Dragon Marked: Supernatural Prison #1 (20 page)

I inhaled through my nose in one long movement. I think I had … well, a
major case of the feels. Something had hit me hard in the heart and my emotions
were overflowing.

“You okay, Jessa?” Braxton brought his face close to mine, tantalizing me
with those masculine planes that had every woman in Stratford panting. As we
locked eyes my hurting heart thumped extra hard and I had the strangest urge to
kiss him.

What the hell?

I’d never felt like that before, he was my best friend. I would not ruin
that with romance. It could never work, especially with any of the Compasses.
They weren’t made for long-term, they were they first to admit that. I needed
to pull myself together and get laid. It had been way too long for a shifter.

“Jessa?” he asked again, and I realized I hadn’t answered his question.

“Yes, I’m okay, just tired and hungry.”

He tilted his head to the side, calling me on my bullshit. But thankfully
he let it go without more of a confrontation. We continued on our journey. It
would take us at least thirty minutes to walk around the entire area.

“How long do we have out here?” I murmured, while squinting at a strange
sight across the way. “And are we back in our cells after that?”

Braxton followed my eyes. “The schedule allows an hour in the morning for
the shower area, four hours mingle time out here, and then back to our cells.”

“Are they having sex?” I blurted out.

We were both staring at the couple across from us. It was a fey female
with long golden red hair and a lanky, black-haired vampire male. He had his
fangs deep in her neck and the movements under his coat was pretty clear.

“That would be an affirmative.” Braxton turned away.

I stared for only a beat longer. “Do they not care what happens inside
here?”

He laughed, harsh and grating. “As long as no one escapes, they don’t
give a damn what goes on inside these walls. That’s why we have to be careful.
If we are attacked, no one is going to come to our rescue.”

I wondered if that was true. I’d seen a few of the guards watching me
closely. I knew Jonathon would have someone on the inside to keep an extra eye
on our safety. I hoped anyways. I would die if anything happened to Braxton; it
was my fault we were in here. As we rounded off the end of the tour we passed
what looked like a stable, a round yard, and a jousting arena. Like I said, it
was a large area. Finally we arrived in front of the buffet.

There was a line, so we stood on the end and waited patiently. No one
lingered too close to anyone else, except for a few who were clearly friends.
But I was starting to see Braxton’s definition of friend versus an alliance.

The man in front of me was quiet as he waited, but I could sense
something very strong inside of him. And his profile was strangely familiar. He
shifted his head in a slow-motion movement. There was nothing remotely normal
about that creepy head spin.

Braxton nodded at him. “Vlad.”

Holy shut my face in the door. Vlad? As in Vlad the Impaler. I had no
idea he’d been taken from Romania and placed into our prison. It did make
sense, they always removed the celebrities from their local zone. Since his
inability to keep himself under control – many years ago – had majorly outed
the vampire legend, well, he was set to be locked up for a long time. His list
of crimes was massive.

“Dragon.” He returned the greeting.

His blood red eyes flicked across to me. I fought the urge to shiver; he
was like the mayor of creepy town, right down to the clichéd pale skin, black
stringy hair and razor sharp pointed nails. But the part which cemented his
status as Creepy McCreep was the eyes for sure.

“And who is this delicious little morsel?”

I fought the urge to barf in my mouth. It was either that or punch him in
the skeletal protrusion that he was working as a nose.

“None of your fucking business,” I said, curling my lips. The movement
was involuntary.

Braxton tightened his grip on my hand, but otherwise didn’t show any
signs of concern.

“Everything in here is my business, little girl. I run Vanguard.”

I flicked my ponytail behind me and let out a sigh. “I’m pretty hungry. Can
we just move this interrogation along?”

The smallest of smiles lifted the corner of his mouth. “I like you. I
think I won’t kill you for a while. Although…” He breathed deeply. “The scent
of your blood … very tempting.”

His hard features lighted on Braxton. “Keep her under control. Muzzle the
bitch if you have to.”

Braxton moved then, in his usual move that was faster than the eye could
track. His hand hovered over the vampire’s neck, but he didn’t touch him.

“Don’t threaten me or Jessa. I don’t want to take you on, but if it comes
down to it, I will. And you will not best me.”

