The Ancients Series

by Christine M. Butler

  “That was my dad you just barked at on my phone, so I doubt it.”

  “I’m sure he will appreciate the quick response, considering what he just interrupted.” I couldn’t help it, I smirked at Mikael, and then went to help him button the jeans he’d just pulled on.

  “What if I promise to take these off of you later myself?” His eyebrows quirked up in the cute way they did when I had his attention. “With my teeth…” I added as I ducked out of his reach to grab my shirt.

  “This had really better be some kind of emergency!”

  “Ashley didn’t sound right. And my dad tried calling twice. That doesn’t bode well, and neither does the fact that she said Jack’s back with bad news. Can we take the bike? I think, feeling like I’m flying for a few minutes will keep me from making up all sorts of horrible scenarios.”

  Mikael stopped what he was doing, with one boot on, and came over to kiss the top of my head, and pull me into a hug. “Whatever you like. I’m here for you, Jess.”

  I gave him one more big squeeze, then let go to put my own shoes back on. “Thank you.”

  When we pulled up at the house, there was already crowd, and that was never a good sign. Packs gathered in times of crisis. Sure, they gathered in celebration too, but crisis brought us together even tighter. Mikael and I left the helmets on the bike, he took my hand in his, and led me forward through the throngs of people waiting outside my parents’ house.

  “Excuse us,” I called out, as some of them weren’t taking the hint about moving. I could feel Mikael’s tension, and he was about to start moving people bodily out of my way. When everyone saw who it was, they started parting so that we could get through. “What the hell?” I spoke softly to Mikael.

  “I’m not sure, but this doesn’t look good, Jess.”

  When we got up to the porch, I found Jack, eyes red-rimmed, and looking much worse for the wear. When he saw me, he came forward, reached out, and grabbed me up into a big hug. “Jess! Thank God! I was so freaking worried. We were all wondering if…” He cut himself off, seeming to notice the growing crowd around my family’s house. Then he was scrutinizing how close Mikael had gotten to me. “Let’s go inside, first.” He let me go, and turned to head inside without another word. One look at Mikael, told me he had been trying to keep himself in check when Jack threw his arms around me.

  “He’s always been a hugger.” I whispered as I went to put my arm around Mikael.

  “Yeah, I know, and still, I didn’t see him hugging me like that.”

  “He’s still pissed that you turned his sister. The fact that he didn’t greet you with fists flying says you’re growing on him.”

  “Okay, I see your point.” He wrapped his arm around my hip and guided us in the door, and straight back to the kitchen, which is where my parents were congregated with a few other people. All of them turned towards us as we made our way inside.

  “What’s going on?” I took inventory around the room. Ashley, Asi, my parents, Jack, Andy, and a few strangers were in the room, making the usually large kitchen feel pretty damn small.

  “Jess, why don’t you have a seat,” my dad offered, pulling a chair out for me.

  Now, I was nervous. “I don’t need to have a seat. What’s going on, and where’s Tom?” Everyone in the room seemed to wince all at once. He had been the only one missing as I looked around. If Andy and Jack were back, Tom should have been standing here with them.

  When no one else answered, a man with shoulder-length blond hair stepped forward. I immediately recognized him from my dreams. “Avery Daniels,” he said as he held his hand out to me. I took it, shook loosely, and dropped it all in the space of a breath. “I’ve come with terrible news for your pack, and for yourself.” His voice held a quality like driving down a dark tunnel at night. It was so resonant in the quiet spaces it filled, there was almost an echo to it. That was what power sounded like. This man knew how to use his command voice, but I doubt he ever thought to turn it off. “Your man, Thomas McCarran was lost to us two nights ago. I came to your father yesterday, in person, to let him know we were searching for him. I’m not sure what happened. There was talk that he caught a scent and went after it, before alerting the others, disobeying the protocol I set. At any rate, while I was here with your father, the search party located Tom’s body. He has been brought home for his sending off.”

