Broken Compass: Supernatural Prison Story 1

by Jaymin Eve

  Hadie and Lock smiled broadly, seeming very pleased. I was glad I got to meet them. Kind-heartedness was something I truly treasured.

  “Yes, this has been a wonderful visit.” Maximus stepped forward and shook both of their hands, before reaching out and relieving me of my very light items. “I’ll return with my brothers at another date, but until then we’ll be in touch about the prison transfer and the trade on commodities. I’m sure something can be worked out on both ends.”

  The leaders thanked us many times and then it was time to go. As we took the death box back down, Maximus told us that the mountain didn’t allow any step-throughs inside or on top of it. We would have to call for Louis once we were clear of the prison. He would then take us straight back to Stratford, which was probably a good thing. I was tired again; the burn on my leg had been aching on and off for an hour or so. It was getting harder to ignore.

  In the elevator, as Maximus closed his arms protectively around Jessa and me again, I found myself sinking into him. It was nice to have someone else support my heavy butt for a few minutes. His hand rubbed up and down my spine, which was both soothing and … well, not so soothing. It was bringing my body to life, tingles, aching desire … the usual. Even as the doors slid across and we exited, he didn’t drop the arm around me. Jessa was freed from his embrace, but I remained at his side, being supported. How did he know? Somehow the guy could read my mind, even when the bond between us was not complete. True mates generally had a mental connection, but ours was not there yet.

  My thoughts were shelved by the appearance of a certain violet-eyed sorcerer already waiting for us on the outsides of Shanjoin. All of us waved our farewells to the townsfolk and then followed Louis back to Stratford.

  I was looking forward to a nice, uninterrupted sleep in my own bed. Tendrils of nightmares had woken me more than once the last few days. With healing sapping so much of my strength, the dreams hadn’t been too severe, but something told me that once I was able to deal with the physical injuries a little better, the mental would come swinging at me with full force. Especially while Kristoff was still out there, breathing air better intended for others. He was my nightmares brought to life.

  My parents hugged me for at least thirty minutes. Every time one of them pulled away, they’d get all teary-eyed and yank me back in again.

  Jonathon was babbling, which was so unlike my stoic father: “The boys were keeping me updated. I was doing everything I could to figure out where Kristoff was, but Jessa assured me that if anyone could find you, it was Max.”

  I might not have known my father for most of my life, but he was everything I’d expect an alpha wolf shifter to be. Or werewolf – what I thought humans who shifted to wolves were before I came to Stratford. You know, when they were mythical creatures and not my life.

  Jonathon definitely had that powerful, strong and deadly aura. When you screwed up he came down on you hard with the sort of authority that had my wolf whimpering in the corner. But when he loved you, he did it with every part of himself and made you feel truly treasured – the sort of relationship I’d always hoped to have with my father.

  Lienda was sobbing against me. “When they told me you were taken by Kristoff, I didn’t know what to do. Jonathon wouldn’t let me come after you, so I spent my time praying to the gods and trying to stay busy. I rearranged upstairs.”

  She had her arms wrapped tightly around me. Despite her thin build, her strength was clear and admirable. It was taking some getting used to, this animated, caring version of my mom. I was used to the scared, mourning, full of rules and strict as all heck version. Have to say, it was a huge improvement. I think the overly strict thing she’d been pushing was her way of keeping me safe, but I could have used some love there as well. You know, for balance.

  For the most part I had forgiven her, but there were still slivers of me working on forgetting the neglect from my childhood. Now, more than ever, I understood her actions – why she’d been torn to pieces for so long. Losing dad must have been like losing her soul. I’d only been away from Maximus for an hour and already I felt uneasy. There was an ache in my chest that refused to budge. It actually took some strength to not run out the front door and find him.

  No! I am stronger than this.

  “You have to see the room,” Lienda said, pulling back and taking my hand. I realized she’d been talking the entire time and I’d missed it. Forcing myself to focus, I limped along after them. Jonathon gripped my other arm when we reached the stairs.

