by Jaymin Eve
Tyson Compass
I was so close to snapping and killing the next supe who looked at me the wrong way. This entire fucking mission was pissing me off to the point where a permanent red tinged the edges of my vision; my energy roiled inside of me like a chemical reaction just waiting for one more ingredient to set off a mammoth explosion.
How did my brothers do it? How did they deal with knowing their happiness was based around the survival of another person? That if anything happened to their mates, they would burn the world to the ground, before joining their mates in whatever place existed after death?
Grace was buried so deep in my soul there was no way I could exist without her. And yet it wasn’t as simple as that either. Technically, she didn’t belong to me – even though she goddamned did – because she was part of so many other things. Herself … her own wants and needs … the healer community … the fey community – in whatever capacity that was.
Which all boiled down to one thing: I couldn’t keep her safely wrapped up in my totally secure, secret location. I just had to keep living with the risk of losing her, knowing that if that happened I would lose myself, mindlessly becoming nothing more than a beast, a killing machine. It was a small relief to know I had the mind of a dragon to escape to.
Here’s hoping I never needed to use that escape.
Quale led us out to an outskirts area of the city, and then to a small hut nestled on the edge of a forest. It was made entirely from thick red logs that blended the hut into its surroundings. It would have barely been visible if we weren’t staring directly at it. I expected there was more than a little magic keeping it hidden, too.
The mystic stepped up onto a wooden porch, opened the front door, and led us all into his home. It was small, just one main room. A lounge and dining area widened to the small kitchen, which was dominated by a huge wooden island bench. Stepping into the living area, I stood so the girls could sit and unwrap the babies.
There was no coffee table, just a large square rug, which Lily, Jackson, and Evie went down onto. Jessa and Mischa dropped some toys down for them to play with, because somehow they had depthless pockets on their outfits. I swear moms were more magic than all of the elders combined. Babies needed an extraordinary amount of stuff, and somehow they fit it all in.
I couldn’t believe Jessa had accused us of not respecting them. I obviously needed to up my game, because I was absolutely amazed and awed by every woman. They nurtured and loved and kicked ass when needed. They held families together. The world would be a mess if it was just men. I knew that without a doubt.
“I’ll get you all some food and then we can talk.” Quale walked into his kitchen, rummaging through the fridge and cupboards.
“Would you like some help?” Grace asked. I opened my mouth to protest but she shut me down with a single look, her right eyebrow raised in my direction. A smile slowly quirked on my lips; she was sexy as hell when she got her attitude on.
You need rest. Let me help and you can sit for a spell.
I didn’t like the dark circles under her eyes, or the exhaustion curving her shoulders. She should be taking this time to rest.
I got this, Mr. Bossy. Thanks, though.
I didn’t protest again, instead choosing to go into the kitchen and help her. We busied ourselves making sandwiches from the ingredients Quale passed us. When we were done with the thick beef subs, I handed them out to everyone, along with some bottled water. Silence reigned as we all shoveled food in, needing the meal to get through the rest of this task.
Jessa finished first, handing half of her sandwich to Braxton. His brow creased dramatically as he held the plate, his eyes running across her face. I examined Jessa a little closer, too. She had just given away some of her food.
“What happened to Louis?” And there was the reason for her lack of appetite. She leaned in, her eyes locked on Quale. “He’s been lost to us for so long. Nothing we did brought him back, and I fear … I fear we’re going to be too late to save him.”
We all knew the truth of these words. The longer he was gone, the less chance he would find his way back from wherever his mind was.
Quale, who hadn’t touched his food at all, let out a sigh. “He’s a prisoner, in the land of the demons.”
His words hovered around for a beat, before curses rang out. “What the hell do you mean?” Maximus growled above all of us.
“I don’t know everything. We can only communicate in small doses. He’s weak and drained. Fighting them off is taking its toll. But his soul, his essence, was sucked to the demon lands when he sent Davind – the demon – back there. He’s been trapped ever since, trying to stop the demons from figuring out how to free themselves.”
Holy. Fuck.
“How do you communicate?” Jessa asked, a snap in her voice as she ground her teeth together.
Quale shrugged. “The same way we always have. Louis appears in my head, or his essence does, and he relays information to me. I can mentally reply, which he doesn’t always hear. It’s mostly a one-way thing.”
Why was I even surprised by that? Just because I had never heard of any sorcerer just jumping into someone’s head didn’t mean shit when it came to Louis.
“How long has it been since you heard from him?” Grace’s question was low, laced with worry.
Some concern bled onto Quale’s face then. “It’s been over a week, which is the longest since he was taken.”
“How come you never told us?” Jessa was on her feet, hands clenched into small fists in front of her. “We could have been doing something that might have actually helped him. One of the strongest magic users in the world is trying to bring him back, she has been wasting her time. We’ve all been wasting time sitting on our asses, staring at his face.”
Quale held both of his hands up, his plate balanced precariously on his legs. “I’m sorry. He asked me not to tell you, said he was in the middle of trying to stop the demons from destroying the worlds, and he needed to make sure you all didn’t set out on a suicide mission to save him. He’s limited without his body, but he still has some magic in his spirit form.”
