Page 5 of Branches of the Willow (The Ancients #3)

5

Sweet Dreams

M ikael and I sat down to eat our dinner in peace. The best part about his house being so far from the pack was that when we were there, it was just us. We didn’t have to worry about the constant interruptions. I wasn’t sure how my father managed being a pack leader, or how I was going to manage somehow governing over all the wolves in the world. Ideally, Antoine and I could have worked together, and he could have kept that side of the world while I had this one. Had he not been so power hungry and depraved, it would have been great. Now, I was on my own, and there were packs out there that didn’t like it one damn bit.

“You know, now that I’ve been acknowledged as the white wolf, we should probably live within a pack, not apart from them.” I expressed my thoughts out loud so Mikael could weigh in too.

“Actually, that’s something I wanted to talk to you about. I spoke with Jameson about building a place out there. As soon as Ash & Asi’s house is done, we’ll get it started.”

“The pack lands are a perpetual construction zone.” I blurted out before taking another bite.

“Yeah, well, I expect it’s only going to get worse for the Jameson’s pack, and all the ones near it before all is said and done.”

“What do you mean? Why?”

“My father ruled from Eastern Europe. Those who want to be near the leadership tend to congregate around it. We had our own little city there. I imagine that most will flock to be near the new regime, especially if they want to attempt to blend in with your Immersion Program.”

“This is why I keep you around.” I mused.

Mikael grinned. “That’s why?” He leaned over the table and nipped the tip of my nose. “I thought for sure there were better reasons than the random thoughts and ideas I spit out once in a while.”

“Oh, there are, but once in a while your randomness is genius when I’m too tired to think.” I winked at him, and he laughed.

“Don’t worry, your dad is already preparing for the influx.”

“How do you really prepare for something like that? If we build too much, our forest is compromised, and then where will we run?”

Mikael grinned at me. “It’s funny because your father said the same thing, but then, he managed to come up with a plan anyway. I imagine Avery is working on his own as well when he has a minute.”

“It seems he has precious few of those. We need an update from him soon about what he’s dealing with over there. I’m hoping Andy will have more information for us when he gets back.”

“I’m sure that he will. “You about done here?” I nodded my head, feeling properly stuffed for the first time in days. “Let’s get you cleaned up then, so that you can relax before the next disaster strikes.”

“Bite your tongue, mister!” I quickly leaned over and knocked on the wooden table before I made my way to the stairs. “We don’t need to borrow any more trouble than we’ve already had.”

Mikael followed me up the stairs, and started the shower for me so the water had a chance to get hot before I jumped in. I thought, maybe he was going to join me, but he never came back. When I was done, I found Mikael already fast asleep on the bed. Apparently, I was not the only one who had been suffering from exhaustion lately. It seemed my man could dish out the ‘take care of yourself first’ advice, but he was shit at taking it.

I climbed in bed and tucked myself as close to his body as I could get, letting his natural, woodsy, masculine scent wash over me until my eyelids were too heavy to stay open any longer. My life had changed in crazy ways over the course of the past year, and the best of those changes was having this man by my side. I went to sleep with a smile on my face, content just to be close after another long day.

The warm glow from the flames bounced across the cave leaving behind a shadow play of light shimmer and darker spaces, adding to the magical feel of the dream place where the previous white wolves spoke to me. The air, which normally smelled strongly of lavender, also had an undercurrent of freshly turned earth. I looked around again, taking everything in as each aspect of the cave slid in and out of my focus. There, right in front of the dais, in the middle of the cave there was a patch of earth amidst the smooth rocks that usually adorned the area. This was the first time I had been sucked into the dream realm with the white wolves to find the scenery had changed. I wondered why just before they started speaking to me.

They were going on and on about planting, harvesting, and continuing cycles. The magic of love came up as well, but I honestly didn’t understand a damn bit of it. This was, by far, my most confusing visit with my white wolf ancestors to date.

“It is time for you to share in the magic, Jessica.” The voices of the wolves echoed through the cave, melodious, and drawing me deeper into the dream. Everything warmed, my skin tingled, and I listened as their voices once again sang in a chorus throughout the cave. “It is time. The magic is yours. So, the cycle begins anew.”

