Piercing Silence (5 page)

“
Why is your heart beating
so fast?”
Decebel’s question had her
returning to the present, pushing back the memories of Martha and
her craziness. Sometimes she appreciated how in tune her mate was
to her. And other times she really wished he was as clueless as
most women thought the male gender to be.

“
Because I’m walking,
briskly.”

“
You and
Jacque?”

“
Exactly, I am walking,
and Jacque is walking, and it’s at a speed that causes the heart to
beat more quickly. This way blood can get oxygen to my muscles so
that I can walk briskly.”
The words were
just pouring out of her even as she screamed at herself to shut the
hell up. She still hadn’t lied, or at least she hoped not. It was
probably a pretty good bet that Jacque really was, in that moment,
walking. Crap, she was in a damn forest. What else do people do in
a forest but walk?
Okay, so maybe there
other things they could do,
she conceded
with a sly grin.

“
Other things, who, could
do where?”

“
Bloody hell does the man
miss anything!”
“Listen, B, you know I
love our little chats, especially when they get spicy, but I can’t
focus on you and Jacque at the same time. So I’m going to need you
to skedaddle, while we continue our girl time.”

There was a long pause but she knew he
hadn’t retreated. It took everything in her not to beat her head
against a tree when he finally spoke.

“
So you’re telling me that
you and Jacque are having girl time while walking, briskly. Which
has caused your heart beat to increase to get oxygen rich blood to
your muscles so that you can walk, briskly. And because it takes so
much focus to walk briskly and talk about girl stuff, you need me
to skedaddle?”

The undisguised humor laced with suspicion
had Jen vowing that as soon as she saw him, she was going to kick
him. The location of that kick was still up for debate.

“
Exactly. So glad we’re on
the same page, K. Kiss Thia for me. Don’t forget to sing to her,
Don’t wait up, love you, bye bye.”
Jen
slammed the door on their bond. She was actually breathing hard as
if she’d said all of that out loud and not just in her mind. She
could feel Dec’s frustration with her. She hadn’t shut the bond
completely, just enough that he couldn’t read her every thought.
Regardless, she knew she was going to get a lecture from her fur
ball when she returned home. “This had better be worth it,
Jacquelyn Lupei,” she muttered as she continued through the now
dark forest.

Using her wolf’s sight, she had no trouble
navigating around trees and bushes. And with her wolf’s sense of
smell, she had no problem knowing if there were bigger and badder
predators near her. When she took a deep breath, attempting to
check for that very thing, she suddenly realized that she could no
longer detect Jacque’s scent.

Jen turned in a slow
circle, breathing in and out of her nose, attempting to regain her
friend’s trail. But all she smelled were the things that belonged
in the forest. She stopped suddenly and tilted her head back a
little further.
Except
that
smell,
she thought,
it doesn’t
belong.

“
Peace to you this night,
Jennifer, mate to Decebel, Alpha female of the Serbia pack, beloved
mother and friend.”

Jen felt the sudden desire to have a
three-year-old moment bubble up inside of her, and she had to force
her feet to remain still instead of stomping. She had to bite her
tongue so that she wouldn’t allow herself to "word vomit" into the
quiet, serene forest. One might ask why she suddenly felt the urge
to act in such a way, and Jen would answer because every time this
particular voice had popped up it meant crap was going to hit the
fan. Jen was seriously tired of cleaning fans.

“
Good evening, Great
Luna,” Jen said calmly as she turned to face the creator of her
mate’s race.

The Great Luna smiled serenely at her and
Jen could see the understanding in her eyes. “I can understand why
you might be leery of my appearance.”

“
It’s just that we finally
have a break, and I don’t really feel like fighting a bunch of
crazy ass—” Jen said then paused and corrected herself, “crazy
butt—man, that just doesn’t have the same kick behind
it—supernatural bad guys right now.” She shook her hands in front
of her as though she was shaking off water. “Sorry, I digress. I
just had a baby. Okay, so it was like six months ago, but seriously
do you see what those things do to a girl’s body? It takes time to
bounce back, literally and figuratively, and frankly my bounce has
not fully returned.” Jen let out a quick huff, her brief tirade
complete, and stared back at the deity.

