Shadows of the Ancients

by Christine M. Butler

  “Ah, I see.” Evan turned to me and looked me up and down long enough that goose bumps erupted across my skin under the scrutiny before he turned back to Pete. “Well, Pete, I was here last night, and heard what that punk ass said to Miss St. Marks before she punched him. I have to tell you, had she not been able to handle herself, I would have done it for her.” His smile was starting to light up the entire street, or maybe it just felt that way to me. Pete looked a little confused, and a tad bit of worry was starting to creep in around the edges of his own smile. “Now, neither of these girls deserves to be placed on a banned list, nor do I wish it. They will always have access, no matter the time of day or night. Am I understood?”

  “Yes, sir.” Pete said, and then he turned to me and added, “sorry for the misunderstanding, Miss St. Marks.”

  “Not a problem, Pete. It happens.” I gave him a wink before I slipped inside behind Evan.

  We were only a few steps in when Evan reached back and grabbed a hold of my hand, pulling me up beside him. He leaned down and whispered in my ear, “you should be right here by my side, not walking behind me.” My heart was fluttering to its own rhythm now, and I maneuvered myself closer to Evan so I could catch his scent better. I couldn’t quite pinpoint what he smelled like to me, except to say it was manly, intoxicating, and had my stomach pulling tight with the thoughts that were flowing through my mind now. “What are you drinking tonight?”

  “Captain and Coke.”

  “Vodka Cranberry,” Ashley added. “Hey, where’s your buddy tonight?”

  Evan ordered our drinks, and then turned back to Ashley with a knowing look on his face. “Asi has some business to attend, but he’ll be along a little later.”

  “M’kay.” Ashley said as she took the drink she was being offered.

  “Come on, it’s quieter in the back.” Evan walked us back to the room with the pool tables, but skirted us around the outside of it as we went. There was an alcove back there that led to a semi-hidden little lounge area with a couple couches and tables.

  “Seriously, how many times have we been here, and I never knew this existed?” Ashley asked as she plopped down on a couch, nearly spilling her drink with the momentum.

  “Yeah, I didn’t either. Then again, we don’t play pool, so neither of us ever came back this far.”

  “Ladies, you have to be a little more adventurous!” Evan sat down on the opposite corner of the couch Ash had just took up residence on, and he pulled me down into his lap.

  “You look absolutely stunning tonight!” He whispered into my ear.

  “Thank you, I could say the same of you!” I tugged on his blue dress shirt with my fingers, “this is a really good color on you. It brings out your amazing eyes.” The smile that bloomed across his face then, made me warm all over, but the noise he made in the back of his throat built a fire inside me.

  “This is just…” Ashley was shaking her head, then she downed the rest of her drink. “Well, it’s interesting.”

  “Why do you say that?” Evan asked her.

  “I honestly never thought anyone would catch Jessie’s eye.”

  “Ah,” he looked at me then, “so you’re picky?”

  “Um, picky would mean she’s ever even cared to glance at anyone.”

  “Hey, now! I’ve glanced.” I was turning red, thanks to the heaping spoonful of embarrassment my friend was helping me to.

  “Okay, I’ll give you that. You definitely look, but no one has ever been worthy.” She looked between Evan and I then. “So, tell me something, what in the world made you rub all up on my friend yesterday? Surely, that’s not how you greet all the girls that you decide to sit in your lap is it?”?

  My eyes were saucers in my head. “Ash,” I whispered.

  “It’s okay.” Evan patted his hand on my thigh. I really didn’t want him to stop, when he went to move it back, I put my own hand down on top of his, and threaded my fingers through his. He didn’t seem to object so I kept it there like that. “I could hear your conversation throughout the night, you know?”

  “So, you were stalking our convo? That’s a bit extreme.”

  Evan laughed. “Not like that. I saw the two of you when Asriel and I came in. I knew right away that Jess was a wolf, but there was also something else about her that drew my attention. I just couldn’t put my finger on it besides to say, she has a unique flavor about her.”

