Jacque finally let Fane pull her back to the house, then he stepped away from her, and though she tried not to let it hurt her, she couldn’t stop the stab of rejection she felt.
“I’m not rejecting you, meu inimă. Please believe that. I’m trying to protect you,” Fane told her through his thoughts.
She looked at him and nodded her head in acknowledgment as she watched him turn toward the other wolves. He walked past them and when he made it to the street he turned and told them, “If either of you touches her I will kill you and use your pelt as a rug.” And he left.
Jacque watched him the entire way until the door to the Henrys' was closed. One of the wolves standing in her yard walked up and bared his neck to her.
“Do you think it wise to bare your throat to the one who would see it torn out?” Jacque asked, surprised by sounding so confident and in control despite the emptiness she felt without Fane by her side.
“I bare my throat in acknowledgment of my Alpha’s mate,” the wolf told her.
“Then you bare it in vain because I am NOT your Alpha’s mate. If he kills every wolf on this earth I will still not be his mate,” Jacque growled.
“Go inside, my Luna. I can feel how tired you are,” she heard Fane tell her.
“I am just fine, thank you very much. I will go inside, but not because you told me to. I’m just tired of standing out here with these butt heads,” Jacque responded.
She heard Fane laugh. She felt his joy and that made her smile, which made the wolf in front of her cock his head to the side like a dog. Jacque blew a breath out in exasperation and turned to go in the house. Before she could make it in the front door one of the wolves spoke. “Lucas said to tell you he will be here at nine am.” And that was it.
When Jacque walked in the living room, everyone was seated with a mug of what she presumed was hot chocolate. Jen grinned and winked. She saw Sorin sitting in the ugly chair and realized he had not been outside. What's up with that? she thought.
“Why did you not come out to defend your prince?” she asked him, sounding a little more accusatory than she meant to.
“The wolves do not know there is a Grey in the house. If I had gone out they would have scented me immediately. We do not want to provoke them any more than we need to until we are a little more matched in numbers,” Sorin explained to her patiently.
“Oh, right. Got it,” Jacque said with a nod.
Despite what Jacque told Fane, she was very tired. She didn’t know what time it was, and frankly didn’t care. She just wanted to lie down and sleep. Sally and Jen must've picked up on that because they got up and took their mugs to the kitchen and came back to lead Jacque upstairs. Jacque hardly noticed them help her lie down and cover her with a blanket. She had scarcely laid her head down before she was asleep.
Jen and Sally sat on Jacque’s floor. They were worried about her.
“I know she’s tough, but I think this is really wearing her out,” Sally said.
“Well, duh!” Jen responded. “Wouldn’t it wear you out if you'd just met the man of your dreams? Then it turns out he’s a werewolf, then it turns out you’re his mate or whatever, then it turns out there’s this other pack of wolves with a psycho, werewolf leader who wants you as his mate, and then it turns out…” Jen paused. “You get the picture.”
“When you put it like that, it is a lot to take in,” Sally agreed.
Jacque woke up to the sound of Fane’s voice, and for a moment she thought he was in her room, but quickly realized he was talking to her in thought.
“Luna, wake up please,” Fane said.
“Haven’t we talked about this whole 'waking me up way too early could be hazardous to your health' thing?” Jacque teased him.
“I’m sorry to wake you, love, but I wanted to talk with you before Lucas arrives.”
“Uggggh! I was really hoping this was all a bad dream,” she moaned.“Well, not you. I mean the part about this Lucas dude and the challenge.”
“I’m sorry, Jacquelyn,” Fane told her sadly.
“Ah well, that’s how it goes. I’m too irresistible for my own good.” Jacque tried to lighten the mood.
“That you are, Luna,” Fane replied.
Jacque picked her phone up to look at the time and saw that it was eight thirty. Crap. She needed to get up and get dressed. What do you wear to talk to a crazy, Alpha werewolf? she thought to herself.
“As much clothing as possible,” Fane answered her thought.
“I was thinking maybe I should wear that bikini you like so much,” she teased him.