“What?” I whispered, but then I was too caught up in the euphoria of the moment to care what they meant. The world spun around me, the warmth seemed to fill every pour in my skin, branching out beyond that to every follicle of hair I possessed. A deep moan of sheer pleasure escaped my lips when Mikael’s face came to mind. I smiled, wishing he were here, feeling the love and light flowing through him as well. Then his voice broke through, calling to me, pulling me out of the dream, and back into his arms. Despite the blissful feeling I thought I would be leaving behind, I didn’t mind going, because it was to him.

“Jess, love, wake up!” I opened my eyes to see the emerald deep pools of Mikael’s irises staring back at me, shadowed with concern. “You were moaning in your sleep. I wasn’t sure…”

I drew a deep breath, taking in the intoxicating scent that was all Mikael. It wrapped around me like a blanket, making me want to be closer to him. I moved, in his arms, wriggling my body until I was chest to chest with my mate. The skin of my cheek flushed with fiery warmth as it touched his, and then I slid further down to his neck, as I marked him with my own scent. An overwhelming need to possess Mikael and make him entirely mine had taken hold. It was a need so deeply ingrained that I began to ache with it. Something in my belly tugged me even closer if that was possible. My hands began to roam all over his body, and I slid my way back up to lay not so gentle kisses on his neck. I grazed along his jaw and chin with my teeth, alternating between playful bites, and sweet kisses.

“Jess?” My name was a breathy question on Mikael’s lips.

A moan erupted from somewhere in the back of my throat as his voice sent tender gooseflesh dancing across every inch of my skin. “Mikael,” I whispered throatily as I tossed a leg over the other side of him, straddling his hips effortlessly. A wave of pure, blissful heat swept through my whole body, igniting a fire inside of me that seemed almost impossible to be real. That tug in my belly burrowed deeper down, to my very core, as I felt Mikael move underneath me.

He pulled me closer, wrapping his muscular arms around my back, as he tipped my head so that he could nuzzle into my neck. When he did, I felt the change in him immediately. He began to grow rock hard underneath me, and the playful little nuzzling he started turned into an unbridled passion that neither of us had experienced before. All thought was lost then, as our clothes were quickly disposed of, and our bodies came together with a need that burned through both of us. Mikael twisted, pulling my body around, and underneath his once our clothes were no longer a burden. He leaned in, kissing me deeply as he thrust, hard and unrelenting, inside of me.

Why hadn’t we been doing this every minute of every day? The thought was fleeting as I attempted to pull him even closer, dug my nails into his ass, and encouraged him to take me harder, longer, forever. This was how I wanted to die. It was how I wanted to live in every moment too. We were so close, so consumed with one another, in one another, that it didn’t seem possible to separate.

He moved his hips above me, swirling and surging forward as I arced my body to meet his. Each of us was striving to meet the other’s demands. It was a sensual dance that continued for some time, and even when we had both reached our climax, we weren’t done. The rest of the world simply fell away as we lost ourselves in one another repeatedly for the next few hours.

I was staring up at the ceiling, not really seeing it, but daydreaming about being able to wake up like this every day with Mikael. I just knew that if I could see myself right then, I would be glowing. A blissful peace settled in around me that I hadn’t known since that day Mikael and I spent at the cave together, when I lost my virginity and we bonded.

“Hey love, penny for your thoughts?” Mikael called to me as he looked through the closet for something to wear. His hair was sending little rivulets of water cascading down his shoulders and back to be swallowed up by the towel he had wrapped around his waist.

The intense hunger to have him there, touching me, inside of me, bonding together again was overpowering. He must have felt the same pull because he stopped what he was doing and turned to look at me with an equally heated gaze. In the space of a breath, he stalked toward me, his towel discarded along the way, as he climbed across the bed to get to me. The spell was only broken when my stomach growled loudly in protest.

“Okay,” Mikael sat back quickly, “we need to get you fed first before this can continue. I don’t want you wasting away any further than you already have.”

