Chapter 23

The only sounds in the large room were stifled sobs, and soothing noises coming from those trying to comfort. Cynthia and Crina sat on either side of Sorin and he held them both close, a pack mate offering comfort to two women he loved like sisters.

Alina was wrapped in Vasile's arms, sitting in one of the larger chairs close to the fire. It had been a long time since Vasile had seen his mate lose control and it broke his heart.

Fane and Jacque sat on the couch on one end while Costin and Sally sat on the other. Though each were wrapped in strong arms they had reached across the couch to each other to grasp hands.

Sally had buried her face in Costin's chest and though she knew she should pull away she couldn't. His arms were so strong, so safe. His words whispered in her ear poured over her like healing rain. At one point she had felt his hold loosen and she thought he was releasing her. She'd wrapped her arms around his neck in a vice grip and pleaded for him not to let her go. His response had been simple yet absolute: "Never," he'd whispered against her ear. That of course made Sally cry harder, because he would leave her. Just like Jen, he wouldn't have a choice. He would find his true mate and there she would be, broken and crying again, no strong arms to hold her.

Costin's heart had broken during the same scene - he wanted to howl because he didn't know how to comfort her. So, he just kept holding her, kept telling her he would take care of her. For now, that was all he could do.

Jacque looked up at Fane and he wiped the tears from her cheeks.

"I'm so sorry, Luna. I'm just so sorry." Fane was on edge and his wolf was even worse knowing his mate was hurting so badly and knowing there was a very dangerous threat to her on the other side of that door.

"I'm going to have to call her family." She buried her face in his neck and out loud in a broken voice she cried, "What am I going to say to her parents, Fane? What can I possibly tell them about how their eighteen-year-old daughter died?"

"Shh, love. We will figure it out."

Then as if realizing it for the first time, she looked at him in horror. "Someone has to get her from him."

Fane nodded. "Yes."

"He will kill anyone who enters that room."

Fane looked at his father, who nodded.

"We are probably going to have to put Decebel down, Jacquelyn."

Jacque gasped. "You mean like a dog? You're going to euthanize him?" The outrage she felt was not only in her voice but a fire in her eyes.

"He isn't safe, Jacque." This came from Vasile. "He will not be safe to anyone anymore. The light that Jen brought to him is gone. His wolf will be out for blood - anyone's blood. He just wants vindication for his mate. And it would be natural for Decebel to die with her. That is the way of our species and the only reason he isn't already is because the Blood Rites weren't finished."

"You can't just kill him. It's not right."

"We aren't human." Vasile said firmly. "Jacquelyn, you are my son's mate and my daughter-in-law, but you are also pack and I am your Alpha. You will not challenge me."

Jacque felt Vasile's power rush over her and her head bowed in submission. She was not feeling submissive, but her Alpha had spoken and there was no fighting his words.

"Luna, it will be alright." Fane tried desperately to comfort her.

Jacque's head snapped up and she growled at her mate, "Jen is dead! Nothing will ever be alright again."

The room was quiet, Jacque's words echoing loudly in the silence. Jacque started to stand from Fane's lap, needing to get out of the suffocating atmosphere, when she heard booming laughter come from the room where Jen lay.

Immediately everyone stood. Jacque was in the lead and when she turned the knob, felt that it was locked. Fane moved her aside and turned the knob firmly. The lock snapped and he flung the door open, not knowing what to expect. One thing was for sure - it wasn't what he found.

Jacque stepped in and saw Decebel standing loosely, ready to attack anything that threatened the girl standing behind him.

The girl was Jen.

Jen peeped around Decebel, smiling, and with a nervous voice said, "Surprise."

"You were dead." Jacque's voice was shaking with anger, and hope as well. "I watched them do CPR on you and then I watched Decebel - he wouldn't let anyone near you. You were freaking dead, JENNIFER ADAMS, and all you can say is 'surprise'?"

Jen tried to push Decebel out of the way but he wouldn't move.

"Decebel, they aren't going to hurt me. Move."

Decebel stepped aside to let Jen stand beside him. When she stepped in front of him to get closer to Jacque, he wrapped a strong arm around her waist and pulled her against his chest.

Jen rolled her eyes but focused on Jacque.

"I will explain everything, Jac, I promise. Please don't be angry."

"We were sitting in there, sick to our stomachs with grief. I'm trying to figure out how to tell your parents that their little girl is dead and then we hear Decebel laughing. Hell, yes, I'm angry. When were you going to let us join your little 'hey, I'm alive' party?"

Sally stepped around Jacque and stared at Jen. She didn't say anything, she just stared. Jen didn't move. Jacque was angry, she didn't want Sally mad at her as well.

"You're okay?" Sally asked quietly.

"Yes, Sally Sue, I'm okay."

"I couldn't save you." Sally's eyes dropped to the floor, her shame evident in the slump of her shoulders.

