"Playing hard to get again, mate? Pray tell, what have I done this time to earn your ire?"

And there he went talking all proper as if she was a lady and he was her gentleman caller. He knew exactly how much she liked it when he went all eighteenth century on her. She practically panted and fought the urge to say, 'Please Mr. Darcy, yes Mr. Darcy, Take me, Mr. Darcy.’ ”

"Why would you call me Mr. Darcy?"

"Why do you feel like my head is yours to plunder?"

Too late she realized what she'd just walked in to.

"Because, like your body, it is mine."

That was it. That's all she could take. If she stayed one more second she was going to crawl across the floor on all fours and purr at him like a cat. She threw up the walls in her mind before he realized what she intended and was out of the room before he was even getting up from the couch. Jen had gotten very good at phasing in mid-run, even with clothes on. Though this time she happened to pass Peri in the hall, and just as she began to phase, her clothes disappeared. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why you have a high fae as a bff.

The door to the front of the mansion flew open. She threw out another silent thank you to her friend the fae and, when she heard her mate start cussing, Jen knew Peri had done something extra to him in order to give her more of a head start. She was going to have to name her next child after that woman if Peri kept helping her out with her possessive mate.

"You can run, Jennifer." Decebel's voice in her mind had her legs pushing harder as she bolted out into the cold night air. The snow was beginning to melt as the days grew a little warmer and the ground was soft under her paws. It gave her purchase as she made sharp turns, attempting to use her agility against her much larger, and much faster, mate

"How perceptive of you, mate, considering I am indeed running," she responded without slowing down. She knew sarcasm would only spurn him on. And in some sick twisted way she liked taunting him.

Jen stretched her legs and headed for the cave that she'd come to think of as theirs. No one, not even Jacque or Sally, knew about it. She and Decebel had begun going there once a week just to get some privacy from the others. Rachel and Gavril often kept Thia for them, and she and Dec would go there and talk, among other things.

"What other things?" Decebel taunted.

She ignored him and tried to push herself faster. She could hear his breathing and knew he was very close. Just as Jen rounded a tree and saw the cave come into view, she heard her mate’s growl. She felt him cover her, but instead of a furry body, his human arms came around her. Jen phased as they flew through the air. Decebel turned their bodies so that he would land on the ground and she would be cradled against him.

When they were no longer airborne, Jen turned so that she was facing her grinning mate.

"You're pleased with yourself?"

"I'm naked, and my mate is naked lying on top of me. How could I not be pleased with myself?"

Jen couldn't help it. She laughed loud and long. So rarely did her mate look like a boy who'd gotten away with snatching cookies from the cookie jar, but in that moment, he did.

When she finally got control of herself, her laughter died until just a smile was left. "So, you've caught me. Now what?"

"Do I really have to spell it out?" he asked as he nuzzled her neck.

"Maybe not spell, but feel free to provide a monologue. There's nothing better than your deep voice, Romanian accent, and dirty talk."

Decebel's laughter filled the forest. "Dirty talk, huh?" He pulled her down and gave her a toe curling kiss and then whispered against her moist lips. "I'll see what I can do about that."

Jacque reached down for her nightshirt that had been tossed to the floor by her overzealous mate, but as soon as she got it in her hand, it was plucked away again.

"You don't need that," Fane growled as he pulled her back across the bed and wrapped himself around her.

"Okay, I'll just walk to the kitchen naked. Bet my father-in-law would love that," Jacque huffed.

"What do you need from the kitchen?"

"Food. I'm a little hungry," she answered and her stomach backed her up by growling at that precise moment.

He chuckled. "Did you work up an appetite?"

Jacque rolled her eyes. "Tomorrow you are going to face down some bad ass vampire king and you're worried about your ability to wear your mate out in the bedroom?"

Fane’s breath against her neck was warm. "Love, it wouldn't matter if the world was burning to the ground—a man needs to know he can please his female."

"I'm pleased," she said dryly. "And hungry. Either go get me food or let me put on some clothes so I can go get me food."

Fane growled. But five minutes later Jacque was happily munching on a turkey sandwich and chips.

"So tomorrow," Fane began as he lay on his side propped up on an elbow watching her.

Jacque’s eyes narrowed and she paused in mid-bite. She spoke without removing her mouth from the sandwich. "Wu aboot tamrow?"

Fane grinned at her. "That's sexy."

She shrugged her shoulders, chewed, and swallowed, before speaking again. "What about tomorrow?" she asked again.

"I don't want to ever see a vampire with his hands on you again—ever," Fane told her.

"Okay."

He sighed. "I wish you would just stay here."

"I can't."

"I know." His brow drew tightly together. "What could be so important that you need to be in the US?"

Jacque shook her head. "Don't know, but I trust my mom."

"I do to. But it doesn’t mean I like it."

Jacque finished off her food, brushed her teeth for the second time, and then climbed into bed next to her mate. She felt their baby move and grinned as she took Fane's hand and placed it on her stomach.

Fane's eyes lit up when he felt their child kicking inside of her.

"Won't be long now," she told him.

At that he groaned and rolled onto his back. "Female, telling your mate that it won't be long until your child is born, the day before leaving to face off against a vampire king, isn't reassuring."

Jacque leaned over and kissed him gently and then snuggled up against him. "I told you when we started this whole thing that you'd never be bored."