Chapter 32
and saw that Alina was still standing, as was Vasile. That’s when she realized that Vasile must have done his 'Alpha voodoo', as Jen would say.
“I stand as Alpha over this challenge,” Vasile began speaking. “All rules will be followed, the penalty for any not followed is death at my hands.” Vasile paused and looked around the circle at each wolf that was kneeling, none met his eyes, none so much as moved. Jacque could tell that some wanted to fight the orders that Vasile was giving, but he was more dominant and he was Alpha so they had no choice but to obey.
“Lucas Steele, come forward,” Vasile said, looking straight at him. “Fane Lupei, come forward.”
Both men came to stand in front of Vasile. Neither looked him in the face.
“Lucas, you challenge Fane for bonding ceremony to his mate, Jacquelyn Pierce. Is that correct?” Vasile asked the Alpha.
“Yes,” Lucas growled, still under Vasile’s control and not liking it.
“Fane, you accepted this challenge understanding that it is to the death?”
“Yes.” Fane’s voice was steady, no growl, no sign of weakness. It made Jacque want scream at how unfair this all was. She shook it off and tried to focus.
“You will fight in wolf form, and you will receive no help from your pack. Neither of you can choose to submit and live. If you submit, your opponent will still kill you. Do each of you understand the rules as I have laid them out in the presence of these witnesses?” Vasile asked them.
Both wolves spoke at the same time.
“I understand the rules as you have laid them out. I understand that should I choose to defy your orders I will be put to death by your hands. Let it be as you have said, Alpha.”
Vasile nodded and walked towards the edge of the circle. Then he turned and gave the wolves a look. It must have meant something because they stepped apart. and in a matter of a few breaths where men had been wolves stood.
The first thing Jacque noticed was that Fane was the larger wolf. But then Fane was a large guy, so it would only fit that he be a large wolf. Fane’s fur was pitch black while Lucas’ was deep brown. They were both beautiful, and they were both snarling. Their hackles were raised, heads low towards the ground. The picture they made was terrifying.
“Begin,” she heard Vasile say, and her heart felt like it had moved into her throat.
For a few moments all they did was circle one another. Every so often one would take a step forward, causing the other to snarl and snap their teeth. Alina still had Jacque’s hand and Jacque was squeezing it so tight she hoped that she wasn’t hurting her. Suddenly Jacque heard a sound to her left.
“Come on, Alpha. He’s just a pup,” one of Lucas’ wolves yelled. The words had barely left his mouth and then he was on the ground, whining in pain. Jacque turned to look at Vasile, and sure enough, he was looking straight at the wolf and power was once again radiating off of him. All the other wolves took steps back, realizing that the Romanian Alpha was not playing.
As all that was taking place, Lucas had taken advantage of the distraction and lunged at Fane. But Fane was ready and moved before Lucas could get near him. Lucas turned to get Fane back in his sights and Fane circled around, snapping at Lucas’ back leg. The bark that came from Lucas made it clear that Fane had hit his mark. Fane backed up quickly before Lucas could react. Jacque watched them circle and lunge, nip and bark. It looked like a dance. She realized, once she started feeling light headed, that she was holding her breath. Taking a couple of good, deep breaths, she tried to relax her stance. Yeah, fat chance that.
Suddenly, Lucas was on Fane. He'd managed somehow during their dance to get a good grip on Fane’s rear right leg. Fane snarled and turned hard, trying to bite at Lucas. Lucas hung on with a death grip. Fane shook his leg violently. When that didn’t work, he began to roll his body, twisting his leg at the same time. Jacque froze. If he kept that up he was going break his leg. Jacque felt Alina tense, and when she looked at her face she could tell that Alina realized the same thing. Jacque started to say something but Alina growled, so Jacque put her hand over her mouth as a physical barrier to keep quiet. But just as soon as she covered her mouth, she wanted to cover her ears because the snarls and whines coming from Fane were breaking her heart. Finally she heard a crack and a whine, mixed with a growl. When she looked up she saw that Fane had managed to get free of Lucas, but he had done it at the price of his leg. He was now fighting with his leg held limply off the ground.
Despite his leg, Fane still looked fierce, and quick as lightening he lunged forward and literally had half of Lucas’ face in his mouth. Fane made a ripping motion as if he was tearing meat from a bone and jerked his head to the side. Jacque saw fur and flesh sling out of Fane’s mouth and heard Lucas howl in pain. Lucas was shaking his head violently and desperately trying to keep an eye on Fane as he tried to recover from the attack. As they circled again, Jacque saw that Fane had nearly ripped Lucas’ right eye out. There was blood all over his face and there was no way he could see from that eye. Fane had just evened the playing field.
Okay, wolf-man. Let's finish this, Jacque thought to herself. But when she saw Lucas take a running leap and land on Fane’s back, she knew it was far from over. Lucas didn’t stay on his back. Instead she saw him bite into Fane, tear, and jump back. Lucas did this over and over and with in a matter of minutes Fane was bleeding all over, his fur was matted. Blood was all over the ground. Jacque was shaking from the effort it was taking not to scream, not to beg someone to stop this. Tears streamed down her face, her lips trembled behind her hand. This can't be happening. She squeezed her eyes tight and then opened them.
