by Jaymin Eve
“You okay?” His low voice jolted me and I focused on our surroundings again. I was really not good at this stealth and subterfuge thing. “I’m not shaking you around too much?”
Right. He was concerned for the baby, which was to be expected. All of the Compasses had turned into crazy protective monsters over me and Jessa the moment they found out about our babies.
“I’m perfectly fine. Me and bubs are tough.”
I tried to lighten the mood, but it was clear that the rigid lines of tension which had Maximus’ face looking like it was carved from granite were not going to disappear until we were back in Stratford.
“Don’t worry, Misch, I’ll never let anything happen to you. There are a few of them following us, but they are going to regret that very soon.”
At that moment supes burst out of the trees to our right and charged straight for us. I expected Maximus to go mental then, until I noticed one of them was a dragon … who happened to be carrying my twin on his back. Jessa. She looked like the queen of the dragons. Which was pretty fitting actually, since Josephina, the dragon from her soul, was now the queen of all wild dragons.
Maximus powered across to his brothers and I was gently deposited to the ground beside my sister. Braxton started shifting back, Tyson standing by to clothe him. My twin took two steps forward and threw herself into Maximus’ arms; the two of them began whispering furiously. I waited for my normal jealousy to rear its ugly head. I hated to envy anyone, because we all knew that people fought battles you could not see, but the closeness of Jessa and her pack, well, it was a sore point for me.
But the jealousy never came. I felt only a sense of happiness and contentment at their love and acceptance, to see the pack bonds solidifying. Maybe because now I felt like a part of their world, their pack. It didn’t hurt that Jessa was solidly mated and it was a true bond. Maximus wouldn’t stand a chance even if he wanted one. And according to him, he didn’t. Which blew my mind and eased that part of my soul which had always felt used by him.
Tyson reached out and hugged me hard. My heart gave a wrench, which happened every time someone showed me this sort of affection, a hug for no reason other than being happy to see me. “Good to see you and my nephew in one piece, wolf girl.”
Pulling back, I shoved him a little. “I keep telling you, it could be a girl.”
Maximus was suddenly at my side then. “Boy or girl, it doesn’t matter.”
Holy shit. I felt a delicate sort of smile lift my lips, emulating all the soft emotions swirling around inside of me.
Tyson hugged his brother then too. “So glad to see you back, bro. We’ve missed you.”
Tyson threw me a questioning glance, eyebrows raised. I knew immediately what he was asking. Why was Maximus looking so happy and not … devastated and broken? We’d have to tell them all about the Cardia theory later and see what they thought on it. Braxton clearly had some opinions, since he’d been the first to ever mention it, but he wasn’t the only smart one in this bunch. All of their insights would be useful.
Braxton stilled then, and all of us froze as well. The dragon had the best senses of any of us, but as he slowly scanned the surroundings, he didn’t seem to pick up on anything.
Eventually he turned back to us. “I heard your call, Max. What’s going on?”
“Mischa and I were being pursued by at least four supes. I detected shifter and magic user. I was making ground on them, but didn’t want to risk them being stronger than me on my own. Not with the baby to protect.”
“We should join, take them on at our strongest,” Jacob suggested.
The fey was often right about these sort of things – I thought he was a bit of a fortune teller myself – so I wasn’t surprised when no one argued.
I hurried to Jessa’s side and we stood back to back, keeping an eye on the forest around us. The quads reached out and linked to each other, power swirling in heavy arcs around them; they were connecting through their special quad bond.
“I can’t believe Braxton let you come,” I said to Jessa.
A snort of laughter left her. “Let … oh no, baby girl, I have much to teach you. The key to any solid mateship is to curb that “letting me” bullshit early on. Braxton knows I’m strong, capable, and smart, and he’s coming to realize that his over-protectiveness is going to result in a lack of sex and a swift boot in the ass.”
It was my turn to snort. “Lack of sex … yeah, right.”
