Elemental Compass (Supernatural Prison Book 7)

by Jaymin Eve

  Awkward as fuck conversation to have with one's parent, but I refused to let them downgrade our bond because there was no visible joining yet.

  A panicked look crossed my mother's face as she reached out and clutched her mate's arm. "A ruby princess cannot be mated to someone that’s not even from the jeweled lands. It's never been done. I don't…"

  For fuck's sake. Like, this shouldn't even be a conversation in this day and age. It was akin to racism, sexism, ageism. Time to remind them who their daughter was.

  "When I returned, I told you that I would learn about my world … that I wanted to be part of your lives, but I never said that you could control me or my choices."

  I moved forward to the edge of my chair, eyeballing both of them. "And my private life is not even remotely up for debate. I've been forced into many things over my years, had to endure the worst of the worst, and when I was finally free, I promised myself that I would never fall to the whims of another person. I would make my own choices, be my own person and accept the consequences of my actions … instead of having to suffer for another person's choice."

  I was out of breath, mostly because of how hard these topics were to speak about.

  "Jacob is important to me. He’s going to be part of my life, and you either accept him or you lose me forever."

  Deloria exchanged a look with Jepati, and it was not a reassuring one. "What?" I snapped. "What does that look mean?"

  "Now that you have bonded with the jewels, you must also answer to them," my mother told me. "So you can spout on all you want about making your own choices, but if they don't accept Jacob, then you will no longer hold the connection you do now."

  My father cleared his throat. "And the rubies have never accepted someone who wasn't a jeweled fey. It's why the royal family is very particular about who their mates are."

  I turned to Jacob, wanting to see his reaction to this news.

  His face was grim, and I shook my head. "I don't care."

  Murky green eyes met mine. "You would have to choose between being a ruby princess and me," he said, voice threaded with darkness. "I'm not going to force you to lose a part of yourself like that."

  "I don't care," I repeated, meaning every word.

  My mother opened her mouth; I saw it from the corner of my eye, and I swung around to halt her. "You don't get to speak," I said bluntly. "If you can't support my happiness, then I remove myself from your toxicity."

  Something I'd learned the hard way: family didn’t get a pass for toxic behavior. No one that stole from your happiness deserved your time or energy.

  I got to my feet. "Come on, Jake," I said softly. "I never wanted to be a princess anyway. That's not my dream, and it's actually easier this way."

  He stared at my hand, and for a moment I thought he was going to try to talk me out of it again, then he wrapped his long fingers around mine, and got to his feet beside me.

  "I support you, no matter what you choose," he murmured, leaning down so his face was right beside mine. "And maybe you won't even have to make the choice. There's always a first time for the jewels to accept an outsider."

  Deloria laughed, a brittle, bitter sound. "There's no chance of that. I hope you're happy that you've now taken our only heir and the ruby princess away from her people."

  She launched to her feet, ruby energy arcing around her. Jacob didn't even flinch, he just angled himself in front of me—bastard was always doing that, and I kind of loved it—and shook his head.

  "I'm not here to fight you. Not unless you force my hand. I'm here for Justice. I want to do whatever it takes for her happiness. If you're not on board for the same, then I guess that might explain why this night hasn't gone the way you wanted it to."

  The queen’s face screwed up as she screamed a long, guttural cry of pain and loss and fear. I hadn't seen her react this way, not even when I'd first returned and she was acknowledging the many years lost between us. "You won't take my daughter," she howled, and then … she attacked him.

  "No," I shouted, knowing the insanely destructive power of the jewels. Jacob was powerful, and I rarely had to worry about his safety, but I wasn't sure if he was strong enough for this.

  25

  Jacob Compass

  My dragon rose to the surface in a shimmer of green scales and ancient magic. The dragons … guardians of the gold, bonded to the shining ones, did not like being disrespected. And if our mates were in danger, that was usually a mistake one didn’t get to repeat.

