The Ancients Series

by Christine M. Butler

  “Sorry, I got hung up in the parking lot. The new bike sure does get people talking.” Mikael said as he came in around the opposite side of the table that Evan had. He proceeded to park his ass in the chair to my left. We were not, nor had we ever been, on kissing terms so he never attempted to greet me the way Evan had, thankfully.

  Evan’s chair slid back, as if he were preparing to jump across the table at his brother. “What is he doing here?” He breathed through clenched teeth.

  “Please, calm down, I thought we could all talk this out like adults.”

  Evan noticed that Mikael was not the least bit surprised to be sitting here with the two of us. I had already warned Mikael about the fact that this was going to be a group date so we could get a few things understood between the three of us, before I officially started dating both of them. Not that I wanted to date them both. Their father, Antoine-King of the werewolves, couldn’t order me to bond with his older son; but he did command me to at least date and try getting to know him between now and the summer solstice. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Dating Mikael meant pissing off Evan, but not doing it meant facing untold pain in order to defy Antoine. I know, because I tried.

  I called them both here to figure out a way to do this with some kind of rules, so that I wasn’t forced to endure more lectures from Evan, disappointment when I turned Mikael down, or pain when as I disobeyed Antoine. I hadn’t told Evan about the fact that Mikael would be here though. I may be the fated white wolf ruler one day, when I come into my full power, but for now I was still a woman new to the dating scene, and wishing it weren’t this complicated.

  “You knew I’d be here?” Evan asked his brother.

  “Of course I did. Jess told me she wanted to talk to both of us, to get some things straight so that there were no hard feelings or problems down the road.”

  Evan was looking at me in an accusatory manner then. “You never told me about that.” He snapped at me.

  “Because every time I tried to suggest it, all last week, you just got angry and ended the conversation or walked away. I figured if we all just showed up at the same place you would…” I wasn’t quite sure how to phrase the rest of what I wanted to say to him, and I tripped over my words as I desperately attempted to come up with a polite way of telling him to just cooperate and stop being an ass.

  “That I’d what?” He snapped again, impatiently.

  “Have to deal with it. Be an adult. Get over yourself.” Mikael offered helpfully. Well, he did it a little more sarcastically than helpful.

  I sighed heavily. “I definitely underestimated your reaction. Please, this is hard enough on me, must you make it worse?” I asked Evan. When Mikael snickered I rounded on him too. “That was meant for you too. You’re both making this beyond difficult for me.”

  Evan looked pointedly at Mikael, “it doesn’t have to be. He could be a real man, respect your wishes, and end this madness now.”

  “If I thought you were best for Jess, I would, but you’re not. So, I won’t.” Silence greeted his comment. I was staring open mouthed at Mikael, and Evan looked like he was ready to commit murder right here in my favorite restaurant. As if we couldn’t get better timing the waitress came back, nearly drooling all over herself, trying to take Mikael’s order.

  “Can I get a...” he paused for a minute eyeing the two of us first, “aw, hell, what do you have on tap?”

  The waitress smiled sweetly at him and listed off five different beers they had on tap, including one from a Louisiana brewery.

  “I’ll take the Parade Ground, when in a fake Cajun restaurant might as well drink like it’s the real thing.” I was seriously contemplating ordering one too, or maybe ten.

  The waitress smiled sweetly, saying, “anytime you want a little bit of Louisiana, you just let me know.”

  “Are you from there?”

  “Born and breed, sweetheart!” She said with a wink. Then she looked at me, and I’m not quite sure what she saw on my face, but she added, “I’ll be right back with that beer,” and scurried off to another table.

  Mikael didn’t miss a beat. “No fair, sweetheart! You brought us together to tell me I don’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell with you, and then you go scaring off the flirty wait staff. Tsk, tsk.”