I could feel the silent chuckles as Jessa fought to contain her laughter. “Yeah, you have a point. That punishes no one but me. Still, there are plenty of other ways I can make life very uncomfortable for my sexy-ass mate and he knows it.”
He most definitely did. But I also knew that Braxton was very good at picking his battles, and he would fight her when he really needed to. That’s why they worked so well. Jessa was the epitome of the old adage: if you gave her an inch, she would take three zillion miles. Braxton doled the inches out in small increments, and reeled her back in when she got out of control. The perfect balance really.
Conversation was lost then as the quads finished their joining, energy wrapping around them in visible strands. Braxton wasn’t in his beast-man fusion state, which totally reminded me of oldschool werewolf movies where they shifted into a man-wolf, except Braxton’s was dragon spec. He seemed to be able to choose now whether he went into the fusion body. As the quads’ power grew, so did their control.
I had to clench my fists at my side to stop from moving. The pain of my nails pressing into my palms was just enough to keep a clear head. For some reason, when Maximus was joined to his brothers, the connection I felt to him increased exponentially, like I had to physically restrain myself from the need to touch him. I’d noticed it when I’d seen them join before the battle with Larkspur.
A battle I’d been part of longer than anyone realized. Thankfully I’d managed to stop myself from attacking any of our side, even with the king’s voice in my head trying to control me. I had been stronger than Larkspur’s call. My entire life people had been forcing me into a fake mold and I had refused to let the dragon king do the same. Thankfully, when things had gotten really bad, Jonathon had found me and knocked me unconscious. Which had brought blessed relief.
Jessa’s low voice startled me. “Are you feeling the connection, Misch? When the boys join, the mate bond thing kicks in so hard. It is taking every single piece of restraint I possess to not go over there and start licking my mate.”
I saw Braxton grin and knew he could hear our conversation. Then Maximus turned and nailed me hard with his black gaze. The vampire was riding across his skin, and he was so much larger than normal. Holy shit. Really? Like he needed any extra help in the physically dominating and hot-as-hell thing.
“Misch!”
My twin startled me again. Damn, I had forgotten all about keeping an eye on our surroundings. In my current frazzled state, the bad guys could have snuck up and stabbed me, no problem. Of course, they probably wouldn’t have made it that far with the way the vampire had his eyes locked on me. Well, not me. Our baby. But still, I got the protection for a while. I was the baby’s home for another month at least.
“Mischa … you there?” Jessa was tapping her foot now and I realized I still hadn’t answered her.
“Yes, I’m here. And no, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She returned my glare with one of her own. “Yes you do. You know exactly what I’m talking about. What’s going on with you and Max?”
I shook out my hair, reaching up to push it behind my ears. I recently had it cut, and the shorter, shoulder length was taking some getting used to. “Nothing is going on with us except that we’re having a baby. That’s our bond.”
Jessa turned back to stare at the quads, who were fanning out around us, waiting for the ambush to arrive. “Baby my ass, that’s not the way a man looks at his baby mama, unless that baby mama is also his girl. So I’ll ask you again, twin sister, what is going on with you two?”
With a huff, knowing she wouldn’t give up, I leaned in close. The boys were prowling around us, scanning the perimeter and not paying attention. I kept my voice low as I told her everything which had happened between Maximus and me. How he’d accepted our child without question, how it felt like some of the aching sadness in his dark, espresso-colored eyes had eased. How the bond with Cardia might not have been a true one.
“Interesting,” she said after a few moments. “Never liked that vampire bitch anyway. She was shady. Still, I’m definitely seeing more in that stare than simply wanting to keep your baby safe. I’ve known these boys my entire life, and something major is churning in Max’s head.”
Jessa was reading too much into this. Of course his emotions were strong, he’d just found out he was going to be a father, and he recently lost his mate. His fake true mate. Or whatever.