Something slid across the red depths of Vlad’s eyes, and without another
word he turned away. My worried eyes followed him, he was very old and
powerful, I did not want Braxton anywhere near him. We were at the start of the
food now, so it was a convenient distraction for him to turn away. But it also
spoke of his hesitation with the Compasses. I wouldn’t have guessed their
reputation ran deep enough to have penetrated the prison system. Maybe they’d
left an impression when they’d been in here for their short time.

Silence reigned as we traversed the length of the buffet. For once I
couldn’t even find enough food to fill my plate. For the first time since we
entered the prison, I was depressed.

I dropped my tray with a huff and slowly sank onto a bench seat. Braxton
grinned as he sat down right next to me. “All that we’ve gone through in the
last few days and finally you’re upset because of shitty food.” He flashed me a
double row of blindingly white teeth.

I picked up a bread roll which could actually be used as a weapon. It was
like a rock.

“Shitty?” I almost screeched, throwing my rock down. “This food is so bad
it should be used to feed the criminals who are on death row in the human
prisons. It would actually kill them.”

We didn’t have death row in our prisons. When supernatural criminals were
hunted down, many of them received immediate death sentences in the field,
mostly because it’s in our nature to fight back. But our laws state that if you
come in quietly and accept imprisonment you get to keep your head. Which was
the reason Vlad, who wore the blood of millions of humans, was still kicking.
It wasn’t exactly a law I always agreed with, but that’s what we had.

I picked at the lumps of crap which were masquerading as food on my plate.
Tension filtered through my body as a large figure dropped into the bench seat
across from us. I lifted my head, wishing I could call on my wolf. I was really
lost without her.

The new arrival was a massive vampire male, bald headed, with scars
riddling his visible skin. He had one particularly nasty gash: red, raised and
ropy, which ran from the corner of his right eye and down to his chin. He didn’t
say anything at first. I think he was hoping his appearance alone would work as
intimidation. Braxton and I just stared back, although I did have my bread rock
in my hand again. A girl needs to be prepared. Just sayin’.

“I’ve heard a few rumors of your reappearance, Braxton.” His voice was
low, and sent chills down my spine. He was dead inside – you can always tell by
the voice, nothing good left there anymore. “And of the little wolf that’s been
glued to your side.”

“Last time you started trouble, it ended badly,” Braxton drawled. “For
you.”

He grinned; his teeth were a little pointed. “Ah, but this time you are
minus your brothers. With the addition of a pretty large vulnerability.”

His eyes settled on my face and I wanted to turn away. I felt dirty just
having his gaze on me. But I’d played this game before – not with a crazy
criminal of course, but I knew that the first to break eye contact lost. I
might be a little separated from my wolf, but being alpha never went away, and
I was all alpha.

“Jessa is more than enough backup,” Braxton said. My limbs warmed at his
compliment. The Compasses spent so much time protecting me that I often
wondered if they knew how well I could fight. I was trained, I could be a
weapon. I just never needed to, because of my four-guard-men.

Scar-face stared at me for an extra beat before giving a nod. “Jessa, now
I realize why your scent is so familiar. You remind me of my jailer … and I
have such fond memories of Jonathon Lebron.”

Ah shit. Our flying under the radar had not lasted long.

“Your father is on more than one list in here, wolf princess,” he said as
he stood. “I’ll be seeing you.”

He walked away. I wasn’t sure if he realized that he’d just lost our
staring, dominance contest. Being a vampire, he probably didn’t care.

His threats had my heart beating a little rapidly, but panic didn’t
settle fully into my limbs. No point inviting worry yet. If things were going
to go to shit I’d deal with it at the time.

“Worried?” I tilted my head to see Braxton.

He grimaced before throwing down the last of the ass-food that had been
on his plate. I couldn’t believe he’d managed to eat any of it.

“We’ll see,” he muttered as we dumped our trays and left the eating area.

He led me to the section of room that we’d walked past but I hadn’t
explored, a gym and pool combo filled with many muscle-bound inmates.

“I need to work off some steam,” Braxton said.

I could see that he did.

I had a sudden thought. “Can you touch your dragon?” He didn’t seem to be
suffering as badly as me.

He cocked one brow in my direction, before winking. Holy effing eff. Was
he for real? I might have to beat the information out of him later when he
couldn’t escape me.

“Can I swim?” I asked, sure he would say no, since he wanted me glued to
his side. But he wasn’t the only one who needed to work off some steam.

“Sure. I’ll keep an eye on you from over here.”

