Dragon Marked: Supernatural Prison #1

by Jaymin Eve

  Between the deafening echo of my own frantic heart beats I could hear Braxton roaring, and I could see from the corner of my eye that he had at least ten men on him. He wasn’t going to reach me in time. If I wanted to be saved, I was going to have to do it myself.

  “I’m very sorry about this,” said the dark-haired bear politely. His wide eyes were hard and cold, black as night. “You are just collateral damage in a war that you have no idea about. An innocent victim, punished for crimes you did not commit.”

  I’d recovered my equilibrium, and despite the fact this man was exceedingly strong, I had to fight back. I lifted my body and slammed my feet into him. At the same time I used my fingers to dig into a pressure point in his hand, weakening his grip just enough for me to punch him straight in the nose. Cartilage cracked under my hand, but he didn’t drop me until I chopped his wrist. I hit him hard enough that I heard another crack and I could add two broken bones to my tally. I dropped to the ground, landing in a tangle of limbs. I gasped for breath. I couldn’t seem to get the air in there fast enough. I knew I needed to move. Sure enough, bear man recovered quickly. I rolled away as his feet came down at me. He was barefoot but the strength of his stomp could definitely crush bones.

  I got to my feet. I was fast and strong. I would not let him get his hands on me again. Braxton seemed to be holding his own; there were plenty of bodies littered around him.

  “Do not fight me, I don’t want you to suffer unduly,” the bear said. His nose had already stopped bleeding. He held both hands in front of him with no indication he had any pain. Fucker. “If you submit, I’ll make it quick.”

  And yet he hadn’t made it quick, he’d wanted me to understand why he was killing me.

  What a freakin’ gentleman.

  I laughed, harsh from my painful and swollen throat. “I don’t submit to anyone,” I rasped.

  He swung at me, which I saw coming from a mile away. It was easy to duck. Bears were strong but lacked speed. I spun around backwards, jumping so I could crack him in the head with my shin. I connected right at his temple area.

  He shook himself out a little before tilting his head to the side and observing me closer. I’d surprised him. He charged at me, and just as I was bracing myself to dodge again, something hit the bear from the side. Braxton. Without pause the dragon shifter started to lay into him relentlessly without any kindness. He beat the other shifter until he was nothing but a bloody lump of supernatural on the floor.

  The guards stepped in then and broke up the fight. Or more like wrestled Braxton off the unconscious bear. If we didn’t heal so quickly, there was no way the bear would have survived that beating. But he would live another day if he received medical attention. Although, as they carted him off, I had my doubts that that was where they were taking him.

  Braxton, whose blue eyes were dark and stormy, was huffing in loud and long breaths. There were so many broken and battered bodies around us I wasn’t even sure what to think or where to look. So I focused on him. He noticed my gaze and took the two steps to my side. Reaching out, he hesitated before gently tracing a finger down my throat.

  “Are you okay?” His voice was filled with death. Hard. Angry. And scary as hell.

  I could only nod.

  He spun away then, and taking one step, hopped up onto the bench seat and then onto the table.

  “Listen up, and listen good.” His voice was powerful, and still scary. “If anyone lays a finger on Jessa, one fucking finger, I will end them. Do you understand?”

  He seemed to look around the entire room, slowly, allowing everyone to meet his eyes. Power was bleeding off him, along with the commanding presence which he was born with.

  “I know you think you can best us with numbers. But I promise you, anything you deliver I will return, and it will be a thousand times worse. I will never stop, I will come at you for the rest of your days.”

  I could feel the winds of death in his voice. In that moment I didn’t even recognize Braxton. If I didn’t know him as well as I knew myself, well, I’d be afraid. Very afraid. And judging by the lowering of the eyes, I wasn’t the only one.

  Braxton scooped me up in his arms and strode from the room. I hadn’t even noticed him leave the table; clearly my attention was still a little scattered. I wasn’t sure what signal he gave, but when I looked up again we were back in our cell and the door was secured behind us.

  “I thought…” I had to clear my throat again to get the rest out. “I thought we couldn’t stay in here during mingling time.”

  He sat me on the bed, his hands more gentle than the fierce expression he still wore. “Let’s call this exceptional circumstances, and a friend who owed me a favor.”

  It must have been a pretty big favor, food was delivered to our room and everything. And it was freaking edible food.

  “Almost worth dying for,” I said around my sandwich, my chicken-bacon-ranch-dressing-deliciousness sandwich. My throat had healed just enough that there was not too much discomfort in swallowing.

  “I just can’t find the will to laugh at you right now, Jessa.” Braxton wasn’t eating, his tray untouched in front of him. “You have no idea what it was like to see you in trouble and not be able to reach you.” He stood as if his anger needed an outlet. “Twice in the past week you have taken ten years off my life, and I’m thinking of a way to collect.”

  I narrowed my eyebrows at him. “Not my fault, and you better get used to it. I’m sure to get worse with age.”

  “I don’t think I’ll survive it.” His voice was honest, no joke in his tone.

  I licked a bit of sauce off my index finger. “Are you going to eat that?” I was on my feet and halfway across the room when he snatched the tray up and held it above his head.

