Jackal's Pride (Seven Deadly Book 2), page 20
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. “You sensed her 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.
It was the first time, as a woman, that I realized how much I craved to be lovable. I wanted to be loved. As it was, I only knew how to be hated and stalked, lied to and closed off.
Now Jackal…
I yearned for someone who had yet to leave me. Gavin and Newt were proof that even my friends wouldn’t stay by my side. Everyone always seemed to want something I’d never offered to give them. But I’d already given that up to Jackal along with every future one of the beats that thumped from my heart. It was only a matter of time before he’d leave my tattered pride on the floor and be done with the one thing he was interested in—my body which he went around calling “mine” like the Neanderthal he was. Sadly, I kind of liked it—kind of liked him.
That was unacceptable.
“We should head to the castle,” I muttered quickly the second we were finished with the repairs. The Den looked exactly as it always did, only empty.
I didn’t wait around to see what Jackal planned to do. I seemed to have some pride left when it came to him. Newt taught me that no one was who they said they were—or pretended to be.
______
“Fifty-four?”
“Sixty.” Payne dragged his feet through the door where we were all sitting. “Found six more with the same note.” He flicked the red note on the floor angrily. I didn’t have to see it. We’d already read the same note over and over with every dead Reaper body we found.
The age of the Reapers has come to an end.
-Harvesters
“How cute they’d name their little group after Harvest.” August tossed another one on the floor with a scowl on his face.
“This is Harvest’s doing,” Dad added. “He’s created this group with ease. News travels fasts. It’s only going to get worse.” His commanding tone and rigid posture spoke one thing: prepare ourselves.
Everyone was tired and stressed out. There wasn’t enough space for all of us to fit on the two couches in the family room slash meeting area so a few of us stood. August was in his typical spot by the window. Joy and I sat side by side while Prudence, Mom, Kitty, and Isabella sat on the other couch. Sebastian, perched on the arm chair, rubbing Isabella’s shoulder.
“What do we do now?” Joy asked, lifting her head. The only one of us brave enough to do so.
“First, we’ll get in touch with every Reaper,” Dad replied. “We need to make sure everyone’s watching their backs. We can’t let the Harvesters catch us off guard again.”
“We’ve been so focused on the human problems that half the Underworld is likely plotting with this group. A lot of them would love to see us fall so they can do whatever they want in the human world,” Mom mumbled sadly.
Dad grasped her hand, pulling it up to his lips. “It’s okay. We’ll get through this.”
She frowned. “Then why are you barely sleeping?”
“It’s hard to rest when you have so much to lose.”
“We’ll get through this,” Sebastian repeated. “If we get down and out so quickly, then how will we survive the next eight months? How will we protect ourselves as well as the humans?”
“It’s a group of low-ranking demons that we’ll squash in no time,” said August. “I deal with demons like this all the time at the casino.”
Mom smiled at him.
“He’s probably right,” Payne agreed.
“Probably?” August scoffed. “I am right.”
Payne exhaled. “The problem lies in their numbers. If they attack a Reaper as a group, they’re able to hurt us. I think that’s what they’ve done to the ones we’ve lost.”
“We’ll need to contact those who had families, and let them know what’s happened,” Joy whispered. “Actually, I can do that now.” She got up and scurried out of the room, not even bothering to let her eyes wander to Payne who was watching her for once.
Kitty shook her head, taking a bite off her Slim Jim. “You’d think she’d be used to death since death is our job.”
“Joy has a soft heart,” Mom told her. “But that doesn’t make her weak.”
“Why is the terminator standing by the door even now?” Prudence asked, and I tensed. “Are we making him a Reaper or what?”
“How do you even turn someone into a Reaper?” Jackal asked.
“We bestow our power onto them,” Mom answered him with a curious stare. “You interested?”
His gaze flickered to me. “No, but I’m available to help.”
“And why does the infamous Jackal have such a change of heart?” August asked.
Hearts. Stupid, pointless things. Maybe I should rip mine out and give it to him so he could be the one feeling this way instead of me.
“I don’t want Maureen to die when the human world does.”
My eyes widened like saucers. Not only me, he’d stunned my entire family, including Payne, into silence. That doubt in my stomach grew worse. I didn’t trust him. I couldn’t. People were not who they pretended to be. Everyone had a secret agenda.
“He should leave,” I clipped out.
“Maureen?” Mom hesitated suddenly confused as she watched us.
“It doesn’t make sense for him to be here. What if he’s listening to everything we’re saying only to use it against us?” My face was hot, but the need to salvage my pride took the forefront.
“I think we’re good.” Out of everyone, I never expected it to be August who trusted someone. He was with me about not trusting Isabella in the beginning so why not the same treatment with Jackal?
“He’s helped us even after the collar incident,” Dad brought up. “We need his help.”
“Whatever.” I got up, unable to bear a second longer with them. The only thing I wanted to do was fight everyone on why I was right about Jackal. I needed to be right. Jackal’s anger reached out to me as I strode past him, knocking him in the shoulder as I did.
Barron came out into the ballroom with me. I ignored him until I got to the double doors to leave the castle, and he stepped in front of me. “Move,” I told him.
“Will you stop?” he muttered.
“What am I doing?”
“Sabotaging your life.”
I squinted my eyes and scoffed. “You’re crazy to believe Jackal has no hidden agenda. You saw what he was like after I collared him. People don’t change that quickly.”
“Remember when we were kids, and we all promised each other we’d fight our curses every step of the way. I’d fight to stay calm, Sebastian fought to stay awake, August tried to stop stealing… We all made those types of promises to ourselves.”
“And?”