  Don't kill them. I warned my beast, before I released him from his hold. I also used my power to move Justice out of the way so she wouldn't become collateral damage in this battle between her parents and me.

  I heard her angry protest as she was shuffled out of the door, but there was no time to worry about that.

  Protect our treasure.

  It was still uncomfortable to shift; breaking of bones, reforming of cells. The change in perspective was interesting as the dragons didn’t see in the same color wave, or use the same brain patterns as humans. Allowing my beast his own head in this situation was either brave or stupid. We’d only been bonded for a short time, not enough to truly be in tune as Braxton was with his dragon, but I knew without any doubt we wouldn’t hurt our mate. The rest should work itself out.

  Ruby fire slammed into my side. The spell cast by Deloria had built up into something that was quite powerful. Dragons were unlike any other beast on the worlds though; magic did not easily penetrate our hide. The spell shattered against me as Justice let loose a shout and her mother screamed. There was an unstable quality to the queen’s cry.

  This woman had lost her child, her life, and her freedom for many years. I had sympathy for her, and would have worked with her to ensure that Justice was always part of this world—as long as that was what Justice wanted of course. But putting her daughter in danger with reckless use of magic was where I drew the line.

  My beast destroyed half of their office as we stomped toward them. I wasn't surprised when Jepati jumped in front of his mate, protecting her as any male of worth would do.

  "Don't hurt them!" Justice shouted from behind me. She was back in the room, right under my front legs in the perfect position to be squished if I stepped wrong. This was a huge room, but I almost completely filled it, making it dangerous for anyone nearby.

  "She's sorry," Jepati shouted, holding both hands up in front of him. "This is very hard for her, and she didn't mean to attack you."

  "Yes, I damn well did," Deloria snarked from behind him, sounding a little calmer than before.

  "Jake," Justice pleaded from below me. "Please change back so we can talk about this. I appreciate the grand gesture, but I think Mom has stopped with her tantrum."

  Deloria gasped, absolutely taken aback that anyone would think she was acting like a petulant child. Having become an uncle to three toddlers recently, I could attest to the accuracy of Justice's claim.

  Let's shift back, buddy, I told my dragon, feeling his disappointment that we wouldn't be flying around. Soon, I promised. Very soon we'll go out for as long as you need.

  My dragon in general was calmer than my brothers’, and I knew this from when I’d joined in the quad bond and felt their beasts interact with my own. Very rarely did I have to expel much energy to bring him into line, and I enjoyed this new symbiotic relationship we had going on.

  The energy tingled across my scales, down my spiked back, and settled in my center. I drew the dragon inside, slowly at first, until eventually the change washed over me, and I returned to my fey size.

  Naked as the day I was born.

  The king and queen turned away, allowing me privacy, but Justice stared unabashedly, and I stalked across to her, reaching out to haul her up and into my arms. "Mine," I rumbled, still more dragon than fey in that moment.

  Justice reached up and cupped my face, her soft thumb tracing a circle over my skin. "Yes."

  One fucking word. A simple word. A word that meant everything to
me.

  Turning, I strode out of the room, needing to be alone with my mate.

  "We'll see you for breakfast in the morning," King Jepati called after us; neither of us looked back or acknowledged that statement.

  "So, your dragon is kind of terrifying," Justice said conversationally. "But I’m super not complaining if at the end of every shift I get a hot-as-fuck naked dude."

  My lips twitched as amusement tried to push through the darkness still pulsing within me. "Your parents are getting on my last nerve," I muttered.

  She nodded, her hair scraping underneath my jawline. "Yeah, they're an issue, but I think it’ll work out fine. If they can’t handle what you and I have, I'll just leave Faerie, live on Earth, and visit them occasionally as Grace does. Tyson is working on that time-space thingy that will stop there being so much time lapse when we're here, so it should all be … perfect."

  "Perfect," I sighed, still not sure why I was protesting this so much. Justice being with me was my ultimate goal, but in doing so I didn’t want her to lose a fundamental part of herself. "We should go to breakfast tomorrow," I added. "I'd like to hear your parents’ thoughts after they've slept on it."

