“Please let me make it special for her. Let me give this to her.”

Decebel nodded once, understanding what Jen was asking. She reached up on her toes and kissed him again and grinned. “Thank you.”

“Keep Cynthia with you,” he told her as the door closed behind her.

He picked up the phone she had dropped on the bed and dialed Vasile’s number. He let it ring ten times before finally hanging up. When Vasile hadn’t picked up on the fourth ring he knew something was wrong. But he had let it ring a little longer, allowing himself hold on to a little bit of hope.

~

Jen knocked on the door of the room Cynthia was staying in and waited. When the door finally opened Jen smiled at Cynthia and said, “We have work to do.”

When Jen had explained her plan, Cynthia grinned. “I’m in. Let’s help the healer out.”

~

Costin’s usual happy go lucky demeanor was gone. Ever since the two wolves Creed and Josef had explained about Sally drawing wolves to her, he had been brooding. Sally wasn’t sure what to do. If she tried to help him at the bar he would smile gently and nudge her back against the counter. If she wandered over to the side to people watch, he would grab her hand and pull her back over to the middle of the bar and put her back against the counter in exactly the same spot. When he did it for the tenth time, Sally snarled at him.

Costin’s eyes snapped up at hers and Sally smacked a hand over her mouth.

“Did you just snarl at me?” he asked her, trying very hard not to grin.

Sally took her hand away from her mouth. “Of course not. I would never snarl.”

Costin stepped closer and she backed up until she couldn't back up anymore.

“I think you did, Sally mine. I think you snarled at me, and do you know what else I think?” His voice had gotten deep, and sensual.

Sally shook he head as she stuttered, “N-n-n-nope.”

Costin closed his eyes and took in a deep breath.  When he opened them again, they were glowing. “I think it was sexy.”

Sally felt the blush heating her face. What exactly was she supposed to say to that?

“Why are you acting so weird?” Okay, maybe that wasn’t the right thing to say, but she wanted to know.

He cocked his head to the side and watched her before he answered.

“You are mine.”

“We’ve established that,” she muttered.

“You do not bear my mark or my scent. My wolf doesn’t like it; I do not like it. I’m trying to be cool and not let it bother me, but I guess it’s not working.”

“You won’t let me move from this spot, Costin. I would say it’s definitely not working.” She looked deeply into his eyes, searching for some way to help get him through the rest of the night.

“What can I do? Do I need to leave so that you can work?”

“No,” Costinsaid quickly. “I need you with me. I need to be able to see you, touch you, smell you.”

“Okay,” Sally said as she reached up and ran her fingers through his hair. He closed his eyes and a rumble emitted from his chest. She watched as the muscles in his face relaxed and he let out a slow, deep breath.

“You know no one will take me away from you, so why do you freak out?” she asked him calmly, not wanting to provoke his wolf.

Costin’s eyes opened slowly and met her brown ones.

“I wish I could explain it. I wish that when I did explain it, it would make sense. But you are human. You do not have the animal inside you, driving you with its instincts. The wolf in me cries out for its mate and longs to make sure that everyone in the world knows that you belong to us. He doesn’t understand that you won’t choose anyone else. He is all instinct, and it’s very hard to separate my emotions from that. Does that help at all?” Costin raised his eyebrows at her, searching for understanding in her face.

She nodded once. She started to say something, but stopped when a person behind him at the bar called out for Costin’s attention. Costin stiffened at the man’s words. Sally didn’t know what the guy had said because he wasn’t speaking English.

“What did he say?” she whispered to him.

Costin shook his head and didn’t answer. He took a slow breath before he turned around. When Costin spoke he sounded cordial, but the way the man’s face paled told Sally that his words did not match his tone of voice. Sally watched the other man shove his bar stool back as he stood. He continued to talk to Costin and Costin continued to grow more and more still with every word the man spoke. Sally reached out and placed a hand on his back.

“Costin,” she whispered. “Come on, why don’t we call it a night?” She was hoping to stop things before they came to blows.

Drake started to walk across the room, moving toward them. Drake made a motion for Sally to step back, which she did. Finally Costin started speaking in English, which she figured was for her benefit.

“She is mine. You belong to no pack, you mongrel. It would be wise of you to remove yourself from this place.”

“This is a sanctuary,” the other man said. “I can be here regardless of whether I am pack or not.”

“That may be, but it is not wise for one who does not have a pack to be insulting another’s mate. Who will fight with you? Who will save you when I rip you limb from limb?” Costin snarled.

Okay, Sally thought. Enough is enough.

“Okay, gentlemen,” she said as she stepped around Costin and held up her hands between the two wolves, regardless of the fact that there was a bar in between them. “There’s no need to start tearing limbs apart. Let’s just call it a night and go our separate ways.”