Fane stood in the bedroom that would be his for the next year. He stared out the window, his eyes were drawn to the house across the street. He looked across to the second-story window where Fane had first seen her … his true mate. Impossible. But he knew what he had felt. He had heard her thoughts, and there was only one woman in the world who would be able to share such an intimacy with him. Fane thought hard about what had happened when he had arrived less than an hour ago.

  As his limo pulled up to the house belonging to his host family, Fane couldn’t shake a peculiar sensation. The feeling wasn’t one of foreboding, but something was causing him to be tense and restless.

  Fane’s trepidation could certainly be because he was more than a thousand miles away from home, he knew absolutely no one, it was his senior year in high school, and he was going to be spending it in a country he had never been to before. Yes, I imagine that might make a person tense.

  He looked at the host family’s house and noticed it was quite large. It boasted two stories and a wraparound porch. It looked to Fane like a house one might see out in the country, on a large farm, rather in a suburban neighborhood. The front lawn was nicely manicured. A tall, full tree stood to the right of the walkway and a bench rested underneath. On the porch, sat two rocking chairs with a little table in between them. Overall it was a charming home—a home in which a person would feel comfortable—a normal home.

  Fane hoped this was the case because normal was not usually in his vocabulary. He was, after all, from a family of werewolves, specifically a grey wolf—a Canis lupus. Not only that, but he just happened to be the son of the current Alpha. His name, Fane Lupei, literally meant “Crown Wolf.” How fitting for the prince of the Romanian Greys.

  You made this choice, now you have to live with it. So, get your butt out of the car.

  Fane wasn’t entirely sure why he had even decided to apply to the foreign exchange program. He’d left his home, Romania, located in a region containing the highest number of Greys in the world. Fane just knew he felt a pull, as unexplainable as moths drawn to a flame, to come to the United States. And not just any city in the States. Fane knew he was meant to come here, to Coldspring, Texas. Why here? There were no Canis lupus in Coldspring. Very few in all of Texas, in fact. Had something told him he should go to a different territory such as Ireland, the Balkans, Poland, Italy, or Spain, places that boasted considerable numbers of his kind, he would understand. But Coldspring?

  Okay, no more stalling. He looked up at Sorin, his driver and friend, and said, “I guess this is it. Mulţumesc, thank you, my friend, for coming all this way to drop me off. I appreciate it.”

  “Think nothing of it, my prince. It is always an honor to serve you.”

  “Oh, come now, don’t go getting all formal on me. Here in Coldspring, I’m just a high school student, not a prince,” Fane told him.

  Fane knew this was hard for his friend, though Sorin’s title was actually “Guard to the Prince,” and Sorin had been in that position since Fane was a child. Sorin had wanted to stay in the US with Fane, but Fane insisted he go home and let him be on his own for a while. There were no other Greys in this area which meant there was no danger to him.

  Sorin got out of the car to open Fane’s door, but Fane let himself out before Sorin could get there. Fane stood six feet, two inches tall, which was a good five inches taller than Sorin. Fane looked his longtime friend in the eye. Sorin bowed only slightly, a show of respect and love for the prince, and then broke formality and hugged him. Fane took comfort in the touch. As a Canis lupus, touch was as much in their nature as breathing. Even in human form, packmates tended to touch more than other humans. Fane patted Sorin on the back and stepped away.

  Out of nowhere, Fane caught a passing thought in his mind that caused his wolf to perk up.

  “Wonder if they’re related or something.”

  Fane turned his head. He heard the thought in his mind, but he knew it was coming from a second-story bedroom in the house across the street. He looked upward and locked eyes with a girl peering out of a window.

  Fane phased slightly, just enough to use his wolf sight, but not enough so that any other physical manifestations of his wolf would show. As a grey wolf, his eyesight and hearing were second to very few and his night vision was the best of all the breeds. He found himself looking into eyes the color of emeralds.

  At that moment, Fane realized he had heard the girl’s thoughts. His heart began to beat rapidly. There was only one person in the world from whom a Grey could hear thoughts—their mate. His wolf growled possessively, and it took Fane several deep breaths to keep from phasing completely.

