Dragon Marked: Supernatural Prison #1 (4 page)

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 wasn’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
occurrence. 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.

I was rolling my eyes under my closed eyelids. Tyson
loved curves of all descriptions, he was just talking his usual shit. And
speaking of metabolism, my eyes flew open as the scent of food tantalized my
senses. Jacob was pushing in the buffet sideboard and on it was a ton of food.
Generally we ate in the large dining hall with everyone else; it was a place of
bonding for the supernatural community. But on nights we didn’t want to mingle
with the masses, the boys had a service that provided them with meals. My body
rose off the chair of its own accord. I was angling to be
first in line for food.

“I tell you, if I can find a woman who looks at me the way Jessa looks at
food, I’ll be a lucky man,” I heard Maximus murmur to Braxton.

Masculine laughter echoed around, but I was too hungry to care. It was
Italian night. Be still my beating heart.

I started crazy muttering to myself before grabbing a plate. “Food, get
over here so I can eat you.”

Walking the length, I piled the plate high with pasta, pizza and breads.
I’d be back for dessert. Crossing into the next room I sat at the dining table.
It was a hand-carved masterpiece: thick dark wood, turned legs, and long bench
seats on either side. It was made from one of the big red oaks that had come
down in a massive storm; the colors and patterns that threaded its length were
almost mesmerizing. Braxton had spent weeks painstakingly stripping it back and
carving the ornate legs. Even on the odd nights when some of the Compasses ate
in front of the television, I always sat at the table. And so did Braxton.

Tonight everyone joined me. Braxton on my right and Maximus on the left.
Jacob and Tyson were across from us, and our five trays were piled high enough
to feed a small country. I started without words, or breathing. The food
inhaled into my stomach.

Jacob was grinning at me. “The way you eat is a work of art.”

I flipped him off before resuming my pleasure.

When I slowed a little I took a moment to peer across to Braxton’s tray –
damn, he had meatballs – he always found food I missed in my haste. Reaching
out with my fork I stabbed one. Braxton never batted an eye, he was used to me
stealing from his plate.