Shadows of the Ancients

by Christine M. Butler

“Well, you were using my phone…” His smile grew wider, and I loved seeing it there, but the noises of other people eating drew my attention away from him momentarily. Everyone was watching, without trying to be obvious about it.

  “We’ll talk later, in private, okay?”

  “Yeah.” He seemed a little disappointed by that, but I was hungry, and needed to get more food on my stomach before I dealt with anything else.

  “So, is this place really ready to open again tonight?”

  “Everything’s done, we had some staffing changes, but nothing that can’t accommodate a large crowd. I don’t see why not.” Evan answered.

  “I still can’t believe you got all this done so fast. This is like a different place. I love it!”

  “Hopefully everyone else will love it too.”

  “I’m sure they will.” I smiled.

  Asi cleared his throat, and stood holding out his hand to Ashely. “I’m going to take Ash back to her place to change before tonight.” He looked at me then, “your father said they have Zach held, right?”

  “Yes, they have him.”

  “Did you want to come along?” He looked at my jeans and t-shirt as if to say I wasn’t exactly dressed for opening night. Asi could definitely be a jerk sometimes.

  “I don’t have anything better than this at the apartment. My clothing supply there is tapped out.”

  “You could borrow something from Ashley.” He suggested.

  “You’re such a man! Look at us,” I said as I stood. “I’ve got 8 inches of height on her, and she’s got three times the boobs. Do you really think that’s going to work out?” Mikael snickered from somewhere behind me, and Evan stood up and came to my rescue.

  “I’ll take her shopping, Asi. You and Ashley can go ahead, I have this covered.”

  “Buying my forgiveness with gifts?” I said with a completely straight face. When his face contorted into one of shock, I laughed. “Don’t worry, I’m okay with that, let’s go shopping.”

  Mikael was laughing right along with me. “You have your hands full there, brother!”

  In all honesty, I had been kidding when I told Evan that. I am not a shopper. I go with Ashley on occasion, because she asks, and sometimes I even buy things that I think are pretty. When it comes to shopping for myself though, if something doesn’t catch my eye right off the bat when I walk into a store and scan over the displays and racks, chances are, I will never see it. I don’t dig, I don’t go blow for blow with another woman over the last pair of size 7s. Mostly, because my size ten and a half shoes are never fought over, if they ever even existed in the first place. If I were ever to be a shopper, or a passionate fashionista about anything, it would be shoes. That is if there were ever more than 3 pairs of shoes in my size in any given store to choose from. Since the world in which my shoe fetish dreams could play out didn’t exist, I did not enjoy shopping. I grab what’s necessary and I go. This is something that apparently Evan couldn’t grasp.

  “You’re a woman, aren’t you guys built to shop? I thought I might not make it back in time for the opening, and you’re telling me that you are already done. We’ve been in here five minutes. You walked over to that rack, and literally picked up an entire outfit, and now you’re done? No changing your mind, trying on three different sets that you know are too small for you?” He seemed astounded, and the cashier was getting her flirt on with Evan through laughter.

  “Seriously, this is how I shop. Ashley hates it, because I’m always so impatient when she does all those things you mentioned. I see it, I want it, I get it. I know my size, and I’m not changing my mind. Are you happy now?” I turned to look at him, and gave him my cutest smile possible.

  “That will be $53.66.” The cashier said, also giving Evan her cutest smile. I handed her the credit card my father gave me. The one that was paid off every month with the money my grandfather had left for me. Evan frowned when the woman took the card and swiped it before he had a chance to take his own out.

  “When I said I was taking you shopping, I meant it. That was supposed to be on me.”

  “I don’t need you to buy my outfit for me, I have money.”

  “Did it ever occur to you that I wanted to do it?”

  “Well, honey, if you’re buying… there’s plenty of other girls in here,” the clerk pointed to herself, “who would be more than happy to let you.”

  “Uggh,” I said out loud as I sneered her way. I grabbed my credit card, and my bag back from her, and stalked off. Evan followed behind me, ignoring her comment.

