Dragon Mated: Supernatural Prison #3

by Jaymin Eve

That was the most Jacob had spoken on Faerie in all the years I’d known him – which was okay with me, everyone is allowed their secrets, and I knew he never kept anything important from us. Our pack was very open with each other.

  “So you all abandoned ship just in case it ever got into rocky waters?” I asked, my brows raising.

  Jacob nodded. “Pretty much.”

  Well, that explained a lot. I jumped subjects: “Are Cardia and Grace okay?”

  “Yes,” Jacob said, “they’re back in Stratford too.”

  Maximus’ mate, Cardia, I didn’t know very well, and I wasn’t sure I was going to like her that much. But I would give her the benefit of the doubt, for my vampire. He held such a huge part of my heart and that meant his true mate would be a large part of our lives.

  I didn’t know if I’d ever be fully okay with sharing him with his mate, but so far he was making it work. Of course a lot of that was due to the fact that he still continued to put his pack first, and I had no idea how long it would take before Cardia decided it was time for her to be his numero uno.

  “Louis was right about Grace too,” Jacob said, as we continued to stroll. The breeze was just starting to pick up; there was an iciness to the air now. “She saved Mischa’s life. The moment the immortality lifted with the king’s arrival, Mischa was in grave danger. I don’t think there would have been time to get her back to a healer.”

  Another thing I needed to thank the sorcerer for. Louis was powerful and enigmatic and I loved him like a brother. He hadn’t been around as long as my Compass quads, and did not come close to their place in my heart, but he was still hugely important to me.

  Our conversation was cut off then by a loud rustling of the hedges. We fell into defense mode, Jacob shifting so he was to the front of me in case anything flew out suddenly. I hated it when they did that; I didn’t need a supernatural shield.

  I took a step back, creating a distance between us. We needed space to fight, both of us already in our favorite stances. I had my arms in a loose, slightly raised position. Something was definitely stalking us, and I was pretty sure they were ready to attack.

  Magic seeped into the air around us, ruffling through my hair, standing my wolf and dragon at attention. Some of the elemental magic was from Jacob. He had called on fire. A flaming ball rested in one of his hands. But the rest was from something else. Something fey, but not like my Compass. This was cold and metallic.

  I recognized the magic a second before the figure stepped into view.

  “Shit!” I said, low but audible. Jacob reacted immediately, shoving me further behind him before he stepped into the middle of the path.

  A jinn. Seriously? These fuckers kept popping up everywhere I turned. They must have missed the memo where they were supposed to be nothing more than a myth.

  I took two steps to the side, standing with Jacob. I threw him a glare to let him know I didn’t appreciate being shoved aside like a damsel in distress. He flashed me a grin and some dimples, which was the quads’ standard fare to get them off the hook. He was lucky I had missed him a lot.

  Both of us returned our attention to the figure blocking our path. It took me a few seconds to recognize it as Kirik, the jinn from Larky’s castle. Shit! Was he here for the dragon king? Had he been following me the entire time? Seeing him for the first time outside of my wolf vision, he was red and black, like the one from the sanctuary. Though upon closer inspection Kirik’s features were different, more elongated and defined, with larger eyes and teeth. His markings were not very prominent, just your regular run-of-the-mill jinn. If you could call any of them run-of-the-mill.

  “What the hell do you want?” I snarled, unable to hold my tongue a moment longer. “Why are you dickwads always stalking my ass? I thought you stayed out of the business of others. I’d appreciate it if you’d fuck right off and well, stay out of my business.”

  Damn, I had this politeness thing down.

  The jinn just continued to stare at me with those dark, depthless eyes. I glided a little closer, shaking off the warning hand from Jacob. I wasn’t sure where my lack of concern for my safety or wellbeing sprung from. The reality was I was far more breakable now than ever before, but I was running on no sleep or decent food – no cake – and I had had enough of this shit.

  I got right into his personal space. “Answer me,” I said, my mouth inches from his face.

  I realized then that we were practically the same height. Jacob towered over us. These demi-fey creatures held so much power, I often forgot they were quite frail in appearance. “Why do you all stalk me?”

