Page 18 of Eternal Sacrifice
It was fucking ridiculous. I had spent eons preferring solitude, and now I couldn’t even sleep without the pack nearby. For hours, I lay on my back with my hands resting on my stomach as I looked up at my ceiling. After that failed, I got up from my bed and headed for Mor’s room. When I arrived, I found it and the bed empty and cold.
She must have gotten lonely at night and chose one of the others to sleep with.
I shut the door before heading over to crawl into her bed. At least the blankets held on to the smell of her, and I breathed in deeply. Twisted memories of my father standing above me with that damn knife in his hands and dull, dead eyes still found their way into my sight even as I tried to sleep. Despite the memories trudged up from speaking with my father, surrounded by Mor’s scent, I was able to fall into a dark well of silence.
“Good morning.”Mor’s soft voice drifted into my mind, encouraging me to swim up from the depths of my subconscious.
“Morning, Babe.”I opened my eyes to find her looking down at me with a carefree smile. Guess whoever she stayed the night with had been able to give her what she needed.
She smiled softly before looking at the empty space beside me, and I patted it. It brightened her smile, and she crawled beside me. She lay on her back, her hands folded on her stomach. Her head turned to face me, and she looked happy.
I silently vowed to ensure that the expression would remain all day.
I reached over, grabbing her by the waist to pull her on top of me. Her body touching mine still felt like a hand around my neck, squeezing and choking, but each time got a little easier.
She adjusted, fitting her knees astride me. Bearing her own weight to keep the contact minimal.
My hands moved up, pulling her down until we were pressed together, chest to chest.
“Did you sleep well?” I whispered into her ear.
“You could say that,” she said before laughing lightly as she mentally recounted her adventure from the evening. “I went with Justice to his dungeon.”
I couldn’t help but grip her tighter to me.
“Hell realm dungeon,” she said quickly. As if that would make it any better.
“As much as I know Justice would never hurt you, that doesn’t mean accidents can’t happen. He’s always messing around with dangerous shit.” I needed to remind her that Justice’s ideas weren’t always good. He never meant to push things too far, but his version of the edge was further than most.
“I don’t think you understand what Justice’s dungeon is, Jax. Maybe I could see if Justice would let you come with us sometime. It might help you relax about it a little more.” Her eyes shined with excitement.
I never wanted to be one of the demons Justice experimented on. But I was curious about what exactly he did in there. Jasper had once walked in on Justice torturing a demon, and it had been enough to turn Jasper’s stomach.
“I’ll think about it,” I said, undecided.
“How about a little team meeting in the war room? We have the hunt to discuss and all the other fun logistics.” She seemed happy enough with my promise to contemplate the offer.
I released my hold on her so she could get off me, and we headed to the war room together.
Justice and Jace were sitting at the table, matching black coffee cups in front of them. I knew the contents would be different. Jasper was in his chair, but bent low to pet Cole on the top of his head. Mor took her seat at the table, and Cole immediately left Jasper’s side in favor of curling up next to her.
“Does anyone even want to compete in the hunt?” Jasper asked, folding his hands on the table. He loved hunting, but things were complicated now that there were two more members of the pack, and his vote still only counted as one.
“I do,” Mor announced, looking around at each of us to see if she had any support. “I mean, as long as Lucifer hasn’t given us a million-point lead. A rigged game isn’t fun. But now we are a complete pack; we can see what we are capable of.”
Jasper pulled his phone out and swiped through before setting it back down. “Scores are zero across the board. But we are still named Lucifer’s Favorites.”
“I guess it’s a step,” Mor said.
The rest of us shrugged. If Mor wanted to compete, then we would compete.
“Plus, the cabin feels like the best place to be after the immediate parent barrage,” Mor mused. But I knew what she was doing, deliberately bringing the subject up rather than allowing us to brush the encounters off.
“I don’t know what answers I was looking for in the palace yesterday, but seeing Marlene absent seemed to be all I needed,” Jasper said, and I nodded in agreement.
Mor didn’t look convinced, but decided not to press the topic further. Justice’s face looked lost, blankly staring at a single light crystal near the ceiling.
“I think I would like to grab the book and take it with us to the cabin. Marlene never told us what she was trying to do with the fractures, and I feel like that’s the last piece I need.” Mor looked at me. Almost like she was trying to apologize with her eyes for the fact that she wasn’t ready to let the topic of my mother die along with her.
