Dragon Mated: Supernatural Prison #3

by Jaymin Eve

  Regina. That was the first time he’d said her name.

  As he faced his plate of food again, there was still pain on those perfect features, but also a sense of something more. He wasn’t healed by any stretch, but I could see that over the last few months he was starting to let go of his guilt, guilt which was not his to own. So much of Louis’ pain stemmed from his own personal blame game. Supe males were crazy with protecting their females.

  Tyson leaned in closer, the light shimmering off auburn hair, honeysuckle eyes. “So, Jess, I think it’s time to tell us what happened when you disappeared on us … again. I mentioned again, right?”

  Smartass. At least he took the focus off Louis. The sorcerer was still in the midst of some sort of mind-fuckery and pain. My story was definitely going to get his mind off Regina; it was a hell of a tale.

  I leaned over. “I’ve got an ass ton of information to tell you, but first I want to know what happened when the dragons appeared. The Jessa part of me blacked out and the dragon was in control of the brain steering wheel.”

  I’d seen a brief glimpse through the vision of the queen dragon, but I wanted to know more.

  Tyson jumped right in. “There were seven dragons. Six flew in a V-shape, protective style around the huge golden dragon in the center. When they were about a hundred yards from us you started to shake. Your eyes were locked on them and there was no way to break your gaze.”

  Braxton interrupted: “I felt the pull toward them also, but I didn’t lose control of my dragon. He wanted to fly, but I kept him under control.”

  “Yeah, Brax did the weird shaking thing too, but he didn’t shift. You did,” Jacob said. “There was a burst of light and energy. My fire power was going crazy inside of me, responding to the heat rocketing from you. I’ve never had that happen with a shifter before, but it was something that the wild dragons from the sanctuary did to me. They have an elemental fire inside of them which calls to my own.”

  Braxton’s voice was lower than the others. “You flew away. You flew so fast that even with me shifting instantly and following, I couldn’t reach you before you disappeared. The golden dragon had you tucked in under her wing, and then you were gone. There was no way they could have flown that fast for me to not see you in the distance, so I think there was some sort of magic or step through involved. I followed the path, and eventually started to feel your energy again.”

  Five sets of eyes were on me. They’d explained their small part in the tale and it was now time for my much larger, batshit crazy part.

  I took a gulp of the Faerie nectar, which was a lot like wine but without the kick, and then I opened my mouth and let it all fall out. I told them about waking in the other place and how the golden dragon was wrapped around me. I tried to keep the information sequential, but so much of it was still jumbled. Luckily my pack was a smart bunch of supes.

  No one interrupted me. There were mirroring expressions of shock across all faces. I swear none of them were even breathing.

  To finish up, I took another drink of the nectar, totally wishing there was some alcohol in it this time, and spilled all the details of the fertility of my body, and the things Larky planned to do with our offspring. This was the point Braxton lost it … like, snapped off the side off the thick table, picked up the rest of the structure and punted it about twenty yards into the distance.

  We were all on our feet now; his entire body shook as he fought for control. The blue flames licked across his skin again, and I could see the shift of scales playing along the tawny darkness of his arms. Before he could do anything else, like snatch me up and hide me away for the rest of our natural lives, I pulled the necklace free from my shirt, and held it aloft.

  “This is the weapon we have against the king. This contains the blood of my ancestors, blood of the shining ones. We will defeat him, Brax.” I didn’t want to take my eyes from my furious mate, but I needed to tell Louis one thing also. “He’s not a sorcerer, Louis, he is borrowing that power from somewhere. Do you have any idea what might be powering his magic?”

  Louis’ expression morphed from stoic into narrowed eyes and furrowed brow. He looked almost as pissed as Braxton. It took him a few moments, but he finally answered me.

  “It has to be the mystics. When Larkspur was alive the first time, his council were simply powerful fey who joined his cause. But after his death, whatever curse he enacted from the shadow spawn actually gave him ties to the next generation of mystics. The marks used to be magically tattooed on the mystics, but for Quale and the rest, they were born with them. I wondered what their role in this was. If they’re the ones who prepare the spells for Larkspur, then he’s weaker without them.”

  I sucked in deeply. “We need to take them out.” I hurried on, not liking the bleak expression on Louis’ face – one of them was his brother. “I don’t mean kill them, I mean lock them down or something. We can’t let the king bring them into this war, we need him as weak as possible.”

  I couldn’t stop myself from moving to Braxton then. He had calmed slightly; the flames and scales were gone now. I understood why he was so upset, there had been nothing nice or pleasant in my Faerie tale. It was filled with heartache, pain and an unknown future for us all. Still, lots of our questions were finally answered and we had more than one weakness of the king’s to exploit.

  Braxton’s arms closed around me and they were so gentle that I had to pull back and see his face again. It was clear that he was still beyond words, so instead we just used our bond to express all the emotions we were currently feeling.

  Jacob interrupted with a snort. “I can’t … for shit’s sake … goddamn unbelievable. Still, I guess that explains the dragon whisperer thing you had going on with those wild ones in the sanctuary. You have their next queen dragon mated to your soul, and she will call to her people.” His hand was rubbing across his chin. He was the least hairy of the brothers; the fey could not shave for a month and still barely even have stubble. Braxton, on the other hand, could have a magic user remove his facial hair every day and still have a shadow by the afternoon. Not that I minded. Not. At. All.

