Page 2 of Branches of the Willow

“You know I will.” Evan turned to plant a kiss on my cheek about the same time I heard Mikael’s low growl, warning Evan that he was lingering too long. For his part, Evan just pulled back and grinned at him. “Calm down, Brother. I was just saying goodbye.”

“I heard what you said. No need to say goodbye with your lips too.” Mikael’s gruff complaint made me laugh as I walked over and put my arm around his waist. He actually reached up and brushed the spot on my cheek where his brother had kissed me goodbye, effectively wiping away the trace of him. I giggled at his ridiculous behavior even as something inside of me alighted at the fact that he wanted me all to himself.

“I think it’s cute that you get jealous,” I whispered, “even though you have absolutely nothing to worry about.” Evan hopped into the back of the car and let Asi take position in the driver’s seat. “Take care of her, Asi. I mean it!” I called out.

“You have my word, Jess.” He nodded to Mikael and bowed his head reverently towards me. “Call if there are any problems. We will be back as fast as we can.”

“Thank you.” Asi may have been Evan’s man through and through, but he had sworn his own allegiance to me, as the white wolf, too. I knew he would come running without hesitation if I asked. For that reason, I had vowed to myself that I would check my moments of weakness and only call on him if things were truly dire.

Mikael draped an arm around my shoulders and hugged me closer to him. “She’ll be back soon,” he told me as I hugged him back. His woodsy scent soothed me as I stayed wrapped in his arms while we watched them drive away.

“I know. I just worry that whatever it is that glues Asriel and Evan together will eventually mean that I lose my best friend to their constant travel. I’m happy for Ash, don’t get me wrong, but I would miss her terribly.” I poked my lip out in a very unbecoming pout. “I’m selfish, huh?”

“You’re not selfish to feel things, Jess. Selfish would be if you used your powers to hold her back. You’re not doing that. She’ll be back and with tons of new stories to tell you. Hell, they’re building a house, here, on your father’s pack lands. I think that tells you all you need to know about where Asi’s heart is in all of this.” He tugged me a little closer to him then. “Now, let’s get you to that meeting before anyone gets antsy.”

“Jessie!” A male voice called out from somewhere behind me. My heart stuttered in my chest at the sound because it was so reminiscent of Jack. He was the only one who ever called me Jessie with any regularity, and his death was still too fresh in my heart. I turned to see Andy Wallace running towards me. “Hey, Jess!”

“What’s up Andy?”

“I’m glad I caught you before you took off for the meeting hall. We have three new males, Ancients, here on pack lands asking to speak with you.”

“We’re running late already,” Mikael pointed out to Andy. It was also his subtle way of reminding me as he slid his arm free of my shoulders.

“Andy, have them wait at my parents’ house. Keep an eye on them until I get there. I really must get to this meeting. We’re late. The Ancients can wait. Twenty pack leaders crammed into a small, enclosed room for too long is probably not a good idea.” Andy nodded as a grin spread across his face, and then he took off again in the opposite direction. “The good news is, it looks like I’m going to be too busy to remember I have a best friend somewhere out there having fun without me.” Mikael bumped into my side playfully. He was quieter than usual. “Do you wish you were going with them?” I asked. “You could have.”

“No, the only place on Earth I want to be is right here with you. I just worry about everything that’s been dropped on your shoulders. Promise me something?”

“Anything.” I answered, meaning it.

“Let me know if it’s too much. We can haul ass for a private sanctuary, recharge, and decompress anytime. You just say the word. YoutheWhite Wolf, and that’s important, but you’re also Jess. You have to be able to check out and take care of yourself too.”

I smiled up at my mate knowing that was why he was perfect for me. He would not stand in the way of what I needed to do, but he was there to make sure I mattered too. “I love you!”

“Ah, love, you are my heart, always.” He leaned in and planted a kiss on the tip of my nose then. As if he had given me permission to feel it, exhaustion swept in, weighing down the very bones in my body. As much as I wanted to just go home and curl up in bed for a nice long nap with my mate, we had things to do and responsibilities that would not wait.

