“We have a date tomorrow. It’s just a walk or something, nothing major, but hopefully between today’s lunch, and tomorrow, the headaches will subside for a while.”
“And when is your next date with Evan?”
I stuffed a huge spoonful of ice cream in my mouth to keep from answering right away. I hadn’t talked to Evan since he left the restaurant so I wasn’t entirely sure what would be happening with us. I swallowed and sighed immediately. “Who knows? I guess it all depends on when he gets his head out of his ass. It’s kind of hard to kiss with it stuck in there, you know?”
Ashley was howling with laughter at that. “Yeah, he better bring his A-game next time he sees you, because nothing short of that is going to put Bitch-Jessica back to bed.”
“You’re an asshat!”
“I know, that’s why you love me.” She blew a chocolaty kiss my way.
JUST A WALK
I stood there, staring at my reflection in the full length mirror on the back of Ashley’s bedroom door. I was wearing an older pair of worn out, slim fit jeans. The knees were frayed into holes, and the ends of my pant legs were tattered. They didn’t look bad, they looked stylishly frayed, even though the look was a result of wear and tear not a store bought finish. I matched the jeans with a long sleeve black t-shirt that had white lettering that read, “I see the assassins have failed.” I paired the outfit with running shoes, since Mikael mentioned our date would take place mostly outside, and involved lots of walking.
I tossed my hair up into a ponytail and didn’t bother with the makeup. I looked over at the clock on the wall, it was 10:30, and Mikael was supposed to be here in an hour to pick me up. “Thanks for letting me get picked up here, Ash. I really didn’t want to be stuck riding in a car with Mikael for 25 minutes each way into and out of town from my parents’ place.”
“No, worries,” she called back from the kitchen, where she was studying at the table. I didn’t want to disturb her, because I knew she was cramming for her upcoming exam, but I couldn’t stand here staring at myself in the mirror for the next hour, so I headed to the kitchen anyway.
“What do you think?” I did a quick twirl to show off my very casual outfit.
“Honestly?” A smile quirked up the corners of her mouth. “The shirt is hilarious, and even though you thought it would be insulting, I think Mikael is going to love it. You look like you’re dressed for a date with him. I like it. This is the Jess that’s always lounging around my apartment, watching TV, and making fun of scary movies with me.”
“Maybe I should change then?” I backed up, but Ashley jumped up and caught my hand.
“Oh, no you don’t. It’s perfect, and this is what you’re going with.” She glared at me then, “don’t make me go all bad- ass werewolf on you!” I laughed, but before I could say anything my phone started ringing.
“Hello?” I answered the phone to a ragged intake of breath on the other end.
“Hey, Jess.” Evan’s deep voice pulled at my heartstrings. It had been forever since we just had a nice conversation between the two of us without all the fighting. “I um, wanted to say I was sorry for how I acted yesterday. I know things aren’t easy on you…” His voice trailed off, and the silence went on for a few heartbeats before he started up again. I don’t know if he had been expecting me to say something, but I just didn’t know what to say to that. He had been a jerk, and he did need to apologize. “I’m going to try to do better, okay?”
“Fine.” I managed to croak out. “Evan, I hate all the fighting. What’s the point if that’s all we do?”
“I know.” Another sigh escaped him. “Believe me, I know.” There were another few minutes of silence that I didn’t bother to fill before he started talking again. “Listen, do you have anything planned for today?” I didn’t answer as guilt twisted my insides. “I thought maybe we could sit down and talk about whatever you and Mikael decided yesterday when I left like an idiot.”
“Evan, I…” How the hell did I put this without setting him off? “Um, Mikael’s picking me up soon for some outdoorsy thing. It’ll be a few hours.”
I heard the low level growl through the phone, even though he was clearly trying to keep it down. “I should have known. I left it open for him to jump right in. He did, and you agreed to it, of course.”
“Don’t.” I stated evenly, not wanting to lose my patience with him again today.
“No, you know, this is what I get for walking out yesterday. You punish me by jumping right into a date with him.”