“I’ll be okay.” I managed to whimper.

Mikael laughed at me, even though the heat in his eyes had not dissipated one bit. “Let’s eat first. We’ll both be fueled up for the next round that way.”

“I like the sound of that.” My traitorous stomach grumbled again.

“Fueling up?”

“No, the next round!” I laughed as I followed him downstairs. “I’m thinking we should just stay in bed the rest of the day and forget the world exists for a little while.”

“I can’t argue with that.”

I turned on a movie in the living room while Mikael made us some food. I was more lost in thought than paying attention to whatever was on though. When Mikael brought the food, I ate dutifully, chewed, swallowed, and repeated the process while not really tasting anything or registering what he had made. For a moment, I felt guilty because he put effort into it and there I was not caring. Then, I looked over at him watching me, and I was undone. A blazing fire spread through my veins, and it was trying to consume me from my middle outward.

I didn’t even think, didn’t stop to clean up our mess, or to worry about all the things I should be doing today. I climbed over the couch and tossed my leg over Mikael’s. Once I managed to straddle him, I leaned in and took his mouth with my own, claiming him all over again. That kiss was full of need and heat, and he met it full throttle. Neither of us held back any longer. After what seemed like forever, Mikael and I collapsed back against each other on the couch, spent for a little while.

“I guess this is that blissful, newlywed, honeymoon period the humans always go on about, huh?” Mikael laughed.

“Mmm, I just know I can’t get enough of you!” I smiled up at him then.

“Jess, I am all yours! Anytime! Anywhere!” His gruff voice made my body react again, instantly filling me with heat. The sexy as hell grin on his face had me turning in his arms and climbing back on top of him again. “Hell, if I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were like a bitch in heat right now.” Upon seeing my negative reaction to that, he added, “Not that I mind at all.”

I smacked him on the arm playfully. “I’ve already had my heat cycle this year. Maybe, I just think you’re irresistibly sexy.” I slid him inside of me once more, as if to prove my point. The groan that accompanied the feel of him filling me so fully was matched by his own as Mikael threw his head back on the couch behind him and pulled at my hips to bring us closer together. Not that it was possible, but oh, did he try as he ground his hips up into mine as he pulled me down to meet him.

“I always knew you were trying too hard when you didn’t want to date me,” he teased as his teeth nipped lightly at my ear, then the sensitive spot just behind.

I smiled while tilting my head so that I could trail my tongue down his throat, over his chest, and as far down his body as I could get while remaining seated there on top of him. The slightly salty taste on his skin reminded me of all the exertion we had put one another through since the night before. He would inhale sharply each time I hit a sensitive spot, and I marked those areas to come back to repeatedly, luxuriating in the taste of our efforts together as I did so.

“I also know I can’t wait for next year’s heat cycle, because if this is normal behavior for you after a little rest, that shit is going to be crazy!” He laughed, then sucked in another breath as I pulled my nails up his thighs while I sucked hard on one of his nipples. “I don’t know how I’ll manage that after having this,” he complained, but in his sultry, sexed-up voice, it didn’t seem like much of a complaint. I slid from our connection and down his body, paying close attention to all those wonderful places that made his muscles twitch, his heart beat faster, or his hands grab hold of me tighter.

“Jess,” he hissed as I scraped my teeth up the sensitive portion of his thigh, then the other, ignoring the place where he needed me the most. His hardness was right there, waiting for me to take it, but I was teasing him, moving all around his cock instead of just taking it in my mouth. “Sweet Jesus, that’s going to be a solid week of amazing sex. I think we better go ahead and ask for some time off.” I laughed at his suggestion and decided he was still way too coherent for my liking, so I licked up his full length, paying attention to that sensitive area just under his head, before I took him fully into my mouth. His head fell back once more, only to roll right back up into a position where he could watch what I was doing to him as he pulled my hair up and held it as a crown atop my head.

