by Jaymin Eve
I had to get through to her, I couldn’t lose my sister, and I sensed a rift between us which hadn’t been there before I got lost in Faerie land.
Jonathon gave me another hard hug, a goodbye this time. “We also need to talk, my little wolf. I would like to hear what has been happening since you left us. Including your run-in with the jinn and side-trip to the Faerie dimension.”
Nothing slipped past my father, which was why he made such an amazing alpha. Speaking of … I wondered who was running the shifter pack and council in Stratford. The leaders often left, but only for short periods of time. It would be a little sparse on the American Supernatural Council right now, since Stratford was also missing their magic leader. Kristoff was in Vanguard. Well, I hoped he was, he must have had his trial by now. Another thing I needed to talk with my parents about.
“I’ll come and find you after I talk to Misch,” I said. With a kiss on my forehead Jonathon let me go.
I caught Braxton’s eye as I turned to leave, and the heat in his gaze almost had me abandoning my plans and dragging him back to my room. I forced my hormones down, gave him a wink, and was relieved when he returned the gesture with a simple nod. He was working on his overly possessive temperament. Still, there was a battle going on behind his expressive eyes. For now he was trusting me.
“You call for us if there is any trouble, especially if the twins come back.” The low timbre of his voice rocked my girly parts, but I managed to nod without jumping him.
Something light and smooth slipped into my hand. I glanced down to find Louis had given me a small black cell phone. “Untraceable. We all have them. I programmed everyone’s numbers in there.”
I groaned. “You know I’m going to lose this in like five minutes, right?”
“Five?” Jacob muttered. “She’s probably already lost it.”
I stuck out my tongue, waving the phone and my middle finger at him. “Not yet, smartass.”
With laughter following me I hightailed it out of the food street. I had no idea where my sister was, but instinct was sending me toward our apartment building. I was going to check there first.
Cool and still inside the front hall of our residence, I threw the phone onto the kitchen bench and followed Mischa’s scent. She was all wolf and tears right now, a sort of distinct wet dog smell – kidding, wolves’ fur didn’t smell like dog’s.
I tried to figure out what I would say to her, how to offer comfort when I really just wanted to yell at her for being so stupid. I needed to work on the sympathy thing. I was getting worse with old age. I followed the sound of her sniffles into our bedroom.
The door was open so I walked straight in, only to almost bump into Mischa as she stood staring down at the beds which were still all over the place. She lifted her chin and turned to me.
“Looks a little like a battle went on in here,” she said, a trace of humor in her voice, which was much better than the tears still sprinkling her lashes.
I snorted, unable to stop chuckles from trickling out. As Mischa’s mirth increased she started to laugh with me.
Eventually our amusement faded. I found myself focusing on the bed, flashes of memory shooting through me as I relived the time spent in here with Braxton. I was totally ready for another round, I had not had enough the first time. I’d probably never have enough of him.
Mischa interrupted my adult-rated thoughts.
“I’ll admit I’m jealous of you right now.”
I forced myself not to snarl. She’d never shown any interest in Braxton, so it must mean something other than what I feared. Of course, my wolf didn’t care, she wanted to snarl anyway.
“I might be a virgin, and I’m more than ready to hand that particular card in, but what I want more than anything is someone to call my own.”
My wolf calmed, along with my dragoness. They loved my twin too, but possessiveness was part of their animal instinct, and Braxton was ours.
I searched for the right words. Mischa was sensitive, I had no idea how to reassure her. Girls were hard, boys seemed much easier, more straightforward to deal with. I couldn’t completely understand her need to belong to someone. It kind of grated on my sense of independence. But what the hell did I know? I’d always had the Compasses and called all of them mine. I had never been alone.
“You will find someone to call yours, Misch. There is no rush, we’re young. To be totally honest, I never expected to find my mate anytime soon, but it’s Braxton...” Which said it all.
