Dragon Marked: Supernatural Prison #1 (21 page)

“Don’t drop the soap, Brax,” I teased through the thin
layer. We needed to get back to our usual selves. Something was changing and I
wasn’t sure I was okay with it.

I heard his groan. “Jessa, you’re going to be the
death of me.”

I snorted, no idea what that even meant.

When I was finished I reluctantly stepped back from
the water. There was a towel hanging on a hook, and I knew the clothes were out
on the shelves that lined the walls.

I slipped past the curtain, the white cotton sheet
wrapped tightly around me. Braxton was already there, waiting, dressed and
watching for me to emerge.

“I got you some cottons,” he said, holding out a lump
of gray material. 

“Thanks.” I took them and slipped behind the curtains
to throw them on.

Gah, I was already sick of this color. Even the
underwear matched. Oh well, guess I should be grateful to even have clothes. I’d
heard that one of the prisons in Europe had to mandate a full nudity policy. They
were having incidents with concealed weapons and smuggling of goods. There was
no screwing around in these prisons. If things needed to be done, it happened …
immediately. Although, one would have thought that the nudity thing would lead
to problems of another nature. It would have been a full-on-disaster in human
prisons. Luckily supes were naked a lot so it didn’t end up being a huge deal
and it worked, their incidents of concealed goods and weapons dropped
dramatically. 

Stepping out of the stall again, I moved to my
guard-dragon’s side. The shifters were congregating now, forming a line to get
back out of the shower area. We were a little in front, our hands linked.

“Don’t come to the mingling room at lunchtime.” The
voice was female, low and whispered directly into my ear. I spun around to find
a small, red-haired woman ducking back down through the line.

I started to follow her but the guards walking the
line stopped me with a hand on my arm.

“Forward! Shower time is over,” was the gruff order.

Braxton didn’t look worried, which meant he hadn’t
heard her. She’d definitely been warning me, but I couldn’t tell if her
position was that of friend or enemy.

“Do we have to go into the mingling room, or can we
stay in our cell?” I asked Braxton, standing on tiptoes to move closer to his
ear.

“We have to go.” He glanced at me. “Why?”

I shook my head. “No reason, just worried about being
attacked.”

He didn’t say anything, but I could sense his unease.
Most wouldn’t have noticed, but I knew him.

We were back in our cells for a few hours. I spent
most of the time curled up pretending to read a book. Braxton did weird stuff,
like pushups and crap. I don’t think I’ll ever be bored or stressed enough to
do a pushup. But we’ll see. My head flew up from the shifter romance I was
reading at the ominous sound of our barred gate opening. Uniformed guards lined
the hall and started ushering all of us along. I recognized a few of them; they
gave me a head nod as I passed. No matter what they personally thought, I was
still their alpha and council leader’s daughter, and respect was given.

I hated to admit it, but I was surprised as I observed
many of the prisoners around us. Most of them I would never have picked as a
criminal. Yeah, I’d fallen into the bad habit of thinking they’d be like their
stereotype. The scar-faced guy from yesterday, he’d been my idea of most supe
crims. But in reality most looked just like Braxton and me: young, clean-cut,
innocent – well, kind of innocent. Until you saw their eyes. Lots of dead eyes
in this place. Fair bit of crazy going on too.

Braxton and I didn’t waste any time that day. We went
straight to the food, although I didn’t hold out much hope that it would be any
more edible. Carting my pathetic selection, Braxton behind me, I stopped at one
of the empty tables. I dumped my tray down and was about to climb over the
bench when someone slammed their tray down right next to me. A glance over my
shoulder had Braxton a couple of steps behind me. Shit, he was too far away to
help me.

I dodged the first attack, a small man throwing
punches, which were simple enough to block. I even managed to connect with his
face, resulting in an instant fat lip and bleeding nose. Unfortunately, the
small man had a partner: a big man. A very big man. Freaking bear shifter. The
hairy beast reached out and slammed his hand around my throat. I choked, and
brought my hands up to fight against his grip. But before I could struggle he
lifted me up off the floor and I was dangling above the ground. I couldn’t
breathe, and he was squeezing hard enough that dark spots were already dancing
in front of my eyes. Since he hadn’t crushed my throat immediately, he was
wanting to draw it out. But why?

Between the deafening echo of my own frantic heart beats
I could hear Braxton roaring, and I could see from the corner of my eye that he
had at least ten men on him. He wasn’t going to reach me in time. If I wanted
to be saved, I was going to have to do it myself.

“I’m very sorry about this,” said the dark-haired bear
politely. His wide eyes were hard and cold, black as night. “You are just
collateral damage in a war that you have no idea about. An innocent victim,
punished for crimes you did not commit.”

I’d recovered my equilibrium, and despite the fact
this man was exceedingly strong, I had to fight back. I lifted my body and
slammed my feet into him. At the same time I used my fingers to dig into a
pressure point in his hand, weakening his grip just enough for me to punch him
straight in the nose. Cartilage cracked under my hand, but he didn’t drop me
until I chopped his wrist. I hit him hard enough that I heard another crack and
I could add two broken bones to my tally. I dropped to the ground, landing in a
tangle of limbs. I gasped for breath. I couldn’t seem to get the air in there
fast enough. I knew I needed to move. Sure enough, bear man recovered quickly.
I rolled away as his feet came down at me. He was barefoot but the strength of
his stomp could definitely crush bones. 

I got to my feet. I was fast and strong. I would not
let him get his hands on me again. Braxton seemed to be holding his own; there
were plenty of bodies littered around him.

