by Jaymin Eve
I hurried back to Maximus. On the way I noticed the main double doors were blocked by a large scaled tail. Black with hints of blue tipping the edges. Braxton was the size of a house in his dragon form, and he was wedged in the entrance. Dragons were the most powerful, rare, and scary, of the shifter forms. By size alone they dominated the supernatural races.
As I reached Maximus, I grabbed his arm. “We’re going to have to use the side entrance.”
We moved fast. I could hear screaming from inside, but the lack of magic in the air told me it hadn’t escalated too far. Yet.
Reaching the door I scrambled with the handle; the damn thing was locked. Maximus reached around me and snapped the silver clasp, before cracking the whole door right off the hinges.
“I could have done that,” I shot out as he threw the metal aside. He just grinned, flashing a little fang. Showoff.
It was chaos inside. The weaker were pushing back from the drama, and as soon as they noticed the exit we’d provided, they started scrambling to get through. Which of course made it damn difficult to go in the direction toward the dragon. Maximus stepped in front of me and used his bulk to bulldoze us through the crowd. I gripped the back of his shirt so as not to lose him in the panic. I was grateful he was in front. It would be easy to be crushed in this crowd, especially by the trolls and gargoyles. When they hit you it felt as if they were made of wood and stone, which was not surprising, as those were their other forms.
As we made it further into the hall I noticed that the council leaders, some elders, and other powerful members of the five supes races, were standing around Braxton in a semi-circle. It was some type of standoff. The dragon wasn’t attacking yet, but smoke poured from his huge snout and nostrils and the rumbling roars that were shaking the ground told me he was reaching the end of his patience.
Some random supernatural hit me hard from the side. With a shriek I went head-over-ass and landed on my face. Smooth. My wolf was real proud of that graceful move. Before I could pull myself up, Maximus lifted me without effort and hauled me over his shoulder. Wasting no more time, he started barreling through the crowd.
Increased growls and rumbles flooded my ears. Braxton’s long snout had shifted direction and was now roaring at us. What the heck? Slowly, Maximus lowered me to the ground.
“She’s fine, Brax,” he said, holding both hands in the air. “No one is touching her.”
Right. Dragons were possessive, and in this form Braxton had less control over his base instincts.
I pushed my way around Maximus and glared at the deadly but visually stunning dragon. He was massive; he’d had to tuck his wings in at his side to have room for movement. The black and blue of his scales shone even in the dying light. The bright yellow eyes surveyed the room, before locking me in his gaze. He roared again and I decided to take a stand. In general I didn’t think much before I acted, and my plans were often considered to be brave or stupid. Usually both.
“Braxton Compass,” I scolded him, moving right up into his strike zone, my hands on my hips. “Your scaled dragon ass is blocking the doorway.”
Jacob, Tyson, and Maximus crowded behind me. They were ready to snatch me up if their brother made the wrong move. But I knew it would have to be pretty exceptional circumstances before Braxton would lose enough of himself to hurt me.
The massive beast lowered his head until we were eye to eye. He would scent trickles of my fear, but despite my body’s involuntary response, I wasn’t really afraid of Braxton. His dragon was a little unpredictable, but he was strong enough to keep both of them controlled. I knew he’d pulled this stunt to remind the council where the real power lay and that he didn’t like secrets being kept, especially when they personally affected us. I wondered for a second then where Mischa had ended up in the crazed exodus from the hall.
The dragon and I continued our stare-off, my dark blue eyes locked on his yellow. “Let’s call it a tie,” I finally said, grinning and raising my eyebrows at the same time.
With a huff of smoke that enveloped my entire head, he lifted his long snout full of razor sharp teeth away from me. There was a pull of power, and with a bit of a light-and-energy-show he started to shift back to human form. I let out the breath I hadn’t even realized I’d been holding, my heart rate finally slowed, and when Jacob moved to grab Braxton some clothes I turned to find my father right beside me. My smile faded out to a glare. Jonathon was far too close for my liking right now.
“I’m not talking to you.” I pointed a finger, uncaring that he was my alpha and council leader. “How could you have lied to me all of these years?” I hated that my voice trembled on those last words. My anger sometimes turned me into a hot mess of tears.
He opened his mouth, but I wasn’t in the mood to hear more lies so I held up a hand.
“Don’t. I’m going to need some time to process my feelings on this. Right now I’m about five seconds from losing my shit. I might not be as big as a dragon but I’ll do my damn best to tear this place to the ground.” And I would. My energy was rolling inside of me, threatening to free the demon.
Maximus dragged me under his arm. “Jessa will be staying with us tonight,” he said.
I shook him off. I needed to stand on my own two feet right now; independence was keeping me from dissolving into tears. Although if the lump in my throat continued to grow in size, it was going to choke me soon.
Braxton moved to stand at my back. I could feel the heat and his unique spicy scent wrapping around me. When I rolled my head to the side, blue and yellow eyes captured me. He was back in human form, but his dragon was still riding him.
“Don’t ever do that again.” His voice was low and deadly. “I could have killed you.”
I shrugged. Maybe … maybe not.