That’s what I really loved about Braxton, he understood when to hover and
when I needed space. It was hard for dominant men to ever give up their
control, and Braxton rarely did, but on occasion he did with me. I left him on
one of the weight machines and strolled the ten meters to the pool.

There weren’t many swimming in the crystal clear water. I decided to just
go for gold, clothes and all. It was hot enough that the thin cotton would dry
in no time. I dived in and powered down one of the lanes. I could hold my
breath for a long time, so it was many minutes before I emerged and started to
slice through the water. My limbs welcomed the strain. Exercise was a daily
part of my life and I needed the release to calm the wolf and demon inside.

I almost swallowed half the pool when a sudden realization smashed into me.
My demon. Was it still in there or did the security measures limit it also? I
sent my energy down, passing my caged wolf who I knew was unhappy, even though
I couldn’t feel her, and into that little dark space which I kept locked down.
The demon rose and … well, rubbed against me like a kitty, although there was
no way any feline could feel this dark.

I’m here
, it
seemed to whisper at me. For the first time I was relieved about this. Although
I couldn’t shake the fear that if I freed the energy I’d never be able to lock
it down again. But if it came down to Braxton’s life, I would not hesitate. Not
for one fucking second.

I continued to swim, only breaking off as a dark shadow emerged beneath
me. My heart skipped a few beats, then I recognized the massive shape. It was
Braxton. I’d swum with him enough times to know what was about to hit me. I
stopped swimming, throwing myself backwards and scooting in backstroke the way
I’d just come. I had to get out of the water or he was going to … a hand grabbed
my ankle, halting my frantic kicking motions.

Damn. Too slow.

Braxton’s arms came around me and he lifted me full bodily into the air.
I went high, crashing back down and sinking close to the base of the pool. I
was in fighting mode as I dived for him, my momentum enough to dunk him beneath
the water. His face was close to mine and it felt as if his lips brushed my
hairline. But before I could kick out to free myself, an alarm started to
sound. It was loud, long, and easily able to penetrate the water.

I gasped in a few deep breaths when my head broke the surface. I narrowed
my eyes on Braxton as he rose next to me. He looked as sexy as sin, all wet,
clothes clinging to his hard muscles. Damn him. The dimples flashing in my
direction. It was enough to undo any woman. Luckily I was immune to the Compass
charms. Swear.

“Time to head back to our cell,” he said to me, his hand finding mine in
the water.

Oh well, at least the alarm wasn’t anything serious. Although, I’d had a
faint hope that someone was coming to break us out.

Braxton and I lay on our bunks. They were just a tad softer than the
stone floor but smelled worse. I’d almost ended up crashing on the ground. It
had been lights out for a few hours, but I couldn’t sleep. The howls and
screams that echoed along the shifter wing was part of the problem – shifters
go crazy locked in stone walls, and some had been here for many years – but the
other problem was my head. It just wouldn’t stop thinking. I was worrying about
the dragon marked, Mischa, my family, and the Compasses. I knew Kristoff was
evil and there was no way he would stop at enacting revenge because his plans
kept going awry. Louis flittered across my mind on occasion too, but he was a
little further back than the rest.

The noise of Braxton’s bulk moving on his bunk had me
turning my head to the side. In the semi-darkness I could see him watching me.
“What’s going on in that pretty head of yours, Jessa?” His voice was low,
gentle. Kind of unlike his normal tone.

I made a decision right then to share some of my
burden. I had a secret that I’d been keeping and I hated that. It was eating
away at me like a poison and I needed to get it out before it did permanent
damage. I rolled off my bed and padded silently across the small room, four
steps and I was right beside his bunk. His ancient eyes, so out of place on his
twenty-two year old face, caressed my features.

I dropped to my knees right beside his head. “I need
to tell you something.” I leaned in close to whisper. There were too many ears
in this place.

He shifted himself over then, pressing his back
against the wall and I crawled in next to him. It was a tight fit; he had to
drape his arm around me and we lay facing each other, our mouths close.

“You can tell me anything, Jess.” I could feel his
breath hitting my face. I almost had to close my eyes so I didn’t press my lips
to his. Damn, my urge to kiss him was strong and annoyingly inconvenient. Now
was not the time to have a sexual meltdown.

“There was another reason I was so determined to free
those prisoners,” I said slowly. “I believe they’re dragon marked. And…” I took
a deep breath. “I’m marked also.”

Blue flashed darker in his eyes; they looked indigo in
this low light. “What do you mean?”

