Jacke's POV
I woke up the next day with Alex holding on to me with an iron grip, it looks like I wasn't getting out the easy way this morning. I grabbed her hand and kissed it trying to loosen her grip on me so I could stand up and start my day, but she wouldn't budge. With a little struggle, I turned around to look her in the face as she started waking up.
"Pup, it's early, go back to sleep," She groaned when she saw me looking up at her with a stupid-looking grin, I knew it was early in the morning but I had way too much energy to just sit still.
"I don't want to go back to sleep though, I have too much energy to sit still, Alex," I said as I wiggled around trying to get free, to no avail. She wouldn't let me go as easy as she did yesterday, even if it were so she could sleep in.
"You're not getting up anytime soon, you're going to sit here and accept my love, Nerd. Besides, it'll be more peaceful for food if we let the morning crew get their grub first," She said as I cuddle back into her embrace, she was right even if I still wanted to get up.
"I want to go have another talk with Pete today, Alex. I enjoyed our last conversation, and now that it's at least somewhat apparent that I won't be leaving your side, I'd like to talk to him again about my past. I'm thinking about bringing up our museum idea to him as well," I said as she started playing with my hair, and I was reminded once again why I wouldn't leave her side, "What do you think?"
"I think you're too cute for your good sometimes, Love, but yes, I think it would be a good idea to talk to Pete again."
We lay in her bed for an hour, I wasn't going back to sleep so I just sat there daydreaming while I let her sleep. After the longest hour I had ever experienced, Alex got up and freed me from her grip so I could get up and get dressed. I threw on a black long sleeve shirt and jeans with my boots and a black beanie. Alex got dressed in sweats and a bright red hoodie with steel-toed boots and took my hand as we left our room towards the kitchen downstairs. Luckily enough, Alex was right and there wasn't anyone in the kitchen, so, she took a seat on a barstool while I got to cooking.
"Do you have any preference for breakfast, my love?" I said in a mildly sarcastic tone while looking back at Alex.
"Whatever your adorable ass is made of, I'll take two plates of," She said as I opened the fridge and took out a carton of eggs, a roll of ground sausage, and some vegetables.
"So two servings of pain and suffering? That doesn't sound very tasty," I said through a chuckle before taking out a cutting board and two frying pans. I laid the sausage roll out on one pan and cranked the heat to a 5 while dicing the onion and peppers I had access to in the fridge.
"That's what you're made of? I thought you were made of sunshine and flowers."
"On a good day, I'm made out of whatever you want, not so much on a bad day," I said as I continued dicing the vegetables, and stirring the meat in the pan.
As I continued cooking Pete walked in and greeted us as he made his cup of coffee; He took a seat next to Alex while I continued cooking, by this point, the sausage had started browning and there was plenty of grease sitting at the bottom of the pan, so, I dumped the cutting board of diced onions and peppers into the pan and gave it a good stir. As I grabbed a bowl and started stirring eggs to make omelets, Pete turned his conversation from Alex to me.
"To be frank with you, Jacke, I wasn't expecting you to be a cook. You certainly are full of surprises, aren't you?" He asked, getting me to crack a smile as I finished stirring the eggs.
"When I was young my mother taught me that I should never rely on a woman to cook for me, and while she wasn't the best mom in the world, I took some of her teachings to heart. Besides, I know my cooking is at least better than Alex's so I'm more than happy to cook for her."
"Just because I don't cook home-cooked meals every day doesn't mean my cooking is bad! I just don't have the same taste pallet as you," She said as I stirred the sausage and veggies as they finished cooking.
"I have no doubt love, but I think this might be a bit healthier for you, if nothing else," I replied before straining the filling for the omelets, and throwing a pad of butter in the second pan and half of the egg mixture. It wasn't long before both omelets were done and on plates as I brought Alex her food and took a seat on her other side.
"Jacke, I don't know how you did this, but I've never been this happy to be proven wrong. This is delicious," She said as I started eating mine, only for Pete to get up and grab his breakfast.
"So, your mother taught you how to cook?" He asked as he poured a bowl of cereal and grabbed another mug of coffee.