She saw Lucas lunge again and bite into Fane’s right side. Fane stumbled and snapped as Lucas jumped back, but only got air. Blood poured from the bite in his side and she watched Fane fall on his front paws. That was all she could stand.
“STOP! STOP THIS!” Jacque began to yell as she fought against the grip the other wolves had on her.
“Jacque, be still,” she heard Alina say.
Jacque swung around and glared. “I WILL NOT BE STILL, DAMMIT! LOOK AT WHAT HE IS DOING TO YOUR SON. DO YOU NOT SEE?”
Jacque had tears pouring out of her eyes. She didn’t care, she was broken inside, and she couldn’t stand it any longer.
She saw Fane struggle, but finally get up. The two wolves continued to circle. Fane got a couple of good bites in and now Lucas' fur was coated in blood as well. Both wolves stopped and were very still, just staring at each other. Jacque was still crying and fighting the grip that Vasile’s wolves had on her. But just as quickly as the stillness had come, it was gone. Lucas moved in low, this time grabbing Fane under his muzzle on his throat. As he grabbed him, he slid and pulled Fane up and over him so that Fane landed on his side. There was a tremendous thud, a low growl, and a high whine.
Everyone was still, almost like someone had pushed the pause button on a movie. Then someone hit play. Fane lay still beneath Lucas’ jaws. Lucas’ wolves had all begun to growl and howl. Alina stood next to Jacque, still as a statue. No tears streaked her face yet. Then Jacque lost it. She screamed and cried and pulled against the wolves.
“FANE GET UP! GET UP NOW! DON’T YOU DARE LEAVE ME, DON’T YOU DARE.” Jacque shook with her sobs. The wolves holding her got distracted for a moment and it was her window. She tore lose from their grip, running as hard as she could. She plowed into Lucas, pushing with all her might. “GET OFF HIM, LUCAS. GET OFF OF MY MATE OR SO HELP ME I WILL RIP YOUR THROAT OUT WITH MY BARE HANDS!” Jacque yelled and pushed to no avail; Lucas did not budge. Jacque was vaguely aware of someone wrapping an iron-strong arm around her waist and jerking her back. Jacque frantically grabbed at anything she could get her hands on. She got a grip on Lucas’ fur and pulled against whoever was trying to pull her away. Instead of being able to hold on, Jacque just ripped out handfuls of hair from Lucas, and under different circumstances she would have found it gratifying. However, at the moment, all Jacque could see was Fane. Fane on his side, blood pooling around him. Fane not moving. Fane under the other wolf, whose teeth were still sunk into his neck.
“PLEASE,” Jacque sobbed. “VASILE GET HIM OFF OF FANE. GOD, HOW CAN YOU LET HIM DIE. I’M BEGGING YOU, PLEASE DON’T LET HIM DIE.”
“Get her out of here,” Vasile turned and growled at the wolves holding Jacque. When they didn’t move he snarled, “NOW! GET HER OUT OF HERE NOW!”
“NO! I WON’T LEAVE HIM. FANE PLEASE. PLEASE GET UP.” As the wolves began to drag Jacque away, which they literally had to do her because of her struggles, her pleading got softer but lost none of the desperation.
“Fane, I love you. Do you hear me? I love you. I don’t want a life without you. Please, love. Don’t leave me.” Jacque’s tears stained her face and shirt. It was no use. Jacque was not strong enough to fight the wolves. She gave up struggling and instead turned inward to her pain. She began to cry so hard that she started throwing up, and when she had nothing left in her stomach, she simply retched up air over and over. The wolves must have gotten close to where Jen and Sally were parked because in between sobs and retching, she heard Jen’s voice.
“JACQUE!” Jen shouted as she came plowing towards her. “Get the hell off her. you mangy mutts!” Jen began yelling at the wolves all around her. In turn the wolves growled. “Oh, hell no. You did not just growl at me. I will castrate you while you sleep and then hang them on your car antenna, so BACK THE HELL UP!”
The wolves must have decided that Jen was crazy enough to act on her words. They backed up, hands in the air in surrender.
“We will not leave her, but we will let you take her into your care,” Decebel told them.
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Now what happened, where is Fane?” Sally asked.
The wolves all bowed their heads and their shoulders slumped in defeat. It was Decebel again who spoke. “He has fallen.”
With those words, Jacque once again felt overwhelming dread pour over her. She jumped up and turned back towards the circle and began to run. The wolves were there in a flash, once again holding her around the waist, only this time Decebel turned Jacque towards him and held her. It made her think of how Fane had held her just like that when she'd been crying in fear and it only made her cry harder. Jacque began to pound her fist on Decebel’s chest as the pain seeped out of her into the night air.
“This cannot be happening, it just can’t be.” Her body shook and that made Decebel hold her tighter. He spoke to her softly in Romanian and once again she thought of Fane. She couldn’t take it, her brain was not able to control her emotions, and so it finally just shut down. Jacque blacked out. The last thing in her mind was Fane’s voice. It said, “soon.” She didn’t know if it was her imagination or if it was really him. Whatever it was, she clung to it as the darkness took her.