Shadows of the Ancients (7 page)

I was not alone in my surprise, judging from the nearly synchronized gasp coming from my family.

“The bond breaking did its job, it took Anya’s life to complete it, but left my father intact. Father took a new mate soon after that, a younger woman whose likeness was so close to Anya’s that no one questioned her as a replacement. Some don’t even realize that she is my father’s second mate. She is however, and that means I am the child of a second union. That is unheard of amongst our kind. And in having that designation, I am not bound as tightly as my brothers would be to the creeds that are handed down to our people.” With a nod of Evan’s head, I suddenly felt free to speak. For once in my life, my mouth stayed shut though. It had to be from the shock of everything.

“You are unbound?” My father asked. At that, my head perked up, because I wasn’t sure what he meant. The first thing that came to me was that perhaps I was going to be wife number two for Evan. Did he already have a mate?

“I am.” Sensing my question, Evan turned to me, “What your father asks is if I am able to disregard the King’s wishes. I am.” With a heavy laugh that held no humor, Evan continued. “The child of a second union cannot be compelled by anyone We are unnatural already. Truthfully, I should have been put to death upon birth, but my father’s arrogance wouldn’t allow for it. He thought having another son proved his virility.”

“So, what does this mean where my daughter is concerned?”

“It means, my family may not like it, but there’s not a damn thing they can do about it.”

“I beg to differ,” my mom said. “You may be untouchable, but my daughter certainly isn’t.”

“As my mate, she will be protected. You have my word.”

To my complete surprise my father tipped his head in agreement. I hadn’t realized my jaw fell slack the way it did until Evan reached over and put two fingers under my chin, pushing my mouth shut for me. Embarrassing!

“As I was telling your daughter before I called you back in the house, I have been searching for a few years now for my other half. I had given up, and chosen to settle here in obscurity. I was at the club last night, because I was in the middle of signing papers to purchase it.”

My mother was the first to speak. “You won’t be taking her away then?”

“No, not any time soon. You are aware that my family resides on the outskirts of Romania?” That was the accent I picked up in Evan’s speech. Evan’s hand found mine and squeezed gently. He twined his fingers through mine, and didn’t bother removing them afterward. “Eventually, I will take Jessica there to meet with them, but not until they’ve had plenty of time to adjust, and we will not stay there.”

“Will you be taking over the pack?” My father asked.

“No, hopefully, you will.” He let go of my hand and sat forward. “I do not understand why you bowed down before Marcus. He is clearly your inferior.” Again, to my astonishment, my father nodded. “Explain.” Evan commanded.

“I made a promise to my mate.”

“I see, and was the promise to always refuse your rightful position as Alpha, or was it conditional?”

“It was conditional,” my mother spoke. “We agreed that he would leave pack politics to others until Jess was mated.” Sadness swept across my mother’s features. “There was an incident with my sister, and my parents were gone before…”

Evan stopped her from having to relive her pain further. “I understand,” he said softly to her. Then he looked to my father. “Well, I would prefer that you take your place as pack leader now, if you are in agreement? Your previous leader seems to have done your pack no justice, if that boy is the strongest among his generation.”

“The only way for that to happen is through a challenge.”

“I don’t see that as a problem.” Evan added, and my father agreed, again. I felt as though I had just stepped through the twilight zone. One night out, and my life was somehow completely different when I woke up. How the hell does that happen? I looked down, and started pulling little lint balls from my sweat pants, tuning out the rest of their conversation about Marcus. These sweats were completely worn out, I definitely needed to trade them in for a new favorite pair.

“Shit!” I could not believe I had been sitting here this whole time with a rat’s nest for a head, and wearing my favorite worn out sweats. Evan was looking at me curiously now, and so was everyone else. Damn. I said that out loud. “Um, I need a shower.” It came out as no more than a whisper, and then I was biting down on my lower lip. I moved to stand, and Evan stood with me, putting his back to my family and giving me all of his attention for the moment.

“And do you need a hand with that?”

“What?” YES! Yes, I did want a hand with that. “Um, No,” a giggle erupted from somewhere in the back of my throat. “I think I’ve got it covered.”

