Piercing Silence (6 page)

She turned back and started off at her brisk
jog again. She knew it wouldn’t be much longer and her mate and
Fane would catch up to her. Then the real acting would begin.

Chapter 6

“O
pen your eyes, Jacquelyn,” a soothing voice, one that most
definitely didn’t belong to the Fates, said from behind where she
knelt. She blinked several times to clear her vision and looked up
into the night sky. Stars, more numerous than she could count,
stared back at her.

Jacque stood slowly and turned to face the
Great Luna. When her eyes met those of the goddess, Jacque felt as
though she’d been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. The cold
mountain wind felt even sharper on her skin as she felt her face
heat up with the guilt that had been building inside of her.

“It never ceases to amaze me how selfless my
children can be.”

Jacque felt as if there
was a very distinct
but
that was headed her way.

The Great Luna began walking slowly, her
steps measured and smooth, in a circle around the area Jacque had
claimed as her destination for the ritual. Her hands where clasped
together in front of her and her posture was relaxed, though her
shoulders didn’t slump and her back was perfectly erect.

“Before you decided what was best for your
mate, did you stop to consider what the effect of your actions
might be?” There was no accusation in her voice, no condemnation.
It was simply a question.

Jacque hated to admit that she hadn’t
considered anything except how it would benefit Fane. She hadn’t
considered any other factor, because she feared that if she thought
too much about the decision, then she might not be able to go
through with it. Her silence was answer enough.

“If you will permit me,” the goddess
continued, “before you proceed any further, I would like to take
you on a journey. I will warn you now that it will not be an easy
one, but then,” she said and turned to meet Jacque’s eyes, “we both
know you are no stranger to challenges.”

“Do I have a choice?” Jacque asked.

“Of course. You always have a choice. I will
not force your will.”

Jacque didn’t know why she’d asked. She knew
that she would go with the Great Luna because she genuinely
believed the goddess had her best interest at heart. “Well,” she
heaved a tired sigh, “might as well face the firing squad.”

The Great Luna reached out her hand and
Jacque took it without hesitation. There was a sudden gust of wind
and then a pulling sensation that took Jacque’s breath away. It
lasted only a moment and then, abruptly, it was over and all was
still around them once again. But they were no longer in the
forest.

Jacque’s eyes widened as she realized she
was standing in the living room of her house back in Texas. She
watched as her mom walked out of the kitchen, and Jacque had to
hold herself back from running to her and flinging herself into her
mother’s arms. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed her mother
over the months or how badly she needed to be held and told that
everything would be alright. She realized that it didn’t matter how
old a person grew or how their life changed, there was just
something about a mom that no one could replace.

“She cannot see or hear you,” the Great Luna
warned before Jacque could attempt to say anything to Lilly.

“Is this like the Canis lupus version of the
whole Christmas Carol thing?” Jacque asked as she watched herself
walk into the living room. “Holy blowholes, are my hips really that
big?” she muttered, momentarily distracted.

“This is what could have
been,” the goddess answered. “If you and Fane had failed to meet,
to complete the unique bond that you had with
only
one another, then these are the
events that would have come to pass.”

Jacque didn’t like the sound of that because
she was pretty sure it meant that she was going to be seeing more
than just her own could-have-beens. “So what day is it? Should I
have met Fane already?”

“This is several days after you would have
met Fane. But in this reality, he did not come to Cold Spring as an
exchange student. And since Fane was not here to stop him, another
has stepped in ready to make a claim on you.”

There was a knock at the door and her mother
walked over and answered it. Jacque’s eyes widened as she watched
her mother speak cordially with none other than Lucas Steele.

“He’s dead,” she whispered and instinctively
took a step back. To her shock she watched herself walk over to the
door and smile―bloody hell, she actually smiled at the jerk! “What
am I doing? Don’t smile at him, you shameless hussy,” Jacque
growled at her past self.

“Trent still broke off your relationship
because he was still threatened by Lucas to stay away from you. You
met Lucas at a gas station. You were having trouble with the pump
and he saw you and came over to help you.”