“
You have fought hard, on
the battlefield and off. I do not come to you tonight to bring a
fight to your door. It is your sister Jacquelyn that must battle,
but hers is a different sort of war. She has a lesson to
learn.”

“
Damn, I hate it when that
happens,” Jen muttered under her breath.

The Great Luna continued as though the
she-wolf had said nothing. “It is not one that her mate can help
her with, and yet Decebel and Fane are already in search of you
both. All I ask of you this night is to do what seems to come
naturally to you.” She paused and to Jen’s surprise a slight smile
curved her flawless lips. “A little distraction is in order.”

Jen tried to keep her jaw from dropping
open. The Great Luna had just asked her to keep Fane from his
mate.

“
Wait, wait.” Jen shuffled
her feet and put her hands on her hips. “You mean to tell me B and
Fane are already on their way, and you want me to have a
distraction ready? Do you know how long it takes to prepare
something? I mean, I don’t have a table. There’s no music. Really,
what do I have to work with? I got trees and dirt.” Jen was now
looking at her surroundings. She heard the Great Luna say something
about having faith that she would figure it out, but Jen simply
waved her off as she tapped a slender finger to her lips.
“Distraction, distraction,” she mumbled to herself as the wheels of
her mind cranked to life. “Can’t really do the whole lifting the
shirt thing. Dec has so been there and done that. Can’t do a
pretend strip tease. Don’t have any cards to play poker with.” She
continued tapping her finger against her lips as she thought of her
options.

A plan began to form in her mind. “It won’t
be my best work,” she huffed as she dropped to the ground and began
rolling around getting herself dirty. She grabbed handfuls of dirt,
spit on it, and then rubbed it all over her face. Next she reached
up and tugged on her long pony tail causing it to loosen into a
crooked mess. Jen looked down at her shirt and, despite the dirt,
decided it was still too neat looking. She grabbed the bottom and
jerked, causing a tear to rip across the bottom. She did this
several more times, turning her shirt this way and that to spread
the rips. Then she yanked off one of her shoes and threw it as hard
as she could with her wolf’s help, which was pretty dang far, into
the woods.

“
Okay, phase one, of
Distract the Werewolves because the Great Luna Said So, is
complete.” She narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips. “DWWBGLSS.”
She shook her head. “That’s going to need some work.”

Jen tilted her head and attempted to listen.
The forest was quiet. She couldn’t hear the usual scuttle of
nighttime critters. She knew how quiet wolves could be when they
hunted, but she was pretty sure Decebel and Fane hadn’t found her
yet.

“
Dec?”
She pushed open the bond just a little as she reached out to
him. She waited several heartbeats before speaking to him
again.
“Decebel?”
It would probably serve her right for him to ignore her, but
that didn’t mean it wouldn’t piss her off.

“
What are you getting all
worked up about, baby?”
His voice came
through low and sultry, sending shivers down her back. How dare he
try to flirt with her when she was trying to figure out what he was
up to and how dare he be up to something when mischief was supposed
to be her specialty?

“
I’m not worked up about
anything. What would give you that idea?”
Jen made sure to keep her thoughts about Jacque, the Great
Luna, and her little distraction shut tightly away from her
mate.

“
You just sounded a little
frantic.”

“
I did not sound frantic.
So,”
she drew out the word before
asking,
“What are you boys up to? Have you
helped Fane deal with his demons and what not?”

“
We talked.”

“
And it went
well?”

“
It did.”

Bloody
hell
, Jen thought, trying to get
information from him is like trying to squeeze peanut oil from a
damn lime.
“So what are you up to
now?”
she asked trying to sound as casual
as she could.

“
Well, funny you should
ask.”

