Fane turned back and looked Steve in the eyes, and the less-dominate Grey instantly dropped his gaze but continued. “He says don’t unpack.” And with that, Steve turned and hurried away.

  Fane pushed the door open and walked back out to where Brian stood. “Okay, Brian, I’m ready if you are,” Fane said, trying very hard to contain his anger. His wolf was not happy. There were other wolves in a territory he had claimed. On top of that, his mate was in the same area and they weren’t yet bonded. He would say things couldn’t get worse, but that would be a huge mistake when it came to talking about Canis lupus unmated males and un-bonded females all in the same vicinity.

  Though Fane didn’t technically yet have a license, he still drove the motorcycle home. He’d decided if he was stopped by a police officer, Fane would pretend driver’s licenses weren’t required for motorcycles in Romania and feign ignorance as to the strange American culture. As Fane pulled into the driveway to the Henrys’ house, he was pleased with how well the motorcycle ran. Brian had insisted they go straight to a motorcycle shop and buy a helmet since they didn’t think to purchase one at the dealership. It felt so good to be on a bike again. He parked behind Brian’s car and locked his, and the helmet he had impulsively bought Jacquelyn, on the side of his bike. When he’d bought the extra helmet, he’d seen the questioning look in Brian’s eyes. Fane had simply winked at him and Brian didn’t press the issue. Fane saw Lilly pulling into her driveway.

  Lilly stepped from her Volkswagen convertible and waved at Fane.

  “Fane, hey, I wanted to invite you over for dinner tonight,” she yelled across the lawns. “The girls are having pizza. You are welcome to come, that is, if you don’t mind hanging out with a group of teenage girls,” she said with a wink.

  Fane was a little surprised at the invitation, but he was not about to miss an opportunity to spend time with Jacquelyn.

  “I would be honored,” Fane responded.

  “Great, we will order the pizza around 5:00, oh, and tell Brian and Sara they are invited as well. We’ll make a night of it and play some games,” Lilly said enthusiastically.

  Fane couldn’t put his finger on it, but Lilly seemed a bit edgy. She waved and turned to go into her house as he did the same.

  Sara was sitting on the couch reading a book when he entered, and he told her they were invited to Lilly and Jacquelyn’s for pizza and games.

  “Oh, that sounds great,” Sara said excitedly. “I will make some brownies. Do you like brownies, Fane?”

  “Yes, I do. I’m going to excuse myself and call my parents to say hello if that is okay,” Fane told her.

  “Of course, that’s fine, you don’t have to ask us. You are practically a grown man, Fane. So long as you aren’t selling drugs or going to all-night raves orgies, you do what you want. We trust you until you give us a reason not to,” Sara said casually.

  “What’s a rave orgy?” interjected Brian. “You’ve been reading those smut books again, haven’t you, Sara?”

  “Brian, enough.” She huffed at him.

  Fane laughed at the redness that colored Sara’s cheeks. “Thank you,” he said and turned to go upstairs to call his father and tell him what he discovered that day. Fane was also going to have to explain how he lost his temper and revealed his title and used a little of the power endowed in him to put the wolf in his place. Honestly, he’d been in Coldspring one day and he’d found his mate, met another Grey, found out about a pack that wasn’t supposed to be here, and been threatened not to stay. Needless to say, it hadn’t been boring since he arrived. He dialed his father’s number for the second time that day. His father answered on the first ring, “There’s more to your mate than meets the eye,” his father said.

  OceanofPDF.com

  Chapter

  Six

  “You did what?” Jacque sputtered, interrupting her mother just as Lilly was telling her and Sally she had invited Fane and the Henrys over for pizza.

  “Hi, Sally,” Jacque’s mother said, ignoring Jacque’s outburst. “You’re staying for dinner, right?”

  Sally nodded. “And spending the night, if that’s okay with you,” Sally answered sweetly.

  “The more the merrier. We’re going to play games too. It’ll be fun! Jen is coming too, isn’t she?” Lilly asked.

  “Yes, mother, now could you please tell me why you are so interested in Fane?” Jacque asked her mom.

  “New neighbors are interesting, that’s all. What do you have against him that you have such an aversion to getting to know him?”

