Several minutes later, Alina and Jacque were able to pull themselves together. Fane got up and walked to his mother and knelt down in front of her. He touched her face gently and whispered to her, “Va rugam sa nu plânge mama, mi se rupe inima (please don’t cry mother, it breaks my heart).”
Alina kissed Fane on the forehead. “I’m your mother, it’s my job to cry. Now comfort your mate before your Alpha begins to think you aren’t taking care of her,” she teased him. Then she turned to Jacque. “I can see already I am blessed beyond measure to have you as my son’s mate.”
“Thank you, the feeling is mutual,” Jacque responded.
Fane took Jacque by the hand and led her back to the couch.
“Ok, I’m good. Let’s keep moving. What else do we need to discuss?” Jacque asked Vasile.
“I think for now that is enough. I want Boian, Skender, and Dorian to go over to the Henrys' and get some sleep. I need them at their best at the challenge.”
The three wolves were up and moving before Vasile was done speaking. Jacque felt Fane relax as the three walked out the front door. She turned and looked at him questioningly. “Is it really that hard to be around them?” she asked, heedless of those around them.
“We’ll talk about it later, Luna,” Fane told her gently.
Jacque shrugged. She was tired and, frankly, didn’t want to think about the challenge any more. Alina must have seen it in Jacque’s face because she tactfully asked her if she would like to take a walk with her.
“Lilly, you don’t mind, do you?” Alina asked Jacque’s mother.
“No, not at all. I think it'll be good for her to get out of this house and away from all this testosterone,” Lilly told her.
“Amen,” Jen and Sally said in unison.
Jacque stood up and looked down at her wrinkled cloths and realized she had slept in yesterday's clothes. What a wonderful first impression I must have made with Fane’s parents.
“Alina, let me take a quick shower. I feel all grimy,” Jacque admitted.
“Go right ahead, take your time. I would love to spend time with your mom as well, since we’re going to be family,” Alina told her with obvious affection.
“That sounds like a great idea. Alina, do you like coffee or hot chocolate?” Lilly asked her as the two women headed in the direction of the kitchen.
Jacque turned to Fane and told him she’d see him in a little while, but apparently that wasn’t sufficient. As she walked away he followed her to the bottom of the stairs.
“Jacquelyn, are you -”
“If you plan on finishing that question with the word 'okay', I just might save Lucas the trouble and strangle you myself,” Jacque growled at him.
“Man, Sally, you would think getting to sleep on the couch with her man would have put her in a better mood. Maybe he’s not as good as he looks, if you know what I mean,” Jen was telling Sally as they walked past Fane and Jacque and up the stairs.
“Jen, we really, really need to have a conversation about when to keep your mouth shut and if you don’t then how fast you should run,” Sally retorted as she followed her mouthy friend upstairs.
Jacque lowered her head and was silently shaking it, feeling so overwhelmed. She knew she needed to give herself a pep talk or a good kick in the ass, which was even more effective. She was not a “wuss,” dad-gummet, she was not a frail, little flower that withered at the slightest show of bad weather. So what on earth was her problem?
“It’s the bond, Jacquelyn. It makes you feel things at a whole different level than that of a human. I know it’s hard to understand because it’s all so new to you. You aren’t weak, love, your spirit recognizes that I am your other half and it rebels against any notion of being separated from me. My spirit also rebels against being separated from you, and even worse, I’m constantly fighting to keep my wolf under control because all he sees is that you are our mate, you are in danger, and you need to be bonded to me,” Fane explained to her.
Jacque lifted her head and looked into Fane’s beautiful blue eyes, eyes that she wanted more than anything to be what she saw every morning when she woke up and every night when she went to sleep. Fane was right, she didn’t understand. She wanted to, but it was like her brain couldn’t keep up with her emotions. She would just have to come to grips with it all and accept it. Maybe then it wouldn’t be so scary. Yeah, good one, Jac. You almost had yourself convinced.
“Thank you, Fane. I can imagine it must be frustrating for you because I am so clueless. Crap, it’s frustrating for me because I know I must be frustrating you,” she admitted to him.
“I am not frustrated, Luna. How could I possibly be frustrated with the one person who gives my existence meaning? If you begin to understand anything at all, I hope it’s that you have given me what every male Canis lupus longs for, needs, and can never be complete without. You, and only you, complete the very core of who I am. No, love, I am not frustrated with you. I am wholly, ardently, unabashedly in love with you.”
Jacque wrapped her arms around his waist, holding onto him as if it would keep the storm raging around them from tearing them apart. She laid her head against his chest and listened to his heart, allowing the rhythm to calm her. Fane kissed the top of her head and gently rubbed her back. As he had done before, he whispered words in his language, and they seemed to ease the tension in her mind.
“I love you, wolf-man,” Jacque whispered and knew with his wolf’s hearing he wouldn’t miss it.
She took a deep breath and pulled away from him. He reluctantly let her go but did not take his hands off her hips.
“I’m gonna go now, ‘k? So I can spend time with your mom. What are you going to do?” she asked him.
“I’m going to be with my father when he calls Lucas and then I think I will sleep for a little while. I didn’t realize how tired I was until the Pack left and I was able to relax,” he told her.