He leaned in and whispered in my ear, “too bad,” and I swear my blood was suddenly lava-hot flowing through my veins. I wasn’t a prude, and werewolves as a whole were pretty open about things, but my cheeks flushed immediately when I thought of the fact that my parents heard every word of our exchange. Sure, I was an adult, I had already completed my full transformation, and I was ready for a mate; yet I so wasn’t ready for my parents to hear a guy offer to shower with me. As I slunk off I noticed the smirk on Asi’s face, and decided I would do my best to try to embarrass him somehow in the future. My mom was offering to make some food for everyone by the time I got to my room, so I figured they were all occupied for the time being. I had just turned the water on in the shower when I heard my phone going off in my room. I threw a towel around me, and ran for it.

“Hello?”

“Hey, hon. I have been dying to hear from you! So, how much trouble are you in with the family and the pack?”

“Oh God, Ashley, you just wouldn’t even believe what’s happened, even if I told you.”

“Well, tell me, so I can judge that for myself!” I laughed at her as she said it.

“Well, first my parents nearly nose-dived into crazyville, then Marcus and Zach both blue a freaking gasket.”

“Wait, they were at your house?”

“Yeah, they showed up after I talked to my parents about it. Apparently, that’s why my mom was on my ass to get home this morning. Marcus scheduled a visit to help force my hand in the whole pairing thing.”

“Well, he didn’t force it, did he? Zach’s a fucking douchebag! If you tell me you’re being forced to bond with him, I swear, I will come get you right now. I will fight my way through all the werewolves, including my brother to get you out of there.” My heart caught somewhere between my chest and my throat with her words, because I knew she meant them one hundred percent.

“You are so amazing! It’s not necessary though, because the mystery wolf who marked me in the club showed up.”

“WHAT?” She screamed into the phone. “Did he still look just as yummy? Oh, even better, was his friend tagging along with him too? Was he as fabulous as I remember?”

“Yes,” I answered.

“Wait, yes to which part?”

“All of it. Anyway, listen, I need to get a shower and get my ass presentable. We’re about to call a pack meeting. I promise you, as soon as it’s over I will fill you in on everything.”

“Fine!” I could hear the pout in her voice, and I pictured her bottom lip sticking out like a little kid being told no they couldn’t eat candy before dinner. “BUT… you have to promise to call right away, and…” I was about to cut her off as she took a breath, but I let her finish instead. “Are you okay? Promise me you’re okay, and that I shouldn’t be worried, or I’m getting in my car and coming to visit my brother, as an excuse to see for myself.”

“I promise, everything is fine. I’m okay. There’s no need for concern right now. I love you for worrying though!”

“Love ya too, chica! Now go get clean, I can smell you from here.” Her laughter broke free about two seconds before the phone went dead. I set it down to head back across the hall to the bathroom, and the steamy shower that was using all the hot water up without me in it. As soon as I walked out my bedroom door I ran into a solid mass of body. Arms immediately encircled my waist, and heat flared through me from the tips of my toes straight up to the roots of my hair. The pressure Evan was applying with his hands around my hips was making the towel I was wearing dip dangerously low across my chest. That sudden intake of breath he took told me he noticed too.

“I heard you talking up here. I figured I would come check on you, and make sure everything was okay. I know it’s a lot to take in all at once. This is really not how I would have imagined doing things, you must understand that. I would give anything to turn that clock back and do it all the right way, so you wouldn’t have to be nervous about things.”

I smiled up at him, “I’m not nervous.” It was the truth. I don’t know why it was the truth. He was a Prince, and he was one of the Ancients. Those two things alone should have had me quaking in my boots. Ancients weren’t known to be pillars of the community. They were more of the rape, pillage, and murder crowd. Of course, it could be that everything I had been taught to believe about the Ancients was wrong, because here was Evan, and all he was trying to do was put me at ease. He could have easily taken me last night, and no one would have ever known what happened to me.

