Make A Wish (Dandelion #1) (25 page)

JULIETTE

“You will never believe what Beau told me. I mean, I’ve heard some crazy things, but never to the point where I seriously questioned someone’s sanity.” I was fired up, ranting and raving like a lunatic. The girls and I sat on the beach, looking out at the waves crashing on the shore.

“What did he say?” Saylor asked, curiously.

“I honestly don’t know if I even want to repeat it. It’s really far fetched and out there.”

“Oh now I
really
need to hear this.” Eve squirmed in the sand, making as if she was getting comfy, preparing to hear the unbelievable news.

Say sat beside her, nodding her head like a bobble head, agreeing that whatever it was, she wanted to know too.

“I don’t know, guys.”

“Tell us,” both girls spoke in unison.

My defenses were beginning to crumble.
Here goes nothing.

“Beau told me that he’s a freaking werewolf.”

“Shut. Up.” Saylor exclaimed, her voice nearly squeaking out of shock.

Eve didn’t say a word.

“Yeah. He said that my baby is werewolf and so am I. That I have always been one and that my parents were too. How freaking crazy is that?”

“Beyond nuts. I never would have pegged sexy Beau as a nutcase,” Saylor said.

We all sat in silence, letting the words hang in the air. Eve looked mildly surprised and it caught Saylor and I off guard when she spoke up.

“Did you ever think that maybe Beau wasn’t lying?”

“Please don’t tell me you believe him too?” I said, my hand resting on my stomach—our daughter playing soccer with my bladder.

“I don’t
just
believe him, Jules. He’s right in everything he told you.”

“What?” Saylor and I said in sync.

“Fine. You don’t believe me? You will in a second.”

Eve stood up and looked around to make sure no one was in sight before taking a deep breath. Within seconds, the place where Eve had just stood was now occupied with a dark red tinted wolf with speckled eyes.

“What the—”

“—Fuck,” Saylor finished for me, both of us scooting back to get as far away from the small snarling wolf. The wolf was on guard, teeth bared, shoulders and legs in a stance that said she was ready to pounce on all whom came near.

Griffin came up behind us, scaring the crap out of me. I felt like I was about to jump out of my skin. His hands were up in surrender as he coaxed wolf Eve down.

“Evie, Calm. It’s Griffin. Submit.” She fought the urge to listen. Griffin placed his hand on her head carefully. With a deep voice that had an almost earthquake-like grumble, he spoke. “Submit.
Now!
”

A moment later, instead of the wolf was the very naked, tall, and cherry-haired girl that we’d all come to know and love.

“See. Beau wasn’t lying Juliette. You can’t deny who you are, who your baby is,” Eve spoke confidently as she glared at Griffin.

“This was not the way to tell her,” he said, though there was a slightly amused twinkle in his eyes. Her shredded clothes lay in a pile at their feet. “You need clothes.”

“You’re… He’s… Oh God,” I mumbled. “I need a sec.” I penguin waddled away from the group, needing to put space between what I’d just seen. I wanted to think rationally about what Beau had just told me, but I couldn’t.

If everything Beau had told me was true—which I now believed it was, thanks to the show Evie put on back there—then everything I knew about myself was wrong. I wasn’t sure I was ready to face that fact. But it seemed like I didn’t have much of a choice in that matter.

I let my feet wade in the rising tides for a little while before turning and walking back to everyone.

Griffin had quickly managed to setup a small bonfire and was just lighting it when I returned. Eve now wore clothes and the four of us sat around the fire, feeling the warmth radiate across our skin. The sun was beginning to set, the beautiful vibrant colors dancing across the sky.

“Tell me everything, Griffin, please.”

He nodded his head before speaking, his voice taking on a hauntingly melodious timbre, rising to meet every flickering flame of the fire.

“A long long time ago, just after humans began walking this earth, God saw the wicked ways of the fellow beings that he had created. He had poured his love into creating these beings who were destined to love and inspire, to thrive in a positive atmosphere that he himself had molded to perfection. Before he knew what was happening, the humans rebelled against what he had taught them to do and instead turned to jealousy and wickedness. These beings used each other and were so led by their emotions that they weren’t able to differentiate between black and white or right and wrong.

God saw the difference between the wolves who loved, cared, and protected each other, and the humans who had the foundation to be good people but were too emotional to find the way.

It was then that he got the idea of combining the two creatures, creating a being who had the best from both species. The ability to see things clear as day to make the proper decisions, yet still have the emotions that lead them to action when necessary. He created the Lycanthrope, commonly known as the werewolf.