“Damn overachiever with a death wish,” I muttered. Louis was always trying to save the world alone. He should realize now, after everything we had all been through, that he didn’t have to do it alone anymore. He was part of our pack.
Braxton wrapped his arms around Jessa. “He’s still alive, that’s the most important thing.” His voice was low, gentle, and he started running his hands up and down her back, trying to calm her. “We will save him, I promise. I’ll do everything in my power to release Louis’ essence back to Earth. Back to his body.”
Jessa shuddered against him, and when her shoulders shook briefly, I fought the urge to punch a wall. She wasn’t afraid to cry; the strong own their emotions. But I still hated it when she was this upset. Made me want to start killing whomever upset her. Since I couldn’t do that right now, I had to focus on what I could do.
“We need your help.” I pinned my gaze on Quale, ignoring his visible flinch.
My eyes were probably doing some sort of dragon-gold-sorcery thing, but I really didn’t give a shit. I wanted answers. I needed them. “We were sent here to find three fey princesses. They’ve been hidden away, powers bound. They could appear as a fey, or any of the five races. Maybe even human.”
Mischa let out a strangled yelp then and everyone spun around to stare in her direction. Her eyes got really wide and she started spluttering: “Justice … what if she … we sent her here. Kristoff had her for a reason. He was taking her blood. What if…”
She trailed off. Maximus figured out what she was saying first. “Justice, right! When I rescued Mischa from that dead-fucker Kristoff, there was a human girl locked in the cells. We sent her here. Her being human never really made sense, though. Why would Kristoff need the blood of a human? And why was she in that supe sale thing in the demon world? Lots of things weren’t adding up.”
We were all
on our feet now. “Is Justice still here?” I asked Quale.
He shook his head, and I felt my dragon snap its jaws closed in frustration. If I hadn’t been so focused on the princesses, I’d probably take a moment to marvel over the pure insanity of having a living beast inside of me.
“Well, where did she go then?” Jacob’s words were clipped.
“I should have been more specific.” Quale seemed to have recovered some of his confidence. “She’s no longer in the city part of the sanctuary. She left with a few friends to explore some of the other little towns.”
“There are other towns in here?” Mischa said, confused.
Quale nodded enthusiastically. “Oh yes, there are some small ones scattered through the four different territories. The jinn occupy the one in the desert. I would not recommend visiting them. Strange beings.”
Jessa let out a snort, crossing her arms over her chest. She’d had a few run-ins with the genie folk the last time she was here. She needed no warning to avoid them.
“I believe Justice and her friends were heading for the forest,” Quale said, sounding unsure again. “We don’t keep tabs on them or anything, but that’s the direction they went.”
“We don’t have time for this,” I snarled.
I exchanged a look with Braxton; the same frustration was on his face. Just as I was about to suggest we better get moving, since we apparently had an entire jungle to search, Quale clapped his hands together twice. “I’ve just thought of a plan which might work. We can call a convergence, bring all the inhabitants to the main square. There’s an alarm system here. It’s used in emergencies. I think this qualifies.”
Grace shook her head. “The other mystics won’t like it.”
Quale shrugged. “I wasn’t planning on running the idea by them first. I’m just going to set it off, jam the frequency, and by the time they figure out how to shut it down, the girls will have hopefully made their way to the city.”
Maximus rubbed his hand across his stubble – all of us were unshaven; it had been a full-on few days. “It’s the best plan we have. If it doesn’t work, we can always start searching, but this might save us hours, if not days.”
Quale headed toward the door. I gathered up all the plates, dropping them in the sink, while the girls strapped the babies on again. We then joined him on the porch. “Go and wait right at the end of the food street,” he said. “I don’t want anyone connecting you to this.”
He jumped over the railing and started sprinting toward a huge skyscraper right in the center of the city. Heeding his warning, none of us lingered there, making our way back into the main part of the town, toward the street of food. The multitude of different restaurants were filled with supes having lunch, chatting, seeming to not have a care in the world. There were a lot of inhabitants in the sanctuary, many of them dragon marked who had remained after Larkspur’s death. This was the only home a lot of them had known.
When we reached the end of the street, we casually chatted, trying to remain inconspicuous while we waited for the alarm. “I’m going to kill Louis,” Jessa muttered, her hands running up and down Jackson’s back. “He should have let us know where he was. He should have let us rescue him. Who knows what the demons are doing to him.”
I was worried about him too. Demons … it was bad and he had been there for a long time now. Too long. Just then Grace pressed a hand to her chest and stumbled forward, squeezing her eyes tightly closed.
“Grace, what’s wrong?”
On instinct, I reached for our bond – she had me very firmly locked out. Wrapping my hands around her biceps, I lifted her into me. She was rigid, cold to my touch. I was just about to lose it when she started to shake. “They’re coming. They’re coming for us,” she stuttered.
She repeated those ominous words over and over, and it took all of my control, and some of my brothers’, which I borrowed, to keep my dragon from bursting free from my skin. “Who is coming for us? What can you feel?”
