Page 77 of Jackal's Pride

I could never go back to who I was. Everything I did, I could never do those things again!

I needed these hearts. I needed them to understand everything I didn’t before. I needed it to love Maureen.Love.That was it, wasn’t it? That was what it always was when it came to her. “I’d like to see you come and make me take that.” My voice was a guttural hiss I was so furious.

“Wait,” he said again.

“No more waiting. I’ll kill you and be done with it.” I began to shift again.

“I’m trying to tell you something.Shapeshifter.” He sighed, tossing his hands up in the air. “Always more animal than anything else. You won’t take the vial even for sweet, prideful Maureen’s life?”

I halted. “What did you do?”

Chapter 27

Maureen

Explosions. Death. Thousands of lives lost. New York.

My Reaper brain fed me glimpses of the future. The hiccups that weren’t meant to happen. All of those lives about to perish under Harvest’s attack weren’t meant to happen. Just like with the unnatural tornadoes and climate changes. This was one of those moments.

I had to get there. Everyone was fed the same images.

This wasn’t even about the end. This group, the Harvesters, was being cruel just to spite what we did. I climbed out of bed naked and froze as I caught the white mask standing next to my bed. There was a moment where we cocked our head at one another before I moved into action. I materialized Ben and Jerry but was already thrown back against a wall with the wave of a tiny gloved hand.

“What the hell?” I muttered.

I assumed it was a woman because she was slender and a few inches shorter than me, but I couldn’t read who she was beneath the cloak. Her hand was still outstretched as I pushed off the wall. She scooped up my sheet in her other hand.

I confirmed it was a woman when she spoke. She only had to say one word, and everything blew to pieces.

“Boom.”

Chapter 28

Jackal

The warlock spat out blood but still managed to keep me a safe distance away with his magic. “Could you stop hitting me with that shit?” He coughed up more blood. “At this rate I really will die long before I’ll get a chance to save Maureen. You know that, right?”

Maureen didn’t need his help. I planned to work my body to exhaustion every single day if it meant delaying the end—even if only for one more day—so that they’d find a way to stop it before it came. I’d help her every way that I could. Any way I knew how. She was mine to keep. Mine to protect and cherish. If she should perish, I’d go with her. She was the reason I craved life after all. But there was no way that would happen. I didn’t receive the curse to feel and know love only to have it snatched away.

“You stand in the human world she wishes to protect planning something I’m sure we’re about to see, and yet you dare say you want to protect her?” I seethed as I battled the constant need to shift between wolf and human forms. I was a man again, but barely since there was so much rage, and the need to be a wolf shimmered beneath my skin.

“Ah, there you are.” He coughed again, his lips curling upward, revealing bloody teeth to someone behind me. Someone walked by me without hurry in the same cloak. Only it was what was in their hand that caught my eye. The lavender scent permeated from it.

I lunged for the cloaked figure. “Where is she?” I could still smell Maureen on the sheet the cloaked figure carried.

The small figure twisted around so quickly I lost sight of her. For something so little, I was on my knees in seconds. “Here, make him take this.” He tossed the vial at the one behind me. She caught it. I gripped the hood and tossed her on the ground in front of me. She sent me flying back with a flick of her hand. It was hard to dodge attacks from magic users or spellcasters. I didn’t have time for this either.

“Where did you leave her?” the warlock asked.

“In pieces,” came the quiet hush of her tone.

I ran and shifted toward her in a fit of rage, but I froze in mid-air and crashed to the ground. I couldn’t move, but I tossed my disease in the air for her to inhale. No response either. Some sort of barrier around her, repelled my pestilence.

“Why the hell did you blow her up?” the warlock hissed.

“You wanted me to keep her in one spot. Well, it will take a while for her to regenerate.”

“Heal me quickly before one of the Reapers take notice,” he urged her. I watched as she waved a hand over his face. He was healed instantly. Rage filled me as my diseases died out in his body.

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