Page 26 of Branches of the Willow

“I look that bad, huh?” I managed to squeak out to Mikael once I knew they were downstairs.

“You just look tired.” He pushed my hair back off my face as my mother had done moments ago. “Can I get you anything else? Serena said you may be stuck with just the brew until your throat heals a little bit. It’s too raw for food right now, but maybe a popsicle, or something?”

I smiled. “Later. Hold me?” I missed his scent. I felt safe with it wrapped around me.

“Of course, my love. Anything you need.”

I’m not sure if they were freaked out by my appearance when they had seen me, or if Mikael threatened everyone to keep them away, but that’s exactly what they did. I had the next three days to myself to recuperate with Mikael doing everything in his power to make sure I rested and got better. Serena popped in a few times too, checking on me, and dropping off some more of her brew. By the third day, I was rehydrated, and eating food again.

“Hey, Jess.” Mikael walked in the room sporting a big grin when he saw me coming from the shower with only a towel on.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Nothing that can’t wait now!” He came over and picked me up, carried me to the bed, and started planting kisses all over me.

I giggled at his advances. “Mikael?” I questioned amidst the onslaught of kisses.

“Sorry. You just looked like you again. I couldn’t resist.” He sat up and moved back a little to watch me as I stood and got dressed. “You have a guest downstairs, several actually.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, I told everyone you were doing much better. Maybe I shouldn’t have.” He looked worried for a minute.

“I’m fine. Besides, I need to get out of this room for a bit. I’m starting to go stir crazy.” I smiled, leaned down, and planted a kiss on his soft lips. Mikael had been shaving closely the past few days to remove any stubble. The first day, every time he tried to kiss me it hurt my chapped skin. He hadn’t shaved for the day yet, and I enjoyed seeing the stubble there on his face again. “Don’t shave today,” I said out loud. He only grinned in return.

“I knew you only loved me for my bad-boy look.” He winked as he said it.

“Damn straight!” I tried to add some excitement to my voice but received a quick reminder that I wasn’t used to using my vocal cords again. It came out a little shriller than I anticipated. Mikael winced at the sound as I sighed in defeat. “Well, I guess I’ll stick to monotones for a few more days.” Mikael had tried, several times to convince me to shift in order to speed up the healing process, and I couldn’t find a reason to tell him that it wouldn’t be possible without informing him about the baby. Serena was there the last time he asked me to just shift and heal. She explained to him that shifting would do no good because the damage was caused by a witch’s magic and could not be healed in the normal ways of our kind. I was so thankful to her for that, because as she had explained to me, I could most definitely heal quicker if I were able to shift, but my wolf’s priority would be with protecting my little one from any damage, and that included keeping me from shifting. Not that I would purposely try it, considering what might be at stake if I did.

“I’m tempted to bring Sophia back from the dead so I can have the satisfaction of killing her myself,” Mikael complained.

“Let’s not, please. Besides, I’m fairly sure that witches can only be killed by another witch anyway.” I finished dressing and slipped my feet into my shoes. “So, who’s here?”

“My brother, Asi, and Ashley.”

“Ash finally came back, huh?”

“Yeah. I don’t think she wanted to. She still feels bad about the other day.”

“She has nothing to feel bad about.” I stared at Mikael, wondering just how hard he had been on my friend, and he must have caught the accusation in my gaze.

“Hey, I tried telling her that.” He threw his hands up in the air. “All I wanted was for everyone to give you time. They didn’t understand how bad you were.”

“I know.” I leaned in for another quick kiss. Mikael’s arms wrapped around me, and I wasn’t sure I cared that we had visitors downstairs. I didn’t want to move away from him. “I love you,” I whispered against his lips. He nipped at my bottom lip in response.

“Come on.” He sighed heavily as he stood up from the bed, moving me away from it as he went. “Let’s go see everyone. I’ve apparently monopolized as much of your time as they’re all willing to allow.” It was humorous to see him mope about having to share me again. I kind of liked it though. Not that he felt that way, but that he cared enough to be bothered about having to lose time with me.

I just hit the bottom step when strong arms reached out and grabbed hold of me, pulling me so tight it almost hurt. “Jess!” I inhaled the familiar scent that clung to Evan. For once, I didn’t hear Mikael growling at him. He understood his brother’s emotion and backed off for a minute. It was nice to see that they had finally come to an understanding about things. “I’m so sorry. We tried to find you…” He spoke the words into my ear because he still hadn’t let go. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay. I’m fine.” I patted his back as a signal that he could let go now, but he continued holding on. “Um, Evan, I need to breathe.”

“Oh! Right.” He continued to hang on as the words left his mouth, but then he slowly let go. “We were so worried about you, especially when we couldn’t find where they’d taken you.”

“It’s okay. I’m here now, and I’m fine.” I offered a small smile, and tried to clear my throat a little bit, as it was still raspy.

Evan glanced between Mikael and me, trying to figure out just how bad things were. He knew me. I was tougher than I looked, and the fact that I hadn’t put up a fight to see anyone for days, probably told him all he needed to know. “Well, we need to get this girl some food. Jesus, Jess, your pants are about to fall off your scrawny legs.” He turned without so much as a suggestive comment or smirk thrown at Mikael and walked into the kitchen. “Shit! Mikael, when was the last time you went shopping, man?”

“We’ve had a lot going on here, Brother.”

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