  “Are you okay, sire?” It was Sorin. The man was watching Fane intently.

  Fane didn’t answer right away. He discovered for the first time what it was like to not be in complete harmony with his wolf. The wolf wanted out. It wanted to go to his mate … his other half. And Fane wanted to let it. But he knew it probably wasn’t a good idea to phase into his wolf and go pining at her bedroom window like a love-sick pup.

  Fane turned his attention back to Sorin, careful not to allow his emotions to show on his face. “I’m fine, Sorin. I thought I scented something weird for a second. You don’t smell anything, do you?”

  Sorin cocked his own head and drew in a large breath. After a few seconds, he said, “No, nothing out of the ordinary. Just the typical human smells. There’s a stray dog a block over. No … two … scrounging for scraps in a trash can.”

  “Yea, that must be it. No big deal. Well, I guess this is goodbye, old friend. Give my love to my mother and father. Tell the Alpha female she needn’t worry about her only son. I’ll be fine for a semester.”

  Sorin nodded. “Farewell, Prince. Call if you need anything. See you in a few months.” Sorin got back in the limo and drove away, leaving Fane standing, alone, staring up at a second-story window across the street.

  Reflexively, he sent her a thought as he picked her name out of her mind. “At last, my Jacquelyn.” But even as he sent the thought, he wondered how such a thing could be possible? There weren’t any Canis lupus within a hundred miles of here. How could she be his mate? Could a human be the true mate of a werewolf? Fane had never heard of such a thing.

  Fane felt distress and confusion come through the bond. This was complete confirmation the woman was indeed his mate. She’d heard the thought he’d sent her. She clearly didn’t understand what was happening. But what did that mean? A female Canis lupus would know and understand the mating signs as surely as he did. He needed to find out what was going on.

  Though it took all his strength to ignore his wolf instincts to go to her, Fane turned, breaking the gaze that locked them together and walked up to the house. As he knocked on the door, he once again lost the battle of wills with his wolf and sent her another thought, one to assure her this encounter wasn’t their last. “Soon.” Once again, he felt her confusion.

  * * *

  The Henrys would be his host family for the next year. This was the first time he had ever seen them and was surprised at how young they were. They both looked to be in their early thirties. There was a welcoming eagerness radiating from them that made Fane feel accepted even before he’d stepped foot inside their home.

  “Welcome to our home, Fane,” Mrs. Henry said, reaching out to hug him.

  Fane was a little surprised at the show of affection, but he found comfort in the touch and allowed it to soothe his unease about being somewhere new.

  Mr. Henry held out his hand, and Fane responded by shaking it. “We are very glad to have you here with us.”

  “Thank you for allowing me to stay in your home. I greatly appreciate your generosity,” Fane said sincerely.

  “You must be tired from your long trip, so why don’t we show you your room and let you get settled for the night. If you’re hungry, the kitchen is right through there, and you’re welcome to help yourself to anything you find. We can visit more tomorrow and get better acquainted once you have rested,” Mrs. Henry stated.

  Fane followed them both upstairs. They went down a long hall, passing several doors along the way. “We will give you the full tour tomorrow,” Mr. Henry told Fane.

  That was fine with Fane. He was very tired, but his brain was going ninety to nothing thinking about what he had just discovered. The wolf inside was restless knowing his mate, whom he could possibly have had to wait an eternity for, was just across the street.

  Finally, at the last door on the left, Mrs. Henry stepped aside and said, “Here is your room. We took the liberty of decorating it a bit, but you are welcome to change it any way you would like. We will leave you to it. Sleep tight.”

  “Mulţumesc,” he stated formally in his native tongue. The Henrys looked at him quizzically. “Oh, that means thank you in Romanian. Sometimes I forget and start speaking my native language. Forgive me.”

  “Oh, no, that’s great, Fane,” Mrs. Henry said. “I would love to learn your language and culture, so please feel free to use it anytime you want.”