  Braxton’s hands were running over my back, again soothing that ache which never quite disappeared. I was going to call it the “I got unknowingly knocked up” ache.

  I felt his chest heave and I waited for his words. “So the queen of the dragons told you that Larkspur plans to produce dragon young with you, then use them to control the supe races, like he attempted last time…” The pace of his words increased, anger brewing again. “And that he promised your firstborn child to the shadow spawn so that they could overthrow the shining ones. I don’t … what the actual … how am I supposed to respond to this, Jess?”

  I shrugged against him. “We respond by making sure that never happens. I would never allow my child to fall into the hands of those evil assholes, I will take my last breath making sure that doesn’t happen. Plus, Larky has never gotten his tiny dick near me, so there’s no way I’m pregnant with his child.” I pulled back to see Braxton’s face. “Let’s be thankful that the fates and shining ones hate him. They made sure I had a dragon shifter mate already, the only other one who could produce a dragon baby with me and thwart his plans.”

  Braxton’s eyes were practically black now, black with flickers of blue flames deep inside. A plethora of emotions crossed his face – joy, fear, anger, excitement. The entire feels scale was hitting him. “I’m torn between hating that you have a nickname for him and loving that it’s a nasty little derogative one.”

  He was trying to compartmentalize his emotions, focusing on the small insignificant ones so that the rest didn’t crush him. But there were some we couldn’t ignore.

  He rested tumultuous eyes on me. “If you’re pregnant with my child, I will fight beyond death for you both. I will never stop. I will never fall. I will never let another male take what is mine to protect.”

  And we were back to the caveman supe protecting their mate thing. I could sens
e Louis was giving me that look of his, the one that was all “See, I told you so, it’s our job to protect our mates.” Stubborn males.

  It was definitely not the ideal time to have me pregnant and vulnerable, especially if I was carrying some sort of magical warrior child. I could find myself hunted by more than just the dragon king. But still, we might have created a child together and it was something to be joyful about. Braxton was still just holding me, his features and grip calm.

  “Despite your freak out over Larky, you’re acting very chill about our possible pregnancy,” I said, my eyes narrowing. “Why are you not more surprised?” Sure, I’d explained to them what the queen had said about me being fertile from the moment my mark’s powers were unlocked. That this was part of the curse of the dragon marked, the part which Larky put into play to make sure he’d get his dragon babies. Fucker. But still, I expected that the news of our possible baby would have taken Braxton by surprise, instead he seemed content with the knowledge. Like he’d known all along.

  “Your scent has changed a little,” he finally said. “I thought pregnancy was impossible because of your fertile time, so I assumed it was to do with being stuck in Faerie, the absorption of some of the magic here, but with this new information, your backache, and you not wanting to be touched … it makes sense.”

  So basically he had known the second I reached that part in my story. My mate was all about being an overachiever on the intelligence train. Which was both annoying and hot as hell.

  Braxton turned to Louis. The sorcerer was back to being blank-faced. “Is she far enough along yet for you to try the pregnancy spell? We need to both confirm and to make sure everything is okay.”

  The other quads were all eyeballing the magic user, each of them outwardly expressing their extra surge of over-protectiveness toward me. This child was not only going to have a dragon shifter for a father, but three uncles of scary-ass nature. Plus, Jonathon. Holy freakin’ hell, this kid was going to be one spoiled and protected pup.

  Louis stepped closer to me, his eyes scanning across my body. My stomach was flat, no signs of a child there at all. Most supe races have different gestation periods. Shifters were about six months, magic users nine. Vampires were very short, only two to three months; and fey were the unlucky bastards at fifteen months’ gestation for their young. The demi-fey all varied, and some of them didn’t even carry their young in their bodies. Some had pods, or capsules or eggs.

  Louis lifted both hands as if sensing the air around me, before taking a step back. “If she is pregnant her body is hiding it well. No magical essence of another is clear. It’s hard to tell how far along she is. In Jess’s time it’s been no more than a week since you were together, but being in Faerie can mess with timelines, so it’s hard to know what her body is doing development wise. I need some ingredients from home to do the gestation and pregnancy spell, so for now we can be cautiously optimistic that we will have a child in our lives in six months.”

  “Don’t you need the full moon?” I asked.

  Louis shook his head. “Nah, I think I’ll manage without it.”

  “Showoff,” Tyson muttered.

  The sorcerer shot him a smile. He enjoyed taunting the brothers, but there was actually something genuine in that glance. “Don’t despair, young wizard. I sense your powers are awakening. It started when you joined with your brothers in the sanctuary. I don’t think you’ll have to wait long until you unlock your sorcery energy.”

  Tyson narrowed his eyes. “Are you fucking with me? Because that would mean I’m going to beat your record.”

  Louis gave a single nod. “Yes, if you make sorcerer in the next few years, you would be the youngest mage in our history. Of course, you haven’t actually made it there yet. I just sense the power emerging.”

