“The white wolf is revered among the Ancient, Jess. She is always female, and only seen once in every few generations and we live long lives unless something unnatural happens to us, so you have to understand it could be a couple to a few hundred years before another presents itself. The last white wolf died nearly two centuries ago, and my people thought it was a sign. The end of our people that the white wolf hasn’t been around to rule her kind.”
“To rule her kind?” I questioned.
“When a white wolf is born, she’s normal, aside from her wolf’s coloring when she goes through the changing. Within a year after transitioning completely though, she comes into a great amount of power. Over the next few years she will grow into even more, until the white wolf is the most powerful of our kind. She is our natural ruler. People like my father, the King of the Ancients, only rule when no white wolf has taken the place of the last. You haven’t heard of a white wolf ruler, because there hasn’t been one in so long.”
“What the fuck?” I stood up and started pacing. “Mom? Did your family lie about who your grandfather was?”
“Jessica Marie!”
“No seriously, I think this is important. I need to know if this is possible? Am I going to turn into some white wolf freak? What if her grandfather really was a human who turned? Does that mean there’s no way I can be this white wolf you’re talking about?”
“Jess, we’ll figure it out, but I am going to caution you, as your parents already have. Do not shift in front of others just yet. Has anyone other than Ashley and Jack ever seen your wolf?”
“Marcus has.”
“What?” My dad asked.!
“He saw me once when I was alone out by the lake. He never said anything, but I knew he was there, watching from the tree line. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, because I thought he was just out running, and saw an unfamiliar wolf, and stopped to see who it was. He saw me though, and he followed me home. He stayed far enough behind that it didn’t spook me. And like I said, I thought he was just making sure he knew who it was, or that I got home safely. It wasn’t long after the accident with Ashley, Jack, and Sierra.”
“SHIT!” My dad yelled. “No wonder he was always so adamant about the union with Zach.”
“We need to find him.” Evan said.
“Don’t worry, I will get my men on it first thing. I’ll just tell them that he’s been helping Zach try to stalk Jessica down to get back at me. They already hate his cowardice, and it will get them all riled up that much more.”
“Maybe we should cancel the trip to see Ashley’s family?”
“What? No! We can’t do that. The cabin isn’t far from here, it’s just on the other side of pack lands. Marcus won’t come that close. We’ll be fine.”
Ashley walked in then, having heard the last little bit of our conversation. “Why would you cancel coming to my family’s cabin? Did you two have another tiff?”
“No, Ash. Apparently I really am a mutant, and Marcus is probably plotting to get me as a result.”
“Oh, so… anyone want to fill us in?” Asi popped his head around the corner then, hands filled with bags.
“Where should I put all of this?” I pointed to the corner of the room. “A weekend, and she’s packed for a month long excursion.” He was mumbling under his breath, but we could all hear him.
“A girl always has to be prepared, Asi!” Ashley said to him. Then she turned back to me. I got up from the loveseat I had been sitting in, and went to sit on Evan’s lap. The gesture surprised him, but I saw that smile streak across his face again, so it had been totally worth it.
“You can tell them. I’m tired, and I’m just going to sit here, in your lap, and listen. Maybe if I hear it again it will all sink in.” Evan pulled me closer, so that my head was resting on his chest, near his shoulder, and he kissed the top of it, while he waited for Asriel and Ashley to settle in.
“So, what’s up this time?” Ashley asked.
Evan started from the beginning with the white wolf history, all the way up to seeing me in his apartment earlier, and then explained that Marcus knows, and he’s a danger. Ashley’s face was priceless. She was literally looking at me like I had grown two heads. Asriel, meanwhile, looked like he was about to get sick.
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize sooner.” His eyes were bugging out of his head.
“Asi, she’s still Jess. It’s okay.” Evan was laughing a little. I loved the feel of the vibration through his chest as he laughed.