Her eyes flew open; she locked me in their dark, shimmery depths. “Those who hunt the princesses. Bounty hunters. They plan to turn us over to the demons. They will use our blood to free the shadows.” She spoke tonelessly, robotically even, like she wasn’t fully with me.
An alarm started to blare, long and loud, blasting through the magically-enhanced sky. Supes everywhere reacted, jumping up from their chairs, hurrying down the street to stand near us. At least we were in the right gathering spot. Taking no chances, my brothers and I spanned out around the girls, turning our backs on them so we could see danger coming.
“Can you see them?” Jacob asked. “What do these hunters even look like?”
Braxton’s words were drawled and calm. “I’m going to hazard a guess that might be them over there.”
He inclined his head toward the desert area. We were slightly elevated on this street, so we had a decent view of the group that had just come into sight. There was at least a dozen of them, all dressed in black, multiple tattoos and markings across their skin. They weren’t human – I couldn’t tell from here which race they were.
“What? Only twelve of them,” Jacob scoffed. “Shit, we can finish them with one hand behind our backs.”
Ignoring him, I ushered everyone back off the high point, blending us better into the crowd. I caught glimpses of the hunters as they plunged into the midst of the gathered supes.
Grace’s hands tangled in the back of my shirt and I turned slightly to see her over my shoulder. “Stay close to me,” I murmured. “I won’t let them touch you.”
She let out a breathy sigh, snuggling even closer. “I know, Ty. I’ve got your back too. Always.”
Her words ignited a burning flame in my chest, the newly bonded dragon in my soul more than a little happy. Mate. I mentally waved him away. Yes, I know she’s our mate.
I could feel the possessiveness of the dragon, which was not helping the possessiveness I already had in abundance. We will protect her. No matter what.
The bounty hunters split up, which was a smart move. Their aim appeared to be to blend in while they searched, but they moved like military, and looked like military in their black fatigues. There was no fitting in for them with this casually-dressed crowd, but at least it was easy for us to keep an eye on them.
The alarm was still blaring intermittently, and more supes continued to join the main gathering. We kept pushing our way into the center of the crowd, and when I thought we had gone far enough, I pulled Grace into my arms. “Blend in, act inconspicuous,” I murmured to my brothers. They wrapped their arms around their mates. Jacob turned and immediately struck up a conversation with a nearby witch. She had long blond curls and big blue eyes, and was far too doll-like for my brother. He liked them earthy and real, but they appeared to be chatting easily, so his cover was secure.
Grace stared up at me, her face heavy with lines of stress and fear. “How did you know they were here?” I murmured, pressing my lips close to her ear.
She whispered low, “The ice magic, it’s … it’s getting stronger. It warned me, just like when I knew what to do with the magic book.”
“How did they find you?”
She shrugged. “I have no idea, but Josephina told us they were close. That my gran broke the securities on me, which must have somehow affected the other girls, too.”
I bit back a few choice curses. “I wonder if the Jeste guardians let someone else in to find the book.”
Grace’s teeth sank into her lips as she worried at it. “Let’s just hope they let them in, because if they took the book by force, and hurt those guardians…”
We both knew how bad that would be. Not only were the elders the only thing keeping a ton of deadly supes out of our world, they were also strong and powerful, and if these hunters had bested them, we did not stand a chance.
A hunter moved into my line of sight, and I ducked my head low, pressing my lips to Grace’s. My mind blanked and my body roared to life as I nudged her legs slightly apa
rt so I could press even closer to her. Our bond wanted us to be together, to cement the mateship. Which meant it was getting harder and harder to resist her. I forced my mind to focus; this was definitely not the time for a clouded head.
We should leave, I said, gentling our kiss. If they were able to defeat those elders, then they’re strong. Too strong.
Okay, let’s round up the others, she agreed, sounding only a little dazed.
We separated, but before we could make a move, a blinding blue light surrounded us. My dragon let out a roar as bands snapped across us. The hunters had surrounded our group; somehow they knew Grace was here. Braxton let out a growl, Jacob and I followed, and it was pure dragon from all of us.
“No,” Braxton bit out. “If we shift, we could kill the girls. Control your beasts.”
Easier said than done, but the thought of hurting Grace was enough to have the dragon halt his thrashing against my hold. It was a strong magic band, locking on to our bodies, keeping our arms pinned to our sides. Thankfully the babies were not squished. For now. It would be a different story if they started to constrict. The crowds parted away from us, only to be replaced by the hunters. They spread out, surrounding us, keeping a small gap between us and them.
“That was easier than I expected,” one of them said.
He was a grizzled male with salt and pepper hair. Bear shifter … one who was old and had lived a very hard life. He had a military haircut, no-nonsense slate grey eyes, and a hard stare. I had no idea who he was, but he meant business.
“Let. Us. Go.” Jessa hated being confined. “Or I’m going to kill you all, one by one, using multiple forms of torture.”
Grizzly exchanged a grin with a tall, skinny redhead on his left. “Is she the one?”
The redhead raised one of his scrawny limbs, and in his hand was a wooden box. He flicked open the clasp, lifted the lid, and then held it closer to Jessa. She snarled and snapped her teeth at him.