“Do not fight me, I don’t want you to suffer unduly,” the
bear said. His nose had already stopped bleeding. He held both hands in front
of him with no indication he had any pain. Fucker. “If you submit, I’ll make it
quick.”

And yet he hadn’t made it quick, he’d wanted me to
understand why he was killing me.

What a freakin’ gentleman.

I laughed, harsh from my painful and swollen throat.
“I don’t submit to anyone,” I rasped.

He swung at me, which I saw coming from a mile away. It
was easy to duck. Bears were strong but lacked speed. I spun around backwards,
jumping so I could crack him in the head with my shin. I connected right at his
temple area.

He shook himself out a little before tilting his head
to the side and observing me closer. I’d surprised him. He charged at me, and
just as I was bracing myself to dodge again, something hit the bear from the
side. Braxton. Without pause the dragon shifter started to lay into him
relentlessly without any kindness. He beat the other shifter until he was
nothing but a bloody lump of supernatural on the floor.

The guards stepped in then and broke up the fight. Or
more like wrestled Braxton off the unconscious bear. If we didn’t heal so
quickly, there was no way the bear would have survived that beating. But he
would live another day if he received medical attention. Although, as they
carted him off, I had my doubts that that was where they were taking him.

Braxton, whose blue eyes were dark and stormy, was
huffing in loud and long breaths. There were so many broken and battered bodies
around us I wasn’t even sure what to think or where to look. So I focused on
him. He noticed my gaze and took the two steps to my side. Reaching out, he
hesitated before gently tracing a finger down my throat.

“Are you okay?” His voice was filled with death. Hard.
Angry. And scary as hell.

I could only nod.

He spun away then, and taking one step, hopped up onto
the bench seat and then onto the table.

“Listen up, and listen good.” His voice was powerful,
and still scary. “If anyone lays a finger on Jessa, one fucking finger, I will
end them. Do you understand?”

He seemed to look around the entire room, slowly,
allowing everyone to meet his eyes. Power was bleeding off him, along with the
commanding presence which he was born with.

“I know you think you can best us with numbers. But I
promise you, anything you deliver I will return, and it will be a thousand
times worse. I will never stop, I will come at you for the rest of your days.”

I could feel the winds of death in his voice. In that
moment I didn’t even recognize Braxton. If I didn’t know him as well as I knew
myself, well, I’d be afraid. Very afraid. And judging by the lowering of the
eyes, I wasn’t the only one.

Braxton scooped me up in his arms and strode from the
room. I hadn’t even noticed him leave the table; clearly my attention was still
a little scattered. I wasn’t sure what signal he gave, but when I looked up
again we were back in our cell and the door was secured behind us.

“I thought…” I had to clear my throat again to get the
rest out. “I thought we couldn’t stay in here during mingling time.”

He sat me on the bed, his hands more gentle than the
fierce expression he still wore. “Let’s call this exceptional circumstances,
and a friend who owed me a favor.”

It must have been a pretty big favor, food was
delivered to our room and everything. And it was freaking edible food.

“Almost worth dying for,” I said around my sandwich,
my chicken-bacon-ranch-dressing-deliciousness sandwich. My throat had healed
just enough that there was not too much discomfort in swallowing.

“I just can’t find the will to laugh at you right now,
Jessa.” Braxton wasn’t eating, his tray untouched in front of him. “You have no
idea what it was like to see you in trouble and not be able to reach you.” He
stood as if his anger needed an outlet. “Twice in the past week you have taken
ten years off my life, and I’m thinking of a way to collect.”

I narrowed my eyebrows at him. “Not my fault, and you
better get used to it. I’m sure to get worse with age.”

“I don’t think I’ll survive it.” His voice was honest,
no joke in his tone.

I licked a bit of sauce off my index finger. “Are you
going to eat that?” I was on my feet and halfway across the room when he
snatched the tray up and held it above his head.

“Yes!” he growled.

My face fell and he shook his head a few times before
staring at the ceiling. With a sigh he reached up and grabbed something off the
tray. The smallest smile finally graced his face as he handed me a paper plate.
Nestled in the center was a slice of lemon cake.

I stared at it for a moment before a tear escaped the
corner of my eye.

Braxton laughed. “You are still the only supe I know
to cry about cake.”

I sucked down my sob. “There are very few things in
this world which can move me to tears.” I hugged the plate close to my chest.
“This is just beautiful.”

I stared at it for a few extra beats, but finally I
couldn’t resist any longer. I lifted the sugary goodness up and placed a corner
to my lips. Moans fell from my mouth as the smooth, buttery lemon taste coated my
tongue. When I finally finished the cake I noticed Braxton was just staring at
me, his sandwich halfway to his mouth.

“What?” I mumbled.

“You almost died and this … this is what moves you to
tears and moans.”

I widened my eyes, and bit my lip. What was he saying?
I was shallow? How dare he, asshole … okay, maybe I was a little.

But then he exhaled, and a flicker of his dimple
appeared. He seemed to wrench his eyes away from me. “Don’t ever change,” he
said in a low tone. “Ever.”

Hmmm, maybe shallow was not the word he was thinking
then.

The rest of the afternoon was peaceful, which is
strange considering I did almost die today. The bruises on my neck came out in
spectacular fashion by the time dinner trays were delivered. Shifter healing
was extra slow with all of this silver around. The trays held no cake this
time, but that was okay, I’d already had my fill for the day. The next few days
followed in the same routine, and like good supernaturals, most of the
prisoners were taking Braxton’s warning very seriously. But for some reason I
felt like something big was coming my way.