Prince of Wolves (The Grey Wolves #1)(28)

As soon as he touched her the other wolves growled, baring their teeth, their eyes glowing. Jacque’s breathing increased and her hand tightened on Fane’s.
Fane turned to her. “You have to let go, love. They are growling because I’m touching you.”
“I don’t give a flying sack of crap that they don’t like you touching me. I will touch who I want, I will bond with who I want, and I will not have mangy mutts growling at me in my own yard!” Jacque was yelling, had let go of Fane's hand, and was stomping toward the other wolves.
Fane was so surprised by her that he'd barely reached her as she got in the face of one of the wolves. She had her finger in his face and was yelling every expletive known to man and some not known, for that matter. Jacque had never felt so angry. How dare this Lucas whoever try to tell her what to do, dictate who could touch her, or challenge her mate.The wolf she was yelling at was leaning back as far as he could to keep from touching her. She was no longer aware of her surroundings, she had tunnel vision, and the only thing she could see was this wolf in front of her who'd dared come in her territory. She didn’t pause to think about the fact that she had just called her yard her territory, she filed that away for later.
Jacque felt something touch her arm. She saw the angry face of the werewolf in front of her and heard him growl ferociously. She turned to see who had touched her. It was Fane. He was saying her name and trying to pull her back from the other wolf. Jacque realized they had an audience since everyone in her house had now come outside.
Jen was marching down the walkway and right into the other wolf’s face. She put her hands on her hips and glared at him. “You think I’m scared of you?” she asked sarcastically. “I’m your worst nightmare. Just remember, we all gotta sleep sometime. Hope you can sleep with one eye open,” she winked at him and turned to walk back to the house.
Jacque finally let Fane pull her back to the house, then he stepped away from her, and though she tried not to let it hurt her, she couldn’t stop the stab of rejection she felt.
“I’m not rejecting you, meu inimă. Please believe that. I’m trying to protect you,” Fane told her through his thoughts.
She looked at him and nodded her head in acknowledgment as she watched him turn toward the other wolves. He walked past them and when he made it to the street he turned and told them, “If either of you touches her I will kill you and use your pelt as a rug.” And he left.
Jacque watched him the entire way until the door to the Henrys' was closed. One of the wolves standing in her yard walked up and bared his neck to her.
“Do you think it wise to bare your throat to the one who would see it torn out?” Jacque asked, surprised by sounding so confident and in control despite the emptiness she felt without Fane by her side.
“I bare my throat in acknowledgment of my Alpha’s mate,” the wolf told her.
“Then you bare it in vain because I am NOT your Alpha’s mate. If he kills every wolf on this earth I will still not be his mate,” Jacque growled.
“Go inside, my Luna. I can feel how tired you are,” she heard Fane tell her.
“I am just fine, thank you very much. I will go inside, but not because you told me to. I’m just tired of standing out here with these butt heads,” Jacque responded.
She heard Fane laugh. She felt his joy and that made her smile, which made the wolf in front of her cock his head to the side like a dog. Jacque blew a breath out in exasperation and turned to go in the house. Before she could make it in the front door one of the wolves spoke. “Lucas said to tell you he will be here at nine am.” And that was it. 
When Jacque walked in the living room, everyone was seated with a mug of what she presumed was hot chocolate. Jen grinned and winked. She saw Sorin sitting in the ugly chair and realized he had not been outside. What's up with that? she thought.
“Why did you not come out to defend your prince?” she asked him, sounding a little more accusatory than she meant to.
“The wolves do not know there is a Grey in the house. If I had gone out they would have scented me immediately. We do not want to provoke them any more than we need to until we are a little more matched in numbers,” Sorin explained to her patiently.
“Oh, right. Got it,” Jacque said with a nod.
Despite what Jacque told Fane, she was very tired. She didn’t know what time it was, and frankly didn’t care. She just wanted to lie down and sleep. Sally and Jen must've picked up on that because they got up and took their mugs to the kitchen and came back to lead Jacque upstairs. Jacque hardly noticed them help her lie down and cover her with a blanket. She had scarcely laid her head down before she was asleep.
