Make A Wish (Dandelion #1) (27 page)

Darkness overcame me as I collapsed in the chair from the smoke clouding me. All pain from the burns no longer overwhelmed my body. Peace—for the very first time in my life—taking it’s place.

BEAU

I sat beside Jules’ burnt up body, my heart breaking seeing her in that condition. Her unconscious body was strapped to various machines and an oxygen mask sat atop her face, breathing clean air into her smoke infused lungs.

My hand stayed resting firmly on her belly and my soul swelled with pride when I felt a slight movement from within. The apparent strength of my unborn daughter amazed me. Her heart was strong and it seemed that the fire had managed to cause very little harm. Juliette had gotten the majority of the injuries, her body protecting our daughter greatly.

I buried my face in her neck, inhaling her scent and hoping with everything in me that I didn’t lose her. I just got her back. I whispered into her ear, willing her to wake up and show me her pretty blues.

“Come to me, love. Please, I can’t lose you. Not yet. Our daughter needs you. I need you.” I repeated back the words she’d spoken to me the night she had told me she loved me. I didn’t know how long I sat there speaking to her, but I never faltered.

My heart leapt when her eyelids began to flutter. “I-I’m sorry,” she stuttered into the mask on her face, her voice coming out in raspy wisps.

For a rare moment in my life, I cried silently. Tears of joy for my beautiful soul mate and daughter being spared, when they could have easily lost their lives in that wretched fire.

Her arms came up around my neck and she winced, her breathing becoming shallow and labored, but she never let go, only clinging onto me that much tighter.

“Careful, love. You’re hurt.”

“I thought I was dying, Beau.” Tears sprang to her face and she reached up—pulling the mask away briefly. “I thought I’d never be able to tell you how much I love you. I was afraid that we’d never get to hold our baby girl in our arms.” Her voice was hoarse and she could barely manage to get a few sentences out before busting out in long coughing spells.

I held her chin in my hands, looking into her eyes so she’d understand the depth of the words flowing from my heart. “Don’t speak, love. Relax. When I pulled in and saw Griffin holding your life-less body, a fear that I had never known before overcame me. Juliette, you hold my heart. Had you and our daughter died today, I would have followed behind you both in a heartbeat.” She gasped at my admission. “I cannot live in a world where neither of you exist.”

“Would you really—” cough, cough “—end your life if I died?”

“After I’d gotten my Alpha affairs in order... Without a doubt.”

“But… Why?”

“We’re soul mates, my love. If you weren’t here, there’s nothing on this earth that would ever bring me happiness. You’re like the breath of fresh air that my lungs desperately crave. Without you, it would feel as if I was gasping for air with everything in me, but all I would inhale is smoke and toxic fumes.”

“Oh. I know what that’s like.” She thought quietly. “So I’m like your life force?”

“It’s about time you understand that.” I winked at her and her raspy giggle rang in my ears, calming all the fears I’d had to face.

JULIETTE

Looking around and noticing what I was attached to and where I was, I tried not to panic. The last time I’d been in a hospital, the odds clearly hadn’t been in my favor and if I could have gotten up and walked right out, I would’ve. Unfortunately, the burns limited my mobility.

I shook my head furiously. Beau just squeezed my bandaged hand gently but tightly at the same time. “No,” I mumbled pulling the mask directly from my face. “Get me out of here, B. I can’t be here.”

“It’s okay. I’ll always protect you and Harlow was able to pull some strings and get your blood results changed in your medical files. We won’t be here long and then we’ll get you back home, where you belong.”

“I hate to interrupt, Alpha, but I need to know your decision.” Griffin stepped into the room.

His shoulders stiffened briefly and it only managed to alarm me. I felt like someone had literally put my lungs on a stick and roasted them over a campfire. I didn’t want to deal with anything else.

“What?” I asked them both, glaring and threatening either of them to lie to me. After all, I was lying in a hospital bed with burns up and down my entire body. I’d use the ‘I’m burnt to a crisp’ card if I had to.

“We have Miles,” Beau said.

“Wh-what? He didn’t get away?” I moved a little too quickly and a little too rough, causing a tear to slip from the corner of my eye. So much pain everywhere.

“Well he would have, had I not punched him in the nose the minute he opened the office door,” Griffin interjected, slight amusement intermingling with his words. “The guy’s pathetic. Didn’t take much time at all to even take him down to the ground.”

“I guess Eve and a few guys have him tied up in one of the pack chambers, while I talk to you about what our next move is,” Beau spoke calmly, and I knew the quiet side of him was the one to fear.

“Okay. So what are the options?” I half spoke and coughed out at the same time.

“Alpha, are you sure you want her to be the one to make the decision. With all due respect, she is more forgiving than most and may not make the best choice,” Griffin spoke politely as to not offend his boss and mate.

