“Do not go there, Mom! This has nothing to do with him. It’s only natural to want to meet someone new, and especially since he’s not from our country,” Jacque stated firmly.
“Okay, okay, you don’t have to be defensive. I will be ready just as soon as those rolls are done warming. I’m going to call the Henrys now to make sure they're okay with us coming over in ten minutes.”
Jacque put the rolls on the pan in straight rows. As her mom was stepping out of the room to call the Henrys, she caught the briefest hint of worry coming off of her. It had been a while since she had picked anything up from her mom so it kind of made her take a step back. I wonder what she's worried about?
She headed back upstairs to see if the girls were done getting ready and to let them know the plan was in motion. Man, she felt ridiculous as she thought about how it sounded to have a “plan” to meet a guy, and not meet him like “hey, what’s up,” but meet him like, “hey, are you a weirdo or something?” What was her world coming to? Oh, well. Could be worse. She could be hearing voices...oh wait, she was. Well, crap.
Sally was done with her shower and doing her hair when she got upstairs. Sally could be very efficient when she needed to be, and she wasn’t one to be overly fussy about her looks. Of course, that could've been because she would be pretty even with a paper bag over her head. Her long coffee-colored hair was striking against her mocha-colored skin. She honestly didn’t look like a Sally. Whatever, Jacque thought. I didn’t pick her name.
Jen was still in the shower and Jacque could hear her singing Martina McBride’s “Independence Day.” She was belting it out proudly and tunelessly.
Jacque banged on the door and hollered, “Yeah, yeah, you’re strong, free and independent, we get it. Hurry up! We’re rolling out ten minutes ago!” Jen just sang louder. Jacque rolled her eyes and went back to her room.
“If she’s planning on blow drying that blond mess on her head then we’re leaving her here,” Jacque told Sally, looking over to see her shoving her feet into shoes.
“Well, I’m ready when you are, Sherlock. Let's go check hottie out,” Sally said with a wink.
“How lucky I am to have you, my dear Watson,” Jacque said, smiling.
Jen stepped into Jacque’s room fully clothed, hair up in a French twist.
“What’s taking you guys so long? I’ve been ready for two minutes,” Jen said with fake exasperation.
“Oh, a whole two minutes? How dare us make you wait. Please don’t have us flogged, your majesty,” Jacque retorted.
“It’s about time you realized who the queen is in this outfit,” Jen said, grinning.
“Girls, I’m ready if you all are!” they heard Jacque’s mom yell.
Well, here we go, Jacque thought. She felt in that moment that she was walking into the lion's den. Just what had she gotten herself into?
“I think I am officially going to be sick,” Jacque said with a slight moan.
“Take slow deep breaths. If you pass out while we’re over there, I once again tell you I will laugh my ass off,” Jen said.
“Man, you're just a ball of warm fuzzies, aren’t you?” Jacque said, glaring at Jen.
“I’m just saying,” Jen laughed.
Turning in a circle with arms out and palms turned up, Jacque said “How do I look? Is this shirt a little much?”
“No, I think it’s perfect. It makes a statement like, 'hey, I’m not scared of your little mind gibberish',” Sally encouraged.
“But I am scared of his mind gibberish. If it is really his mind gibberish and not something else entirely,” Jacque said, sounding forlorn.
“Oh, come on. Pull yourself together, man. He’s just a guy, okay? Nothing more and nothing less,” Jen stated with utter confidence.
The only thing was that Jacque didn’t believe mystery guy was just a guy. No, he was more, much more. She just didn’t know what yet. As they began to descend the stairs, a thought touched her mind, one that was not her own.“Good morning, my Luna,” Jacque heard.
She stumbled a few steps on the stairs. Jen reached out to steady her. “Are you okay?” she whispered.
“I just heard the voice again,” Jacque said shakily.
“What did it say?” Sally asked.
“'Good morning, my loona',” Jacque answered. “What the stink does that mean?” I can’t believe I thought it was a good idea to go over there, she thought.
Jacque’s mom was standing at the bottom of the stairs, watching them closely. She had that look that Jacque knew all too well – her mom knew something was up. She could feel her emotions strongly and, according to them, Lily Pierce was very concerned.
