Thank you thenaughtygrizzly for the picture!
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When I woke up the next morning and took note of my surroundings, I was not a happy camper. I was not in my home, like I entrusted JJ to get me.
It took a lot of work to convince Mikko that I would be safe.
It was just another moment of me feeling stupid.
I whipped the blankets off. At least I was still in my clothes, however uncomfortable, from last night.
I got out of bed and immediately changed. Most pack houses in the area had spare clothes in the even that a pack member needed them in a pinch. I was in a pinch.
I put the sweat pants and t-shirt on, then went in search of JJ.
I found him in the living room talking to his alpha. I threw the nearest thing I could grab at him. And as dissatisfying as it could be, he caught the vase.
"What the hell, JJ?" I raised my voice.
He shrugged. "It was easier to get you back here at that late of night."
I scoffed. "I'm not that big of an idiot JJ, you're not staying on pack lands. My HOME is on pack lands. Probably not even in the opposite direction."
He shook his head. "Your hormones are making you overreact."
Fury spiked. "I'm about to overreact. Take me to Finn's, NOW."
The two men looked at each other for a moment before JJ grabbed his keys and met me outside.
I could hear Nikki in the kitchen, drinking coffee by the smell of it, when I walked into Finn's house. I put my bag of clothes I wore last night down by the door. JJ kissed my cheek then ran upstairs, probably to his alpha.
She smiled at me when I rounded the corner. "Rumor is you didn't make it home last night."
I took a deep breath. "I'm a grown woman."
She nodded, with that I know what you did. "So, how was JJ?"
I let out a tired sigh. "You think we slept together?"
Nikki laughed. "This is going to be the funniest day ever. Mikko thinks you slept with JJ."
I couldn't help but let out a hopeless laugh. "Why would he think we slept together?"
"Finn put up a block so no one could access you but him. He's playing prank of the year on Mikko." Nikki rubbed my baby belly. "That's kind of disappointing though. I was hoping for a very dirty tale."
I couldn't help but let out a real laugh. "That would've been hilarious if he hadn't practically kidnapped me."
Nikki sighed and leaned against the counter. "So the thought of JJ's a bust. I bet if he asked you defiantly wouldn't move to him."
I vigorously shook my head. She brought a finger to her lips, shushing whatever we'd say. Someone was coming.
"Oh, heads up by the way. Mikko was pissed off when he stomped through here this morning." Nikki whispered, probably in the hopes that whoever was coming wouldn't hear her.
I groaned. "That's not fair."
She shrugged. "Just thought you should know." She laughed. "He was actually huffing and puffing."
I laughed a little. "You should've recorded it."
She nodded. "Yeah, but he would've killed my phone if I did."
Then an inhuman growl literally shook the house. My thoughts immediately went to my children. Nikki and I just looked at each other with wide eyes. We had never heard anything like the growl we heard. Someone was very pissed off. Then the house sounded like it exploded from the foyer. Nikki and I both poked our heads out to see a huge hole above where the door was hanging by a hinge.
"Did someone go through that?" I asked Nikki.
"I have no idea."
Then a huge body leapt down the stairs and ran out of the house.
"Who was that?" It was too fast for me to see any real detail.
"That was Mikko." I could tell by Nikki's voice that whatever was happening wasn't something good.
"Where are the babies?"
"In the nursery," she said. "You go check on them. I'm going to see what's going on."
I nodded. One step out of the kitchen and I was scooped up into someone's arms. The suddenness made me yelp. I grabbed onto the shoulders of whoever was holding me as the person leapt upstairs. I felt like I was going to puke, so I started struggling.
The person let me go and I ran to the bathroom. When I was finished I brushed my teeth and looked at whoever grabbed me. It was Finn.
"Was that necessary?" I asked, toothbrush in mouth.
He nodded. "Mikko's in a fury right now. You needed to be out of the way."
I headed towards the nursery. When I looked back at Finn, he was gone. The triplets were sleeping when I poked my head in. I would have walked in, but the sound of a wolf's whine stopped me from walking in. Werewolves never made any loud make any noise when they are fighting. Staying quiet was a way to not attract attention. If there was someone whining, that meant trouble.
I shut the door to the nursery, then threw my toothbrush back in the bathroom without caring where it landed and walked downstairs and out the broken front door. Finn and Jerry had their eyes locked on Mikko, who was fighting with JJ. Playing with JJ was a better description.
Nikki was sitting on the ground with a wolf that was on his side. It looked like it was Mike. Maybe he was thrown into something. He must have gotten stuck in the middle of the fighting.
Each punch sounded like it was breaking bone.
I walked towards Finn. He didn't even glance my way.
"What's going on?"
Finn sighed. "Your JJ said something he shouldn't have said to Mikko."
"Why don't you stop them?"
"It's not a fight between two packs and Mikko's not trying to kill him." Finn never took his eyes from the two fighting werewolves.
"Someone's going to get hurt."
"Most definitely," Finn agreed. If I didn't know any better, I'd think Finn was amused with what was happening. "Mikko's frustration reached its breaking point. JJ shouldn't have rubbed your night last night in Mikko's face."
That surprised me. "What did JJ tell him?!" Finn, for the first time since I had known him, smirked in response. I felt my cheeks heat up as a wave of anger flowed through me. "JJ was hanging out with me to get at Mikko."
Finn looked at me, finally taking his eyes off of the fight, and patted my cheek. "That would be my theory."
I looked at the two fighting men, now mad. "I hope Mikko breaks his jaw so he can't talk for a week," I mumbled under my breath.
Finn sighed and looked down as Mikko smirked. Then with a sickening sound, the fight was over. JJ was on the ground, his hands on his face. He was groaning and rocking from side to side, obviously in immense pain.