  A rush of winds was my answer, the previous iciness growing. Then, when I was about to lose my shit completely and throw down with a supernatural that could probably squish me with no more than a thought, it spoke.

  “You’re not natural, Jessa Lebron. You hold something which is not yours to hold. Larkspur stole the essence and you were forcibly dragon mated, and that cannot be allowed to continue. The jinn read the future, and for now you have none. We debate whether to end you, or to simply bide out time and let you work it out … the right way.”

  Whoa! Okay, that was a little full on. No future? Surely they must see something for me. And what the hell was dragon mated? We had mates in the supernatural world, but how did that specifically refer to dragons?

  “Give her a chance,” said Jacob. “She always does the right thing. Even if it takes her a little while to reach that conclusion.”

  Jacob was standing against my right shoulder. He was apparently going for the diplomatic approach today. Although I wasn’t sure if that was an insult or a backward compliment. Either way, he deserved an elbow in the ribs, which I delivered.

  “If you make the right choice, then you’ll have no more issue with our kind,” the jinn said.

  In a flash, the air around us filled with fire and ice, a strange combination of the two elements. Jacob and I jumped back and I still felt the burn of flames and the sting of frost. By the time I blinked a few times and looked again, the jinn was gone. That elemental fire and ice show must have been its grand finale. I took a few shuddering breaths before locking eyes with the fey.

  “He was in the castle with Larky, I thought they were in cahoots, but it seems that the jinn are keeping tabs on him and me.” I all but whispered. “Do you think he’ll return?”

  My dragon roared then and urgency overtook my mind. Jacob hauled me closer.

  “The jinn’s gone,” he said, “but seems like everything else is coming out now.”

  Noises crashed in around us and I was getting the distinct impression that the jinn had been keeping the creatures of the labyrinth away so that it could deal with us directly. Now it had left again, taking with it whatever barrier it had erected. Shit was getting real now.

  Jacob and I ran, hauling ass as fast as our supernatural legs could carry us, neither of us pausing or looking back. “You need to stop drawing the attention of the jinn,” Jacob said as we powered along the dark lane. The noises grew around us, reminding me of the ape-bears that had chased me last time I was in Faerie. “They have the power of the fates behind them. They can rewrite the fabric of the worlds. They can create and they can destroy.” His pause was dramatic. Typical fey. “Don’t give them a reason to rewrite you, Jessa babe, not even a small one.”

  I managed to sigh, roll my eyes, and keep running like my butt was on fire. “Jacob Compass, what the freak do you think I did to draw their attention? I didn’t even know they were still in existence until the last couple of months. Whatever is up with me, it’s because of the dragon king. That asshole did something to me, something before I was even born. All of the marked have been manipulated by him, but for me it’s something more.”

  And according to Rose, the shining ones were the only beings with any answers. Now … what were the odds they would be willing to tell us?

  Jacob got all serious then. “You know Brax and the others will be waiting for us at the center of Faerie. If we ma
ke it out of here, there’s a great chance you’ll run straight into your mate’s arms.”

  I swallowed roughly, my throat and body tightening at the mere thought of being with Braxton again. I knew Jacob was giving me this little motivational speech for a reason.

  “How bad is it?” I asked him, unwilling to turn my head and see for myself. I was not tripping over a log or some crap right now. I needed full focus in case the maze threw out any obstacles.

  He didn’t answer immediately, which of course allowed my mind to imagine the worst shit possible. Before I had a chance to beat the information out of him, the world exploded around us. Creatures flew out of every bush and crevice, so many that there was no way to accurately assess their level of scary. We had no choice but to slow, the path blocked on all sides, with more continuing to fill in the gaps.

  Jacob brushed closer to me. “How bad is it, you asked? Well, on a scale of one to apocalypse, I’m going to go with an eight,” he said casually.

  Eight … if this was an eight, what the hell was apocalypse? Dammit, okay, we could deal with this, we’d been here before and we would be again. I was not getting taken out today, not by a bunch of chipmunk freaky Faerie creatures.

