Mariana nodded and swallowed the bite she had just taken before she answered, "Oh, definitely great."
"Excellent," Jacque said awkwardly.
The rest of the meal was carried out in near silence with only minute amounts of small talk here and there. When the plates were cleared from the tables they were all directed to stand on the edges of the room while most of the tables were folded up and removed with most of the chairs.
Jacque grabbed Fane's hand and looked at Jen and Sally. "I've got to run over and say hi to Dillon and meet his mate."
"You want us to come?" Jen asked.
Jacque shook her head. "No, I got this." This was something she needed to do on her own…well, on her own with Fane.
She found them in the same corner they had occupied earlier, standing and watching just as the Romanian pack had been.
"Hey, Jacque." Dillon's face brightened as he pulled her into an awkward hug.
"Hi, um, Dad," Jacque fumbled.
Jacque's hand tightened on Fane's as Dillon pulled his mate over to his side.
"Easy, love. You don’t have to be besties," Fane soothed through their bond.
"Did you just say besties?" she asked incredulously.
"Luna, I'm surrounded by three teenage girls. What do you really expect?"
"Huh, guess I shouldn't be surprised." She shrugged inwardly.
Fane chuckled.
Jacque brought her attention back to her father and his mate when Dillon introduced Tanya.
"Jacque, this is Tanya Jacobs, my mate and Luna of our pack."
Jacque smiled with what she hoped was a friendly smile. "It's nice to meet you, Tanya."
Tanya's smile was warm and genuine. "Dillon has told me a lot about you,"
"Don't believe everything, it's not nearly as bad as it sounds," Jacque joked.
They all laughed, albeit a bit nervously.
"Well, it looks like they're going to have some dancing so we won't keep you, but I hope that we can get to know one another," Tanya told her.
"That sounds nice," Jacque said truthfully. "I'm sure we can have lunch or something."
"Great," Tanya responded with another warm smile.
Jacque and Fane headed back to where their pack waited.
"Well, that wasn't as bad as you thought, was it?" Fane asked as he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close.
"She was nicer than I expected," she admitted.
"You want me there when you have lunch with her?"
Jacque grinned up at him. "Always my protector."
Fane's face grew serious. "Always, love."