Blood Rites

"I'm glad you're finally catching on," he said in response to her thoughts.

Jacque tugged at his hair in retaliation to his eavesdropping.

He laughed. "It's not eavesdropping, love. I've told you it's being attentive."

"So do I have your attention?" she whispered as she traced his lips with her fingers.

"Undivided," he said, lips barely moving. He was mesmerized by his mate, her touch, the only thing that could bring his wolf to heel.

"Good, cause you might want to pay extra close attention to what I'm thinking right," she paused as she pictured in her mind what she wanted, needed from Fane, "now," she finished.

"I think I can handle most of that," he said as he kissed her fingers.

Jacque's brow furrowed. "Not all?"

"You’re a wicked, wicked woman. You know that, right?" Fane teased her as he leaned forward and kissed her neck, nipping gently where his mark would soon be.

"There we go with the whole 'soon' thing."

"Hush, my love. No more words," Fane said in between kisses on her neck, collar bone, and lips.

And there were no more for a long while.

Chapter 17

"I understand what you need me to do, Logan. I don't need you to explain it twelve different ways." Dr. Cynthia Steele's frustration at the wolf showed clearly on her face.

"If something changes in the plan, if for some reason Fane is able to stay with her tonight, we have to have a plan B," he told her.

"Plan B is I come tell them that the blood tests I took from Jen are abnormal and that I want to take Jacque to the lab and draw more blood so I can compare the two. They will be focused on the fact that I've said Jen's blood is abnormal," she explained.

"And is it abnormal?" Logan asked her.

"That's patient confidentiality, Logan, you know I can't tell you that."

"You are helping me abduct a future Alpha's mate and you are worried about patient confidentiality?" he asked her disbelievingly.

"I don't have anything against Jen, therefore yes, I'm worried about her privacy. You only need to worry about Jacque."

"Fine," Logan growled. "Just make sure that one way or another we get Jacque away from those mongrels and that she is sedated for our departure."

Dr. Cynthia Steele watched the wolf leave her office. She wondered, not for the first time, if she was doing the right thing. Then she would see her brother's face in her mind. He had been so unhappy the last few years. She had known that his wolf was growing uneasy at being unmated for so long, especially an Alpha who could be more than dangerous. His death was a perfect testament to what could happen when a wolf went after a female that wasn't his true mate. So why was she helping Logan? It was obvious that Fane was indeed Jacque's mate. The truth was she was angry and hurt and Fane was the cause of that anger and hurt. She couldn't challenge Fane for killing her Alpha, but she could hurt him just the same. That's all there was to it. Fane had taken what was hers and now she would take what was his. The papers she held in her hand drew her from her thoughts as she once again went over the lab results that belonged to Jennifer Adams. Although Jennifer looked ordinary enough, but there was nothing normal about her blood, and she knew if Logan knew, Jacque wouldn't be the only female he would be trying to take to his pack.

"Dillon, just let him stay the night with her," Lilly was saying, "I don't see what the big deal is."

"The big deal, Lilly, is that she is only 17 and you're saying its okay for her to have a guy spend the night with her. What else are you okay with our daughter doing?" Dillon's nostrils were flaring as his frustration at the situation rose.

Jen, Sally, Vasile, Alina, and Decebel all sat in the family waiting area that had become the undeclared meeting spot. They all looked on as Lilly and Dillon squared off.

"Does he realize what a major no-no he just made?" Sally whispered to the group.

"Ahh, you are right Sally. He criticized her parenting. That was probably the dumbest thing he could do," Vasile agreed.

Alina patted her mate's leg. "I knew you were smart when I met you."

"Come now, Mina. Don't be too shy to admit that you were so taken with my good looks that you could not focus on anything else."

"He's remembering it backwards," she whispered conspiratorially to Jen and Sally. "The first time we met the only words he could say were Luna and mina, and even then he didn't say them in the correct order." The girls laughed with Alina.

"Ahh, my love, now you are just being mean," Vasile whined, and to hear an Alpha whine only made them laugh harder. Jen caught Decebel watching her but he quickly looked away when she caught his eye.

A loud slap brought their laughing to a halt as they all turned to see a shocked Dillon Jacobs standing with a red hand print across his face.

"You can go to hell, Dillon Jacobs, and take all your damn smelly, flea infested wolves with you." Lilly turned on her heel, slamming through the waiting room door. They all jumped when it slammed closed.

"Do all of you think we have fleas?" Decebel asked as he looked at Jen and Sally.

"I think we just make an assumption because of the hair and what not, that you, ya know, might have a problem with the little buggers when you are in your wolf form." Decebel's face got more dubious with every word Jen spoke.

"Well, crap! Everything else with fur has fleas what did you expect us to think?" she snapped at him.

Decebel's only response was a slight lifting of his lips that might have even passed for a smile…maybe.

Sally looked at Decebel with an obvious question written across her face. When Jen was no longer looking, Decebel winked at Sally, a silent acknowledgement that she knew something was up, and he wasn't sharing.

Vasile walked over to Dillon and took a deep breath. He placed his hands on his hips and looked at the ground for a long moment.

"Are you sure this is still what you want to try and do?" he asked Jacobs.

"I don't know any more," Dillon admitted. "Lilly's angry with me, Jacque probably hates me, and your son would just as soon kill me as look at me. But Vasile, she's my daughter, she's so young."

"She is young, and so is Fane, but that does not change the fact that they are true mates. His marks are on her skin."