Once we were back up top, and nearing the exit to the caverns, Jack decided he’d had enough waiting. “Seriously, can someone tell me how Sierra had a baby that seems to be named after me?”
“Jack, I’m so sorry, I was just thinking about having you back, and how kind Jameson has always been to me. Jess, I’m so sorry about your dad.” I knew Sierra had been through an ordeal, but she had begun to have serious issues keeping focus. I figured I better step in at this point and explain before she went off on another tangent.
“Thanks, me too.” I looked over at Jack and gave him a weak smile. “You better tell him, he looks ready to burst right now.”
“He’s mine.” Sierra blurted out. “I mean, he’s not biologically, but a female wolf abandoned him, and he needed me as much as I needed him.” The words just tumbled out of Sierra’s mouth in one big steady stream. Her sniffles started, before Sierra could finish. “With you gone, I had this giant, gaping hole in my chest.” Her voice broke at the end, and I couldn’t even imagine feeling that void. Losing my father already ached, and the worst part was, I couldn’t just break down and grieve for him. Not yet, anyway. I still had to make my way back home, and explain everything that happened to everyone. Hell, I honestly didn’t know what kind of home we were going to be walking into. There could be seriously hurt people on the pack lands. Maybe some had passed over when we were on our way back.
I had to nix those thoughts, because the number one prevailing thing that kept repeating in my mind was ‘what if Mikael was lost to me while I was on my way back to him?’ My brain hurt just thinking about it, and all I could do was hope for the best for when we arrived.
Sierra continued to catch Jack up on everything that was new in the pack, including all the new accords I had implemented as the White Wolf Ruler. I couldn’t bring myself to pay attention. I just really needed to get home, hug my mom, Mikael, and hold Willow in my arms again. I missed her. It hit me then, that I wasn’t sure how long we’d been gone.
“Sierra, how long have little Jack and I been gone?”
“Oh, it’s been two days, Jess.”
“Seriously? It felt like, I don’t know, maybe an hour or so.” I sighed, as my parent’s house finally came into sight. My nerves kicked in, and I worried what they’d all think about me showing up with the baby two days later. “Everyone thinks we’re dead, don’t they?”
“I don’t know. I was camped out in that cave the whole time. I thought you were gone though. I mean, I hoped I was wrong, but…”
“Well, I guess we’re all about to freak everyone out just a little bit then.” Jack spouted off. “Glad to know I won’t be the only one everyone’s staring at. I mean, I’m hotness personified. I think death gave me a special glow,” he flashed his pearly whites at us, while grinning his big Jack grin. “What do you think?”
“I think I’ve missed your madness!” I said as Sierra playfully slapped his chest, and added, “While I’ve just missed you completely.”
“The feeling’s mutual, on both counts. All those stiffs on the other side had no appreciation for good humor, but I had a long time to come up with some great new material though.”
Before we could even walk up the front porch steps, I saw Mikael holding onto my mom through the window. They both looked absolutely wrecked. They were sitting on the couch, and he had my mom’s head tucked securely into his shoulder. At a first glance, they’d almost appear to be a couple sitting peacefully together on the couch. On further inspection I watched as my mom’s breath hitched in and out unevenly, signifying her sobs. Mikael’s breath caught a few times too. Jack and Sierra just stood there, waiting on me to put that first foot up on the next step. “Oh, man, I don’t know if I’m ready for this.” That was probably the most honest thing I could have said in the moment. “As soon as I see her, I mean really see her, and get to wrap my arms around my mom, it’s going to be real. I know I talked to him over there, and it should have already sunk in that my dad is gone, but…” A tear slipped free from my left eye, leaving a trail of salty wetness to roll down my cheek and drip off of my chin onto my now dirty shirt.
“Don’t leave them in the dark any longer, Jess. I can tell you first-hand how horrible the wait was. Your mom may have lost Jameson, but right now, she thinks she lost the both of you. I can’t even imagine that kind of pain.” Sierra smiled at me then, and for the first time since we reappeared from the dead, she finally sounded like her old, normal, level-headed self. “Go, give your mom a little hope that not all is lost.” She gave me a little push towards the door, and that’s all it took.
“Sierra, Jack…” I started, but I couldn’t finish what I was about to say. Hell, I didn’t even know what I was truly about to say. My mind was a jumbled mess now too.
“We’re with you.” Jack told me as he put his hand on my shoulder. “Come on, Jessie, go let them know you’re alive and well.”
With that last bit of encouragement, I slowly made my way up the rest of the steps, and to the front door. It was unlocked, so I just turned the knob, and pushed it open. Once I stepped inside, and smelled the sweet mix of lavender and vanilla there, I lost a little of my footing, but managed to stand there until it registered for everyone inside who I was.
“Oh my God! Jess?” Ashley had been walking back into the living room from the kitchen, so she was the first one to notice who opened the door, but I didn’t fail to see Mikael jump up with unprecedented speed. He dislodged himself from my mother’s side, and was beside me in a literal heartbeat. I had never seen him move so fast before in all our time together.