I breathed deeply at the emotions flooding me. There was a new intimacy between Braxton and I now, and it continued to bash against me like a surge of tides. Sure, we’d only been together for half a day, but that full-heart thing was a force living inside my chest. Maybe I had a better idea than I thought of the connection my twin was seeking in her life.
We both dropped onto the edge of the bed. I reached across and grabbed a cushion, pulling it into my lap. “I’m sorry I disappeared on you. I didn’t mean to abandon you.”
She raised her sad eyes to meet mine. “You didn’t do it on purpose, Jess, it just sucked that right when I needed you the most, you were gone. I was so worried about you, trying to deal with Maximus. Trying to hold it together.”
“Tell me what happened.” I took her hand.
She shrugged. “I cared about him. Like really cared.” Her lips twisted into a forced grin. “I hoped we could have something.”
I didn’t say anything, there wasn’t really anything I could say. But as the uncomfortable silence continued, I decided to try to find the right words. “Well, I know Max cares about you a lot, but true mates are forever and complete. There was nothing he could do.”
She nodded, “I know, but just because my head knows doesn’t mean my heart doesn’t hurt.” I hugged more tightly around her shoulders. I had never had any unrequited love in my life, but I could imagine the pain.
After a few silent moments I changed the subject to what I really needed to know. “Why are you hanging out with the evil twinly duo?”
She blinked a few times. “You mean Cristy and Shalone?”
I shrugged. “I have zero cares about their real names. They’re Orange and Lemon.”
She snickered. “Yeah, I get that.” There was a pause then, as if she was trying to figure out how to explain her friendship with the twins. She started with a sigh. “When Maximus came back from feeding, we were trying to find you and Braxton. Tyson and Jacob were going crazy, they had Quale up against the tree by his throat, threatening, screaming. It only got worse when Max returned.” She twisted her hands in her lap. “He went ballistic. It took us a really long time to calm him down, and the only one who could was … that vampire he’d fed from. Apparently, everyone knew then that they were true mates. I, of course, was the clueless outsider as always.”
“Damn, I’m sorry, that’s tough.” I hated being in the dark, feeling stupid. I knew Mischa would be no different. “But you have a mate out there too. Don’t forget that happiness is yours to find, so don’t give up.”
Her eyes were so green; even ringed with red she still looked amazing. I had no doubt there was going to be a supernatural completely captivated by her one day.
“I’m pretty much off men at the moment.” Her voice was hard, before breaking right on the end again. “And I have to tell you something…”
I tensed, her breathy whisper was worse than the hard voice. She was not going to be imparting good news.
“Part of the promise I made the twins … I have to go with them into the Romanian prison, and they said that if you didn’t come also, that they couldn’t guarantee my safety. That sometimes supes got lost in the prison system and were never seen again.”
It was a direct threat, but I could tell that Mischa didn’t really see it that way.
“Fuck!” My arm fell off her shoulders as I jumped to my feet. “Why, Mischa? Why the hell would you agree to go into Krakov with them?”
I had a terrible feeling about this as I
stood there staring her down. The fruit twins had already freed the marked from that prison, so what did they have to go back in there for?
Mischa rubbed at her face tiredly. “There is a key in there, or a weapon, I’m not totally sure. They promised it was for the benefit of the entire supernatural community. And all four of us would be required to free it.”
“You realize that we’re the other two points on this compass to free the dragon king, right?”
Mischa rose slowly until we stood face to face. “Yes.”
We were mirror images, facing off. “We can’t trust them, no matter what bullshit story they feed you about a weapon for the communities. This has something to do with the dragon king.”
She dropped her chin. Her submissive pose pissed me off and I fought the urge to capture that chin in my hand and wrench her face upwards.
“They … they helped me out. I got myself into a little trouble with one of the shifters and they saved my ass.”
And in return they assured she was guilted into a suspect scheme to infiltrate the prison. Mischa had given her word, and we tried not to break our word. Words held power, and it wasn’t good to tempt the gods with broken promises.
