Chapter 416
Jackson kisses me softly through the bars of my little Atalaxian cage. I lean my full weight against them, letting my hand slip up over Jackson’s stubbled cheek and then back into his hair.
He pulls away, snarling a little, both for want of me and, well –
“I hate these fucking bars,” he growls, glancing around at them even as he wraps an arm around my waist as best he can, pulling me tight against him. “This was not the reunion I had in mind.”
I smile at him. “Well, for the reunion, can we keep the beard?”
He raises his eyebrows at me in surprise. “You like it?”
My smile deepens. “You’re all rugged and rough, like you were when we first met and you didn’t know how to get your hair cut –“
A laugh bursts from him and he tightens his arm. “You were a fan of that?”
“I was a fan of it once you stopped trying to murder me and I realized how sweet you were beneath,” I say, grinning at him fully now, unable to help it. “Rough exterior, sweetheart inside. Gorgeous through and through. Come on, how was I supposed to resist?”
He nudges his nose against mine. “Yeah, see, this is why I want to get you out of here now. Before you look more deeply at the mate who currently wants to murder you and realize how sweet he is beneath.”
“He doesn’t want to murder me, he just wants to corrupt my wolf and enslave me to darkness so that he can use my powers to destroy my homeland,” I say, giving Jacks my sunniest smile.
Jacks groans, tilting his head back. “Oh, god. I can’t believe I’m letting you go back.”
“For a couple of hours,” I say, laughing at him in turn. “Then its me and you, forever. Right?”
He sighs and lifts his head again. “Right.”
“Okay, now juice me up,” I say, putting my hand flat on his neck for contact.
He laughs at my phrasing – both of us thinking of Jesse, I know – and does as I say, filling me with his power and making me feel ridiculously awake and sunny after spending all night awake and scheming.
I shiver all over as the power rushes into me and I drop my hand when I’ve had enough, though I stand close. “You’re still good with your magic and energy levels?” I ask quietly. “Even after not sleeping and eating all week?” My eyes slip over his slimmer form, honestly surprised at how much weight he’s lost. I mean, I know that Jackson told me that his magic is intimately tied to his body, but the evidence I have of it here really proves that point.
“It’s not ideal,” he says with a shrug. “But I’ve still got plenty. It’s not anything you need to worry about.”
“Okay.” I say, sighing and stepping away. “Be safe. I’ll be back in a little bit and then I’ll call to you, right?” I tap my temple, indicating how he’ll hear it.
“See you soon, Ariel. I love you.”
“I love you too, Jacks,” I say, my voice nearly a whisper. And then, beaming, I tumble myself backwards through the darkness and back into Atalaxia.
Jesse and Midnight lay flat on their stomachs atop the hill, looking down at the rather remarkable network of cages down below. As Midnight continues to peer closely at the blobby blur at the center of the network that may or may not be people – they can’t quite tell at this distance – Jesse groans and closes his eyes, resting his head against his folded arms.
“Shhh,” Midnight says, shoving at his shoulder with the tips of her fingertips. “I’m watching.”
“And does my groan of agonized boredom interfere with your sight?” Jesse mutters, frustrated.
“Oh, just be quiet and let me concentrate.”
Jesse does as he’s bid, only grumbling a little. Because they’ve been here for hours, and while the blob at the center has shifted a couple of times, there’s no way to really know if it’s people or…something else. Either way, it seems thoroughly encaged, so Jesse is not precisely sure why it matters.
Midnight, however, refuses to vanish them back to the yurt and have done with it.
“Let’s just go closer,” Jesse mutters.
“No!” Midnight hisses. “We must stay unseen. Darkness doesn’t want anyone to know about me. I’m his super spy.” The last bit is preening.
“Then just call him up and tell him what you’ve found,” Jesse sighs. “Or, better yet, never talk to him again and zip us back to Moon Valley.”
“You’re being a brat, Jesse,” Midnight snaps. “You begged to come along and now you won’t even let me do my job.”
“It’s not a job,” he snaps back, lifting his head to glare at her. “You’re paid in what, one yurt he got you twelve years ago and a lifetime supply of dark cabbage?”
She glares at him and then turns her eyes back to the cage. When she gasps, Jesse sits up, turning back to the problem at hand. “Look,” Midnight whispers, pointing. “It’s moving.”
Jesse realizes that it’s true, narrowing his eyes, trying to see, frustrated at the distance that Midnight made them keep for the sake of anonymity. After all, he’s very curious why there are these cages in the Land of Darkness that correlate, according to Midnight’s report, very closely with the location of the Atalaxian castle.
As Jesse and Midnight watch, the colors at the center of the cage shift and then separate. His eyes widen as it becomes very, very clear that one truly is a figure. And that it’s passing through the bars of the cage. “How is it doing that,” Jesse murmurs, leaning closer as if that’s going to help.