  “Well, again mulţumesc and noapte bună, which means good night,”

  With that, the Henrys turned and walked away, leaving Fane to explore his new territory.

  His mind returned to the present, letting the memories of the eventful night fade away. As Fane turned away from the window, he glanced around his room. He was struck again by how comfortable he felt now in this room, a stark departure from the earlier tensions he’d experienced before he arrived. The Henrys had inadvertently decorated his bedroom in winter tones, with wolves as the dominant theme. How fitting. The walls were painted a white that glistened like snow, and one wall contained a mural of a winter forest. In the distance, a solitary wolf stood on a snowy hill, his head tilted to the sky, posed in a lonely howl. The scene caused an ache in Fane for the pack he’d left behind. But regardless of the desire to be with his pack mates and family, Fane knew he’d made the right decision in coming here.

  The bed was full size with a thick blue comforter and lots of pillows. To the left of the bedroom door was a huge closet with built-in drawers all along one wall. Fane stepped through another door and into a spacious bathroom with a glassed-in shower and separate bathtub.

  After the quick run-through of his room, he decided to take a shower and wash off the smell of crowded airports and unfamiliar people. The hot water cascading over his tired muscles felt good. His wolf didn’t seem to care about the shower. All he was concerned about was the female across the street. Fane chuckled to himself. “Impatient, aren’t you?” His wolf ignored him. He was pouting, and Fane knew there was nothing he could do to ease his ire.

  He finally climbed into the plush bed and pulled the warm comforter up around him. His eyes drifted closed, and his final thought before he fell asleep was of striking emerald eyes.

  OceanofPDF.com

  Chapter

  Two

  The morning sunlight shone into Jacque’s room as she yawned noisily. She glanced over to where Sally and Jen had fallen asleep and saw they were both snoozing soundly. Jacque decided to let them sleep while she went ahead and took a shower. Jacque still had to process her encounter with the hottie across the street.

  “Thanks, Jen,” she muttered under her breath. Now she couldn’t think of him as the foreign exchange student because Jen had so eloquently named him the ‘hottie across the street’. Jacque would have to watch herself and make sure not to introduce herself by saying, “Hi, hottie, I’m Jacque. It’s nice to meet you.” Yeah, that wouldn’t be embarrassing at all.

  She gathered some clean clothes and realized, as she stared into her closet, she was taking longer than usual to pick an outfit to wear to meet the hottie, grr, the exchange student. Jac, say it to yourself, ex-ch-an-ge student.

  After a ridiculously-longer-than-necessary amount of time, she chose a pair of her jeans that had holes in various places along the legs. Of course, they weren’t there through any fault of hers. They were $75 jeans … which she paid to have holes in. Go figure. She had a little bit of a jeans fetish. It was so bad she even worked over the summer to earn money to afford the jeans she wanted. Jacque picked a baby doll tee that said, “I’m not stubborn. My way is just better.” Stress brought out the sarcasm in her. Okay, so maybe most things brought out the sarcasm in her, and what better way to handle it than with a sarcastic tee? Jacque wasn’t sure why she felt the need to bare her personality, so to speak, on her person for him to see. It wasn’t like she was planning on them being more than friends. She tapped her lips thoughtfully. Maybe she had considered the whole more-than-friends scenario just a few … hundred times. Shoot her. She wasn’t immune to an Adonis-like face or a male body that looked to be sculpted from stone. Slightly disgusted with herself, she shook her head at her outrageous thoughts and headed to the bathroom, seeking refuge in the form of a steaming shower and her favorite cucumber body wash.

  Jacque took her time in the shower, only getting out when the water started to get cold, forcing her to seek shelter in one of the huge warm towels her mom had splurged on. She dried off and got dressed, then took her time fixing her hair. Jacque couldn’t decide if she should wear it up or down. Good grief, you never have this much trouble getting ready. It’s just hair, you freak. She paused, pursing her lips at her reflection. “Nor do you usually talk to yourself so much.” Her nerves were getting the best of her. But try as she might to brush the encounter off, she just couldn’t shake the feeling that something major had happened last night when she locked eyes with the handsome stranger.