“Can the fruit twins shift into dragons?”
Mischa’s full lips parted, my change of subject had surprised her. “No, they’re not even shifters. They’ve never told me which race they’re from, but they use magic at times so I think witches. And I know I didn’t answer you before when you asked, but their mark is nothing like yours. It’s small.”
I knew her weird expression at the table had been hiding something. Damn, damn, damn. This was horseshit. I had really been hoping that I wasn’t the special one within an already chosen bunch. Whatever being north meant, it was not a good thing, I knew that without a doubt. The jinn’s words reverberated through my mind.
I was chosen. I was special. I was so freaking screwed.
I expelled the next words through gritted teeth. “When is this brilliant break-and-enter supposed to take place?”
There was no way I’d leave Mischa to do this. I could sense the aura of evil on those bitches, and if I didn’t come along I had no doubt they would leave her to the tender care of the prisoners in there. I had no idea how I would convince the Compasses and my father. They would fight us on this.
“Um … uh, it’s going to be, uh…” She started stuttering away and I worked very hard not to scream at her. “Tomorrow,” she finally finished. “We have to go in tomorrow.”
I should have known it would be soon. They were pretty much out of time. The deadline to free the king was upon us, and whatever plans they had to put into play, well, it had to be in the next few days. “I have to tell Dad and the quads.”
If something went wrong we would need backup.
Mischa worried at her lips even harder, her teeth leaving marks along the pink softness. “The twins won’t like it. Everything is a secret to them, but … I would feel better if Mom and Dad knew.”
She was barely even mentioning the Compasses anymore.
“Girl, how long are you going to hold on to this anger toward Maximus? It’s not healthy, you have to let it go.” I clapped my hands together. “I think what we need right now is a chance to run.”
I missed my wolf, and Mischa had definitely not spent enough time learning about her animal. We got a little crazy if we didn’t shift reasonably frequently. It was time.
She jumped on the spot, emotions flying across her face so rapidly that I was having trouble cataloguing them all. But she seemed mostly excited.
I was so feeling that. Together we moved from our room. I picked up the cell phone again, and scrolling through found the right numbers. I sent off very brief texts explaining where Mischa and I were heading. Without waiting for replies, I dumped the phone on the bench again and walked with my sister out of the apartment and into the elevator.
Mischa held my hand, both of us hating this shithole-box which was our only means of escaping the building. My twin distracted us both by sharing some of her heartache.
“I’m not mad at the Compasses, Jess, I’m embarrassed that I let myself get so involved in something that wasn’t real. It wasn’t like Max made me any promises or did anything besides be a good friend. Sure, we flirted, but that seems to be the way with those boys. They flirt as frequently as they breathe. I just wanted it to be real, and trying to deal with my own stupidity–”
“Led you right into another set of stupidity. Aligning yourself with the fruit twins was not your brightest moment.”
She sighed. “They were good to me, I won’t judge them yet.”
“They threatened to leave you in Krakov!”
“They just needed a way to ensure you’d help. It wasn’t personal.”
Holy shit. Dumbass alert.
Seriously, someone needed to save us from her bleeding heart, they were playing her like a violin. And all of us had to pay now. I was probably going to be caught by the Four and locked under the sea.
It was a relief when the elevator opened again. I pulled my hand free from hers and together we strolled out onto the cobbled path.
“Where do you want to run?” Mischa asked.
“The forest,” I said. I was less worried about the jinn now, it felt as if they’d made their point and would wait now to see what eventuated. Besides they could find me anywhere, and the forest was the place our wolves wanted to be. Quale had explained there was a massive expanse of woodlands, and that we were free to use them. There were no pack territories, and with so much space, other shifters rarely ran into each other.
As we stepped into the cool expanse, I felt my body relax. This was home, this was perfect. Mischa startled as footsteps sounded from behind us, but I’d heard them following us for a while. Not to mention there was no denying the power of an alpha.