“That reminds me, are you going to tell me what the whole staring contest was about? And about the guys leaving and you suddenly deflating like a balloon with a hole in it?”
“I will tell you about it, Luna, but not right now. You go take your shower. I know my mother is eager to get to know you and seeing as how I plan to have you all to myself tonight, she better get her fill during the day,” Fane said as he pulled her close one more time and kissed her.
Jacque pressed closer to him, wrapping her arms around his neck, pressing her lips firmly against his. She loved it when he kissed her, his lips were so soft and gentle. Fane pulled back much too soon for her liking, but she let it go.
“I’ll see you later,” he told her.
Just like when he had left to go back to the Henrys' earlier, Jacque felt this impending sense of doom at the idea of him not being with her. She hated how desperate it made her feel. She was not the desperate type. She'd never had a problem if she and Trent went several days without talking. At the sound of Fane’s growl, she realized her mistake.
“Remember, love, when you are emotional you tend to broadcast your thoughts. I try not to listen, but sometimes it’s a little too tempting not to, and when I hear his name in your mind I can’t tune you out,” Fane explained. “I know I don’t need to be jealous, but the wolf in me considers you mine even when I didn’t know you.”
Jacque grinned at him, having just realized that she would probably be able to get some dirt on him about past girls from Alina.
“I guess I'll just need to be more careful about not broadcasting when I’m emotional,” she told him innocently.
“That’s a thought, or you could just not think about him,” Fane told her, his voice getting deeper as they continued on this topic.
“That’s a thought, too. Albeit not a reasonable one, but a thought nonetheless.” Jacque winked at him as she turned to climb the stairs.
“See you later, wolf-man,” she called over her shoulder. Jacque heard him growl and couldn’t help the grin that stretched across her face. If nothing else made her sm
ile, she could count on aggravating him doing it every time.
“Glad I can amuse you, my love,” she heard Fane’s voice in her head.
“Me too,” was the only reply she gave, which got her another growl.
As Alina and Jacque walked down the sidewalk, Jacque had a hard time not looking back at Sorin, who followed at a distance – their guard as it were. She was amazed at the fact that four days ago she was just Jacque, small town teenager, fixing to be a senior in high school, and then BAM, she’s the mate to a werewolf prince who's going to have to fight another werewolf to keep her. Seriously, what had happened that fate somehow got a wild hair up its butt and decided to throw her a curve ball. She was truly baffled by it all.
“Jacquelyn or Jacque? Which would you prefer I call you?” Alina’s voice pulled her from her disbelieving thoughts.
“Well, everyone but Fane calls me Jacque. For some reason he's called me Jacquelyn since we met and I just haven’t bothered to say anything. Then again, he rarely calls me my name, usually it’s Luna, or love, or some other Romanian word I have no idea the meaning of,” Jacque told her, smiling at how much she liked the different endearments Fane called her.
“I think that’s a mate thing,” Alina told her. “Vasile almost never calls me Alina.”
“What does he call you?” Jacque asked, and then her manners caught up with her. “I mean, if you don’t mind me asking.”
“I don’t mind. He calls me 'mina',” Alina told her.
“What does it mean?”
“You’re going to laugh when I tell you because it just solidifies the fact that werewolves are indeed pushy, bossy and possessive. It means 'mine.' How ridiculous is that?” Alina said, laughing.
Jacque couldn’t help laughing with her.
“I haven’t known werewolves for a week, and I still see the significance of that,” Jacque told her.
“What has Fane told you about us?” Alina asked Jacque.
“Well, obviously he’s told me about the whole werewolf family trait thing, and about ya’ll being the royal family, so to speak. But other than that, not really anything.”
“Fane never has been the talkative type,” Alina said. “I suppose, too, all he’s really been able to think about is keeping you safe. Grey males tend to be a little obsessive when it comes to their mates and children.”
“Yeah, I suppose he has been a little preoccupied with the whole crazy, psycho alpha trying to get in his Kool Aid and steal his chick,” Jacque said, and then burst out laughing when Alina looked at her like she had grown a third arm.
“Do you always talk like that?” Alina asked
“Unfortunately. It’s a side effect of hanging around Jen. She’s much, much worse,” Jacque told her, shaking her head as she thought about her crazy best friend.
“You care very much for Jen and Sally, and it’s obvious they care for you. I’m sorry that they won’t be able to be with you tomorrow,” Alina told Jacque.
“I would rather them be safe. If it’s going to be dangerous for them to be there, then it’s not worth having them there. You are right, I do care for them. I love them. They're my best friends and I honestly don’t know what I would do without them.”
They walked a block in silence. Jacque was thinking about the question Alina had asked about what Fane had told her. Was she talking about the bonding or blood rites stuff? Or was there more that Fane hadn’t talked with her about? She would ask him tonight if there was more. She was really hoping it wasn’t something like, 'for the good of the pack you must produce a male heir within one year of the bonding', because that would really, really suck.
“Fane has explained to you about the bonding ceremony and blood rites, I hope,” Alina said, finally breaking the silence.