Either way his thoughts were going to be messed up. The truth was I probably, sort of, almost definitely, loved Maximus Compass. But I would never accept a relationship with someone who was only in it for our child, or because it was convenient. If the past few months had taught me anything, it was that I needed to stand on my own two feet, that I should never accept anything other than true love, devotion, and passion from the supe I chose to spend my life with. True mateship didn’t interest me so much. I wanted to choose. And I wanted them to choose me.
The quads, who were still fanned out around us, about twenty yards from where we stood, started to spread out further. When they were a good distance away, Maximus swung his head around and leveled a long look in my direction. He gave me the old “wait right there” hand gesture, and followed his brothers as they continued to hunt down those who had been following us. They must be close again.
My hand dropped to my belly and I sent as many comforting thoughts as I could toward my baby.
We stood there in silence for a few beats, before Jessa said: “Braxton’s picked up their trail. Four of them. The boys are gonna take the little assholes down and then come right back.”
I nodded, figuring as much. My sister started to pace, before tilting her head to the side. “Can you hear that?”
She started to slowly move then, heading in the direction of the thickest greenery around us. Having no idea what she was talking about, I stuck close to her. After a minute I finally began to understand what had caught her attention. It was a whirring noise, almost like an engine, low, blending into the forest sounds around us. What was it doing out here in the middle of this unpopulated landscape?
I grasped onto Jessa. “I don’t think we should go any further.” My instincts were screaming at me to get out of here, even if I had to throw Jessa over my shoulder. I must have been channeling Braxton or something.
Our eyes locked and the bond kicked in hard between us. It was so much more difficult to keep the blocks up when we were touching.
We can’t let the boys go off and fight them without our help. Jessa’s voice was firm. This might be some sort of trap for them.
What help will we be to them if we’re kidnapped, gagged, and tied down in the back of a vehicle?
She shook her head at me, something dark in her blue eyes.
We’re not human, and we’ll not go without a fight.
I tried one last time to reason with her: We don’t even know what we’re walking in on.
We’ll just have a sneaky peek.
That was the fundamental difference between me and my twin. She went in without thought. I was more cautious. It wasn’t fear which held me back, it was an overly developed sense of logic. It just didn’t make sense for us, two pregnant shifters, to run into the dense forest toward an unknown threat. That noise could be a vehicle, or a large piece of machinery. Not to mention the boys expected us to stay where we were. They were going to lose it when they came back and we were gone. It was irresponsible to run off on them like that.
I spoke out loud this time. “I understand what you’re saying, I’ll always fight when we’re directly attacked, but in this instance we’re actively looking for trouble. It’s not smart.”
Jessa sighed. “Way too much human in you, Misch. We’re part animal, designed to act on instinct. It’s been honed for thousands of years. Don’t ignore your instincts.”
She took off then, darting through the trees. Um, hello, my instincts were saying to stay right here, in relative safety.
With a shake of my head I followed her. Braxton was totally going to kill her. She’d better enjoy her time outside Stratford, because soon she was going to be on heavy lockdown.
Don’t ignore your instincts…
Seriously, the last time I’d followed my instincts I fell for a vamp and got knocked up. Instinct could kiss my butt. The grass whipped around me in a dusty array of seeds and winter-browned growth. New greenery was just starting to push its way up. Spring. My absolute favorite time of the year. Let’s just hope Jessa didn’t get me killed. I’d like to be around to enjoy it.
My twin’s dark hair disappeared briefly amongst the first set of trees. Keeping my waddling to a minimum, I managed to gain some ground on her, and as the darkness of the canopy closed around me, she came into view again.
Running while this pregnant was neither practical or elegant. I thrashed through the bush with the same grace as a herd of elephants, but I was pretty impressed with my speed. The engine sound was louder now, a deep thrumming ricocheting off the trees, which were creating a large, naturally acoustic stadium. The closer we got to the noise, the less it sounded like a vehicle. In fact, despite the smooth and seamless nature of the hum, I could hear clanking, and mechanical whirling, almost like it was a large saw mill or something with a conveyer belt…
My thoughts died off as Jessa ground to a halt. “What the actual…”
“Fuck?” Jessa said.