  Of course he would have to call me out. I don’t even know why Mikael flirting with the waitress bothered me at all. Actually, it wasn’t really me it bothered, but my wolf. She liked Evan, but she also found something appealing about Mikael. Apparently, she was keeping her options open even if I wasn’t. I needed to have a serious talk with my wolf. “Whatever.” My not so clever response was lame, but it was the best I had at the moment. “Listen, this is…”

  I stopped because Evan was scooting his chair out and getting up. He stood there and threw a few twenty dollar bills out onto the table. “Lunch is on me, but I’m not sitting here with him through any discussion.” He leaned down, kissed the top of my head, and turned to leave.

  “Evan De’ Lune! If you leave me sitting here alone with your brother, he will be the only one I discuss things with from now on!” I was angry. More than that, I was tired of his shit, and thinking that he could keep walking away from me and that I’d be there when he pulled his head out of his ass.

  “See you later, Ev!” Mikael added through a snicker. I tossed him a look that I was sure would shut him up, but it only made him break out into full blown laughter. Jerk.

  Evan was not happy. He sat back down in a huff. “Fine! Can we get this over with? I have a business to go run.”

  “I have abso-fucking-lutely no clue where to start. You two are so freaking difficult to deal with that I completely forgot everything I wanted to say. What is it with your family?”

  “I love when you talk dirty.” Mikael had his chin planted firmly on a fist that rode up from the elbow he had on the table. My mom would have smacked my arm out from underneath me for sitting like that at a table. I rolled my eyes at Mikael. Evan growled.

  “I am so not talking dirty to you!” Evan was fiddling with his now empty sweet tea glass, and I went to put my hand on his, but he pulled away. I threw my hands up in the air, blew out a giant sigh, and got ready to leave myself. “You know what? Fuck you!” I said to Mikael, because he was a dick I didn’t want to deal with. “And fuck you too!” I said to Evan, because he was being a jerk, and treating me like this was all my choice, my fault, when his father was the one who put us all in this situation. “I’m done with all of this! I don’t know why I didn’t think of this sooner. If I am not dating one of you, I don’t have to date the other. I can just go live my happy little life without any of you.” I bent to grab my bag that I had put on the floor beside me, and the look of sheer panic on Mikael’s face when I did stopped me cold in my tracks. “What?”

  “You can’t.” He said softly.

  “I can, and I will.”

  “Did you forget the part where my father threatened to lock you up in a cage? I make light of this situation, because I’m trying to make the best of a bad one. Make no mistake though, Jess, my father will do whatever it takes to make sure his family stays in power. You can’t simply choose to walk away from both of us.”

  “You would do that?” Evan looked hurt, not worried. He ignored everything his brother just said, and focused on the fact that I had rejected him too.

  “Yes, I would, because you’re being an ass! And he’s already an ass.” I nodded to Mikael. “I can’t do this with you blaming me every few minutes for what has to happen, and him antagonizing everyone. I can’t. I won’t. I don’t even care, at this point, if your father does try to lock me up in a cage. The fact is, he can’t force me to bond with anyone.” Tears were in my eyes. I wasn’t on the verge of crying because I was sad, I was angry. “I’m the one your father tossed in the center of the ring for you to fight over, but guess what? I’m coming out with more wounds than either of you. If you keep this up, there won’t be anything left to think about f
ighting over, because I will hate you both.” That seemed to do the trick, because they both calmed down and promised to be on their best behavior for the rest of the meal. Our waitress came back and took our orders, but I wasn’t hungry anymore, so I asked for mine to be made to go. Mikael ordered a steak, rare.

  “I’ll have that right out for you, doll.”

  “Do you not see me sitting here?” I snapped at her.

  “Excuse me?” She asked, startled by my tone.

  “I’m sitting right here, and you’re flirting openly with someone I’m having lunch with. Do you even expect a tip?”

  “I thought you were with that one,” she pointed at Evan.

  “I’m with both.” When she looked at me funny, I smiled sweetly, “yeah, both!”

  “I’ll get your food out to you soon.” She said and walked off without another word. Mikael looked amused, and Evan was back to looking pissed.