  “We should get another healer to look at your injuries,” he said, his defined eyebrows arching forward in concern. “Surely there’s more they can do. You’re still in a lot of pain.”

  He could sense that through the shifter bonds. He was the alpha of all wolf-shifters in Stratford. Not to mention it was probably written on my face. “I just need some rest. Chan did an amazing job. He saved my life and my daughter’s.”

  Lienda gave an excited little squeak. “I can’t believe I’m going to have two granddaughters! Such wonderful news. And both of our girls are true mates to Compasses. We’re going to have powerful grandbabies, that’s for sure.”

  My parents had been overjoyed to find out Maximus was my true mate. They’d apologized many times for their treatment of me in the sanctuary. I never realized this true mate thing was so insane. The moment everyone found out they just completely excused my actions with Larkspur’s twins. I didn’t really like that. I still thought it was no real excuse, and I would continue to remind myself that I needed to do and be better.

  Lienda’s eyes were locked on me as we walked. Her ocean-colored irises were quite green today. She wore her blond hair in a braid. Pulled back like that, with no makeup on, she looked about my age. She had always been beautiful, but now with the new warmth she was exuding, she was stunning. When we reached the second floor I was led along to what had previously been a spare room. It was the one between Jessa’s and mine, the only bedroom without its own bathroom.

  Two smiles beamed at me as Jonathon clicked down the handle and nudged the door open. They let me step through first, and I couldn’t stop my gasp.

  It was a nursery. A perfect little sanctuary for any child to grow up in. Everything was done in creams and pastel colors. Lienda had made sure it would suit a boy or girl. It was absolutely beautiful.

  There were two cots and a single bassinet, all hand-carved masterpieces, painted white, with ivory-colored linen to complete the picture. Shelves lined one wall and already they were filled with cloth diaper and lots of baby … stuff. I needed to figure out what all of it was soon. These supe pregnancies went by so fast. I’d expected to have a lot more time, but apparently she could arrive any day.

  Lienda was waiting near the door, rubbing her hands together like she was nervous. “Do you like it? We figured that even if you didn’t end up living here when she was born – and knowing Max you won’t – we still wanted a room here for yours and Jess’s babies. To stay over. Their own space in the Lebron house. They’re all Lebrons too.”

  It took me a few moments to compose myself before I could finally talk. I wrapped my arms tightly around my mom first, and then my dad. “It’s perfect. Thank you so much. I couldn’t have done this without your love and support.”

  There was more than one sob, and they weren’t all from me. “We’re so proud of you, honey,” Lienda said, smoothing my hair back from my face. “I have a lot to make up for. Things were really hard for you when we were away from Stratford. Now that my mind is clear I really understand how hard, but I have always loved you more than anything in this world. You and your sister are my blessings, and I’m so proud of the adults you’ve become. Thank you for choosing us to be your parents.”

  Cue the waterworks.

  Eventually I sorted myself out, dried my eyes, and the parentals left me alone in the nursery. Despite my bone aching exhaustion, I couldn’t leave the room yet. I found myself in the corner on the padded glider chair, rocking gen
tly, a soft green teddy clutched in one hand, the other holding a small book which had been on a nearby shelf. I started reading it out loud. The story was for very young babies, about a fox and a hen, and the friends we make in unexpected places. It was sweet, and I imagined my daughter would love this book when she was a little older.

  Once I was done I moved on to the Magical Faraway Tree. This was an Enid Blyton classic that had been one of my favorites growing up. Lienda had read it to me when I begged her, which had been most nights. Huh, I’d actually forgotten that she did that. It was nice to remember that growing up with Lienda hadn’t been all bad.

  I read until my eyes were barely open and my voice hoarse. Eventually sleep won the battle and I must have drifted off in the surprisingly comfortable chair.

  Maximus Compass

  This meeting was taking forever. We’d been back from China for about three hours, and the entire time I’d been stuck in Vanguard with my brothers and a bunch of the elders, discussing everything that had happened with Kristoff and the bears’ riot, and planning the town meeting which was to take place tomorrow morning. We’d called an emergency meeting to fill in the townspeople about what was happening.

