The Grey Wolves Series Books 1-6

Chapter 2-2

“Man, you are just a ball of warm fuzzies, aren’t you?” Jacque asked, glaring at Jen.

“I’m just saying.” Jen laughed. “It’s important to be prepared for these situations.”

Jacque took several deep breaths and then stood up straight. She held her arms out and turned in a quick circle, feeling very much like a rotisserie chicken. “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 said.

“But I am scared of his mind gibberish, if it is really his mind gibberish and not something else entirely.”

“Oh, come on, pull yourself together, man. He’s just a guy, okay? Nothing more and nothing less,” Jen said as she took Jacque’s shoulders in her hands and gave her a none-too-gentle shake. Jacque’s teeth jarred together, causing a slight buzzing in her head. Great, she could just add that to her list of growing discomforts.

There was a problem with Jen’s logic. 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.” The deep voice resonated with her soul and, despite her confusion, brought her a measure of comfort. Not strange at all.

She stumbled a few steps on the stairs. Jen reached out to steady her. “Are you okay?” she whispered, her playful demeanor forgotten.

“I just heard the voice again,” Jacque said shakily.

“What did it say?” Sally asked.

“Good morning, my loona,” Jacque answered. “I keep waiting for the Twilight Zone music to start playing in the background,” she said. Then with a childish whine that Jacque wasn’t proud of she said, “I can’t believe I thought it was a good idea to go over there.”

Sally pursed her lips as she nodded. “Mm-hm.” She hummed. “We do tend to do desperate and out-of-character things when stress wraps us in its ugly grasp.”

Jen looked away from Jacque and narrowed her gaze on Sally. “Who the hell are you? Dr. Phil?”

Sally simply shrugged.

Jacque’s mom was standing at the bottom of the stairs watching them closely. She had that look that Jacque knew all too well. The woman knew something was up. Jacque could feel her mother’s emotions very strongly. Lilly was concerned.

“Are you girls coming?” her mom asked, but her eyes were on Jacque.

“Lead the way, Ms. Pierce,” Jen said as she finished descending the stairs.

Each of the girls carried a dish. 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, and at 10:00 a.m. it was already blisteringly hot. Although the grass in some of the lawns was still healthy and green, Jacque’s lawn was brown and dead. Of course, that could be because her mom mowed it way too short last time in hopes she could go longer than a week between yard work, which inadvertently killed the grass. Oh, well. It’s not like they were going out for a prettiest lawn competition. Goodness knows both she and her mother would rather pull their toenails out than work in the yard in the ridiculous south Texas heat.

As they crossed the street, Jacque saw the curtains parting in the right, second-story window. Briefly, she saw the handsome face looking back at her. She glanced away to get the attention of Sally and Jen, and then she looked back to point him out, but the curtains had closed.

“Maybe he’s just shy,” Jen suggested as Jacque stared up at the now-empty window. “He probably has that sexy, mysterious vibe going on.”

“You got all that because he walked away from the window?” Sally asked.

Jen shrugged. “What can I say? I’m freaking awesome.”

Jacque laughed. Leave it to her friends to keep her mind from dwelling obsessively on the mysterious boy who might or might not be able to speak to her through her thoughts. Yep, my life isn’t weird at all.

Fane woke up and, without thinking, sought out Jacquelyn’s mind. It was second nature for him, even though he had just met her. Well, he hadn’t really met her, more like found her.

He spoke to her mind effortlessly, the link between them growing stronger. “Good morning, my Luna.” Her panic and confusion nearly knocked the breath out of him. He bolted up, pressing his hand to his chest where his heart was beating out a rapid-fire rhythm Fane knew matched Jacquelyn’s. His wolf was not happy with him at that moment. It didn’t like to be the cause of their mate’s fear. It’s going to get worse before it gets better, Fane told the beast inside him.

He picked up Jacque’s conversation with her friends as she explained 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 a passing thought that the girls were on their way over to the Henry's house … now.

Fane looked at himself in the mirror and quickly decided a shower was in order, if nothing else, just to help calm his nerves. He hopped in and was out in a record five minutes. He stood in front of the bathroom mirror brushing his teeth. Then he noticed something different on his chest and shoulder. Fane’s eyes widened at the markings that ran along his skin.