Jen and Sally sat on Jacque’s floor. They were worried about her.
“I know she’s tough, but I think this is really wearing her out,” Sally said.
“Well, duh!” Jen responded. “Wouldn’t it wear you out if you'd just met the man of your dreams? Then it turns out he’s a werewolf, then it turns out you’re his mate or whatever, then it turns out there’s this other pack of wolves with a psycho, werewolf leader who wants you as his mate, and then it turns out…” Jen paused. “You get the picture.”
“When you put it like that, it is a lot to take in,” Sally agreed.
Jacque woke up to the sound of Fane’s voice, and for a moment she thought he was in her room, but quickly realized he was talking to her in thought.
“Luna, wake up please,” Fane said.
“Haven’t we talked about this whole 'waking me up way too early could be hazardous to your health' thing?” Jacque teased him.
“I’m sorry to wake you, love, but I wanted to talk with you before Lucas arrives.”
“Uggggh! I was really hoping this was all a bad dream,” she moaned.“Well, not you. I mean the part about this Lucas dude and the challenge.”
“I’m sorry, Jacquelyn,” Fane told her sadly.
“Ah well, that’s how it goes. I’m too irresistible for my own good.” Jacque tried to lighten the mood.
“That you are, Luna,” Fane replied.
Jacque picked her phone up to look at the time and saw that it was eight thirty. Crap. She needed to get up and get dressed. What do you wear to talk to a crazy, Alpha werewolf? she thought to herself.
“As much clothing as possible,” Fane answered her thought.
“I was thinking maybe I should wear that bikini you like so much,” she teased him.
“That would be a very poor choice, Luna. I want your marks covered completely,” Fane replied.
“I think a please is in order,” Jacque told him.
Fane growled but then relinquished. “Please, love.”
“Oh, all right, since you’re not being all jealous or possessive,” Jacque smarted off.
Jacque got up and tiptoed around her two best friends. She wondered if their parents knew they were at her house. She figured they must know or else the National Guard would be out looking for them. She stepped into her closet and flipped through the shirts she had hanging. She honestly hadn’t realized how many t-shirts she had with smart ass sayings on them. Go figure, she told herself.
The one she finally settled on made her smile. It was a black baby tee that had a picture of Edward from Twilight on the front and on the back the words, “Team Edward.” That made her laugh out loud. “Take that, you mangy werewolf.”“You’re just too pleased with yourself, aren’t you?” she heard Fane say.
“Hey, get out of my head, you perv. I’m trying to get dressed.” Jacque feigned outrage.
“Sorry, love. I was just curious to see what you would pic. Your sense of humor is one of the things I love most about you. Please be safe, don’t provoke Lucas – oh, and maybe it would be wise to keep Jen away from him,” Fane told her.
“Good idea. I feel like I should say bye, or talk to you later, but that’s just weird,” Jacque told him.
“How about I just tell you I love you?” Fane asked her.
Jacque smiled. “I love you, wolf-man.”
The last thing Jacque heard was Fane’s deep chuckle. She could feel him pull away from her thoughts and she felt bereft. She took a deep breath and started going through her jeans and picked out a low-rise pair of cargo pants.
She walked out to the bathroom to dress and throw her hair up in a pony tail. She realized once her hair was up that the marks on her neck came above the collar of her shirt.
“Hells bells,” she huffed as she pulled her hair back down. She pulled her bangs out of her face and secured it back with bobby pins. “That’s as good as it’s gonna get,” she told her reflection in the mirror.
When she walked back into her room, Sally and Jen were both up, stretching and yawning. They both took one look at her shirt and cracked up laughing.
“You're my hero,” Jen told her.
“Kill 'em with sarcasm. I always knew that was your motto.” Sally still laughed.
“I’m sorry I crashed on ya’ll like that last night. I was just so tired. I don’t think I've ever been that tired,” Jacque apologized.
“Well, it’s not like you’re under any stress or anything,” Jen said sarcastically.
Jacque grabbed a pair of flip flops from under her bed and slipped them on. As she reached for her phone she heard Jen’s phone start playing the Jaws theme song. Sally and Jacque looked at her.