Once I had his full, undivided attention again, I sucked him all the way into my mouth, down my throat, and swallowed while he was there. “Oh fuck!” He cried the words out as his fingers tightened in my hair, pulling me back for a moment, only to aid my descent again just as quickly. Neither of us relented until he sent a hot stream of his release down my throat while I focused on the feel of him throbbing in my mouth. Pride swelled inside of me that I was able to make him feel so good that he had lost all control and stopped being careful with either of us.

When it was clear, later, that this was going to be a continual pattern until we were too exhausted to continue, Mikael sent my mom a message. “We’re on our honeymoon. Do not disturb. Love you!”

I laughed when I saw the message and asked him what was up. “I want you. You want me. We have been giving everything to everyone else for quite some time. We got thrown into this mess before we ever really got to enjoy each other. I am making it my duty to ensure you are pleased in every way for at least a couple more days before we go back to reality. We’ll call it our stay-at-home honeymoon period. Later, when things are settled more, we can take a trip somewhere and actually have a vacation together.”

“Going away sounds like heaven, but then again, so does getting to keep you all to myself for a couple more days.” I relaxed back then and stretched my muscles. Mikael took it as an invitation, and joined me, spreading his body out across mine, skin on skin, and everywhere he touched became a flaming heat that possessed us both once again.

It was a full two days later before I heard from anyone. My phone had stayed silent, as had Mikael’s. I owed my mom since I knew it was her doing. That didn’t stop my phone from ringing on the third day though. Apparently, we had met our allotted window of freedom, and now we were free game again. Mikael had gone to the store for coffee and some food since we’d pretty much run out of everything the day before. As my phone rang, I thought about not picking it up, but the possibility occurred that it might be Mikael, so I reached over and snatched it up off the dresser. Ashley’s name popped up on the screen. She was the only other person I would answer for today.

“Jess?” She questioned before I could even get a ‘hello’ past my lips.

“Hey girly! How’s Europe treating you?”

“It’s been,” she hesitated a moment, before continuing, “interesting. I will definitely have a lot to fill you in on when we get back.”

“Oh yeah?” I smiled when I thought about getting to sit around and just hang out, chatting with Ashley for a while when she returned. I missed her. “So, have the guys been treating you okay? I hope they’ve at least allowed you to play tourist a little.”

“Yeah, they’ve been great. Asi has shown me around. This place is crazy. It’s not the same as our little pack lands. It’s an entire fucking city full of werewolves. It’s ridiculously crazy, Jess.”

“I wonder if all of them will want to come here. Mikael mentioned to me the other day that the majority usually travels to wherever the source of power resides.”

“I don’t know. I think, maybe quite a few will try, but many have established homes and lives here too, so it might not be as bad as you’re thinking. There are a handful of special cases that will be coming back with us.”

“Really?” I questioned.

“Yeah, um, Evan will fill you guys in about that soon. There are some people here that certainly don’t want to be left behind.” She sounded a bit off, but then continued. “That’s a story for another time though. I was going to call the other day, but your mom sent a message to us saying you were not to be disturbed for a couple days. What’s going on with you? Everything okay? I was a little worried, but your mom said there was nothing to get excited over, you just needed some rest.”

I laughed. “I don’t know that I’ve gotten any rest. It’s been more like a honeymoon for Mikael and me. We just both realized we haven’t really been able to be together much lately. You know, we bonded, then everything happened, and we were too busy to really enjoy each other for a while.”

“Oh, I get that! Wait! What are you doing talking to me then? Go, get another piece of that fine man-meat.” She giggled through that sentence like only Ashley could.

“It’s fine, Ash. He had to run to the store. We haven’t left the house in days, so we’re out of pretty much everything.”

“Sounds like time well spent!”

“Definitely!” I agreed with a smile on my face that she couldn’t see, but I was pretty sure it could be heard, considering the way it stretched my face. “So, what about you? Have you and Asi had a little bit of time to treat this trip like a vacation?”

“Oh, we’ve definitely had our moments, and there was a taxi driver that I am certain won’t ever forget our visit. Poor guy!”

“Poor guy, hell. I bet he’s telling all his friends about the dirty, hot, red-head he had in his cab.”