  “Mmmhhmmm, so you’ve had a taste?” Ashley looked at me like I’d left her out of a huge secret.

  “That is so not what he means, Ash.”

  Again, that deep chuckle bubbled forth from Evan, and the sound put me completely at ease. “Scent. She has a very unique scent, distinctly her own. Not all wolves can scent out power to the extent that I can. It’s a good thing, or someone else would have snatched her up a long time ago, I’m sure. I knew she’d be a viable match.”

  “That’s just weird, but whatever. So, she smelled good, and you started eavesdropping?”

  “She smelled delicious, and I didn’t start eavesdropping right away. I was here to take care of business. I saw her again later, when the two of you saw my friend and I walk by. I heard you talking about us, Ashley, and that’s when I started paying attention, because I wanted to know what she thought.”

  “Okay, I get that, so how did the whole nearly shagging each other on the dance floor thing come about?”

  “Mmm” The sound that came from him was low and possessive. As if to make me fully understand the impact, he also pulled me closer. I was pulled right up along his side, my legs thrown over his, feeling the vibrations of his voice as he spoke. “You two stopped talking. I picked up on some giggling and grunting, and decided to see what I was missing. I walked back out there, and saw the two of you lost in your own little game with the dancing. Did you know that everyone circled you like sharks, watching, waiting, giving you space to perform?”

  “I did.” Ashley admitted. “She’s never understood what it does to people when we dance together like that though. She loses herself out there.

  My face reddened. Clearly, I had missed a little something all those times we were dancing together.

  “Yes, well. I watched, and found myself moving closer. You smacked Jess on the ass, and the little noise she made, drove me insane.” His fingers were digging into my thigh a little bit, but I really didn’t care. I could smell a change in him, and my own body was responding to the subtle shift in hormone levels. He cleared his throat before continuing. “Before I could get all the way there to join in, you two parted ways and this one was running into me. The physical contact just ramped up what was already there. I couldn’t even begin to explain the connection I felt in that moment, but I knew I couldn’t let her just walk away from me that easily. Not after I’d searched for so long. When I leaned in closer, and she didn’t pull away,” he moaned audibly this time.

  “Okay, maybe we should change the subject for a minute, because I am so not down for watching you two grinding on each other.” Ashley pointed out the fact that I was literally starting to move back and forth on his lap while his fingers dug in my thighs, pulling me closer. It was a very subtle movement, but embarrassing to be caught when you weren’t even aware you were doing it.

  “Maybe,” I said getting up off his lap, “it’s safer if I just sit next to you for now.” I had never in my life blushed so much as I had in the past two days. I could feel the heat in my face. He actually didn’t seem all that happy with the new seating arrangement, but he nodded in agreement and let me slip in beside him instead. His arm instantly went around my shoulders, and stayed there.

  “Well, there’s definitely a physical/chemical thing going on there with you two.” Ashley scrutinized Evan for a few minutes. “You said you’d been searching for a long time for someone? Why?”

  “There are things I really can’t discuss with a human, no matter how close they are to Jess. Let’s just say there weren’t any females who could measure up to my abilities.”

/>   “Oh, well, if you are anything like Jess, then that makes you a bad ass!”

  Evan seemed taken by surprise with that statement.

  “What?” Ashley asked. “I don’t have to be a werewolf to know she outshines her whole pack.”

  “It’s funny that the human could see it, but an entire pack couldn’t.”

  “People, werewolves included, see what they want. And no offense, but werewolves aren’t exactly pillars of equality. The most chauvinistic men on Earth are werewolves… truly! None of them would want to admit that a young female was worth all of them combined.”

  Now, it was my turn to be shocked. Ashley never told me she thought I was more powerful than all the men in my pack. “Ashley…” I started.

  “Seriously, I never mentioned it, because you seemed happy with your obscurity, but I was not going to let you go through with that pairing though. There was no way you would have been happy with that level of mediocrity. He would have always been trying to out power you, and he wouldn’t have been able to do it. I seriously have no clue what the hell Marcus was thinking.”

