“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 things 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 e
nd 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 to 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.”
“Don’t let Jackie hear you say that. She will absolutely take advantage of that statement.”
“So, what’s up with this anyway? Not that I don’t appreciate the puppy playtime, because I do. I think this is exactly what I needed! They know you here though, and clearly the puppies are used to you too.”
Mikael smiled, a genuine smile that crinkled up tiny little lines near the corners of his eyes. “Well, this is just something I do, no matter where I am. I work with animals, and probably for the same reason it was fun for you today. It’s soothing.” He shrugged, then grabbed my hands and tugged me up to my feet. “Come on, I actually had some other plans for us today too.”
“Well, I don’t know how you could possibly top the puppy love fest, but I’m willing to go find out.” And just like, I was rewarded with another of his rare, full smiles, and a slight blush that bloomed across his cheeks and the tips of his ears. I wondered how that was even possible. Mikael was the last person I would think of as a blusher, standing there in his rugged jeans and t-shirt, even without the biker jacket he looked too tough to ever blush. “What’s going to happen to these guys?”
“They’re puppies. They will all get homes. It’s the big guys that have it rough. We’ll come visit them another time. They’re fun in an entirely different way, I promise.”
“I’d like that.” I found myself actually meaning it. I was beginning to learn a little something about people. You never really got to see everything about them with a first or even fifth impression. It took a series of moments to finally dig past the layers that they wanted to show people, down to who they really were. I had a feeling I was just starting to see the deeper layers of Mikael.
On our way out, we stopped by the front desk, where Mikael asked to speak to Jackie again if she was available. Before long the woman came, practically bouncing out of a back room. “Are you guys on your way out, now?”
“We are. I just wanted to leave you with this.” He pulled a slip of paper out of his pocket, and handed it to her. It took me a minute to realize it was a check. “This should keep you guys covered for a couple more weeks. The crew is behind, so I’m not quite ready to start taking some of those guys in yet. I thought this might help, in the meantime.”
“Oh goodness, boy, get over here.” She walked around the counter, practically pushed me out of the way, and gave him a hug. Her eyes were filled with tears, and she kept thanking him over and over. She then turned to me and gave me a squeezing hug too. Jackie was surprisingly strong for an older, human woman. “You are one lucky young lady. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll keep this one close!” Jackie smiled and walked away then, swiping at the tears that had already started running down her rosy cheeks.
“What was that about?” I asked as we turned to leave.
“I just dropped off a donation. I, um…” he hesitated, and seemed almost like he was trying to decide whether or not to divulge a secret.
“Never mind,” I said. “It’s none of my business.”
“No, it’s okay. It’s just, most of our kind think less of me when they find out what I do with my spare time.” I quirked up and eyebrow in question. “I’ve been paying the shelter, in large donations, to keep from terminating the lives of any of the dogs that are brought in. Today’s venture was supposed to help find the older ones homes. That’s why I kept you in the puppy room today. It’s off limits to the public, in the hopes that some of the older dogs can find happy homes to go to.” He was talking fast, like he wanted to get it all out and face my judgment sooner rather than later. “I’m building a rescue, a private one, that won’t kill the animals brought in. Jackie is going to work in tandem with it, and send us the dogs she can’t re-home or keep here, so that we can help them.”
My jaw had fallen somewhere between my face and the floor, as I stood looking at him in complete wonderment. “Seriously, that’s what you were afraid to tell me? That’s amazing, Mikael! My God, I can’t believe that underneath the asshole I first met, you’re a good guy.” He flinched a little, clearly offended by the fact that I had called him an asshole, but relieved that I thought he was a good guy for doing what he was doing. “Sorry, I didn’t mean for it to come out like that.” He just shrugged at me.
“I am what I am, good and bad.” He turned, climbed right on his bike, and held my helmet out to me as I approached. This time, when I climbed on, I didn’t try to keep a mile in between us. I just scooted right up behind him, and wrapped my arms around Mikael. I thought I felt the tension just slip away from his shoulders when I did. Moments later, we were flying down the road again. I had to admit, riding on the back of his bike was kind of exhilarating. I love riding in my Jeep in warmer months with the top down, but this was almost like flying. The rush of wind reminded me of when I let my wolf take over and go on a good, long run. It was freeing. I decided then and there that I really enjoyed motorcycles. They weren’t just there to look cool, after all.
The Ancients Series Page 26