by Jaymin Eve
I continued to swim, only breaking off as a dark shadow emerged beneath me. My heart skipped a few beats, then I recognized the massive shape. It was Braxton. I’d swum with him enough times to know what was about to hit me. I stopped swimming, throwing myself backwards and scooting in backstroke the way I’d just come. I had to get out of the water or he was going to … a hand grabbed my ankle, halting my frantic kicking motions.
Damn. Too slow.
Braxton’s arms came around me and he lifted me full bodily into the air. I went high, crashing back down and sinking close to the base of the pool. I was in fighting mode as I dived for him, my momentum enough to dunk him beneath the water. His face was close to mine and it felt as if his lips brushed my hairline. But before I could kick out to free myself, an alarm started to sound. It was loud, long, and easily able to penetrate the water.
I gasped in a few deep breaths when my head broke the surface. I narrowed my eyes on Braxton as he rose next to me. He looked as sexy as sin, all wet, clothes clinging to his hard muscles. Damn him. The dimples flashing in my direction. It was enough to undo any woman. Luckily I was immune to the Compass charms. Swear.
“Time to head back to our cell,” he said to me, his hand finding mine in the water.
Oh well, at least the alarm wasn’t anything serious. Although, I’d had a faint hope that someone was coming to break us out.
Chapter 14
Braxton and I lay on our bunks. They were just a tad softer than the stone floor but smelled worse. I’d almost ended up crashing on the ground. It had been lights out for a few hours, but I couldn’t sleep. The howls and screams that echoed along the shifter wing was part of the problem – shifters go crazy locked in stone walls, and some had been here for many years – but the other problem was my head. It just wouldn’t stop thinking. I was worrying about the dragon marked, Mischa, my family, and the Compasses. I knew Kristoff was evil and there was no way he would stop at enacting revenge because his plans kept going awry. Louis flittered across my mind on occasion too, but he was a little further back than the rest.
The noise of Braxton’s bulk moving on his bunk had me turning my head to the side. In the semi-darkness I could see him watching me. “What’s going on in that pretty head of yours, Jessa?” His voice was low, gentle. Kind of unlike his normal tone.
I made a decision right then to share some of my burden. I had a secret that I’d been keeping and I hated that. It was eating away at me like a poison and I needed to get it out before it did permanent damage. I rolled off my bed and padded silently across the small room, four steps and I was right beside his bunk. His ancient eyes, so out of place on his twenty-two year old face, caressed my features.
I dropped to my knees right beside his head. “I need to tell you something.” I leaned in close to whisper. There were too many ears in this place.
He shifted himself over then, pressing his back against the wall and I crawled in next to him. It was a tight fit; he had to drape his arm around me and we lay facing each other, our mouths close.
“You can tell me anything, Jess.” I could feel his breath hitting my face. I almost had to close my eyes so I didn’t press my lips to his. Damn, my urge to kiss him was strong and annoyingly inconvenient. Now was not the time to have a sexual meltdown.
“There was another reason I was so determined to free those prisoners,” I said slowly. “I believe they’re dragon marked. And…” I took a deep breath. “I’m marked also.”
Blue flashed darker in his eyes; they looked indigo in this low light. “What do you mean?”
I snuggled my face into the crook of his neck and in whispers told him the entire story, from my birth as a twin, to the lengths Jonathon and Lienda had gone to keep Mischa and I safe. The way Louis had spelled the energy to help us hide.
When I finished, I lay still, my body tensed as I waited for his reaction. He didn’t move for a long time … and hot tears were building up behind my eyes. I willed them not to fall, but if Braxton decided he didn’t know who I was anymore and that he didn’t want to know me, I’d probably fall apart.
Then his arms moved tighter around me and he crushed me into his chest. “Why didn’t you tell me when you found out? Please, for the love of all things, please tell me it wasn’t because you were fucking afraid of my reaction?”