  “Women like that are why men think they can buy us off.”

  “I wasn’t trying to buy you.”

  I turned to see the disappointment on his face. “I didn’t mean you, Evan. Thank you. It was a really nice gesture, but I’m just not comfortable with people buying things for me. Maybe, one day I will be, but for now, can I just thank you for bringing me here. You had no clue what kind of shopper I was when we started out. That makes you super brave, or a little dumb. Either way, it was sweet, because tonight’s your big night.” I leaned in closer and put my arms around his waist, hugging him close to me. It only took a moment for him to return the gesture, and I could literally feel the stress drop away from him. It was the first real touch I had initiated since we fought. He kissed the top of my head.

  “Let’s get back to my place so we can get ready.” He started to move, which made me have to turn, but I kept one of my arms locked around his hip, and his remained around my shoulder as we walked. When we got back to the car, he did the gentlemanly thing, and opened my door for me, but I turned to face him instead of climbing in and sitting down. I kissed him, bringing my hand up around his neck to cup the back of his head and bring him in closer to me. He happily kissed me back.

  When I finally pulled away I whispered, “I missed your kisses. I didn’t know it was possible to miss a person’s kisses in just one day.”

  “It’s definitely possible. I really don’t know what I was thinking. I’ve never craved someone so much in my life, Jess.”

  “I understand. I don’t like what you did, but I get it. Let’s get back to the house, before you’re late to your own party!” I turned and got in the car.

  When he got in the car, I automatically felt like I had to fill up the space with talking because the last 24 hours had just been too awkward. “So, what do you think they’re going to do with Zach?”

  “Are you worried about him?” I couldn’t quite place Evan’s tone as he asked the question.

  “I’m not worried about him, just curious as to what they’re going to do with him. Listen, I grew up with Zach. He turned into a douche sometime after he went through his last transition, and I really didn’t like the guy anymore after that, but we still grew up together. I don’t wish him harm, I just wish him out of my life. I think part of his bad behavior is to do with the way Marcus brought him up.”

  “Isn’t Marcus his Uncle?”

  “Yes, but Zach’s dad died when he was young, and his mom… well, she wasn’t the best mom, or wolf for that matter. No one ever talked about it in front of him, but rumor was she’s the one the unmated men in the pack went to for a good time when they were lonely. It’s not like she really tried to hide it either. That’s why Zach was always with Marcus. There was a time I felt bad for him, because even though we never talked about it in front of him, he knew.”

  “Well, I didn’t grow up with him or form any kind of childhood bonds, so trust me when I say, I don’t wish him well.” Evan looked down at my arm then. “Maybe you should shift to wolf for a while when we get back to my place, just long enough to speed up the healing on that.”

  “Yeah, I didn’t even think about the bruises when I bought that top. It’ll show, then people will wonder who did it to me.” I was pretty sure Evan wouldn’t want me on his arm for the opening of his club if it looked like he was beating me behind the scenes.

  We got back to Evan’s house, and went inside to get ready. I immed
iately went to the guest bathroom, while he went to go get his clothes out of his closet. I dropped my clothes, so I could shift into my wolf form, and when I did I just lie down on the cool tile of the bathroom for a minute. My wolf knew that I was indoors, and she didn’t stand a chance of being let out, so she was okay with just chilling out for a little while. I heard Evan’s footsteps getting closer, he was coming to check on me. I looked up just as he rounded the corner to the bathroom, and watched him stop, suck in a breath, and have to pick his jaw up off the floor all at once.

  “Holy…” he started and couldn’t get any more words out. He took a very tentative two steps closer, then leaned down and reached his hand out so my wolf could smell him. I had already picked up his scent, and my wolf was okay with him. She nuzzled her nose into his hand, and he slowly slid his hand up and over my head, back behind my ears, and down my back. “This is what you meant when you said you didn’t have markings?” The awe in his voice was unmistakable. I whined, a small noise from the back of my throat. I wasn’t sure why he was looking at me the way he was, and it made my wolf a little nervous. “Jesus, you’re beautiful Jess.” His words were whispered in reverence. “Now, I understand your dad’s talk. He must have thought I’d seen your wolf already.” Okay, that did it. I couldn’t ask questions when I was the wolf, and I desperately needed to now, so I shifted back, and found myself lying naked in front of Evan.