Jen felt the hackles on her neck rising―nota
good sign.

“
After we talked, Fane
started thinking about Jacque and her strange behavior.”

“
She’s a chick, B, and
she’s knocked up. It’s really her prerogative to act
strange.”

“
Yeah, but one thing that
he said didn’t make sense,”
Decebel
continued as though she hadn’t said a word.
“Jacque was so upset about
him
shutting her out when he was
struggling before. He told me that for some reason it just didn’t
make sense that she would suddenly want space from him when she was
so angry at him and hurt when he put space between them. So I
helpfully suggested that maybe my mate, beautiful though she may
be, didn’t really know what the hell she was talking about. So I
made the suggestion that, perhaps, we should come find you
two.”

Jen’s hands were on her
hips and her foot was tapping out a steady beat as she glared at
nothing because her mate wasn’t standing in front of her to be
glared at.
“So you’re on your way here
now?”

“
Yes.”

Great. She threw her hands up in the air and
tilted her head back. How was she supposed to make it look like she
and Jacque had been attacked if she was calmly talking to him
now?

“
Are you guys at the
mansion?”
he asked her.

She grinned as a light bulb moment happened.
She didn’t answer right away.

“
Jennifer?”

She wanted to feel bad about the worry she
heard in his voice, but then she remembered him saying that she
didn’t know what the hell she was talking about, and all her
sympathy flew out the window.

“
Jennifer answer
me!”

Time to put her famous
acting skills into action. Okay, so maybe they weren’t famous but
they should have been.
“OH CRAP!”
she yelled through their bond.
“RUN, JACQUE!”

“
JENNIFER! What is going
on? Where are you?”
Decebel’s growl and
command called to her wolf. The stupid hussy thought he was
attractive when he went all Alpha on them.

“
I told you we were
walking, briskly, because we needed some air. Clean air is good for
a pregnant chick you know. So here we are out walking in the
woods.”

“
You went into the woods
at NIGHT, BY YOURSELVES!”
he snarled and
she could feel his sudden urgency.

Jen momentarily forgot her
roll.
“Um, we’re werewolves too, remember?
It’s not like we’re helpless.”

“
Then what is going on?
Why are you yelling at Jacque to run?”

“
Crap!” Jen snapped out as
she realized she’d let herself get distracted.
“We might have run into a little problem while walking. Look,
I can’t think and talk to you at the same time. You and Fane just
get your fine butts into the mountains behind the mansion. I don’t
know how far we’ve gone but Jacque just took off and . . .”
She paused for effect before yelling.
“DAMN! There went my shoe! Hurry up, B. I really
had no desire to be chased by wild pigs yet again―or like,
ever.”

“
Pigs? Jennifer what are
you talking―”

She cut him off not
wanting to keep talking.
“JUST HURRY! I
have to find Jacque.”
And once again she
tightened her side of the bond down.

Jen closed her eyes tightly and rubbed her
temple with her fingers. “Ok, Great Luna,” she said into the quiet
night. “I know you’re listening. I just told my mate we were being
chased by pigs. Now, since this was your idea I’m asking for a
little help. He isn’t going to believe a thing I say if he gets
here and nothing smells like pigs. So I’m going to start jogging
that way.” She pointed in front of her which was away from the
mansion. “And I need some help with making his other senses believe
what my appearance and freaking out are going to be conveying.
Deal?”

Jen didn’t wait to see if the deity
responded. She started off at a brisk job, zigzagging through the
trees. After a quarter of a mile she paused and looked behind
her.

A huge grin spread across her face and she
couldn’t help the small chuckle of laughter. “I think that should
do it. Thank you for that,” she told the Great Luna who had indeed
heard her request and fulfilled it rather nicely. The ground Jen
had passed over now looked as though not only her feet had trampled
across it but as though a pack of wild bores had run through it
crashing and clomping along tearing up the land and foliage around
them. Even when Jen took a breath in, she caught the scent of the
wild boars as if they had indeed been there.