Chapter 414
“No, Jesse!” Midnight laughs, stumbling forward outside of her yurt and grabbing his shadow panther right out of the air, making it dissolve away to smoke and reeling it into herself. Jesse gasps as he loses control of it, letting it pass into Midnight’s capable hands. “Why do you keep making animal shapes? You don’t need to – that’s a crutch. It’s just a shadow – the edges are the only things that matter. The edges are the only things that exist.”
Jesse scowls and frowns at his little mate as she very capably releases shadows from her own skin, sending them out in all directions, formless and yet powerful. “Well why can’t I make animal shapes?” he asks, crossing his arms. “If it helps me? And I like it? And it’s cool?”
“Because then you’re limiting them, mentally,” Midnight says, tapping her temple as she sends the shadows streaking for him. Everywhere they touch Jesse the shadows buzz dangerously and he shudders, realizing that Midnight is of course obliging the shadows to go easy on him. Should she wish it, they could cut or burn or slice.
“Can you…help me understand that?” Jesse asks with a sigh, impressed with her power and control but still not getting it.
“If you limit them to animals,” Midnight says, pulling the shadows back and making a panther like Jesse usually favors – though, predictably, her panther is more detailed and refined than his ever are. “Then you’re limited to what you think animals can do. A panther can bite and scratch, so his dangerous parts are his teeth and his claws.” She shrugs. “If you just let the whole shadow be a weapon…then all of the shadow is a weapon.”
Jesse sighs, pulling the shadow back from her and letting it take a nebulous shape, shifting and ephemeral. “I still think the panthers are cooler.”
“Power is cooler,” Midnight says, a bit cold, and he turns his head to her. “Control is cooler. The better weapon is cooler.”
“Midnight,” Jesse says, quietly studying her. “Against whom have you ever had to use a weapon?”
She shrugs. “When I have to, I’ll be ready.”
Another chill passes through Jesse.
But suddenly, Midnight snaps her head to the side and then tilts her ear up, as if listening.
“What’s going on?” Jesse asks, stepping towards her. She holds a hand out towards him, begging him to stop, and he does.
When Midnight moves again, her eyes narrowing on Jesse. “I have to go somewhere. You stay here.”
“No way!”
“Jesse,” Midnight growls, stepping towards him, her eyes going dark. “I have a job to do.”
“What job!?”
“My job,” she snarls. But when Jesse doesn’t back off, she sighs and gestures out into the night. “Darkness has sensed an intruder. He wants me to check on it for him.”
Jesse’s eyes fly wide. “Fine, but I’m coming with you.”
“You’re staying here! In this yurt!”
“Midnight,” Jesse says, leaning far forward so their eyes are even, his voice low and dangerous. “If you leave me here alone here in the tent, I’m going to burn it to the ground.”
“Jesse, no!” Midnight gasps, pressing her hands to her heart.
“I mean it,” he says, shaking his head. “Those are your choices. Take me with you, or no more house.”
She glares at him, hard, and then scowls and reaches for his hand. “Fine. But don’t interfere, or I’ll let him smite you.”
Jesse squeezes her hand and makes no promises as Midnight vanishes them away.
“Jackson!” I shout, scrambling to my feet and stumbling towards him. Jacks – I’ve only been away for a week, but he looks so different – and so hot –
He has about three days’ worth of beard on his face, and he’s slimmer than he was – not that he was ever fat, just big. And now he’s still by no means small but instead lean and muscled, like a winter wolf.
“Ari!” he gasps, my name choked on his shocked lips.
He reaches for me through the bars and I throw myself against them, pressing as much of my body to my mate’s as I can as I burst into tears.
“Oh my god, Ariel,” Jackson whispers, wrapping his arms around me as best as he can and holding me close. I groan, pressing my face to his chest, taking in breath after breath of his wonderful scent.
