think it’s time for you to go now, Mr. Steele,” Lilly told him with forced politeness.

Lucas turned his gaze on Lilly, who took an involuntary step back. He drew in a deep breath, obviously trying to compose himself. Then he looked at Jacque. “I have challenged Fane for the bonding ceremony. If I win, you will be mine. Nothing and no one will keep you from me.” And with that he turned to walk out the front door.

All four of them followed him out to watch him go, and when they got out the door they saw Fane jump from his second story window and take two bounding steps and land right in front of Lucas.

“
Oh S@#T! Jen hollered

“
I second that,” Sally said

“
I third it,” Jacque said, eyes so wide they threatened to pop out of her head.

Chapter 22

Fane saw Lucas
lunge for Jacquelyn before she could put the wall up between their minds, and the rage he felt called his wolf out. He was nearly completely phased when he heard Sara downstairs. That was enough to pull him back and keep from becoming a huge, black, snarling wolf in his bedroom. It wasn’t enough, however, to keep him from growling like a dog with rabies. The anger he was feeling was tangible; it was making it hard for him to breath.

Lucas had touched his mate, he had put his hands on her in a threatening way, and by doing so had violated the challenge rules. That meant that Fane would be allowed to see Jacquelyn for the duration of the two days they had to wait until his father arrived. Because he was Jacquelyn’s true mate, challenge rules said he could protect her if the challenger caused physical harm to the female.

Before that thought was even complete in his mind, and without any thought to who might see him, he leaped out his window into the front yard and jumped right in front of Lucas Steele. Sometimes life just threw you a bone when you needed one.

Lucas crouched low, immediately growling. “If you touch me you forfeit the challenge.”

“
Sa patesti ce este al meu (you harmed what is mine),” Fane growled.

“
Oh crap, he’s talking in Romanian. That means he’s pissed doesn’t it? They always talk in their native tongue in the movies when they’re fixing to kick somebody’s a-” Jen tried to finish, but Jacquelyn slapped her hand over Jen’s mouth and shook her head from side to side.

“
Let me translate for her,” Sally said. “Shut the #@$% up, Jen!”

“
My bad,” Jen whispered once Jacque had uncovered her mouth.

Fane could not remember a time when he had been so angry. He could feel his wolf pushing to come out, to defend their mate.

“
Ai violat regulile provocare (you violated challenge rules),” Fane growled.

He knew he needed to calm down but when he glanced over and saw the red marks on Jacquelyn’s arms, his wolf won. He phased in the blink of an eye and had Sorin not lunged in front of him, he would have torn Lucas Steele’s throat out.