“Oh my God! Not everything is about you, Evan! I didn’t watch you walk out yesterday, and think, ‘hey, I’m going to screw with him and date his brother.’” It was my turn to growl, and there was anger in it. “I can’t take the headaches anymore. I need to get this date over with so that they will stop, but you’re too much of an ass to see that. And guess what? You didn’t try hard enough to be understanding-AGAIN!” I hung up the phone. This was getting out of hand, and I wasn’t sure how much longer I would be able to keep it up. The fighting was becoming too much already, and I hadn’t even had an actual date with Mikael yet. I wondered what Evan would be like when I did go on a date with his brother, and then came around with his scent on me. My phone started ringing again. I looked down, and saw it was Evan calling, and I tossed down on the table unanswered.
“I don’t know why he’s being such an asshole! I mean, how many ways do you have to tell a guy that you only want him? Not to mention, he knows how you feel about being forced into these dates with Mikael. I swear, if he was here I would punch him in the face for you!” Ashley was livid. These weren’t even her guy troubles. She was angry for me.
“I don’t even know what to do anymore.” I flopped down in a kitchen chair, completely defeated.
“I’ll tell you what you’re going to do. You, my dear, are going to get your ass up, put a smile on that pretty little face of yours, and have a good damn time with Mikael today. Forget Evan, forget about Antoine’s forcing you to do things, and just go enjoy yourself for one day. There don’t have to be strings attached. Just let yourself have a good time. You deserve it, and if anyone has a problem with that, they can deal with me!”
“Okay, fine, but take my mind off of it. I still have a little over thirty minutes to wait for him to get here. I’m nervous. I have no clue what to expect from Mikael.”
“Duh, that’s because you don’t know him. Not really, anyway.” Ashley looked thoughtful for a minute then changed the subject. “So, Asi and I are trying to decide where to go from here. I mean we spend most of our time here, since he shares that place with Evan right now, but we were thinking about trying to get into a place out on the pack lands. Maybe, not until this semester of school is over with though.”
“Wow, you’re going to move in together?”
“Well, we are all already bonded.”
“I know, and if you had grown up a wolf, I wouldn’t think twice about it. You grew up with all the human concepts of relationships though. Are you sure you’re ready for that step?”
“I think so, and honestly, I’m hoping if we get a place all set up that even if Evan decides to run off, Asi won’t have to go with him this time. You know?”
“Why would Evan run off?” A near panic caught me in its grasp, thinking that maybe Ashley knew something I didn’t.
“I’m not saying he’s going to, but with the way things have been going between you two lately, I just worry that if you decide he’s not the one for you that he’ll take off and Asi will be stuck by his side, which leaves me with a crazy choice.”
“I hadn’t even thought of all that. I guess I didn’t put any thought into things not working out between Evan and me. I mean, he’s been pissing me off lately, but…” I didn’t even finish the sentence before Ashley was up on her feet, around the table, and hugging me close to her.
“I didn’t mean to give you another worry. It’s just something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. There are some thi
ngs that I’m unsure of with the pack structure. We’re a bonded pair now, so I wasn’t sure how that would work. Would I have to go with him? Would I be forced to? Could he stay if he wanted, or is his bond to Evan more important?”
“Oh, God, Ash. I’m sorry, these are things you should be learning from the pack, or at least from me. Why didn’t you come to me sooner instead of keeping it all to yourself?”
“Are you kidding? Look at the mountain of shit you’re already wading through. I didn’t want to add to your troubles, or worse, say something that would affect your decision.”
“Why would it affect my decision?” Then it dawned on me. If I chose not to be with Evan after all, he left, and took Asi with him, I would lose Ashley. “Man, this sucks. It was all good when we were best friends who were in love with best friends.”
“Yeah, and I caught the past tense you used there, so maybe you’re not as sure as you keep thinking you are.”
The doorbell rang, and I looked up, thankful for the interruption until I remembered who was likely waiting out on the stoop. I was suddenly nervous all over again as I went to open the door. Mikael was there with a big grin plastered across his face, as his dark brown hair fell over green eyes that were nearly as bright as my own. He was wearing rough jeans, a zipped up black leather motorcycle jacket, black boots, and he had a helmet in his hands.