I hurried to her side, and together we spent a few tense seconds trying to discern what the hell this was.
“Hansel and Gretel, right?” Jessa’s voice was no louder than a whisper. “I’m not totally up on human fairy tales, but there was one about a house made of candy.”
I snaked out and gripped onto my sister’s hand. “Yes, the old witch lured the children in, then fattened them up so she could eat them.”
Jessa’s head shot around to face me, her blue eyes wide, and glassy. “Witches don’t eat children.”
I shrugged. “Well, that was the story, and I don’t think she was a witch like you know from the supernatural community. She was a human version of a witch, so she was evil and stuff.”
How the hell was this possible? Here, in the middle of this perfectly normal forest, was a house straight out of the storybooks. Single level, not overly large, styled in colors of pastel rainbows – pastel rainbows which were made totally of candy, cake, and sweets. Peppermint stick railings on the wraparound porch. Gum drops, Twizzlers, goobers and more. Buttercream icing was perfectly swirled on the roof tiles, and none of it dripped or anything. Not only was the place covered with every sort of sweet imaginable – trust me, my wolf senses were having a field day with the scents – but each candy was so perfectly positioned across the structure that there had to be a ton of magic holding it all together. It was also the source of the mechanical whirring noise.
Jessa shifted forward and I tightened my grip on her hand. “Do you think it’s a good idea to go any closer? The house sounds like it’s going to transform or something.”
She tilted her head back to me. “This is Supe land, where our Guilds come to drop off goods, where our criminal search teams travel through to get in and out. This house should not be here. I don’t even care that I haven’t had cake in days and the roof seems to be made of slabs of chocolate cake, with buttercream swirls and flaked chips of real, German-made cacao flakes…”
Her voice got all breathy at the end. Someone needed to get her chocolate fix. “Are you sure it’s not your cake addiction talking right now? Because if we both end up in a cage while a witch feels our fingers to see if
we’re fat enough, I’m going to be really upset with you.”
Jessa’s eyes fell down to my large stomach and I followed to hers. Both of us cracked up then, our laughter mostly silent.
Still, as we sobered, both of us placed a hand on our bellies. “Maybe I should wait for Braxton this time,” Jessa said. “I’m not saying that we need men to do things for us, but with our precious cargo on board, a little backup wouldn’t go astray.”
I nodded. “Good plan, sister. I’m totally down with that.”
Of course, before we could turn and make our way back to the clearing to find the guys, a huge gust of wind started churning around us. As my hair whipped across my face, I squinted into the unnatural and newly formed whirl of air. It was coming from the house. Holy hell. That explained the mechanical whirring noises we were hearing. The house was creating its own weather or something, and Jessa and I were in a crap-ton of trouble. There was no way we could cross the heavy wind barrier that had gusted up to surround us, we would be swept up and thrown to our death.
Jessa and I squished ourselves closer together. “Any brilliant ideas?” she shouted to me.
I nodded. “Yes, go back in time and kill you in the womb.”
Jessa cracked up then, holding her stomach while she tried not to fall down. “I think I love the new, asshole version of you. It’s so much better than the pod person you were in the sanctuary.”
I circled around, trying to see if there was a weakness in the wind. “I was under a lot of stress and did some stupid stuff. I’m not proud of myself, but you, my sister, just leap every time before you look.”
Jessa shrugged, and I could see that she didn’t disagree with that statement, but didn’t really think it was a bad thing either. And generally it wasn’t.
“You just have to remember that you don’t have a dragon to fall back on any longer.”
Jessa’s face fell and I felt terrible for bringing up her loss. Josephina had left a massive hole in my sister’s heart and soul, and she was definitely still hurting. But I needed her to stay alive, even if I had to drill it into her. Despite my earlier jest about killing her in the womb, I couldn’t live in a world she wasn’t in. I loved her more than almost anyone else in my world. Except my baby.