“Jacks, I missed you,” I murmur, rubbing my face against him, my wolf howling in my soul as she dashes across the bridge of our bond and hurling herself against his wolf, pressing her body frantically all along his length. His wolf snarls with possessive joy, rubbing his face against her, pawing at her and trying to tuck her beneath him, though she keeps wriggling out of his way.
“Fuck, Ariel,” Jackson whispers, trembling a little in shock and relief. “I’ve missed you so much – I’m so sorry –“
“Sorry,” I say, lifting my face and sniffing hard, even as tears continue to fall from my eyes. “Why are you sorry.”
“Because I let them take you,” he murmurs, sticking an arm through the bar and wiping the tears from my face with his calloused thumb. “I’m so stupid –“
“Jacks,” I say, scowling a little and pushing back. “Don’t be ridiculous – they’d been planning that capture for months – for years –“
“I still should have –“
“Jackson McClintock,” I snarl, pushing fully away but wrapping handfuls of his shirt in my hands, desperate to keep hold of him. “If you blame yourself for one more second, I’m going to punch you –“
His face bursts into his wonderful smile as he laughs at me – at my fury and my possessive love. I moan at the sight of it, loving him entirely, and stumble forward, wanting to be close again.
“No, Ariel, step back –“ he says, laughing again and taking a step away that makes me clang into the bars. “Geeze, are you okay? Be careful, Ariel –“
“Jacks,” I groan, reaching for him, “come back!”
“Just – step away for a second – I can bend the bars –“
My eyes fly open as I stare at him. “You can?”
“Yeah, they’re like…they’re not very strong,” he shrugs. “Cheap materials.”
I raise my eyebrow at him. “Cheap materials, or super-human strength?”
He smiles at me and gives a slightly smug one-shouldered shrug that…
…well, it puts him at serious risk of me tearing all his clothes off.
“Go on, Tiny, give me some space,” he murmurs, laughing a little and waving a hand at me as he studies the bars, clearly deciding where the apply his strength.
“No, Jacks,” I say, holding my hand out to him. “Um…maybe don’t.”
“What?” he asks, going still.
“Is that…is that how you got here?” I whisper, shaking my head and then trying to peer around him towards the rest of the cages. “Did you come from outside the fence and force your way in?”
“Yeah,” he says, still frowning at me and dismissing the point. “But why don’t you –“
“Jackson,” I interrupt, shaking my head at him. “How did you…how did you get here? To the Land of Darkness?”
He focuses on me again and huffs a frustrated sigh, seeing that we’re not going to get anywhere towards his questions until he answers mine first. Then he pulls something from his pocket and holds it out to me. “This showed up in my tent,” he says as I peer at the small, rectangular rock. “I – can we talk about the details later? It’s kind of weird. I don’t know who left it there, but…I think it allowed me to shift here, like you can do.”
“It must be a talisman,” I murmur, studying it. And then my eyes go wide as I dart my gaze up to Jackson’s face, my wolf suddenly yelping and skittering away from his.
“What?” Jackson asks, going still. “No, come back…” he murmurs, frowning, his wolf moving after mine.
“Wait, wait,” I breathe, holding out a hand to him even as I shift my gaze inward to my wolf and to his, studying them. “Gabriel – he’s got a talisman too that allows him to come here. But to get it he had to…”
My words fade as I study Jackson’s wolf for any sign of corruption. For that oil, or a dark light in his eyes, or…anything. But Jacksons’ big dark wolf just stands very still, his head cocked to the side, staring at my little rose-gold one. Slowly she moves forward and sniffs at him.
I think he’s okay, she says, anxious.
“He had to what?” Jackson asks, hesitant.
I refocus my eyes on Jacks as my wolf again moves forward to Jackson’s wolf’s side. “He had to sell himself to Darkness, which corrupted his soul. I – it’s very bad, Jackson. He’s…horrible now.”
Jackson snarls and steps close to me again. “This man. Is he your mate?”
I exhale a long and slow breath, keeping my eyes steady on his. “He is, Jacks.”