  “You need to explain yourself.” He seemed startled by my sudden shift, and backed up a little. “Can you hand me that towel? I had left the towel on the rack back behind him fully prepared to be human again already when I needed it. He got up and grabbed it for me, but he never took his eyes off me. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

  “Seriously, Jess? Do you not know?”

  “Do I not know what?” I stood up, wrapping the towel around my body, and then sitting on the edge of the tub. “You’re looking at me like I just grew two heads. I know you’ve seen people in their wolf form before, what’s the big deal?”

  “Jess, you’re a white wolf!”

  “Yeah, I know, been that way since my calling.”

  “You said before that your parents wouldn’t let you shift around the others. Did they not explain why?”

  “Just because I didn’t have any markings, and that was rare, so they didn’t want me to be shunned for being different. Wolves can be cruel to one another sometimes.”

  “You’re a white wolf, Jess. They are incredibly rare. There’s one born maybe every couple hundred years. How long ago did you complete your full transition?”

  “A couple months, why?”

  “No wonder they were still able to hide it. Jess, you’re going to come into a lot of power very soon. It happens within a year of the last phase of transition.”

  “Maybe you need to start from the beginning, because I have no clue what you’re talking about.”

  “Jess, I think you need to get dressed. We’ll go do this club opening, and then have this talk with your parents. They should have already told you, but I guess it’s possible they don’t really understand. I’ve never heard of a Lesser being a white wolf.”

  “Okay, well now that you’ve freaked me out, that sounds like a good plan, because I need a drink or six to get over the past 24 hours already. And it sounds like something my parents need to be there for.”

  DE’ LUNE

  The opening night of De’ Lune’s Nightclub went off without a hitch. It was a phenomenal success. On a personal level, it meant a lot to me too. Evan didn’t move five feet from me the whole night. When we got too far apart, he would make sure to come and check on me, get me a new drink, or just come give me a very public kiss. At one point in the night he whispered to me, “so there’s no mistaking my feelings for you again,” and then planted a deep, hot, steamy kiss on me that literally buckled my knees. His arms were there to catch me and keep me upright, and while no one else saw the impact that kiss had on me, he knew.

  I found Ashley before we left, “Ash, I’d like for you and Asi to come home with me tonight.”

  Asi overheard my request and piped up first. “Sounds like a lot of fun Jess, but I’m pretty sure Evan would kick my ass if we took you up on that party of three.”

  I punched him in his very solid chest. “You’re a jerk, and that is so not what I meant.” I turned from him to Ash. “Evan saw my wolf earlier, and he said he needs to speak to me about it, with my parents.”

  “Wait, what do you mean?” That caught Asi’s attention, without a wisecracking remark.

  “Oh, because you’re different.” Ashley finally remembered. “I almost forgot about you never running with the pack, or anything. Does he know something about why you don’t have any markings?”

  “No markings? That’s what this is about? It’s rare, but not unheard of for a wolf to be solid color. I don’t see what the big deal is.”

  Evan walked up then and shushed us. “There are still people present that can overhear us. How about we all get in our cars and drive out to Jess’s house. We’re still going to your family’s cabin tomorrow, right Ashley?”

  “Yeah, we are.”

  “Then we’ll just leave from there. You wanted to arrive with Jack to spring the news about you being a wolf on your parents anyway.”

  “Oh God, I feel so left out, what’s going on now?” I asked.

  “Remember, we’re supposed to go see my family this weekend. Only I wasn’t a wolf yet when we made the plans, and you made Jack call mom, so he’s going too, finally. He only agreed for us to go if we brought along muscle in case things went bad though. You know, bigger wolves that could talk Jack and I down if we got upset and started to shift.”