Jen tried to get out of Decebel's grasp, but he still wouldn't budge. She looked up at him and, using their bond, growled, "Let me go to her, Dec. She needs to know it's okay, that I'm okay."

"If any of the males touch you, they forfeit their lives."

Jen blew out an exasperated breath and he finally let her go.

As she moved toward Sally, she looked around the room, making eye contact with each male as she spoke. "Attention shoppers, just a brief announcement, crazy ass werewolf on isle three. Those with an abundance of testosterone, don't touch the merchandise and you might walk out of here intact."

Jacque tried not to laugh because she was angry, but it was impossible not to because the look on Decebel's face was priceless.

"Duly noted." Vasile spoke for the group.

Jen wrapped her arms tightly around Sally and she felt her sweet, tender friend begin to cry.

"I tried, Jennifer. I tried, but you wouldn't breathe."

"It's not your fault Sally. You aren't God. Healer or not, you can't fix everything. And you have to be okay with that or you'll drive yourself crazy."

Jacque stepped up and wrapped her arms around both girls, "You know the world has gone to hell in a hand basket when Jennifer Adams is the voice of reason."

Everyone chuckled tentatively, not wanting to disturb the fragile peace that had descended.

Jen pulled back and looked at her two best friends. "So, are you done being mad at me, Jacque? And have you finished blaming my untimely death on yourself, Sally?"

"Sure, why not?" Jacque teased.

"I'm good," Sally added.

"Okay, peeps, we gots lots to discuss. I'm calling a pack meeting." Jen looked over at Vasile with a wink. "No offense, A, but I gotta lead this one. I'm in the know, and you all are in the need to know."

Vasile looked over at Decebel. "You okay?"

He nodded once. "I apologize for earlier."

"Not needed, Beta. Your mate had been taken from you, and in a cruel twist of fate you weren't allowed to follow because the Blood Rites weren't completed. I would have done what was necessary."

"And for that I will always be in your debt." Decebel bared his neck to Vasile in submission and respect.

Jen turned to her mate, took his hand, and began pulling him in the direction of the door.

"Okay, everyone kosher? Let's call this meeting to order."

Decebel rolled his eyes. "Glad to see that a little dying didn't take the smart ass out of you."

"Did you honestly think a little thing like dying would adjust my attitude?" Jen smirked at him as they all took a seat in the large room by the fire.

"I would hope not, because then you wouldn't be my Jennifer. I don't want someone who always does as they're told, or just goes with the flow. Where's the fun in that?"

Jen rolled her eyes and this time she spoke out loud. "Where indeed would be the fun in bossing a person around who just agreed to your every whim?" When she tried to sit down next to Decebel on the couch, he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her into his lap. She cut her eyes at him. "Is this really necessary?"

"You just died, baby. If I seem a little clingy you can just get the hell over it." To Decebel's surprise, instead of a smart ass retort his mate laughed.

"Oh man, this life is going to be fun." Jen was wiping away tears while everyone looked on, still in shock that she was here before themalive, laughing.

Jen wiggled on Decebel's lap so that she was facing everyone and then looked at Peri, who was standing close to the fire with a quiet Elle, sitting on the hearth.

"I can tell them everything, right?"

"Like I could stop you," Peri snorted.

Jen nodded her head. "Good point. Okay, then. So, as you all know, I died."

"Thanks for that heads up there, Jen, we weren't really sure since you didn't have a pulse and weren't breathing," Jacque snapped, still irritated that her friend had been in the room groping her mate while she and the others had sat in the main room in serious grief.

"You done?" Jen asked, raising her eyebrows at her red-headed friend. When Jacque waved her on, Jen continued. "So, I woke up in this white room. That's the only way I know to describe it. It was white and full of light. I'm looking around, thinking I'm not in Kansas anymore, when suddenly our friendly neighborhood Fae appears."

Everyone in the room turned to look at Peri, who was looking back at them in boredom.

"So, I ask Peri if I'm dead and she, so kindly and for clarification purposes, said yes - oh, and no. I asked her if she could bring me back. She said yes, but that it would mean that we would be interfering with the fates. I politely -" Just then Peri snorted at Jen's words once again. Jen looked over at the Fae. "I was polite in comparison to my usual standards. Anyway, I told her basically that I had just been mated to a freaking hot werewolf and hadn't really made plans to die a virgin. So here we are."

Decebel had begun to choke at Jen's words and, much to everyone's surprise, was turning bright red.

Sally was shaking her head at her best friend while Jacque covered the laugh that was going to bust out at any moment.

"I did inform her that there might be consequences to defying the fates," Peri added.

"Might be?" Vasile questioned.

Peri rolled her eyes. "Might be, will be, whatever," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

Decebel sat up, nearly dumping Jen off his lap, having sobered up from his mate's embarrassing remarks, "What do you mean, 'might be consequences'?" He looked at Jen. "You didn't mention this." His words were a growl.

