Jack Manifold Novels & Stories

It was not the easiest of ideas but it was the most sensible. Jack, as it happened, was an inventor. Of this title, he was very proud as he enthusiastically explained how he combined human technology with shifter abilities. It was a cute idea, a way to bring differences together in a useful way. As they walked he was only too happy to show off his expandable backpack. It came with elastic expanders and snaps at different lengths so that when he sifted the bag would snap open to the correct size to compensate and remain intact. When he shifted back, he would have to re-clip the non-elastic straps for his shoulders, but the design was clever and simple.

“I don’t want to die. I don’t want to—” “I know,” Jack repeated, more firmly. “Listen to me, Lira. You have to do exactly what I say.” She nodded rapidly. “Anything.” Jack glanced over his shoulder, then pulled a small object from inside his sleeve like a thin metal pick, barely visible in the dim light. Her eyes widened. “You’re—” “Quiet,” he whispered. He knelt, working quickly at the lock. Every scrape of metal against iron sounded thunderous in his ears. His fingers were steady despite the sweat slicking his palms.

"But you already know the hiding spot." Michael grabs one special silver key shaped like a howling wolf and gives it to Joe. Then he pulls Joe toward a massive matte-black armor carriage sitting on a stone platform—the same one that almost got Joe caught by the guards last month. Joe looks at the new silver plate on the side and gasps. It says: LUNA JACKSON. "Jackie Jackson built it for you," Michael says. "It does not have the Hale Wolf Riders Guild marks because it is a special gift for you. It has a tiny J and J marked on the door. It is fully armored against enemy spears." Joe frowns, doing the math in his head. The elders announced their bond two moons ago, but a heavy royal carriage ta

But I did none of that. "Sit tight." I opened the door and dropped onto the gravel driveway. The crunch beneath my feet was as familiar as the smell in the air. This was life in the country. By the time I rounded the hood, Jack had already pulled the bed cover back and had the wheelchair out. He fiddled with it, trying to get it to open. Before he got frustrated, I stopped him. "Jack." He jerked the handles unsuccessfully and used his foot to try to pry apart the bottom, effectively ignoring me.

His hands circled around Dave's neck as he started strangling him with the same shackles. "Let go! Let go!" Dave was elbowing him but it wasn't working. Jackson was so strong and muscular that Dave's power was nothing in comparison to it. Jackson let go for a moment and I thought he'd calmed down when he shook his arm so hard that the shackles came apart. Literally broke in two, the metal digging into his skin but Jackson wasn't the one to care about pain. He easily tore off the mask holding his mouth shut and that's when I snapped out of it.

Jack angrily ordered when opened the door and sat in the driver seat with gritted teeth and his still black eyes. -"I'm good." I didn't look at him only looked through my door's window and in the mirror, I saw when another man came near Manny, he was the same man whom Manny did a wolf tattoo on his back, they looked familiar but Manny had a blond hair and other man had black and he hadn't a beard as Manny's. But Jack with his quick speed took my seatbelt and locked it with my body. He moved so fast and with so much anger that I jumped in surprise from it. I hate when he is doing that.

Only when he presses too hard and I wince a little does he draw his hand back. "I'm sorry," he says, looking away. When he speaks again, his voice is rough. "I just don't know what I'd do if anything else happened to you." Before I can respond, he grabs the toolbox out of my hand. "This," he says, reaching inside, "is a jack. It's used to support the car while we change the tire." I'm still trying to recover from the last thing he said. I can hardly keep up with the sudden subject change.

Chuck held out his hand to give me something and reluctantly I held mine out to receive the object. In the palm of my hand Chuck placed a lug nut, basically a large nut that hold a tire in place on the vehicle. Since I am not mechanically inclined at all I was very confused by his actions, and I glanced over at my car to see if there were any clues that I could pick up on. Unfortunately, my car was barely jacked up off the ground and it still had all four wheels on it so now I was overly confused. Thankfully, Jayce took the hint and started to explain. “Chuck was able to take that off with his hand.” Jayce started out. While I knew that usually you would need a large wrench to take them off,

Jack’s lips curled up in a happy arc. But the little miser soon raised her head in Mira’s mind, and she sighed with a deflated expression. “What’s wrong?” Jack asked with an amused smile. “If only I had thought of the cart earlier… we could have slipped one in… then we wouldn’t have had to use our precious wood from space.” “Don’t worry… my little money grubber… the wood for the cart and wheels are from our forest in the old manor.” Jack explained, “They were left here for making those stands… did you forget?” He knocked her forehead gently once more.

All other vehicle noise stopped ten minutes before hand. I wrapped my hand around the car jack planning to use it as a weapon the second the man opened the trunk. I heard what sounded like a garage door closing or opening than the sound of boot heels across cement. Than there was complete silence. After about ten minutes of holding the car jack firmly in my hand my knuckles started turning white and my fingers started to go numb. But I still refused to let go.