Chapter 33
Fane lay beneath Lucas’ jaws, weak from all the blood loss. He heard Jacquelyn’s sobs, her pleading. He had seen her run into Lucas in an attempt to push Lucas off of him, and all the while he'd had to lie still. If he had moved his plan would not have worked. He kept his mind separate from Jacquelyn, making sure he did not give her any sign that he was okay. He hated seeing her hurt, but if she knew that he wasn’t dead, she would not have struggled so much which would have tipped off Lucas. As soon as Jacquelyn was out of sight, Lucas gave Fane one final shake and then let go of his neck. The fact that Lucas had not bothered to make sure Fane’s heart stopped was his mistake. Fane was holding his breath, which made Lucas think he had killed him.
Foolish, cocky Alpha, Fane thought.
Lucas released Fane’s throat and turned his head up towards the moon and howled. While he was distracted, his vulnerable throat was completely exposed to Fane, and Fane took full advantage. With all the strength Fane had left, he lunged up and sank his teeth deep into Lucas’ throat. He tasted blood and that fueled his anger. Fane gripped even tighter and felt his jaws crush the vocal cords and the wind pipe, silencing Lucas’ howl. Then Fane jerked his head violently to the left, pulling so hard that his teeth ripped Lucas’ throat wide open, severing arteries. Blood poured like a rushing river from Lucas’ throat, pooling on the ground. In less than a minute, Lucas collapsed on his side. Fane would not make the same mistake Lucas did. He took a paw and pushed Lucas onto his back, exposing the most vulnerable part of a wolf. He leaned down and once again sunk his teeth into the wolf’s flesh, tearing though skin and muscle until he disemboweled Lucas. That was an injury Fane knew Lucas would not get up from.
Fane turned to look at his father, who nodded his head once. Fane turned his head upward and howled in victory. Then he collapsed.
“Sorin, Alina. Get Fane and take him to the Henrys'. Clean him up. I will be there as quickly as I can to heal him,” Vasile ordered.
“Forgive me, Alpha, but why do you not want us to take him to his mate?” Sorin asked apprehensively.
“Jacquelyn was hysterical when she was dragged out of here. She is not likely to be any calmer yet, and she does not need to see Fane in his current state,” Vasile explained.
Sorin nodded his understanding. Then he, with Alina’s help, gathered Fane to take him to the Henrys'.
Vasile turned back to the wolves that Lucas left behind with his death.
“Who of you is Lucas’ second?” Vasile asked them.
A tall, bulky man stepped forward. “I am his second,” he answered.
“What is your name?” Vasile asked the man.
“Jeff Stone,” the wolf answered.
“You are second no longer, Jeff Stone. You stand Alpha of the Coldspring pack. You are to keep a record of your pack as is Canis lupus law. I will check on your pack to make sure you are abiding by these laws. If you do not know them,” Vasile reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet, from which he pulled out a card, “here is my card. Call me and I will inform you of them. Are we clear?”
Jeff nodded and turned his head, exposing his neck in submission to Vasile.
“Good. Now take your former Alpha and give him a proper burial. Let this be a lesson to each of you that you cannot claim women who are not your mates. Lucas would have never found comfort or peace with Jacquelyn because she was not his true mate. He would have eventually resented her for not being able to give him what he so desperately needed,” Vasile explained to the wolves. Then he simply said, “Go,” and watched as they collected Lucas’ body and left.
Vasile took a deep breath, preparing for the task before him: heal his son and somehow explain to his mate that they had intentionally planned for Fane to appear dead. This is not going to be pretty, he thought.
Fane moaned as he struggled to sit up. He was back in his human form and as he looked around, he realized he was in his room at the Henry’s house. He started to stand, but got very dizzy. and had to quickly sit back down.
“Take it easy, son. You’ve had quite a night,” Fane heard his father tell him.
“Where is Jacquelyn?” Fane asked the first question that now burned a hole in his head. He wanted her there with him so he could hold her and reassure her that he was fine. She had been so hysterical the last time he saw her, he knew she must still be a mess if she did not know he was alive.
“She is at her house. We did not take you there because I wanted you to look somewhat healthier than you did when Lucas was finished with you,” Vasile told him.
That makes sense, Fane thought. He gingerly tried standing again and was successful. He was thankful that someone had thought to put boxers on him so he wasn’t naked. He walked over to look in the mirror to survey the damage.
“It’s not too bad, after healing you up a bit. You still have some ugly bruising and minor cuts, but no broken bones,” his father told him.
He was right about the bruising. He looked like someone had taken black, gray, and blue paint and splattered it on him. He had deep cuts on his face, neck, back, and legs. Overall, though, it could have been so much worse. Fane was so thankful that he had been the victor. The thought of Jacquelyn came again to his mind and he felt bile rise up in his throat at the memory of her sobs. He had to see her, she needed to know he was okay. Then he would have to beg her forgiveness.
“I need to see her, Tata,” Fane told his father.
“I know, but you need to be prepared for-” before Vasile could finish Fane’s door swung open so hard that it hit the wall with a loud bang.
What came through it was the picture of pure, unadulterated rage, otherwise known as Jen. Sally followed, looking every bit as angry, but in a much more controlled way.
“What on, I mean, how in the – WTF Fane!” Jen finally yelled. “How could you not tell her that you were going to go all armadillo on her? Did you not trust her? Did you think she couldn’t handle watching you lay there not fighting back? What on earth was going through that pea sized, canine mush you call a brain?”
Fane looked confused and really he was, he didn’t understand.