  With an exasperated sigh, she finally settled on wearing her hair up. It was summer in south Texas, after all, which basically meant frying-eggs-on-the-sidewalk hot. Morning routine accomplished, complete with talking to herself and obsessing over her looks, she headed back to her room to see if Sally and Jen had decided to join the rest of the living.

  Sure enough, they were both sitting on the floor, each with bedhead and looking a little dazed.

  “You’re up bright and early … and dressed,” said Jen, sounding surprised. “And perky. Wait. Who the hell are you, and what have you done with Jacque?” Jen’s brow rose as she looked up.

  Jacque rolled her eyes at her blonde friend’s exaggeration. Okay, so maybe Jacque wasn’t usually a morning person, and maybe she walked around with a frown on her face until lunchtime, but she wasn’t that bad. Right?

  “I woke up with just a few things on my mind and knew it would be impossible to go back to sleep. Also, I need to go talk to my mom about us going over with her to greet the hot— I mean, exchange student. Thanks to you, Jen, I will probably introduce myself to him and say, ‘Hi hottie.’”

  “Well, if you do, I will be sure to do you the honor of laughing my ass off,” Jen said.

  “Oh, thanks for that,” Jacque retorted.

  “Okay, kids, let’s play nice. We have plans to make. We don’t have time for your usual petty arguments and overall need to degrade one another,” said Sally.

  “But we love degrading one another,” Jen whined.

  Jacque nodded in agreement. “It’s like our version of coffee in the morning.”

  Sally ignored them, which she often did when Jacque and Jen were being childish.

  “Okay, why don’t y’all take turns getting a shower, and I’ll go talk to my mom about when she plans to head over to the Henrys?” Jacque asked as she headed toward her door.

  “Sounds good,” Sally answered.

  “Go, team,” Jen said dryly.

  “Loving that enthusiasm, Jennifer Adams,” Jacque said with a freakishly big grin on her face. “Keep it up!”

  As Jacque ducked out of the room, Jen mouthed some words to her that would definitely get the blonde’s mouth washed out with soap.

  Jacque went downstairs and found her mom already in the kitchen cooking up a storm. Lilly Pierce was not your average woman. She had a sketchy background growing up in a foster home. She often had these “feelings” about things that were going to happen, and the scary thing was, she was usually right. Jacque and her mom never really talked about it, though Jacque sometimes showed signs of a similar nature. Only Jacque didn’t know things, she could feel things, such as the emotions of others. It didn’t happen often, and it was very subtle at times. She might be in a room with her mom and without Lilly ever saying anything, Jacque knew her mother was sad or worried or confused. Jacque wasn’t sure how or why it happened, it just did. It wasn’t reliable because she could go weeks, and sometimes months, without feeling another’s emotions. Jacque didn’t want to know things, or feel things, she just wanted to be normal. Jen was always happy to point out that normal was overrated.

  As Jacque looked around the kitchen, she saw a pan of fried chicken on the stove and corn on the cob in a pot of boiling water. Lilly was steadily mixing a bowl of mashed potatoes, adding milk and butter as she saw fit.

  “Hey, Mom, how goes the gut-busting Southern meal prep?” Jacque asked.

  “I’m almost done. I just need to drop some rolls in the oven. Would you mind getting them and putting them on a pan? They aren’t homemade, just those store-bought, Hawaiian ones, but they’re really good. I’m sure he won’t mind”

  “Yeah, I can do that. Uh, Mom.” Jacque hesitated for a moment. “Sally, Jen, and I were wondering if you needed help carrying all this over to the Henrys.” Jacque tried to sound casual. Lilly paused in her tater stirring and glanced at her daughter. The narrowed eyes told Jacque she hadn’t come anywhere close to casual.

  “Are you really wanting to help, or is this just a perfect opportunity to meet the new exchange student? It is a guy, after all, right?” Lilly asked.

  “Can’t a girl just help out her mother every once in a while?”