“Griff. This man has hurt Juliette over and over and over in her twenty-two years of life. As much as I want to make the decision for her, it wouldn’t be fair. The damage was done to her. She decides the punishment.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“I repeat, What are my options?” I asked, getting agitated between the back and forth commentary from the men who still hadn’t answered my question. Getting worked up wasn’t the smartest choice either, because I felt like punching someone but could barely move, let alone breathe.

Beau ticked off the options with his fingers. “One, he goes to prison. Where his future is unknown, always a possible chance he may someday be free. Two, we let him go now and he gets away with what he has done to you. Or three, he dies at the hands of the pack.”

“Wow. You guys are really black and white aren’t you?” I asked rhetorically, thinking over the options I’d been given. I shifted gently in the hospital bed, wincing over the pain as I slid the white sheet from my lap. As light as it was, it still rubbed me the wrong way. “Hold on.” I smiled apologetically at my random interruption.

“No worries, Jules,” Griffin said.

“Option two, is out. He can’t get away with everything.” I slid the oxygen mask back onto my face and felt so much lighter. I didn’t have to gasp for breath or physically struggle to speak. Though my words were muffled, they were werewolves—I’m sure it wouldn’t be
that
hard to understand me. “He destroyed my childhood, the innocence that I so desperately deserved. Then he took away the joy of the early stages of my pregnancy. And best of all, he basically burnt me and our baby to a crisp, so him walking out of there, not an option.”

“Agreed,” both men spoke at the same time.

“If we went with option one, he’d come after me again if he ever managed to get released, wouldn’t he?”

“I want to say no, love. But there’s no doubt in my mind that he would see it as a challenge and try to resume where he left off.”

“He’ll never stop.” My words hung in the air with finality, my body drooping into the fluffy pillows behind me. “If I chose option three, for our daughter, would I be a killer?” I asked quietly, looking down at Beau’s fingers intertwined with mine. “I don’t want to be like him. I don’t want to be a bad person, Beau.”

“Juliette. I’ve known you for a short time, but you could never be like him,” Griffin intervened, speaking up genuinely. “You care and love everyone so deeply that you put your life at risk to keep others safe. You have such a full heart and I can see the hope that you have for the world around you, despite all that you’ve been through. I couldn’t have hand selected a more perfect mate for my Alpha and friend. You bring a softness and love that compliments his possessiveness and pride.”

“He’s right, love. Choosing to have him eradicated wouldn’t make you a bad person. It’d protect you and our baby girl. It would also protect any person that he would have dared to take advantage of or harm in the future. It would be doing the world an incredible justice by ridding it of his evil.”

I nodded slightly though I never brought my eyes to his. I needed a moment to think things through without the momentary distraction of his beautiful face.

“We were content to leave things be. But he came to our home and tried to harm our family. That is not okay,” Griffin spoke.

“If I allow you guys to end his life, how would it happen?”

“We give the human the fate they would have inflicted upon others. In your case, it would have been death by fire. That would be the one that Miles would have to suffer,” Beau spoke, placing his hand on my cheek, his thumb rubbing light and gentle small circles.

“I don’t know. That just seems kind of harsh and I don’t want his death to be on my hands.” I breathed deeply, feeling the oxygen course through me.

“It won’t be, love. It’ll be on the pack’s—on mine. Although initially the choice is yours, I am leader. I can just as easily decide to stop it. If it helps you, you can pin his death on me.”

“Okay, Beau. I trust you. But most of all though, I don’t want to be afraid and fearful that one day he’ll come after me or our little girl. I want to feel safe and I don’t want to have to keep looking over my shoulder.”

“You are safe. I will protect you both with my life. It’s done.” Beau nodded to me, placing the sweetest and most gentle kiss on my forehead.

He turned away momentarily and ushered Griffin from the room. When we were finally alone, I made space on the bed for him, then laid my head on his shoulder.

“I know what I want to name our daughter.” I looked up at him, my eyes glimmering with excitement. “It came to me as I was sitting in the building and thinking over my life. It couldn’t be more perfect!”

“What is it?” He chuckled, running his fingers through my extremely faded ‘blue-but-now-basically-mint green’ streaked blond hair. I pulled his face towards mine and whispered the name quietly in his ear.

“Perfect.” Beau’s big goofy boyish grin spread across his face, only causing me to smile even bigger.

BEAU

My mom looked at me with unshed tears in her eyes. All she could do was bounce around on the balls of her feet with excitement and talk about how surreal it was for her to watch her little boy prepare for his own little one to come into the world.

“You know, Mom, I’m definitely not an interior designer. You could be helping,” I said.