“Mind if we join you?”
Jonathon and Lienda were already undressing, so it was a rhetorical question at the best.
I turned around and prepared to shed my own clothing. Once I was naked, I called on the energy of my wolf, dropped to all fours and my body flowed and shimmered. I watched ten fingers morph in a single movement into paws. Then I was wolf. No pain, all awesomeness.
Howls rang out around me, and I turned to find my wolf family waiting and ready. Hell yeah, we had never ran together. This was going to be fun.
Chapter 13
“Oh for fuck’s sake, you have got to be shitting me?” Maximus had been stomping around cursing like an ogre since Mischa and I had explained about the Romanian prison dilemma. He was only partially vamped, so he hadn’t completely lost control. “After Vanguard, I was determined that none of us would be going into any of the prisons again.”
Jonathon had his head tented in his hands. “It seems no matter what I do, I can’t keep my girls out of danger.” He didn’t look angry, more pensive, as if calculating odds and formulating a plan.
All of us were spread around the living room of our apartment, the Compasses doing their sexy lean-against-the-wall thing. Though Maximus was currently giving the carpet a workout as he marched and swore.
Mischa dashed across the room and stopped before our father. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize the trouble I’d be getting into by hanging around with the twins. They seemed so genuine at first and I just needed someone.”
After our run, we’d discussed those biatches again, and she was finally starting to see their evilness.
Lienda captured her daughter’s hand and pulled her down to sit between her and Dad. “This isn’t your fault. They’re ancient, wise and manipulative. You could never have comprehended the means they would go to to bring about the prophesy. They’re determined to return the king and will stop at nothing.”
Jonathon draped his arm over Mischa, pulling her closer. “Your mother is right, so now we just have to figure out how to derail their plans.” He directed the rest to all of us. “Mischa must keep her word, and Jessa has no choice here.”
Sprawled out on one of the single couches, I clashed eyes with a blue so frosty it pretty much iced all the breath in my lungs. I’d been avoiding Braxton’s gaze. I hated when he was upset. Rigid against the wall, he had yet to say anything, which was far scarier than Maximus’ blustering, and I was a touch nervous of his next actions.
Unable to stop myself, I rose, needing to cross to him. He straightened and right before I reached him, he opened his arms. I threw myself into his warmth. Both of his hands ended up under my butt as he lifted me into his body. Some of the heaviness in my chest eased.
I heard a growl from Maximus; he was still pissed. Not to mention frustrated – his new vampire mate had been excluded from this little gathering. “Great, Brax is too enamored with our Jess to even voice his protest.”
It was better that Cardia wasn’t here, she didn’t need to jump into our shit-storm of secrets. Though we still had to be careful of our words, Grace was in the room. She still didn’t know about my ability to shift into a dragon. I had told my parents after our run through the forest. It was nice to have everything in the open, and even though Jonathon had been a little emotional, he’d handled the news okay.
Braxton didn’t lift his eyes from mine, but he did answer his brother. “There is no point arguing, I trust Jess, I trust in her abilities to protect herself and her sister.” He held my gaze with a fierceness that had me rendered senseless. “Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want her to go, but I will not be the male who is always standing in her way.”
This was why I loved him, he knew what battles to fight and what ones to walk away from. He was offering me his support, he was supporting Mischa – who already felt like shit – and he was going to help in any way he could.
“Guess it doesn’t hurt that I’m pretty unbreakable,” I whispered close to his cheek.
His chest rumbled beneath me as he laughed a few times. “Yeah, we would probably be having a different conversation if you weren’t.”
I let my legs relax from where I’d had them wrapped around Braxton. My body protested, acting all pissed off that I was removing myself. But I was starting to have thoughts which were not appropriate for when my parents were in the room. As if he read that in my suddenly flushed cheeks, Braxton raised his eyebrows at me, a smirk tipping up the corner of his lips and flashing more than a glimpse of dimple.