Sacrifice of Love (The Grey Wolves #7)(26)

Sally’s breath caught at the pain she heard in Jen’s voice. She crawled up into the bed on the other side of Jen as Jacque took the opposite side so that they had sandwiched her in. Both girls wrapped their arms around her and just held her as she cried. There were no words spoken, no false promises that everything would be fine. The reality was that more than likely nothing was going to be fine. So instead they simply took comfort in knowing that in everything they had been through, they had always had each other. Their friendship had stood the tests of life, death, bloodshed, war, and love, and it would continue to do so.
Sally pressed her hand to Jen’s head, brushing her fingers through the blonde locks. She slipped silently into Jen’s mind, trying to keep her friend from realizing what she was doing. As she closed her eyes and opened her spirit to Jen’s, she had to bite her tongue to keep from gasping. Jen’s bond, the thin chord that linked her to Decebel, was stripped, like a rope that had been shredded until there were only a few strands holding it together, so was Jen and Decebel’s mate bond. She could see the emptiness in Jen where Decebel’s soul should be, the other half of hers now nearly gone. Sally was surprised that Jen didn’t simply lie around groaning in pain. It was a miracle that her wolf hadn’t taken over in a desperate attempt to get back to her mate. Sally took her hand away from Jen and rolled onto her back and listened to the slow even breathing of her two best friends.What did it mean? What could be doing this to their bond and was that why Decebel had been acting so out of character? She didn’t know, but she had an idea of who might. She slid out of the bed, careful not to wake Jacque or Jen and then hurried quietly from the room.
She knocked on the spare bedroom door and was surprised when she heard a muffled, come in. She wasn’t expecting anyone to be awake. She pushed the door open to find Cynthia sitting up in the bed with a book in her lap. She glanced up at Sally before looking back at the book and slipping a piece of paper in the pages to save her spot.
“Sally, is Jen alright?” she asked quietly. Of course she would assume that something must be wrong with Jen because of her state, but she didn’t answer right away.
Sally walked over to the end of the bed and sat down without saying anything. She tried to gather her thoughts but then decided there really wasn’t any easy way to break this.
“Jen and Decebel’s bond is dying.” She watched the doctors face for any sign of outrage, surprise, or shock, but there was none. “You knew?” Sally asked with a frown. “And still you let her come?”
Cynthia laughed bitterly. “Like anyone can keep Jen from doing something she wants to do. And no, I didn’t know, but I had my suspicions.”
“What’s going on doc? What’s wrong with Decebel?”
Cynthia pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around them as her eyes met Sally’s. “I don’t really know any more than you.”
“How is Decebel keeping Jen out of his mind while he sleeps?”
“That is a question you should be asking me.” Sally turned at the sound of Elle’s voice and saw that Peri was right behind her.
“Sorry to bust up this little sleepover, but if you want answers, Healer, then you need to go to those in the know.” Peri leaned against the wall, looking more awake than anyone at that hour should and definitely looking like she was in the know.
“So what happened to Decebel?” she asked again, this time directed at Elle.
“He asked for me to make it so that when he slept Jen could not get past his barriers.”
“Why?”
“Do we really have to go through this again?” Peri groaned. “Because he has…,”
Sally held her hand up stopping the fae from going on. “I know, I know, he has man parts. I get it, but that doesn’t fully answer my question.”
“He has a secret and he doesn’t want her to be able to go snooping and find it,” Peri told her and appeared very put out at having been interrupted.
“Decebel isn’t the type to keep things from Jen,” Sally argued. 
“People will often become very different from who they really are when life and death matters are at hand,” said Cynthia.
“I thought that people showed who they truly are when they are in life and death situations.” Sally’s eyes narrowed at the doctor.
Peri waved her hand as if batting away a fly. “Sally, really, do you think we can possibly unravel the workings of the alpha male Canis lupus, especially starting with Decebel?”