  I hadn’t known Tom well. He was a couple years older than me, and had never mated. He was one of our hunters and trackers. Beyond that, I hadn’t had cause to really get to know him, especially since my parents had me stay clear of most of the pack after my first shift proved I was a white wolf. Tom had been out there looking for Zach though. His death was now my responsibility. “We will see him off on his next journey. Thank you for returning him to us.” Those were the proper words, the ones everyone waited on me to speak, because when one of our kind died an honorable death that is what was done. They were sent off to their next life in a grand ceremony. Once it was out of my mouth I looked to my parents. “What of Zach? Was this his doing?”

  “We believe so.” Avery Daniels was the one to speak again. Apparently this was his show tonight. “I was responsible for Tom, as he was under my watch when this happened. I asked that I be the one to brief you on the situation, if you don’t mind.” I nodded, and felt Mikael’s hand come to rest on my shoulder, an offer of comfort, without smothering me. I would have to thank him for that later. Daniels directed me to a chair, and this time I accepted the seat, with him taking the one beside me. He slid his chair so he was facing me. “We’ve been running ourselves raged, trying to figure out where this son of a bitch is going. He’s been moving, not lingering too long in one place. We’ve found evidence that he was held up in a cave on the outskirts of our land for a while, and it doesn’t appear as though he was alone while he was there. He’s definitely receiving help from someone. What we want you to be aware of, is that we think he’s been coming back here, and hiding out somewhere too. We picked up on his trace not far from here. It was a couple days old, but Zach has definitely been back to check on things here with your pack too.”

  “Let me guess the caves, the ones with the hot springs?” Mikael spoke, concern and anger evident in his voice.

  Avery nodded, but it was Jack that answered. “I figured we should check out there, since that seemed to be the kind of place he liked hiding out over by the Daniels Clan lands. We found a bag of stuff that seem to be yours Jess.” The things Mikael and I had left behind the other day, after our first time together in those caves. I suddenly felt itchy about the fact that Zach could have been there hiding. Mikael had been right. I had no business exploring there by myself. As if he knew what I was thinking he squeezed my shoulders with his hands in a quick gesture.

  “Yeah, we left my bag out there yesterday afternoon,” I admitted.

  “Well, I caught Zach’s trail over near there, but not inside the cave where we found your things. I think maybe we spooked him away, but you need to be very careful. He’s definitely up to something, and he’s staying mostly under the radar with some serious help.”

  “I will. Don’t worry about me.”

  “She’ll be looked after,” Mikael added, “now what’s the plan?”

  “First things first, Tom’s sending off will be tonight.” My father spoke finally. “Tom had no family to speak for him, so…”

  “Andy and I would like to speak for him, if that’s okay,” Jack offered. My father nodded, and clapped Jack on the back then. The pride in his face was obvious. Jack had become the son he’d never had. I stood up to go give Ashley a hug, because she looked like she was going to be sick. This had to be hard on her. She wasn’t used to the real inner workings of a pack. Not the messy stuff, anyway, and I could see it all over her face. That could have been Jack. We could have lost Jack. When I stood to walk over to Ash, Mikael came with me. He kept his distance, but he stayed within a few paces of me at all times. We were so not going to be able to keep our bon
ding secret. He was doing a really good job of trying to look nonchalant about it, but his pacing me was a dead giveaway. Asi was eyeing him suspiciously already.

  I put my arms around Ashley, “Jack’s okay,” I whispered in her ear. “We’ll make sure he stays that way.” Ashley hugged me back, hard, and then grabbed my hand and started to pull me from the room.

  “We need to talk,” She said as I followed her and shook my head when I saw Mikael trying to trail us. I also noticed Asi watching.

  Ashley didn’t stop moving until we were upstairs in my bathroom. Before she spoke, she turned the water on in the shower and the sink, and then spoke in low tones. “What’s going on with you and Mikael?”

  “What do you mean?” I wasn’t sure if I could outright lie to Ashley, but I could at least play coy. She didn’t appreciate it. She leaned back and took a hard look at me then.

