"If you have been recording this you have five seconds to delete it."

There was sudden movement all around as buttons were pushed on phones.

"If I hear that any of you have not deleted it and are showing it to others, I will call you out, I will challenge you, and you will lose."

Decebel met the eyes of the wolves and each dropped theirs quickly.

"Are we clear?"

"Yes, Beta," they said in unison. The power coming off Decebel was raw and strong. It took even the more dominant wolves effort to not collapse under it.

"Good. Now go before I decide that I don't care about keeping the peace between our packs."

The wolves were nearly all gone before he had even finished speaking. Smart wolves, he thought.

Before Decebel opened the gym door, he looked at the phone he had taken and pushed the play button on the video. Decebel's eyes grew wider with every word, every hip gyration, every bend, every come hither look he watched his mate perform. After standing in shock for a moment, he pressed the delete button and handed Costin the phone.

"When I open this door, Costin, I want you to escort Marianna and Crina to their rooms. You are to stay outside their doors the remainder of the night."

"Yes, Beta," Costin complied.

Decebel reached for the gym door. He took a deep breath and told his wolf to cool it, but he knew his eyes still glowed.

"Okay, this will be the last time," Jen panted, it had been a while since she'd gotten this much exercise. "Then I think we can call it a night."

"I'm pretty sure the night has been called."

The three girls froze at the sound of the voice behind them.

"Crap, crap, crap," Jen muttered to herself.

"Crina, Marianna." Decebel's voice was not harsh, but firm. He meant business. "Costin will escort you to your room. Do not leave it until it's time for breakfast in the morning."

Neither girl spoke as they walked towards Costin.

Crina looked up as she passed Jen and mouthed, "Sorry."

Jen gave a shrug, then took a deep breath and turned to face her Beta.

"Fancy meeting you here," she flirted.

The look in his eyes said that wasn't going to work. One thing Jen was quickly learning about Decebel – his emotions very rarely ruled him. With her, they occasionally broke free of their cage. And in times like this, when he'd decided he was right and that she was going to obey, nothing could sway him.

"I distinctly remember dropping you off at your room, Jennifer,"

"Well...I wasn't really tired and Crina and Marianna said they wanted to get some exercise, so -"

"Why is it that you did not procure an escort to the gym? Why exactly did you think it a good idea to prance around in your sleep attire without any sort of protection in a mansion full of unmated male wolves?" Decebel took slow, measured stepstowards her as he spoke. "Please tell me, because I know there has to be an earth-shattering reason for why you did something so haphazard and dangerous."

"Did you just use the word procure?" Jen asked incredulously, the hint of a smirk across her lips.

"Jennifer." Decebel's voice was deathly low.

Jen unconsciously took a step back at the glowing eyes boring into hers. "It's not a big deal, B. Nobody came in while we were in here. I don't see why you're giving me grief."

Decebel chuckled. It was not a good sound.

"Not a big deal. Right. Well, maybe you can explain why I just had to run twenty wolves away from those doors. Who, I might add, were recording your little performance on their phones. So tell me again how it's not a big deal." Decebel was once again moving towards her.

Jen continued to back up until the backs of her legs hit the foldaway bleachers. She nearly fell back on her butt, but caught herself with one hand. Irritated with her clumsiness and the slight fear she felt at being stalked by Decebel and his eerie calm, she reverted back to the “gives a rats ass” Jen. Call it a defense mechanism, but it helped her keep her cool.

"Only twenty?" she asked as she cocked her hip to the side and propped her hand on it. "I would've thought that little dance would pull in quite a bit more." She made a show of looking thoughtful, tapping her chin with her finger. "Hmm, maybe we needed a bit more hip action. Although, I don't think we were giving it our best. It'll definitely be better when we do it for real."

Decebel growled and took a final step closer. They were less than a foot apart. Jen still had her hand propped on her hip, but now she was having to lean back a bit to look up at his nearly painfully gorgeous face.

"I hate to be the one to break it to you, baby, but you will not be performing that little number for anyone. Ever."

Jen's eyes narrowed. "I have a feeling one day I'll change your mind about that. By the way, don't think that calling me baby will help you get away with being a pushy, furry dictator."

"Look, I know girls don't understand how guys' brains work." He actually looked bashful as he continued. "I'm over a century old and my brain still works that way. Guys don't just see hot chicks doing a hot dance."

"What else could they possibly see?" Jen asked, revealing just how innocent she was despite all her big talk.

"When you dance like that, and look at them like you were...they – we," he corrected, "see it as an invitation."

Jen couldn't stop the disbelieving laugh that emerged. "Man, you guys really are messed up in the head if that’s what you get from a dance and cheer that's actually insulting towards unmated males. Which, if they listened to the words, they would understand."