“If nothing else,” Fane said, “it will send a message to the humans who are assisting Cain.”
“What?” several voices said at once.
“That’s part of the whole ‘things we need to discuss’ issue,” Fane said. “Right now, I need to follow my father’s example and take a moment to breathe. I’ll send out some of the other packs to hunt vampires, and we will join them after we’ve had a little time to focus on restoring our strength, loving on our children, and giving thanks to the Great Luna that Alston is dead.”
“Hell yeah!” Adam whooped. “Props to our little ambassador group and our badass alpha.” He gave Jacque a thumbs-up. “I want to be you when I grow up.”
Jacque smiled. “I don’t think there’s any chance of that, Adam. You won’t ever grow up.”
He shrugged and pulled his mate to him. “You’re not wrong.”
“Let’s go home,” Fane announced. “Though it’s not Romania, for now, home is where our pack is.”
Chapter 15
“Grief is not a systematic process. Everyone handles it differently. It looks and feels unique to the person experiencing it. And words offered to such a person can sometimes help them through that experience … or they can push the person over the edge of sanity that they were clinging to.” ~Jen
Decebel stared down at his sleeping mate. She looked so small and vulnerable, wrapped up in a blanket lying on the bed. He sat next to her in the sprite healing room. When Peri had flashed him into the room, Sally and Cindy tended to her, but they quickly backed away upon his arrival. Now there was nothing but Jennifer. One of two females that held his heart and devotion without question. How many times had he been here? Looking at his female after she’d been through hell, and he hadn’t been there to hold her through it.
Decebel’s wolf writhed inside of him, desperate to touch their mate. He pulled his shirt off, tossed it to the floor, and walked over to her. He saw the figure of someone on the opposite side of the bed and snarled.
“Peace, wolf,” Peri said softly but firmly. “I understand what you need. I’m simply helping.” Her hand settled on his mate’s head. A second later, Decebel could see Jennifer’s shoulder where a shirt had been covering it before.
“Skin on skin,”his wolf rumbled.
The high fae would know that Decebel’s wolf needed to touch as much of Jennifer as possible—not sexually, though. That was the furthest thing from his mind. He needed her scent against him and his scent on her. He needed the warmth of her body, reminding him she was alive, despite the anguish she’d endured. She was alive.
The high fae pulled back the covers, holding them high enough that they kept his female from being seen by anyone that might be in the room. Decebel climbed in beside her and tucked her small body tightly against him, her face pressed to his chest and his arms enveloping her, wishing he could fix the problem.
“I’m here, baby,” he whispered against her hair as he pressed his cheek to her head. “For however long you need this, I’m with you.” He breathed in her familiar scent and closed his eyes, soaking up her warmth like a dried sponge absorbing water. Decebel could feel her emotions. He could see her chaotic thoughts, though she wouldn’t communicate with him. In her sleep, her walls were down, and she was open to him.
Suddenly, a hand was on his head. “Don’t go there. Not right now,” Sally’s voice whispered. He hadn’t realized he’d been growling, and his body shaking, until the healer’s peace flowed into him, calming his enraged wolf. “Sleep now, Beta. As I did with Jen, I will make it so you won’t dream. Just be with her, rest with her. That’s what she needs. I will take care of Thia. You know she is loved and safe with our pack.”
Decebel didn’t fight Sally’s magic. He knew if he continued to allow himself to see what had happened in that clearing with Alston, he wouldn’t be able to control his wolf. So for now, he would do as the gypsy healer of their pack commanded because he knew she was right. He let himself slip into the sleep that called to him.
* * *
“It’s been three days, Peri.”Jacque rested her elbow on the arm across her chest and chewed on her nails. She wasn’t a nail biter, usually, but the past three days had turned her into one. She stared at the couple lying in the bed, and her heart bled for them. All the muscles in Jacque’s body ached from the tension of waiting and watching.
“I’m making sure they are okay. Even without food and water, I am keeping their bodies strong.” Peri pressed her hand to Jen’s cheek and then to Decebel’s. She did this every four hours.
Three healer sprites moved around the room, Cindy being one of them. To Jacque’s surprise, one sprite was a male. She’d seen male sprites around, but not as part of the group in direct service to Andora. Despite Jacque’s curiosity about that weird fact, her worry for her best friend was too great for her to think much about anything else.
“Should we wake them?” the alpha asked. “Sally put them to sleep, so she can wake them back up, right?” Jacque understood the pain Jen would feel when she returned to the waking world would be almost unbearable, but her friend couldn’t heal if she didn’t face that pain. And Jacque knew Jen would do just that. Though she might stumble, the snarky woman would meet the challenge head-on. And she might even fall at some point, but Jen would push back to her feet. She wouldn’t let this tragedy defeat her; she couldn’t. Jen couldn’t be defeated because Jacque’s life wouldn’t be the same if she lost Jen. And Jacque knew a person didn’t have to die to be lost.
“It’s time.” Sally’s voice came from behind her.
Jacque turned and looked at her. Costin, as always, stood at the healer’s side, close enough to touch. Fane would be at Jacque's side if not for his responsibilities to the pack. Those burdens could not be set aside any longer. She mentally stowed those worries away. It was simply too much to be concerned with the threat of vampire/werewolf hybrids when she had a child, a friend, and a mate that needed her. Though Fane needed her as his equal in leading the pack, at the moment, he needed hermoreas a mate. He needed her gentle, reassuring touch, her care, and her listening ear. He simply needed to voice all that was going on inside of his head. So, for now, her focus was not on what was to come. It was on the family right in front of her.
Sally nodded at her and gave Jacque’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze, then walked past her. When the healer reached the bed, she leaned over far enough that she could lay a hand on both Jen and Decebel. Costin held onto Sally’s waist as if he was afraid she might topple forward, but her baby bump wasn’t that large just yet.
Light illuminated in Sally’s hands, and she closed her eyes. Her lips moved, though Jacque couldn’t hear what Sally said. Then the healer lifted her hands and stepped back. “Their sleep is natural now, so they will wake up on their own. I didn’t want to force them awake. It might be too much of a shock to her system.” She motioned to Jen.
Sally walked over to stand next to Jacque and clasped one of her hands, wrapping her fingers tightly around it. Jacque could feel her gentle friend’s emotions through the unique bond that had happened between them when Jacque had become the alpha of their pack.
“She’s going to be okay,” Jacque whispered.
“I know. But what happened… What she experienced and saw… I tried to knock her out, Jacque. I tried to—” Sally choked on her words. Jacque knew that Sally always kept her tears from falling, but now they escaped her eyes. “I just didn’t want her to see.”