“I don’t know,” Ashley said with a laugh. “I think he was more interested in Asi than me.

“Oh! Well, I bet he’s telling all his friends about the hot stud, who unfortunately had a busty redhead all over him, in his cab.”

“Ha! Ha!”

“So, when are you guys coming home?”

“I’m not sure. Evan is having to get together documentation for some of the people coming back with us, so it’s taking a little longer than we thought. We might be here a couple more weeks.”

“Weeks?” My voice came out a bit higher pitch than I had intended, but I was expecting them to come back a lot sooner.

“I know. It’s a lot.” Ashley consoled me. “You’ll be busy in the meantime though, so I’m sure you won’t even notice.”

“How could I not notice my best friend’s absence? That’s absurd, Ash.”

“I’m sorry, hon. If it weren’t important for me to be here, I would be headed home before the boys. They need a woman here with them though. There’s a lot going on.”

“You’re starting to worry me, Ash. What don’t I know?”

“I’m still new to some of the wolf stuff, Jess. I think it would be better coming from Evan. He said he was going to give Mikael a call later. He got the same message from your mom that we all received, so he’s been holding off for a few days.”

“I see.” I heard the door downstairs open and listened as Mikael went to put the groceries in the kitchen. A part of me felt bad for still lounging in bed naked while he had been dressed, and out the door early to go get us some food. “Well, I’m still sad that you’re going to be gone longer, Ash. What about pictures? I haven’t seen any yet!”

“I uploaded some to my Facebook this morning. You can take a look if you ever get your ass out of bed.” She laughed at me again, trying to cheer me up.

“Yeah, well, my ass has been very comfortable in bed lately.”

Mikael came into the room and made a beeline straight for the bed. He leaned over and playfully bit me on the butt. “And what a fine ass it is!” His gruff voice was like heaven, and then he bit me a little harder, causing me to yelp.

“And on that note, I’m going to let you go, before I hear things I can’t un-hear!”

“I love you, Ash!” I managed as Mikael continued to nibble down my thighs.

“You too, hon! Later.” Just like that, Ashley hung up, and I tossed my phone aside as Mikael flipped me onto my back and straightened himself out against me.

“Hi, beautiful. You ready to come downstairs and eat? I stopped by Java Joe’s and grabbed you a caramel macchiato and some blueberry muffins.”

“Blueberry muffins?” I bit my bottom lip, trying to decide which was more important in that moment. Fresh, hot, blueberry muffins or my gorgeous, hard-bodied mate. It was definitely a tough call.

“Come on.” Mikael laughed at me, and hauled me to my feet, pulling my body tight against his and caressing my backside with his right hand while he kissed me and reached for my robe with his left. “Let’s get you food. I talked to your mom while I was out. She said she’s stalled for as long as she could, but that people are starting to get antsy about your being missing in action for so long.”

“Damn those people!” I whined as we made our way downstairs.

“Truly!” Mikael agreed with me.

The rest of the day was spent much like the previous few. We couldn’t get enough of one another, taking time out only to eat, shower, and watch a movie towards the end of the evening. I was already dreading the next day, when we’d have to go back to reality, and try to find a balance between our time together, and what we had to give to everyone else.

I started dozing off at the end of the movie, which is when we both gave up for the night and called an end to our day, and our impromptu honeymoon at home. As I began to drift off in bed, with Mikael spooned up behind me, I was suddenly bound and determined to take him with me to meet the white wolves in the dream world where they always appeared to me. Part of me wanted to show him off to them. The other part of me needed someone else to understand what the white wolf dreams were like, so I didn’t have to feel like a total crazy person when I talked about them. I figured if I could pull him into the dream, he could validate things for me with everyone else who had a hard time believing that I spoke to our ancestors when I slept sometimes. Nobody likes the insinuation that they may just be a big ball of nuts.

I wasn’t sure I would be successful, even when I smelled the familiar scents of lavender and fresh earth. The candlelight danced in my periphery as usual. Everything appeared as it always did when I first showed up, and the dream haze began lifting a bit.