  “You didn’t have to take everything out on the poor girl, how was she to know?”

  “Well, I’m in a mood, and she rubbed me the wrong way.”

  “I think she was offering to rub me the right way, though!” Mikael waggled his brows at me, and I just glared at him. “Tough crowd.” He took a sip of the beer the waitress finally brought out to him. “So, where do we start? What are your ground rules?”

  “No more togetherness. I don’t want to be in the same room with both of you at the same time anymore if I can help it.”

  “Easy enough,” Mikael offered.

  “Done.” Evan added.

  “No questions. I don’t want either of you asking what I did on a date with the other.” I thought for a moment and added, “If there is something major that you need to know, I will tell you.” They both nodded in agreement. “Sundays are off limits, for both of you. It’s my personal day where I don’t have to deal with anything if I don’t want to. My class schedule is also not to be interrupted unless it’s life or death. Thankfully, Ashley’s dad was able to get me an excuse for the time I missed when Marcus…” My gut clenched at his name, and I paused to swallow down the bile. Evan’s hand came up to hold mine, and Mikael offered me a sympathetic smile I didn’t want. I hated looking weak. I couldn’t help my reaction though. The scar I looked at on my shoulder when I dressed every day was a constant reminder of just how out of control my life had gotten. I was trying to take some of that control back for myself. “Anyway, I don’t want to miss anymore, because I would really like to graduate one day. It’s my personal goal, and I don’t want it fucked with. It’s something I had before any of you came along. It’s mine. I want it.”

  “Point taken,” Mikael said softly, while Evan just squeezed the hand he was still holding.

  I couldn’t think of anything else to add in that moment, so we sat for a while in an uncomfortable silence. When our food came, the bus boy and the manager brought it over. Our waitress was nowhere to be seen. “Shelly had an emergency, and took off for the rest of the day,” the manager explained. “I’ll take care of anything you need for the rest of the time you’re here.”

  “Thank you,” I all but whispered. Great, now I got to feel bad for running a woman out of work. I was just a giant ray of sunshine! Mikael held up his empty beer glass and before the manager, Geoff, could walk away, he also held up two fingers. Geoff just nodded at him and turned for the bar.

  I nibbled on my chips as the two of them ate their food. I wasn’t really sure where to go from here. Did we set up a date night schedule, or would I be forever trapped in an endless fight about who got dibs on a certain day? I groaned inwardly at the thought. Both Evan and Mikael stopped eating to look at me. Apparently, I had groaned outwardly too. I looked back and forth between them, and noticed a surprisingly astute look cross Mikael’s face.

  “Thinking about how we’re going to schedule things?”

  The shock that registered in my body language was apparent, and I was about to ask him how he read my damn mind, but he started telling me before I could.

  “I was thinking the same thing, when you groaned I figured it dawned on you too.”

  “Why not first come first serve?” Evan said sarcastically.

  “Yes, that way you can claim every day until the solstice.” Mikael shot back.

  “Well, I already did, when I claimed her publically, but apparently that doesn’t matter when daddy steps in and carves out a few days for you on her calendar.” For the first time in all of this I finally got to see Mikael peeved. He growled, but held his position at the table, unlike Evan who had already come half out of his seat.

  “And this is why I groaned in frustration. How do you want to do this? Every other day? Tuesdays and Thursdays for one Monday’s and Wednesdays for the other? I mean, seriously, what are the two of you going to be okay with?”

  “I’ll be okay with him taking a hike, and not coming back. Beyond that, I’m not okay with any of this. Not at all.” Evan wiped his mouth and hands with his napkin, and looked down at his phone again. “Our distributors brought the wrong fucking beer to the bar this morning. I need to go make sure everything was corrected. How about the two of you figure out the scheduling issue, and get back to me. I’m not going to be happy with whatever is decided, so there’s no need for my input.” With that, he got up and left.