“Did you see the other one?” Midnight whispers, sounding anxious. “It disappeared.”
Jesse snaps his eyes back to the color within the cage and nods when he sees that there’s only white left. “Shit,” he whispers. “What…who is it?”
“I don’t know,” Midnight says, definite. “But we have to tell Darkness –“
Jesse’s hand snaps out and grabs her wrist, making her eyes fly wide. “No, don’t tell him.”
“Why not!?”
“Because!” Jesse says, searching his mind for a good reason, even thought he truth is that he just doesn’t want Darkness to have any information – at all – that could help him with anything. “Darkness…wouldn’t want an incomplete report! You have to wait until you know more about who that is, coming towards us.”
Midnight gasps, turning towards the figure who is now outside of the cages – and moving incredibly fast. “Is he…coming towards us?”
Jesse frowns, not answering, because…
God, but there’s something familiar about the way that person moves...
“Jesse?” Midnight says, reaching for him, curling her fingers around his arm. “Is he coming for us? Do you…do you think he knows we’re here?”
But Jesse doesn’t answer, instead scrambling to his feet. “Jacks!” he shouts, beginning to sprint down the hill, waving his arms, desperate for his friend to see. Because it all snapped together in an instant – the size and speed of the figure as he indeed came closer to them, though not with any real intent in the way that Midnight is thinking. But he’s sure - there’s only one person that big who can move that fast.
“Jesse!” Midnight shrieks, true fear in her voice as Jesse continues to scramble down the hill.
Jesse ignores her, shouting Jackson’s name again as the figure goes still and then turns towards him.
Midnight, snarling, suddenly appears before Jesse in his path. “You stop,” she growls, a hand held out towards him. “You stop right now –“
Jesse just gives her a look like she’s insane and dodges around her, picking up speed as Jackson calls out his name and starts to run for him in turn. Laughing, Jesse pounds towards his friend. Both of them move swiftly until Jesse can pick out Jackson’s features, see his shocked and smiling face. Jesse grins, thrilled –
When suddenly a huge wolf appears between them, hair shaggy and black, eyes bright and red as a ruby. She bares her snarling teeth at Jackson and slowly starts to prowl towards him, a warning in every step.
Jackson’s smile is wiped form his face as he looks at the wolf in shock for half a second and then steps towards it, his own teeth bared in challenge.
“Midnight, don’t!” Jesse gasps, dashing forward and grabbing at the ruff of fur rising on her hackles just as Jackson shifts into his own wolf, which is somehow even bigger and more terrifying than Midnight’s.
“Fuck!” Jesse bites out, hauling hard at Midnight’s fur and making her skitter a step back as Jackson advances. Before Jacks can do more than snap his fangs at Midnight, though, Jesse is between them, holding a palm out to each. “Stop! Stop it, both of you!”
Midnight and Jackson pause, both staring at him.
“Jacks!” Jesse barks out, turning to glare at his friend. “She’s my fucking mate, okay!? She’s just freaked out! If you shift back, she’ll get the picture that no one’s going to fight anyone and we’re all just going to be cool!” He whips his head back to the terrifying she-wolf on his right. “Right, Midnight!?”
Midnight just snarls. Jesse rolls his eyes and looks back at Jackson just as his cousin’s mate shifts back to his human form, staring between Jesse and the dark wolf.
“That’s your mate?” he asks, pointing one finger at the wolf.
“Oh!”
Jesse spins at the sound of the girlish voice, turning to see that she has indeed shifted back into her human form. He looks down at his tiny, adorable, weird, ragged mate, standing with her hands on her hips. Jesse blinks at her, kind of…in disbelief that a girl who looks so innocent can be that terrifying in her wolf form.
“Oh!” Midnight says again, laughing a little. “I’m sorry – I know you! You’re the big boy! Your Ariel’s mate!” She waves hello. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“You didn’t…scare me…” Jackson murmurs, frowning at her. “I scared you.”
“No, I scared you,” Midnight sighs, beaming at Jacks. “It’s nice to meet me!”
Jackson just shifts his eyes back to Jesse. “What…is happening?”
“It’s…a long story, man,” Jesse says, striding forward with a grin and patting him on his shoulder. “Good to see you, though! Man, you got really skinny. What happened?”
Jackson just continues to stare at Jesse for a moment before he shakes himself and gathers the Duke into a big hug. Jesse laughs and hugs his best friend right back.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Jackson murmurs, tucking his head next to Jesse’s. “Ariel is going to be too.”
“Wait,” Jesse says, pulling back and frowning at the taller Alpha. “Where is Ariel, if she’s not with you?”
“Oh, man,” Jackson says, exhaling slowly and running a hand through his hair. “We’ve got a lot to catch you up on, kid.”
“Wait till you hear what I have to tell you,” Jesse says, grinning at his friend before launching into a story about a Princess and a sparkly blue ghost that makes Jackson’s jaw drop.