  Jacque just didn’t get her mother’s behavior. Maybe her mom thought because Jacque and Trent had split up, pushing another guy on her would help Jacque move on. Yes, the breakup had been kind of hard on Jacque. She and Trent dated for almost two years. But she’d moved on now. Hadn’t her mom noticed that? It had been two months since Jacque had even seen Trent, and she had barely thought about him. In fact, in the past twenty-four hours, she hadn’t thought about him at all. But she wasn’t going to argue the point with her mom now. Jacque knew a losing battle when she saw one.

  She looked at Sally and motioned for her to go upstairs. “We’ll be upstairs, Mom. Jen probably won’t be here until later. She said she would have to eat with her parents, but hopefully, she will make if for the game portion of the evening,” Jacque said in mock excitement.

  “Keep up the attitude Jacquelyn and see where it gets you,” Lilly warned.

  Lilly rarely got angry with Jacque, so that’s when she knew it was best to double-time it up the stairs before her big mouth got her working in the bookstore every Friday and Saturday night for her entire senior year.

  The two girls settled in Jacque’s room. Sally turned on some music while Jacque flopped across her bed like an ungraceful fish.

  “So, let’s hear it. What happened when Jen and I left today?” Sally finally asked after situating herself on the floor.

  Jacque thought about the moment when she realized the voice she was hearing in her head was actually Fane. When he had spoken to her in Romanian, she had no more doubt. She filled Sally in on the events of the afternoon and couldn’t help but laugh at the expressions flitting across Sally’s face.

  “So it is Fane?” Sally’s brow rose and she clucked her tongue. “My, my, those Romanian boys are just full of surprises.

  Jacque chuckled. “Because you’ve met so many Romanians and you would know.” She paused and then added, “The final nail in the coffin was when he spoke to me in Romanian, and honestly, Sal, if you’re going to hear voices, why on earth would you hear one that speaks in Romanian?”

  “Well, duh, because you secretly have a fantasy about running away with a gorgeous Romanian noble to his beautiful ice castle,” Sally said, a hint of wistfulness in her voice.

  “Oh, of course, I completely overlooked that very plausible answer,” Jacque said, rolling her eyes.

  “So how long did you guys talk?” Sally asked, making air quotes with her fingers when she said the word talk.

  “After he spoke to me in Romanian, I asked if it was Fane. Ya know, just for clarification purposes.”

  “Good to be clear on these matters,” Sally concurred. “It could have been anyone.”

  “Well, when he confirmed it, I’m not ashamed to admit that I went into the flight mode of the whole fight or flight scenario. It all just seemed like a lot to absorb, and I’m still not convinced this isn’t some weirdly elaborate dream. So, I did the logical thing and cleaned the house.” Jacque shrugged.

  “All your mom needs to do to get you to clean is find some Romanian foreign exchange student to go all mystic mind reading on your butt. Huh. Who knew?”

  “Yeah, yeah, whatever, then I decided to get some sun. So, I laid out in the backyard. I don’t know how long I was out there when I heard his voice again. This time he was … not mad, exactly, but sort of frustrated or something. He had the nerve to point out how skimpy my bikini was by asking me if I knew they only sold me one quarter of my bathing suit.” She was sure her face was just as outraged as it had been when Fane had questioned her, even though that had been hours before.

  “Oh, Jen is going to love this. A Romanian hottie with a sense of humor. Brilliant and hot to boot,” Sally said grinning to herself. Then she paused a minute in thought. “Wait, so he was looking out his window at you?” she asked.

  “Yep, so you know what I did?” Jacque asked.

  “Please tell me you didn’t flip him off, moon him, or some other terribly twisted suggestion that Jen would have offered,” Sally said worriedly.

  “No, but I wish I would have. Those all sound like great ideas. I simply stood up, gave him a good ol’ Southern curtsy, and marched myself in the house … after I graciously explained I would have preferred the bathing suit not cover so much.” Jacque rolled on the bed as her laughter shook the mattress. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t that funny, but at that moment her brain was tired, and pretty much everything was hilarious.

