Just One Drop (19 page)

"No," Jen's face fell, " he put his hands on my hips and pulled me close. And bloody hell, Jacque, you could have helped a sister out and prepared me."

Jacque grinned. "It's good, isn't it?"

Jen smiled wistfully. "Better than eating Godiva chocolate and watching Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt while taking a hot bubble bath. Which, yes, I have done…all of the above…at the same time."

"Don't you know it." Jen stood up from the chair she had been occupying while she recapped her evening. "Oh, one more thing," she added absently as she headed towards her bathroom to shower, "He told me he wanted his scent on me. So he's coming by in the morning early before breakfast."

"Shut. Up," Jacque sputtered.

"And how exactly is he going to accomplish this, Jennifer Adams?" Sally's motherly tone was sharp. Jen found it quite amusing when Sally got all protective.

"Why Sally, how dare you." Jen laid on the thickest southern belle accent she could. "You imply that I would allow that wolf to put his paws on me."

"Oh chillax, Polly Prude. All he's going to do is hug me. Geez, here I thought my mind was the only one that lived in the gutter. I didn't realize you were looking for real estate, Sal."

Jacque jumped up off the bed. "Alright. Well, don’t do anything I would do." Jacque winked. "Of course, I'm licensed to,"

"Well, maybe it's time you got your hands full of something else," Jen yelled through the door. They heard the rush of the shower starting.

Jacque cackled. "Nice."

Sally followed Jacque out of the room, and Jacque laughed more as she heard Sally mutter under her breath, "I'll show you need a man. Puuuhlease, you two need your mouths washed out with soap, or better yet bleach. No, no, actually. Bleach
and
soap."

Jen emerged from the bathroom, clean and completely de-Decebeled, to a knock at her door. She told the little part in her that hoped it was said wolf to pipe down.

"So we were thinking, you know how tomorrow we're supposed to go to the gym to learn self defense from the Serbia pack males?"

"Yeah," Jen said, already interested in a possible scheme – oh, how she loved schemes.

"There will be another group of females there as well, so I figure they'll probably introduce our packs. I – well, we," Crina said, looking at Marianna, who just snorted at her, "were thinking how funny it would be if when they introduce our pack we did some sort of cheer or dance or something. Like what you Americans do for your sports teams."

The girls made it to the gym without encountering anyone, for which they were grateful.

"So Jen, were you a cheerleader in school?" Marianna asked.

"No, I was usually one of the ones making fun of the cheerleaders. But I'm really good at rhyming and songs, so I'll come up with the cheer. Crina, I saw your moves on the dance floor. You and Marianna put together some moves, okay?"

They nodded and got to work.

Careful boys don't get too near,

It's not our Alphas you should fear.

Sorry but, we're not that easy.

Turn around, if you want sleazy.

We may be fine, and smokin' hot,

But gentle she-wolves we are not.

We told you once, now that's twice,

We don't play fair, we don't do nice.

You can look, maybe even touch,

We promise not to hurt you much.

We know you each, have a plan,

Catch us, catch us, if you can.”

The girls were panting by the time they finished. They actually all had a pretty hard time keeping a straight face as they pulled off the moves. Jen was cracking herself up with her lyrics.

As the girls continued to practice, changing up different moves to make it flow better, they were completely clueless to the gathering audience outside the gym doors. A couple males from the Serbia pack had been coming to work out in the gym when they heard the girls' cheer. They stopped to look in before they entered and were surprised to see three of the unmated females from the Romanian pack.

Decebel lay in his bed after reluctantly taking a shower. He hadn't wanted to wash Jennifer's scent from his skin. But he took solace in knowing that he would see her, touch her again in the morning.

After he dropped her off at her room he had gone to the workout room and ran off some of the adrenaline flowing through his veins after having been in such close proximity to Jennifer. He had to admit that he felt lighter, more in control now that they had talked and put all their cards on the table. He was relieved to hear that Jennifer felt as strongly towards him as he did her. Sometimes he wasn't sure. It felt so strange to him to feel insecure and worried that a female wouldn't like him. He grinned to himself. She did like him. A lot.

The issue hadn't really changed. He was still going to have to deal with other wolves showing interest in her. But it made him feel better knowing that she wasn't interested in them. That in her heart, it was him. He figured maybe he should be worried that she would indeed find her true mate among the other packs, but truthfully, regardless of the lack of mating signs, Decebel would bet his life that Jennifer Adams was his true mate.

There it is,
he thought.
I'm admitting it and accepting it – better than that, I'm embracing it.
Decebel felt his wolf settle down for the first time in months. Finally, man and wolf were in harmony again.

Just as he began to close his eyes and drift off there was pounding on his door. Urgent pounding, not just an average knock. Decebel was at the door in one bound.

Decebel might have appreciated the little joke, but Costin was referring to Jennifer, and implying she wasn't where he had left her.

"Tell me." Decebel's voice was a knife.

Costin's eyes widened and he started talking very fast. "I was going to the gym to work out and when I got down there I saw a bunch of the males from other packs looking in the gym windows. I heard voices, cheering female voices. When I got close enough to see...well, there was Jen, Crina, and Marianna."

Decebel pushed past Costin and was trying hard not to run. He needed to calm himself before he got there.

"What exactly are they doing?" he asked as Costin tried to keep up with his Beta.

Costin hesitated, but the cutting look Decebel sent him loosened his tongue. "They're doing some sort of cheer and dance," he said vaguely.

Decebel heard snickers and male voices as he rounded the same corner Costin had only minutes before. He walked right up and the wolves parted like the red sea.

They all stared at Decebel, waiting for him to come unglued. Instead he plucked the phone from the nearest wolf, then looked at them all with glowing eyes.

"If you have been recording this you have five seconds to delete it."

There was sudden movement all around as buttons were pushed on phones.

"If I hear that any of you have not deleted it and are showing it to others, I will call you out, I will challenge you, and you will lose."

Decebel met the eyes of the wolves and each dropped theirs quickly.

"Are we clear?"

"Yes, Beta," they said in unison. The power coming off Decebel was raw and strong. It took even the more dominant wolves effort to not collapse under it.

"Good. Now go before I decide that I don't care about keeping the peace between our packs."

The wolves were nearly all gone before he had even finished speaking.
Smart wolves,
he thought.

Before Decebel opened the gym door, he looked at the phone he had taken and pushed the play button on the video. Decebel's eyes grew wider with every word, every hip gyration, every bend, every come hither look he watched his mate perform. After standing in shock for a moment, he pressed the delete button and handed Costin the phone.

"When I open this door, Costin, I want you to escort Marianna and Crina to their rooms. You are to stay outside their doors the remainder of the night."