He shook his head before turning to the others in the room. “We’re the future leaders of the American Supernatural Council.” His tone was guttural. “This is the last time I will say this. Stop lying to us – and before more bullshit falls from your lips, omitting information is the same damned thing.”
The council leaders were changed every quarter of a century or upon death. Positions went to the most powerful in that age bracket – simple but effective. The Compass brothers were coming up to their time, only a few more years. At twenty-five, they would be blood-bound to their supernatural races. No one knew who would lead the demi-fey – they were more secretive, only revealing their choice the night before the crowning.
Kristoff stepped toward us, his hard gaze locked on Braxton. “What did you say?” His voice was a whisper of disbelief. A hand on his shoulder had him pausing. Jonathon had halted him. The sorcerer sneered before throwing off my father’s hand. “Don’t touch me, Jonathon. Deal with your shifter.”
My father tensed but didn’t engage the magic leader further. He turned to us. “Don’t forget that we’re still the rulers right now.” Since Jonathon was council leader to all shifters, Braxton’s show of dominance was his problem. “If you pull one more stunt like this, we’re going to have serious problems.”
If the low growls from the Compasses were any indication, we already had a problem. I was not interested in this happening tonight. Jonathon was still my father, and no matter how angry I was with him, I didn’t want a fight to break out. I suspected he’d lose to the powerful dragon shifter.
Time to defuse the situation.
I stepped between the groups. “We’re going to walk away right now … with no further repercussions.” I was ensuring they wouldn’t revisit this situation to punish us at a later date. “And next time you might want to think about imparting a little more information before dropping a freaking house on me.”
Jonathon’s blue eyes softened. “We need to talk about Mischa. There are reasons we didn’t know of her.”
What? He hadn’t known of her either. Lienda was so going down when I got my hands on her. I had noticed my father’s words were deliberately mysterious. Which was annoying, but I understood. This w
asn’t the best place to be airing dirty family laundry. Too many here who would use it against us.
“It’s best if you leave and calm down, but make sure you find me in the morning.” He held my gaze until I nodded, lowering my eyes just slightly.
“I love you, Jessa,” he said as he turned and stormed out the door in a wave of power.
He was probably going to find Mischa and make sure she was okay. Damn sister taking my father already. Sure, I’d pushed him away, but that wasn’t the point. I didn’t like to share.
Tears were still burning a trail all the way from my gut up through my throat, and were trying to force themselves free from my eyes. I refused to cry in front of the council members. Those bastards would destroy me if they scented weakness. I turned and followed my father’s path from the building. Stepping out into the cooling air I saw no sign of the alpha wolf. He’d disappeared fast, even for him. Many of the supernatural races were milling around the fountain. Curious faces turned in my direction, but none were game to ask anything of me. I moved through a group of tiny fluttering pixies, their firelight shining up and down the street.
Footsteps sounded first and then Braxton’s arm came around me, his scent enveloping me. “Come on, Jess, let’s go to our place.” And just like that, all of the curious faces were suddenly busy doing something else.
“Dammit, it’s not fair,” I growled. “Your dragon has them all cowering like rabbits.” One of the weaker shifter animals. “Why is it that no one shows my wolf her due respect?”
He laughed. “It might be a dog eat dog world, but ... a dragon eats everyone.”
He made a fair point, but still.
“You better have food,” I said as my stomach grumbled again.
The rest of the Compasses fell in beside us and we made our way through the streets of Stratford. There was no need to rush, besides my want for food; it wasn’t a very long walk to their house. The boys lived on their own near the edge of the forest line. Their parents loved them but had kicked them out not too long after they came into their race powers. They’d had a little trouble putting up with the long trail of women drifting in and out of their friendly sons’ rooms.
It was to be expected, supernaturals were hot-blooded, highly sexual beings. I had similar trouble with my father, who refused to realize his little girl was all grown up, but thankfully my sexual escapades were fewer than the boys’, and they usually took place outside of my family home. Whether supernatural or human, I got the feeling parents were always parents and they didn’t want to see their babies smacking nasties with someone.
With that in mind, I gave my usual warning. “If I’m staying over tonight, please, please try and keep your ladies out of my room.” I had, more than once, woken to their extras climbing into bed with me. Of course one swift wolf bite to the ass took care of the problem, but really … wrong on so many levels.
Maximus swung me onto his shoulders. “Tonight we’re all yours, Jessa babe.” The vampire was so tall I swear the air was thinner up there. He rounded out the last little section of free land and as he moved up onto the massive wraparound deck of their house, he dropped me to my feet.
“You better mean all mine in a completely non-sexual, unkinky way, Max.” I knew all about vamps and their freaky sex requests. “I have stamina but the four of you might possibly kill me.”
Tyson and Jacob started snorting out their laughter, and before I knew it a plethora of sharing suggestions were being tossed around.
“I’m going to miss you two,” I said. There would be bloodshed soon if they didn’t shut up.
Braxton moved then, and before I could blink had the two brothers locked in under his muscled arms. “You two have six seconds to stop talking or you’re going to stop breathing.”
Called it.
