He smiled to himself when he thought of the poor wolf who would be the first paired with a Fae.

This is what happens when you complain about being bored, he thought to himself. He pulled the strap of his bag over his shoulder and grabbed the flash drive upon which he had saved the documentation of the Great Luna’s words.  As he began to climb the stairs he muttered under his breath,“Just sitting around, minding my own business, whining about archiving, and then BAM, 'your species will be able to mate with a totally different species. Oh and by the way, Wadim, it’s your responsibility to relay this information'. That'll teach me to complain.”

Chapter 8

“Once you’ve been to one bonding ceremony, you’ve been to them all. The Blood Rites, however, are a whole 'nother bag of tricks…literally, if you’re creative. I’m just saying.” ~Jen

“Where are you, my Alpha?”  Alina spoke to her mate, who had a far-off look in his eyes. They were waiting for the others to arrive in the meeting room of the Serbian mansion. Vasile and Alina had shown up just before dusk and the others in Vasile’s pack were getting settled in the rooms that Jen and Decebel had prepared for them.

“I’m just wondering if we will ever see days of peace in my time as Alpha. Will we ever have grandchildren dancing around our feet? Will I hold you at night and not worry if we will be fighting for our lives the next day?” Vasile pulled Alina into his arms. She laid her head on his chest as he stroked her hair lovingly.

“All you can do is what is right. Fight the evil and the ones who would use it to devastate the weak with those who are pure of heart and have the will to stand against it. You lead them, you give them your strength, and you trust that not one of us will rest until good prevails.” Alina pulled back to look in his eyes. “We might not see days of peace, or play with our grandchildren.” She choked back on her words as she spoke of the little ones.  “We might never go to sleep knowing that we will wake up and open our door to a bright morning. And that’s okay, because I have loved and been loved by you. I have fought by your side, I have borne your child, I have laughed, cried, hurt, rejoiced, and mourned with you. Those things are my peace.”

Vasile placed his hands on either side of his mate’s face and gently pulled her toward him. Their lips touched, and even after two centuries, the passion that started as embers burned bright and strong. She wrapped her arms around his neck and stood up on her tiptoes to get closer. Vasile growled softly and Alina laughed lightly as she pulled away. He looked into her eyes and saw the man she believed him to be. A man can go to his grave with pride when he has seen in his woman’s eyes that he is her hero, her lover, her friend, and her confidant.

~

Jen, Jacque, Sally, Rachel, Crina, and Cynthia all sat around the coffee table in one of the manysitting rooms. Each held a steaming cup of hot chocolate.

“Do we know if Peri has been able to get Legolas’ brothers and sisters to join our cause?” Jen asked as she took a sip of her hot chocolate, cringing as it stung her tongue.

Crina and Cynthia, who had also been taking sips of their drinks, immediately began choking as they laughed at Jen’s words. Rachel was smiling, beginning to understand some of Jen’s humor, even if she didn’t understand the reference.

“Jen, just because they are Fae doesn’t mean they are anything like the Lord of the Rings characters,” Sally pointed out. "Not to mention, Legolas was an elf."

Jen shrugged. “Yeah, but it’s so much more fun to refer to them as Legolas' cousins or baby’s daddy than just calling them Fae.”

Jacque nodded. “She does have a point.”

Cynthia was shaking her head. Once again the three girls were trading banter like the world wasn’t coming to an end.

“To answer your question,” Sally said, “Peri told me during one of our little…”

“Potions classes?” Jen blurted.

“Harry Potter!” Jacque yelled out.

“Point.” Jen nodded at Jacque.

“Seriously? You guys are going to play 'what’s it from?' now?” Sally asked. She crossed her arms across her chest, attempting to look intimidating.

“What is 'what’s it from?' now?” Rachel asked.            

Jacque piped in. “It’s a game where we just have normal conversations like usual.  But then throughout the day we throw movie quotes out that are appropriate for the topic. To get a point you have to be the first one to call out what movie or television show it’s from. It’s a very mature game for very mature women.”

“I’m afraid this game isn’t going to make a whole lot of sense to you considering you've been living on fig trees for decades and your only form of entertainment was injuring your werewolf husband so that you could use your healing skills.”

Everyone but Rachel gasped at Jen’s bluntness.  Rachel was laughing. She had told Jen about how Gavril would purposefully injure himself just so she would have something to do.

“I’m just saying,” Jen spouted at the outraged faces.

“Anyway, Rachel,” Jacque continued, “that is the game.”

“Perhaps I will just listen then.  I’m sure Jen will say something that, though I may not understand, I will still find amusing.”

Cynthia laughed. "That’s an easy thing to do. Jen only has to open her mouth and you’re just about guaranteed to laugh, and despite their brashness, she probably means no harm.”