I snuggled my face into the crook of his neck and in
whispers told him the entire story, from my birth as a twin, to the lengths
Jonathon and Lienda had gone to keep Mischa and I safe. The way Louis had
spelled the energy to help us hide.

When I finished, I lay still, my body tensed as I
waited for his reaction. He didn’t move for a long time … and hot tears were
building up behind my eyes. I willed them not to fall, but if Braxton decided
he didn’t know who I was anymore and that he didn’t want to know me, I’d
probably fall apart.

Then his arms moved tighter around me and he crushed
me into his chest. “Why didn’t you tell me when you found out? Please, for the
love of all things, please tell me it wasn’t because you were fucking afraid of
my reaction?”

I shook my head against his chest. “Dad said that the
last quads born, the Four, are infamous dragon marked hunters. He seems to
think that’s to be you and your brothers’ fates also. He didn’t want me to make
myself vulnerable to you.”

Braxton cursed. “There’s no way we would become dragon
marked hunters, I don’t care about the call.”

“The call?” I asked, stilling. I’d never heard of
that.

He was very calm as he spoke. “On the day we join our
powers together, we will feel the call. The original four, their calling was to
hunt dragon marked – they can track the energy and are lethal at their jobs. No
one knows what our call will be, although many guess it is going to be the same
thing.” His fierce eyes locked on me. “But we would never hurt you. It wouldn’t
matter, I would kill myself first and I know that Ty, Jake and Max feel the
exact same.”

“You’re my best friend,” I whispered to him. “I’m
thankful every day for you Compasses.”

His lips pressed against my forehead, one of those firm,
lingering kisses that sent thrills from the tip of my head down to my toes. “Do
you need to tell me anything else?”

Strange that he’d used the word need and not want.

I swallowed, trying to get myself under control. “Do
you know any more of the stories of the dragon marked? What exactly is it
everyone is so afraid of?”

He settled back against the stone, bringing me with
him. “The time of the king of the dragons was filled with war and bloodshed. So
many supernaturals lost their lives. When the king made his proclamation, they
were in Drago, which is a cave that rests in a mountain range in Romania. We’re
right on the cusp of the thousand years since his fall. Legend says the best
chance for him to rise will be at the end of this year.”

That was less than a month away.

“How is that supposed to happen?”

Braxton shrugged. I could feel the movement along the
mattress. “I don’t know, no one seems to. Something to do with the dragon
marked, and a sacrifice.”

During our history lessons, I remembered the teacher
explaining that there were words – or an incantation – supposedly inscribed on
the walls of his tomb. Of course this was hard to prove since no one had been
able to enter the Drago tomb since the king was interred.

“So, from the original four quads, is the shifter a
dragon?” I asked.

Braxton’s hands were gently running along my arm now,
the movement soothing. “No, they’re old enough that if he’d been a dragon he’d
have been killed.”

We lay together in compatible silence for a while
before eventually I went back to my own bed. I needed to get some sleep if I
was going to make it through tomorrow.

The dream hit me hard and fast that night. It was the same one I’d had
all those weeks earlier, with Mischa and the dragons. I fought against the pull
again, and again with the attack – death, fire, heat, and pain filled the
world. I found myself jarring awake. I managed not to scream but my whimpers
were pretty damn loud.

Braxton was crouched beside my bunk, one hand resting
on that space between my breasts and throat, his warmth filling my heart and
offering comfort.

“Wh-what time is it?” I croaked out. I couldn’t
orientate myself without the sun, and there were no interior lights on yet.

“Still early, you were thrashing around for a while. I
was waiting for you to wake.”

In that moment I was vulnerable, half asleep, half in
the dream world. I couldn’t suppress the emotion like I normally would.

“I’m afraid, Brax.” I let the words slip through my bared
teeth.

His hand flexed on my chest. I could see it was an involuntary
movement, he didn’t even seem to notice he’d done it. “I won’t let anything
happen to you in here. I promise.”

I closed my eyes, sucking in a deep breath before
meeting his unwavering gaze again. “Not just about being in here, more about
the future. The mark – even though it’s spelled, it’s going to come back and
find me. Secrets don’t stay hidden forever. I don’t want to fight. I don’t want
to be hunted.”

I didn’t want to ever find myself on the opposite side
of a war with anyone I loved. My dreams continued to indicate that it was going
to reach a point where I had to choose between my twin sister and something
else.