  “Yes!” he growled.

  My face fell and he shook his head a few times before staring at the ceiling. With a sigh he reached up and grabbed something off the tray. The smallest smile finally graced his face as he handed me a paper plate. Nestled in the center was a slice of lemon cake.

  I stared at it for a moment before a tear escaped the corner of my eye.

  Braxton laughed. “You are still the only supe I know to cry about cake.”

  I sucked down my sob. “There are very few things in this world which can move me to tears.” I hugged the plate close to my chest. “This is just beautiful.”

  I stared at it for a few extra beats, but finally I couldn’t resist any longer. I lifted the sugary goodness up and placed a corner to my lips. Moans fell from my mouth as the smooth, buttery lemon taste coated my tongue. When I finally finished the cake I noticed Braxton was just staring at me, his sandwich halfway to his mouth.

  “What?” I mumbled.

  “You almost died and this … this is what moves you to tears and moans.”

  I widened my eyes, and bit my lip. What was he saying? I was shallow? How dare he, asshole … okay, maybe I was a little.

  But then he exhaled, and a flicker of his dimple appeared. He seemed to wrench his eyes away from me. “Don’t ever change,” he said in a low tone. “Ever.”

  Hmmm, maybe shallow was not the word he was thinking then.

  The rest of the afternoon was peaceful, which is strange considering I did almost die today. The bruises on my neck came out in spectacular fashion by the time dinner trays were delivered. Shifter healing was extra slow with all of this silver around. The trays held no cake this time, but that was okay, I’d already had my fill for the day. The next few days followed in the same routine, and like good supernaturals, most of the prisoners were taking Braxton’s warning very seriously. But for some reason I felt like something big was coming my way.

  Two days until the trial, we were sitting in the gym area. Braxton was lifting like a thousand ton weight or something ridiculous. I was doing sit-ups.

  His voice startled me. “Jessa, I haven’t heard any more numbers after eight.” Shit … I’d fallen asleep on the blue mat.

  I struggled into a
nother sit-up. “I did like fifty, I just didn’t count them all.” I smoothed back a few tendrils that had escaped my ponytail and wiped off the trail of drool from my mouth.

  I flicked my head around at an increase in the already impressive noise level. I stood to try to find the source. The multitude of guards that were usually camped out around the perimeter started going crazy, sprinting from their stations toward the front gate. As an alarm began to wail, Braxton pulled me closer to him. This siren was really different to the short burst which announced the end of mingling time.

  “What’s going on?” I wondered if Braxton had a better view.

  He shook his head, using a towel to mop up sweat. “No idea, but something is definitely up. Let’s move closer.” He was all business as he dropped the white cloth and gripped my hand, pulling me through the masses.

  As we moved through the crowd I recognized one of the guards dashing past us. I reached out and grabbed his arm. He glared down at me, before shaking himself free.

  “You might be my council leader’s daughter,” the wolf shifter growled at me. “But in here you’re a prisoner, and you don’t get to touch me.”

  I ignored his words. “What’s going on? What’s the alarm for?”

  The siren was loud enough to make talking difficult, but I knew he heard my questions. He hesitated. I didn’t think he would answer, but then with a sigh he said, “I’m not totally sure, we haven’t been briefed yet, but that alarm generally means there’s been a breakout.”

  He took off then, leaving Braxton and I staring around the room.

  “I heard it was more dragon marked,” a female said from close by.

  My head spun to find a witch, with very short pixie hair, watching the room. She continued to speak. “It was from a secret room. Two women, alone, staged the breakout.”

  Braxton and I exchanged a glance. Could they have freed them from that room we got Nash from? How the hell were these women doing this? Just two of them, it would be impossible if they didn’t have inside information. I tried to contain my excitement that those poor imprisoned supernaturals might be freed now, especially the children. They had not been far from my mind, even with all the prison drama.

  The chaos continued for hours, only quieting down when we were finally back in our cells. The information spreading around was exactly what the witch had said. Prisoners freed from a separate section of the prison. What the hell was going on?

  The day before we were due to stand trial, I’d just finished in the shower and was stepping out to get dressed. For the first time, all week, Braxton wasn’t waiting there with clothes. That was odd. He was so diligent in his protection of me that even in our cell he seemed to always be on my ass. And not in a good way. I scrunched my towel a little tighter, tucking in the lip to stop it from falling down. Looking left and right there were lots of shifters around, but no massive dragon man to be seen.

  I was worried, but knew I needed to get dressed before I started searching. With my eyes darting around, paying attention to my surroundings, I crossed the freezing tiled floor in the direction of the shelves. I reached the women’s section and moved down to find something in my size. I’d just turned my face to see what was in the next row when something hit me hard in the side of the head.

  I know I let out a strangled yelp, but darkness descended across my mind before I even had a chance to see my attackers. I fought the pull. If I let the fuzziness win I was as good as dead. If I knew anything, it was that an unconscious person can’t fight back. And I wasn’t going down without a fight. I dropped to my knees; my head wanted to pitch forward but I held on to consciousness. As my attacker wedged their hands under my armpits, I swung out with all my strength. A male curse sounded as I hit something solid, and I took the opportunity to struggle as hard as I could, yelling and hollering. Of course, all of that came to a stunning conclusion with a second blow to the temple.