  Not that most of them were really in the dark. Especially about the bears. Those fuckers had been loud and clear when they started throwing supes around the town center this morning. A few of them were in the holding area of Vanguard right now. I planned on taking a little visit to question them as soon as I got out of here.

  Byron, an ancient lion shifter who’d been council leader many decades ago, was on his feet, roaring in the typical manner of his breed. “He has to be brought to justice! Kristoff has stolen power, broken out prisoners, and taken the wolf alpha’s daughter and tortured her.”

  Jonathon was in the room now; he had arrived late after tending to both his daughters. I knew my brothers had had a hell of a time dealing with him when they got back to Stratford with only Jessa, especially after explaining about the supe smugglers and Mischa being purchased by Kristoff. The only thing that had halted his wrath was Jessa. She’d told him that Braxton, Louis, and I were hot on her trail, and that he was better situated keeping Stratford protected in our absence.

  Still, I got the feeling that when he had me alone the next time I was going to experience the brunt of the alpha’s ire. For more reasons than one. It bothered me that I had not spoken with him since finding out about the baby; he’d surely known for much longer than me. He would have had plenty of time to stew over my abandonment of his daughter. Supes did not just leave their pregnant partner to deal with life, even if she had only been a random hookup. Which she never was. Not even for a moment.

  I wondered what Jonathon thought about the fact that we were true mates.

  I wanted to take back so much of the last four months. It was one giant screw-up after another. But there were no do-overs in our world. I just had to focus forward and be the mate she deserved.

  I pushed down thoughts of Mischa, or at least attempted to. I wanted to go to her. Our bond was so new; it was chafing at me to get to my mate and keep her safe. Parts of me continued to worry that the reason our thoughts were still private was because of the spell from Kristoff, the one which had falsely tied me to Cardia. I needed to figure this out, speak with someone who might know. Louis said there was a lot going on inside of me; the quad nature of my soul was struggling with all the complex facets of our four-way tie to the races. He believed I needed to tap further into the shifter side. When I let go of my more vampiric ties, I’d be able to secure the last vestiges of my true mate bond.

  He was guessing though, and it was scary to think Louis didn’t have the answers. If he wasn’t powerful or educated enough to know, then who would be? Braxton flashed yellowish eyes at me then, as if he sensed my thoughts, and I was reminded how ancient his kind were. Dragons. Maybe I needed to speak with Jessa and in turn Josephina. The golden dragon was the queen of all beasts, a godlike creature now. Maybe she would know something.

  I sat a little straighter; that was definitely a path to follow. Here’s hoping Jessa would be able to get word to her, and the dragon queen could make it here soon. I couldn’t be taking off to Faerie with a child on the way. I’d be gone for weeks in Earth time, and I needed this dealt with before the baby arrived. And until then I had to focus on the task of rebuilding my relationship with Mischa. I needed to get her out of her parents’ house and into mine. To keep her safe. To see her beautiful face each morning and fall asleep with her in my arms each night. It was not natural for us to be apart like this.

  Braxton caught my attention: “So we are all agreed on this matter. We will form 24/7 patrols for the outer regions of Stratford. No one will go alone, and if anything suspicious is discovered we call for backup. The sorcerer was powerful on his own, but now that he’s demon touched, there are very few who can stand against him.”

  Louis spoke from his place next to Jacob. He was with us at the head of the square table. “The magic users are working on some spells to hold the demon and return him to the land between the realms. Until we have these, Kristoff must remain alive. He’s the anchor keeping an ancient and powerful demon from exploding into the Earth realm and wreaking destruction across the humans.”

  “How far away are these spells?” I asked him. I needed Kristoff to be dead. His continued presence was an insult to my mate.

  Louis tilted his head in my direction. “I have to gather a few more ingredients and then they can be completed. A day or so.”

  I gave him a nod. Hopefully the simmering rage inside of me could hold out that long.

  Jacob stopped tossing his fireball around and let out a loud exhalation. “So now that we have a path to follow on Kristoff, what’re we going to do about the bear shifters? They’ve been a pain in the ass for years now, and I’m all for kicking their entire pack out of Stratford.”