“But, I’ve been so disrespectful. I bonded with her best friend without permission too…”
“Oh, I could have so much fun with this. I am suddenly seeing the perks!” I squealed and clapped my hands.
“Be nice!” Evan said, still laughing.
“Asriel,” I stated in my most official sounding voice. I nearly lost it when he sat up straighter. “Don’t ever change man, I will be pissed if you suddenly start acting like a little pansy ass twat around me.”
“Jessica!” My mom started again, then just threw her hands up in the air, in her typical frustrated pose. “I’m going to bed, we can figure everything out in the morning.” My father followed her to the back of the house. They had an entire master sweet on the lower level of the house. The upstairs was mine complete with my own bedroom, bathroom, and even another room that my mom let me turn into a little library when it was clear that I wasn’t going to have any siblings.
“So, where are we to sleep tonight, your highness?” Asi started in on me. I was so happy that his usual sarcastic tone was back in his voice.
“The couch folds out, Ash knows where everything is.” I got up off of Evan’s lap, and pulled him forward with me, heading for the stairs. I was also thinking, it was really time to get my own place. I hadn’t needed one before, but now every time I thought about bringing a man to my room in my parents’ house, I was a little weirded out. Not that I had plans to get busy with him or anything, but still.
When we got upstairs I grabbed a pair of sleep shorts and a tank top to sleep in and went to the bathroom to change. Evan had already seen me completely nude a few times now, but I really didn’t need the temptation. I promised my parents I would wait for our bonding. Actually, if I was being honest with myself, it wasn’t even that holding me back. It was the fact that the last time we were intimate I had to face losing him the next day. When I finished changing and got back in my room I was surprised to see Evan had changed into sweats and a t-shirt. It was actually the first time I’d ever seen him dressed down, and honestly the look suited him just as well as his usual sleek casual style. “Hey,” I said quietly.
“One of those bags Asi brought was mine.”
“Oh, I was wondering.” I walked over and climbed up on my bed, sliding over closer to the wall so Evan could get in behind me. We were lying face to face as his arm slipped around my waist, fingers rubbing little circles into my lower back. “Mmmm,” the low moan was unintentional. “That feels good. I can’t remember the last time someone scratched my back.”
“Roll over.”
I hesitated only briefly, but then when I turned facing away from him, he pulled the bottom of my tank top up far enough that he could reach under, and scratch long lines up and down the length of my back unhindered. If I had been part cat instead of wolf, I would have been purring. Hell, I think I may have been purring anyway. It felt that good. “Does this change things between us?” I asked, now that thoughts of my wolf had surfaced.
“Scratching your back? Maybe. You know the saying, I scratch your back, you scratch mine.” I could hear the laughter in his voice.
“I have no problem with that, but that’s not what I meant.”
“We never did really get our talk in, did we?”
“No, we didn’t.”
“Okay, how about you tell me what worries you, and I address those things first.”
“Okay.” Now I felt slightly put on the spot, but any tension that built up seemed to slip rig
ht back away as he continued those long strokes up and down my back with his fingertips. “Me being a white wolf, does that change anything between us?”
“Other than me being more concerned about you, no.”
“Why the worry? I mean, I guess I don’t get it. If I am going to be the most powerful wolf or whatever, wouldn’t that… doesn’t that make me a bad ass that you shouldn’t have to worry over so much?”
“Jess, the white wolf is revered and loved, but more than that, when she appears she’s coveted. She’s also feared by those in power. If anything, this makes my family more dangerous to you. Mikael can’t know what you are. Just as Markus tried to bond you to his flesh and blood, others would too, because they think it will allow them sway in your decision making later. They think by being linked to you, they will achieve greater power as well. Then there are the others who think that by taking out the white wolf, men can continue to rule, as they are destined to.”
“Our werewolf society was one of the few who accepted the supreme rule of a woman, and we flourished under the white wolf’s rule before. Think about the world you live in, males are in charge of your pack and tell the females who they will bond with. In the human world, it’s no different really. Males run things for the most part.”
