“JACQUELYN,” Fane took a step forward as he snarled. His eyes glowed bright blue and his body trembled.
Suddenly Costin and Decebel were standing between him and Jacque. Their bodies were tight with readiness, eager for battle. Fane snarled and felt himself beginning to change. His hands grew long claws and his muscles began to bulge and strain against his clothes. He felt the power of his Alpha roll over him and knew his father was preventing him from changing all the way.
“Back off, Fane,” Decebel growled.
“Who are you to stand between me and mine?” Fane met Decebel’s eyes without blinking, and held them.
Decebel took a menacing step forward and since Fane did not retreat, the two dominants were nearly touching.
“You need to cool off.”
“Get. Out. Of. My. Way.” His clipped words, betrayed the calm he was trying to portray and the shaking of his hands didn’t help either.
“You’re going to wind up hurting her and later, when you have cooled off, you will want to kill yourself for the indiscretion you committed against the one person who doesn’t deserve it.”
Fane’s eyes snapped passed Decebel when he saw movement. He didn’t hear the yell, nor did he feel the arms that attempted to hold him back when he lunged for Costin who was attempting to help his mate stand. All Fane saw were Costin’s hands on his mate, Costin’s skin touching hers and the memories came rushing back.
“Peri, is there anything you can do to keep the neurotic werewolves from killing each other?” Jen asked, dryly as she watched her mate attempt to pull a seething Fane off of Costin. Costin was holding his own, but she knew that he was holding back, because he cared for Fane. He knew that Fane wasn’t in his right mind at the moment. Jen would like to say that she didn’t think Fane would ever hurt Jacque, but she had never seen him look at her the way he had been and, truthfully, it scared her.
“Fane stop this,” Vasile’s words wrapped around his son and pulled Fane back from Costin. He pulled against his father’s hold, but couldn’t budge. He stared at Costin, challenging him, daring him to touch her again. He would kill him, Fane’s wolf decided, he had touched Jacquelyn, he had been one of the males she had willingly accepted, real or not, and Costin would have to die.
Costin must have seen the determination settle in Fane’s eyes as he took a step away from Jacque.
“Fane, I would never hurt your mate,” Costin told him, firmly.
“You touched her,” Fane’s eyes narrowed, dangerously. “You took her in a way you had no right to. YOU KISSED HER, YOU BEAST,”
“ENOUGH!” Vasile roared, cutting off Fane’s words.
Fane fell to his knees as Vasile’s Alpha command, pushed him to submit. He pulled his head up and his eyes met Jacquelyn’s. Tears streamed down her face and he could see the fear and knew she was on the verge of running.
“Don’t,” he told her urgently. “Don’t leave me.”
“You don’t want me,” she responded, and flinched at her own words.
“I will always want you.”
She shook her head. She knew what she had felt inside him, the revulsion that filled him.
“Not at you,” he answered her thoughts. “At everyone else love, but never you.” He held his arms open to her. “Come to me.”
Jacque fought the urge to rush to him. She feared his rejection and knew that she couldn’t handle it if he pushed her away.
“Jacquelyn, come now.”
“Here we go with the damn dog orders,” muttered Jen as she folded her arms across her chest.
“Let me go,” Fane told his father, never turning away from Jacquelyn. “I’m not going to hurt her,” after a long pause, he added, “or anyone else.”
“Why is that not reassuring to me?” Crina asked, Jen softly.
“Because his wolf’s eyes still stare out from his too handsome, albeit quite deranged looking, face.”
“Yeah, that could be it,” Crina agreed.
Vasile gradually let his hold on his son lesson as he carefully watched to make sure that he wasn’t going to attack. When Fane didn’t move, he released him fully.
Fane took a step towards his mate and stopped to make sure she wasn’t going to back away. When she stood her ground, he took another step and another, until he was standing right in front of her.