“Jess?” He all but yelled out in his excitement. Mikael scooped me up in his arms just as one of his legs started to give out, but he caught himself before we tumbled over. “We thought…” He was shaking as he sat me back down on my feet, and I realized the shaking sensation was because he was openly sobbing all over me.
“I realize I have death hair, but if you could keep the snot out of it, that’d be great.” I tried for a joke, thinking that it worked for Jack, Sierra, and I. I thought wrong.
He held me out at arms-length then. “Seriously? You’re going to crack jokes right now? We all thought you were dead, and the first thing you do, is make a joke. It’s not funny, Jess. You don’t know what we just went through or who was lost.”
“I do know who was lost.” I moved out of Mikael’s arms then, and walked around him to my mother. “He told me to tell you that he loves you, and that he’ll be waiting there until you’re ready.”
“You saw him?” My mom’s question was more of a whisper than anything. Her hand trembled as she placed it against her own mouth. It seemed almost as though she was trying to hold back a scream. My heart broke, and with it the damn that held my tears back. They ran freely down my face now, slapping against the fabric of my clothing, the floor, and then my mother’s legs as I leaned in to hug her. My tears were like raindrops coating every surface that I hovered over for too long.
“Yes, I saw him. He tried to come back with me, momma. He couldn’t do it though. They wouldn’t let him. I’m so sorry. We really did try to bring him back.”
Just then, a loud squeal, maybe more of a scream, ripped through the house. I turned in time to see Ashley flinging herself at her brother. Just as Sierra had, Ashley’s first coherent words were, “how is this possible?”
Jack hugged his sister tightly, before pushing her away gently. “I think we should all sit down, so we can discuss everything that happened on both sides of the portal.” Jack offered, startling everyone who hadn’t yet seen him.
“Wait,” I called out, “first, someone tell me where my daughter is, because I really just want to hold her right now.” Mikael walked, with a noticeable limp in his left leg, over to the basinet that was tucked away in the corner by the sofa, and picked up our beautiful little girl. He brought her to me, and placed her in my arms, then he made his way across the room to sit opposite me. At first I was taken aback, and not in a good way, at how ca
llous Mikael was being by sitting across from me instead of with me. Then I realized he just needed a little space to process, and maybe to stare at me while I held our daughter.
My mom patted the spot on the couch next to her, and I sat down there with Willow tucked gently up against me. I had missed her so much. Her weight was so much less than the older, baby Jack. The fresh baby powder clean scent still clung to her as well. For a moment, I felt ashamed for tainting her with my dirty, death garb, but I didn’t want to go all the way home to take a shower first, and my little baby girl seemed content just to hear my heartbeat against her tiny little ear.
Like a coward, I avoided looking across from myself to where Mikael had perched on the arm of a chair that was currently occupied by Asriel. Okay, so maybe I peaked a little, and then looked away really fast. I figured Mikael was mad at me too. Maybe that was the real reason he’d picked the other side of the room to sit down in. Really, if our roles had been reversed I knew he would have done exactly the same thing. I would have been mad, but I would have sat there, just staring at him in awe, and thankful that he was returned to me in one peace. So, I let him have that moment to figure things out in his own head.
“Jess, I think you should start first. I have a feeling that whatever happened with you was a result of what went on here.” My mom wasn’t placing blame, she just knew that the timeline started somewhere, and most likely that meant it started with me. I explained to them the plan that Layla and I had concocted. I also told them all about the secondary plan I came up with, involving Gabriel’s help to get Layla back out. Gabriel had the good sense to look guilty when Layla eyed him suspiciously from across the room.
“Wait, what are you guys still doing here, anyway? I would have thought you would have left by now.”
“We were trying to come up with a plan to save you from yourself, my dear.” Serena spoke from over by the stairs that led up to where my room used to be. “Had I known my sister was planning on letting you sacrifice yourself like that, I wouldn’t have let you go.”
“We had a better plan, it just didn’t work. So long as Louis could see me standing there on the dais, he wasn’t going to budge from his spot. To walk back through would have been instant death, at his hands, for both baby Jack and I.”
“So, instead you chose instant death by walking baby Jack and yourself into the world of the dead?” Mikael’s accusation wasn’t a friendly one.
“It was my only option, and I had hope that it wouldn’t be permanent.”
“Mikael!” My mother warned hastily. “We need to hear the rest. You can be angry with her later.” I was sure my mom was pulling some of her werewolf mood-mojo on him, because he quieted down, and appeared to be relaxed after a few minutes, instead of the way he looked moments ago like he was sitting on the edge of a live wire.
“Yeah, let’s get to the part where my brother is alive now.” Ashley called out.
“I’m not really the important part,” Jack offered nonchalantly.
“Of course you are, dummy. You’re here, and you’re alive now.” Ashley countered.
“Jess, do you want to take this one?”
I sighed, but then I explained about the sacrifices that had to be made in order to send me back to the land of the living. Serena was none too happy about her link to her white wolf lineage being broken, and my mom became a heap of raw emotion again for a few minutes when I mentioned my dad offering to come back and why he could not. I was already exhausted from living it, and then retelling what happened drained me that much more. I realized I hadn’t actually been to sleep in over 48 hours, and it was all starting to catch up to me. Once I finished my side of the story, I sat there, waiting to hear someone tell the other side. No one offered up even a tidbit of what happened. To their credit, they all seemed to be lost in the details I’d just provided. I was about to ask what had happened when the front door opened again, and a stranger stepped through.
