Page 88 of Jackal's Pride
“You know I can hear your thoughts, my Little Monster?” I asked and then blew into her ear.
She shivered.
“What did you expect me to do? I remembered you in a day. I spent all those hours fighting to remember why the dark-haired beauty was the star of all my dreams and the light of all my wants. Doesn’t that count for anything? No number of spells, potions, or even fate could keep me away from you for long.”
Maureen trembled in my arms, not meeting my eyes. Possibly not wanting me, or anyone else, to see her tears. I reached for the portal chip in my jeans and ported us to her couch. Still in my lap, she finally let out her agony. I wrapped my arms around her tightly.
“You remember,” she whimpered.
“I’m sorry.” I kissed her shoulder blade and said, “I couldn’t stop the witch from exploding the vial in my neck.” Pausing for a moment, I added, “I’m sorry that I failed in protecting the humans.” With that admission of guilt, I dropped my head against her shoulder.
She twisted around, still crying, and wrapped my head in her embrace, pressing it against her breasts. “We all failed,” she whispered sadly. “But we won’t fail all of them.”
“I can’t lose you,” I told her as I kissed her chest through her shirt. “I’d go to the Devil and beg for your life before I’d let you die.”
She sucked in a breath, then leaned back. “Would you now?” she asked, and even with the pleased glint in her eyes, I knew there were no more barriers between us. “Sebastian wasn’t lying. We truly receive each other’s thoughts sometimes…”
“I’ve been sleeping for so long, waiting to find you all this time, just so I can love you.” I cupped her cheek in my palm.
She closed her eyes, leaned into my palm, and placed her hand over mine. “I love you. Thank you for being so easy to love.” “And great at fucking me.”
I chuckled, pulling her close. “I hear you loud and clear.” I nuzzled her neck, sliding my hands down to her ass.
“I don’t think so,” she started, but I cut her off with another kiss. She pulled away. “No, you shall go without tonight for daring to forget about me!”
I gripped her ass tighter until she hissed. “Lie to me again,” I told her. She laughed and rocked against my aching cock. “If you must lie, let it only be with me. No matter how much you pride yourself, Maureen, you always give me your truths.”
“I know,” she whispered. “You told me already, remember?” She cupped my face and brought it to hers. “I have no reason to lie to you now, Jack. You know everything there is to know about my heart and soul. I’ll give the shitty things to you.”
“They’re not shitty,” I corrected her.
“I guess not. I must not be entirely bad if I get to feel this way for someone.” She raked her hands through my hair. “I didn’t think I’d get to experience this, but I’m so fucking glad I do.”
“You’re precious.” I kissed the tip of her nose. “You and your pride were the end of the plague-dropper, and noweverythingto the man whose lap you sit on. Let me hold you as my most important treasure. All that I have and want begins and ends with you.”
She kissed me again, seeping out her love and burrowing it into my soul. Our souls touched while our essences sparked around one another. Her bright orange rolled into my blackness like an unwavering caress.
I leaned back. “Are you still upset?”
She exhaled, placing her forehead against mine. “Yes, but only because I’ll have to live with the undeniable grief of knowing what it felt like, for a day, what it would feel like to lose you.”
“I’d always find you.”
“I’d always come to you,” she whispered. “You don’t always have to be the one to act first.”
Lowering my mouth to her neck, I hovered below her ear. “It doesn’t always have to be a bad thing for me to come find you. I don’t mind if you run every now and again because you’re nothing but obedient after a good push and pull.” She shuddered. “I’m going to take you to bed, and then I’m going to hold you there all night.”
“Only hold?”
I nodded. “Only hold.” I lifted her into my arms and carried her to bed. “That is, until we’re rested. Even if you’re to punish me for forgetting, you won’t be able to keep me from burying myself inside you.” I examined the dark circles underneath her eyes. “You didn’t sleep well without me either, did you?”
She laid her head against my chest. “I didn’t sleep any of those twenty-three hours without you.”
“I spent mine dreaming of what I was missing, then I found her,” I told her. “Let us rest.”
Maureen let me place her on the bed, and then she beckoned for me to join her beneath the blankets. In the crook of my arm, pride fell asleep. It didn’t mean it would always sleep, but with me, my Little Monster found reprieve.
Chapter 33