“Um, Jen, I hear you and you have every right to be angry, but, well, I don’t know what you mean by 'going armadillo'.”
“You do realize that when I have to explain my comparisons and insults it takes a lot of the thunder away, right?” Jen rolled her eyes. “Armadillos play dead when they feel threatened. They fall on their sides and go all stiff, they really look dead but they aren’t. Are you with me now, flea bag?”
“Yes, okay. Now I understand. There are a couple of reasons I didn’t tell her. The first is that we didn’t decide on that plan until about fifteen minutes before the challenge started. The second was we needed her reaction to be authentic.” Fane realized as soon as Jen’s face began to turn shades of purple that that last part might not have been necessary.
“Please, please, for the love of all things that are not werewolves, tell me you did not just say you wanted her reaction to be authentic.” Jen sounded so calm, and calm was actually scarier than her yelling.
Fane didn’t get a word out before a fist suddenly connected with the left side of his face. He was truly in shock. He had never been hit by a girl, and although it didn’t hurt, he felt really bad that she felt his behavior deserved physical violence.
When he turned his head, he looked at Jen only to see that she was in turn looking at Sally, who was jumping up and down, shaking her hand, and growling out any and all expletives she could think of.
“Holy crap, man. Why is your face so freaking hard!” Sally yelled.
Jen’s mouth was wide open in disbelief and then a sly grin spread across it. “That was so bad ass! It’s about time you recognize that my way has some definite pluses to it.”
“Well, other than my hand being broken, it was definitely worth it,” Sally told her.
Fane knelt down on one knee in front of the two girls. startling them into silence.
He laid his hand across his heart and bowed his head.
“I am truly sorry that my actions caused so much pain. It truly wasn’t my intention and it tore a hole in me to see my love so broken. I beg your forgiveness, but I understand if you do not give it,” Fane told them with all sincerity.
Jen and Sally looked at Fane and then at each other. Then they looked at Vasile who had silently been watching the whole thing.
“Is he for real?” Sally asked Vasile.
“I ordered him to do it, therefore he could not disobey. Ultimately your anger should be at me. And yes, he is for real, as you put it,” Vasile explained.
“Fane,” Sally began and then used her hand to tilt his head up so that he was looking at them, “we know why you did it, and it was actually an awesome strategy. It’s just that we had to watch as Jacque sobbed so hard that she was puking up her guts, and then she just passed out. It was like her brain just couldn’t handle what her emotions were doing to her body, so it just turned off. It was horrible. So even though we know it was probably the best strategy, we had to defend our girl. Of course we forgive you. I wish I could tell you how Jacque is going to react when you tell her what you had to do, but it could go either way. She may be so thankful you’re alive that she doesn’t care, or she may be in such shock from the pain that she tries to kill you herself. So good luck with that.” And with that Jen and Sally turned and left him in silence.
“She doesn’t know yet?” Fane softly asked his father.
“No son, that honor has been left to you. As the two avenging angels who just left said, good luck with that,” Vasile told him. “Get dressed. It’s time for you to go see your mate.”
His father left him, and Fane stood up, feeling very numb. He was so broken at having hurt Jacquelyn. How was he going to face her? Without any thought to what he was doing, Fane got dressed, brushed his hair and teeth, and then headed over to Jacquelyn’s. It was the longest walk he’d ever made, and yet it was the shortest as well.
Fane opened the front door to Jacquelyn’s house and nearly turned back and shut it behind him. Everyone, save Jacquelyn, was sitting in the living room, and as he walked in all their eyes landed on him. He took a deep breath and walked in. His mother was the first to move. She came over to him and exposed her neck. Fane took a step back in disbelief at her action.
“I am your mother, and your Alpha, but I acknowledge the sacrifice you had to make.” She kissed him on the cheek as a tear rolled down her face. Fane reached up and wiped it away.
“I’m sorry I hurt you, mama,” Fane told her.
“Tsk, tsk. You did what needed to be done, that is what an Alpha does. There will be many decisions you will make as an Alpha others will not understand because of the responsibility you hold. No offense to the humans, but they cannot begin to understand the weight you will carry on your shoulders, nor the weight you carried this night. You did what no one else could have. That, my son, is what the Alpha does. Never doubt that.” When Alina turned back to the room all of the wolves and, to Fane’s astonishment, even the humans, bowed their heads in submission.
“Jacque is in her room, Fane. She isn’t awake yet. She apparently passed out at the challenge and has been out ever since,” Lilly told him.
Fane closed his eyes and squeezed them against the tears that threatened to spill. His mate, his love, broken because of him, but not with Lucas either. She is ours, he heard his wolf say. As our Alpha said we did what we had to. Fane turned from the crowded living room and walked up the stairs to Jacquelyn’s room.
As he opened the door, he used his wolf vision because the room was dark, only a night light shining. He made his way over to her bed and sat down on the edge. She laid there, hands folded across her stomach, so still. Fane leaned down and kissed her forehead. He took a deep breath and let her scent fill his lungs. He kissed both cheeks, he kissed her nose and her chin, and then he kissed her lips. He had tears running down his face and he was trembling. He wanted to hold her but didn’t want to startle her awake. Slowly, he pulled away from her, and as he sat up he realized her eyes were open, really open, like very wide open.
Jacquelyn screamed and threw the covers over her head. “I’ve finally gone crazy. His death pushed me over the edge. Here I’ve been teetering all along, and then BAM, I’m in the middle of crazy ground.” Jacquelyn was mumbling to herself, not totally hysterical but definitely on the verge. Fane thought he’d better catch her quick before she really did lose it.