  “Jess,” Mikael started and then paused momentarily. “I…” he sighed. I watched an internal struggle playing out on his face. “There’s a part of me that wants to let you off the hook, and let you go. And then there’s the part of me that likes you. The part that doesn’t like the choices my brother is making where you’re concerned is the one that’s keeping me here. I hope you don’t hate me for it, but I can’t just walk away. Honestly, even if I could, I don’t think my father would allow it. His schemes usually have some twisted end game that the rest of us fail to see.”

  It never even occurred to me that Mikael might actually be interested in me as anything other than the miraculous white wolf of power, but then Ashley’s speech from a while back was nagging at the back of my mind. Mikael had cared enough to come looking for me, before he knew what I was. I had to at least respect that. Mikael downed the rest of his beer that the manager had slipped on the table just as Evan was leaving.

  “How about we alternate Saturdays, and the rest of the days of the week are a free for all.” I smiled at that, but then he added, “I do at least want a fair shake, Jess.”

  “I can promise you an equal amount of time, but beyond that, I’m not sure what I can…”

  “I understand. You had my brother before I ever came along, and I didn’t exactly make the best first impression. I’ll work on changing your mind, if you keep it open.”

  I couldn’t say anything to that. Saying okay would mean a part of me was giving up on what I had with Evan, and even though he was being a royal pain in my ass about all this, I couldn’t fault him for it. I certainly wasn’t ready to give up on him. I gave Mikael a tight smile, and reached down for my bag.

  “I’ll do what I can,” I finally said to him as I stood to go. He got up and placed another bill on the table, I wasn’t sure the denomination, because I was already walking away. I was pretty sure the staff at Angelique’s were about to get a healthy tip for their troubles today though. As I reached the door I realized Mikael had stopped to talk to the manager momentarily, but before I could push the door all the way open, he was there by my side holding it for me. Mikael walked me to my Jeep, closed the door for me, and leaned in quickly to kiss my cheek. I didn’t try to stop him, but mostly because he was there and gone so fast I barely had time to register the gesture for what it was. As he walked away, I took the time to zip the window back up in my Jeep before I took off. I suddenly felt chilled to the bone, and it had nothing to do with the cooler air temperatures.

  Ashley, are you busy? I texted into my phone.

  Nope. How was the date? You never even told me which one you were with!

  Both of them, I texted back. Can I come over?
/>   Holy shit! The door’s open, and Asi’s working, get over here and spill!

  “Get in here, and fill me in on everything!” Ashley grabbed my arm, and pulled me through the door to her apartment at the speed of light.

  “Damn, Ashley, you’re a wolf now. That shit hurts!”

  “Oh, crap! Sorry, I forget sometimes.”

  “I’ll forgive you since you’re still adjusting.” I walked into the living room, and plopped down onto Ashley’s comfy couch, letting out a heavy sigh. “I didn’t even realize how stressed I was until you sucked it all out of me.” I pet the couch, like it was a living being, “good couch!” Ashley just laughed at me.

  “So, how did it go? More importantly, are you nuts, or something? What were you thinking going on a date with both of them?”

  “I was thinking, if we were in public we could settle some ground rules before things got out of hand.”

  “Why don’t you just not date Mikael at all, if Evan is who you want?”

  “It’s not that simple. I’ve tried ignoring Mikael, and it literally causes me pain. I’m talking shooting pains through my brain. Every time I see there’s a call from him and I don’t answer it-WHAP-instant headache. Every time he asks me to do something, and I say no, BAM-migraine central.”

  “Oh my God! Jess, I had no idea.”

  “That’s what it means to disobey a direct order, and its only getting worse. I don’t want to stroke out, or die from an aneurism, so I really don’t have a choice here. I needed them to both know that.”

  “Did you tell them about the pain?”

  “Not in so many words.” I picked at a piece of lint on my pants. “I mean, they were born into this life, so they must know what it feels like to disobey.”

  “Evan probably doesn’t. Remember, his dad let him get away with a lot because he had two older brothers and he was different?”

  “Yeah, maybe that’s why he seems pissy about all this, he doesn’t really know the consequences.”