  Tyson grinned. “Oh, I’ll make it, don’t you worry. I’m going to be wizarding the shit out of things, getting those powers going.”

  I shook my head, laughter unfolding from me. Braxton distracted me by cupping his hands on either side of my face. As my chuckles died off, I was captured by the emotion in those stunning blue orbs. His words were equally as emotional.

  “Despite the fact that this pregnancy was not planned, I need you to know that if you’re carrying my young, there’s no better gift you could ever give me. The joy thrums through me and my dragon. You’re our true mate, our other half. There’ll never be another for me.” His lips touched mine, and I could actually feel that joy he spoke of. He pulled away too soon, his hand lowering to fall against my stomach. The other hand threaded through the hair at the nape of my neck. “I’ll die before I let anyone touch our child. I have no doubt you’ll do the same. Your fierceness is going to go into overdrive now.”

  I heard laughter from behind him. “Holy shit, Jessa is going to be a freaking nightmare. Food cravings, weird hormonal outbursts…”

  “Sounds normal to me,” Tyson said with a snort of laughter.

  Great, not only did I have to deal with Jacob the jackass, but Tyson was joining in too. Still, they both made good points. I would probably be a nightmare. The quads must have decided that they’d held back long enough. The three of them wasted no more time pounding over and stealing me right out of Braxton’s arms. I was passed around for hugs and cheek-kisses, before ending up in Maximus’s arms. He gave me the gentlest of hugs I’d ever felt from him.

  “I’m not breakable,” I said to him. “If I’m pregnant – and remember we haven’t confirmed this yet – then I’m only just pregnant. At least wait until I’m six months and the size of a house before you start treating me gently.”

  In my younger years I’d always feared that if I let these guys start handling me like a “girl,” their chauvinistic brains would kick in and I’d always be separated from them, left to the side. It was something I had eventually stopped worrying about, realizing that even if I was female and a little different, I was one of them. We were pack and that would never change.

  Of course, I somehow still knew that no matter what I said, I’d be handled like fine china by the big brutes.

  “So it’s time for us to head back now, right?” I found myself turning to Louis, who was best at adulting in this group. “Where do we go? What’s the plan?”

  “I think the best thing is to head to Stratford. It’s where your families are, and the Four. Even though you have the necklace and a plan, we need power on our side before we go up against Larkspur.”

  “Who will go to the sanctuary and disable the mystics?”

  His eyes shuttered. “I’ll do it. Quale trusts me, and I think I can get him to help. With him on board, it will be simple to take them unawares. I won’t hurt them, I’ll just disable them until after we take out the king.”

  The sanctuary reminded me of something. “Does anyone know if the marked who were not in Drago or the sanctuary survived after the release of the king?”

  Braxton answered. “When you got taken, our parents were on their way to the sanctuary with Nash, trying to get him to safety. Their plane was delayed, so they didn’t make the flight. Nash ended up being okay.” Thank the gods for that. “I’m guessing that was just a rumor started by his daughters, something to make sure that eventually the dragon mated female would get close enough for them to use her blood and open the tomb.”

  That’s what I hated about rumors. They were like friggin’ Chinese whispers. The information by the end was ninety percent bullshit.

  “That’s also why they waited so many years until they freed all those in the prisons,” Louis added. “Basically they started to get serious about their father’s plan from the moment Jessa and Mischa were born. Before that they spent their years running from the Four.”

  “How did they know we were the ones they needed?” So many annoying unanswered questions.

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. I believe Larkspur left some sort of way for the curse to communicate with his helpers. And don’t forget that the twins mother would have had information to
impart in their younger years. Of course, we’ll never know for sure since they’re all dead.”

  I kicked out at some of the dirt and grass, clipping some debris from the destroyed table as I stomped. “We need to make sure that no more of Larky’s plans come to fruition, which means we’d better get back and gather our army.”

  I didn’t really want to. Staying here in this tranquil, home-like world was much more appealing, but there was no way I’d ever abandon my family. I was missing them a lot, especially Mischa. Even with her stupidity, she had wormed her way into my heart.

  Wait a damn minute.

  “Did you say the Four were in Stratford?” I must have blocked that part out for a moment or some shit. But seriously, what were those assholes doing in my town? I knew that the Compass quads had said they ran into them, and that some sort of asinine plan was hatched to fight together. But why in the good name of fuck were those douchebags hanging around in Stratford?

  Louis looked cautious as he reiterated the quads winning argument: “They’re going to help us fight the king. Their energy can hold the marked at bay, and teamed with the Compass’ power, which we’re hoping can hold the king at bay, there might be a shot at truly defeating him.”

  The sorcerer was right to be cautious, even with the previous heads up from my boys, I wasn’t happy about this at all. “Sounds like we’re asking for trouble just letting them hang around our town. With our families. What if this is just a ploy to get to me? Or the other marked?”

  Jacob shrugged. “Then we kill them. Easy.”

  I snorted. “Great plan, tough guy.” Fuck. There was really no other option here. “Okay, for now I’m willing to let this one play out, but if they do anything suspicious … one chance is all they get with me.”