Page 35 of A Heart in Knots

Jackal’s smile grew. He was always smiling, even when we were kids. I shrugged out of his hold.

“I’m just here for ink,” I repeated.

“Sure. What do you want?”

“Don’t know.” I answered. “But I want it in your style.”

“Cool. This way to the drawing board.” He made an after you gesture and we walked to an artist’s table with a light board. Jackal dropped onto the stool. He took a pencil from the cup and twirled it in his fingers. “So, any ideas on the theme? Subject? Placement?”

“Arm maybe?” It was the only answer I could provide. “And I want it blue.”

“Of course you do. But I’m gonna need more than that. I need an object.”

I knew why I was here, I just didn’t know what I wanted. Taking a deep breath, I thought of Skye. She was why I was here. I wanted something that would remind her, remind both of us, that no matter what, I loved her.

Then, it came to me, all at once. I described it to Jackal and he understood immediately what I was picturing. That was the thing about Jac, he could read me. He looked out for me. We were only two years apart, but he always shielded me from the worst that our mother’s alphas dished out. When it got bad, Jackal put himself between our fathers and me or our mothers. And he always managed to do it with a smile, which only angered the alphas more.

While I was outside hanging out with Severen and Halo, Jackal was cleaning up drunken alpha rage and wiping away blood drops before they could stain the kitchen tiles.

“How’s that?” He leaned back and showed me the sketch. Two birds, one black, one smaller, and blue, perched on a wire that was a heart monitor line, with sharp peaks and valleys. The birds were in his signature sketchy style, like an old cartoon where you could see the guidelines in the model. But the messiness was precise and intentional. It was why I had come to him, specifically.

“Perfect.”

“Alright, this way to the chair, mon frere.” Jackal nodded for me to follow him. The omega girl was replacing the paper, and bringing over the inks.

“Caira, this is my brother, Crux,” Jackal said.

Caira smiled, her eyes brightened. “I didn’t know Jackal had a brother. Nice to meet you.” We shook hands.

“I didn’t know my brother had an omega,” I said. “So we’re both secrets, I guess.”

She snickered. “Need anything else? I was planning to go to the art store.”

“Go on,” Jackal said. “Go do what you gotta do.”

Caira kissed his neck, then disappeared out the door.

“That’s your omega, huh?” I asked. “She’s cute.”

“Yep. And she comes like a freight train.”

“Charming,” I muttered, but Jac just laughed.

I got on the chair and took off my shirt so he could work on my arm. He placed the stencil and got to work right away.

“This your first ink?” Jackal asked, the buzz of the needle gun humming under his voice.

“Yeah.”

Jackal’s own arms were covered in ink. It was all so interwoven and puzzled together that the images were hard to decipher, but it somehow all complimented itself perfectly.

“Who is she?” he asked. “You’re obviously doing this for a girl.”

I swallowed slowly, and debated how much to tell him. “Skye. My omega. She had a rough few months. I just needed something to show her I love her.”

I didn’t say that I had spent hours upon hours looking at her EKG monitor as she slept. I didn’t say that I was terrified she wouldn’t come back to us. But… there was something else.

“She smells like blueberries. And bluebells.Bluethings. She has the most amazing blue eyes. They stand out from everything around us. Her eyes and her smell… That’s how I knew she was mine.”

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