“How about you place the letters right there, on the wall above?”

“Like this?” I held the wooden letters that spelled out my daughters name above the crib that Saylor had purchased as a surprise gift.

“Yes. That’s perfect, hun.”

My mother and I had spent a good week working on a beautiful baby nursery for my soon-to-be daughter. We’d spent three of those days shopping in all the best baby stores in the greater Hollywood area, to find only the best stuff. It wasn’t everyday that you became a father, and I was determined to get it right, no ifs ands or buts. While my mom insisted on helping pay for things, I was pretty sure she didn’t realize the quantity of money that the pack had at beck and call, a large quantity that has been passed down over the generations. As Alpha, I tended to have more than most—more than I possibly knew what to do with. I was also pretty sure that I could live a thousand lifetimes and still have too much leftover.

“Beau, honey, I think we’re done.”

“I think so too. Do you think Juliette will love it?”

“Oh. There is no doubt in my mind!” Mom said.

I walked over to her and pulled her into a hug. “Thanks, Mom. I couldn’t do this without you.”

Tears filled her eyes once more, and this time they fell silently down her cheeks. “Anything for the love of my son’s life and my new grand-baby.” As she pulled back, she looked up into my face with what I could only assume was pride and joy. “Well I best be off. I can’t be here when Juliette gets back. I don’t want her catching on to this. After all, it isn’t time.”

“Okay. See you in four days?”

“You bet.”

***

“But Beau, please?” Juliette whined, trying to make me cave. She used every weapon in her arsenal but I wasn’t budging, I couldn’t.

“Not happening, love. You’re too fragile. Let it go.”

“The hell I am. B, I love you, but you can’t just cage me up and make every decision for me. I’m still an adult, no matter how much you try to run my life.” She glared at me while stretching her legs out on the couch, blocking me from being able to sit beside her.

“Juliette, I’m protecting you. Seeing him will only bring about all those memories that you deserve to bury, once and for all.”

“Then let me get the closure that I need, so that I can move on. You can be there in the room but I
need
to do this.”

“You won’t give this up, will you?” I asked skeptically.

“Not a chance, my handsome guy,” she spoke, and I knew she could see me clearly—the wavering indecision in my eyes giving me away.

“Fine, but I’m not leaving your side.”

“Yeah, yeah.” She rolled her eyes.

JULIETTE

“You ready, Sir?”

“I think it’s best you don’t ask him, Griffin. He looks like he’s going to grab me and take me away from here.” I half giggled at the angry expression that was making its way to Beau’s face.

“Don’t tempt me, love,” he spoke, his eyes never leaving me.

Griffin opened the door to the dark chamber that held Miles. I hadn’t known that the pack had chambers like this on the reservation. It was just one other surprise to wrap my head around.

From the outside, the reservation looked like a fairytale. But from the inside, there were a lot more levels to it that couldn’t be seen if you were looking in on it from a distance. It was still incredibly beautiful, and aside from almost being burned alive, I’d had nothing but wonderful experiences here.

The first time I went to go to the bathroom and had stepped into a closet full of weapons, it’d given me a bit of an eye-opener, but I completely understood the need for all the protection. I myself knew firsthand what it’s like when humans tried to harm wolves.

The chamber was round and made completely out of bricks, kind of like something you’d see in the medieval era. It was dim and dark, the only source of light being a torch hanging from the wall, a small flame flickering brightly, casting shadows around us.

In the middle of the floor sat a chair with Miles tied to it, in almost the exact same fashion he had used when tying me up in the office building. A piece of duct tape was taped over his mouth and he had barely visible bruises around his nose leading to just below his eyes—no doubt Griffin’s masterpiece.

Beau stood with his back against the door, watching as I took small steps in the direction of Miles. Though I was still in pain and having to undergo some treatments from the second and third degree burns I had sustained, I wasn’t showing him how much his actions really hurt me.

The moment I approached the man in the chair, I reached out with my right hand and grabbed the corner of the tape, ripping it from his mouth. Miles’ condescending laugh escaped from his lips, which only succeeded in causing a shiver to run throughout my body.

Although my hand was attached to my body, it felt as if it had a mind of it’s own. My balled fist flew into his already damaged nose, a small groan escaping him.

“Well, aren’t you a vicious little minx. I taught you well.”

A loud growl escaped from the other side of the room and I whipped my head around to look behind me. Griffin was holding back a very ticked of Beau, who looked as if at any second he was going to lose it. I’d never seen him so out of control before.

I turned back to face Miles, his spoken words taking effect. I looked at the sneering man who’d hurt me on so many levels, a man who’d also tried to take out his animosity on my perfect unborn little baby.

