“Wait.” Fane held up a hand as if to pause any change in the current conversation. “What’s the verdict on me and the spreader bar?”
Jacque sighed. “As long as I get a whip, I’m game.”
“Excellent.” Fane chuckled. His phone chirped, and he looked down to see his father’s text. “Peri will meet us in their suite,” Fane confirmed as they all filed out of the bathroom.
As soon as they were in Jen and Decebel’s room, Costin headed for the nursery. “I’m going to lay her down. She fell asleep on the walk back up here.”
“Hopefully, Peri will be here in a few minutes,” Fane said as he sat down on the couch and motioned for his mate to come to him.
Jacque shook her head. “I’m not feeling the whole blue hands thing, wolf-man.” She looked skeptical as she stared at the hands in question.
“You haven’t even given them a try, Luna,” Fane purred. “The contrast against your fair skin would be striking.”
“What’s striking?” Costin asked as he closed the nursery door, leaving it cracked, and walked toward the couch.
“Fane’s hands, apparently,” Sally said with a sly smile.
“Jen would have totally appreciated that,” Jacque laughed.
“Fane’s hands are striking?” Costin frowned.
“Yep, on Jacque’s backside.” Sally laughed.
Fane rested his head back on the couch and sighed. “This is all your fault, Costin. Now they’re going to be making jokes about kinky stuff for the rest of our lives.”
“Dude, you were just talking about your blue hands against my pale skin. How is that not kinky?” Jacque asked.
“Quit bringing up old stuff,” Fane said, using words his mate loved to use on him, and then doubled over from the fist that Jacque pushed into his stomach.
“Do not use my own defense against me,” his mate said, looking like she was trying hard not to smile.
“I can’t help it if I’m a quick learner, Jacquelyn.”
Peri suddenly appeared in the room, and her eyes landed on Fane’s blue hands. She glanced around, and then her eyes landed on Costin’s hands. Her brow furrowed. “What have you done?”
Chapter Nine
“Everyone has at least one moment in life when they think to themselves ‘Somebody is going to die.’ HowIdiffer from everyone else is that mynextthought is ‘Somebody get a baseball bat, because today I’m the Grim Freaking Reaper.’ ” ~Jen
“What doyou mean they aren’t here?” Jen asked for the fifth time.
“My answer isn’t going to change just because you keep increasing the volume of your voice each time you ask the same question,” Vasile said. “Thia is not here, nor is Fane or Costin.”
“But Jacque said they were bringing her here,” Decebel bit out through clenched teeth.
Jen looked up at her mate and placed a hand on his arm when she realized just how tightly his jaw was clenched. It would only slow down their efforts to find Thia if her mate got in a fight with Vasile. She needed to stay calm so Dec would stay calm.Easier said than done.
“Decebel, I am not being deliberately obtuse,” Vasile said, his voice remaining calm and even. “Fane said there was an issue, but he didn’t want to get me involved. He asked for Peri’s help. He asked that she meet him in your suite at the Serbia pack mansion. That is all I know.”
Jen opened her mouth to say something else but snapped it closed when Decebel grabbed her hand and spun around, pulling her along with him. She glanced over her shoulder at Vasile, who had his phone out. His thumbs were moving as fast as a teenager’s at a party with the sound of cop sirens closing in. In other words, dude was texting like a mofo.
When they reached their vehicle, Decebel opened her door and practically shoved her inside. Jen didn’t say anything because she knew he wasn’t operating at full capacity. At the moment, her mate was in survival mode. His overprotectiveness had, no doubt, escalated past the setting of ‘high’ into the realm of ‘not humanly possible,’ which meant she had to keep a clear head. She couldn’t panic. Not yet.
* * *
“Why doyou assume we’re the ones who did something?” Costin asked Peri.
Peri nodded. “Good point. What have the females done? That’s actually the more accurate assumption.”
