Branches of the Willow 3 (12 page)

“I don’t know. We just need to wait and let her tell us when she’s ready, sweetheart. Jess is strong, she’ll bounce back soon.

“I look 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, baby.”

~*~

I’m not sure if they were freaked out by my appearance when they did see 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 baby.” 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 was giggling 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 stand and start getting 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 yet today, and I enjoyed seeing him like that again. “Don’t shave today.” I said out loud. He smiled at me.

“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 chords again. It came out a little shriller than I anticipated. Mikael winced at the sound. I sighed. “Well, I guess I’ll stick to monotones for a few more days.

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

“Let’s not, please.” 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 though. She still feels bad about the other day.”

“She has nothing to feel bad about.” I looked at Mikael wondering just how hard he’d 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 everyone’s willing to allow.” He was moping about having to share me again. I kind of liked it. Not that he felt that way, but that he cared enough to be bothered about having to lose time with me.

I was just hitting 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. “I’m so sorry. We tried to find you…” He was talking 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 looked between me and Mikael, 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 of you.” 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.”

“Okay, well, give me a few minutes and I will have food here for you.” Evan walked out to the living room talking on his cell phone. “I am tipping big if you get it here in twenty. What do you mean how big?” Evan sighed into the phone. “The tip’s going to be bigger than the bill. Good enough for you?” He clicked off his phone and tucked it back into the front pocket of his khaki pants. Evan was dressed impeccably, as usual. He had on khakis that hugged his thigh muscles and his butt just so, and he topped it off with a bright blue button down shirt. The top three buttons were undone, and I could see what must have been a white gold chain hanging down inside his shirt. Had it been silver, it would have burned every time he moved. His hair was longer than I remembered, and he probably needed to get it cut soon, or it would start looking unkempt. Instead of his normal tied back look, today he wore it down, and it made him look younger and a bit wild despite the pressed appearance his clothes gave him.

“So, what did I miss while I was gone, and recuperating?” I finally asked when everyone else was just standing around looking awkward.

“Well, you missed the big man-hunt.” Asi told me. “We searched high and low for you. No mountain was too high, or river too deep…” Asi was snickering as he spoke.

“You’re real cute, Asi!” I beamed at him, because he was the first in the group, including Mikael, to treat me normal. I appreciated the hell out of that gesture. Mikael was standing behind me, hands wrapped around my middle, chuckling in my ear.

Ashley looked stricken. “I can’t believe you just said that.” She whispered the words as if Asi was the only person in the room who could hear her chastising him.

“Sorry, Jess.” He apologized, more to appease Ashley, because it was clear he didn’t think it was warranted. He was right, but that was an argument for the two of them to have in private. I wasn’t about to get mixed up in the middle. Ashley felt bad enough for not realizing how truly screwed up I was when I first got back.

“Okay, besides the search and rescue, what else did I miss? How did your trip go?”

“Obviously, it was cut short, but we were able to wrap things up there before we left anyway.” Evan started.

“We brought some people back.” Asi added. I waited for him to elaborate, and when he didn’t, I gave him a huff, and looked towards Ashley and Evan, who surprisingly, had a bit of a blush creeping into his cheeks.

“Who did you bring back?”

“There were these women…” Ashely started in a small voice. I knew it wasn’t going to be a happy story when her shoulders slumped forward even further than they already were. “They were being held in a prison beneath the main house.”

“Prisoners?” I asked, even though I knew by everyone’s demeanor that it couldn’t be the case.

“No. They were slaves, Jess. They were there for the King to use and abuse however he saw fit.”

I sucked in a breath, not sure I fully grasped the scope of things, but knowing that didn’t sound good. “How many?”

“There are 17. Apparently, there were a few more, but a few were taken before we got there.” Ashley cringed at a memory that was clearly playing itself out in her mind. Then, she shivered involuntarily, and I had to wonder what the hell they had seen to make her react that way.

“Okay, well, you might as well start telling the story while we wait for the food to get here.”

“It might be better just to show you, after you eat.” Ashley mumbled from across the room.?

“Ashley,” I called to her as I walked towards where she stood. “I am fine. You didn’t do anything wrong. Please, if anything, I need some normal back. This,” I gestured to her posture, “is not normal.” I reached over and hugged my best friend. It took a minute, but finally she wrapped her arms around me and squeezed back.