Immediately, when the man entered my parents’ home, Jack grabbed Sierra and her baby, and tossed them behind him, towards me. He was in front of us so quickly I couldn’t even track the movements.
“A Wraith Guardian! It’s been ages since I’ve encountered the likes of it.” The strange man intoned. He held his ground, and didn’t attempt to move any closer to us though. “Serena, can you call it off?”
“It’s not mine,” she hissed.
“Layla?” He questioned.
“Nor is it mine,” she offered.
“Who the hell else, besides a witch, would have a wraith guardian?”
“Are you daft, or just blind? Do you not see who he guards?” Serena asked.
The man tried peering around Jack only to have Jack move ever so slightly to block his view. “Well, someone needs to tell him I’m a friendly so that he will back down for a moment. I have news.”
“Serena, Layla, who is that?” I questioned.
“That was our backup plan. Jessica, meet Jonah Marquez, our older brother.”
“Jonah?” I whispered. “Oh, yeah, my dad mentioned him being here. Kezia was not pleased about you working with him”
“My mother?” Serena rounded on me then. “You spoke to her?”
“Yes, I did. She gave me a message to give to you, but privately.” Serena nodded her head, acknowledging that it was best to wait on that. “Is it safe? Can Jack stand down now?”
“Yes, I promise, Jonah will be remain on his best behavior.”
“Jack, please, a little space?” It took a few minutes, but Jack reluctantly allowed a little more space between himself, Sierra, and I. He took up a position to my left again, and waited silently, as a sentry would. It was clear that everyone was shocked by his behavior, but then again, we hadn’t really understood what the whole guardian thing would entail, even when we agreed to it on the other side. Mikael was back to looking rather unpleasant again, only now it was directed at both Jack and I.
Jonah caught my attention before I could dwell on my personal issues with my mate though. “I am truly sorry that your father was lost before I could make it here, young wolf. I know you mean a great deal to my sister, and therefore you mean as much to me. Had I known Louis was here, and up to no good, I would have come sooner.”
“You’re like him though… how, err, why would you help?”
“I am only like him in the most base ways. I was born a ‘dark one’ as you call them. I like to think that maybe the modern term for a male witch, a warlock, would be more appropriate. Although, I suppose, the pop culture term-vampire-could work too if I were to be nit-picky. At any rate, I was born this. Louis was born human, and made into something resembling what I am. That makes him weaker. We both became Fiul Sange, and while that means he can walk in the light, as I can; he cannot access the magics of the witch he consumed. That is the difference between those who are made and those who are born.”
“I do not wish to be as Louis is, always ambitious and looking for more power. I am happy with what I am, and I live a life mostly of solitude. I must eat, but I do so without taking lives. Louis and his ilk are tainted versions of the originals who turned them. As to the why, I helped because my sister asked that I did so. While I may not have been aware of the secret that the white wolves were direct descendants of my sister, I know now, and as such you will always be offered my protection. We are family. My mother may not have understood family bonds in doing what she did, but my Aunt Bryn did, and she helped me to live. For her, I will always owe my allegiance to my blood-kin first.”
“You have my thanks.” I offered. He bowed his head and said no more. “What happened here?” I asked of anyone who bother to answer.
“Louis came with his minions. He said that since you failed him, he was going to send each and every one of us to the other side to greet you.” It was Mikael who spoke up. “That was our first indication that you were dead. I had a hard time believing it, because I never felt it.” He was lost in thought for a minute. “You know, they all say that when you’r
e a mated pair, you feel the death of your mate like a piece of your own soul has been ripped from you, but I never felt anything.”
“I felt it when Jack was gone.” Sierra admitted shakily.
“As did I, when Jameson…” My mom’s voice trailed off, as she turned to stare out the window so we wouldn’t see her tears fall again.
“I never did,” Mikael reiterated. “I wondered if that meant you were still alive, but then days passed by and you didn’t come back home.” I explained how time worked differently in the other realm, and that I wanted to get back as soon as Kezia explained that it was possible. Mikael simply nodded his head, and continued to stare off into space.
Jack finally spoke again then. “It’s because Jessie wasn’t dead. She walked, alive, through the gateway.”
“That’s what troubles me. My mate walked willingly into the world beyond, knowing it would be her death, and she took the baby she was trying to save with her. I just don’t get that.”
I knew, in a way, that Mikael’s anger was justified, but I also felt I could be justified in hating the way he approached me, and what happened while I was gone. I didn’t get the chance to finish explaining anything, because Jack managed to grab a second wind and started preaching about what happened. “That very same thing is the reason they were able to send her back, because she was still of the living, and just trapped on the wrong side.” Jack informed everyone for me. “But that doesn’t explain exactly what went on here while Jess was on the other side.”
“We’ll get to what happened here in a minute, but first, I think I’m going to need for someone to explain to me what exactly it means to be a Wraith Guardian.” Mikael said as he eyed Jack suspiciously.
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