The Allies of Old; Book Two Renewal: Chapter Sixty Five "Barely Out Of Training Bras"

Book Cover created in acrylic by the extremely talented @therealpaul

If you have not read the first book of the series, "Reborn", it is advisable you do so before reading "Renewal" or you will be lost. This link will provide you with a series summary as well as all sixty-eight chapters of Reborn

Table of Contents for Fifty Five chapters of Renewal, created by @bashadow

Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64

Chapter Sixty-Five

Jess looked down at the floor, her hands squirming against one another, and felt Chris’s arm on her back steadying her. She listened as Anna approached but didn’t look up.

She felt the weight of her friend’s gaze a moment before she spoke in a tremulous voice. “Jess, do you know me?”
Her tone was tinged with fear and hope and when Jess forced her emerald gaze from the floor she met a turquoise one filled with tears.

“Anna,” she whispered, and with one word her dam came crumbling down and she reached out blindly to pull the smaller female against her in a suffocating embrace. She sobbed against Anna’s shoulders, which were shaking in time to her own tears.

“Oh God Jess,” Anna whispered against her hair, “I’m so glad you’re okay.” She kept murmuring things of that nature until both of their tears wound down.

The room had fallen completely silent and Jess was extremely uncomfortable about being the center of attention.

Anna seemed to divine her feelings and whispered theatrically, “Let’s ditch the sausage fest, take me somewhere we can catch up.”

Jess nodded and grabbed her hand, blurring them through the house and onto the back patio.

When they stopped Anna took in her surroundings and grinned widely. “Holy cow, this is awesome! Is this where you’ve been the whole time?”

“Most of it,” Jess looked down guiltily.

“So you didn’t remember anything until you saw Michael?”

She could feel Anna’s eyes on her and she wanted nothing more in the world than to tell her friend the truth. If it weren’t for the large ears surrounding them she would have spilled it all right then and there. Instead she grabbed Anna’s hand and said, “Please...I don’t want to talk about that right now.”

Anna nodded, though there was a frown in her eyes. “Okay, that’s okay, when you’re ready.”

Jess bit her lip and then smiled suddenly. “I have an idea! Since there aren’t any pesky humans here we should crank up the music and party vampire style!”

Anna blinked at her, startled by the abrupt change of mood and then doubled over in laughter at the words “pesky humans”.

Jess grabbed her hand and blurred them over to the stereo to pump up the volume and then over to the Tiki bar where she made them a couple of drinks. When she was finished they leapt onto the roof of the house and danced, their thuds attracting the attention of everyone inside.

Two dozen males poured on to the patio and gawked up at the females who were twirling and skipping across the peaks.

“So the fate of our race rests in the hands of that, huh?” Samuel grinned up at the gyrating girls. “Two former humans, barely out of training bras.”

“That is one classy queen,” another quipped earning a warning growl from Jared.

Anna let out a banshee shriek and leapt off the roof straight into Jared’s arms. He caught her easily and she nipped his neck as he reached around to slap her bottom. She giggled and slid down, squeezing his muscled butt.

“The males are questioning your majestic abilities,” he teased, his eyes glittering with lust and amusement. He kissed her before she could form a response.

Breathless she still managed to push out, “No fair, I never went to charm school!”

He threw back his head and laughed, several others joining in.

Jess, who’d leapt down behind her, watched the two of them with a twinge of envy and longing. She skated a glance toward Michael who was once again deeply engrossed in serious conversation. What would it feel like to have him look at her the way Jared looked at Anna? She shivered as a delicious warmth pooled in her belly.

“What are you thinking?”

Anna’s inquiry broke apart her daydream and she shook her head smiling sheepishly.

“What, tell me!”

“You really love him, don’t you?” Jess asked.

Anna glanced back at her mate and their eyes met. “Oh God, love is not a strong enough word. He is my everything.” He winked at her and she blew him a kiss.

“I want a “my everything”, Jess said wistfully.

Anna giggled and swept her arm across the patio. “Take your pick babe!”

“I already know who I want,” she whispered, blushing.

Anna grinned widely at that and grabbed her arm. “Which one?”

Jess frowned a little and pulled her farther away from eavesdroppers, though to really get away they’d have to go a mile.

“Mouth it,” Anna told her in understanding.

Jess sighed and shook her head slightly.

Anna’s brows pulled together. “You haven’t heard from him have you? No one seems to know where he went.”

“Who?” Jess asked in confusion.

“Tyros…or wait, do you remember him?”

Her face heated again at the reminder of her fickleness as well as her lie. “I remember,” she said quietly, “but no, not him.”

“Oh. Then who? One of the brothers?”

Jess snorted in frustration as she shook her head again, wishing she’d kept her mouth shut.

“You’re killing me with suspense!” Anna exclaimed.

“Shhh. Okay. But it doesn’t matter because he doesn’t want me…come on, let’s go somewhere farther away.”

They blurred to the far side of the property stopping just short of the wards that protected it.

