Page 23 of Jackal's Pride
“You don’t have a choice.” His eyes snapped back and seared mine, making me smile. He understood perfectly. “Come on.” I said it like a command and watched his entire body flinch, then stiffen as he tried to renounce the collar’s magic.
“Keep testing me,” he gritted out. “It won’t be pretty when I finally get my hands on you.”
I wasn’t afraid of much, but for some reason a cold chill pressed over me. I believed him. My words and actions only made his hatred for me fester. “Good. It’s a date.”
____
“What’s wrong with this place?” Jackal asked when we arrived in Grim’s woods.
Everyone who saw this place for the first time reacted the same way. When Dad first created this place, I would have loved to have known what he was thinking. So many vivid pink and purple trees and other unnatural colors he used in place of the green on earth everyone was accustomed to. The place was like a rainbow of color. The rivers glowed, the leaves were more like cotton candy than leafy. I couldn’t imagine what Dad was like before he met Mom.Lonely. It was easier envisioning that Dad filled his world with color because he didn’t know love. Now that he had had someone to love, the tiny haven he created here was a testament to what heyearned for.
“Nothing. This is Grim’s woods,” I replied as Jackal followed me up the steps. I faded outside of the castle so that he would port into the same spot. I was a bitch, but I wanted him to at least have time to absorb what I was making him do. I figured walking up these long ass steps would do the trick. Ya know, give him time to process his hatred of me some more. “He made it to look like this.”
Ruby and River roared above us. No doubt getting a whiff of the new power flooding the woods. To my surprise, Jackal didn’t bother to glimpse at them, completely unaffected by the twin dragons.
His words, however, surprised me. “They’re very protective.”
“Who?” He raised his head upward, and I chuckled. “Oh, Ruby and River? How would you know?”
“They’re warning me as we talk right now,” came his response.
“You can understand them?” I asked incredulously. I thought Payne was the only one who could understand dragons.
He nodded. “I can understand any animal and become any of them I choose.” He drifted off, and I caught him staring at me. “It’s humans and demons who I don’t understand.”
I tilted my head, acknowledging him. “You’re a puzzle, Jackal, but let’s call you Jack, shall we? Simpler. Kind of like the way you wish things were.” He clenched his jaw in response, and I relented. For now. “What don’t you understand?”
“Everything,” he responded immediately. “I don’t understand why anyone wants to live through all these involuntary things like pain, sickness…” His gaze fell on me, then he averted his eyes rather quickly. He didn’t elaborate.
“What I don’t understand is how you think those impressions aren’t your own?” I stopped at the top of the steps and faced him. He mirrored my actions. “When you’re in pain, that isyourpain, no one else’s. When you’re mad or sad, that’syourreaction to whatever it is. Accept it, Jack. Maybe you haven’t experienced it for yourself, but I know you’ve lived long enough to see it.” Confusion and heaviness settled in his eyes. “People live despite all these involuntary things as you call them.”
Without saying another word, I left him to wonder what I meant. When he lowered his head and sulked, I thought he might know. We resumed our ascent, and Barron greeted us at the door. Before we stepped inside, he gave a grunt and an icy glare as he scanned Jackal.
Mom rounded the corner with a smile. “Been wondering why I haven’t seen you in the last two days.” Her eyes moved behind me, and her shoulders slumped. “Oh, Maureen, what did you do?”
“Jackal,” Dad’s voice caught my attention as he faded into the room. He studied the entity beside me. “We finally meet after all these years.”
“Not that I had a choice in the matter,” Jackal responded, and I rolled my eyes. “What is this about?”
“We need your help,” Sebastian answered as the rest of my siblings faded into the room. I sensed Payne’s presence as well.
“This is Jackal?” Joy cocked her head to the side. “I don’t know. For some reason, I expected an animal or something.”
“He has no problem becoming an animal,” Barron remarked dryly, rubbing his own neck as if remembering what Jackal did. “I still owe you for that.” Barron’s eyes gleamed as he watched Jackal.
“So, you’re the one I cleaned up after so long ago,” Dad began, and we all waited. He placed his hands in his pants pockets, and the two entities sized up each other. “Do you know how many lives I’ve ascended because of you?”
“I don’t keep track of what I’ve done.” Jackal’s tone was clipped. I turned around and saw he was clutching his chest again. My heart rate increased at the sight. Something about it almost made me feel sad—I didn’t understand why. Once again, I heard hundreds of hearts beating against his chest. He winced and straightened. “You judge me for what I’ve done, but I did what I was meant to do.”
“You’re saying you were meant to place famine and disease in the human world?” Mom was on edge, her feet evenly spaced apart like she was bracing herself for something.
“Love.” Dad turned to Mom, and she relented. “He was created for that reason, just like Fear was created to spread fear and death. It’s true. But no longer.”
“You’re right,” Jackal agreed. “I have no interest in doing the Devil’s bidding anymore. All I care about is getting this collar off of me and going back to sleep.”
“I’m afraid that isn’t what I meant,” Dad furrowed his brows in determined slants. I could sense Jackal tensing behind me. “See, I’m going to need your help, and you don’t appear to be someone that would give it.”
“And now that Maureen has made you her lap dog, she can make you do whatever she wants.” August finished Dad’s thought with a smirk.