Just One Drop

"Please don't allow your friends to throw your clothes out the window. I had to make sure the wolves who found your things gave up all of the souvenirs they took – souvenirs that would cause your beautiful face to turn ten shades of red." She felt his breath on her neck, and he inhaled deeply before walking away.

Jacque had once told her that when a werewolf pulled that little stunt, he was taking in a person's scent. She shivered at the thought and couldn't help turning to watch Decebel walk away.

Jen finally noticed her two friends, who were staring at her with mouths open wide.

"Did you two hear that?" she asked.

Both girls shook their heads, still unable to speak, still stuck in their state of shock at Decebel's behavior.

"Bloody hell, you two. Don't just stand there. Get in my room so I can give you the 411." Jen pushed her two best friends towards her bedroom door, all the while trying to figure out what had just taken place in the hall.

Once in the room Jen shut the door and leaned back against it. Head pressed back, she closed her eyes and slowed her breathing. Blasted wolf was going to give her a heart attack. Frustration rippled through her. Why him? Why did her heart have to pick the one guy she would never be able to have?

"What did he whisper in your ear, Jen?" Jacque questioned.

Jen shook her head, trying to clear it. "He told me to not let my friends throw my clothes out of the window," she paused and looked pointedly at Sally, who had the good sense to look sheepish, "because he had to get my clothes back – which he called souvenirs – from the wolves who apparently found them." She chuckled to herself, knowing she was once again the color of a beet. "And from the tone in his voice, said souvenirs must've been my womanly garments."

Jacque laughed. "Did you just call your bras and panties 'womanly garments'?"

"That is classic." Sally laughed along.

"Could you two Pollyannas focus, please?" Jen admonished.

"Sorry," Jacque said, trying to pull herself together. "No, really. I'm good. Please continue."

Jen rolled her eyes. "Then he did that whole sniffing thing that you said Fane does to you."

Jacque's head snapped up. "He scented you?" The alarm in her voice caused some unease to rear its ugly head in Jen.

"Um, yeah. That a problem?"

"It's just awfully possessive – and very intimate. If Fane saw another wolf scent me he would tear into him."

Jen pondered on this only briefly before she decided it was time to move on. "Let's forget it all. I don't even want to get into the fact that Decebel has seen -"

"Your undergarments," Sally snorted as she interrupted Jen.

"Oh, shut up, Thelma," Jen snapped as she headed towards the closet in search of the night's outfit. Okay, she thought to herself, need to draw on my inner skank. She laughed as she started flipping through her clothes. Sally and Jacque joined her in the large closet and began their own searches.

"Ooo, how 'bout this?" Sally asked as she held up a short, distressed denim mini skirt and halter top.

"Um, Sally, we are in Romania in the winter time. Ring any bells?" Jacque asked.

"Oh, right. Cold. Got it," she said as she hung the outfit back up.

Jen pulled out a pair of low rise Lucky jeans. She and Jacque shared a love of the brand. Next she grabbed a deep plumb colored sweater with a plunging neckline. It had a fitted cut for a snug fit.

"I like." Jacque nodded in approval.

Jacque and Sally each borrowed shirts of Jen's. Sally chose a deep red sweater with wide arms that hung elegantly off her shoulders. Jacque picked her color of choice, a hunter green sweater dress that she planned to wear with dark grey leggings and boots. With their choices made, they headed off to their prospective bathrooms to change.

"Okay, meet back here in twenty for phase two," Sally advised.

"Dare I ask what phase two is?" Jen asked apprehensively.

"It's been too long since we've been out if you have to ask," Sally told her. "Hair and makeup, Jennifer. We have to take all this natural beauty up in here and make it shine."

"Riiiiight, shine. I'm on it, boss," Jen teased.

Chapter 6

"Come on! Really, Skender? That's all you got to give these pups?" Decebel growled as he watched the wolves he was training spar.

Decebel knew that his frustration wasn't really coming from the wolves' inadequacies but from a certain mouthy blonde who had her claws in him so deep he could feel the blood running down his back. The sad thing about the whole situation – he liked it. Yeah, he thought, there is definitely something wrong with me.

Skender growled at his Beta.

"Save it for the fight, Skender. You wouldn't be growling at me if you didn't know I was right." Decebel stepped into the sparring circle that was painted onto the gym floor. "Take a break for a minute," he told him, then turned to the young wolf known as Stelian.

Decebel grinned wolfishly. "Ready for a real challenge?"

Before the pup could respond, the Beta attacked.

Decebel taught mixed martial arts to all of the wolves, even the females. It was imperative they all know how to defend themselves in case another pack ever attacked. Granted, it had been over a century since the last pack battle, but Decebel was a firm believer in “better safe than sorry”.

He delivered a series of strikes and kicks practiced in Muay Thai. It was a form of kickboxing, and the predominant mixed martial art he taught along with Judo – ground fighting.

Stelian tried to counter Decebel's moves, but no matter what he did he couldn't keep the strikes from hitting their target. After only five minutes Decebel took Stelian to the ground.

Decebel didn't bother holding the pup down. He jumped to his feet and stepped back, indicating the sparring was done.

Decebel checked his watch and saw that he had only twenty minutes until he had to be in the meeting with Vasile and the other Alphas.

"That will be all for today," he told the younger wolf. "You did a good job.”

Decebel grabbed his towel off the floor and headed back to his room to take a quick shower. As he walked, his mind wandered back to where it always seemed to – Jennifer.

He remembered walking through the wing of the mansion that housed the unmated males and catching her scent. Decebel could admit now that maybe he had slightly overreacted when he tore into the room and found two males rifling through her suit case. So maybe he didn't have to throw Dragos through a wall. And, yeah, he could've kept from tossing Dorian right on top of Dragos. But in that moment his wolf had taken over, and all he could think was that her scent was around unmated males, that they were touching her things – things only he should know about. Decebel had glossed over that little tidbit, about why on earth he thought he had a right to know about her underwear.