“Nice shirt!” He commented on the heels of a full, rich laugh. I just stood there like an idiot, my wolf was basking in the resonating sound, and I was staring. Finally, Mikael called out over my shoulder, “Hello, Ashley!”
“Mikael,” she walked over and nudged me out of the way. “Jess sometimes forgets her manners. Would you like to come in?”
“Actually, we have somewhere to be,” he looked at me, and raised his eyebrows in a questioning way, “if you’re ready?”
I finally snapped out of it. “Yeah, um, let me grab my wallet.”
“You really won’t be needing that, but if it makes you feel better…”
As I walked off I heard Ashley try to speak quiet enough that I wouldn’t hear her. “You better treat her right. She’s had a pretty shitty week, and if I find out you made it worse, bad things will happen!”
“Just for curiosity’s sake, what kind of bad things are we talking here, Ash?”
“Oh you know,” she mimed grabbing balls and ringing them tightly in her fist, “really bad things.”
Mikael cleared his throat. “Well, lucky for me, I don’t think that will be necessary, but I will definitely keep that in mind.” He backed up out of the doorway as he saw me coming closer, tugging my own leather jacket on. “Here,” he said as he handed me the helmet, “this is for you.”
“Where’s yours?”
“It’s on my bike, but I wanted to make sure this would fit you before we left. Humor me, and try it on.”
There was no way that thing would fit over my head with the high pony tail I had, so I handed the helmet back, reached up, grabbed the hairband, and pulled it from my hair. Mikael’s eyes never left mine as I did. He cleared his throat again, and instead of handing the helmet back to me, he moved forward, and gently worked on placing it on my head for me. Standing so close, his naturally woodsy scent wrapped around me. I had to fight the instinct to lean in closer, and roll around in that scent. Damn. My. Wolf.
As soon as he finished fastening the chin strap, I took a step back. “How bad is it?”
“Not bad at all.” His husky voice trailed across my skin like a light brush of fingertips, and I had to remind myself that I didn’t like Mikael.
“Um, maybe we should just get going then.” I offered, and he held out his hand to escort me over to the motorcycle he had parked at the curb. I ignored the gesture, pushed past him, and walked over all by myself. He trailed behind me, giving me space, or maybe feeling rejected. As he came around the other side of the bike and threw his leg over in one, steady, graceful motion, I saw the look on his face. No, he wasn’t feeling dejected at all. He was taking up a challenge. Mikael patted the back of the bike with his right hand, and I obliged by hopping on the back. I left as much space as I could between the two of us, but he reached back, with both hands, grabbed me around the waist and pulled until I my front was flush up against his back. Then he took my hands and put them around his waist.
“You’re going to want to hang on tight, Jess. I don’t like to go slow!” With that he turned the bike on, revved the engine beneath us, and took off.
Oh. God. He was going to be so much trouble. All I could smell as we breezed through downtown, heading north, was him. I didn’t dare stop holding him tight, but I tried not to think about the fact that my legs were straddling him, and my arms were wrapped around his middle. To top it off, he smelled so delightful. Thankfully, our jackets were a buffer against what I may have felt there. I was trying very hard to remain detached, even thinking of Evan to calm the hormones that were betraying me. My wolf didn’t care how I felt though, she was all about the feel of Mikael’s body on ours and the smell of him tantalizing our senses.
Thankfully, the trip didn’t take too long, but I was certainly surprised at where we ended up. Once Mikael parked, I slid off the back of the bike, unfastened the helmet, and put it down on the seat. “What’s going on?” The run-down brick building in front of us was not where I expected to end up.
“Come on, it’s a surprise,” he offered his hand, and this time I took it. “They were having an event here today that I didn’t want to miss, so I factored it into our date. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Of course not.” I offered, still puzzled as to why Mikael would bring me here. “You do know this is an animal shelter, right?”
“Well, the paw prints on the signs, and all the barking from out back were a pretty big tip off.” His words were dripping with sarcasm, but he wasn’t making fun of me, just making light of the situation. It was obvious I was stunned that he would bring me here.