Sally didn’t answer; she simply stared at Peri as if everything she wanted to know was going to explode out of her head at any moment. Then the words hit her again.
“You said life and death,” Sally pointed at Cynthia. “This has to do with their baby, wait,” Sally gasped and covered her mouth. “He wouldn’t,” she muttered around her hand, not speaking to anyone but simply staring at the ground as her mind tried to grasp what she was realizing. “Oh,” she whispered slowly, “but he would. They all would.”
“He’s going to sacrifice himself. But he can’t do that if their bond is intact,” Sally finally spoke up loud enough for everyone to hear.
Peri smiled like a proud parent. “I knew she was the smart one in the bunch. Didn’t I tell you Elle,” she nudge the other fae. “Didn’t I say that the quiet, innocent one is the smart one?”
Elle nodded. “Yes Peri, you did,” she said dryly.
“Jen’s going to kill him.” Sally’s eyes locked with Peri’s.
“You can’t tell her, Healer,” Peri’s face suddenly went very serious. “It is not the place of any of us to meddle in the Alpha’s business.”
“She’s my best friend, Peri. That makes it my business,” Sally argued.
“No,” Cynthia spoke up. “If she were only your best friend, then yes, it would be your business. But she isn’t only your best friend. She’s Decebel’s mate, Sally, his wife. There are some things that are between husband and wife that the friend card no longer holds any sway over.”
Sally glared at Cynthia while hearing her words, hearing their truth, and hating them. She knew that there were some things that weren’t her business because Decebel wasn’t just Jen’s boyfriend, he was her husband and that did make it different.
“But he’s making the wrong choice,” she whined. Way to be real mature Sally, she thought to herself.
“That is not for you to decide,” Peri told her, the words of the Great Luna echoing in her mind. “The Fates will ultimately decide whose life they will accept. There is so little we control in this life, and as much as we would like to think life and death is one of those things, it just isn’t.”
Sally let out a deep, resigned sigh. She couldn’t tell Jen. In fact, she couldn’t tell anyone.
“This freaking sucks,” she grumbled.
“So goes the story of our paranormal lives,” Peri agreed.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” the Great Luna said softly to the wolf in human form before her. The warm night air blew through her shimmering hair and the moonlight made her skin glow.
“You knew I was coming?”
“Yes, and they have agreed to hear you.” She motioned for the wolf to follow her. She walked into the forest. As the trees swallowed her, the wolf paused just for a second before following the goddess inside.
They wound through the trees until there was a canopy of limbs that hung over an opening to a cave. Light flickered at the entrance as if a fire burned inside and the flames danced, tempting them to enter and seek its warmth. The Great Luna stepped aside and motioned for the wolf to go into the cave. “This is as far as I go,” she told the wolf who continued forward, following the beckoning light.The wolf walked deeper into the cave until a voice said to stop.
“We have agreed to hear your petition.” The three figures of the Fates suddenly appeared before the wolf. “What is it you ask for?”
“I come to offer my life in the place of one that you have claimed. I ask that you allow the child to live and let me fulfill the debt. Let my blood wipe clean the slate.” The wolf’s voice was full of sincerity.
“Why would you offer yourself as a sacrifice for this child? It is one thing for the father to do so, but who is this child to you that you would lay down your life?”
“The child is pack. She is family and she is loved. What greater way to show that she is loved than to give my life for hers?”
Silence filled the cave as the Fates watched the wolf, and then they finally spoke again.
“We will consider your sacrifice, but you will not know our decision until the moment it is due. You must tell no one of your choice. For true sacrifice does not seek approval or crave attention. You will do this and no one will know until you have left this life and passed on to the next.”
The wolf left the cave and walked into the arms of the Great Luna.
“Can you restore what has begun to be broken?”
The Great Luna’s eyes filled with moisture as she shook her head. “I cannot. They still might choose him. If their bond was restored, then she would die also. I am proud of you, but I hurt for you as well.”
“It is what should be,” the wolf told her.