“What in the hell?” It was Mikael’s voice.

“Oh my God! I did it!” I screeched to him.

“Did what? Where in the hell are we?”

“I brought you along to see the white wolves with me.”

“You did what?” He questioned, but I didn’t get a chance to answer as laughter towards the center of the room boomed all around us.

“She is growing stronger.” The wolf voices commented aloud. “Jessica, you have introductions to make.”

“This is Mikael DéLune, my mate.” I spoke reverently, then I gestured to the dais in the middle of the cave. “These are the former white wolves, my ancestors.”

Mikael stood speechless for a few minutes, before he finally collected himself. Then he bowed down before them, going to one knee, as he did. “It is my great honor to be presented to you.”

“The honor is ours, young man. For you are the true mate of our daughter-spirit. From you both, the cycle continues.”

I watched as Mikael tried to focus on what he was seeing upon the dais. It was too much, as it often was for me, and he had to look away while rubbing his eyes. “Apologies, the constant shifting is hard to look upon.” When he dared to glance up again, there was only one image, that of a young woman with beautiful auburn hair and dark forest green eyes.

“We forget sometimes, the spectacle that we make. You have nothing to apologize for. I am Aislynn. You shall see only my visage now, but we are all still here, always one.”

“Aislynn,” Mikael repeated thoughtfully. “You were the first?” It was a question and a statement all at once.

“That is correct,” she graced him with a beautiful smile for knowing where she stood in the hierarchy of my ancestors.

I suddenly felt like a jackass because I didn’t even know that. It made me appreciate the fact that I had Mikael by my side even more though. As they conversed, I tuned them out and absentmindedly began moving closer to the dais. There, in the little square of turned earth before them was a tiny little sprout of green beginning to push its way forth from the dirt.

“How can something grow in here with no light?” I wondered out loud. Then, a tiny little pinprick of light slipped through the top of the cave, sending a kiss of sunlight to land upon the little sprout, giving it the nutrients that it would need to grow. I was awed by the beauty of something growing out of the dark, obviously fighting to survive. The white wolves seemed pleased with my interest in the little sprout. Mikael came and put his arms around me, taking note of the tiny thing too. “Maybe when we come back it will be filled out a bit more.”

“We have hopes that your sprout will flourish, indeed.” The white wolves said amidst a chuckle. Those girls always knew more than they were letting on. It was both infuriating and endearing. Before I could ask any questions about why the sprout was there, the world began to fade out again, growing hazy, as it always did to signal the end of a visit.

Mikael clung a little tighter to me, not knowing what was happening. “Relax.” I told him before we faded away completely.

When the dream was over, I woke and immediately turned in Mikael’s arms to see that he was watching me with such an awestruck expression on his face. “Did that really just happen?”

“It did,” I told him before placing a sweet kiss on his lips. “I’m so happy that you finally got to go with me and see it for yourself.”

“Jessica, that was…” he sighed and squeezed me tight as he searched for the right words. “I don’t have words. It was amazing, but I feel that even that word doesn’t do justice to the experience when I’ve just met the entire line of white wolf rulers.”

“They’re pretty cool, when they’re not giving me a headache with their constant riddles and shifting forms.”

Mikael grinned at me then. “What was with the little plant, anyway? You’ve never mentioned it before.”

“Last time I was there, was the first time I saw that patch of dirt, and the wolves were talking about harvest, growth, and renewal. I missed a lot of what they said because it felt as though I was bathing in liquid euphoria. I woke feeling nothing but love, happiness, and…”

“Horniness?” He teased.

“Actually, yeah, I guess you’re right. That was just a few nights ago.”

“And now there’s a sprout?”

“Yes, now there’s a sprout. I wonder what they are growing in there. I didn’t think that would be possible since they are, you know, dead and all.”

Mikael laughed. “I never thought I’d be brought into a dream vision where I got to meet them either, so I guess anything is possible.” He leaned over to get a look at the clock beside the bed and groaned. “We better get some more sleep, love. I have a feeling the real world will be calling tomorrow.”