We walked along the path toward the reception hall where pack leaders were currently awaiting my presence. I felt bad for keeping them waiting, but damn it, Mikael was right, I needed some me time occasionally too. Ever since I had come out as the white wolf ruler, things had gone nuts. Leaders from far off packs were coming to see for themselves, and of course they all wanted me to prove it, which left me feeling a bit like a circus side-show of late. I finally, got fed up, and called the closest twenty pack leaders to come have a sit down with me. I needed to start piecing my people back together into one whole unit. It started with these twenty leaders, the top twenty in the United States. There were smaller packs out there, but we needed the larger packs onboard with my plans first in order to get anywhere.

“I’m sorry to have kept you all waiting,” I announced the moment we walked through the door. I expected some light grumbling, the likes of which I would have heard had a professor walked in at the last minute before we could officially call class canceled for the day. Silence greeted me instead. They were all watching as Mikael walked over to the table and pulled the chair out for me. Mine was the seat at the head of the table, while Mikael sat himself directly to my left. I took a quick inventory of the people present and noted two absences. “I knew Avery Daniels was unable to make this meeting, because of a problem with interlopers on his lands. I see someone else is missing?” It was a question. I still didn’t have faces to match with a lot of the leaders’ names. It was a rare occasion that this many high alphas sat amongst themselves peacefully.

“John Freedman is missing, Jess.” My father called out from across the long table. I wondered why he sat down there, as I was hoping he would have seated himself to my right, but that was neither here nor there.

I nodded. “Freedman…” I was lost in thought, trying to process why the name sounded so familiar.

“He sent a messenger.” My father stood to read a piece of paper out to everyone. “So long as the Ancient Immersion Program is on the table, you will feel my absence.” I saw my father hesitate, and then he dropped the hand the paper was in down to his side.

“There’s more?” I asked, wondering why he would hesitate to read it in front of the others.

My father cleared his throat, and picked the paper back up, although he did so reluctantly. “Yes. He goes on to say that any who stand for the intermingling of the Ancients with the Lesser wolves will be no friend to him or his clan.” A quiet murmuring trickled throughout the room as leaders discussed Freedman’s decree amongst themselves.

I nodded again. “Thank you.” I looked around at the faces that were processing the latest information. The agenda that was being pushed was one I knew would meet with some pushback since there had been centuries of an ‘us’ versus ‘them’ attitude to combat when it came to mixing the two groups. I wanted to abolish the thought of Ancients and Lessers as separate and make everyone understand that we were all simply wolves. I held off the sigh that wanted to present itself at what was likely to be the first of many dissenting voices amongst the wolves. Instead of allowing them to see my exhaustion or the fact that I’d been disheartened by the response, I chose to make an example of it.

“Well, since Mr. Freedman didn’t have the gumption to show up in anything more than letter form, I’m not sure I’d consider him a great loss to begin with. What is he going to do as an ally, write a scathing letter to our enemies?” There were a few startled looks in the crowd as the words left my mouth, but then a ruckus laughter bellowed forth from Andre Marmont, and it became infectious amongst the group.

“You are a breath of fresh air, my dear.” Andre stated as he wound down his own laughter. “I’ve never liked Freedman. He does things differently in his pack than most of the more civilized clans do.”

“What do you mean?” I hated having to ask a question like that in front of everyone, but unfortunately, my father had tried to protect me from the ugliness that could be inherent in our world, and I had not been kept up to speed on which packs were decent versus which were destructive to our kind as I was growing up. That put me at a slight disadvantage with my current position as would-be leader of the entire werewolf race.

“Women have no rights there in his pack. They are taken by those strong enough to capture them, and then they are kept in the background only. They are for breeding, keeping house, and not a lot more. I think, even if you took the AI program off the table, he would still have a problem being here. Freedman isn’t going to take orders from any female.”

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