Like every male Canis lupus, Fane had markings that looked like tattoos which appeared of their own accord once he entered puberty. These markings revealed where in the pack order a wolf belonged. The more elaborate the marking, the higher a wolf was in rank. The tattoos varied in size, shape, and placement on the side of the body. His were on his right side, which indicated he was a dominant. The design started on his right shoulder blade and came over the top of his shoulder before descending onto his bicep and across the right side of his chest. The fact that the markings came around to the front of his body, and weren’t confined to his back, indicated he was an Alpha. Only Alphas boasted markings on the front and back of their bodies so that, no matter what direction they were facing, all could see the markings. The marks were dark black with curves and points at the ends of the lines. Now the markings had climbed up the right side of his neck. They looked like flames, only black in color. He honestly didn’t know what it meant, as he had never heard of the markings spreading. Fane decided he would have to call his father later today to find out what was going on. Meanwhile, Fane hoped the Henrys hadn’t paid much attention to his neck the previous evening. It might be a bit hard to explain the sudden appearance of dark tattoos. He’d just have to claim they’d been there all along and hope they wouldn’t press the issue.

Fane moved on and quickly ran a razor across his face and threw on some aftershave. He walked over to his suitcase to pick out some clothes. He hadn’t bothered to unpack anything last night because he had been so tired. There wasn’t a whole lot of variety in his wardrobe—black, grey, and dark blue shirts mostly. He decided on a dark grey short-sleeved T-shirt and his Lucky brand jeans. He wore biker boots and a wallet with a chain attached to it. Motorcycles were a little bit of an obsession for him, and he owned a Honda. He tried to ride as much as he could, even during the winter months. Of course, he was completely covered in leather when he did ride because it helped keep out the cold. He found himself hoping that Jacque would like to ride with him, and then his mind wandered to the idea of her on a motorcycle. Hot didn’t begin to describe how he felt about her on his bike. He let out a low growl and pushed the thought aside. He’d never felt desire like that for a female and knew it might be a problem if he didn’t learn to control it, very quickly.

Fane had wanted to bring his motorcycle with him, but his parents told him they would buy him a used bike once he arrived. He was planning on talking to Mr. Henry about that later today, and Fane hoped his host would be willing to take him to a motorcycle dealership to let him pick one out. His parents had given him a credit card with a decent limit, enough to purchase a pretty nice bike. Royalty occasionally had its perks.

His wolf perked up at the sound of footsteps in the street. He walked over to the window and parted the curtains. On the street below, he saw three teenage girls walking with a woman that must be Jacquelyn’s mother. The similarities in their features were a dead giveaway. His gaze shifted to the only one who mattered, and she looked up straight into his face.

She is beautiful. Now that he could get a good look at her, he saw she had wild, unruly, auburn curls, freckles dusting her fair skin, and thin lips. She was on the short side and slender. Jacque wore faded, holey jeans and a green shirt that said “I’m not stubborn. My way is just better.” So, his Luna had attitude. Of course, she would. A meek woman could not be Alpha to female Greys. The pack would tear a timid Alpha female apart. She turned to talk to her friends. He stepped away from the window to head downstairs. He was tired of only seeing her from a distance. Fane wanted her close to him, where she belonged.

The prince had never been nervous around girls, but he was now. Fane had not dated all that much. No one seemed to catch his eye, and it was discouraged for the males of his race to waste time with females that were not their true mates. The few girls he had dated, in an attempt to find his true mate, had never produced even a quarter of the attraction he felt for Jacquelyn.

Fane, feeling unsettled and wobbly like a fawn taking its first steps, wished he had gotten up earlier and called his father to talk to him about this whole mate thing. The prince had learned a little growing up, but he still felt very unprepared. Especially since his mate was a human and knew nothing of his world.

As Fane reached the bottom of the stairs, the doorbell rang. Mrs. Henry came around the corner. She saw him and smiled warmly.

“Good morning, Fane. Did you sleep well?” she asked.

"Bună dimineaţa," Fane said gracefully. “I slept very well, thank you.”

“I take it that Bună dimineaţa means good morning?” Mrs. Henry asked.

“That was a very good pronunciation, and yes,” Fane agreed.

“Oh, I guess I better get the door,” she said as the doorbell rang again.

Fane felt his stomach tighten in anticipation. What was he going to say to her? He had a feeling starting the conversation with “Hi, I’m Fane and you are my mate” might not go over too well.

So, he would settle with a simple “Hello, I’m Fane.” Yes, he thought that was a very normal thing to say, and normalcy was what he wanted, right? Right.

The four ladies were standing at the threshold of the door as Mrs. Henry greeted them.

“Lilly, how sweet of you to come over to meet our guest,” Mrs. Henry announced sweetly. Fane was pretty sure the woman didn’t have a rude bone in her body.