Page 70 of Hidden Sacrifice
“Want to go back to the bar and have a few drinks?”
CHAPTER23
MORRIGAN
Istill couldn’t believe Jax hit Jace with a barstool. If he wants to have it out with him, he should at least take him to the arena and make it a fair fight. I had noticed a change in Jax towards Jace since the moment I slept with Jace. I had a feeling Jace wasn’t wrong; Jax needed to go ahead and dive off that cliff if he wanted to get the stick out of his ass. I was just waiting for an invitation from Jax.
We sat in the bar’s back corner, blending in with the room’s shadows. I was isolated in a bubble of rowdy noise from the other patrons. I sipped on my drink.
“What’s your favorite human decade?” I asked, the thought popping into my head.
“What?” Jax responded as his gaze drifted away from watching the rest of the bar.
“You’ve been to the human realm throughout the years, right? Which decade is your favorite?”
He gave me a confused look. He hadn’t paid that much attention to the human realm.
“You look like a prohibition type,” I said, toying with the straw of my cup with my tongue before swirling it into my mouth to take a sip.
“Because I can go without?” Jax’s eyes were glued to my mouth.
While we had a moment, just the two of us, I needed to ask, “why are you so upset about Jace?”
That moved his gaze up to mine. At that moment, he reminded me more of a dying feral animal. That wild desperation and the panic of losing it all.
“He keeps stealing things from me,”Jax’s voice came crashing into my mind. His anguished tone cut into my heart.
“What do you think he has stolen?”
“Everything,”he huffed back.
“I am here with you. The pack is with you. You have answers, and now you have a brother of sorts. I don’t understand what he’s stolen.”I was trying to be cautious, unsure how Jax would react.
“I can’t even be in my home realm,” Jax mumbled aloud. I watched his fists tighten on the table, the veins in his hands raising under the pressure of his grip.
“No one ever asked you to leave the realm,” I said, floored that he would think that.
His gaze hardened as he looked at me, drawing me in completely. “I need this bond between him and me broken.”
“Jax, if there is a way to block the two of you from having these soul sensations, we will find it. But this is easy to work around. Off realm excursions sound fun.”
Jax sighed deeply, looking into his drink as if it held answers within its depths. “I’m going back up to the hideout. My side is killing me,” Jax said, putting his drink down and throwing some money on the table. It was a mixture of paper money from around the world. I pulled the dollars from the bunch, ensuring enough to cover everything, and then a generous tip on the top.
“You can stay longer if you want,” Jax said as I stood.
“I’d rather be with you.”
I felt the tiny blip of happiness that leaked out of Jax’s carefully crafted façade. He let me lead the way out of the bar. We exited through the front before circling back around and going up the steps. I headed straight for the bedroom in the back, slipping my boots off and throwing them into a corner. Vaguely, I saw Jax pulling his shoes off as well. I flopped down diagonally across the bare mattress, not particularly caring how clean it was.
A puff of dust instantly rose, making me cough as I scrambled up from the mattress. Coughing and walking backward resulted in me backing up into Jax. His arms came up reflexively, holding on to my shoulders.
“You have power, Babe; use it,” Jax growled out in my ear as he collected all the dust, spinning it in the air. The window opened slightly before Jax tossed it all out.
I needed to remember to use my powers more often.
His hands gripped me tightly; his hold would have been bruising if I had been human. I imagined what it would look like for my skin to hold on to the purple marks made by his touch and a slight moan escaped me as I thought about it a little too vividly. He released me and took a step back. I was left cold in his absence.
“Do you want me or not, Jax?” I said, putting my hands on my hips as I turned around.