  As they pressed in closer to us I could see there were more than just the chipmunks here – though they had brought fifty thousand of their closest friends. There were slime-coated fire slugs about the size of a small poodle, their tails lit up like a very orange fireball. And also a weird rabbit thing, almost shaped like a kangaroo, but wider and shorter, its ears long, and with some lethal looking claws on its front paws – not to mention large, webbed feet and bucked teeth to finish off its ugly-ass-ness. Elements danced in the air around us as Jacob pulled his power. The fey were so much stronger here than on Earth. I’d never seen fire and air respond to him so quickly. The rumble beneath our feet indicated he was shifting the plates, using the ground as a weapon of sorts.

  “Don’t forget about Braxton,” Jacob said with his jackass grin on. “He’s waiting for you and you need to survive this, Jessa babe. If you don’t, then none of us do.”

  The odds were against us, but he had given me the best incentive of all to slay these fey creatures. I just wished I could shift into my dragon; she would pretty much eat all of them up in one gulp. Jacob pulled a knife from his belt and handed it to me and in the next instant we were under attack.

  I focused on the creatures around us, my grip firm on the long-handled blade. Most of our stalkers might be smaller than us but they had fey power and it would be the epitome of stupid to underestimate them. Three came at me from the left, and at the same time at least half a dozen flew at Jacob. Neither of us hesitated. I hit the ground, rolling clear of their attack and coming up beneath them. My blade hummed and then seemed to actually move of its own accord, eviscerating two of them in a rapid succession. I loved when I used fey-made blades, they pretty much had a mind of their own. My partially shifted left hand was useful too. The third was taken out by a claw to the brain.

  Pain grabbed at my spine then, right near the base. I dropped backwards, directly to the rough ground. I heard multiple squeaks, and whatever rodents had attached to me were either squashed or jumped free just before I landed. Of course, now I was down, and that left me vulnerable.

  I rolled across to the side, just in time to receive multiple slashes in my arm. My wolf and dragon started to growl as pain rocketed around my body. I was not in a good mood. These little assholes were going to die, seriously.

  Dislodging a few, I jumped to my feet. The pain was dull, pounding across my lower back, and I wondered if they’d done some real damage there. A quick glance told me that Jacob was cleaning up his section, making me look pathetic with my half a dozen dead. He had dozens fried, drowned, suffocated. His elements were a distinct advantage, but there is nothing like getting your hands dirty. I was a down and dirty sort of girl.

  I let the shifter energy course through me, and as I felt the wolf respond; the hum of dragon power dipped across the wall between us. A flood of panicked confusion welled within my mind, and immediately the blocks fell back into place.

  Shit!

  That had been the perfect opportunity to connect, to break down the barrier once and for all. I had a sense that if I figured out how to break this wall between us, and not because I was about to plunge to my death, then it would be gone for good.

  If there was one opportunity, more would follow.

  My train of thought was cut off again as more chipmunks, fire slugs, and mutant rabbits dived toward me. They were working in larger teams now, two of each Faerie creature forming a ring and coming directly at me. I could feel the heat of the slug’s tails and as I slashed out with blade and claw, the fire was close enough to bubble skin and singe clothing. I was killing them as fast as they dived, but there were just so many of them.

  I need you, I cried out to my dragon, and she smashed herself against the wall. Inside my mind I started to holler, expelling every ounce of my frustration, fear, and anger. It was a pure expulsion of energy, and as my beast came at me just as fiercely, the very first fissure appeared in the wall between us. I sucked in rapidly, still slicing and dicing my way across the thousands of creatures that were trying to stop Jacob and me from making it any further through the labyrinth.

  Internally my dragon and I continued to smash away; there was finally a weakness to work with. A burning pain licked across my ribs and I realized the side of my shirt was completely ablaze. I hit the ground again, rolling to douse the flames, staring up through the mass of towering hedges and curved vines into the endless sky above. Jacob stepped into view and hauled me up, dousing the last of the flames. We fell in back to back and I was a little annoyed to notice that he looked a hell of a lot better than I did. Just some mussed strands in his blond hair –though, okay, that was actually pretty messy for my fey pack mate.