“Yeah, that’s why the world’s so screwed.” I laughed, trying to lighten the subject. I didn’t want to think about people wanting me dead just because I was a woman who would one day rule things. “Won’t this make things easier with your family though? I mean, if we bond, then you’ll be by my side.”
“Jess, I’m not sure my father will want to relinquish his power, and certainly not to a woman and his third born son from a second mate.”
“Oh.” I turned over to face him again, effectively ending the back rub. “But even with all of this hanging over my shoulders, that doesn’t change anything for you?”
“No. I’ve felt a pull to you since that first night, Jess. Like we were meant to be, and to be honest, I’m not one to play into the whole fate thing. When I left here the other night, it was out of respect for your father. He was more than a little pissed. I smelled like you, and in more than a scent exchange kind of way.”
“Yeah, I remember.” I felt the warmth that crept into my cheeks as images of what he had done to me that night danced around in my head.
“Well, I left, with every intention of coming back in the morning. Only when I got home, I had a call from my father to deal with, and he was not happy to hear that was possible bonding myself to a Lesser.”
“I don’t get that.”
“I know. It’s an old way of thinking. It actually stems from the white wolf. If there aren’t any ancients around to produce one, then we will never see her rule again. You have to understand that under the white wolf’s rule, we have known great prosperity. So, our laws were made up to ensure that we would always be guaranteed her return.”
“There hasn’t been one in a long time though. Surely that train of thought has to cease at some point.”
“Yes and no. My father is stubborn in his ways. He doesn’t like interbreeding, for his own reasons. He thinks we’ll be diluting our pure blood if we mingle with the Lesser.”
“And you? Do you think that?”
“I’m here, right now, aren’t I?”
“Yeah, but there’s a chance I might not be Lesser.”
“True, but I liked you before we knew that.” He reached up and gently brushed a stray piece of hair back from my face. “After I spoke with my father, who was none too happy with me, yours showed up. Don’t be mad at him, Jess. He has your best interest at heart, and he was worried about the King coming down on you for daring to be with his son. He was right to worry. Between our two fathers, I started to see things from a different perspective. I had to think about whether or not I was putting you in harm’s way by trying to be with you, no matter how much I wanted to be. I couldn’t be the reason you were hurt, killed, or had to say goodbye to your family when we had to run. It killed me not to talk to you. I worked those poor contractors like slaves in the club to keep my mind off of you, off of everything. It didn’t really work, and then Ashley texted me that I needed to talk to you…” The look that crossed his face was so sad. “I thought if I sent a cold message, you’d think I was just a jerk who took advantage of you and moved on. It would have been safer for you.” He pulled me closer, as if just talking about it now was pushing us too far from each other. “When you drove by with that human, I thought I was going to rip the town apart. I wanted to rip him apart. I tore off after the car the moment you passed by, and I would have caught you had Mikael not tackled me, and tried to talk some sense into me.” He sighed into my hair as he pulled me even closer. “Then you yelled at me, and wouldn’t talk to me anymore, and I knew I had blown everything, and that I couldn’t… I didn’t want to be without you, Jess. I wasn’t sure how to fix the stupid thing I’d done either. I came here, and you still wouldn’t talk to me. I waited until Ashely had a chat with you, I wasn’t sure she would help, but she understood what I had done. So, I was hopeful. Then I came up to try one more time, and you were sleeping. I curled up beside you, because I couldn’t stand never being able to be that close to you again.”
“Evan?”
“Yeah, Jess?”
“Don’t ever do anything that stupid again.”
“I won’t. I promise.”
“Good.” I snuggled into him a little more, and kissed his neck, just under his chin, eliciting a soft moan from him. It made me smile as I inhaled his familiar spicy scent. “I’m so tired,” I said through the middle of a yawn.
“Go to sleep, Jess. We can talk more tomorrow.”
