Sally closed her eyes as she leaned her body against Costin's wolf, and clung tight as she felt the cold hair rush through her hair and sting her cheeks. She tried to imagine a time when she and her two best friends weren't fighting for their lives and realized it had been quite a while.
"You want me to what?" Jen asked Decebel, her eyebrows raised. A crooked smile lifted on her mouth.
"Jennifer, behave and just do it."
Jen was laughing out loud now. They had awoken after just a few hours of sleep and Adam and Elle were creating a cloak to protect them as they made a run back to the village.
"I'm sorry. It's just that it wasn't under these circumstances that I'd expected to hear those words come out of your mouth."
Decebel growled at her.
Jacque looked up at Jen and winked. "What was your answer?"
Jen smiled. "Come now, Jac. What else would a good little mate say to her man when he tells her to get on him?"
Adam, who had been tossing a throwing knife in the air when Jen spoke, choked at her words and cut his hand. Rachel actually let out a bark of laughter with Elle right behind her. Jacque reached over and bumped fists with Jen, laughing.
"How many different ways do you think he went over it in his mind to tell me I was going to have to be carried on his back in his wolf form like you two?" Jen asked.
Decebel was steadily growling.
"Jennifer, enough of this. We must go."
Jen ignored him as Jacque piped in. "Should we go over all the possibilities?" Elle, Adam and Rachel were laughing even as Fane and Gavril joined in Decebel's growling.
"Okay, maybe we don't have time to go over all of them now, but I feel obligated in this dire situation, when we don't know if we will live or die, to share with you the words my mate spoke to tell me it was time to go. Drum roll, please."
Decebel was snarling at his mate, who looked completely undaunted. Elle and Adam had two throwing knives each and were bouncing them off the cave walls in a drum roll.
Jen imitated Decebel's deep voice as she spoke. "Jennifer, wake up. You must ride me."
The small cave erupted into laughter. Gavril and Fane, even in wolf forms, were letting out snorts through their muzzles. Rachel and Jacque were wiping tears from their eyes and Elle was holding her stomach as she bent over at the waist.
Decebel sat down on his haunches and glared at the group, waiting for them to regain their composure. He looked over at his mate, who, despite the fact that it was a joke of her own making, was blushing a beautiful shade of red.
"Can we go now?" he asked dryly.
Jen winked at him and made a motion toward the cave opening. "Ready when you are, fur ball."
Decebel snorted and waited for her to climb onto his back. Rachel and Jacque followed suit. Without another word, the wolves and their precious cargo charged out of the cave with the two Fae alongside them. They all ducked, expecting to be pelted by bats, but nothing happened. Jen looked up into the clear sky and squinted from the bright sun.
"I guess she gave up," she mumbled.
"No," Elle shook her head, "she's regrouping. She'll be back." And with that, they were off.
The wolves ran at top speed, their mates clinging tightly to their fur, and the Fae steadily cloaking them as they wenr.
Jen didn't know how long they had been running when, out of nowhere, they were suddenly surrounded by six more wolves, a tired looking Sally, and a fierce looking Perizada. Sally's face lit up like Christmas when she saw Jacque and Jen both holding tightly to their wolves in one piece. The group never broke stride as they met up, but continued to run under the cloak provided by the Fae until they reached the Tavern.
All the males but Gavril loped inside the Tavern door being held open by Skender and headed to find clothing to change into once they phased.
"You and Gavril can come with us to the meeting room in the back." Jen motioned them to follow her as Jacque, Sally, and the others moved ahead.
Once in the meeting room, huddled around the large stone fireplace, Sally hugged Jen and Jacque fiercely.
"I want you two to know that I'm really mad at you, but so happy you're okay that I'm willing to overlook it." Sally tried to look upset but couldn't pull it off. She was just overjoyed to see her two best friends.
"We're sorry that we didn’t tell you, Sal." Jacque pulled Sally in for another hug as she spoke. "We didn't want you to have to lie."
"I know."
Jacque pulled back. "You do?"
"Yeah." Sally nodded.
"How?" Jen asked.
"A little birdie told me." Sally winked.
"Does this little birdie happen to pour vodka for a living?" Jen smirked at her sweet-natured friend.