I didn’t want to be broken or hurt anymore. I was tired of looking back and only seeing the bad. I’d left it all in that burning building and there wasn’t a chance I was going to turn back.

Looking at Miles, I felt nothing. Not a single thing.

I leaned in beside his ear and whispered. “I forgive you.” A weight had lifted from my shoulders and I felt even freer than I had seconds before—if that was even possible.

For a rare moment since I’d known him, he was silent.

“You may have destroyed my childhood and left irreparable scars where they don’t belong, but I’m done with you, Miles. I’ll no longer give you the satisfaction of holding anything over me. I’m free. You harmed me and tried to harm my baby. You are a cruel man who destroys lives, and because of that, now you’ll pay the ultimate price with your life.”

“You? You forgive me? That’s rich, Juju, really rich.” His laugh cackled around us and I just rolled my eyes as I walked away from my past and towards my future.

“Rot in hell, Miles.”

Beau grasped my hand, pulling me towards him. With one final nod to Griffin, he led me from the room. I glanced behind me for a second, only to see three large men that I vaguely recognized setting Miles aflame.

My nightmares were over. Finally.

***

“Your whole macho man routine goes to a new level with every conversation, B. Ridiculous.” I sat sandwiched between my two best girlfriends on the queen-sized bed, my soul mate sitting beside Griffin on a pink love seat in Saylor’s apartment.

“I have to agree with Pregzilla on this, Beau. Your bossiness knows no bounds,” Saylor said, both of us looking at Eve and waiting for her to agree with us.

“Uh guys, he’s my Alpha, so technically he’s supposed to be bossy. But for the record, most Were-dudes are totally commanding when it comes to their females, and that is why I don’t date. Who needs a guy telling me what to do and when to do it? Puh-lease!” She rolled her eyes and we could only laugh.

“I’m not budging on this, Juliette.” He growled, glaring at the two girls who were only adding fuel to my fire. “Do we really need the whole posse in here while we figure this out? Can’t we just discuss this personally?”

“See that’s the thing, Beau. You don’t
discuss
anything. You tell me what I’m doing. You order me to do things and expect me to fall in line. You know me better than that. I
don’t
follow orders. We’re soul mates. Partners. Equals. Get that through your thick and all too handsome head.”

“Ouch,” Saylor muttered, suppressing a giggle.

“Juliette,” Beau warned, his eyes never leaving mine, almost as if in a challenge. I could tell he didn’t like being chastised in front of the pack that was supposed to respect and fear him.

“Guys, can we have a moment?” I never broke the gaze between us, but I knew it only took a second for our friends to shuffle from the room.

“Why won’t you let me protect you?” His eyes seemed sad as they took on a faraway look.

“Beau, I don’t need protection anymore. I need partnership. I want us to agree on things, not to be told or demanded. We’re still trying to figure this whole thing out, and it’ll take time, but being able to talk everything out will make it so we don’t have to fight so much.” I looked down at my hands in my lap. “I don’t want to fight with you.”

Beau stood from where he was seated and came to me, sitting directly in front of me. “Look, love, I know that I’m overbearing and sometimes hard headed, I get that.” He cupped my cheek, bringing my eyes to his. “I understand what you’re saying and I will do my best when it comes to talking out things that we have differences on instead of commanding. Stepping back and learning that I’m not your Alpha is new to me, and it may take a little bit, but I have no doubt that when I’m being a bonehead, you’ll be the first one to point it out. I do ask one thing from you though.”

“What is it?”

“Let me protect you. Protecting those I love is in my nature. It’s in the nature of all the pack members. It’s who we are as wolves. In the time I’ve known you, I’ve seen horrendous and unspeakable things done to you, things that you didn’t deserve. I want to be the one to guard you, keeping you free of harm.”

“Seriously, moving in with you, Beau? Really? Why that?”

“It’s the only way that I know how to thoroughly protect you and our daughter. Even though Miles is no longer a threat, there’s no saying how many others may come into play in the future. I can’t, in good nature, leave the other half of my heart unprotected. I also... I also want us to be a family—a
real
family. ”

“But—”

“What do you think will happen when our little girl is here? Will she go back and forth between my home and Saylor’s apartment? You already admitted that you aren’t keeping your place. This will be good for us, Jules, I promise.”

“But—” I sighed in resignation. “Okay.”

Beau’s lips met mine momentarily before the door to the apartment flew open, Eve and Saylor charging in.

“It’s about time. We knew it was coming. Alpha can be pretty persuasive,” Eve said.

“It’s his face. With a face like that, no wonder Jules crumbles.”

“Sorry, boss, you’ve met those two,” Griffin said, pointing at the tall redhead and small brunette. “They’re stubborn hard-headed Alpha females. They eavesdropped anyways.” He smirked apologetically.