I snaked my hand back and Braxton linked his fingers through mine.
“It has to have something to do with Jessa’s mark,” said Mischa, interrupting us. “The twins speak as if she’s the golden child … always calling her ‘north.’ Plus, we all know she’s a dual shifter … one of a kind.”
I snorted. “Hey, we don’t know that yet. Maybe you’re a dual as well.”
All I knew was that being unique or different when it came to the dragon king … well, that was not a good thing. I was starting to get that sick-in-the-gut feeling when I thought about the next few days. So much was going to happen and so much could go wrong. I just wanted to crawl into bed and ignore the next week.
Louis crossed the space to stand before my twin. “Only one way to see if Jessa and Mischa have even more in common than the fact that they are twins. Let’s unlock the dragon mark.”
Freeing myself from Braxton I crossed the space to stand before Mischa. I took her hands. “Are you sure about this? If you unlock the mark you will be a target for the Four, and they’re here in Romania searching for me.”
She stared into my eyes, her green tinged with blue today, which she’d definitely inherited from Lienda. Our mother had eyes the color of the ocean, shifting and changing. “I’m not afraid, Jess. I don’t want to be half a supernatural anymore, I want to be everything that I was born to be.”
I gave her a nod, before stepping back and letting the sorcerer capture her full attention again. I wasn’t going to argue. Besides, hopefully in the next few days when the king either rose or didn’t, the Four would have no more reason to hunt dragon marked. The whole point was to prevent the rise of the king.
Although … since the marked were supposed to be his personal army, probably the Four would never stop hunting us. Oh well, we’d just have to kill them. It was on my to-do list anyway.
Louis placed both hands on Mischa’s chest, over her heart, the same as he’d done to cloak my energy back in Stratford.
“You’re power is still very much locked away,” he said as he lifted one hand. He seemed to be pulling something, lowering and raising that free hand, almost like he was unthreading energy which was wrapped around Mischa. “It’s different than Jessa’s. Even when you were babies I felt the difference, but it’s still very strong.”
I was worried about Mischa, my insides crawling at the thought of something going wrong for her. To distract myself, while Louis did his sorcerer thing, I dug a little deeper into what he’d just noted.
“Have you ever felt the energy of other marked?” I had been wondering if mine or Mischa’s power was like the others.
“Only my brother’s, and I think the mystics are different again.”
Maximus turned his head as if he scented something. I focused on the direction he was facing and straight away I was hit with vampire. Cardia, his female was moving toward us. Maximus’ eyes started to glow, her presence was awakening him. He paused for a second to wink at me, then he marched away. No male worthy of the title of mate would make his female come all the way to him, he was going to meet her halfway. He disappeared behind a few buildings, but within moments was back, vampiress tucked snugly under his arm. He looked happy, relaxed; his mate had a calming effect on the beast inside.
“Do you look that blissed-out around me?” I said, wiggling my eyebrows at Braxton.
He reached out and traced a single fingertip from the top of my cheekbone all the way down to rest against my bottom lip.
“Blissed out doesn’t even begin to describe it.” He then replaced that finger with his lips, and I was lost in his kiss for … who the hell knows how long. Supe males were not afraid to show emotion to their mates, no matter who was around. This sort of love was seen as a strength.
Jacob muttered close by, “Jessa is the Pied Piper of dragons, that’s for sure.” And I knew he was not just referring to Braxton, but also that strange encounter when we first entered the sanctuary. I’d been steadfast in ignoring the red-dragon incident. I wondered how long I could hide from all the peculiar in my life.
I pulled back from Braxton, although some of my body was reluctant to part ways – wait, how did my leg get around his waist? Shit, I really needed to pay attention. He was dangerous for my concentration and awareness. While untangling myself I noticed Jacob had moved even closer, he was watching me and Braxton. Not in a creepy way, almost wistful.
“You okay with being the last one not in some form of complicated relationship, Jake?” We all knew Tyson and Grace were heading toward … something.
He shook his head, white silky hair stylishly tousled against his forehead. “Yeah, I’m all good with a little less complicated in my life. There are too many females out there for me to want just one. I’ll stay unmated for as long as possible, thank you.”
Jacob the jackass. It would probably be a sad day when he mated and some of his dick-like behavior disappeared.
I furrowed my brow a little. “Am I the only one who thinks it’s odd that two of the Compasses have discovered true mates here in the sanctuary?” I directed my question to the entire group. True matings were rare, so both brothers in such a short period was unusual.
Lienda answered, her expression wistful. “True mated pairs are works of fate. If you need to find them, you will.”
Jonathon linked his arm with Lienda. “The energy of the dragon king has started to return. We can feel his cold power leaking into the supernatural world. It has been there for some time now. He is preparing to rise and release his command. This is causing a shift in the great plan, and during moments of war, we always have more supernatural mates.”