  “He wasn’t.” Evan responded. “I knew immediately. A pack Alpha should have known better.”

  At the look on my face, Ashley decided to change topics. “So, tell me about your friend. How long have you two been joined at the hip?”

  Evan eyed her wearily. “We are not joined at the hip.”

  “Yeah, yeah, whatever, how long have you been bromancing with your boo?”

  I laughed, Ashley always did have a way with words. Evan stifled a smile, and responded. “Asi and I came up together. We’ve known each other since we were children. My position in life has not always been a popular one,” he gave me a knowing look. “Asriel was there when an attempt on my life was made as a child. He got me to safety, even though he was only two years older. We’ve been inseparable since. I owe him a life debt.”

  “You owe me nothing,” came a booming voice from the entrance to the room. “You look thankful that I’ve returned. Not so easy entertaining the ladies on your own, is it?” Asi laughed a full throated laugh, and then literally flopped down into one of the chairs facing the couch we were all parked on. He looked us all over, and noted the possessive arm thrown across my shoulders, and then his gaze drifted to Ashley. A curious look formed on his face, “how is it that you know so much?”

  “I owe her a life debt,” I said without thinking.

  The curious look on Asi’s face grew, but Evan shifted so that he could see my face as well, now. “Do tell.” He said.

  “She doesn’t owe me anything.” Ashley said, head down, to avoid showing everyone how red her face had become.

  I told them the story of how Ashley saved me from her brother’s gun, and how she helped with Sierra after the fact. It led to the explanation about her brother Jack becoming a wolf too. “She’s been my best friend ever since. Her family knows about us, and they’ve been sworn to secrecy. Ashley’s dad is the country sheriff here, so when he sees anything odd that might point to wolves, he works with the pack to figure things out. We’ve had lone wolves wonder through from time to time causing trouble.”

  “I see. It sounds like your meeting was very fortuitous. Especially since I was destined to meet you.” Evan whispered in my ear in a sultry, low voice that did funny things to my insides.

  Asi cleared his throat, “so what do you do, human?”

  “Ashley. My name is Ashley, not Human. Got it, wolf?”

  He smiled, and nodded. “Point taken.”

  “I am studying to be a nurse. I have one more semester after this, and I graduate.”

  “Hmm,” Asi was lost in thought, “that’s a lucky guy to wake up from tragedy to see you as their nurse.”

  Suddenly, Ashley was speechless. I think it was a first for her. As everyone sat around in awkward silence after that, I went to take a drink of my rum and coke only to find I was at the bottom of my glass. “Damn,” I whispered at the ice in the cup.

  “I’ll be back,” Evan said to me, as he kissed the top of my head, stood, and took my empty cup from me. “Same thing, Ashley?”

  “Yes, please.”

  Evan took off toward the bar, and I sat there watching until he rounded the corner and I couldn’t see him anymore. Ashley and Asi were still staring at each other, as if they were making out from across the room, with their eyeballs.

  “So, the other night, what did you mean about this being an experiment?”

  Asriel actually flushed a little, and looked ashamed. “I misspoke.” He said simply.

  I quirked up my eyebrow at him, but let it go, because he didn’t look like he was willing to talk about it without threat of torture. “What do you think Evan’s family will say about his claim on me?”

  “I’m not sure I’m the right person to be speculating about that.”

  “It seems to me you’re the perfect person. You’ve been around him since you were young, which means you’ve been around the family.”

  “I can’t say. It could really go either way, Jessica.”

  “Jess, please.” I laughed, “Jessica sounds so formal.”

  He smiled and nodded again. It was a thing with him apparently.

  “So, what do you do, for a living, I mean?” Ashley asked.

  “I am a bodyguard.” He said without thought, as he continued to pick apart the label on his bottled beer.

  “Whose body are you guarding?”

