“Jacque is in her room, Fane. She isn’t awake yet. She apparently passed out at the challenge and has been out ever since,” Lilly told him.

Fane closed his eyes and squeezed them against the tears that threatened to spill. His mate, his love, broken because of him, but not with Lucas either. She is ours, he heard his wolf say. As our Alpha said we did what we had to. Fane turned from the crowded living room and walked up the stairs to Jacquelyn’s room.

As he opened the door, he used his wolf vision because the room was dark, only a night light shining. He made his way over to her bed and sat down on the edge. She laid there, hands folded across her stomach, so still. Fane leaned down and kissed her forehead. He took a deep breath and let her scent fill his lungs. He kissed both cheeks, he kissed her nose and her chin, and then he kissed her lips. He had tears running down his face and he was trembling. He wanted to hold her but didn’t want to startle her awake. Slowly, he pulled away from her, and as he sat up he realized her eyes were open, really open, like very wide open.

Jacquelyn screamed and threw the covers over her head. “I’ve finally gone crazy. His death pushed me over the edge. Here I’ve been teetering all along, and then BAM, I’m in the middle of crazy ground.” Jacquelyn was mumbling to herself, not totally hysterical but definitely on the verge. Fane thought he’d better catch her quick before she really did lose it.

Chapter 34

“Luna, you’re not crazy, I’m really here. I’m not dead, love, it was fake. I was faking it in order to lure Lucas into a false victory,” Jacque heard the hallucination that was Fane say.

She wasn’t going to fall for that. Fane would've told her that he was going to do something like that. He would have never allowed her to be hurt so deeply.

“Jacquelyn, please. It’s really me. I didn’t -” he paused and took a deep breath. Jacque was caught off guard by this show of emotion from a hallucination, not that she had much experience with hallucinations, thank goodness. She pulled the covers down just enough to be able to see Fane. His head was bowed so he didn’t know she was looking at him. “I didn’t tell you I was going to pretend to die because…” His shoulders shook with sobs. The tears fell and wet his hands.

“Because what?” Jacque couldn’t help but ask.

Fane’s head snapped up and then he cried more. “Luna, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. Please know that it killed me. I didn’t tell you because I needed your reaction to be real, so that Lucas would believe he had won.”

Jacque sat in stunned silence. She couldn’t believe it, she just could not believe it. It was the second time that night that she was in shock about something she was so sure would never happen. Her emotions were at war. Partof her was like, Who gives a flying flip because he’s alive. He’s here and he can hold you like Dorian had earlier…oops. Damn, I’m always doing that.

Fane caught that thought. Dorian had held his mate, held her close. He started to growl but abruptly stopped when Jacque sat up, leaned forward and kissed him. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him down.

Fane’s arms wrapped around Jacque’s waist and when he pulled her tighter she let out a sharp yelp.

“What’s wrong? What’s happened?” Fane asked her, frantically running his hands over her.

“It’s nothing, just a little sore from the against-my-will retreat tonight. I got a few bruises from being restrained, that’s all.” Jacque told him, playing it off.

When his hands ran across her stomach she winced, even though she tried so hard not to. Fane growled and slowly raised the hem of her shirt and exposed her stomach. His growl got much, much deeper. “What the hell happened to you, and who the hell did it?” Fane growled out.

“Fane, it’s nothing. It's -” Jacque tried to explain, but was cut off when Fane snarled at her.

“It’s NOT NOTHING! You have a bruise as dark as night and as wide as a 2x4 across your stomach, Jacquelyn.” Fane paused to think about what he had just said and then it hit him. “Whose arm is that, Jacquelyn? Don’t argue with me, Luna. Whose arm is it? You can tell me, or I will discipline each wolf down there instead of just the one.”

Jacque sat back up and to Fane's surprise, pushed him. He was caught off guard and actually fell off the bed onto the floor. Fane looked up at her in shock.

“Listen up. Your pack restrained me so that I would not get killed trying to kick Lucas’ ass. I was trying to kick his ass, in case you forgot, because you didn’t tell me you weren’t really dead. So, you aren’t going to discipline anyone. You are going to accept that I have a bruise across my stomach, my arms, my shoulders, my shins because YOU chose to keep ME in the dark. Are we clear?” Jacque was breathing hard from her outburst.

Fane lowered his head then looked up at his mate. “Crystal,” he told her and grinned.

“Good. Now come back up here and show me how sorry you are,” Jacque told him playfully.

Fane crawled back onto the bed. He pulled the hem of her shirt up once more, exposing her stomach. He suppressed the growl, and then kissed the bruise from one end to the other, taking comfort in the feel of her flesh.

“Okay, stop that. It’s tickling me,” Jacque told him as she laughed.

Fane pulled her shirt back down and gently wrapped his arm around her. He laid his head on her chest and listened to her heartbeat, it was music to him.