All Hail - J. Bree
Prologue
The Jackal’s Lair
“Beaumont. Don’t be an idiot, just fucking stab me.”
I squeeze my eyes shut a little tighter. I’m not one to attempt to block things out normally, I face everything head on but this? This situation I would do just about anything to get out of.
There’s a knock at the door and I can’t help but look as the Jackal steps up to answer it. The thick tattooed lines on his face are stark against the olive complexion of his skin. Objectively, he’s an attractive man but the sadistic light behind his eyes makes it impossible to find him anything but disturbing.
He looks exactly like the deranged psychopath Lips has described to me dozens of times.
No wonder she’s always been so scared of him.
“I told you I didn’t want to be interrupted.”
I can’t hear the answer to his snarl, my heart is beating too loudly in my own ears. My feet hurt in a way that I’ve never had to feel before. Sheltered. I’ve lived in a house with Joseph Beaumont Sr. my entire life and yet I’ve never had to feel pain like this before.
Ash felt it all for me.
“Listen to me, Beaumont. If he offers you the knife again you need to take it. There’s no way I’m walking out of this room unharmed and you covered in blood and wounds. Just take the fucking knife.”
I turn to look at Aodhan. The only marks on him are the ones he’s done to himself, straining against the ropes and handcuffs. His wrists are a mess, blood dripping down his hands and onto the ground, pooling slowly.
He looks nothing like the cousin we share.
I keep my mouth sealed firmly shut. I can’t answer him because there’s no way I could stab him, not even to save myself the pain. Dancing is an outlet to me and something I love doing but it’s not everything to me. It’s not more important than my morals or my friends and this man killed half his family as a gift to Harley. He’s paid penance for actions his blood took that he never once condoned.
I know Lips and the guys will be raising hell to find me.
I just need to hold out until then.
“Avery… listen to me, I’m not going to let you die for me. There’s no fucking way that I’m letting a girl like you die for the likes of me.”
The Jackal steps out of the room and shuts the door behind him. I try to distract myself from the pain and say, “And what type of girl is that, O’Cronin? Some delicate little rich bitch? I’ll die how I want to, thank you, and if I decide that my death happens here then it does. You don’t get a say on how that happens.”
He leans back in his seat, easing the pressure off of his wrists finally and rolling his shoulders the small amount that he can. “I think you’re too fucking good to die here for me. I think you waged war for your family from the moment you took a breath on this Earth and I think that you’ll do it to the end. I think that you saved Harley when the rest of us were too fucking scared to try. I think that I’m not worth the life of someone like that and if anything happens to you… fuck, just stab me. Either I die for you or I die after you, either way I’m dead.”
The air in my lungs seizes up and stays trapped in my chest until I think I’m going to pass out. “I’m not… I’m not like that.”
He shakes his head and leans forward towards me again. “You’re ruthless and you’re fierce. You’re unstoppable and you’re so fucking loyal that you won the Wolf’s friendship. The Jackal doesn’t fucking know who he’s messing with.”
The door opens again and the Jackal steps back in, his eyes manic and frenzied as he looks around. I squeeze my eyes shut for a second.
“We don’t have time for you two to be fucking flirting, are you dying Beaumont or are you killing O’Cronin?”
I open my eyes and stare into the deep forest green of Aodhan’s eyes. He stares back at me without reproach or any sort of hesitation. He’s already chosen to die here for me, whether I’m dead or alive.
I take the knife.
Chapter One
Beaumont Manor is in a highly exclusive and reclusive estate about three hours away from the ranch that I bought and renovated to be