I shook my head against his chest. “Dad said that the last quads born, the Four, are infamous dragon marked hunters. He seems to think that’s to be you and your brothers’ fates also. He didn’t want me to make myself vulnerable to you.”
Braxton cursed. “There’s no way we would become dragon marked hunters, I don’t care about the call.”
“The call?” I asked, stilling. I’d never heard of that.
He was very calm as he spoke. “On the day we join our powers together, we will feel the call. The original four, their calling was to hunt dragon marked – they can track the energy and are lethal at their jobs. No one knows what our call will be, although many guess it is going to be the same thing.” His fierce eyes locked on me. “But we would never hurt you. It wouldn’t matter, I would kill myself first and I know that Ty, Jake and Max feel the exact same.”
“You’re my best friend,” I whispered to him. “I’m thankful every day for you Compasses.”
His lips pressed against my forehead, one of those firm, lingering kisses that sent thrills from the tip of my head down to my toes. “Do you need to tell me anything else?”
Strange that he’d used the word need and not want.
I swallowed, trying to get myself under control. “Do you know any more of the stories of the dragon marked? What exactly is it everyone is so afraid of?”
He settled back against the stone, bringing me with him. “The time of the king of the dragons was filled with war and bloodshed. So many supernaturals lost their lives. When the king made his proclamation, they were in Drago, which is a cave that rests in a mountain range in Romania. We’re right on the cusp of the thousand years since his fall. Legend says the best chance for him to rise will be at the end of this year.”
That was less than a month away.
“How is that supposed to happen?”
Braxton shrugged. I could feel the movement along the mattress. “I don’t know, no one seems to. Something to do with the dragon marked, and a sacrifice.”
During our history lessons, I remembered the teacher explaining that there were words – or an incantation – supposedly inscribed on the walls of his tomb. Of course this was hard to prove since no one had been able to enter the Drago tomb since the king was interred.
“So, from the original four quads, is the shifter a dragon?” I asked.
Braxton’s hands were gently running along my arm now, the movement soothing. “No, they’re old enough that if he’d been a dragon he’d have been killed.”
We lay together in compatible silence for a while before eventually I went back to my own bed. I needed to get some sleep if I was going to make it through tomorrow.
The dream hit me hard and fast that night. It was the same one I’d had all those weeks earlier, with Mischa and the dragons. I fought against the pull again, and again with the attack – death, fire, heat, and pain filled the world. I found myself jarring awake. I managed not to scream but my whimpers were pretty damn loud.
Braxton was crouched beside my bunk, one hand resting on that space between my breasts and throat, his warmth filling my heart and offering comfort.
“Wh-what time is it?” I croaked out. I couldn’t orientate myself without the sun, and there were no interior lights on yet.
“Still early, you were thrashing around for a while. I was waiting for you to wake.”
In that moment I was vulnerable, half asleep, half in the dream world. I couldn’t suppress the emotion like I normally would.
“I’m afraid, Brax.” I let the words slip through my bared teeth.
His hand flexed on my chest. I could see it was an involuntary movement, he didn’t
even seem to notice he’d done it. “I won’t let anything happen to you in here. I promise.”
I closed my eyes, sucking in a deep breath before meeting his unwavering gaze again. “Not just about being in here, more about the future. The mark – even though it’s spelled, it’s going to come back and find me. Secrets don’t stay hidden forever. I don’t want to fight. I don’t want to be hunted.”
I didn’t want to ever find myself on the opposite side of a war with anyone I loved. My dreams continued to indicate that it was going to reach a point where I had to choose between my twin sister and something else.
He was opening his mouth to answer when the long, yellowed light bulb above us flickered to life. The fake illumination spread around the dark spaces and suddenly the world felt a little more exposed. I knew today was not going to go as well as yesterday. Everyone who had ever gunned for my father was going to be gunning for me today.
“Twenty minutes until shower time,” Braxton said as he gritted his teeth. “They don’t separate us, even in the bathroom, but unless you want me in the same stall as you … well, you’ll be out of my sight for a bit.”
