Blood Rites

Alina stood up to go, but first handed him a piece of paper. “These are your vows, you can add to them but the first part must be said, for it solidifies the bond.” Then she turned to go.

Fane stood up, and before his mother could make it out the door he said, “Mother, my Alpha, thank you.” And he turned his head, baring his neck.

Alina looked Fane in the eye and held his stare as she told him, “Te iubesc fiul” (I love you son), and she turned and walked out the door, closing it behind her.

Fane unfolded the piece of paper and with hands shaking read:

On this day I kneel before you, my mate, to ask if you will make me whole. Will you give yourself to me, finally calming the beast inside, bringing order to chaos, shining light where there has been only darkness? Will you bind your life to mine, your fate to mine, and your soul to mine and in doing so complete the mate bond?

After Fane read that it would be Jacquelyn’s turn to respond with her answer and her vows. Once they read the formal vows, if they so chose they could recite their own vows. Up until a few moments earlier, Fane hadn't been sure what to say, but his mother had remedied that. Everything his mother had said was what he was feeling. Fane grabbed a pen, sat down, and quickly wrote out the words he would pour from his heart to his mate.

Checking his phone for the time, he saw that he only had fifteen minutes until he was to be in the garden where the ceremony would take place. He grabbed the suit hanging on his bedroom door, stripped faster than he thought possible, and was slipping into his jacket when he suddenly heard a scream in his mind. He fell to the floor from the force of the emotions coming with that scream. He felt confusion, pain, and most of all fear, all-consuming fear.

“JACQUELYN!” Fane sent the thought through their bond. “Where are you? What’s happened?” Fane waited for her response but no words came through, only fear and pain. She was scared and she was hurt. Fane took off at a dead run through the house and out the front door and nearly collided with his father.

“Something is wrong, I can feel it in in the pack bonds. What is going on?” Vasile asked.

“I heard Jacquelyn scream and felt her fear and pain and now I can’t get her to answer me,” Fane answered.

“When was the last time you spoke with her?”

“She told me around 12:15 that they were headed our direction. She sounded fine, in no distress,” Fane answered. He couldn’t keep from looking at his surroundings, expecting at any moment to be ambushed, but by what, he didn’t have a clue.

Vasile was halfway back to the main house before Fane even realized he had walked away. Running to catch up, he heard his father on the phone with Decebel.

“Get the vehicles started and the pack loaded. Skender and Boian together, Sorin and you together, I will have Alina and Fane. I want each vehicle to take a different route going towards Lilly’s house. Keep your phones on, be prepared for anything. We don’t know if they were just in an accident or if this is the act of an enemy.” Vasile didn’t wait for a response before he hung up. Just as they reached the door to the house Fane’s mother stepped out dressed in black cargos, a fitted black t-shirt, and combat boots, her fighting gear. She threw Fane a gun and then turned to her mate.

“We ready?” she asked him.

“Yes, let's go. You drive, Mina, just in case we have to engage anyone. Fane, you keep trying to get in touch with your mate. Do you have her cell phone number?”

“No, I never asked for it because we’ve always just spoken through our thoughts,” Fane said in frustration, shoving the gun in the waist of the back of his pants. “Wait, I can call the Henrys and see if they know anything.”

Brian picked up on the second ring. “Hello?”

“Brian, it’s Fane. Did you see Lilly and the girls leave today?” Fane spoke in clipped tones, holding it together by a thread.

“No Fane, I didn’t see them leave. Is something wrong?”

“I don’t know, but I think something may have happened to them. If you hear from them please call me right away.” Fane hung up before Brian could respond. His hands shook as he set the phone down on the seat next to him. He closed his eyes and concentrated as hard as he could on Jacquelyn, on her face, the sound of her voice, the color of her hair, every detail he could think of and he reached out with a push of his power. “Jacquelyn, tell me where you are.” Nothing. “Luna, please answer me, if you can’t with words give me something, a feeling, a picture in your mind, something to tell me you are still with me.” Fane was getting more and more desperate the longer he went without hearing a response from her.

He laid his head on the head rest, frustration threatening to pour out in the form of a huge black wolf. Fane just wanted something even if it was just a memory of the last thing she saw. As they got closer to town, Fane called on the wolf to use his superior hearing and heard the faint sound of sirens.

“Da, do you hear that?”

“Yes, it sounds like it’s coming from downtown,” Vasile answered

“Lilly’s book store is downtown,” Fane told his mother.

“Were they planning to go there on their way to our home?” his mother asked.

“Not that I know of, but I still haven’t been able to communicate with her. When she let me know they were on their way she did not mention stopping by the book store,” Fane told his parents.

Vasile's face looked somber when he said, “If you are unable to communicate with her it more than likely means she is not conscious.”

At the thought of his mate so helpless Fane struggled to hold onto his wolf, and his father, realizing that he was about to lose it, turned to him and placed his hand on his shoulder and let out a low growl. Fane’s wolf submitted reluctantly, but only just, by the presence of his Alpha. Finally they turned the corner and were on the street of Lilly’s book store. As they drove in front of it they didn’t see any sign of Lilly’s vehicle but could hear sirens up ahead. The further on they drove they began to see smoke and then bright orange flames surrounding an SUV that lay upside down in the ditch. As soon as Fane saw the fire, and before his mother could stop the car, he was out the door running at wolf’s speed, not caring if it drew attention, not caring if people realized that there was no way a human could run that fast. As he got closer to the vehicle he saw four figures across the ditch close to the road, as far from the burning wreck as they could get without being in the road. Four figures, two sitting up, two lying down, neither of the latter moving. Fane’s wolf pushed forward, his eyes going wolf blue, his teeth getting longer as he struggled to hold his form, running to his unconscious mate.