by Quinn Loftis
Chapter 6
Fane watched as Jacquelyn hurried back to her house. He wanted to growl at her eagerness to get away from him, but he reminded himself it was only because she was scared, not because she didn’t want to accept him as her mate. After all, she didn’t even know him, let alone know what a mate was.
Mrs. Henry called him from in the kitchen and he went to see what she wanted.
“Lilly made you a traditional Southern meal, are you ready for lunch yet? It’s only 11:30, but I thought you might be hungry since you didn’t get a chance to have breakfast.”
“Actually, I am hungry and it all smells really good.” Fane’s wolf perked up at the smell of the chicken and his stomach growled. He hadn’t realized that he was so hungry.
“The plates are in the cabinet to the left of the stove, and the silverware is in the drawer to the right of the sink,” Mrs. Henry pointed out. “Eat all you want, oh and she made sweet tea as well, it’s in the ‘fridge. The glasses are in the cabinet next to the plates.”
“Thank you,” Fane said simply.
“I’m off to the grocery store; I didn’t get a chance to go yesterday. Is there anything in particular that you like?” she asked.
“I’m not picky and I like to try new things, so whatever you usually buy will be fine with me. I can give you some money as well since you will be feeding another mouth,” Fane answered.
“There is no way I’m taking any of your money Fane, so you can just get that notion out of your head. You are our guest, and we are more than pleased to feed you,” she said firmly but not unkindly.
“Mulţumesc, Mrs. Henry. I am most grateful,” Fane responded.
“You’re welcome. Oh I keep meaning to tell you, no more Mrs. Henry, call me Sara, and you can call Mr. Henry, Brian. Okay, well I will see you later; my cell phone number is on the front of the ‘fridge so put it in your phone in case you need me. See you later,” she said with a wave.
Fane walked over to the fridge and there on the front was a pink sticky note with both Sara and Brian’s cell phone numbers. He took his phone out of his pocket and put both numbers in his contacts.
He found himself thinking it was kind of odd that he would never need Jacquelyn’s cell phone number because he would always have a direct line to her, designated just for him, and she to him as well. He wasn’t sure if that was a little unsettling because that meant if and when Jacquelyn realized it, she has access to his thoughts…all his thoughts. There was a way to put up what you might call a wall in your mind if you needed a break from your mate, but it was difficult for mates to be cut off from each other for any length of time, not that he knew from experience, that’s just what his father had told him about the mate bond.
Even though Jacquelyn had yet to respond to him when he spoke through her thoughts, he wasn’t feeling any ill effects from her lack of reciprocation. Once again he was going to need to talk to his father about this.
He prepared himself a plate and a glass of sweet tea, (and really it should have been called sugar with some tea in it,) and decided to eat up in his room since Sara was gone and he hadn’t yet seen Brian this morning.
He sat at the desk that was right next to the window that faced Jacquelyn’s house and pulled the blinds up so he could look out. Taking a bite of chicken he thought about her for the millionth time since he had set eyes on her. He thought about her unruly hair, her green eyes, her what he now knew to be soft skin dusted with freckles, and most of all he thought of her scent. Cotton candy and fresh snow, what an odd thing to smell like, but he supposed maybe it had something to do with what she was like, sweet and pure and he had a feeling she could be cold as the Romanian snow if the situation called for it.
Fane continued to eat his lunch, his wolf thoroughly enjoyed the protein even though it was cooked, he of course preferred it raw and enjoyed it even more after a hunt. Still, it was excellent.
He took his plate back downstairs and washed out his glass, refilling it with water this time. With no sign of Brian he headed back up to his room. He wanted to see Jacquelyn, and if he couldn’t then he would settle for talking to her.
Once in his room, he shut the door and lay down on his bed, hands behind his head, eyes focused on nothing in particular and reached out to her.
“Have I scared you my Luna? I promise that has not been my intention.”
He found it interesting that he didn’t really even know how it worked, he simply would just think of her and he could see this cord that connected him to her and through that he was able to “speak” to her.
Fane realized it had been several minutes and she had not responded, she was either asleep or ignoring him. He was just about to speak again when she answered.
