"Just get your butts in here." He was growling again which only made her grin bigger.
"Now, now, I will not stand for you talking about other chickadees' bums."
"Jennifer," he warned.
"Fine, jeez," she relented.
"Come on, girlies. Decebel’s yapping in my ear about getting all our butts to the meeting room."
"I don't know how you put up with his bossiness," Crina commented on their way out the door.
Jen snickered.
"If he was easy, compliant, and tolerant of her, she would turn him into a wolf rug and walk all over him," Jacque explained.
"Seriously," Jen added. "I can't French kiss a rug. Well I could, but then people would think I'd passed from mildly demented into full-blown off her rocker."
Sally cut a sideways glance at Jacque and raised her eyebrows. Jacque gave a slight nod in agreement with Sally's unspoken skepticism.
"Sally, Jacque, I will not hesitate to put super glue on your toilets, so wipe the smirks off your lovely faces."
Crina, Cynthia, and Rachel listened to the girls' banter, shaking their heads and laughing when Jen made a typical Jen statement.
As they walked, Jacque reached out to Fane. “Hey, wolf-man, I’m feeling a little left out here. All the other men are jumping all over their mates to get their butts to the meeting room.”
Jacque heard him chuckle and then he sent her a mental image of the two of them.
“I will be happy to jump all over you. However, I assure you it will be for a much different reason.”
Jacque laughed out loud and received knowing looks from the others.
“Have I told you lately that I love you?” Jacque asked.
“Yes, but I never get tired of hearing it. Now hurry up and get your butt in this meeting room,” Fane teased.
Jacque grinned to herself and somehow, even after the bonding and marriage, she still got butterflies at the idea of walking into a room knowing she was going to see Fane’s all-too-handsome face.
When they finally arrived at the meeting, the heaviness that cloaked the room brought their laughter and easy banter to an end.
~
The girls walked into the quiet room. The men were sitting in a circle. There were empty seats next to Decebel, Fane, Costin, and Gavril. Each mated female made their way to their respective places while Cynthia and Crina took the empty seats next to Sorin and Drake. Vasile and Alina sat near the front of the room with Peri sitting to their left.
Jacque saw Wadim next to Sorin and smiled.
"Hey, history boy," she teased. Fane growled and she elbowed him as she continued to talk to Wadim. "So you're being dragged into this mess too?"
"How could I possibly miss the end of the world as we know it?"
Decebel and Vasile snarled at Wadim’s words.
"Not appropriate, Wadim," Vasile warned.
"My apologies, Alpha. I'm just feeling a little overwhelmed by the information I need to share with you," Wadim told him.
"Let's get started," Peri interjected.
Vasile stood and began to walk slowly around the circle as he spoke.