Jacque rolled her eyes. “I have to build up to the main course or else it’s not really the main course. However, for the sake of your sanity I will speed it up. After I realized he was indeed real, he hugged me and I accidentally groaned in pain.”
“Oh, hell. He went into possessive, jealous, I-no-longer-have-a-brain mode, didn’t he?” Sally asked sarcastically.
“Point to you. He saw the bruise on my stomach and nearly went all werewolf kung-fu on his pack. I can’t believe ya’ll didn’t hear him yell. But I got him to pipe down when I pulled out the 'I’m bruised because you played dead' card. Works every time.” Jacque winked.
“Nice,” Jen and Sally said, bumping fists.
“Then we kissed. A lot. Yep, there was a lot of kissing. Oh, and there was purring. But all clothes stayed on, Jen, sorry to spoil your fantasy.”
“You are so not sorry to spoil anything. At least tell me if he’s a good kisser,” Jen whined.
Jacque looked at her, emerald eyes narrowed with a wicked gleam. “My sweet, sweet Jen, he’s a good everything.”
“Ok ladies, both of you back into your corners. Jacque's getting hitched today so there has to be a cease fire.” Sally indicated the corners she wanted Jacque and Jen to stand in.
“I am not getting hitched, there is no ring involved.”
“Says the wolf princess who’s never been bonded to a werewolf before,” Jen pointed out.
“Details, details,” Jacque quipped.
She suddenly felt claustrophobic, like the room was beginning to get smaller. It reminded her of Alice in Wonderland when she eats the cake and begins to grow until the room is so small she is squished into it. She needed air. Jacque walked over to her window and jerked it open. She felt the summer heat hit her face, and even though it was blazing hot, it was refreshing and helped clear her brain from all the worries that were slowly stacking up on shelves in her mind. Each deep breath she took felt like it was slowly pushing each stack of worry into a trash bag. Breathe-she pushed worry about leaving Coldspring into the bag, breathe- next was worry for her mom, will she come to Romania or stay here, breathe- worry for her friends, breathe- worry about the bonding ceremony, breathe- worry about the blood rites, breathe. Finally the shelves were clean, and there in her mind amongst the empty shelves was Fane.
“Hello meu inima, doing some spring cleaning?” Fane asked her, using their bond.
Jacque couldn’t suppress the smile that followed; she should have known he would be listening. Especially since she was more emotional than usual. Well, that was really not a fair statement because she had been emotional for the past 5 days. Meeting your werewolf mate tends to do that to a girl.
“Just needed to put things in their place, how are you?” Jacque felt the warmth he was pouring into her mind, the love he wanted her to feel and it only made her want to be in his arms more.
“Soon, love.”
“You keep saying that wolf man, when does soon become now?” Jacque teased him. “Now go away. Isn’t it bad luck to see your mate before the bonding thingy?”
She heard him chuckle.
“No meu inima, you’re thinking of it being bad luck for the groom to see his bride before the wedding. I can see you all I want. In fact I could come rescue you from those two if you want.”
“That’s okay, they mean well, they are just a little rough on the execution. What time is this shin-dig starting?” Jacque asked.
“It starts as 1:00 p.m. I’ll see you there Little Red.” Fane’s voice faded out of her mind and she could feel his humor. Oh wasn’t he just too cute, picking up on her two best friends’ idea of a sick joke, to turn her into the little girl who almost wound up as the wolf’s dinner.
“My, what big eyes you have, wolf-man,” Jacque said out loud, unable to stop her sarcasm from boiling up.
“The better to see you with my love,” Jen chimed in.
“What big ears you have!” Sally continued their comic relief.
“The better to hear you with my love,” Jen followed.
“What big teeth you have!” Sally mocked, her hands on either side of her face.
“The better to eat you with my love,” Jen cackled, but she wasn’t finished. True to Jen form she added her own twisted sense of humor. “My, what big -”
Sally slapped a hand over her mouth, quickly realizing where Jen was going with that statement. Jacque started laughing so hard she had tears running down her cheeks. As soon as Sally removed her hand Jen quickly added, “Thebettertoeatyouwith,” before Sally could re-cover her mouth.
Jacque abruptly stopped laughing, “You already said that,” she said, confused.
“So I did, my sweet, innocent flower,” Jen started to explain but was once again thwarted by Sally.
“Jen, shut it. Jacque, just allow yourself to ponder on that statement at a later date in time,” Sally told her, sounding everything but the part of June Cleaver.
“Ok, moving on from our weird impromptu skit. I get it, you want to dress me up all pretty for this ceremony and I can either play along or you two will make it hell for me. That’s what the red dress is about, isn’t it?”
“You’re smarter than you look, Sherlock,” Jen said as she stood up. “We will give you your real dress if you promise to play nice. Otherwise you’re going to be Little Red washed out Riding Hood, cuz that red really does nothing for your skin.”
“Gee, thanks for that keen observation, Watson. Fine, you win, bring out the big guns.”
Jen stepped out of the room and was back before Jacque could ask her where she was going. She came back with a hanger with what she presumed to be her dress hanging on it, but she couldn’t tell for sure because it was covered in one of those zipped clothing protectors. As Jen hung it on the back of Jacque’s bedroom door, effectively covering the dress that would have made her the living version of a sick fairy tale, Sally began to unzip the bag while humming the bridal march song.
“Cute, Sally, that’s just real cute,” Jacque told her sarcastically.
“Watch it Red. I’d hate to have to incorporate more of the famous fairy tale into your ceremony, but I’ll do it if you force my hand,” Sally threatened as she pulled the dress out from the hanging bag.
Jacque’s breath caught at t
he sight, so simple yet very elegant and eye catching. She had to admit she was impressed with her friends' taste. The dress was primarily white, with a double flare skirt that came just above the knees. The waist had a green sash sewn into the dress and the green flared out into the skirt with some floral accents. To finish it off, they had added a hunter green, puff short sleeve bolero jacket made of satin with ruffled edges running up the high-necked collar and down to the sleeves. It was simply perfect.
“Hey wolf-man, they even thought of you and provided cover for my markings.” Jacque sent the thought to Fane.
“How very thoughtful of them, Luna, although you can’t honestly think I would have allowed you to come in that dress without the jacket,” Fane answered.
“You are so lucky that you aren’t with in my reach right now because that little comment would have earned you some retaliation and it still might if I’m not feeling generous later,” she scolded him.
His only response was a soft chuckle in her mind and she thought she might have felt his hand caress her face. Geez, Jacque thought, he is going to be the death of me.
“Could you please stop talking to your hunky wolf and tell us what you think of the dress?” Jen said, snapping Jacque out of her thoughts.
“How did you know I was talking to him?” Jacque asked.
“You always get an intense look on your face, so I figure you are either constipated or talking to Fane. If you aren’t talking to Fane then you ought to see a doctor because you are constipated a lot,” Jen explained. Sally was cracking up at Jen and Jacque was giving Jen an un-lady like hand gesture.
“I have to admit, you guys have outdone your selves,” Jacque told them. “It truly is beautiful and tasteful and the jacket was the perfect touch. Thank you guys so much. Oh crap, I think I’m going to cry,” Jacque said, much to her chagrin.