“How kind of him,” Jacque huffed as her eyes
narrowed on Lucas and herself chatting like old friends. Jacque
feels a warm hand on her arm and then the pulling sensation is
back. In a matter of seconds they are no longer in her home
watching herself flirt with Lucas.

Jacque looks around and realizes immediately
where they are. “This is Jen’s room.”

The Great Luna simply nodded and looked at
the door of Jen’s bedroom which suddenly flew open with a loud thud
as it hit the wall.

“I’ve had it!” Jen snapped as she stomped
into the room. She pulled her phone out of her back pocket and
tapped the screen a few times before putting it to her ear. “Sally,
she’s done it again,” Jen yelled without bothering to say hello.
“We were supposed to have a girls night, hang out, and do our nails
and all that crap. And what does little Jacquelyn Pierce do? She
texts me, TEXTS me, Sally, that she forgot that she’d already made
plans with Lucas.” Jen sneered the name as if it were a toxic waste
she was talking about and not a person.

Jen listens to Sally, all the while nodding
her head ferociously. “I know. I know. Girl you aren’t telling me
anything. We both told her that if she didn’t cut this crap out we
were going to take matters into our own hands. They’ve been dating
for four months and he’s like a freaking baby cat attached to its
mother's teat. Yes, dammit, I said 'teat.' That’s not the point,
Sal. The point is there is something not natural about the guy. He
gives me the heebee jeebees.”

Jacque was speechless, not that they could
hear her even if she did have words. How could she possibly be
dating Lucas Steele? How could she pick him over her friends? Even
with Fane, her friends were still mega important and he totally
understood that.

More nodding was coming from Jen as she was
apparently listening to Sally give a similar opinion of the
situation. “I’m thinking a major intervention is in order,” Jen
barked into the phone. “I’m talking full blown, tie that bitch up,
and drag her away from him so that we can talk some sense into
her.” Jen was pacing the room like a mad woman, her hand clenching
and unclenching at her side. Jacque hadn’t seen her friend that mad
since Decebel decided it was his duty to die for their child.

Again Jen was listening intently to Sally on
the other end of the phone. This time she added grunting and
cat-like hissing sounds to her continued nodding. “Oh, don’t even
get me started on the secrets she’s keeping,” the blonde suddenly
spat. “She thinks we don’t know her well enough to know when she is
hiding something from us? I swear he’s doing voodoo on her or
something. When has our red-headed friend ever, EVER, not told us
everything? I mean our whole friendship has always been based on
full disclosure. It’s like in the best friend code of conduct or
some crap like that. Best friends don’t let best friends drive into
stupid boyfriend situations.” She paused, listening to Sally again.
“Exactly. I say we ambush her at like four in the morning. If
that’s the only time we can get her alone, then so be it. Operation
knock some bloody sense into our red-headed friend who’s got her
head shoved so far up her butt she doesn’t even smell a rotten
douche bag when he’s standing right in front of her is now under
way. Yes, yes, I know that’s a ridiculously long name. Sue me, I
get wordy when I’m pissed. K bye.”

She jerked the phone away from her ear and
tossed it on her bed. Jacque continued to watch the Jen from the
past pace while muttering under her breath. It sickened her to
think that she had caused this. She’d put a rift in their
relationship for a guy that wasn’t even her soul mate.

“She loves you,” the Great Luna said placing
a hand on Jacque’s shoulder. “That is why she is so angry, because
she loves you and wants what’s best for you.” Once again they are
pulled from the room but this time when they stop Jacque doesn’t
recognize her surroundings.

“I’ve never been―” she begins but her words
get stuck in her lungs as she watches Lucas carry her into the
room. He tosses her playfully onto a large bed and she giggles.

“I do not sound like that when I laugh,”
Jacque snarled as she watched herself smile up at him. She wanted
to walk across the room and smack the grin off of her own face.

“I really need to get home. If I break
curfew my mom will make me work every weekend from now until I
graduate,” the past Jacque said still smiling like an idiot.