  “Oh, yeah, I get it now. I can’t believe Jack’s still worried about that. It’s been two years for him.”

  “Do you remember my parents? They can piss a butterfly off when they’re in a mood!”

  “Yeah, okay, I get it. Can we get going? I’ve had a lot of fun tonight, but something tells me I’m in for a world of strange when we get to my house.”

  I damn near fell asleep on the way to my house. We took my Jeep, and Asi and Ashley took Evan’s car. When we pulled up the lights were on in the house, which struck me as odd, because it was going on three in the morning, and my parents would normally be sleeping.

  “I talked to them earlier, and told them to be expecting us, Jess.”

  “Oh.” I side-eyed him from my position in the passenger seat. “Sometimes, it’s like you can read my mind.”

  “No, I just pay attention.” He threw the Jeep in park, and got out, coming around to meet me by the door, and together we walked into the house. Asi and Ash had gone to her apartment to get a few things for our stay at Ashley’s family’s house, so they hadn’t arrived with us.

  As soon as we got to the door, my mom was there, throwing her arms around me. “Your father told me what happened with Zach today. I’m so sorry, Jess. I feel like you just keep getting stuck in a mess we’ve made for you.”

  “No, it’s not your fault, mom. Zach’s fucking nuts, and you didn’t make him that way.”

  “Jess, language!”

  “Mom, I’m an adult.”

  “So!”

  “Fine.” I relented. It was her house, after all.

  My father greeted us at the door, and stepped aside so we could come in. Once we were all settled in the living room he was ready to get things started. “Okay, I’ve had a long damn day, and truth be told, I am ready for some sleep. So, what was so important it couldn’t wait until tomorrow?”

  “Jess is the white wolf.” Evan said, and my parents both blanched. “Since she seemed at a loss as to why that is important, I wondered if it was just because you guys didn’t understand fully what it meant.”

  I was stumped, looking back and forth between my parents and Evan like I was watching the ball flying over the net in a tennis game.

  “We knew she was different. It wasn’t until recently that we discovered
how different. It wasn’t until you marked her, that she was strong enough to resist the will of her elders here. Until then everything seemed normal, and we thought she was a white wolf in coloring only.”

  “So, for the past two weeks, you’ve known that she was more, and you didn’t think it was important to tell her?”

  “Um, guys, I am sitting right here. When is someone going to fill me in?

  “We still don’t understand ourselves,” my mother interrupted everyone. “How can this be? We’ve always been told that the white wolf only ever presents in the Ancient clans, those with pure blood lines.”

  “Are you so sure you’re blood line isn’t pure?” Evan asked.

  “I’m aware that I am of Ancient origin, but Eileen is not. Her grandfather was a human who was turned.”

  “Dad? You’re an Ancient?”

  “Believe it or not, some Ancients didn’t hold to the beliefs that our lines were better without humans in them. Yes, both of my parents were Ancients. They wanted a simpler life though. They came to find this pack, and by sheer accident, my father wound up being the pack master. No one would have been able to beat him in a challenge, because he was an Ancient Alpha. It wasn’t something he meant to put to the test though. Anyway, it’s a long story, and not important to what’s going on with Jess right now.

  “I don’t mean to be indecent in any way, but are you certain that your grandfather was your biological grandfather, Eileen?”

  “What kind of question is that?”

  “The kind I’m asking because your daughter is a white wolf, one that hasn’t been seen in over three hundred years, and that have only presented to direct bloodline of Ancients.”

  “STOP!” I shouted at all of them. “No more asking if Gam Gam was a whore. No more talk of ‘holy shit my dad’s an Ancient.’ I need for someone to fill me in on this white wolf stuff, and what it means for me.”

  “Jess,” my mom shrunk in on herself. “We really didn’t think it was possible, or we would have told you sooner.”

  “Sooner? You still haven’t told me anything.”