  The look on Asriel’s face said he wished it was her body he was guarding. Evan walked back in the room, followed closely by a waitress who was being very obvious about checking him out. Evan sat next to me again, adjusting me so that his arm slung right back around my shoulder. He handed me another rum and coke while the waitress distributed another round for Ashley and Asi.

  “I’ll be back to check on y’all shortly,” she said giving Evan a wink and me the stink eye as she skirted back out of the room.

  I have never been truly interested in anyone before, so the feeling that overwhelmed me then was one I have never been familiar with. I wanted to grab that bitch by the hair and slam her head into a wall just for having the audacity to look at my man, let alone wink at him while I was sitting here. I hadn’t even realized I had been making a move to get up and follow through with my thoughts, until Evan’s hand pulled me back down. “Now, now, little wolf, she meant no harm.”

  I had the presence of mind to be embarrassed. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what the hell…” I just cut myself off, before I started babbling and made it all worse.

  “I’d be worried if you hadn’t reacted, as it is I’m turned on. Stop worrying, sweetheart.” Those words whispered in my ear were both calming and invigorating. All at once, I wished we were somewhere else, and not in a bar. I really just wanted to be alone with Evan. Who was I kidding, I wanted to get naked with Evan, and that’s the thought that stopped me from going anywhere else for the moment. I still had no clue who he was. I knew I had this completely foreign, intense attraction to him, but beyond that… he was a stranger.

  “I saw books in your room when we were there, are you going to school too?”

  “Yeah, I haven’t declared a major yet though. I’m just getting all my basic courses out of the way, and exploring my options. Honestly, I’d need to switch to a bigger school for a real degree, and I wasn’t sure my pack would allow that. Especially since they were so hell bent on my pairing with Zach. There’s no way he would have let me go to a University. The closest one is about an hour away.” I shrugged, and took a sip of my drink.

  “Well, that’s not an issue anymore. If you could go to a university, what would you study?”

  “I like psychology, actually. I think human nature is fascinating. I would love to be able to learn all I can there, and then carry it over into my own studies of our kind. You know, I think it’s interesting what our instincts lead us to do. For instance, this immense attraction I feel for you…” I almost stopped there, but he seemed genuinely int
erested, so I continued. “Well, I know some humans believe in love at first sight, and soul mates, but the majority really don’t. There’s hormones, attraction, need, and want. They all play a part, and then there’s just behavior and how you react to all those stimuli. With us, we have our wolves too. They have a completely different criteria for picking a mate. It affects how we feel, whether we want it to or not. Even if our human halves chose a mate, it wouldn’t work unless our wolf half agreed. I find the duality inside us fascinating.”

  “You’re absolutely right, I’ve often wondered about that myself.”

  “So, what did you do before you bought the bar?”

  “I have several businesses around the world. I usually pick up a new interest here and there in my travels. I get them off the ground and move on again.”

  “I see.” Somewhere inside, that worried me. I didn’t want to get involved with someone who was just going to get bored and move along at a moment’s notice. I wondered what would happen if he got bored with me. Our kind didn’t really care about promiscuity, so long as it ended when you were bonded to your mate. It had been very obviously pointed out that there were no matches for me within my pack though.

  “Why the worried face all of a sudden?” I ignored him momentarily, lost in my thoughts. When I looked up again it was because Ashley had gotten up off the couch to go sit beside Asi. They were chatting idly with one another when I turned back to face Evan.

  “So, you get bored a lot and move on then?” I questioned.

  “It’s not like that, Jess. Remember, I told you I was looking for a suitable mate.”

  “I know. I just… I guess I’m not one hundred percent comfortable with what’s happening here.” He looked startled, and I began to stumble over my words. “I’m sorry, that didn’t come out right. I just… I’ve never really found anyone that interested me before. Suddenly, there you are, and I am completely out of my element. I feel so out of control. One minute I want to learn more about you, another I’m scared out of my mind, but that’s because of the part of me that just wants to rip your clothes off and get naked with you!” Oh shit! I really just said that out loud.