  Justice groaned. "No, I'm done for a few weeks. I want to go back to Earth tonight."

  As badly as I wanted to leave as well, get back to my family and make sure the entire setup with the president was going okay, it didn't sit right with me to just bail after that fight. "One more breakfast," I said. "Give them a chance to get it right. Parents are not perfect, and you guys have more to overcome in rebuilding your relationship than most families. Don’t throw it away so quickly."

  A stubborn expression crossed her face, which did nothing to help the hard cock settled just below her ass. I liked that expression.

  "I know they’ve disappointed you,” I said, trying to distract myself. “I know you feel betrayed by them, but you’ll regret not giving it another shot.”

  She huffed and my dick jerked. Fuck. Me. She was legitimately going to be the death of me with her adorable attitude.

  "Okay," she said with reluctance, "but just for that, you're not getting off tonight. You can just suffer with that huge ass dick all on your own. No love from me."

  Ouch. It hurt. It really hurt to think I would not be relieved of this tension, but I'd wait for as long as she needed. In truth, it was probably best not to rush the sexual side of our relationship—Justice deserved to be treated right, and I was determined to be a better fucking man for her than I'd ever been for anyone else.

  "You got it, Ruby," I whispered, unable to stop myself from tasting her lips again. "I'll keep him on my side of the bed and outside of you.”

  “Your side of the bed?” she spluttered. “What makes you think we’ll share a bed either.”

  This time I laughed, hauling her even higher and closer. “You're insane if you think we're not sleeping in the same bed. You're with me from now on."

  I would protect her with everything I had. Even from myself.

  26

  Justice Winter

  He was naked. Gloriously, decadently, hugely—like what the hell could I do with those extra inches—naked. I'd seen a lot of naked men in my life, and some were okay, some were nice, some were disgusting. But Jacob … he was clearly no ordinary man.

  If I could have sketched his beauty, I would be a millionaire. Women the world around would flock to see what he had going on.

  And I'd just taken sex off the table.

  What was wrong with me?

  With a sigh, I directed him to my room, using the most deserted path I knew. It was odd to be carried like this, and while I thought I would hate it, I was rather enjoying this brief moment of surrendering my independence and allowing someone else to shoulder it.

  "I won't make you choose," he said to me. "We can work out a way to have both, even if it's only that we never fully consummate this relationship so the true mate bond doesn’t permanently settle."

  I jerked my head up, almost cracking him in the chin. "You don't want to consummate with me?" An archaic term that sounded weird on my tongue, it did fit with the way true mateships were borne here in the jeweled lands.

  Jacob stopped walking. "There's nothing I want more than to touch you, run my tongue over your center again.”

  My heart beat faster.

  His lips were close to mine now. “I want to hear you scream my name as I bury my cock so far inside of you that you'll never remember another man has touched you before me."

  Whoa. Hot and possessive.

  And I was totally not complaining about that.

  He started walking, and I tried to shake off my shock and arousal.

  "You deserve to be courted," Jacob continued, huskily, like he hadn't just almost burned my freaking panties off. "I won't rush the sex stuff—"

  I snorted, cutting him off. Memories of the way he'd made me come in the hall were flashing across my mind. His grin was slow and delicious. "Any more than I already have."

  "And you'd really be okay with never having sex with me?"

  His reply was dead serious. "If sex meant that I would lose you, then fuck, it would be dead to me. No consideration required. Plenty of other ways we can love each other."

  There he went again. Panty-melting bastard.

  "You don't have to worry about it, Jake," I told him honestly. "We will be having sex. We will be cementing the true mate bond. I refuse to believe that I could be gifted a mate only to have a huge part of my life reject that fey. It can't work like that. I won't give you up to be a princess." My face screwed up at the very thought. "Fuck, I don't even want to be a princess."

