“Vasile,” Alina’s voice was weak as she turned to look at him. Tears flooded her eyes and she reached for him. He hesitated and she misunderstood, thinking that he didn’t want to touch her.
“Don’t,” he told her sternly. “You know better than to think such falsehoods. I have always wanted you and will always want you.”
“Then why are you there,” she pointed to where he stood, “and not here?”
“Do you not remember?” He asked.
Alina closed her eyes to think.
“Don’t, please,” Vasile leaned towards her. “Please, don’t close your eyes.”
Alina looked at him and saw in his mind what she had done.
The pain on her face made Vasile’s arms ache to hold her and he shook with the effort to keep from gathering her in his arms.
“Please,” she whispered to his mind. “I am yours.”
“You will allow me to have what is mine?”
“Please, ” was all she could get out.
The pack magic was broken as soon as Alina had confessed her need for him. Vasile climbed into their bed and pulled her into his arms. He didn’t take his eyes off her when he growled at the Fae in the room. “Leave us.”
Peri and Cynthia went from room to room telling the males that she and Cynthia would need to bring all their mates to Cynthia’s room. It was neutral territory and should help the males feel less threatened. Once they had moved all of them, with mostly no problems, Peri explained what had happened with Alina.
“So, she is fine now?” Decebel asked, eagerly.
“Yes, she is curse free and Vasile has his arms around her now. It was rated PG when we left, but I imagine they have moved on to more interesting acts. The point is they can touch again.” Peri clapped her hands together and then rubbed them. “So, we ready to do this? It may take a little more effort and I will need to touch each female at some point. Also, Vasile pushed his magic through me to Alina and that seemed to be the catalyst for her.”
“What are we waiting for?” Fane snarled.
Peri rolled her eyes. “I swear I’m going to have a nice wolf pelt rug one of these days,” she grumbled as she and Alston placed the stones around the females lying on the floor.
Peri started on the right side, Rachel being the first female. She laid her hands on her head and she pushed into her mind, just as she had with Alina. She chanted as she pulled on the curse. She felt Gavril’s hand on her shoulder as he helped draw Rachel from the dark place the curse had dragged her to.
One by one, Peri touched each mate. She made sure to call them by name and allowed each male to reach out to their females through her. Once again, the stones glowed as power began to fill the room. The Fae council chanted out loud this time as they watched Peri begin to weaken, straining with the effort to remove the spell. She was nearly ready to collapse when Dain stepped out of the circle towards Peri, who was by Sally’s side. Costin looked up to see the male Fae coming towards his mate and he lunged. His teeth were bared and his eyes glowed as he reached for the man he thought meant harm to his mate. He stopped in mid jump when he heard her voice.
“Costin,” Sally’s voice reached into him and drew the man back. She was calling for him. His mate was calling for him. He was by her side an instant later and nearly touched her before he remembered that he couldn’t.
“Sally I need to hold you, please invite me.”
Sally blinked, as she tried to focus on what he was saying. Her mind was a jumbled mess and she kept trying to push away thoughts that would only lead to tears.
“I need you Costin,” The words were barely thought and Costin had scooped her up and left, without a backward glance, heading straight for his room.
He laid her on his bed and sat beside her. He stroked her cheek and his heart broke when she pulled away from him.
“Sally, look at me,” Costin tried to keep the growl from his voice; he didn’t want to scare her any more that she already was.
She slowly turned her face towards him, but she wouldn’t meet his eyes.
“Don’t be submissive to me,” he told her as he gently tilted her chin up, ignoring her flinch. “You’re my mate, my equal, and you will always meet my eyes.”
She stared up into his hazel eyes. He was so handsome it nearly hurt to look at him. She ached for his touch but she feared it as well.
“Why?” He asked her.
“I’m not clean, I’m not…”
“You’re mine,” He interrupted and then continued out loud. “You are mine and I am yours.”
“They t-t-t,” Sally erupted into tears as she tried to explain to Costin. She needed him to know because he wouldn’t want her anymore. At this moment, she was so broken that she knew that if he left now she would just curl up and die. But if he stayed because he didn’t understand then she wasn’t really his anymore, and that would hurt even more.
“Costin, I was a virgin,” she finally got out.
“You still are love,” he told her gently. “I would remember if we had indulged in something that is bound to be amazing.”
Sally shook her head, frustrated that he didn’t understand.
“No, it wasn’t you. Someone else did it, Costin, and I couldn’t stop him. I tried, I promise.”
“I know baby, but that wasn’t real. It didn’t really happen.”
She continued as if she hadn’t heard him. “That’s not the worst part, oh god, that’s not the worst.” Tears flooded her eyes and sobs broke through her chest. She reached for him, though she knew she had no right to. Not any more.
“I…” She tried to tell him but she couldn’t. Shame washed over her and so she showed him instead. She buried her face in his neck and played the images for him of the things she had endured, the things she had done. Her body shook and she bit her bottom lip to keep from crying out.