He exhaled. “You’re not even trying to fight yours.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I think…like Sebastian was with Isabella, Jackal is that for you.” Barron was almost quiet as he said it.
My heart stopped. “What?”
“Don’t pretend you haven’t thought about it. It’s probably crossed your mind a lot quicker than it had ours.”
“Ours?”
“We all think so.”
“Define we?”
“Stop, Maureen.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “You’d never admit it to anyone, not even yourself.”
“He doesn’t even have a heart, Barron,” my voice broke that easily, “to… You know…” Why was I unraveling? Why was I being so unlike myself? Realizing how heartbroken I sounded, I recollected myself—piece by piece. I concealed the destruction and hurt tightening my cheeks and straightening my spine—whatever it took to fake it. Like I did a lot lately. “Besides, it’s not that. People are never who you think they are.”
“Is this about that warlock?”
“I thought Newt was a friend—granted I rarely saw him outside of The Den, but I considered him as close to having a friend as it got. But it was never that way for him. Little did I know how much he was scheming and planning with his brother.” I was disappointed in myself, hurt and furious at the same time when I thought of Newt. I let Barron see the anger and sadness morph my face once more, then I took a deep breath and relaxed my forehead until I no longer felt the crease there.
“He carelessly stood around and let you wager your body! He was never a person you could believe!” I flinched from his words, and then his eyes softened. “They took advantage of your curse, Maureen.”
His words hurt. Hearing it from someone else made it feel ten times worse than what it seemed like inside my head.
Pride was bitter and raging in my stomach.
Barron grabbed my shoulder and squeezed. “Don’t let your pride steal your chance at what Sebastian found.”
I didn’t dare close my eyes. I didn’t have control over the watery texture to them right now. “I can’t trust him.”
“Do you really think I’d allow him so close to you if he was a threat?” Barron asked. “What about Dad? Sebastian and August? You’re too close to see what we see. Jackal is completely enamored of you, and if you think he’s unaware or not able to feel that way, think again.”
He dropped his hand and walked away. I hadn’t gotten that many words out of Barron in years. I didn’t know how long I stood there until I detected his angry essence right before he spoke.
“He doesn’t even have a heart.” I twisted around to Jackal’s irritated voice. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“I’m leaving. Don’t bother following. You’re not invited.”
“And when has that stopped me before?” he asked. He crossed his arms against his chest. “First you ask your family to question me, then you reprimand me for having a heartless chest. You’re out for blood, specifically mine, but why?”
I stood my ground. “I don’t trust you.”
His brows furrowed, eyes igniting into a green fire. “I don’t mind your anger, Little Monster, but credence is something I want from you.”
“Why? Why would you want that from me?”
“Because if I use this eternal life for anything other than creating plagues, I’d want it to be with you, making sure you were safe. The only time I’d want you to unravel would be in my arms.”
Slowly, he came closer. I was his skittish, untrusting prey, and the predator was smart and wary that he’d spooked me. Goose bumps covered my arms. I bet he listened to the outrageous pounding of my heart with his animal-like hearing.
I placed my hands on my hips. “What about when you grow tired of this body? When it’s no longer new to you and your eyes stray to another woman? You expect me to believe that you’d only want me when you’d never discovered anyone else?”
He kept coming toward me, scaring the ever-loving shit out of me. “I don’t have an interest in another’s body. I’d rather let the worlds fall to nothing before I’d allow anyone to ever touch you again. You’re my calling, my salvation. I’d be a fool to let such a fiery woman slip through my fingers.”
He stood before me now. His fingers skimmed over my shoulder, burning tingles paving its way with his touch. He dipped down, inhaling, causing my spine to tingle. Heat unfurled inside me, blossoming into raging desire. “Do you want me to tell you what you smell like now?”
Biting my lip, I shivered. “What?”
“You smell like a meadow full of lavender. You smell so radiant… so flowery. You have all the bite in the world, but it can never hide the truth. You’re a bouquet waiting to be found by the one meant to hold you forever.” He lifted my chin and gazed deeply into my eyes.
I was lost, enchanted by his emerald orbs.
“You smell like mine.” His mouth tipped up at the corners, revealing perfect teeth and two lengthened canines.
More of my armored spikes fell to the ground. He was crazy handsome.
“At first, I wondered why your smell offended me so much. I didn’t know what to do with you, unable to recognize what was right in front of me. Once I did, I made sure to mark you.”
“You marked me, not because you wanted to get back at me, but because…”
“I recognized your scent like it was a love note only I’d be able to understand.” He placed his forehead to mine, rubbing his fingers across my shoulders tenderly. “To think I despised the witch for so long when she led me directly to you. Without her, I wouldn’t have acknowledged you as my one—my desire to live when all I’d ever known was to kill.”
My heart rattled. The poor organ wasn’t used to feeling this way—so sensitive and yearning for someone. I breathed Jackal in much like he always did to me then pushed him away. I glanced around the empty ballroom, wondering if my family could hear us.
Slow, then all at once, those tender feelings left me. His same beautiful words brought reality to the surface. “That’s the problem, you would have felt nothing for me if it weren’t for those hearts. I’m too selfish not to acknowledge that truth. You are but an entity without the means to adore me on his own. Since meeting you I realize I need you to be real, all parts of you. Real in your desire to me and real in your sudden longing to help us.”
His brows furrowed, lips thinning in confusion. “You said it yourself. The things I feel are mine alone, no one else’s.”
I hugged my arms to my chest and stepped back. “That was before I learned of your curse. Now I fear nothing will soothe the doubt I have that you aren’t who you appear to be.”
His jaw tightened, eyes turning to fury—or maybe resolve. It was so hard to know for sure when several emotions were running rampant in his essence. “Maureen.”