  Sally rolled her eyes at her. “Remind me never to be in a lions’ den with you now that I know you like to taunt them.”

  “Oh, come now, my dear Watson. Are you telling me you are afraid of lions and tigers and bears—”

  “Oh my,” Sally finished, slapping her hands on her cheeks as her eyes widened.

  They both laughed as Jacque pulled her hair up into a ponytail, not thinking about the shirt she was wearing. She climbed awkwardly off the bed because it would have made too much sense to attempt the ponytail after she’d removed herself from the bed. Jacque didn’t give a second thought as she turned to grab a hair tie, turning her back to Sally.

  Jacque’s arm froze in the air when Sally gasped. She turned slowly, looked at her friend, and realized where Sally’s gaze was locked. Jacque had forgotten she had purposefully worn a shirt with a low back so she could show Jen and Sally the markings.

  “Oh, did I forget to mention those?” she asked casually as she quickly finished putting her hair up.

  “What the hell, Jac! When did you get that?” Sally’s eyes were wide, and her voice had reached that squeaky point that made Jacque want to stuff cotton balls in her ears.

  “Well, let’s see. If I remember correctly, after y’all left, I downed a pint of whiskey, ran to the nearest tattoo parlor, had some dude named Snake with piercings in every visible body part, and quite possibly not so visible, give me this awesome ink. I just totally forgot to mention it,” Jacque said and then added, suddenly sounding tired, “I don’t know where it came from. When I came up to take a shower after lying out in the hot sun it was just there. I kind of had a mini-meltdown. I screamed at Fane, but he never answered me, which tells me he is the guilty party involved.”

  “So now he’s not only doing his mind voodoo, but body voodoo too,” Sally said, and then giggled as she realized how it sounded.

  “You know what Jen would say…” Jacque started just as her bedroom door flew open and Jen walked in,

  “Depends on what is called for, my dear, but do tell, what smart-ass comment am I supposed to be making?” Jen asked as she folded her arms across her chest and tapped her foot.

  “Fane has done body voodoo on Jacque,” Sally said in a tattletale voice.

  “Ooooh, was it good?” Jen asked.

  “Good freaking grief, she doesn’t mean, like, physical voodoo, pervert.” Jacque turned around to show her the markings on her back.

  “I guess he decided to forgo the whole ‘Hey, will you wear my class ring’ and straight into ‘Let’s get body art together’,” Jen said, studying the markings.

  “What? You think maybe he has some…”. Then she remembered when they were at the Henrys’ she had noticed a tattoo that ran up the side of Fane’s neck. She had forgotten it because it just sort of went with the whole biker thing he had going on.

  “Hey, he did have a tattoo on his neck. I saw it when we were at the Henrys’, but that doesn’t mean it matches this one,” Jacque told them, looking for reassurance.

  “No, it most definitely does not mean they match,” Sally agreed, but Jacque could hear the doubt in her friend’s voice.

  Just then Jacque turned her head and narrowed her eyes at Jen “What are you doing here. I thought you said 9:00 at the earliest?”

  “Well, I just happened to mention you were a little depressed about the whole Trent thing and needed some girl support, yadda yadda, and my mom totally swallowed it whole. She’s all about the hoes before bros,” Jen said with a shrug.

  “That’s just great, Jen. Now your mom thinks I’m all torn up like a kicked puppy about Trent, and I’m not! I’m totally over him … aren’t I?” Jacque asked.

  She started thinking back to the two years she and Trent dated. Even though they had only been sophomores and juniors in high school, their relationship had been pretty intense. Then out of nowhere, Trent came over and told her he felt like they needed a “break.” Jacque politely told him not to treat her like an idiot and just tell her the truth. The breakup came out of nowhere. Jacque had asked him several times what happened because the day before they had been hanging out on the couch, and he actually told her he thought he might be in love with her. When he left her house, he said he would call her that night but he never did. The next time she heard from him, he came over to call it off. Jacque hadn’t seen or heard from him since.