  “You’re going to seriously pretend I wouldn’t notice? He’s on your tail like Asi’s been on mine since we bonded. If we’re in the same room, he’s there, within a few paces, and I feel like I have to be near him too no matter where we are. You moved tonight, and Mikael moved with you.”

  “You can’t say anything. Seriously, we do not want Antoine to know, which means none of the rest of the family can know. That means Evan can’t know, and well Asi and Evan have their thing.” I was mumbling along, because I felt bad for not telling her right away. “I wanted to tell you, but it all happened so fast.”

  “At the cave yesterday?” Ashley questioned, but it sounded more like a statement of fact.

  “Yeah, why?”

  “Because my dumbass brother came back getting everyone in a panic after he went looking in the caves. They found your bag all right, but he also found a towel with blood on it. Your blood.” It was a good thing we were in private for this part of the conversation, because I don’t think my face could have turned any redder. “He thought you were wounded. I had my suspicions since your mom said you were fine, and off somewhere with Mikael.”

  “Oh, God. That’s embarrassing. We couldn’t bring any of it back with us, and honestly, I hadn’t thought about there being blood. It was dark. I should have… aw man… Damn!” My face felt like super-heated lava was flowing underneath of it.

  “Your mom didn’t seem surprised at all, but she had to have a chat with your dad in a separate room. He was beside himself worried that you got hurt somehow. When they came back out, he was a little pale. So, I take it your mom already knew?”

  “Well, yeah. There was an unexpected complication to what happened yesterday. My mom noticed it.”

  “What kind of complication?” Ashley hissed loudly, clearly worried. I heard footsteps and then knocking on my bedroom door across the hall.

  “Later. I promise, I will fill you in on everything later.” I pointed to the door to let her know I’d heard something.

  “All the details later, but first,” she grabbed my arm to spin me around, “how was it?”

  The smile that lit up my face must have spoken volumes, because Ashley hit my arm and squealed loudly. “I’m so happy for you!”

  “Okay, now, get it under control for a minute. It has to remain a secret. At least the bonding part. I think your brother probably already ruined the rest. Remind me to thank him for that later.” Ashley turned the water off in the shower, and then the sink as I opened the bathroom door. “Hello?” I said to a blond girl who was standing outside my bedroom.

  “Hi, I’m Annalise Daniels. You were talking to my father downstairs.”

  “Hi, Jessica St. Marks, and this is my friend, Ashley.”

  “I hope you don’t mind, your mom said my sister and I could stay here, in your room for the night. I saw you come up and I wanted to check with you first. I know what it’s like to have a parent volunteer your room away when you’re not around, so...” She was rambling on and I decided to let her off the hook before she stopped breathing.

  “It’s fine, Annalise. I won’t be here anyway.”

  “Thank you. So, who was that guy that came in with you? Is that your mate?” Her eyes were sparkling.

  “No.” I said a little too quickly.

  “Oh, well he’s hot! You better snatch him up before someone else does. I saw my sister checking him out, and she never looks at guys. I haven’t… Well, I still have to go through one more transition, so it doesn’t matter for me yet, but she’s already 22. So, I guess she might be interested.”

  “He’s mine.” I had to stop myself from growling out the words, and just barely was able to make them something that didn’t sound threatening.

  “Oh, I thought you said you weren’t mated. Sorry.”

  “We’re not, but we’re going to be.” I answered her, getting myself under control better with each breath.

  “It’s complicated,” Ashley chimed in. “But they definitely belong to one another, bonded or not.”

  “Well, I will make sure my sister is aware of that then.” Annalise smiled sheepishly. “Sorry, I ramble on and put my foot in my mouth a lot when I’m nervous.”

  “It’s okay.” I walked over to my bed, and showed her that there was a trundle hidden underneath. “Ashley practically lived here with me for years, so my parents got the trundle. This way, neither you nor your sister will have to sleep on the floor.”

  “Oh, that’s fantastic, because I definitely would have been the one on the floor.” She laughed, and Ashley and I along with her.

  “Are you guys going to be leaving tomorrow?”