We walked across the front deck. Their house was a huge dwelling. The boys had built it together using blood, sweat and a bit of magic. I noticed that one of their black Range Rovers was parked out the front, probably still there from last week when Jacob had headed out of Stratford to help the other fey round up a few imps which had been causing trouble in New York City. Most families had cars but they were only used to leave town or if there was a call for a mass evacuation. Within Stratford, we walked everywhere.
I followed Braxton into the house and through the long hall which opened to their spacious and open-plan living room. Everything in this place was built to cater to large men. The rest of them tumbled through in a wrestling heap. I dropped onto the soft leather sofa, trying to switch my mind off. I couldn’t believe what had happened tonight. I had a sister. A freaking sister. Not something you expected to find out at twenty-two years of age. I cursed my mother and father. Mainly my mother though. I just knew this was mostly to do with her.
“Are you okay?” Braxton’s warmth wrapped around me, pulling me from my worries. “Want to talk about it?”
I wrinkled my nose, my eyebrows scrunching as I glared at him. “Do you want to talk about it? Why did you go all Dragonheart on us back there?”
His features hardened and all of a sudden he looked so fierce. I almost wanted to drop my eyes at his show of dominance, but I managed to stay where I was. “The look on your face when your father made the announcement,” he said, “was one of complete betrayal.” His blue eyes were not as hard as the rest of his face when he locked me in his gaze. “And pain, I could literally feel the hurt and pain bleeding off you. My dragon decided that no one hurts his Jessa.”
“Not to mention the council continues to feed us bits and pieces of information,” Jacob said, flicking his fingers out to light the large hearth fire which was the center of the room. It was icy this time of year, early November, although most of us didn’t worry too much about the cold. “I’m starting to think we’ve been a little too lenient with them. They should have already started training us, passing along the information we’ll need to be council leaders, but they aren’t. What sort of leaders will we be if they just hand us our mantle and throw us to the sharks at twenty-five?”
They had a point, and it was something I knew my father was uncomfortable with. “Dad said Kristoff doesn’t want to spread the network of information too far at the moment.”
Jonathon had never really been clear about what the council’s worry was, although after the meeting today it probably had something to do with the prison breakouts and dead fey. Suffice to say, something was whacked out in our world at the moment. Something we had no idea about. I had that tight feeling low in my gut. Prison breakouts, dead fey, mysterious sisters … what the actual fuck was going on?
“That’s the shit we’re talking about,” Tyson said as he used his magic to smash a bowl against the wall and then reform it back to perfect. It was his stress reliever when he was upset. His eyes were flashing with threads of gold but were still mostly brown. “We’re not just anyone. Spreading information to us is what they’re supposed to do.”
Jacob grinned then. “So, Jessa, your sister’s kind of hot, don’t you think?” The jackass struck again. I knew him well enough to know he was simply trying to release some tension.
She was hot, in an innocent, I’m-still-a-virgin way. But I was so not having this conversation tonight. “For that you will get me some food now, or I’ll tell Stella that you were with her and her sister on the same night.” Stella was the most competitive fey I’d ever known. If she found out he’d never hear the end of it.
“Damn, that’s low.” He got to his feet and moved toward the kitchen, calling back to me. “And for the record, your sister has nothing on you, you’re as fucking gorgeous as they come. It’s a shame you’re off limits, but I’d rather be your best friend forever than lover for a moment.” Truth. Jacob was not giving me a line. His sincerity was clear, and I could scent truth. This was not a skill every shifter had, but I was very good at it.
The Compasses were the love ‘em and leave ‘em types. Most supes were, unless we found our true mates, but that was a rare occurrenc
e. We’d all decided long ago it wasn’t worth it to risk a hookup, we had too many years of friendship to put it in jeopardy for one fun night. And I was standing by that, no matter how often they flashed those dimples in my direction.
Funnily enough, though, you found your mates through sexual contact, once you were over the age of maturity. It could happen from something as simple as a kiss, if it was hot enough, right up to that moment during sex where you can’t even remember your own name. So far all of us were minus mates, and we were okay with that. We were still young, and forever with one supernatural was a long time.
The boys must have sensed I wasn’t in the mood to go over the events of the day. Instead they busied themselves doing other things. Except Braxton. He stayed by my side, his hot thigh pressing down the length of mine as he crowded me. Maximus chose a movie for us. I was sort of paying attention; it was something with lots of action and explosions. Tyson was busy manning the front door. One would think it was a nightclub from the number of freaking girls he had to turn away. Although, his responses brought a true smile to my face.
“Fuck off, we’re full tonight,” I heard him holler to a few very persistent shifters. He was shaking his head when he walked back in. “The witches are so sensitive. I only have to hint that their ass is too big and they run for the hills. But shifters, you guys are tough as nails. I can’t even insult them away from the front door.”
“You’re a bastard, Ty,” I said as I snuggled down into the lounge, my lack of sleep and emotionally trying day getting the better of me. If my stomach wasn’t trying to eat itself I’d have been flat out snoring already.
“It’s not my fault witches’ metabolisms are not as fast as the other supes,” he said, flopping down on the other side of me.