"Well you were a little busy panting over my neck, if I recall," Jen snarled back.

"Jennifer," he said in warning.

"Jen, now might not be the best time to test his lacking sense of humor," Vasile pointed out.

Jen nodded in agreement in a show of backing off - a rare thing for Jen.

"What kind of consequences?" Decebel asked Peri.

Peri pushed off the wall she had been propped against and came closer to the group.

"Honestly, I don't know. Nor do I know when they might bestow them upon her. It could be tomorrow or it could be a century from now."

"Ooookay. Well, that sucks," Jacque muttered.

"Hey, I was dead, Jacque. I wasn't ready to be dead. I'll deal with the fates when they deal with me."

Jacque held her hands up. "I'm not saying I wouldn't have done the same thing in your shoes, Jen, I'm just saying it sucks to not know when they might drop a bomb on your head."

Decebel growled at Jacque's words, which in turn had Fane growling.

"ENOUGH!" Vasile stood and the room pulsed with his power.

"Decebel, Fane, pull it together. Now." Vasile turned his eyes on the girls. "Females, you are going to, for once, consider that your sarcasm and smart-ass remarks could possibly cause a fight between your mates. Everyone is feeling possessive and protective right now. Decebel is off the scale in those departments. So, mind your tongues."

Jen, Sally, and Jacque were all staring at Vasile and really seeing their Alpha. It was the first time he had ever really reprimanded them and it wasn't a feeling any of them were familiar with.

"I apologize, Beta." Jacque looked at Decebel, but made sure not to make eye contact. "I meant no disrespect to your mate."

Jacque's words had the desired effect. Decebel visibly relaxed.

"So now what do we do?" Cynthia spoke up from her perch on the end of the couch arm.

"Now we need to bring Rachel and Gavril here." As Peri spoke, she watched Vasile and Alina for their reaction. "Sally needs to learn what she can do. It will be up to her and Rachel to banish the witch."

"No." Costin stepped up. He had been standing quietly against the wall behind the chair that Sally occupied.

"What?" Peri snapped at the young wolf.

"Sally and Rachel cannot do this alone," Costin growled.

"And why exactly do you say that, wolf? Because you have been around for centuries and know the past, know the history of witches and healers?" Peri's words were a slap in Costin's face. He didn't back down.

"No, fairy, I'm not old, I'm not knowledgeable about the past. But I go where Sally goes. There is no negotiation on that."

It was very apparent to everyone that Peri was losing her patience with Costin. If Costin noticed, he either didn't let on or didn't care.

Sally stood up and went to Costin. She pushed him back and he reluctantly relented. After Peri had broken eye contact, he turned his attention to Sally.

"What are you doing?" she asked him.

"I'm protecting you. I told you - I will protect you no matter what."

"Why, Costin? I don't understand. I'm nobody to you other than the healer in your pack. Why all this sudden interest in me?" Sally was becoming flustered under his intense gaze. "I can't handle this. I can't get sucked into feelings that can't go anywhere. Please -" Before she could continue, Costin pulled her close and leaned down so that his mouth was next to her ear.

"I don't understand it either, and I'm sorry if my behavior is distressing to you. But I'm not going anywhere. Where you go, brown eyes, I go. I need you to trust me, Sally mine, I won't hurt you."

Sally pulled back abruptly, as if he had slapped her. "But that's just it, Costin. You will. You will hurt me. You won't mean to, but one day you will find your true mate and I will be kicked to the curb. I'm not strong like Jen and Jacque. Once my heart is given, I can't get it back. Once it's broken, it's beyond repair. How can you expect me to risk that for some crush?"

Costin snarled at her. "It's not some crush, Sally Morgan!" He had taken a step closer without even realizing it. He and Sally were so close their bodies were nearly touching. Both took heavy breaths, trying to contain their anger.

Costin lowered his voice when he spoke again. "It's not some crush. I don't know what it is. I don't understand why it's happening now. What I do know is I've never felt this for anyone and my wolf won't let you go, even if I wanted to - which I don't"

Sally lowered her eyes and shook her head. It was obvious nothing she could say would deter Costin from her. Part of her was glowing because of that, the other part was wallowing in darkness, knowing that soon all of her would be consumed by the darkness of a broken heart and broken dreams.

Without another word, Sally turned away from Costin and took a seat back in the chair. She looked over at Jacque, then at Jen. Jacque's face was one of confusion and pain for her friend; Jen's face, however... Jen's face was full of mischief and something more. Sally looked at her a little longer, trying to weed out what Jen's little wheels were turning in her mind. Then Sally realized it. It was knowledge. She had the smirk of someone who knew something that others did not. Much to Sally's confusion, she didn't really know if she wanted to know what that was.