MEETING THE FAMILY
In the morning, I awoke to the smell of bacon cooking downstairs. Bacon and coffee.
“Bless my momma. She’s going to feed us all before we go!” I said as I sat up in the bed and stretched. Evan pulled me back down beside him, wrapping his arms around me, and snuggling his head into my chest. Just that one simple gesture warmed me all over, and in my mind I was suddenly reliving the night that Evan had his hands and mouth all over me.
Evan stiffened beside me, obviously able to scent the shift in my hormones, and in seconds his body was hovering over my own. We were barely touching. He was holding himself just an inch above me and he leaned down, kissing my lips lightly. I reached up, wrapping my arms around his neck to pull him in closer for a deeper kiss, but he took each of my arms in his hands and plastered them down to the bed. “Be still.” His voice was thick, and the look in his eyes said he was hungry for more than just the breakfast we could smell cooking downstairs. He dipped his head back down, kissing me again, and then he let his body drop enough so that I could feel every bit of him against me. I groaned, loudly, and that’s when he hopped up off of me, and was across the room before I knew what happened.
“Evan?”
“I am not going toe to toe with your dad this morning, love. I’m grabbing a cold shower while you get dressed, and then we’re going to have a distance rule until we leave here.” I stalked over to him, backing him up until he couldn’t go any further, thanks to the wall behind him.
My fingers were tracing the line of his pectorals through his shirt, and down the length of his abdomen until I got to the waistband of his sweats. “I could help you out of these, before you go.” I started tugging them down inch by inch when his hands stopped me.
“Jess…” he hissed as he looked down at me through hooded eyes. “I only have so much self-control when it comes to you, please, don’t push me or I will help you break that promise you made your family.”
That did it. He was right, if we continued, we’d be bonded, and have to face the wrath of both of our families. “Uggh,” I grunted out as I turned away from him. “You better go then, and save me some cold water.” He laughed at that.
Jack and Sierra were sitting around the kitchen table when I got downstairs too, along with Ashley, Asriel, my parents,
and Evan. He gave me a knowing look when my eyes landed on him, and I turned to grab a cup of coffee before anyone could see me blushing.
“Morning Jess!” Jack had come up behind me, almost causing me to spill my filled to the brim cup of coffee.
“Jesus, Jack. A little personal space!” I set my cup down on the counter, and turned for the hug that I knew was coming. He picked me up in a giant bear hug, and elicited squeals from me.
“He already got me this morning.” Ashley was laughing. “I swear he should have been a bear and not a wolf, with the way he likes to hug everyone. Seriously, it’s a dysfunction, Jack!”
“You know you love it, Ashley.”
“Jack, come sit down, Jess needs her coffee in the morning, otherwise she’s a bitch.”
I turned to look at Sierra, “always a pleasure, Si.”
“I know,” she said to me, and she meant it. Sierra and I had become something akin to friends over the years after what happened the day of my changing, but we were never going to have an easy relationship. I think a huge part of her still blamed me for her getting shot and not being able to have children. Not that it was my fault she followed me to threaten me about Zach, but she didn’t see it that way.
I sat down next to Evan and sipped my coffee while I grabbed a piece of bacon from the pile in the middle of the table. “There are eggs over on the stove, Jess.” My mom said as she turned to grab something out of the refrigerator.
“Thanks mom.” I got ready to get back up, but Evan put his hand on my shoulder to keep me in place and stood instead. He walked over and grabbed a plate, piling some eggs on it for me.
“Isn’t that sweet,” Sierra said. “It’s funny how things turn out, isn’t it, Jess?”
“How so, Sierra?”
“Well, that day in the woods, we were fighting over Zach, and here we are, neither of us with him.”
“We weren’t fighting over Zach. You were telling me he’d be yours, and I was trying not to care while I went through the calling, and my shift for the first time.”
Shadows of the Ancients Page 18