“I don’t think it’s safe to ride that,” I pointed back to his motorcycle as we continued advancing on the building, “while holding a puppy.”
“Who said anything about riding a motorcycle with a puppy? That’s just silly, Jess! Come on. The sooner we get in there, the sooner your curiosity will be appeased.”
“Okay, fine. Just so you know, I’m not going near the cat side. They don’t like me.” I shivered at a memory from my childhood. When he looked at me quizzically I offered up the story. “I was little, maybe six or seven, and I found a stray cat near our school. I’m not sure what possessed it to come so close to the pack lands. Normally, felines have an instinct to stay away. Anyway, it looked horrible, half starved, and filthy. I tried to coax it out at lunch, using bits of my chicken nuggets. When I finally got it close enough I pounced on it, and tried to love it. The damn thing clawed the hell out of me, and then it bit the tip of my nose.” I pointed to a tiny little wisp of a scar that was still visible, and he leaned in to get a better look. Before I knew what was happening, Mikael nipped my nose with his lips, and backed away quickly as I smacked at him.
“Aw, come on, you had to see that one coming?” Mikael was laughing at me.
“Clearly, I did not.”
“Mikael!” A short, older, blond woman called out as we walked through the door.
“Ah, Jackie, you look lovely, today!” He leaned in and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. She pulled back, clearly blushing.
“Oh stop!” She played at pushing him away from her, but I noticed she allowed her fingers to linger on his chest a bit longer than necessary. I couldn’t blame her. Most woman would probably do the same in her position. I might have been forced to date him, but I was pretty sure there were plenty of women who would have traded me positions in a heartbeat and not had a problem with the circumstances one bit. “Who’s your friend?” Jackie asked as she looked around him, towards me.
“This is Jessica St. Marks, my date for the day.”
“Well, now, she is lovely.” I was starting t
o get a bit perturbed by the fact that they were both talking about me as if I wasn’t there. “Is this the one you were talking about last week?” Now, it was me turning a quizzical eye on Mikael, waiting for an answer.
“A man has to keep his secrets, Jackie. Do I need to school you on discretion?”
“Okay, fine.” She said, playfully touching his arm this time. “Well, dear, it was very nice to meet you. Make sure this one treats you right!”
“Thank you, I will.” I offered as another woman stuck her head out of a doorway calling for Jackie.
“Why don’t you take her to see the puppies, Mikael? I have to run and rescue Sarah.”
“Shall we?” Mikael held his arm out for me, offering his escort services. I decided, what the hell, and played along, lacing my arm in his. It was worth it when I saw the surprised expression cross his face.
“So, clearly you come here often. Either that or you’re secretly dating Jackie behind my back.”
“Jealous?”
“Not in the least.” It was true, but only because my wolf hadn’t seen Jackie’s advances as threatening. They were more of a playful annoyance.
As soon as we walked into the area of the shelter known as ‘the puppy room’ the strangest thing happened. Every single puppy in the place got quiet and moved over as close to the edge of their cages as they could, trying to get closer to us. I had never seen anything like it. Mikael bent down at the first enclosure and started talking softly to the four little lab mix puppies that were there. “Okay, settle down you guys, you’ll each get some loving, no need to climb all over one another.” As if by magic, the pups stopped what they were doing, and waited their turns.
I was speechless. What did you say to something like that? Mikael opened the cage, reached in and grabbed out the one puppy that had been ignoring him, and staring off over his shoulder at me. “I think he likes you.”
I reached down and took the puppy, cuddling him close to me, nuzzling his furry chocolate-brown face with my nose. “Oh, you are so sweet, and soft, and cuddly.” Just like that, all my reservations left me. I lost myself in that puppy. One after another, Mikael introduced me to all of them. There were fourteen puppies in the puppy room. They were all equally adorable, and by the time I finished meeting them all I wasn’t sure I could part with them. “Oh my God, they’re all so sweet. I just want to move in, and take care of them.”
Falling into the White (The Ancients Series) Page 3