  Chapter 15

  Consciousness returned slowly, the ache in my head almost as bad as the fey wine hangover. Except this time I didn’t have that moment of disorientation where I couldn’t remember what had happened. I recalled the events perfectly. I’d been attacked in the showers.

  I didn’t open my eyes straight away, I tried to get my bearings. I was flat on my back, hard cold stone beneath me. Judging by the chill, I was naked still and my hands were tied above my head. Icy metal was biting into my wrists; my feet felt the same.

  Great! Could I be in a more vulnerable position? Naked and chained spread-eagled across the floor.

  I had to know what I was up against, so I opened my eyes. The room was dark, stone walls embedded with earth elements and magic. Still inside the prison. From the small area I could see, there was no one close by. Although I sensed them there, just out of my line of sight. I fought against the bindings on my wrists. The metal cuffs held no silver, which was a bonus, but I wasn’t strong enough to break them, especially without full connection to my wolf. I could feel her howling, but couldn’t reach out and touch her.

  Where was Braxton? What had they done to him? Icy tendrils of fear were churning in my gut. I was afraid for myself, but more importantly I needed to know my friend was okay. It had to be something big for them to be able to take him out.

  “Awake I see.” A shadow crossed over my face and a male stood over the top of me. Scar-face.

  I snarled at him. I was in such a submissive position and I hated it. If my wolf hadn’t been chained down, she’d be going nuts.

  Scar-face grinned as he continued to stare at me, his stone-like eyes eerie. “Sorry if my boys were a little rough, we only had moments before your guard awoke.”

  I schooled my features to hide my relief. Did that mean Braxton was alive?

  “Simple tranq took care of him … for five minutes,” he muttered. “We left him be. Our issue is not with him, but with Jonathon Lebron.”

  He stepped a little closer and I started growling. I wished I could attack him. He tilted his head to the side, watching me closely.

  “Sins of the father are the sins of the daughter. So you must die.”

  Well, damn. That was harsh.

  “Although, my friend wants to have a little fun with you first.” He looked away from me, and as if he’d sent a silent signal, another shadow peeled itself off the dark walls.

  Vlad. Great, he’d be looking to punish me for my attitude the other day, and Braxton for his threat.

  With nothing to lose, I decided it was time to speak up. “Little pathetic, don’t you think? You didn’t even give me a chance to fight. There is no victory in winning like this.” I spat each and every word at them.

  The two men exchanged a glance, and once again an unspoken conversation passed between them. Scar-face gave me one last smile before he left the room … left me with one of the most insane, violent supernaturals alive.

  Vlad knelt next to me. “You’re mistaken if you think this is about me proving my dominance. I don’t need to best you in combat, I don’t care for that accolade. This is purely about punishment and my own personal enjoyment.” He leaned even closer and his foul breath washed over me. “And you couldn’t be in a better position for what I have in mind.”

  I froze then, my entire body and mind shutting down, as if it couldn’t process what was about to happen. I had no doubts of what his words meant, and fear blasted me like a snowstorm. Sure, I was a tough wolf shifter, but the thought of rape is enough to bring anyone to their knees. There’s nothing quite as debilitating as having your humanity stripped away from you.

  I refused to show fear to this creature, though. He would never know that he had brought me to a place no one else ever had. A place of being a victim. He hadn’t even touched me yet, but my imagination needed no help. I knew what was to come next.

  I went with false bravado. “Someone is going to find me. I have friends on the inside here.”

  He grinned, the pointed teeth reflecting the small fragments of light in the room. They must have a la
ntern or something lit. “I have a lot of power inside these walls, and I spent the entire week working out the exact logistics of capturing you. Trust me, by the time they find you … well, actually, there will be nothing left to find. This is not the first time we’ve done this, and people disappear inside here all the time. They’re used to it.”

  I calmed my voice. “Not the shifter alpha and council leader’s daughter. I’m thinking they might investigate a little further into my disappearance. And the Compasses…” I grinned for the first time since my capture. “Oh, the Compasses are going to have fun with you.”

  At least I knew that much. Even if I did die in this shithole today, my revenge would be exacted. It made facing the next few hours of my life almost bearable.

  His confidence faltered, so minutely that if I hadn’t been boring holes into his face with my eyes, I would not have noticed it. But he’d let it slip.

  “If you let me go, I will forget this happened. We both walk away and never speak of it again.”

  Lie. I was going to fucking kill him. But he was a vampire and they couldn’t scent truth in someone’s words as easily as a shifter. I’d always been an excellent liar. I’d steadied my heart rate and controlled my fear.

  For a second there I thought I’d gotten through to him. Then he straightened, resolve crossing his features again, and I knew that he’d moved past the fear. He was back in a position of crazy sociopath vampire. No thoughts, no worries.

  He reached behind him and grabbed something dark. I struggled, throwing my head side to side when I realized what it was. He gripped my face tightly, holding it in place as he shoved the entirety of the strip of material into my mouth.