Blood Rites

"We are going to tell her now," Decebel answered, giving Jen the perfect excuse to turn and ogle him without being obvious that she was indeed ogling.

Or so she thought until she heard Sally whisper in her ear, "So, Decebel is looking drool worthy I see."

Jen whipped her head around so fast that she knocked foreheads with Sally. "Freaking A, Jen, your head is even harder than I originally thought," Sally whined.

"Yea, well, Sherlock yours ain't so soft either," Jen snapped. Sally gave her a knowing look, reminding her that she had caught her checking out Decebel. She shouldn’t be bothered that Sally had called her out on it, she checked out guys all the time. This was different though, this was a freaking hot as sin werewolf. Yeah, okay, maybe the burns were going to her head. That must be why she would suddenly be fixated on the unattainable. Although, she thought, werewolves can have flings can't they? She looked at Decebel again, who was studying the floor like it had the answers to life written on it in Aramaic. A fling with him, hmmm, could be interesting. She didn't realize she had spoken that last part out loud.

"What kind of fling would be interesting?" Sally asked.

"What? I didn't say fling, I said sling. A sling for my arm, because of the burns and what not." Jen stumbled over her words.

"Uh huh, right, a sling. We'll have the nurse get right on that, Jen." Sally's look of 'you're full of b.s.' matched her tone of voice.

Jen turned to Lilly then, for once not wanting the attention directed at her. "Okay, well I say we get this over with Ms. P, just rip it off like a band aid, nice and fast." As she was talking she was hobbling back to the room with her I.V. pole in tow. Before anyone knew what she had planned, Jen swung the door open, saying, "Jacque, dear old dad has come to pay his respects to the nearly departed."

Jacque's head snapped up. "What?"

"Crap, why did nobody tell me someone with a freaking I.V. pole could move that fast?" Sally blurted out.

Lilly came into the room, followed by Vasile, Alina and at last Decebel, who was just as broody as ever. Jen crawled back into bed with Sally's assistance and turned to look at Jacque, who at the moment looked at a loss for words. That's a new one, Jen thought.

"Mom, tell me that Jen inhaled one too many smoke fumes, or that she is high on morphine, or even that she is just saying that to be a butt head."

Lilly shook her head. "How I wish I could give you any one of those excuses, but she was being just as brutally honest as she always is. You father is here and he wants to meet you."

Fane let out a low growl and Jacque laid her hand on his to help calm him. He looked at her and used their bond to talk to her. "You don't have to meet him, you know that right?"

"Yes, I know. But Fane, it's my father and he's here to see me. I can't tell you how many times I have dreamed that I would get to meet him one day," Jacque told him, and then she thought of what she had asked him earlier when she felt like he wasn't being totally honest.

"Wait, did you know about this? Is this what you weren't telling me?" Jacque glared at Fane skeptically.

Fane kneeled down so that he was face to face with her. "I'm sorry, love. I just didn't want to upset you and I didn't know what he wanted. I wanted to wait to tell you when we had more information." Fane's eyes were pleading with her to understand.

"Never keep things from me, Fane. It will never end well for you, we clear?"

"Crystal, Luna. Please forgive my thoughtlessness." Fane bared his neck to her out of respect for his mate.

"Man, that is so freaking yummy," Jen said, watching the exchange between Fane and Jacque along with everyone in the room. "I want one Sally, go find me one."

"One hot, loving, passionate, furry werewolf coming up," Sally said sarcastically. "Would you like fries or tots with that?"

"I prefer whipped cream actually," Jen said wistfully.

Decebel coughed and sounded like he was choking, while Jacque and Fane stared at the two girls in perplexity.

"I swear my two best friends have no shame. Absolutely, utterly, completely and wholly without indignity," Jacque's voice was full of mystification.

"Jacque," Lilly's voice brought Jacque back to the reality of the situation.

"Oh, right, so my father is in town…not sure what to feel about that to be honest."

Fane wished he could hide the worry that something wasn't quite right but she picked up on the thought before he could block it.

"What do you mean you don't think something is right?" she asked him out loud.

Fane turned and looked at Decebel. "Did you confirm it?"

"Yes, my prince, he is hiding something," Decebel answered.

Fane looked back at Jacque and he gently held her bandaged hand. "Love, he is here to meet you, but he is hiding another motive and we don't know what it is. It's making us very leery of him. I can't say that I like the idea of him near you."

"You will be with me, right?" she asked.

"Of course." He nodded.

"Then I won't be in any danger." Jacque said it with complete confidence in him.

He leaned down and kissed her gently. "Thank you, Luna. I will always keep you safe."

"I know wolf-man, I'm counting on it," Jacque smiled at him and gently ran her fingers down the side of his face.

Jen cleared her throat. "I don't mean to bust up an obviously promising interlude, but we kind of need to figure out what you want to do, Jac."

"I'm going to meet him," Jacque said bluntly.

Lilly looked at her daughter and gave one nod of her head that she understood. Vasile stepped up to Jacque's bed and placed a hand on Fane's shoulder, "Why don't you get some rest, Jacque. Sleep tonight and then your father can come meet you tomorrow."

Fane nodded his head in agreement with his Alpha, "I think that is a good idea, Jacquelyn. You've been through a lot today, you need to rest."

"I know I have, but I feel amazingly better. Aside from the fever I can't seem to kick," she told him in astonishment.

"That's your wolf genes coming out, we heal really fast. You are obviously going to heal much faster than a human but not quite as fast as a werewolf."