I found myself having to work very hard to hide my thoughts right then. Holy fuck me. Braxton in the shower, water running over those delicious planes of hardened muscle. Too much for a sexually deprived wolf shifter … way too much. I could not be trusted with naked male parts right now.
“I’m sure it won’t have to come to that,” I kind of blurted.
His lazy grin was enough for me to want to throat punch myself. Clearly I had not hidden my emotions very well.
“I don’t think I can remember the last time you blushed, Jessa.” His dimples assaulted me as he stood stretching out his giant frame.
I swung my legs over the side, flipping him off at the same time. Yeah, I totally nailed that comeback. Stupid dragon, throwing me off my game.
It felt like an hour – pacing the cell in an agitated manner – for the silver-threaded barred gates to slide open. They were on some sort of automatic locking system which opened every door at the same time. Braxton and I waited until the majority had left and were heading down the long corridor. We joined the back of the crowd, and again he had my hand clenched tightly in his own. Just before we reached that large double-barred door which led out into the circular area, the group veered off to the right, through a smaller door that I hadn’t noticed yesterday.
Another corridor: the walls were rock near the start, but as we walked along slowly morphed into tiles. The walkway opened up and I realized it was one large shower room, massive and square, with rows of showers down one side, hundreds of them, each with a curtain that could be pulled between them for separation.
“Screw it,” Braxton growled. “I’m coming in with you. We can just turn our backs on each other.”
I knew what had gotten him so upset again. A lot of stares were being leveled in our direction and there was a distinctive dark nature to most of them. Surprisingly enough, the majority of venom was coming from the women. Which I was used to, especially since I was always with the Compasses. The female supernaturals wanted the biggest, baddest boy in their race. It was a sign of our own female strength, power, and attractiveness to snag an alpha. Pathetic, I know. But Braxton, Maximus, Jacob, and Tyson were the best of the best. I was the number one blame for the fact that they wouldn’t settle down with anyone. Which was bullshit, no one controlled those men, and that was mostly the reason they were forever single. That, and the fact they believed in finding their mates, and they were yet to.
Whips in hand, the guards spread out around the room. I wanted to flinch at the silver glinting in the leather but I forced myself to stay calm.
“You have forty minutes to clean yourselves up,” a stocky mage yelled out into the room. “Move it now.”
Forty minutes was longer than I’d expected.
Braxton and I strode to the shower right on the very end. I knew why he would want this stall. If we were attacked, there were only two sides they could come at us, instead of three. We stepped into the tight space, the curtain sliding across to block out the world. I reached down to lift off my shirt.
“You know what, I’ll go in the one next to you.” Braxton’s voice went low. “No one can attack you from the side and I’ll see them pass mine to get to your stall.”
Just like that he was gone. I stood there for a moment, staring at my bare feet which rested on the tiled floor. Thankfully this place looked to be cleaned with magic, so it was sparkling. No foot fungus here. Okay, what was Braxton’s deal? It’d better be that my body turned him on and not that he found me repulsive, because I was totally not cool with that. Best friend or not, I thought he was the yummiest thing since chocolate cake, and it hurt somewhere deep in my chest that maybe … maybe he didn’t see me the same way.
Did this mean I wanted to date him? Hell no. It just meant I wasn’t blind or stupid.
Shit, I was acting like a silly girl. We had more important things to worry about. I quickly stripped off my clothes and hung them on one of the pegs. The water was automatically running in each stall, so I stepped under. I expected it to be cold, some sort of prison torture, but instead it was deliciously warm. Since it had been pretty cool outside in the stone and tile room, my limbs relaxed under the warmth. There were soap dispensers attached to the tiles. The entire time I kept my back to the wall and my eyes locked on the thin curtain. No one was getting the drop on me, and I was so not thinking about Braxton’s naked body just inches from my own. No freaking way.
“Don’t drop the soap, Brax,” I teased through the thin layer. We needed to get back to our usual selves. Something was changing and I wasn’t sure I was okay with it.