  My dragon was still working at the barrier. “Keep me covered for a second,” I murmured. “I think I might have a shot at shifting into dragon.” No point tipping these little critters off. I wanted to make sure they were all here still so I could stomp them into the ground.

  Jacob reached back and gripped my hand, squeezing tightly, and I knew as always he had my back. Fuck. I wish my other boys were here. We were strongest as a team and right now we needed their strength.

  I felt the pull of elemental power again, stronger than before. A ring formed around us, a very large, blue circle of flame. Jacob’s fire had sprung from the fey power in his chest. I’d seen one before, and knew it took a lot of energy to maintain.

  The circle started close to our bodies and began expanding out to incinerate anything caught in its path. That I was pressed right against Jacob allowed his magic to recognize me as not-enemy, and I was unharmed. But the rest of the creatures weren’t so lucky. They started to fall back, shrieking as their bodies burned. Nonetheless, they were relentless, and even as some burned others continued to try and reach us. Jacob was strong, and could keep this up for a long time, but eventually they would overpower us with sheer numbers. I had to reach my dragon. It was our only hope.

  Chapter 5

  I wasn’t big on focus. The Jessa part of me liked spontaneity and change, got bored easily and tried to create drama. The wolf part of me was another story. Wolves locked in on their prey and stayed locked.

  Flashing back to that moment before, when connecting with my wolf had weakened the dragon wall, I wondered if the key to connecting to my dragon was in part to do with my wolf. I had no doubts that my wolf would go at the barrier until she got through. Had the answer been in front of me the entire time and I had been ignoring it, thinking that my wolf and dragon wouldn’t be able to exist within the same space? Maybe it was time to bring the mingle.

  I opened my wolf’s cage enough to let her prowl free, but stopped the change from sweeping over me. This release had to happen on the inside. The shine of black coat flashed across my inner mind as the spirit of my wolf leapt out.
Gods, she was so beautiful, so absolutely regal. I was blessed to have her with me.

  Go! I urged her toward the dragon cage. She briefly hesitated, unsure about the situation into which she was walking. Keen intelligence was one of her strongest traits, and a survival instinct like no other. Curiosity won out in the end, as she slowly prowled toward her roommate of the past twenty-two years. The dragon rose, smoke brewing from her scaled nostrils. The two paused on either side from the other, just staring. Then my wolf threw back her head and howled, long and loud, a full moon, joyful howl. The dragon followed suit with a bellow of her own.

  Jacob’s ring of fire was starting to flicker around us, and I could see the strain and fatigue on his handsome face. I was running out of time. We needed the dragon now. As if she sensed my urgency, the wolf threw herself at the dragon cage, scratching and pummeling against it. The dragon mimicked her actions from the other side. Instead of just smashing against the cage, she was using her claws, learning from the wolf.

  Because I’d never properly connected with my dragon, it was almost like she was a newborn pup. Or whatever the dragon equivalent was. Cub? Dragonling? Anyway, she was learning from my wolf, and together they were doing what my dragon and I couldn’t manage alone. They were cracking the wall.

  Come on, guys! I was mentally cheering them on, and at the same time I reached out and hugged myself to Jacob’s side, offering some of my energy to keep the fire burning.

  I felt the slightest drain on my being then, not enough to leave me vulnerable, but hopefully enough to keep the thousands of creatures at bay long enough for my dragon to break free. The fiery ring flared brighter, the width increasing just slightly, pushing back on the masses which still seemed to be multiplying around us.

  The growls and bellows increased within and I could sense it was close now. Deep fissures appeared in the wall between them; the magic of the dragon was seeping out. I recognized it from my many years with Braxton, and the few times I had touched my own dragon. It was wild, fierce, ancient, like nothing I’d ever felt before or would feel from any other creature, not something you could hold or contain, despite the fact that she had lived within my soul for many years. The dragon magic was wild and free. I sensed that it belonged to no one and that the only reason supes were blessed enough to experience it was through the dragon’s choice. The fact that my dragon chose me to share her essence with, well, it was one of the few things which truly humbled me.