“I totally do, don’t I?” Lilly said, standing in Jacque’s doorway.

“Hey, mom. What’s up?” Jacque asked her.

Lilly looked at her daughter’s shirt and gave her thumbs up. “Nice job on the shirt.”

Jen scooted in past Lilly and plopped back down in the floor. “My mom just wanted to know if she could bring anything over for us – brownies, nail polish. Ya know, girly stuff. I told her we had it covered. She told me to tell you thank you again, Lilly.”

“Your mom wouldn’t thank me if she knew the big bad wolf was coming over to play,” Lilly said. “Speaking of, Lucas Steele is here.”

Jacque’s mouth dropped open. “Here here? As in, in this house here?”

“Yes, Jacque, he is here here.” Lilly answered. “He's asking to speak with you in private.”

Without even thinking, Jacque reached for Fane’s mind. “He’s here.”

“I know, love. I saw his car drive up. Are you ok?” Fane asked her.

“I’m ok. I’m fixing to go talk to him. Be with me.”

“Always,” Fane responded.

Jacque asked Sally and Jen to wait in her room; she didn’t want them brought to Lucas’ attention.

As she walked into the living room, she saw him sitting on the couch, arms spread over the back, looking quite relaxed. Smug little fur ball, she thought to herself and was pleasantly surprised to hear Fane’s chuckle in her mind.

“Are you comfortable?” Jacque asked Lucas as she walked into the living room.

When he turned to look at her, Jacque was caught off guard by his eyes. They were two different colors. His right eye was crystal blue and his left green as ivy. He had brown, wavy hair that he wore messy, but she could tell it was a carefully placed messiness. He had a five o’clock shadow across a strong jaw line and when he smiled at her a dimple appeared on both cheeks.

“I am, actually. Thanks for asking,” he responded.

He had a deep voice, but not quite as deep as Fane’s. She had to admit he was an attractive guy. She heard Fane growl. “Chillax, wolf-man. I only have eyes for you,” she told Fane.

“Jacque.” The sound of her name got her attention. She realized Lucas was now standing in front of her and she had to look up to see his face. He was at least 6 feet, maybe a little taller. “My name is Lucas Steele. I’m sure Fane has told you that I am the Alpha of the Coldspring pack.”

“Yeah, he told me. He also told me that you are under some sort of delusion that I am going to be your mate,” Jacque retorted.

“I distinctly remember advising you not to provoke him, Luna. Do you remember that?” Jacque heard Fane's voice in her mind.

“I don’t know. Some things seem kind of hazy at the moment,” she responded vaguely. Fane growled again. I have a feeling he’s going to be doing a lot of that being mated to me, she thought to herself.

“I claimed you before he even knew you existed. You should be mine,” Lucas told her calmly.

Jacque was staring at him intently, trying to get a lock on how old he was. She could tell he was definitely older than her but she couldn’t tell how much older.

“How old are you?” she finally asked.

He looked a little surprised by her question. That’s good, keep him on his toes.

“I’m twenty two,” he answered.

“You do realize that I am not eighteen yet? That makes me jail bait.” Jacque pointed out.

“Human laws do not matter to Greys. Besides, I’m not saying we have to consummate our relationship, just that you will bond with me,” Lucas told her.

“You so did not just say that. I mean, good freaking grief man, is that all you wolves talk about?” Jacque asked, obviously annoyed.

Lucas looked a little confused and then caught on. “Are all human females this silly?” he asked her.

“I am not silly,” Jacque said indignantly. Then his eyes wandered down to the front of her shirt and she realized he'd noticed the vampire depicted there. She smiled and turned around to show him the back. Without thinking about it, she pulled her hair up so he could read the words.

At first she simply heard him smirk, but then she heard a deep, feral growl.

Jacque dropped her hair back down and turned around slowly. Lucas’ eyes were glowing and his teeth had grown quite long. His breathing was fast and she could tell he was struggling to keep his wolf under control.

“He wasn’t lying when he said he could prove you were his mate,” Lucas said, his words a little difficult to understand because of the length of his teeth.

Jacque’s eyes got big as she realized he had seen her marks. Just then she heard a ferocious snarl and realized that Fane had caught that last thought.

“I’m sorry, Fane. I was just showing him the back of my shirt and I forgot my marks,” Jacque told him quickly.

“Pay attention to Lucas, Jacquelyn. Look at him and let me see his face,” Fane instructed her.

Jacque pictured Lucas in her mind just as she was seeing him.

“Jacque, you must be careful. He is not in control of his wolf.”

“Yeah, ya think?” Jacque accidentally said aloud.

Lucas snarled and his eyes narrowed. “Are you able to speak through each other’s thoughts? Are you speaking to him now?” he asked her.

“Umm, maybe and not your business,” she answered.

Lucas lunged at her, grabbing her by the arms. Jacque slammed the wall down in her mind so Fane could not see what Lucas was doing. She knew he would come to her house and raise all kinds of hell, and quite possibly try to kill Lucas.

“Do not play games with me. I am Alpha and you will answer me truthfully, mate,” he growled in her face.

Jacque jerked her arms free and stepped back from him.

“Listen carefully, Lucas Steele, because I will only say this once. I am NOT your mate, I will never be your mate, and if you ever put your hands on me again I will cut them off along with other body parts you might want to use one day. Got it?” Jacque told him with as much force as she could put behind her words.

“That’s a shame, too, because you’re kind of cute. But it happens to the best of them,” Jen said as she sauntered into the living room with Sally right behind her.

“And the worst of them,” Sally finished for her.