  Maybe not the complete truth, but enough that I wouldn’t be too sad if it was gone.

  When we stepped into my room, I gestured for him to put me down near my bed. "I grew up with a plastic bag full of hand-me-down clothing. What do I know about this life?"

  He turned me to face him and I kept my eyes firmly on his face. If I looked any lower, that taking it slow thing would be off the table. "You’re exactly the princess a kingdom needs," he said. "Loyal, smart, down to earth, caring, and most importantly, you don't value yourself above your people. It's the perfect makings of a royal … but, as always, it's your choice."

  He was right. It was my choice, and tonight I didn't have to decide anything.

  Shaking my head, I focused on Jacob. "Why don't you jump in the shower and I'll rustle up some clothing for you." I really needed his perfect naked ass to get covered.

  Jacob grinned like he knew what I was thinking. Maybe he did … the bond seemed to be strengthening even without the sex. I certainly felt his energy stronger than I had when we were on Earth.

  I was startled when he stepped into me, one hand sliding around the back of my head, closing down possessively on the nape of my neck. He pulled me close, strong fingers massaging, sending tingles racing down my spine. I was panting by the time he kissed me. Actually panting. Jesus. I had never felt anything like this before, and I wondered if I would survive the intensity of my feelings.

  "We were never going to take it slow," I murmured, a choked, breathless laugh escaping me.

  "You're probably right," he replied, just as his lips closed over mine, and then I completely forgot what we were talking about.

  By the time he stepped away I was a puddle, reduced to breathing, blood pumping, pulse racing, heart slamming against my chest.

  "Don't forget the clothes," Jacob said as he released me, turning to search out the bathroom. I would have told him where it was, but speech seemed to be beyond me.

  When he was gone from sight, I pulled myself together like the strong, modern, independent woman I was—who was I kidding—and found one of the staff. Nora was a few years older than me; her family all worked in this household.

  "Could you help me," I asked her, "if you're not too busy, of course?"

  She was dusting some of the ornaments in the hall, and I didn't want to take her away from that, but it was kind
of urgent to get that ass covered before I jumped it.

  "Of course, Princess Justice," she said in her sweet voice, curtseying to me once. She was petite, half a foot shorter than me, with a mass of wild blond curls, rich blue eyes, and alabaster skin. She was absolutely breathtaking.

  "I've told you before, please just call me Justice." I pulled her to her feet. "And you don't need to genuflect."

  She smiled but didn’t agree—so far I’d been unable to break her of the habit.

  "How can I help you?" she asked, looking positively excited by the prospect.

  "I need some men's clothing. They'd have to be large enough to fit—"

  "Jacob Compass," she interrupted, her excitement levels shooting sky high. "I heard talk of him at the ball and I admit that I snuck in to see him. He's…"

  She trailed off and I smiled. "Oh yes, he's very much that and more. And right now he's naked in my room."

  She gasped, her eyes super wide and innocent, with a flicker in those deep blue depths that told me she was curious. "I need him to be dressed."

  Nora shook her head. "Why? I mean seriously. Why…?"

  I threw my head back and laughed. "Yeah, that's an acceptable response. Let's just say there are extenuating circumstances and I can't take advantage of all that is Jacob Compass, so best thing to do is cover him up."

  Nora laughed, a husky sound that almost didn't go with her sweet voice and face. "One full body suit with mask coming up," she quipped, and I enjoyed seeing her relax a little around me.

  "Yes!" I joked back. "Cover him from hair to toes and I might make it through the night."

  We both laughed and she nodded. "I do actually know where I can get some clothes that will fit. And if they don't, I'll find someone to magic us up some. Don't worry, I'll be back at your room soon."

  She took off down the hall, face determined as she carried out her mission.

  "Thank you!" I called after her.

  I'd had to go a few halls away from my room to find her, and on the way back I got lost twice—this house was huge and complicatedly set out—so Jacob was done when I returned. Sprawled back on my bed, a towel around his waist.