God made it so that the Lycan gene could be passed from the parent to offspring, so as to ensure that our species never died, but to show how invaluable pack was, he made it so that offspring were rare. Only given as a gift to those who possessed the qualities that he’d so desperately wanted the humans to have in the first place. Some couples could be together for years and years, never having a child of their own. Others—”

“—could be together for just a moment and end up being blessed with one,” Beau cut in, walking up unexpectedly to the group and sitting beside Griffin.

“As I’m sure you’ve seen, there are only two little children in our pack. It’s rare for children to be born, as it is very hard for werewolves to reproduce in the first place. Conception is extremely rare, if not unheard of. But somehow over the past eight years, we have been privileged to not only have Kiara and Colten, but your daughter as well. As uncommon as it is for children to be born into the packs, it is even more rare for the pup to be a female. Someday when we are all long gone, a memory in the distance of time, the wolf pups will be the ones leading the future.”

“So you’re saying that those who can’t have a baby are bad people?” Saylor asked, obviously very enthralled in the story being told.

“Not necessarily. It could also mean that it isn’t God’s plan to bless those people with a child at that specific time, but it could possibly happen later on.”

“Ahhh! Ok. Go on!” She motioned excitedly.

“Wolves were chosen as the animal to be combined with the humans because of their fierce loyalty to their mates and to their packs. In nature, wolves mate for life. Meaning that even if the mated wolf wanted to commit an act of adultery, he would be unable to do so. Because the humans had a history of sleeping around as well and using each other in sexual ways, God felt that combining the two would eliminate another one of the many issues and it had.”

“But…” I stuttered. “But what about me? Beau and I slept together. If werewolves were made to not sleep around, then how would our child be possible?” I brought my eyes up to his and all I could see was the hurt I’d caused him.

“You two are not mated. Mated wolves cannot break their bonds, but on the other hand unmated wolves who are not bound by a mate may sleep with humans, though it doesn’t happen often. Even when it does, there is a very small—nearly impossible—chance that a child is conceived. Beau happens to be one of those impossible conceptions, his mother being human and his father being a werewolf. We also know now, you aren’t human, so your daughter’s conception differs a tad.”

“Oh.”

“I have another theory on us,” Beau spoke up, never taking his eyes from mine.

“Are you sure you’re ready to tell her, Sir?” Griffin asked.

“It’s time.” Beau turned his eyes from mine for a moment to nod at Griffin. When his eyes finally found their way back to me, he spoke. “There’s this thing called Soul Mates.”

A big gasp escaped from Eve, though she never spoke.

“Dear God. Please just explain.” I sighed, expecting Beau to continue but he didn’t. Griffin resumed.

“Back when Lycanthropes were first created, God had pre-determined soul mates. Within each mate lay only half of their soul, while their soul mate held the other half. They didn’t know where their soul mate was, and over time, most eventually located their mates, though not all of them did. Each lifetime, the souls would seek the other half, never giving up until they were found. However, over the years the soul mate concept has died down. Every now and then, we hear news from other packs that someone has found their soul mate, but it is extremely rare and quite outdated. Most of our pack members have mates but there hasn’t been
true
soul mates in our pack in over sixty years.”

“I don’t get it. If the whole soul mate thing has died out, then how in Gods name could I be yours?” I tilted my head like a dog does when confused, my eyes narrowing ever so slightly.

“From the moment we met, there was a connection between us, almost magnetic, and I know you felt it too or we wouldn’t be here now, Juliette. I’ve never felt anything like it before in my life. Then we got together and I told myself I had to leave, werewolves
never
mated with humans and I didn’t want to hurt you. I brushed off our encounter like it happened everyday but it doesn’t.” Pain washed over his features but he didn’t stop. “Every day for months after, you were all I could think about. My inner wolf raged and wanted to find you and drag you back to the reservation to complete the mate bond. I’ve never been able to not control my wolf, but when it came to you, he knew something that I didn’t. It was always you. Our connection wasn’t just any connection. It was
the
connection. Our souls had found each other.”

I heard sniffling and looked over at Saylor and Eve who were holding each other. Eve was sobbing, tears streaming down her face at Beau’s declaration.

“I can’t, Beau,” I said, brushing a stray tear from my cheek. “This is just too much for me to handle right now. Someday you’ll find the right mate who can give you all that you’re asking, but it isn’t me. ” I stood and hurried to Saylor’s car, my two girlfriends running closely behind.

