“I did not harm the female!” Lucas snarled.

“Hey, flea bag, the female has a name!” Jen spat at him.

“Jen, now is not the time, hon. Keep your trap closed,” Sally said through pursed lips.

“Oh right, sorry. I just get so carried away. I’m good, carry on.”

Sally and Jacquelyn rolled their eyes.

Lucas must have decided during that little interlude that he needed to be more diplomatic, because when he spoke the second time it was quite a bit nicer.

“I did not mean to cause Jacquelyn harm. I do not think red marks on her arm constitute a so-called violated challenge,” he told Sorin.

“What you think does not play into what simply is. It is time for you to take your pack and leave. You will be notified immediately when our Alpha arrives,” Sorin said in finality, and just to punctuate that he was done with the conversation, he called Fane to him. “In privinta, mea print, va rog sa veniti. (With respect, my Prince, please come).”

Fane gave Lucas one more snarl for good measure and trotted over to where Jacquelyn stood. He put his head against her thigh and nudged her backwards.

“You gotta be kidding me. You’re bossy even when you're in wolf form,” Jacquelyn told him, rolling her eyes. He nudged her a little harder. Finally relenting, she turned to go back toward the house.

“Come on, girls. Show’s over…for now anyways.”

Sorin waited outside until Lucas and his wolves had driven off.

Once in the house, everyone filed into the living room, which had quickly become the “meeting” room. Jacquelyn knelt down in front of Fane and ran a finger down the center of his muzzle. Fane closed his eyes and a low hum came out of his throat.

“You were great out there, you know?” she whispered to him.

Fane opened his eyes and they just stared at each other for a minute. Then Fane licked Jacquelyn smack on the face. “EWWWW! You have GOT to stop kissing me in public. Really, it’s getting out of hand,” Jacquelyn told him, wiping her face. Fane simply looked at her with his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth in a goofy grin.

“Fane, I think we need you back in your human form, please,” Sorin told him respectfully.

Fane turned and trotted up the stairs to Jacquelyn’s room. “I don’t know what he thinks he is going to find up there unless he likes his pants super tight and ten inches too short,” Jacquelyn told Sorin.

“I will get him something from my bag,” Sorin offered.

He returned with a pair of jeans and a shirt and handed them to Jacquelyn.

“Uh, what am I supposed to do with these?” she asked Sorin.

“Wait, hold on,” Jen said, holding her hands up. “This is obviously a job for a woman who appreciates a fine looking specimen likewolf-man up there.”

Jen tried to take the clothes from Jacque, who stepped back, holding the clothing out of Jen’s reach.

“Like I’m going to let you, the nymphomaniac of our posse, take these clothes up to Fane. Seriously, how delusional do you think I am?” Jacquelyn asked her.

“I could really use some clothes, Luna. You keep your room kind of cold,” Fane told her through their connection.

“I’m bringing them, but you better have a towel or something wrapped around you,” Jacquelyn said sternly.

“I make no promises, love. You will just have to risk it.”

Jacquelyn huffed out a breath and headed up the stairs. All the while, Jen and Sally were letting out cat calls. Fane could hear the girls from Jacquelyn’s room and could only imagine how red his Luna’s face was.

He heard her knock very gently on her bedroom door. Fane grabbed a blanket from the floor and wrapped it around his waist.

“I’m decent, Luna. Come in,” Fane told her.

Jacquelyn walked in and her head was down with her hair falling in her face so she could not see anything in front of her. She reached out and tried to hand Fane the clothes, but he grabbed her wrist and pulled her all the way into the room. She let out a shriek as she collided with Fane.

“Sorry, love. Didn’t mean to pull you quite that hard,” he said with a sly grin.

“Uh huh, sure you didn’t,” Jacquelyn said as she twisted her wrist to get free of his grasp. Fane let go easily, but did not step away from her, so Jacquelyn took the initiative and stepped back.

“What are you doing? Don’t you think you need…” Jacquelyn began, but stopped mid-sentence when she let her eyes wander over Fane’s torso. Fane realized she was looking at his markings and it made his wolf happy that she noticed them.

“What do you think?” he asked her.

She begun to walk around him, circling him like a predator seeking out its prey. Her eyes narrowed as she followed the lines of the marks. A couple of times her hand reached out like she wanted to trace the marks. It took all of Fane's control not to lean into her hand. Like the wolf, he craved her touch.

“It’s beautiful. I didn’t realize the marks would cover so much of you, but you said that they come across your chest because you’re Alpha, right?” Jacquelyn asked, still completely mesmerized by the marks.

“That is correct. I have more marks than others and my marks match my mate’s.” Fane reached out and ran a finger across Jacquelyn’s neck as he said this. Jacquelyn slapped his hand away. “No touching while you’re standing in nothing but a blanket,” she told him, trying to sound firm but not able to wipe the grin off her face.