“Fane, it’s working,”she told him as the flames began to subside, and the sensation of heat weakened until she was once again in a state of blissful warmth.
“Open your eyes, Jacquelyn,”he commanded.
“Pipe down, wolf-man. Give a girl a moment to get her bearings.”Jacque experimented with telling her limbs to move. She felt her feet flex and then her fingers tap on the bed she laid on. Then she took another deep breath and let it out slowly. The room fell silent, but that didn’t last long.
“She’s moving,” Jen said, her voice sounding strangled as if she was trying to keep from crying. “Open your eyes, Red, or so help me, I will pry them open and use toothpicks to keep them that way.”
“Wow, and I thought I had anger issues,” Myanin said.
Jacque ignored the rest of the voices as chatter broke out around her. She focused on her body. She was almost afraid to move too much, for fear the pain would return. After what felt like several minutes with her heart pounding in her throat, she began to move her eyes, then slowly opened them. With a pathetic yelp, she immediately slammed her eyelids shut.
“The lights,” Fane said. He'd felt her pain through the bond at the brightness of the lights. She heard a click and then sensed darkness behind her closed lids. “Try again, Luna.”
Jacque opened her eyes slowly, squinting to make sure she wouldn’t be blinded again. When she was certain the room was comfortably dim, she opened them the rest of the way. The first thing she saw was her mate’s face, which was hovering a few inches above her own. His hands framed her cheeks, and he leaned down until his forehead rested against hers. Fane took a deep breath, and Jacque felt his wolf settle as her scent filled his body.
“Never again, mate,” he whispered, his lips brushing against hers. “I would hide you and Slate away far from all of this if I didn’t know that you would never forgive me. I love you.” Jacque didn’t have time to respond because his lips were suddenly pressed firmly against hers. It wasn’t a gentle kiss. Despite her recent injuries, he wasn’t treating her as if she was a porcelain doll. It was a kiss to remind them both that they were okay, that they would make it through this. His tongue brushed against her lips, and Jacque opened her mouth, giving him what he wanted. Her body filled with a different kind of heat, this time pleasant. Very pleasant.
The bed beside her dipped, and she felt Fane settle his chest against her. One of his hands threaded his fingers through her hair. She shamelessly moaned when he gave a gentle tug, forcing her head back and her mouth higher for him to deepen the kiss. Her arms lifted, and Jacque wrapped her hands around his arms and slowly ran them up and over his firm biceps to his strong shoulders until they cupped his neck. His skin was hot, and she could feel the pulse of his heart in the artery beneath her hand.
“It beats for you,”he said through their bond as his mouth continued to work its magic. She felt as if his lips were assaulting hers, and she was all too happy to let him continue.
“I prefer to think of it as devouring, not assaulting,”he said, having picked up on her thoughts through their bond.
Jacque smiled.“Whatever it is, I don’t want you to stop.”
She felt his wolf rumble, and his body press harder against her.“Wasn’t planning on it.”
Jacque sighed, sinking into the mattress as she tried to pull him further onto the bed. She wanted more. His taste was driving her crazy. She mentally urged him on. His hand moved from her face to her neck, then began to slide down her collarbone. Her skin tingled in its wake, and the slightest movement from him made her shiver.
“Unless you two want to show us how to make a baby, you might want to hit the pause button on this, admittedly, very hot make-out session.” Jen’s voice sounded as if it was coming from far away.
“Make her go away,”Jacque said into his mind as she began to pull at his shirt.
Fane pulled his mouth back long enough to growl, “Everyone out.” Then his lips were right back on hers.
“What the hell is going on?” A deep voice rumbled. Jacque couldn’t place who it was and frankly didn’t care.
“What? What am I missing?” She recognized that voice as Heather’s.
“I can lead you over there and let you feel what’s going on,” Jen said. “It’s getting really interesting. The shirt is about to come off.”
There was a loud sigh. “Jacque, unless you want Jen to get to see your man naked, you might want to stop.”
Sally’s words penetrated her lust-fogged brain.“Fane, we have an audience.”she reminded him. She released him and then grabbed his roaming hand, even though she was quite okay with the road trip it was on. Her mate didn’t seem inclined to stop, even as Jacque tried to pull her face from his. Jacque snapped her face to the side, and his mouth simply moved to her cheek, heading toward her neck. Then Jacque met the eyes of her mother, who was still sitting in the same place she had been when they’d all started their attempt at healing. “Wow, this is awkward,” she muttered before shoving at Fane’s shoulder. “Nissa—” Jacque gasped as her mate bit gently on her mate mark. She recovered and continued. “Since Peri isn’t here to do the honors, could you please zap my mate?”
The high fae stepped into Jacque’s line of sight, and her lips turned up into a small smile. “Everyone might want to back up,” she told the room as she laid her hand on Fane’s back. There was a flash of light and then Fane snarled. He jumped to his feet and swung around to look at the room. Jacque noticed he made sure that she was behind him.
Jacque leaned to the side and saw that Nissa had her hands up. “I meant no harm, Alpha,” she said, her voice calm. “But your mate wanted to get your attention. And I've never been one to ignore an alpha female in distress.”
"She was not in distress," he ground out. "Far from it." His breathing began to slow, and he straightened from the fighting crouch he’d taken, though he continued to give Nissa a death glare.
The high fae only raised her eyebrows and shrugged.
“Fane,” Jacque said, reaching out to grab his hand. She gave it a squeeze.
He looked over his shoulder at her, and his face softened. “This is not over.”
She laughed as the rest of the room groaned.