Driving away, I thought to myself how badly I wanted this whole freaky day to be over. There had to be something in the LA water and, despite growing up there, I would never get used to that level of crazy.

JULIETTE

Beau’s arm was wrapped tightly around a tall, slender woman. Her dark hair shimmered under the rays of the sunlight shining down upon them.

His face was one of wonder and happiness, as if nothing in the world could ever be better than where he was at that moment. She clung onto him as if he was in charge of the air she breathed.

Beau pulled away momentarily to lean down beside a little blond girl who appeared to be no older than five. She spoke to him as if he moved the moon and the stars.

“Daddy, can you tuck me into bed and read ‘wittle goose’?”

“Sorry, angel, not tonight. Tonight you’ll be at your mother’s, but if you promise to be a good girl, we can get a special treat tomorrow. Sound good?”

“Yeah!” She bounced up and down with a big smile on her little face. “Mama!” She ran to me and threw herself into my arms.

And then I woke, shaken up and my face drenched with newly fallen tears. Although I knew my dream wasn’t real, somehow seeing Beau with another woman and seeing another woman around our daughter broke my heart and infuriated me all at once.

Hearing the werewolf folklore had left me with an uneasy feeling, and this dream hadn’t help.

What if Beau really was my soul mate?

I climbed out of bed and walked to the closet that I temporarily shared with Say. I threw on my usual attire of yoga pants and tank top, then grabbed a sweater and the car keys and walked out the door.

I was tired of fighting everything. There was only so much I could take, and I just wasn’t sure I could do it any longer.

It took me fifteen minutes, since there wasn’t a stitch of traffic, to pull up outside Beau’s house. My baby bump was getting bigger and bigger with every day and I knew I wasn’t supposed to be driving. But what could I do? Wake Saylor up at 2 am to escort me to Beau’s, listening to her whine and complain the whole time? No, thanks.

I walked up the stairs and prepared to knock, but as I raised my fist to the door, it swung open. My handsome guy stared back at me.

“How sure are you that
I’m
your soul mate?” I asked.

“There’s no doubt in my mind, Jules. You’re it.”

I thought about his words for only a matter of seconds before closing the distance between us, our bodies pressed as tightly together as they could with my massive stomach getting in the way. I held the nape of his neck and smashed my lips to his, welcoming the taste of him.

Beau was all I could focus on, his lips on mine, his hands pulling me tighter into him. I vaguely heard a door slam behind me but ignored it, our tongues curling together in ecstasy. A soft moan escaped my lips and he pulled back.

“What is this, Jules?”

I blushed, looking down at the ground, trying to form some coherent answer to the question he’d just asked.

“I give up. You win.”

Beau’s eyes twinkled in amusement, but he didn’t intend to let me off that easy. “You give up what?”

“Running.”

“Running from what, Juliette?”

“Dammit, Beau. You’re gonna make me say it aren’t you?” I growled. “I love you. I’m done running from my feelings for you. Our daughter needs you. I need you.” Our eyes met and I saw him suppressing his laughter. “What?”

“It’s about damn time, beautiful.” He chuckled, pulling me back into his arms, bringing his lips to mine once more.

The kiss didn’t start off gentle—it was fueled by a flaming fire that ignited with everything within us. I opened my mouth, allowing him re-entry.

Everything felt perfect and right.

“B… Can you do me one thing?” I whispered against his lips.

“Anything.”

“Don’t hurt me. I don’t think I can handle it again.”

Beau’s hand cupped my cheek, his thumb catching a tiny tear that I hadn’t even noticed had fallen. “Never again, love. I promise.”

He lifted me into his arms and carried me upstairs to his bedroom, placing me on the bed. I slid back into a large group of fluffy pillows.

“Oh! This is heaven!” I winked and Beau peeled off his shirt and climbed into bed beside me, pulling me into his large muscled arms. “I missed this,” I said, resting my head against his chiseled chest, listening to the steady ‘thump-thump’ of his beating heart.

Beau held me tightly, almost as if he was afraid I’d changed my mind—but I knew I wouldn’t. I was where I was supposed to be, in the arms of the man I loved with my entire being.

His breath danced over my skin as he whispered words of love and encouragement to both our daughter and I, while we fell asleep together. Nothing would ever compare.

BEAU

“B. Can I ask you something?” She turned in my arms to look me in the eyes. “So, if we’re werewolves—”

“We
are
werewolves, love.” I winked at her.