Costin wrapped his arms around Sally and pulled her onto his lap. He saw the things in Sally’s mind that she believed had happened. Costin wouldn’t lie and say that it didn’t make him angry, but not for the reason Sally thought. It made Costin angry, because it took something that was to be special and beautiful for her and cheapened it; stole it from her, making her think that she had cheated on him. Costin had endured the same images in the In-Between and he had prayed that he would be able to keep those images from her, to keep her safe. Yet, here she sat utterly devastated.
He didn’t know what to do. She wouldn’t believe his words. He could see the ferocious determination to push him away because she thought she no longer deserved him, that she wasn’t worthy of him. It was ridiculous; if anyone wasn’t worthy, it was him. Sally was his precious and amazing Sally, with a heart of gold and a gentle spirit.
“I love you,” he told her and she shook harder, but he wasn’t going to stop, not until she understood with absolute certainty that he was not leaving her.
“I love you Sally. I love you and I’m not leaving.” He pulled back so that he could wipe the tears from her cheeks. She fought him, but he was stronger. He held her shoulders still and looked at her.
“I’m going to kiss you now; do not fight me.”
Sally tried to shake her head, but Costin wrapped his hand around the nape of her neck and held her still. She refused to open her mouth and Costin nipped her lips in admonishment.
“Open your mouth, Sally.” His voice was a deep, husky whisper in her mind, it made her shutter, and for a moment, she forgot her pain and fear. She opened her mouth and when their tongues met, she moaned. And, just like that, the sound brought an image to her that made her want to vomit. She tried to pull away, but Costin refused to let her go. He continued to kiss her and Sally gasped when she saw the images in his mind.
Costin decided the only way to fight Sally’s mind was to give her something else to think about.
“Let me replace those images Sally mine. Those were false things, lies that never happened. No one has touched you intimitley. No other has kissed you as I do and nobody has taken wha
t is so precious to us both. They are lies that were put in your head by a spell. When we are married I will replace those with something real.” He didn’t wait for a response. He continued to kiss her as he laid her back on the bed. He blanketed her with his body, putting just enough weight on her to make her think about him. Costin moved from her lips across her jaw line. She tilted her head back, giving him access to her throat and he took advantage of it. He kissed her, nipped her gently with his teeth. He made his way across her neck until his lips hovered over his mark.
“I’m going to bite you, I don’t want you to be alarmed,” he told her softly. She nodded slowly as she drowned in the feel of his body, the touch of his hands and the caress of his lips. Costin wrapped his hand around her neck so that she wouldn’t jump and make him accidentally tear into her soft flesh. He tilted her head back and sunk his teeth deep into her neck. Her blood filled his mouth and he felt his wolf howl in victory. They had their mate back; she was in their arms where she belonged. Costin’s other hand slipped under the back of her shirt meeting flesh with flesh and his wolf took comfort in the touch. He pulled his teeth back, licked the wound. He felt the rightness in the act and felt his heart flood with love for the woman before him.
“Sally,” he groaned her name as he kissed down her collar bone, and then pulled back to look at her. As he stared into her eyes, he shared with her his desire, his passion, and need for her. He knew she wanted to wait until they were married to mate, and he would honor her wishes. He hoped once they were married and mated that every time he touched her, she wouldn’t have the memory of what the curse had shown to her popping up. So, he vowed that once she was his wife was going to make sure that a mere touch from him would flood her mind with the desire that he alone could unleash on her.
“Do you see how much I love you, how much I want you?” Costin asked her, gently.
She nodded against his chest. Costin rolled onto his side and pulled her with him. He wrapped his arm around her, keeping his hand up under the back of her shirt. His fingers traced the markings he knew traveled the length of her spine, marking’s that matched his exactly. He kissed her hair and pulled her tighter against him when she shivered.
“Costin?”
“Yes?”
“I love you.” Sally clung to his shirt as she pressed her face against him and breathed his scent in. Breath after breath she began to calm, and she relaxed against him.
“I love you, Sally mine and I will love you more tomorrow.” Costin gently pried one of her hands from his shirt. She whimpered and tried to hold on.
“Shh, Sally,” Costin crooned to her, as he took the now free hand and slipped it under his shirt so that her hand was on his skin. Sally let out a sigh, as her hand slid up his stomach to his chest. Her fingers moved slowly against his skin and she didn’t realize how much she'd craved the simple touch of his warm flesh.
As Sally relaxed against him and her touch soothed him and his wolf he was finally able to process all that had happened. He had come so very close to losing her, maybe not physically, but mentally and emotionally, she was fragile and if he wasn’t careful he could hurt her even worse than she had already suffered.
He felt her breathing slow and realized she had fallen asleep. He buried his face in her hair as tears he had fought for so long slipped from his hazel eyes. He was holding her so tightly he feared he might hurt her, and still it wasn’t close enough. It was then, when she was unaware, that Costin fell apart.
Q
“Decebel,” Cynthia’s voice came through the door.
Jen struggled to sit up, but he gently pushed her back down.
“Hey, just cause I said you could touch me again does not mean you get to push me around,” Jen snapped at him.
“Yes, it does,” he told her as he walked towards the door. He pulled it open to see a very tired Cynthia Steele standing before him.
“I know you guys want to be alone, but I really need to check on Jen and the baby.”