"Yes, but she wasn't the only one. My father taught me a little bit, but that was more because I used him as a guinea pig when I was learning more than he taught me anything hands-on. Most of what I learned in the kitchen was through experience with my parents, trial and error, and a culinary course I took when I was still in school," I said as we continued eating, Pete took his seat back and I got up to grab a drink for myself.
"Uncle, Jacke was hoping to talk to you again today if you're up for it. I'm sure that there's some business I need to take care of, so if you're willing to keep him company, I'd greatly appreciate it," Alex said as she finished up her food and took her plate to the sink, and kissed me, "Jacke, be nice and try not to set the house on fire."
"Very funny, you know I would never," I said as she left and I sat back down with my drink next to Pete.
"So, what's up, Jacke? What did you want to talk about?"
"A lot, to be frank, I was hoping we'd be able to continue our conversation from the other day; However, before we get to that, I wanted to bring up an idea that Alex and I came up with the other day."
"Of course, what did you have in mind?"
"Essentially, downstairs in the basement, there's a lot of history; My history to be more precise, and we thought it would be a good idea to open up a museum of sorts for the pack, as a way of showing rather than telling my past. If you're up for it we can go down there now," I said as I finished the last of my food, put my plate in the sink, and grabbed a second Lucifer's Cola.
"Well, that sounds like a great idea to me, why don't you show me first before I decide on it?"
"Sounds like a plan," I said as I led him from the kitchen, down the stairs to the floor below us and arrived at the hatch, "There's a lot of history below us, and I wouldn't normally show anyone, but I think it would be better to be genuine and show it to everyone rather than hide it away."
"You're a wise man, Jacke, and I appreciate your willingness to trust us," Pete said as I opened the hatch and descended the ladder to the basement floor.
Once I got downstairs, the cold chills reminded me of every piece of my past that was kept down here, and as Pete joined me I got a wave of confidence that this was the right decision to make. He made his way down the ladder and stood next to me while I considered where to start, and it only made sense to start at the centerpiece of it all. I walked forward towards the altar in the center of the room, and removed the top piece of it, revealing the emptiness inside except for a single symbol: my sigil.
"There's a lot of history behind this altar, and to explain it all would sound mildly hysterical, and extremely crazy. So, let's just say that this is where my entire story begins," I said while I ran my hand along the sides.
"If you don't mind, I do have a question about this altar. The other day, Alex told me about a jar of ashes, and how you planned to spread them in the Gulf of Mexico. Is this altar at all related to that?"
"You're exactly right, and to be frank, aside from my own family, you're the first person that I've trusted with that information. While I'm certain it won't be the last, I would appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone just yet."
"Of course, if there's stuff you don't want to share, I won't share it. Another question for you, if you'll indulge me."
"Of course, I'm trying to show this information to your family, it wouldn't be fair if I didn't."
"That symbol on the inside of the altar, would you explain the significance of it? I've never seen anything like it before," He said as he stood next to me while I looked at my sigil, a 5 pointed star in a circle with one heart pointed up, one pointed down, and a wide-open eye in the center.
"What's said in this room, stays in this room. Clear?"
"Understood, Jacke; If it's that important, I won't force your hand, but I am genuinely curious about it."
"That symbol is my sigil. The five-pointed star symbolizes the human spirit and the four elements of nature, the two hearts symbolize equals and opposites of love, the circle symbolizes wholeness, and the wide-open eye is a personal thing for me. To put it into easier terms, it symbolizes that I can see through people's bullshit, I can usually tell when people are lying."
"That's intriguing, to say the least, is there any power behind that symbol?"
"Yes, there is, and while I shouldn't say this if I'm not home and there's a threat imminent to our family. All you have to do is make a small enough cut for a single drop of blood onto this sigil, and state that our family is in danger, and I'll be here in an instant; however, be careful doing this and once the blood has dropped, make sure you give me space."
"I assume there's even more reasoning behind that then."
"Essentially, if you state that there's a threat to our family, and make that cut. That tells me I should have already been there, and when I arrive, there's no one that gets in my way as I'm in full on 'War Machine' mode," I said as I closed the lid to the altar, leaving that section of the basement covered.