“You don’t hate me?”

“How in the hell could I ever hate you?”

“Well, there was that dress you loved, and I spilled nail polish all over it…”

“Shut up!” I hugged her tighter for a minute. “Wait. What dress??”

“Oh, never mind.” She was grinning now.

“We’ll talk about that later. Come, sit with me.” I walked to the couch, hand in hand with my best friend and we simultaneously plopped down on it. Finally, I felt like I could crawl back into my old life, just a little.

“Jess, you don’t need to do this right now. It’s your first day getting back to socializing with people. Work doesn’t have to be on the table.” I could see the worry on Mikael’s face as he spoke. It didn’t deter me though.

“It does when there are other women who were being held against their will, like I was.” I took a few minutes to catch my breath. It was not an easy thing to admit that you were held prisoner, even when others knew about it. “I wasn’t…” I started, and stopped again. “I was lucky that Serena got to me when she did. I’m sure some of those women you brought home weren’t. If I can help them in anyway, I am going to.” Mikael’s anger at my admission was palpable. I hadn’t talked to him about how close I had come to being raped. I still hadn’t talked much about what happened to me, how my powers were stripped, and I was kept doped up. I still wasn’t sure how to deal with all that, considering I was pregnant when I was drugged, I had an entirely new level of worries to go with it. Evan closed in on his brother and put a hand on his shoulder to calm him. “My ordeal is over and done with. Let’s get these girls fixed up, so they can move on too. That’s what I need to do in order to get back to normal.” They were brave words for me, because honestly I wasn’t sure I could handle listening to the stories of seventeen other women who had also been held against their will. This was going to be one hell of a challenge. “Now, please, someone tell me what’s been going on so I have an idea of what I’m going to be working with when I head back to the pack.”

“We were checking out the main house, and I heard something behind one of the walls. I thought it was mice or whatever and I freaked out a little. You know how I am with rodents.” Ashley shivered slightly. “Asi came over to check it out, and he figured out that there was a lever to move part of the wall. It became a door , and when we walked through it, the smell was.” I could almost see Ashley turning green just from the memory, so I could imagine how bad it had been.

“They’d been locked there for almost a week without anyone coming to check on them. Luckily, they had a stocked pantry down there when they were abandoned, or it could have been far worse.” Asriel had taken over telling me what happened while he rubbed his hand up and down Ashley’s back, offering her comfort.

“Some of them didn’t have access to bathrooms. There were a few who were being segregated for whatever reason. They were the reason for the stench. Two didn’t make it, they were already gone when we got to them, there were a couple more on the brink of death. They were not able to come back with us, because their health was too bad. They were taken to the local healer, but not expected to make it. You know how it is with the weaker wolves. If they give up, that’s it. There’s no bringing them back.”

“So, you brought back seventeen women, and there had been more that weren’t expected to live, and even more that had already perished?” I asked Asi, but honestly, I wasn’t sure I could comprehend that.

“Yes, we lost a few.”

“Suddenly, I feel guilty for every stolen moment of happiness I’ve had over the past year. While I was laughing and having a good time, what was happening to these girls?” My inner thoughts turned a little dark. I knew exactly what had been happening to them. I knew because it almost happened to me. If it weren’t for Sophia’s need for revenge, Zach would have had me drugged and used long before he attempted it.

Evan’s voice finally made it through the cacophony of emotions and thoughts that were plaguing me. “Hey, Jess.” I tipped my head a little, acknowledging that I heard him. “Don’t do that to yourself. You’re not the one who put them there. Too many people in the world face different atrocities every day. You can’t make yourself responsible for those things simply because you were happy living your life while they were miserable. Thinking like that will sink your spirit. Those girls had it rough, but what they aren’t going to want to see from you is pity for what they’ve been through. They’re going to want to see someone who can show them the light at the end of it all. I don’t think you should even try going over there until you’re ready for that.”

Mikael looked as though he both agreed with and wanted to deck Evan at the same time. His low growl made it seem likely that option two was the one he would go with. “I don’t think you need to worry about the women anyway. Your mom is taking care of that situation, and doing a good job of getting them sorted.”

I smiled up at Mikael. He was worn around the edges these days, and I didn’t want to fight with him. “I’m not pushing myself into anything right now. I just wanted to know what I’ll be dealing with when I’m up to getting back to work.” Mikael finally smiled back.