Decebel opened the door wider and stepped aside so that she could walk through. She walked over to the bed where Jen lay.
“How you feeling?” Cynthia asked, with a sympathetic smile.
Jen shrugged. “Well if you would like me to be honest, I feel like someone who has been beaten, taken against her will, given herself to the wrong man, lost her baby, screamed at the man she loved, and cried for things that hadn’t really happened.”
“Jennifer,” Decebel growled from the other side of the bed.
“Basically, I feel like crap doc,” Jen finished, without acknowledging her mate. He sat down on the bed next to her and took her hand. He brought it to his lips and kissed it gently.
Jen refused to look at him, she knew that if she did she would lose it and she wasn’t ready to lose it just yet.
“I need to listen to the baby for a minute and check your vitals okay?” Cynthia asked.
Jen nodded.
Cynthia pulled Jen’s shirt up to expose her abdomen and saw that she was beginning to show.
“When did this happen?” She asked.
Jen looked down at her stomach and saw the small hump.
“It wasn’t like that a week ago,” Jen told her.
Cynthia gently probed her stomach and then laid her head against it. She closed her eyes and listened for the fast flutter that would indicate that the baby was doing well. It didn’t take long before she heard it. She smiled as she listened. It was a strong heartbeat, a healthy heartbeat. Cynthia clenched her eyes tight as she thought about the fate of the little being with the strong heartbeat, a fate she didn’t deserve.
She lifted her head and smiled at Decebel and Jen. “She’s doing good. I’m going to do some research on the gestation of wolves, it’s been a long time since I’ve been around a pregnant Canis lupus, but I’m pretty sure the gestation is not the same as a human.”
Jen nodded as she pulled her shirt down.
“The Fates said they would take her in nine months’ time,” Jen pointed out.
Cynthia thought about it. She wondered if the Fates were jerking Jen’s chain. Surely, they wouldn’t allow her to have the child and watch her grow only to then die, in such a short time.
“With the Fates, anything is possible. I’ll look into it. It may just be that the baby will be bigger than a regular human child.”
Jen frowned. “That would not be cool.”
Cynthia got out the blood pressure cuff and stethoscope and checked Jen’s heartbeat and blood pressure, both of which were normal.
“Now, this might be uncomfortable,” she looked up at Decebel. “You might want to step out.”
Decebel’s eyes began to glow. “I’m not leaving her.”
“Dec, babe, calm down,” Jen told him, as she squeezed his hand.
“I need to do a pelvic exam Jen,” Cynthia told her.
“Doc, I know you must know about the birds and the bees, but in case you need a refresher, Dec had to have seen all this in order for me to end up in this particular situation.”
Cynthia chuckled. “Some wives aren’t comfortable having a pelvic exam done in front of their spouses.”
“Mate,” Decebel snarled.
Jen rolled her eyes. “He’s a tad touchy right now.”
Cynthia leaned over to help Jen remove the sweatpants that she had put on her before the curse had been broken, but Decebel gently pushed her hands away.
“I’ve got it,” he told her.
“What is your problem?” Jen asked, as he helped her remove the pants. He quickly covered her with a sheet and gently rubbed her stomach.
“Leave it alone, Jennifer,” Decebel said, not unkindly.
Cynthia did the exam as quickly and efficiently as possible, keeping it all very clinical. Decebel stared at Jen’s face the entire time and twice leaned down to gently kiss her.
“Okay,” Cynthia said, as she pulled off the medical gloves that she had donned and threw them in the trashcan next to the bed. “Everything looks good.
”
Jen snorted. “Seriously, nothing in that area ever looks good.”
Cynthia laughed, a genuine sound and a much needed release. “Okay, I can agree with that, I guess I should say everything is as it should be.”
Jen nodded. “Better choice of words.”
Cynthia packed up her stuff and turned to go. Just before she opened the door, she turned back and looked at Jen, avoiding Decebel’s gaze. “Just in case you were wondering, it is alright for you to be intimate.”
Jen grinned. “Are you telling me I can get it on like Donkey Kong?”
Cynthia let out a chuckle. “Hmmm, maybe not like Donkey Kong. Why don’t you stick to Curious George just to be on the safe side?” With that, she opened the door and closed it quietly behind her.
The smile faded from Jen’s face as soon as Cynthia was gone. She couldn’t look at her mate. The thin thread by which she had been hanging was about to snap and she knew that he had been through enough already. She bit her lip in attempt to hold herself together and turned her head away from him.
“Jennifer,” Decebel reached over and gently pulled her chin, so that she was looking directly at him.
“Baby, talk to me.”
“How did you survive so long?” She asked.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean in the In-Between,” he flinched, as she spoke of the hell he had been in. “How did you survive watching all of those things for so long?”
“I just kept telling myself that it wasn’t real.” He stretched out beside her and propped up his head on one elbow.
“I tried to tell myself that. I tried Dec, but it felt…” Jen closed her mouth against the bile that she felt rising.
“Shh, baby, it wasn’t real, none of that happened.” Decebel rested his hand on the small swell of her stomach. “This is real,” he told her as he gently rubbed her, “my touch, our love, our baby, all of this is real.”