“Yeah, he told me about it. Not in great detail, but the gist. The blood rites thing is definitely non-traditional compared to what we do in our bonding ceremonies,” Jacque joked.
Alina laughed, appreciating the good humor that Jacque obviously took in everything.
“So, because you're female I know that you'll break it down a little better. Will you give me a clue as to what to expect?” Jacque asked Alina.
“In the ceremony, Vasile will first bond you and Fane. There are three things that must happen for a bond to be made. First you will say vows. I have a copy of the vows you will say to Fane and Vasile has a copy of the vows Fane will say to you. After the vows, the male presents the female with an offering, a way to show her that he can take care of her and provide for his family,” Alina was explaining her when Jacque interrupted.
“He’s not going to give me a dead animal, is he?”
Alina laughed. “No, that is what a real wolf would give his mate. The symbolism is the same. The offering must be something of value that required him to sacrifice in order to get it. As a wolf sacrifices energy when on the hunt, so must a male Canis lupus sacrifice to provide for his family. Want to know what the catch is? Just as a female wolf can turn away a male wolf’s offering, so can we. You don’t have to accept what Fane offers to you.”
“What did Vasile give to you?” Jacque asked Alina before she could tell her mouth not to say what her brain was thinking.
“Before you hear it, you must first realize that Vasile and I have been mated for over two centuries, so what was ‘in’ then, is most definitely not ‘in’ now,” Alina teased.
Jacque was shocked to hear how long she and Vasile had been together.
“Well, I must say you don’t look a day over thirty five,” Jacque told her.
“Now that you know just how long ago it was when we bonded, I will tell you that Vasile gave me two things. The first was something I needed. My family was poor and we didn’t have much, so he gave me a horse. She was beautiful.”
Jacque watched as Alina’s face alighted with the memory of an animal she'd obviously loved.
“She was sable with dark chocolate mane, tall and very elegant. I named her Cosmina, which means beauty. The second thing requires an explanation as well, maybe a small history lesson. In that day and age, wealthy families and nobility all had family crests or signets. Vasile comes from a long line of Alphas, which are our equivalent to royalty, and so his family has a signet. The signet was used to identify the family you were from, the social class you were in, and in our case, the pack you were in. Different families carried their signets in different ways. Vasile’s was a ring,” Alina held out her hand to show Jacque the gold ring.
It had an oval-shaped face and on the face was a grid of four diamonds. In each diamond there was a symbol. The top left was a crown, the top right was a wolf, the bottom left, a sword, and the bottom right, a full moon.
“The crown represents the royal lineage, the wolf distinguishes that we are werewolves, the sword is to testify that as the Alpha family we are the sword of justice, and the moon is to acknowledge the importance of the females in the Pack,” Alina explained.
“So what was the significance of giving you the ring?” Jacque asked.
“It was his way of offering me a place in the royal line. He was telling me that no matter my lineage, if I bonded with him, I would be accepted as the Alpha of the female Pack members. In essence, he was offering me unconditional acceptance,” Alina answered.
“I take it that was really significant,” Jacque said.
“Yes, it was.”
“And what is the last thing required for the bonding?” Jacque asked.
“Since you are human, this final act might seem very weird. The third thing is the blood rites, where you will exchange blood and Fane will put a visible mark on you for others to know you are his.”
“Ok, you’re right. It is quite freaky-deaky to me because we don’t go around biting each other, but I’m trying to keep an open mind. Does it hurt?” Jacque asked, sounding very nervous.
“Well, I’m not sure how it is going to be for a human. It does cause some discomfort. It is a bite, after all, but some find it pleasurable because it
is so significant to the bonding. It’s the way you complete becoming one with your mate,” Alina said, making it sound so normal, even though it was definitely so not normal.
“Well, I’m not going to say I’m not nervous because that would be the understatement of the year. I'm trying very hard to keep an open mind,” Jacque told Alina.
“I think Fane is very blessed to have you as his mate. I know it is going to be a big change for you, especially once you move to Romania, but…”
“Wait, wait, throw it in reverse. What do you mean move to Romania? Fane has not said a single thing about moving to Romania!” Jacque didn’t realize she was yelling, on the sidewalk, in the middle of her neighborhood.
“That’s what I was afraid of. Fane is next in line to be Alpha of the Romanian pack. He has to be there in order to learn what that entails. You also need to learn what it means to be Alpha to the females. It's going to be hard for some of the females to submit to one who is half human. You are going to have to learn to hold your own,” Alina told her.
“What about my senior year? What about my friends, my mom? What the crap, man?” Jacque said, once again yelling.
“The plan is to get you and Fane private tutors for your senior year. When you are not studying, you will be learning about the Pack and traditions and how to be Alpha. As for your mom, she is welcome to come with us, and if she doesn’t the Pack will pay to fly her out any time you want. Your friends are welcome to come, too. The tutor would work with them as well. We realize we are asking you to give up a lot and we want to make every effort to make it easier on you.”
Jacque just stood there, staring at Alina in total disbelief. She felt completely blindsided. Why hadn’t Fane said anything to her? How could she possibly leave her life here? Would her friends parents even consider allowing them to go with her?