Cautiously she asked, “Who are you? Are you real, or am I just imagining you?”
Fane frowned slightly, he didn’t like the way his mate sounded, and she sounded strained and a little desperate. He hated that she had to go through this; that she knew nothing of his world and he was going to have to explain it to her some how without her thinking he was some nebun stalker.
“I am very real,” he answered. “And you know who I am. Your human mind just does not want to accept it as reality.”
Fane was going to push her gently in the direction she needed to go, and let her come up with the conclusion. He thought that if he told her he was the voice in her head, if he didn’t let her decide for herself, then she might not be able to believe it.
He listened to her as she wrestled with what he told her, her mind was so interesting and comical at times,
“What on earth did it mean by “human mind”; was the voice, whoever it was, implying that it was not human? Oh wouldn’t that be the icing on the cake. She wasn’t just hearing a voice, nope, that would still be in the realm of crazy, and Jacque had past crazy a few exits back. No, she was now entering crack pot-ville and was hearing the voice of something not human.”
Fane couldn’t help himself when he let out a small laugh, where did she come up with phrases like crack pot-ville? He just had to ask, he wanted to know her, to understand her. He found himself using the term of endearment “my heart” without even thinking, it just came natural, even though he never considered himself to be the type for pet names.
“Meu inimă you are not crazy, and where do you get your odd way of speaking? Crack pot-ville? What does that mean exactly?” Fane asked her.
Without realizing it, by using his native language he had not just given her a little push in the right direction; he had pretty much shoved her off the cliff. So much for subtle, it never was his strong suit anyway, according to his mother.
He felt her distress rise, could feel her need for disbelief and yet there was a small spark of…relief? “Didn’t see that one coming,” Fane thought as he closed his eyes and focused on her completely, listening to her mind come to terms with this revelation.
“Well, there was the clincher,” Jacque thought, “I mean really if you’re going to hear a voice what are the chances it would have a Romanian accent?” To Fane’s and evidently her surprise as well she started to laugh, not just a giggle but a full out, body shaking laugh. For some reason unbeknownst to Fane it just suddenly struck her as funny that the voice in her head had a Romanian accent. Of course she now knew it wasn’t just a voice, it was Fane. After all she didn’t know any other Romanians, but just to put the nail in the proverbial coffin she asked in a soft almost shy voice.
“Fane?”
His heart stuttered at the sound of his name, even though it wasn’t from her lips, she had said his name and it sounded so good coming from her. A small amount of triumph settled over him as his wolf growled in contentment knowing his mate was thinking of him. He answered her honestly, wanting her to believe him without a doubt.
“Da, meu inimă, it is I.”
Fane held his breath, waiting for her response, scared that she would continue to try and pass this off as her lack of sanity. What would he d
o if she refused to take her place at his side? He hadn’t even considered the idea of her not accepting him as her mate. He growled in response to the thought. Mates were bound to each other; there would never be another for either one of them. To Fane’s knowledge there had never been one who had rejected their mate. It would be a devastating action to both and neither would ever be whole again.
That just wasn’t acceptable he decided. He would just drag her back to Romania with him where she belonged.
Right Fane, he told himself that would really earn her trust, you can’t just hit her over the head and drag her around by her hair, even though that actually would be the easier road. No, he was going to have to do this the honorable way and court her. She deserved that after all, she is his Luna, and will be Queen of the Canis Lupus one day; she deserved his unwavering love and devotion. She would get nothing less.
He continued to wait for her response but so far she had not said anything more. He thought about reaching out to her to find out what she was thinking, but up to now he had been giving her privacy, only intruding into her thoughts when he spoke to her. He felt it would be a violation to listen to her when she didn’t know that he could do so any time, he could also “see” the things she thought in her head. And as a gentleman he would not violate his Luna’s privacy, mate or not.
Fane decided to let her be for now. She needed time to process the fact that the guy she met only briefly was somehow able to talk to her through her thoughts. That was a lot to absorb. He would wait to see if she would seek him out. He only hoped that he and his wolf would be patient. The mate bond called to him and demanded an answer.