He was opening his mouth to answer when the long,
yellowed light bulb above us flickered to life. The fake illumination spread around
the dark spaces and suddenly the world felt a little more exposed. I knew today
was not going to go as well as yesterday. Everyone who had ever gunned for my
father was going to be gunning for me today.

“Twenty minutes until shower time,” Braxton said as he
gritted his teeth. “They don’t separate us, even in the bathroom, but unless
you want me in the same stall as you … well, you’ll be out of my sight for a
bit.”

I found myself having to work very hard to hide my
thoughts right then. Holy fuck me. Braxton in the shower, water running over
those delicious planes of hardened muscle. Too much for a sexually deprived
wolf shifter … way too much. I could not be trusted with naked male parts right
now.

“I’m sure it won’t have to come to that,” I kind of
blurted.

His lazy grin was enough for me to want to throat
punch myself. Clearly I had not hidden my emotions very well.

“I don’t think I can remember the last time you
blushed, Jessa.” His dimples assaulted me as he stood stretching out his giant
frame.

I swung my legs over the side, flipping him off at the
same time. Yeah, I totally nailed that comeback. Stupid dragon, throwing me off
my game.

It felt like an hour – pacing the cell in an agitated
manner – for the silver-threaded barred gates to slide open. They were on some
sort of automatic locking system which opened every door at the same time.
Braxton and I waited until the majority had left and were heading down the long
corridor. We joined the back of the crowd, and again he had my hand clenched
tightly in his own. Just before we reached that large double-barred door which
led out into the circular area, the group veered off to the right, through a
smaller door that I hadn’t noticed yesterday.

Another corridor: the walls were rock near the start,
but as we walked along slowly morphed into tiles. The walkway opened up and I
realized it was one large shower room, massive and square, with rows of showers
down one side, hundreds of them, each with a curtain that could be pulled
between them for separation.

“Screw it,” Braxton growled. “I’m coming in with you.
We can just turn our backs on each other.”

I knew what had gotten him so upset again. A lot of
stares were being leveled in our direction and there was a distinctive dark
nature to most of them. Surprisingly enough, the majority of venom was coming
from the women. Which I was used to, especially since I was always with the
Compasses. The female supernaturals wanted the biggest, baddest boy in their
race. It was a sign of our own female strength, power, and attractiveness to
snag an alpha. Pathetic, I know. But Braxton, Maximus, Jacob, and Tyson were
the best of the best. I was the number one blame for the fact that they wouldn’t
settle down with anyone. Which was bullshit, no one controlled those men, and
that was mostly the reason they were forever single. That, and the fact they
believed in finding their mates, and they were yet to.

Whips in hand, the guards spread out around the room.
I wanted to flinch at the silver glinting in the leather but I forced myself to
stay calm.

“You have forty minutes to clean yourselves up,” a
stocky mage yelled out into the room. “Move it now.”

Forty minutes was longer than I’d expected.

Braxton and I strode to the shower right on the very
end. I knew why he would want this stall. If we were attacked, there were only
two sides they could come at us, instead of three. We stepped into the tight
space, the curtain sliding across to block out the world. I reached down to
lift off my shirt.

“You know what, I’ll go in the one next to you.”
Braxton’s voice went low. “No one can attack you from the side and I’ll see
them pass mine to get to your stall.”

Just like that he was gone. I stood there for a
moment, staring at my bare feet which rested on the tiled floor. Thankfully
this place looked to be cleaned with magic, so it was sparkling. No foot fungus
here. Okay, what was Braxton’s deal? It’d better be that my body turned him on
and not that he found me repulsive, because I was totally not cool with that.
Best friend or not, I thought he was the yummiest thing since chocolate cake,
and it hurt somewhere deep in my chest that maybe … maybe he didn’t see me the
same way.

Did this mean I wanted to date him? Hell no. It just
meant I wasn’t blind or stupid.

Shit, I was acting like a silly girl. We had more
important things to worry about. I quickly stripped off my clothes and hung
them on one of the pegs. The water was automatically running in each stall, so
I stepped under. I expected it to be cold, some sort of prison torture, but instead
it was deliciously warm. Since it had been pretty cool outside in the stone and
tile room, my limbs relaxed under the warmth. There were soap dispensers
attached to the tiles. The entire time I kept my back to the wall and my eyes
locked on the thin curtain. No one was getting the drop on me, and I was so not
thinking about Braxton’s naked body just inches from my own. No freaking way.