Page 13 of True Sacrifice
“What? I can’t play too?” My tone was overly sweet as I fluttered my eyelashes at him. I couldn’t hold a straight face and laughter bubbled from me, which was joined by Justice’s laughter. Jasper cracked a smile, but it told me at least there was a personality deep down in him somewhere. I was just hoping I could find a personality in Jax.
A hand landed on the table with a loudthunk, making me jump as my laughter died at once. As in just a hand, oozing blood all over the table. My heart hammered in my throat, and I struggled to breathe. I was playing jokes with a pack of demons, which meant a very dangerous game. I cleared my throat and looked over to the doorway, where Jax stood silently.
Fuck, Hell made their men right. He used his arm to prop himself against the doorframe, seemingly comfortable standing there observing. He rolled his button-up shirt at the sleeves, thick black tattoos covered him. I even noticed his neck had tattoos on it. Even with all of that, it was his piercing stare that made every part of me freeze. I swear, even my heart got in on the trend.
The moment passed, and I remembered that these were my mates. Even if they were super pissed at me, I’m pretty sure killing me would be off the table. This was, however, where I could set the tone of the relationship. Well, not a relationship yet, but an inevitable one, according to some deity or power that I didn’t even fully understand yet.
“Is that supposed to be a present?” I asked Jax, staring him down. “I know we haven’t gotten to the getting to know you phase yet, but I can give you a hint; former human girls don’t like severed hands.”
I saw the corner of his mouth twitch. I couldn’t quite tell if he was amused with me, or irritated.
“It is a trophy, Morrigan,”came a voice shockingly clear in my head. This voice, now this voice, made all the things on my insides flutter and hum. It was just as powerful as Jasper and Justice.
“What did I win?”I whispered back inside my head, not sure if, whatever this was, worked like that. I observed Jax’s face for any sign that he received my message. He blinked suddenly. But how the fuck else do you blink? There was something about this blink, though that seemed different. Or I was reading far too much into all this and I should pump those brakes on my mental slide and just wait a few seconds to see if an answer comes.
“You won the evening, of course. You found your mates and were announced as demon royalty,”he responded, so I guess I will go with message received.
“I don’t think this hand has anything to do with the ball or the stupid fucking game. I think you don’t like that you broke first.”I stared him down, wanting to see if he would back down or keep going with the act.
“I think it’s time to have a pack meeting with our newest member,” Jax said aloud, making me frown. It was nearly the same voice as the one in my head, but the one in my head was clearer somehow. Less tainted.
“We are already sitting down. Why don’t you take a seat, and we can get this started?” Jasper called, as a seat appeared out of nowhere, but as if it had been there all along. It was really quite jarring.
I took a seat in the new chair, figuring the old one was likely the seat Jax always sat in. Taking that probably wouldn’t set the tone well for the conversation. Sometimes, people’s seats were a very serious matter.
“Princess, let’s start with you. Whatever questions you have, ask them and then we can go from there.” Jasper looked to the others for agreement. They both just nodded mildly, and Jasper turned to me expectantly.
“Umm.” I was stuck. I did not know what to ask about these demons. There was too much I didn’t know. “So do you all share me, or am I more of like a time-share concept with the mate thing?” I do not know why I decided that was the first question when it flew from my mouth.Jumping to the important questions, clearly.
The three of them looked at each other several times. It was almost like a silent form of communication they all knew, but I didn’t understand. For the very first time I saw they were, in fact, a pack.
Jax broke the silence. “I will not be a mate to you. I chose long ago not to take a mate and those reasons have not changed. You will share in my power through the bond so I will train you, but outside that, you are nothing more than a burden to me.”
I felt my jaw spring free. The sheer callousness he used was a far cry from the man who acted like my body was on fire when he had touched me. “That’s fine. I didn’t ask to be your mate either,” I jeered.
“So, if you’re asking about the fucking,” he said with disgust, “you can fuck one, or both, for all I care.” Jax leaned in towards me and I couldn’t fucking stop myself from leaning in closer too.
“No one outside the pack,”he grumbled in my head.
“And what about you? If you’re not with me, then who…”I let my mental voice drag on for a while as I started imagining Jax with a female demon. Several of the attendees from the ball this evening floating to my mental eye.
“Stop,”he commanded. My mind skidded to a halt, trying to remember what we were talking about again. “No one outside of the pack goes for the entire pack,” Jax ground out.
Maybe that meant he had a relationship with one of the other boys. I looked between Justice and Jasper, trying to imagine them together.
“We need to teach her shields,” Jax announced as he sat back in his chair. “She’s an open book for anyone that even tries to poke into her mind.”
I blushed as I realized he might have gotten a glimpse of my mind as I thought about him with all the other demons out there. “So, Jasper, Justice. How are we going to do this, and which one of you do I share Jax with? I’m not sure if he wants to split up those days so we don’t cross, or if he’s really into voyeurism?”
Jasper just blinked at me slowly. These were definitely different from normal blinks.
“I am fine having you all to myself, my little fox. I could try sharing you if it would make you happy, but I can’t guarantee not to stab either of you out of instinct.” Justice smiled at me, but all I could imagine were some wicked thoughts running through his head. I didn’t really know this demon that well, other than him sitting with me as a bird. This version of him talked back and did things birds couldn’t. Why would stabbing and sex be instinctual?
“Why are we sharing you with Jax?” Jasper asked, still blinking in that confused way.
“He said no one outside the pack goes for the whole pack. I assumed, since he won’t be with me, that meant he already has something going with one of you. Unless, of course, he was planning on being celibate, but he didn’t strike me as the kind.”
“I don’t think we are Jax’s type…” Jasper looked over at Jax and raised an eyebrow.
