She didn’t want to watch him walk away from her, as silly as that might be. Instead of using words, she sent him a picture from her mind. It was of him holding her close. She was tilting her head to the side like wolves do to show submission, like a female would do for her mate to fulfill the blood rites. She had absolutely no idea where the thought came from, maybe it was her subconscious letting him know she would submit to the blood rites ceremony. That’s news to me, she told herself.

In her mind she heard Fane growl in response and all he said was, “Soon, my love. Very, very soon.”

Jacque shivered at his words. “Oh goody,” she responded sarcastically.

Hey, what else would he expect from her? Sarcasm was her specialty.

Jacque went to her window and sat in the seat, staring out at the street. She was waiting for Fane to leave her house, so she could watch him walk across the street. Yep, she had it bad. She saw Sorin step out and then Fane. Sorin hugged Fane again. Man, they really are a touchy bunch, aren’t they, she thought. They talked for a few minutes. When they finally parted, Sorin positioned himself directly in front of Fane, put his hand over his heart, bowed slightly, and turned his head to expose his neck. The only response from Fane to acknowledge Sorin’s obvious submission was a curt nod. Then Sorin turned and walked back into Jacque’s house.

Before Fane turned away to walk back to the Henrys' house, he looked up at her window. At first Jacque wanted to duck away, embarrassed at being caught watching him…again. Then she figured, What the hey, how often do I get to hanker after hot Romanians?

“I would hope you don’t hanker after any other. Romanian, hot, or otherwise.… Luna, what does that even mean?” Fane sent her his thoughts.

“You’re really going to have to invest in a good dictionary and thesaurus. You know that, right?” Jacque responded.

She watched as he blew her a kiss and couldn’t help thinking how much she would rather have her lips on the receiving end of that kiss instead of his hand. She felt her neck tingle at the thought of his lips, and was telling herself to get a grip when she realized Fane hadn’t told her something. Jacque jerked her window up and leaned out.

“Fane, you conveniently forgot to tell me how I take your blood,” Jacque told him.

“I didn’t forget, I thought that would be obvious, love,” Fane told her. “You get to bite me back.” Fane winked at her, grinned, then turned to walk back to the Henrys'.

“If you don’t want to bite him, I will.”

Jacque turned to see Sally and Jen standing in her doorway. Sally lifted her right hand, which held a coffee mug. “Hot chocolate?” she asked.

“You better believe it,” was all Jacque said.

Chapter 20

Fane was smiling to himself as he walked across the street toward the Henrys'house. He hadn’t forgotten to tell Jacquelyn that she would have to bite him, he had just been waiting for the right moment. He was quickly learning that his Luna was unpredictable. He didn’t know if she would be happy about getting revenge over him biting her, or if the idea of having to bite him hard enough to draw blood would be the shove that pushed her over the edge. To his relief, she didn’t freak out…yet. She simply looked confused. He figured it would sink in in a little while and she would contact him later tonight.

Fane made it into the kitchen and then halfway up the stairs before he ran into Brian. “How was the date?” Brian asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

“It was good. Jacquelyn is a wonderful girl,” Fane answered.

“So you gonna take her out again?”

“I hope so. I didn’t ask her tonight. I didn’t want to come across as obsessive or anything,” Fane told him and chuckled to himself. He knew he was beyond obsessed but, then again, she wasn’t just a girl he liked, she wasn’t just a crush, so honestly he was being pretty reasonable about the whole situation. Yeah, keep telling yourself that, Fane thought.

“Oh, you had a phone call while you were out,” Brian told him.

“A phone call? Was it from my parents?” Fane asked.

“No, it was from Steven, the salesman from the dealership. He asked that you call him back tonight, that it was very important. I wrote his number down and taped it do your door.”

“Ok, thank you,” Fane replied absentmindedly as he continued on up the stairs.

“I’ll see you in the morning,” Brian called to him.

“Yeah, see you,” was all Fane said.

When Fane made it to his bedroom, he saw the note Brian had taped to the door. He pulled it off and pushed the door open, closing it behind him.

For a moment he just stared at the piece of paper, not really sure if he should call his Alpha first. He decided he should call Steve first – then he could tell his father about everything.

He picked up the phone and dialed the number Brian had written on the paper. He listened to it ring four times before someone finally answered.

“Hello,” the voice said.

“I’m calling to speak with Steve, please,” Fane said politely.

“Hold please,” Fane was told. Fane waited for several minutes before another voice came on the line. He was trying hard not to think about all the scenarios that could play out under the circumstances, and unfortunately each was no better than the other.

“Is this the pup from Romania?” a deep voice asked.

“If by pup you mean the Romanian Prince of the Canis lupus, then you are correct,” Fane responded already wanting to growl. “To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?” Fane asked.