“Are you girls coming?” her mom asked.
“Lead the way, Ms. Pierce,” Jen said.
Each of the girls carried a dish of food; Jacque’s mom had even made sweet tea. After all, what’s a southern meal without sweet tea?
As they stepped out of the house and onto the walkway, the sun shone brightly down on them. It was ten am and it was already blistering hot.
Although the grass on some of the lawns was still healthy and green, Jacque’s lawn was brown and dead. Of course, that could've been because her mom mowed it way too short last time in hopes she could go longer than a week between mowing. She'd inadvertently killed the grass in the process. Oh well, Jacque thought, it’s not like we're going for first place in the prettiest lawn competition. Goodness knows both she and her mother would rather pull their toenails out than work in the yard in that ridiculous southern Texas heat.
As they crossed the street, Jacque saw the curtains of the right second story window part. Briefly, she saw the handsome face looking back at her. She looked away to get the attention of Sally and Jen, but when she looked back to point him out the curtains had closed.
“He was standing in the window, ya’ll. I promise I did not imagine it.” Jacque sounded a little desperate.
“We believe you, Jac. Stop doubting that,” Sally said with conviction.
She's right, Jacque thought. They were her best friends and they would stick by her no matter what.
Chapter 4
Fane woke up and, without thinking, sought out Jacquelyn’s mind. It felt like second nature to him even though he'd just met her. Well, more like found her.
He spoke into her mind effortlessly, “Good morning, my Luna,” and instantly felt her panic and confusion.
He listened to Jacque tell her friends that she had heard his voice, or rather a voice she wasn’t completely convinced was his. And she wanted to know what 'Luna' meant. He also caught the passing thought that she was on her way over here…now.
Fane looked at himself in the mirror and quickly decided a shower was in order – and something more presentable than pajama pants with no shirt.
He quickly jumped in the shower and was out in a record five minutes. He was standing in front of the bathroom mirror, brushing his teeth, when he noticed something different on his chest and shoulder.
Fane, like every male Canis lupus, had markings that looked like tattoos. They appeared of their own accord once puberty hit. These markings revealed where in the pack order a wolf belonged, and the more elaborate the marking, the higher the rank. The tattoos varied in size, shape, and on what side of the body they were on. The marks were dark black, with curves and points at the ends of the lines. Fane’s were on his right side, which indicated he was a dominant. It started on his right shoulder blade and came over the top of his shoulder, going down onto his bicep and across the right side of his chest. The fact that it came around to the front of his body indicated he was an Alpha. Only Alphas had markings on the front and back of their bodies. That way, no matter what direction he was facing, all could see his markings and know the identity of the pack's leader.
Sometime between the night before and that morning, the markings had climbed up the right side of his neck – they looked like black flames.
Fane honestly didn’t know what it meant. He had never heard of the markings spreading. He decided he would have to call his father later today to find out what it meant. Meanwhile, he hoped the Henrys didn’t notice that the markings weren’t there last night, which might've been a little difficult to explain.
Deciding there was nothing to be done about it at the moment, he moved on and quickly ran a razor across his face and threw on some aftershave.
Fane walked over to his suitcase to pick out some clothes. He hadn’t bothered to unpack anything last night because he'd been so tired. There weren’t a whole lot of variations to his wardrobe: black, grey, and dark blue shirts mostly. He had a lot of long sleeved shirts because of the cold in Romania. He'd had to buy short sleeved shirts to prepare to come to the U.S.
He decided on a dark grey short sleeve t-shirt and his Lucky brand jeans. He pulled on his biker boots and grabbed his wallet, which had a chain attached to it.
Although motorcycles weren’t very popular in Romania – because of the temperature – Fane loved them and owned a Honda. He tried to ride as much as he could and, of course, was completely covered in leather when he did ride to stay warm.
He'd wanted to bring his motorcycle with him, but his parents had offered to buy him a used bike once he got here. He was planning on talking to Mr. Henry about that later today, to see if he would be willing to take Fane to a motorcycle dealership to pick one out. His parents had given him a credit card with a decent limit on it. It should get him a pretty nice bike.