"Maaaaybeee." Sally grinned.
The room – which had slowly been filling up with pack members that the girls hadn't seen in weeks – suddenly went silent.
Vasile and Alina walked into the room with Decebel, Fane, Costin, Sorin, Perizada, Adam, and Elle all in tow. Skender pulled the doors shut, closing the room off from any prying ears.
As Vasile made his way to the front of the room with his mate at his side, Decebel came up to Jen, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. Fane did the same with Jacque, and Costin stepped up beside Sally and winked at her, bringing a pink flush to her warming cheeks."Rachel," Vasile looked over at her and Gavril, "if you would like to take Gavril, Peri will get him some clothes for him to put on. Then we can discuss the necessary actions which will soon take place.
Peri walked over to Rachel and took her long time friend's hand. Gavril attached his large wolf frame to Rachel and they followed Peri out. As soon as the doors were closed again Decebel spoke up.
"Are the other packs on their way?"
"Yes," Vasile answered. "I have called Dragomir, Victor, and Dillon. They should be arriving tomorrow or the next day." He took a deep breath, then addressed the rest of his pack. "For those of you who have been holding down the fort, so to speak, I will share with you what has been happening. Then I will let you know who will be staying and who will be returning to the pack mansion. There will be no arguments about this."
"Yes, Alpha," the room spoke in unison.
Vasile gave a brief summary of everything that had taken place, leaving out details of Jen's ordeal, which he didn't feel was the entire pack's business. He didn't go into what Peri and he had talked about regarding Desdemona wanting a healer, because he felt like that was on a need-to-know basis. Once he was finished, he gave Skender and Boain orders to who he wanted to stay and fight, and who he wanted to go back home. As Skender and Boain began to gather those who would be leaving, Peri, Rachel, and Gavril once again joined the others in the meeting room.
"Peri explained to me why she has kept you hidden all these centuries," Vasile told them as they came closer."I'm honored to meet you, Gavril, former Alpha, and Rachel, healer."
Gavril nodded once and Rachel gave a small smile to Vasile and then a larger one to Alina.
Alina agreed with Vasile and hugged them both.
"As much as I would love for us to get so sit and reminisce, there is just too much at stake and so we must move forward." Vasile paused and looked past Rachel and Gavril. "Sally," he called to his healer, "please join us up here."
Sally looked at Jen and Jacque, who both nodded at her to go. Costin stepped up next to her and took her hand.
"I've got you, Sally mine," he whispered as he lead her to the front. Sally looked behind her to find Jacque and Jen grinning from ear to ear. She just shrugged at them.
Costin pulled Sally to stand in front of him but he did not step away. Vasile raised a single eyebrow at him. Costin simply grinned, showing the dimple in his right cheek, and winked. Vasile shook his head with a slight chuckle and directed his attention to Sally.
"Sally, this is Rachel." Vasile indicated the older healer. "Peri tells me that she needs to speak with you two alone. She also needs to put a stronger cloak over you two because your combined healing magic is like a beacon to the witch."
Rachel stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Sally. "It's such an honor to meet you."
Sally looked up at Rachel when she released her from the hug. "Are you kidding me? I'm just a 17 year old kid. You've got centuries of experience as a healer. I assure you, the honor is mine."
Peri pulled the two ladies along with her as she muttered over her shoulder, "You both should be honored because you get to spend time with me. Now, get over your sweet natures and come with me. We have the demise of a bitch – I mean, witch – to plan"
Jen laughed as they watched Sally and Rachel follow Peri out of the room. "Man, that fairy is my kind of chick."
"What, a mouthy one?" Decebel grumbled as he pulled her tighter to him.
"Don't you know it."
Peri took Rachel and Sally upstairs to a room on the far corner of the tavern, away from where all the wolves had gathered. She turned and looked at both healers.
"Okay, you two. Have a seat." She motioned to two chairs that sat next to one of the single beds in the large bedroom. "We have a lot to cover and not much time. Consider this a cram session on healer history 101."
"So Rachel, I'm sure you are familiar with the story on how the Canis lupis were created, correct?"
Rachel nodded.
"Sally, do you know?"
"We learned a little when we first moved in with Fane's family, but not all of it."