  “I don’t know. I think my dad may wait until we have some more of our hunters show up to get home. He was worried enough to bring us with him, but now that there’s evidence that your rogue wolf has been coming and going between our pack lands, I think he’s worried about traveling with us.”

  “That’s understandable.” I agreed. “I will see what I can do about getting some more of our people to escort you back too.”

  “We’ve heard rumors,” Annalise started to say when I got ready to leave the room.

  “What kind of rumors?” Ashley asked her.

  “Are you…” Annalise paused for a moment, trying to decide if she should ask after all, but then she just spit it out. “Are you really the white wolf?”

  “I am.” It was the first time I had admitted it outside of our close-knit circle, but it was something I had been thinking about for a while now anyway. It was time that our people knew what was going on, and that their sigil of hope had returned. I wasn’t sure I was ready to be that sigil, but I was ready for change to come to my kind, to make things better. I couldn’t effect that change if I kept hiding who and what I was.

  “Oh my God! I’m staying in the White Wolf’s room!” She squealed excitedly.

  “Annalise,” I called back, “I’m just Jessica to you! If you need anything while you’re here, you let me know.”

  Ashley and I left Annalise in my room, and I could have sworn I heard another squeal of delight as we descended the stairs. “Ms. Jessica, can I get your autograph?” Ashley teased as we walked into the living room.

  “Shut it, Ash!” I laughed.

  Ashley was about to say something else, and couldn’t get it out past her laughter. “Sorry,” she managed, and doubled over.

  “You’re a jerk.”

  “Is everything okay in here?” A blond woman, around my age, asked as she came from the kitchen into the living room.

  “Yeah, everything’s good,” I tossed a pillow at Ashley, who was still laughing at me.

  The woman eyed us both wearily, and then surveyed the room. “I thought Annalise went to find you. Where is she?”

  “We met. She’s a sweet girl. I showed her around my room, and she stayed up there. I take it you’re her sister?”

  “Tess,” she offered quickly. This girl was the polar opposite of her talkative sister. She seemed to be all business as she moved through the room, checking the windows as she passed by.

  “I could take you up, and show you around to
o, if you like?”

  “No need. I’m sure I can find my way to the bed.” Her eyes darted across the room, back toward the kitchen, where Mikael was now standing in the doorway.

  He popped his head around further, to be able to see Ashley and me over by the couch. “Everything okay?” He called out. My heart did that pitter patter uptick in beats that happened when he was near.

  “We’re all good. I was just offering to give Tess a tour upstairs, but she declined.” Tess was staring at Mikael, appreciatively, and I didn’t like it one bit. In fact I was about to get really angry if she didn’t take her eyeballs off of my man. I’m not sure if Mikael sensed what I was feeling, or if he would have done it anyway, but just when a growl was building in my throat, he passed a cursory glance towards Tess, and started walking with a purpose over to where I now stood by the couch. He didn’t stop, didn’t hesitate, just grabbed me and kissed me deeply.

  When he broke away it was to whisper in my ear, “be a good girl if you want to keep our secrets, Jess.”

  Ashley was laughing again. “Don’t ever say a damn word about Asi and me, Jess. Seriously, Ever.” She dropped her voice low enough that only Mikael and I would hear her, “and good luck keeping that secret.”

  Mikael ignored Ashley, and leaned back in for a longer kiss. I enjoyed every bit of it, so I wasn’t about to complain. When he pulled away finally, he let me know that he had to run out to the house and grab some appropriate clothes for the sending off ceremony later. “This,” he pointed down at himself, “won’t do for a sending off, especially when I owe the man my deepest respects. He was out there tracking that little prick to keep you safe. I don’t want to disrespect him by wearing jeans and a t-shirt.”

  “Do you want me to go with you?”

  “No, Jess. If you do that, we won’t make it back in time. Stay here, and lend your mom a hand instead.” He gave me one more quick kiss, “but have a much bigger bag packed for later.” I smiled as he turned and left the house.

  “Pack a bigger bag, huh?” Ashley waggled her eyebrows at me as she whispered it.