Page 65 of Jackal's Pride
“Your distress woke me so I came.” Jackal said in a voice still raspy from slumber. Warmth replaced the cold inside me.
Jackal glanced over his shoulder at me momentarily before he tucked me behind him. I didn’t need rescuing, but the action made something grow in my chest while pride took a back seat.
Newt turned to Nadine. “Don’t worry, they’ll be going home to a surprise.”
Sebastian paled.
“What have you done?” I shouted as I slipped out from behind Jackal. “Newt this isn’t like you. You wouldn’t join some anti-Reaper group. You’re not evil.”
“I simply chose a side. The one that’ll be left standing long after the Reapers are gone. The Underworld is changing, Maureen. It’s time to change with it. The Reapers can no longer keep that balance they so desperately seek.” He stepped closer. Calling Ben and Jerry back to me, I lifted the blades in response, and thought I heard Jackal growl. “Don’t glare at me with such hatred. You’re making me feel bad.” His grimace hardened into a glare as he moved to Jackal. “I’ll come to help you soon.”
And with those last words, Newt and his cloaked companions vanished, taking the dead ones with them. I dropped my hands, letting Ben and Jerry dematerialize as my gaze searched the room. The flames had died out, but the damage was done.
“I don’t sense that Izzie’s in danger,” Sebastian began. “But I need to go check on her.”
“Go.” August flicked his hand. “Check on your witch.”
“Set up a meeting afterward,” Barron added while he tried to get a grip on his curse. The red flaring around his body slowly shimmered in and out.
With a grim nod, Sebastian faded quickly while the rest of us waited and watched in an eerie calm until Barron stopped shimmering.
August broke the silence as he dragged his hand over his head with an exhale. “They delivered a message. Their little show will have every demon we’ve put under lock and key out of the shadows,” he complained.
“Demons are getting brave with the news of your family’s fate.” Fear had a protective arm draped over Molly as he spoke.
“Looks like I’ll need to come out of retirement and help,” Molly mumbled.
“I think not,” Fear growled. “I’ll help when needed, but you’re to stay far, far away from danger. Your life is unsafe enough living with me.”
She rolled her eyes.
“Can someone fill me in?” Jackal asked, eyes darting over everyone for someone to answer. He started walking around. Time came to a fluid halt as his boots paused at the message on the floor. His entire body tensed.
“Headaches,” August told him finally. “A lot more headaches.”
I lifted my hand and slowly began to repair The Den. August and Barron joined in, although their stiff postures made it appear like I did all the work.
“By the way, Jackal.” I inwardly groaned at the way August’s voice perked up suddenly. I already knew that whatever came out of his mouth would piss me off. Call it sibling instinct. “What are you doing here? Coming to rescue Maureen?”
“I sensed her troubled emotions, and it awakened me,” Jackal said it like it wasn’t a big deal.
August quirked a brow. “Yousensedher emotions?”
When Jackal placed his giant hand across my neck, I flinched. “It’s the mark,” Jackal informed him.
“Really?” August asked. I couldn’t sense Jackal’s emotions through the mark I placed on his chest, so I wasn’t sure how he perceived mine. Luckily, Jackal let his reactions seep through his essence. I could detect his mood easily that way.
Sebastian could locate his soulmate wherever she was because of the shared snails on their backs. The matching emblems apparently signified that they were meant for each other.Why did I even think of that?
“What else would it be?” I stiffened from his brutally honest words and Barron witnessed it.
Sometimes Jackal spoke like he didn’t have a heart to safeguard, but I did and I hadn’t been protecting mine. I’d left myself wide open because of him.
If Jackal picked up on my distress, it wouldn’t be anything momentous to him, so I wasn’t going to hunt for any hidden meanings in it either. Strangely, however, I think I was lying to myself.
I was shiny and new, all the things he’d never had before. He was old and protective, all the things I never thought I needed. He’d move on when he satisfied his curiosity. Me? I liked to wallow, constantly wondering how I’d fallen into such a purgatory. My pride couldn’t allow myself to be that girl. I didn’t want to be an experience that he moved on from once he was bored with me.
Something deep cut into my chest, something painful, raw, twisting around my heart. For a moment, I wished… I could admit,I wanted to be that girl.The girl that could toss aside her pride, throw caution to the wind, and latch onto something that could break her—even humiliate her and leave her in a puddle when it was over.