Out of the Dark
Page 13

"What's tickled your fancy?" Jacque asked her dryly.
"I feel like we should all stand together in a bunch and Vasile should announce -"
Jacque caught onto Sally's train of thought and they both said at the same time: "We'll call you the Fellowship of the Ring."
Both girls began laughing and high fiving each other.
Decebel looked over at Alina.
"Yes, they are always like this," she answered his unspoken question.
Decebel let out a deep breath, shaking his head at the giggling pair.
"Man, Jen would have so rocked that." Jacque laughed.
"We should record this stuff so when she's back we can play it for her."
"Sally, I think Jen would tell you that your recording privileges were revoked at the hospital," Jacque teased.
Sally looked over at Decebel and Jacque saw her wheels turning.
"No." Jacque shook her head emphatically.
"It might spark something. I mean, she was butt freaking naked," Sally reasoned.
"Okay, so let me get this straight. You want to show Dec pictures of his mate butt naked, pawing all over him, while he looked like he wanted to crawl under the bed? The same Jen who put K-Y Jelly all over the cars of the cheerleaders, put condoms over their antennas, and then wrote 'cheerleaders got rhythm' on their window shields last year for laughing at her Beauty and the Beast backpack? The same Jen who broke into the field house, got the field chalk, and drew a picture of boobs and put 'nice rack' underneath it just because the team's mascot we were playing was a Buck?"
Sally snorted. "That was freaking hilarious."
"The point is, Sally, do you really want to provoke the wrath of Jen?"
"Fine," Sally whined. "You have to admit, though, it would be funny as hell to see his face when he saw the pictures."
Jacque chuckled. "It's almost worth her wrathalmost."
The girls realized the room had gotten quite during their discussion. They both looked around to find everyone looking at them, mouths dropped open, eyes wide.
"Oh. Um, I guess y'all didn't know Jen could be a little revenge happy. And usually that revenge takes the form of some sexual reference."
Everyone nodded and grumbled their agreement that Jen liked to joke about all things sexual.
Decebel stood up, arms crossed over his broad chest, his six foot four inches seeming to fill the room. "This is my mate you are talking about?"
"Not what you were expecting, was it?" Jacque questioned with a broad grin.
"She openly jokes about sex?" he asked, disbelieving any mate of his would be so crass.
"Jokes about it, talks about it, makes reference to it in everyday conversation. Yep, that's your mate." Jacque laughed at the worried look on Decebel's handsome face.
"Jacque quite scaring Decebel about his mate," Vasile reprimanded. "Decebel, she is a remarkable woman. You both complement each other well."
"Oh, I'm sure she compliments him well," Crina muttered under her breath.
Sally and Jacque both laughed so hard they had to grab their sides.
Crina just smiled when Vasile shot her a look that pretty much said to shut up.
Rolling his eyes, Vasile ignored the laughing girls. "Today and tonight we rest. Say your goodbyes to the other packs." He gave Jacque, who had finally gained her composure, a pointed look. "They will be leaving shortly."
Later that evening
Fane and Jacque came into the meeting room after having said goodbye to Dillon as he and the other Alpha's began to take their packs down the mountain. Several pack members had driven the Hummers and vans down the mountain to retrieve more vehicles to transport the packs.
"Everything okay?" Sally asked Jacque.
"Yeah, I know my dad wants to stay but Vasile thinks that in this instance less is more."
"What is it you that wanted to talk about Decebel?" Fane asked his Beta as he and Jacque took a seat on a small couch in front of the fireplace. Sally, Costin and Crina all sat around the stone fireplace in the meeting room. Jacque sat draped across Fane's lap as he absently played with her hair.
Decebel sat on the floor across from the couch near the hearth of the fireplace. His knees where drawn up and he had his arms resting across them, left hand clasping his right wrist.
"I was just wondering if you could tell me about her. What she looks like, what our relationship was like? How long have I known her? That kind of stuff. Maybe it will help jog my memory." Decebel stared into the orange and yellow dancing flames as he spoke.
"I can actually do you one better than that if you would like," Sally spoke up.
"Sally," Jacque's voice was thick with warning, "I thought we agreed not to go down that little path."
"Oh chilax wolf princess. I can show him the pictures of her with the sheet wrapped around her-granted she is still pawing all over him." Sally's eyes twinkled with mischief. Costin watched the brunet with fascination, still not understanding why she was quickly becoming something he and his wolf were inexplicably drawn to.
"You have pictures of her?" Decebel asked eagerly as he pulled his eyes away from the fire to look at Sally.
Sally nodded as she pulled out her cell phone. She went over and sat down next to Decebel on the hard wood floor, warmed nicely by the heat of the fire.
"Now before I show you let me explain why she is so scantily clad," Sally grinned as she remembered the night she and Jen had decided that it was their job to rescue Jacque from loneliness in the ICU, yeah that had worked out so well. Sally began the story at the wreck the girls were in with Jacque's mom. She weaved the story holding Decebel in thrall knowing that he was soaking in every word to learn more about the woman he no longer remembered. Finally, a half hour later she concluded, "So that is why your beloved is wrapped around you dressed only in a hospital sheet."