“Okay, okay. We’re werewolves, got it! But anyways, who’s the boss? Who keeps everyone in line? I mean, what happens when werewolves do something bad? I assume they don’t go to jail like the rest of the world does.”

Her aqua eyes sparkled with curiosity.

“We have what’s called an Alpha. The Alpha is the most dominant, the boss. He controls the pack and trains new pack members. He also punishes those who disobey or cause disorder to the group.”

“I saw Griffin force Eve out of her werewolf form. Is he Alpha?”

I chuckled. “No, Griffin is Beta. Beta is the second in command and is very dominant but not dominant enough to be Alpha.”

“Then who is it?” she asked, her eyebrows furrowing in thought.

The temptation to kiss her was too much. I brought my mouth to hers, tasting her sweet lips. “Gosh, you’re adorable when you’re thinking.”

“Hush, B. The only thing I want to hear from your lips is the name of the person who I’m going to have to answer to. You know, I don’t take orders and commands well.”

“I know, my love. That’s why I won’t make you answer to me.”

“It’s
you?
” Her eyes widened in disbelief, and I could only laugh at her surprise. “You’re the head boss guy?”

“Yes. That I am.”

“Good, because I’m not sure I could answer to anyone else. I’d wind up in some serious trouble.” She smiled at me, which only made me laugh even harder.

“Something tells me that you’ll still end up in a lot of sticky situations causing mischief.”

“Huh. You know, B. It’s scary how well you know me— even after this short time.”

“Juliette… Last night, you ran off before Griffin could show you something.”

All laughter was gone. She needed to know what I knew. Now that we were finally together, I couldn’t keep anything from her. I loved her too much to cause her any additional pain.

“Oh no. What is it?”

“No no no. Don’t worry. It isn’t anything bad, I promise.” I rested my hand on her cheek, helping to instantly soothe her nerves. When she seemed calmer, I climbed from my spot on the bed and walked over to the dresser—pulling out the faded brown book. “This was found in the pack archives.”

With a quick flip to the proper page, I placed the book in her hands, watching her read the handwritten entry by our previous Alpha—the entry that I had fully memorized.

“Do you know who T. and A. are?”

Unshed tears filled her blue eyes as she nodded. “My parents names were Taylor and Aliana.” Her voice was just above a whisper. “I know what the device is, Beau.”

“What is it, love?”

“There’s only one thing I have from my parents, which was given to me by a social worker after they’d passed.” She reached her hand up and grasped the pendant around her neck. “I’ve had this necklace since I was six years old. It means the world to me—it’s all I have left of them. I haven’t taken it off—ever.”

“Shhh… It’s okay.” I pulled her into my arms, holding her close. “I say you leave it on until after our little girl comes, then we can try taking it off and see if anything happens.”

“Okay.” She nodded and half smiled at me while running her hands through my long hair, which only made me want to kiss her some more. Kissing her would never grow old. “B? Is there anyway I can look in the pack archives? I want to see if they have anything on my parents. I’ve never known anything about them—till now.”

“As you wish.” My lips touched hers.

“Mmmm… I can get used to this,” she spoke, her eyes fluttering open to meet mine, and once again I was surprised at how in sync we were with each other. “But considering I’m ginormous and pregnant, you better get content with just kissing, handsome.” She glared playfully as she flicked me with her pointer finger and stood up, heading off to take a shower.

I hollered behind her, “Trust me, I’m more than content with the kissing.”

***

Saylor: Where the heck are you? I woke up and you were gone… Along with my car.

Juliette: Sorry. I’m at Beau’s.

Saylor: oooooh! No need to explain there.

Juliette: Oh shut up. ;)

Juliette: Can you stop by my place and pick up my car and the rest of my clothes?

Saylor: Well… I would but you took my car… So…

Juliette: I already called Eve. She’s on her way.

Saylor: Good. I’ve been dying for my car back.

Juliette: Likewise.

Saylor: See you in an hour.

Juliette: K. Thanks Say.

Saylor: I know, I’m the best ;)

MILES

I sat staking out Juliette Mitchell’s apartment. She was bound to come back eventually, and when she did, I’d resume where I left off. I wasn’t finished with her—the best was yet to come.

It had been over a month and a half since she was freed from my grasp and not one person had returned to her apartment.

Until today.

I chuckled as I watched a small brown-haired girl make her way through the battered door of Juliette’s apartment. She came out no more than ten minutes later carrying a few bags in her hand. With a click of the car remote, the trunk popped open and she stuffed everything inside, climbing into the drivers seat and speeding off.