I heard his groan. “Jessa, you’re going to be the death of me.”
I snorted, no idea what that even meant.
When I was finished I reluctantly stepped back from the water. There was a towel hanging on a hook, and I knew the clothes were out on the shelves that lined the walls.
I slipped past the curtain, the white cotton sheet wrapped tightly around me. Braxton was already there, waiting, dressed and watching for me to emerge.
“I got you some cottons,” he said, holding out a lump of gray material.
“Thanks.” I took them and slipped behind the curtains to throw them on.
Gah, I was already sick of this color. Even the underwear matched. Oh well, guess I should be grateful to even have clothes. I’d heard that one of the prisons in Europe had to mandate a full nudity policy. They were having incidents with concealed weapons and smuggling of goods. There was no screwing around in these prisons. If things needed to be done, it happened … immediately. Although, one would have thought that the nudity thing would lead to problems of another nature. It would have been a full-on-disaster in human prisons. Luckily supes were naked a lot so it didn’t end up being a huge deal and it worked, their incidents of concealed goods and weapons dropped dramatically.
Stepping out of the stall again, I moved to my guard-dragon’s side. The shifters were congregating now, forming a line to get back out of the shower area. We were a little in front, our hands linked.
“Don’t come to the mingling room at lunchtime.” The voice was female, low and whispered directly into my ear. I spun around to find a small, red-haired woman ducking back down through the line.
I started to follow her but the guards walking the line stopped me with a hand on my arm.
“Forward! Shower time is over,” was the gruff order.
Braxton didn’t look worried, which meant he hadn’t heard her. She’d definitely been warning me, but I couldn’t tell if her position was that of friend or enemy.
“Do we have to go into the mingling room, or can we stay in our cell?” I asked Braxton, standing on tiptoes to move closer to his ear.
“We have to go.” He glanced at me. “Why?”
I shook my head. “No reason, just worried about being attacked.”
He di
dn’t say anything, but I could sense his unease. Most wouldn’t have noticed, but I knew him.
We were back in our cells for a few hours. I spent most of the time curled up pretending to read a book. Braxton did weird stuff, like pushups and crap. I don’t think I’ll ever be bored or stressed enough to do a pushup. But we’ll see. My head flew up from the shifter romance I was reading at the ominous sound of our barred gate opening. Uniformed guards lined the hall and started ushering all of us along. I recognized a few of them; they gave me a head nod as I passed. No matter what they personally thought, I was still their alpha and council leader’s daughter, and respect was given.
I hated to admit it, but I was surprised as I observed many of the prisoners around us. Most of them I would never have picked as a criminal. Yeah, I’d fallen into the bad habit of thinking they’d be like their stereotype. The scar-faced guy from yesterday, he’d been my idea of most supe crims. But in reality most looked just like Braxton and me: young, clean-cut, innocent – well, kind of innocent. Until you saw their eyes. Lots of dead eyes in this place. Fair bit of crazy going on too.
Braxton and I didn’t waste any time that day. We went straight to the food, although I didn’t hold out much hope that it would be any more edible. Carting my pathetic selection, Braxton behind me, I stopped at one of the empty tables. I dumped my tray down and was about to climb over the bench when someone slammed their tray down right next to me. A glance over my shoulder had Braxton a couple of steps behind me. Shit, he was too far away to help me.
I dodged the first attack, a small man throwing punches, which were simple enough to block. I even managed to connect with his face, resulting in an instant fat lip and bleeding nose. Unfortunately, the small man had a partner: a big man. A very big man. Freaking bear shifter. The hairy beast reached out and slammed his hand around my throat. I choked, and brought my hands up to fight against his grip. But before I could struggle he lifted me up off the floor and I was dangling above the ground. I couldn’t breathe, and he was squeezing hard enough that dark spots were already dancing in front of my eyes. Since he hadn’t crushed my throat immediately, he was wanting to draw it out. But why?