“Pay attention to Lucas, Jacquelyn. Look at him and let me see his face,” Fane instructed her.

Jacque pictured Lucas in her mind just as she was seeing him.

“Jacque, you must be careful. He is not in control of his wolf.”

“Yeah, ya think?” Jacque accidentally said aloud.

Lucas snarled and his eyes narrowed. “Are you able to speak through each other’s thoughts? Are you speaking to him now?” he asked her.

“Umm, maybe and not your business,” she answered.

Lucas lunged at her, grabbing her by the arms. Jacque slammed the wall down in her mind so Fane could not see what Lucas was doing. She knew he would come to her house and raise all kinds of hell, and quite possibly try to kill Lucas.

“Do not play games with me. I am Alpha and you will answer me truthfully, mate,” he growled in her face.

Jacque jerked her arms free and stepped back from him.

“Listen carefully, Lucas Steele, because I will only say this once. I am NOT your mate, I will never be your mate, and if you ever put your hands on me again I will cut them off along with other body parts you might want to use one day. Got it?” Jacque told him with as much force as she could put behind her words.

“That’s a shame, too, because you’re kind of cute. But it happens to the best of them,” Jen said as she sauntered into the living room with Sally right behind her.

“And the worst of them,” Sally finished for her.

Both girls stood on either side of Jacque with their arms crossed, an obvious wall of solidarity against Lucas.

Lilly walked into the living room and took in the scene. She looked at Jacque and saw the red marks that were now appearing on her arms from where Lucas had grabbed her. Lily's mouth tightened in anger.

“I think it’s time for you to go now, Mr. Steele,” Lilly told him with forced politeness.

Lucas turned his gaze on Lilly, who took an involuntary step back. He drew in a deep breath, obviously trying to compose himself. Then he looked at Jacque. “I have challenged Fane for the bonding ceremony. If I win, you will be mine. Nothing and no one will keep you from me.” And with that he turned to walk out the front door.

All four of them followed him out to watch him go, and when they got out the door they saw Fane jump from his second story window and take two bounding steps and land right in front of Lucas.

“Oh [email protected]#T! Jen hollered

“I second that,” Sally said

“I third it,” Jacque said, eyes so wide they threatened to pop out of her head.

Chapter 22

Fane saw Lucas lunge for Jacquelyn before she could put the wall up between their minds, and the rage he felt called his wolf out. He was nearly completely phased when he heard Sara downstairs. That was enough to pull him backand keep from becoming a huge, black, snarling wolf in his bedroom. It wasn’t enough, however, to keep him from growling like a dog with rabies. The anger he was feeling was tangible; it was making it hard for him to breath.

Lucas had touched his mate, he had put his hands on her in a threatening way, and by doing so had violated the challenge rules. That meant that Fane would be allowed to see Jacquelyn for the duration of the two days they had to wait until his father arrived. Because he was Jacquelyn’s true mate, challenge rules said he could protect her if the challenger caused physical harm to the female.

Before that thought was even complete in his mind, and without any thought to who might see him, he leaped out his window into the front yard and jumped right in front of Lucas Steele. Sometimes life just threw you a bone when you needed one.

Lucas crouched low, immediately growling. “If you touch me you forfeit the challenge.”

“Sa patesti ce este al meu (you harmed what is mine),” Fane growled.

“Oh crap, he’s talking in Romanian. That means he’s pissed doesn’t it? They always talk in their native tongue in the movies when they’re fixing to kick somebody’s a-” Jen tried to finish, but Jacquelyn slapped her hand over Jen’s mouth and shook her head from side to side.

“Let me translate for her,” Sally said. “Shut the #@$% up, Jen!”

“My bad,” Jen whispered once Jacque had uncovered her mouth.

Fane could not remember a time when he had been so angry. He could feel his wolf pushing to come out, to defend their mate.

“Ai violat regulile provocare (you violated challenge rules),” Fane growled.

He knew he needed to calm down but when he glanced over and saw the red marks on Jacquelyn’s arms, his wolf won. He phased in the blink of an eye and had Sorin not lunged in front of him, he would have torn Lucas Steele’s throat out.

He felt a hard object throw him back and let out a grunt as he hit the ground. In an instant, he was back on all four feet, head low, eyes narrowed, and teeth bared. He was taking slow, calculated steps to place himself in between Lucas and his mate. He saw Jacquelyn step back when he got near her, and it hurt to know she was afraid of him in his wolf form.

He continued to move forward, pushing Lucas farther away, and was preparing to lunge again when he heard Sorin yell,“Fa ne nu ating de el! (do not touch him).”

Fane stopped in his tracks, he didn't move closer but he continued to growl and glare at Lucas.

“As Fane has said, you have violated the challenge rules by causing harm to Fane’s mate, therefore it is Fane’s right to stay with her while we await the arrival of his Alpha,” Sorin informed the wolf.