Mikko was breathing hard when he walked to us. His eyes were golden as he looked over me. He kissed my belly and rubbed it. He, or rather, the wolf looking out of his eyes made eye contact with me. The eyes of his wolf made shivers run through me on the worst of days. The intensity of the look the wolf as giving me was enough to make me weak at the knees. "For you."
He looked over at Finn. "Take the block off."
Finn waited a moment, then nodded once and looked back at JJ, who was still squirming on the ground.
I felt the familiar sensation that came with Mikko accessing the bond. He nodded once, apparently liking whatever he had found out. Then, out of Mikko's or his wolf's character, he grabbed both sides of my face and pressed our lips together. The kiss was short and sweet, then he walked inside.
Mikko hadn't ever shown affection in front of his pack before, let alone both of the packs that were gathered here.
I took a deep breath then walked over to JJ. I needed to know if JJ had just used me to get at Mikko. Finn hand his hand around my arm, trying to pull me away, as I got closer to JJ.
"Wait a second," I pleaded. I knew better than to order around the head alpha. The fact that Mikko had been able to tell Finn to do something meant that Finn was probably done with letting anyone talk back to him. He stopped tugging, but didn't let go of my forearm. "JJ," I said as I crouched down. I knew my only answer from him was going to be a yes or no, by the way of a nod, from him today. He looked at me, still holding his broken jaw. "Did you use me just to get under Mikko's skin?"
I had thought that JJ actually wanted to be my friend again. I never made a smart decision.
He closed his eyes and gave a noncommittal shrug. "Answer her," Finn ordered forcefully.
JJ looked from Finn to me and nodded. I stood up and then kicked his groin. "You sonofa-" Then my feet were off the ground because Finn was carrying me away.
The pack doctor was dealing with JJ as Finn carried me away.
"You should know better than to kick a werewolf when he's injured," Finn chastised.
I shrugged. "He deserved it."
"Perhaps, but you're pregnant."
I rolled my eyes, all the while knowing he was right, as he put me down just outside the house. "Go look to Mikko." The Doc was already setting JJ's jaw. Finn walked back.
Nikki was walking back carrying Mike, who was still a wolf. It looked very odd. If she weren't a wolf, she would've never been able to pick him up.
"How is he?" I asked as I got closer.
She nodded and smiled at me. "He's going to be fine. Maybe a little sore today, but fine. That car's going to need more work than him."
"You sure?"
She nodded. "He's taken more of a beating before. I expect when he wakes up he'll be more embarrassed than anything else. He knows better than to get in the middle of something with Mikko."
I took a deep breath and tried to smile at her as we went into the house. "Let me know if I can help at all."
She nodded and went towards one of the lower level guest rooms. The last thing Mike would need is a 2 story room to jump out of.
When I went upstairs, I could hear Mikko rummaging through a bathroom. I leaned in the doorway just in time to see him set a couple of his fingers.
He looked up at me. "What are you doing up here?"
"Your father wanted me to take care of you." I stated matter-of-factly.
He smirked. "Take care of me huh?"
I swallowed nervously. I had never seen Mikko like this, and I'm pretty sure this was all intentional. I had a feeling JJ wanted me to see this side of Mikko. He was scary, but he was still Mikko, I wasn't afraid of him. With all that fury running through him, he still managed to grab my face and kiss me gently. He was still, very much, in control.
"I don't know how to help you Mikko," I confessed.
He smiled, which made him look more like a wolf than a human, and looked down for a moment. "You don't have to try to help me Em." When he looked up into the mirror, I saw his bone structure was different. His eyes were literally glowing.
"What's happening?" I asked while gazing at his reflection. I was confident in my safety.
"My wolf is putting up a fantastic fight." A wave of muscle flexing shuttered through Mikko. "I'm trying to decide whether I should go down there and hip out his throat," Mikko's voice was more of a hiss than anything else, but then it softened when the reflection of his eyes met mine, "or if I should pull you in here with me and lock everyone else out for twenty minutes to teach you not to leave me."
"Nothing happened Mikko. I fell asleep in his car and the idiot took me to their cabin."
Mikko nodded once. "I know what happened, it makes me want to kill him."
"That's a bit extreme."
He shrugged and looked back down again. "I've killed for much less, Em. Don't think it won't happen again."
I didn't have anything to say to that.
"The disrespect on me is something I'm not angry about, Em. I care very little about my reputation or what people think of me. I know I can kill him in a second flat on his best day. It's the disrespect he put on you that I can't get past. Just thinking about it makes me want to rip his throat out."
"That's..." I was at a loss for words.
A smile appeared on his face. "Romantic?"
"That's not the word I would use Mikko." I laughed. "I would say closer to unexpected from you."
He turned his head to look at me, then grabbed the front of my shirt and pulled me into the bathroom with him. He shut the door and sat me on the sink. He rested his cheek to mine and just breathed for a moment. I felt his pounding heart slow. I heard his breathing slow down. Touch is big for wolves.
I decided to be brave with a wolf on the verge of losing it. I wrapped my arms around his neck and just held him. Mikko sighed and flexed one more time before relaxing.
"You can't leave me," he whispered.
I pulled back and grabbed the sides of his face, making him look at me. I saw real vulnerability in his eyes. That was something that caught me so off guard.
"I'm not going anywhere Mikko."
I saw what could only be some kind of peace flood through Mikko. His eyes changed. There was a mix between his human hazel eyes and the amber of his wolf. It was something I had never seen before.
Mikko smiled and kissed me again.
In that moment, it felt like it would all be okay... then someone interrupted our peace and banged on the door.