  Thinking about him was making her start to miss him. Trent was a great guy, and they’d had a lot of fun together. He was tall, muscular from lifting weights, had messy wavy hair that he wore just long enough to be wild, and he had unusual grey eyes. He liked to goof off, but he was always a gentleman and could be pretty deep sometimes. They dated for quite a while before their relationship got physical, and when she told him sex wasn’t on the agenda, he was completely okay with it.

  “I don’t like where your thoughts are at the moment, Luna.” The words blew through Jacque’s mind, causing a chill to run down her spine. She had forgotten Fane told her when her emotions were strong, he felt them even if she wasn’t broadcasting them to him.

  “Well, then I guess you should knock before entering,” Jacque snapped back, irritated at how he caught her off guard and that he’d heard her thoughts about Trent.

  “Who is this Trent? What does he mean to you? When and why was he kissing you?” Fane asked in quick succession.

  “Okay, you listen up, and you listen good, you little Romanian, voodoo-casting, mind-reading, nosy…” Jacque stumbled for a minute looking for a word, and when she didn’t find one, she lamely finished with “… person. I am NOT your loona or whatever you call me. You have no right knowing my business, and I don’t owe you an explanation. So, so just … grrrr!” She was beyond frustrated because she wanted to tell him to take a hike, but then a huge part of her rebelled against that because she wanted him with her. She was absolutely nuts.

  Acting like he hadn’t heard a word she said, Fane asked again, “So, who did you say Trent was?”

  Jacque huffed in exasperation. He was clearly not phased in the least by her agitation.

  “Are you talking to the Romanian hottie?” Jen asked.

  Jacque nodded. “He heard me thinking about Trent and wants to know who he is.”

  “Why does he care … oooh,” Sally said with a thoughtful look, “he’s jealous. Exchange boy wants a taste of American cuisine.”

  “Good one.” Jen nodded to Sally and then looked back at Jacque. “Why do you always get the hotties?”

  “Hold on, girls, give me a sec,” Jacque said.

  “Oh, by all means, don’t mind us, the non-voodoo freaks. We’ll just hang out while y’all make out mentally,” Jen smarted off, and Sally burst out laughing.

  “That’s a good one, Jen,” Sally said as they bumped fists.

  Jacque just rolled her eyes at them. Turning her attention back to Fane, she had a feeling he wasn’t going to drop it. With a resigned sigh, she answered his question.

  “Trent is a guy I dated for the past two years. We broke up two months ago.”

  Fane was quiet for a moment, and then said, “I’m sorry for your pain because of that, but I will not deny my pleasure in knowing I will not have to convince him it was in his best interest to take his intentions elsewhere.”

  Jacque was a little taken aback by his honest comment. “And why exactly would you do that?”

  “Because I intend to court you myself, and it would be a tad awkward if you had affections for another, don’t you think?” Fane asked her.

  Jacque looked at the clock on the wall and realized it was 5:15. The Henrys and Fane were supposed to be coming over in fifteen minutes.

  “So, I guess you are going to be over in a few minutes,” she said. Jacque wanted to drop the whole Trent conversation. The past was just that, the past and Jacque was not going to sit around dwelling on it.

  “Yes, I am looking forward to seeing you again. Is that okay with you, Jacquelyn?” Fane asked her.

  His bold question caught her off guard, and she thought about it for a minute. Jacque couldn’t deny the rabid butterflies—only rabid ones would make her want to hurl—in her stomach at the anticipation of seeing him again. She heard Fane laugh and assumed he must be listening since she kept forgetting to try and put the wall up, as he had explained to her earlier.

  “I have some questions I need to ask you, so yeah, it’s okay,” Jacque told him honestly.

  “I’ll see you in a few minutes then, meu inimă, my heart,” he told her.

  After his motorcycle ride, Fane had showered and made himself as presentable as possible. Fane felt something he’d never experienced before—a desire for approval. He’d never been nervous around women, but now he found himself feeling a deep need to gain Jacque’s approval, and he could tell his wolf felt the same. He attempted to comb his hair out of his face, but it just fell right back in front of his left eye. He had chosen a crimson, polo-style shirt. It contrasted nicely with the markings on his neck, which he thought looked pretty cool if he did say so himself. He grabbed his phone and wallet, put them in his back pockets, and headed downstairs.