“Michael,” Jess said quietly.

Anna’s brows flew up, “Really? Oh my God that’s great Jess! But why wouldn’t he want you, you’re beautiful!”

“Trust me, he doesn’t.” She looked down. “He’s too good for me, out of my league.”

“Nonsense! He’s not perfect Jess. Yes he’s very morally upright, but he’s also uptight in case you haven’t noticed. I mean the guy’s gorgeous, but he’s not a barrel of laughs. Of course Jared wasn’t either, so it can be changed,” she smiled widely, “I think you would be the perfect girl for that task. You could lighten him up!”

“I was thinking the same thing, but I have no idea how to go about it. How do I capture the interest of someone who’s so plainly NOT interested?” She looked at Anna beseechingly.

Anna chewed her lip. “Do what you do best, use your feminine wiles,” she suggested with a smile, “he may be moral but he’s still male. Grab the interest of his “little Michael”.” She grinned and jabbed Jess playfully.

Jess smiled and swatted her arm, “Yeah, but I don’t just want him to want to have sex with me. I want him to fall for me.”

“Trust me Michael is not the type to have meaningless sex. In fact Coderin told me he’s pretty sure Michael’s a virgin.”

“Are you serious? How is that possible?” Jess shook her head in disbelief.

“Well apparently he has always believed he was destined for a mate, his mother used to tell him that, and I guess he wanted to stay pure for her. That’s the reason he wanted me by the way, he thought I was the female his mother spoke about, it had nothing to do with love. But maybe his mother was right, he was just wrong about the who.” She raised an eyebrow pointedly.

Jess tugged on her hair. “Okay, I’ll give it a try. I guess the worst that can happen is he’ll blow me off.”

They blurred back to the patio and Anna bounced over to Jared who wrapped his arms around her and kissed her hair.

That’s what I want, Jess thought again, and with that in mind she meandered over to where Michael was standing.

After a few minutes he noticed her. “Did you need something?” He asked politely.

“I was wondering, are you going to continue recruiting?”

“Yes. We’re working out a strategy for that right now, splitting up into smaller groups to cover more ground. Mathias is working on the east coast and eventually we plan to meet in the middle.” He started to turn away from her and she touched his arm. He flinched from the contact and she shrank back self-consciously.

“Was there something else?” he asked, still polite.

“Um, no I guess not.”

She wandered over to a table and Anna joined her.

“What happened?”

“I touched him and he recoiled like I had the plague. I think I repulse him,” she said miserably.

Anna frowned and looked over at Michael. Maybe she could do a little matchmaking. “I highly doubt you repulse him, no male in their right mind could be repulsed by you.”

Michael listened to the girls and inwardly shook himself. Repulsed? Not likely, he thought darkly. Every small contact with the girl caused his traitorous organ to stand at attention. He shifted uncomfortably trying to exercise his well-maintained control, but his penis just throbbed mockingly. He’d never had this problem before. He’d been aroused on occasion, but he could always will it away with just a thought.

He looked at her from the corner of his eye and frowned. He’d given his feelings for her careful consideration and had decided she wasn’t right for him. She’d spent days doing God knows what with Tyros and he was reasonably sure she hadn’t been innocent before that.

He’d concluded his reactions towards her were purely physical brought on by the fact that she happened to be the only available female. He glanced around the patio thinking that every male in attendance was probably suffering similar feelings. As soon as the thought was out he experienced a flare of possessiveness and ground his teeth. He pushed his thoughts of her forcibly away head and concentrated his full attention on Samuel.

Jess listened to Anna’s reassurances half-heartedly and wondered how her friend had ended up so happy with Jared. The last she’d seen of the enormous male had been at a club in London where he’d dropped Anna on the floor and stood glowering down at them like a caged lion. She wanted to ask but didn’t know how to do it without delving into more serious issues, like how much she remembered.

“Anna,” she interrupted the pep talk.

Anna closed her mouth abruptly and cocked her head tot he side in question.

“At some point I want to go somewhere with you, away from everyone so we can talk about things, okay?”

“Okay..why not now?” she asked.

“Um. No, how about tomorrow? We can go out to lunch somewhere.”

Anna studied her a moment before her attention was snagged by the sound of a phone ringing inside of her bag. She dug it out and held up a finger as she answered enthusiastically.
“Josh!”

“I’m going inside for a bit,” Jess whispered.

Anna covered the mouthpiece and whispered, “Okay I won’t be long,”

Jess blurred up to her room and pulled an outfit out of her closet. She hadn’t had a chance to shower that morning and she was feeling excessively dirty, though she knew it wasn’t really physical. She desperately needed to confide in her friend and knew she probably should do it today but was still afraid of the reaction.

She stepped under the powerful spray of hot water and resolved that she would tell Anna everything during their private lunch the following day and ask for her help in telling the Brothers Three, Michael, and especially Jenna.

With that decided she blanked her mind and concentrated on the delicious feel of the multiple massaging water heads.

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