Lucas let out a low sigh. “Our time together
goes too fast.” He laid down beside her and played with a tendril
of her hair. Lucas stared at her with such intensity that Jacque
nearly had to look away from them, and when he leaned forward she
understood clearly that he was going to kiss the Jacque laying with
him.

“Please don’t make me watch,” Jacque pleaded
as she placed a hand on the Great Luna’s arm. “Please.” She closed
her eyes and when she opened them again she was back in her room.
Her eyes widened as she looked at the three girls standing next to
Jacque’s bed.

“I guess this is the intervention?” Jacque
looked over at the Great Luna.

“You three friends have a rare blessing in
each other. You don’t find such devotion in many relationships.”
The Great Luna turned back to the group.

“We’re doing this for your own good,
Jacque,” Jen told the Jacque standing in front of her. “You haven’t
been yourself since you started dating that best friend thief and
we’re tired of it.”

“Lucas isn’t the problem,” her past self
responded.

“Are you implying that we are the problem?”
Sally asked pressing a hand to her chest.

“Look, I know that I’ve been spending a lot
of time with him, and I’ve canceled on you guys a couple of
times.”

“A couple of times?” Jen scoffed. “Are you
living in an alternate reality or something, Red? Try every time
for the past two months. You are with him constantly. You don’t
return our calls. You text us when you want to cancel instead of
growing a pair and looking us in the face when you bail. I don’t
even know who you are anymore. And don’t even get me started on the
crap we know that you aren’t telling us.”

Jacque watched as the face of her past self
paled. So she was keeping something from them.

“Now you’re just letting your vivid
imagination fill your head full of crap, Jennifer,” the other
Jacque huffed as she folded her arms across her chest. “I have no
secrets. And I honestly don’t mean to blow y’all off. Lucas can
just be really persuasive.”

“I frankly don’t give a damn if Lucas pee’s
gold and craps twenty dollar bills. He’s making you keep things
from your best friends and that is not cool, Jac. Not. Cool.” Jen
looked as though she might reach across the bed and strangle her
best friend.

The past Jacque stood there staring at her
two friends and, after several minutes of tense silence, she seemed
to deflate as if all the air had been let out of her. “They aren’t
my secrets to tell, Jen.”

“Maybe not, but it was your lie. You could
have just told us instead of lying to us about it all together.”
Jen’s voice was full of hurt. Her shoulders slumped forward as she
shook her head. “I know you think he’s perfect, but he’s not good
for you, Red. Why can’t you see that?”

“How can you possibly know what’s good for
me when you won’t even take the time to get to know him?”

“Excuse me?” Sally jumped in. “We tried, but
if you can recall, your precious Lucas was a complete and total ass
to us the couple of times that we were with you guys. And you just
made excuses for him. He’d had a bad day, or he just doesn’t share
well, or blah, blah, blah. Don’t you dare lay that on us.”

“
You know what?” Jen asked
as she met the past Jacque’s hard gaze. “I’m done. If you can’t see
the truth when it’s slapping you in your stupid face, then I’m not
going to waste my oxygen on you. When you realize that Lucas Steele
is not who he seems to be and come running back to us, you had
better hope I’m in one of my forgiving moods.”

Both Jacque’s snorted, though the girls only
heard one of them. The past Jacque added, “You don’t have forgiving
moods.”

Jen turned for the door with Sally on her
heels. “Then I guess your screwed, Red. Have a nice life.”

The bedroom door closed behind them and it
was as if a prison door had been slammed shut and Jacque was on the
wrong side of it. She watched her past self slide to the floor as
the realization of what had just happened fell heavily on her
shoulders. Her body shook as she tried to hold in the tears.

“
I’m an idiot,” Jacque
whispered to the Great Luna as her own heart broke right along with
her former self.

“
You were blinded by a
charming, handsome man who caught you at a vulnerable time after
Trent broke up with you. The most difficult thing in this whole
situation is that though Lucas’ good intentions will only have ill
effects, he genuinely cares for you.”