Branches of the Willow 3 Read Online Free Page B

home.”?
    “I understand. We’ll see you tomorrow. Stop in for lunch, Jessica. You’ve been too busy, and you don’t look like you’ve been stopping to eat at all.” My mom’s gaze travelled the length of my body, noticing that my clothes were fitting a little looser than they used to. She was right. Often times, I was skipping meals in order to fit everything in. Unfortunately, she had to call that out in front of Mikael, who started noticing too.
    “Let’s get you home, and fed.”
     
    ~*~
    I woke up to pancakes with fresh cut strawberries and whipped cream on top, bacon, some juice, coffee, and the most gorgeous man in the world delivering it all to me with a smile on his face. “Is this heaven?” I asked, voice still husky with sleep.
    “Every day with you is heaven, baby.” Mikael closed the distance between us as he spoke, and placed a sweet kiss on my lips before pulling away and sliding the food closer. “Now, eat. I don’t need your mom insinuating that I’m not taking good enough care of you.”
    “She never said that,” I huffed.
    “No, but she did notice you’ve lost weight, and she’s right. You aren’t taking good enough care of yourself. You come first, Jess.” I started to argue with him, that making sure my people were taken care of comes above all else, but he cut me off. “You can’t take care of your people effectively if you’re so warn down that you can’t even pay attention to what they need.” He smiled at me as I begrudgingly took a bite of my food. That bite was heavenly, and I couldn’t even fake my displeasure anymore. I dug in, and ate like I hadn’t in a long while. “The white wolves have warned you about finding balance in your life. Maybe, this is exactly the kind of thing they meant. You needed a mate in your life who would kick your ass and tell you to slow down a bit.”
    “Okay.” I bit out through a mouthful of food before I could swallow. “I get it. I will do better, promise!”
    “Good, now I’m going to shower, and when you’re done there, you need to get ready. I just happened to think of something this morning, and we need to get back to talk to the guys who came in last night. I have some questions for them.”
    The water was already streaming from the shower before I could find out what Mikael wanted to ask. I hurriedly finished up my meal, and snatched some clothes up out of the closet, in hopes of joining Mikael in the shower before he finished. I had fallen right to sleep the night before, despite the fact that I desperately wanted to be with him. We could make up for that this morning as part of my new ‘taking care of me first’ life plan I was being shoved into. Unfortunately, before I could get more than a couple steps, my phone was ringing.
    “Why me?” I huffed out as I reached for the phone I had tossed on the desk last night. “Hello?”
    “Jess?” I knew the voice instantly. It was Sierra, Jack’s widowed mate.
    “Is something wrong, Sierra?”
    “Well, I was on a walk last night, headed to the lake, and I saw some lights on in the house.” By ‘the house’ she meant, the house she used to share with Jack. Sierra had chosen to move out and go live with her parents again for a while, because she couldn’t stand being there alone.
    “I’m sorry, I should have told you. We have some guests staying there for right now. Two of them will be leaving soon, and the third may end up staying put right there.” I heard her breath hitch through the phone. “I’m sorry, Sierra. I know, it’s hard, but we can’t let the house just sit forever.”
    “I know. I just… well, I was just surprised, I guess. It’s okay, Jess. I knew someone would have to use it sooner or later.”
    “How have you been doing, Sierra? Is there anything I can do for you?”
    “No. I’m fine. Jess, do you think…” her voice got quiet and then trailed off completely.
    “Do I think what, hon?”
    “I don’t know why I didn’t die with him. I