Blood Rites

“I know about our daughter. I sort of know why you didn’t tell me about her, but I want to meet her, I think I deserve that much.” Dillon’s voice held honest hurt.

“I was going to tell you that night.” She didn’t have to specify what night it was. “But I came home and telling a note you are pregnant isn’t quite the same as telling the father.” Lilly knew she shouldn’t be a butt head, she had made the choice to stay with Dillon after she knew that he would one day have no choice but to leave her.

Dillon tilted his head to the ceiling, closing his eyes. He inhaled a deep breath and let it out slowly. When he looked at Lilly again she could tell that he was struggling to keep his emotions in check.

“I didn’t want to leave. You know that I didn’t have a choice. Lilly, I would have stayed, I would have married you, been the father Jacque deserved. I would have.”

Lilly cut him off. “I know that, ok, but that is not what this is about. You want to meet Jacque, well, that will be up to her. I will tell her you are here, and if and only if she wants to, you can meet her. But you’re going to have to give her some time to process this, Dillon.”

“I know it’s a lot, but I want to see her today. I need to speak with her about some important things she needs to know about being a wolf.”

“She has people to tell her about being a wolf,” Lilly snapped at him, letting her frustration at the situation get the best of her.

“Right, the pup who allowed her to be harmed.” Dillon’s voice held obvious contempt for Fane.

Decebel growled low and stepped forward, pushing past Lilly’s arm. “You will not disrespect the prince, he has done nothing wrong.”

Dillon seemed to gather himself and back track. “I was wrong to assume it was his fault, Beta. I meant no disrespect, but you have to understand that as her father it was difficult to learn that your daughter was injured while in the care of another wolf.”

“You may be her father, but only in blood,” Decebel shot back at him, then turned to Lilly and took her arm. “We will go back and discuss this with Jacque and let you know something in the next hour.” Decebel didn’t give Lilly a chance to say anything more, he simply took her by the arm and started dragging her to the elevator.

“Bossy much?” Lilly glared at him as the elevator doors closed with a ding. “Why did you tell him we would contact him in an hour, Decebel? That isn’t going to give Jacque much time to think about whether or not she even wants to consider meeting her father.”

“The longer it takes for her to decide, then the longer he is here, and he has plans. He wasn’t being completely honest about why he is here,” Decebel explained.

The elevator gave a slight lurch as it made it to the floor where Jacque and Jen’s room was. The doors slid open and once again Decebel exited first and then motioned for Lilly to follow.

“What do you mean he has plans?” Lilly ground out.

Decebel continued to walk towards the girls' room without answering her question. As they approached the door, Vasile and Alina stood from the chairs they had been sitting in front of the room where Jacque and Jen were recovering.

"What did you learn?" Vasile directed the question to Decebel.

"He wasn't telling the whole truth. He does want to meet her, his emotions are sincere, but he is definitely hiding something," Decebel explained.

"I don't understand how you could tell all that," Lilly spoke up

"When a person is dishonest their body gives off cues. Human senses cannot pick up on them, but wolf senses can, and are highly attuned to them," Decibel explained. "When you lie, generally your heart rate is quicker, your body gives off a slight odor from perspiration that you might not even know is on your skin, but it's there, your pupils dilate slightly, and your nostrils flare out. Dillon being a wolf can hide some of that, but I think seeing you threw him off and he wasn't protecting his emotions as well as he normally could, especially for an Alpha."

"So the million dollar question is, what does he want with Jacque?" Alina asked.

Just then the door to the room they had been guarding opened with a slight, but noticeable creak. "What does who want with Jacque?" Jen asked as she stepped out of the room into the hallway.

Chapter 12

Jen walked slowly, it was awkward because of all the bandages and the I.V. pole she had to drag around with her.

"Why exactly are you out of bed?" The question came from Decebel.

"I tried to tell her to stay put, but she's about as cooperative as a wet cat," Sally told them as she too came out of the room.

Jen hobbled over to where Decebel stood and stopped right in front of him. "I'm out of bed because there is nothing fun going on in bed," she teased. After her earlier encounter with him she couldn’t help but feel brave and she could tell it made him uncomfortable for her to flirt with him, which only made her want to flirt more.

Decebel glared at her and took a step back. "You should be resting, not traipsing around in a hospital gown with an I.V. pole," he told her, sounding completely indifferent, just as if he were talking to a total stranger. Jen turned away and looked at Sally to hide the hurt in her eyes, which she didn't even know why she was feeling but there it was.

"What did I tell you, Sal, there is something going on and we are always being left out. So Ms. P, who wants to see our little wolf princess?" Jen asked, keeping her back to Decebel but not moving away either.

It was Vasile who answered. "Dillon Jacobs is here to see Jacque."

Both girls stared at Vasile blankly, "Right, right, and Dillon Jacobs would beeee?" Jen prompted.

"Jacque's father," Lilly spit out.

"Oh, snap," "Shit fire and hold the matches," Sally and Jen said at the same time. Vasile and Decebel coughed, both trying to cover up chuckles at Jen's vocabulary. Jen had the good grace to look slightly abashed at her outlandish statement, but only just.

"That doesn't even begin to cover it." Lilly's voice was distraught and frustration was written across her brow.

"So when were ya'll planning on dropping this nuclear bomb on Jacque's lap, because I think I am going to be needed elsewhere in the hospital at that exact moment," Jen told them. Sally stood next to her, nodding her head in agreement.