Jacque’s stomach twisted. The vision of whatshehad seen in Jen and Dec’s room came back to her, and she almost vomited. She understood completely why Sally had tried to protect their friend from that.
The male sprite spoke, his voice soft. “If it’s any consolation”—Jacque looked at him and saw compassion in his eyes— “at least it wasn’t yet a formed youngling. It was mostly blood and tissue.”
Air rushed out of Jacque as if someone had punched her in the gut. But before she could berate the foolish male, Decebel exploded from the bed. His wolf hadn’t fully phased, but what had managed to change was terrifying. Costin immediately placed his body in front of Sally and Jacque and forced them to move back.
Decebel held the terror-stricken sprite against the wall. The beta’s massive hand was wrapped around the male’s throat, and his sharp canines centimeters away from the sprite’s face. Decebel pulled back his arm and slammed the sprite into the wall so hard that the shelves hanging on it fell, their contents smashing on the ground.
“You just signed your death warrant.” Decebel snarled, his voice a mixture of the man and the wolf. “I will rip your intestines from your gut and strangle you with them and then feed your half-alive carcass to the wolves.”
“I… I…” The male tried to speak but squeaked instead. Decebel must have tightened his hold. The sprite was turning a dangerous shade of purple.
“Fane.”Jacque mentally called out to her mate.“We have a situation. Get here now.”She looked at Peri and mouthed “Fane.” The high fae nodded and flashed from the room. Two seconds later, she reappeared with Fane beside her.
Jacque quickly brought Fane up to speed through their bond. Fane focused on his beta as he spoke. “Decebel, release the male.” It wasn’t an alpha command—yet.
“No.” There was no hesitation in his response to his alpha. He didn’t even look Fane’s way.
“You cannot kill him, no matter how badly you want to.” Fane stepped closer, his movement controlled and smooth as he approached the enraged beast that was Decebel.
“You didn’t hear what he said,” Decebel rumbled.
“Jacque told me. But stupidity and ignorance do not justify a death sentence.” Fane’s voice sounded more like his wolf.
“If it insults and hurts my mate, then it does.”
Blood ran down the male’s neck, and Jacque realized Decebel’s claws were sinking into his flesh.
Everyone in the room held their breath and waited to see if Fane would force his beta’s compliance.
“Dec.” The silence was broken by the soft, trembling sound of a femalevoice. Jacque’s head whipped over to look at Jen, and she forced her feet to stay still even though she wanted to run to her friend and wrap her in her arms. Jen’s eyes were on Decebel’s back. Her eyes were bloodshot with tears, and her face swollen from the hours she’d doubtlessly cried before Sally put her to sleep. The blanket still covered her front, but her shoulders and back were bare.
“Dec,” she said again.
He immediately dropped the sprite. It was the only thing, short of an alpha command, that could have saved the male’s life. Though there was no guarantee that Decebel wouldn’t finish the job later.
“OUT,” Decebel bellowed. He wrapped the blanket around his mate until she was completely covered.
Peri whipped out a hand, and the fallen shelves and debris were back up on the wall in an instant. Then she grabbed the sprite laying on the ground who was attempting to breathe. “Imbecile,” the high fae snapped before she flashed him and Lucian from the room.
The remaining two healer sprites rushed out the door. Costin pulled Sally behind him and followed them out. Finally, Fane took Jacque’s hand and led her out of the room.
As soon as the door closed behind them, the air whooshed out of Jacque’s lungs, and a sob broke free. Fane immediately swept her up into his arms, and she tucked herself against him, eyes closed, tears dampening his shirt. She let herself mourn the pain her best friend was enduring, the loss Jen experienced, that theyallexperienced.
“Why?”
“I don’t know, beloved,” Fane answered gently. “I don’t know why.”
* * *
Jen heardthe words of the male sprite over and over in her mind, like a broken record. And every time it repeated, a knife stabbed her in her heart. She wondered how the beleaguered muscle could even still beat.
She pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around them. Decebel picked her up as he sat down and placed her body sideways in his lap so her shoulder rested against his chest.
“What can I do?” Decebel’s voice was rough, as if he’d screamed for hours on end. Jen knew it was simply because of the emotions roiling within him. He was practically choking on the torment he could feel coming from her. But there was nothing she could do to stop it.
“He’s right. It could have been worse.”
“NO!” Decebel snarled, his teeth snapping together. “We lost our child, Jennifer. I don’t care that you hadn’t been pregnant for that long. A child is a child, and ours is gone.” His body shook as he spoke. “From the minute we found out we were expecting, I imagined the life we would give him or her. I envisioned Thia teaching her younger sibling all the offensive language she knows so well. I felt your joy at carrying our second baby. I experienced the emotions that have been flooding you from the moment Jacque told you why you were feeling so crazy. And now, I am feeling your loss.Ourloss.”
