Page 16 of Jackal's Pride
He glanced around, and I nearly barfed right then and there as I realized what he was about to do as two rats scurried below in the alleyway. Jackal shifted into a huge-ass panther and jumped down. “Wait, not that—”
Too late. A squeak from below made me coil up, and I looked away in disgust. I could still hear Jackal though.Crunch. Crunch.
Even as a panther, his eyes shined green as he glanced up at me. “Disgusting,” I told him. “That is not what I meant when I said go eat.” I faded quickly, wishfully hoping he wouldn’t show up at my place.
A few seconds later, he filled up my house with his intense presence. He was in human form again as he wiped the poor mouse’s blood from his mouth. “I have your scent. There’s nowhere in either world you can go that I can’t follow.”
“How privileged you are to know my scent,” I deadpanned. “A rare treat if you ask me.”
He didn’t agree if the way his entire body jerked back in a visible jolt was any indication. “You hold yourself too highly. Your scent clashes, a mixture between peppermint and lavender. Lavender always made me sneeze when I ran through it… There’s also something else you carry but I can’t quite place what it is.” He was suddenly examining me carefully with his gape.
By collaring Jackal, I pretty much adopted a wild animal. I ran my hands through my dark hair and exhaled. “If you’re not leaving, then you’re giving me no choice.” He watched me carefully. I materialized more clothes on him—a white T-shirt and dark pants that only seemed to highlight his skin’s golden color. “Keep them on.” It was an order, and I knew he felt the collar react to my words. He growled, baring his teeth. I held my hands up in the air. “You can be naked all you want if you leave.” I smiled triumphantly.
His eyes became slits as his eyebrows pulled into a straight line. “You’re trying to get me out of your hair.”
“Did you figure that out all on your own?”
“I’m staying,” he pointed out.
“I can force you to leave.”
“You can’t.” Jackal surprised me when he said, “If you could, you would have already. The collarwantsus close, doesn’t it?”
Shit. Even I didn’t know why I couldn’t order him to leave when I could make him do everything else. Maybe there was some magical clause in the collar that meant we had to be near each other. Taking that I had not so discreetly told him to leave several times yesterday, I assumed the collar was a dud. I had hoped, though, that he hadn’t noticed the strange coincidence with the device.
I needed to check in with the family. If I showed up with Jackal, who knew what would happen. But then again, Barron probably already told them, or he would the second he saw them.
“I will make staying by my side a living hell,” I told him ever so sweetly.
“Lucky for me. I’ve never known what Heaven was like.”
His response made me want to bring Ben and Jerry out, but instead of wreaking havoc, I turned away from him. “And for your info, you smell like a wet dog. You wouldn’t know the smell of something nice if it smacked you in the face.” That was when it came to me. I peered back around with a devious expression. “Go shower. I’ll show you how to adjust the water.”
“You want me to bathe?” he said incredulously.
I nodded. “If you’re staying here…”
I hoped he was already regretting his decision as I flounced over to the bathroom door and pushed it open.
“No.” He stood firm.
“Oh?” I said coyly.
He stiffened at my slow drawl, then clenched his fists together at his sides like he was already mentally bracing himself for what I was about to do.
“Go shower,” I commanded this time, activating the collar. There was a magical shimmer in it as it worked. One step forward as the veins on his neck protruded in his exertion to stay put.
“When this collar breaks…” He snarled as he took another step.
“You’ll kill me. We’ve established that already.”
I waved my hand around beckoning him toward me as I ventured into the bathroom. A minute later, his menacing essence filled the small space. I stood by the tub while he scowled at me. “They didn’t wash this way back in the day, did they?” I asked as I pointed toward the faucet. “Left knob is hot, right is cold.”
When I heard nothing from him, I peeked over at him. He was still simmering in his anger. He wasn’t even paying attention to what I was showing him. Instead, he glowered at me. “You gonna take them off? Or should I?” I quirked a brow at his clothing.
He glanced down. “I can figure it out.”
“Strip,” I ordered. “I don’t trust you to do a good job.” I went ahead and turned on the hot water and plugged the drain. “Want a bubble bath?” I offered although I was already squirting a hefty amount in the water. “Want to leave?” I gave him an out.