  Braxton shook his head, but before he could answer others chimed in.

  “Yes!”

  “Get rid of them.”

  “Play by no one’s rules – tried to attack the mate of our council leader…” The last one was from Jen, a vampire. She was referring to the incident when Jessa was inside of Vanguard. She’d been attacked by a bear shifter.

  Braxton got to his feet and let out a bellowing, “Quiet!”

  The wrath of the dragon was in his gaze and his energy filled the room like a swift wind. Silence descended in an instant, and I couldn’t help the grin which crossed my face.

  “The bear unrest started with Kristoff, and possibly Vlad inside of Vanguard,” Braxton said to the room. “These two stirred trouble, promising the bears that when they got rid of us as potential council leaders, one of the bears could have the future shifter position.”

  Vlad the Impaler had been one of the oldest and more famous of the prisoners in Vanguard. During Jessa’s stay in the prison, he’d tried to torture and kill her. Thankfully her dragon saved her in time, and Vlad had not been seen since.

  “Do we have any idea where Vlad might be?” I asked, “There have been no sightings of him. He wasn’t with Kristoff. Surely he would have popped up by now.” We knew those two had been in cahoots together.

  Louis cleared his throat and the room fell silent. He had that sort of effect on supes. “I have been thinking on this, and the scenario which makes the most sense is that Kristoff sacrificed him to summon the demon. It’s not an easy task to break the barrier into the demon part of the land between, and bringing one forth with such ancient energy … almost impossible. He would have needed very dark energy, magic and a sacrifice. And who better to sacrifice than a supe who has the blood of thousands on his hands?”

  Shit. That made sense. On one hand at least we didn’t have to worry about that crazy fucker again, but on the other, this made the demon so much more powerful.

  Tyson’s face held no emotion, but his eyes were shimmering with magic. The mage was pissed. “So you’re telling me Kristoff tried to have us imprisoned and
killed, and when that didn’t work he jumped on team Larkspur? And then when the Larkspur thing failed, he decided to go the demon route. Is this all about making sure we can no longer rule the US council? Is it about punishing us?”

  Braxton nodded. “Yes, as far as I can tell he has numerous plans in place, and power is always his goal. Power and revenge. His hatred for us has grown exponentially. He can’t control it any longer, and it has resulted in him making a huge mistake. Multiple mistakes. He’s been caught out now. No council around our world would take him on, no community would welcome him. He’s being hunted as a criminal. We should be extremely cautious with him now. Desperation causes supes to act irrationally, and he’s already on edge with the demon inside. Don’t expect him to act as he would normally. There’s barely any supe left in him.”

  Jerak, the troll who led the demi-fey, leaned forward in his chair. “Have we heard anything of Giselda? Does he have more children scattered around waiting to initiate a plan?” I’d barely had a moment with Jerak, having run out as soon as we received our leadership, but he seemed to be a solid leader. His people respected him, which was not an easy task with so many different demi-fey falling under the one leadership.

  Tyson shook his head. “Nope, she’s disappeared into the wind. Checked with their relatives in Italy. Never showed up.”

  Great, so that psycho witch was out there in the world, causing havoc.

  “I’ll add her to the watch list,” I said. “Someone will pick her up eventually.”

  We had an international watch list of criminals, updated by the various prison guards and town leaders. Yellow-hued names meant they were wanted for questioning. Red names were far more serious cases. Red meant these supes were more than just suspects, they were known criminals and you needed to take care when approaching. Understandably, most of our kind didn’t appreciate incarceration and fought when cornered.

  Braxton clapped his hands. “We need to wrap this up now. All of us have to get back to our people and rally up some members to join the border patrol. We’re going to need half a dozen or more from each of the races. Educate your people well and then send them across to George.” He pointed to a sorcerer at the far end of the table. “He’s working out the rotational schedule for everyone. In regards to the bears, they’ll be given a strict warning tomorrow in the council meeting. The ones who are in the holding cell will remain there until we figure out this Kristoff thing. He does not need any allies roaming around.”