“I can’t tell you what it means to me that you say that.” He brought his lips down to my forehead and planted a tiny kiss there. Now, go, get your shower. Your dad has already made the necessary calls. The pack will be convening within the hour. As I pulled away and started out for the bathroom, my towel’s battle to stay firmly planted around my body was lost, and the damn thing fell all the way to my abdomen before I caught it. I could feel the blush that burst across my skin. I could also hear the animal sound coming from Evan. I pulled the towel up around me and hauled ass into the bathroom, not daring to look back until I was shutting the door. He had turned his back. What man turns their back when a woman is exposed by accident? I was contemplating that as I shut the door. When I did, I heard him move across the hall to stand on the other side.

“I’ll be downstairs when you’re done, Jess.” The strain was evident in his voice. The handle of the door had turned a bit, and then his footsteps were the only proof that he had indeed left to go downstairs. I turned the shower nozzle from the hot steamy setting I had it on, to a much cooler temperature. I had been wishing he was going to ignore decorum, and come help me clean up after all. I had hoped for it. I threw myself under the stream of cold water before I did something stupid like call out to him, tell him to scrub my back, or make me dirtier. The minute the icy water hit me, all those thoughts departed, and I literally squeaked.

I made the shower a quick one, especially since it was so freaking uncomfortable. I dressed in a pair of faded, and well worn, boot cut jeans. I put a white camisole on underneath it and topped it with a fitted black and white flannel shirt that I only buttoned the bottom three buttons on. I paired the outfit with my black pointed toe boots, and then I tossed my hair up in a ponytail, applied a little bit of eyeliner and mascara, and brushed my teeth. This was as good as it was going to get, considering I was about to have to go face the gauntlet that was my pack. They were not going to like the fact that one of their females had found a mate outside of our close community. Part of me wanted to just sit this one out and stay home, but my wolf nipped at my insides telling me that wasn’t an option in her world. I was going to go face my pack, and be at one with the mess I had gotten myself in last night.

As we were leaving the house Asi bent low on the way by me and whispered in my ear, “That squeak of yours was very telling. Cold water always does the trick, doesn’t it?”

I growled at him. He laughed, and hopped off the porch like he’d never heard of steps. He was going to be in for it one of these days. Evan clearly heard every bit of the exchange, because he was still laughing when he came up and put his arm around my shoulders, pulling me close. “Don’t worry about Asi, little wolf, he’ll get what’s coming to him in the end.” I heard Asriel laugh up ahead.

“Don’t count on it, brother, I am untouchable.”

“We’ll see about that,” I mumbled.

Evan laughed again, and his laugh eased my nerves. He dropped his head lower, to hover just above mine. “At least you had the luxury of the shower. I had to go outside and beat up on some trees for a minute. I am sorry I missed your little squeak as the water hit you though.” There was a rumble to his voice that told me he was picturing me in that shower.

“You’re going to have to stop there, because I am so not dousing myself with cold water again today.”

“There are other cures for what ails you, besides a cold shower!” Evan added with a chuckle, and Asi joined him. My parents were hanging back, giving us space, and I wasn’t sure how much of this they were overhearing. I was sure they’d heard enough, and I couldn’t help feeling the tiniest bit embarrassed by that. Sure, I was an adult, but up until last night, I didn’t even have an interest in anyone in that way. Now, all of a sudden, sexual innuendoes were easy banter as we walked to a pack meeting. I had definitely left my life behind somewhere and planted myself firmly into the middle of the damn Twilight Zone. It was an odd feeling as I stepped into the pack meeting area.

Unless there was severe weather, our pack meetings were always held outside in a cleared area in the woods just beyond all the living quarters. As we approached the area a friendly face came walking over to me. “Jessie!” He snatched me up in the air, giving me a huge hug. Evan stood off to the side, not intervening, but not looking happy either. “Damn, are you what all this fuss is about, because that is definitely not Zach’s scent all over you?”

“You’ll find out soon enough. What’s with the super emphatic hello with a hug?”

“Oh, yeah, I just wanted to thank you for putting a foot up my ass yesterday. I talked to my mom, and after she cried and stuff, we had a really good chat. We’re doing a family weekend starting this Saturday. Ashley already agreed, and Jeff is coming in from college for a few days. It’s going to be like old times. Of course, mom said to tell you that you are more than welcome to tag along too, since you’re family and all.”