Louis appeared at our side. Braxton’s dimples disappeared as he leveled a stare at the sorcerer. “You better have a really good reason to be interrupting us, magic man, or Jessa is going to be sticking you back together with tape.”
Truth.
Louis let out a huff of air. “No need to start breaking things you can’t afford, the mystics need you.” Braxton and I had been too distracted to notice that the room was now empty of the other marked.
The dragon shifter released me, muttering something under his breath. I could tell he was a little pissed, but I actually didn’t mind the interruption. I loved the delicious buildup, the teasing. As long as it didn’t go on for too long, then I’d be cranky … to put it mildly.
Braxton pressed a lingering kiss to my lips. “Don’t go anywhere,” he said, “I’ll be right back.”
He strode across the room to join his brothers, and I forced myself to see through the haze of sexual need, and focus. This was the joining of my boys’ powers. Nervous tension flooded me, washing away the fire which had been blazing through my veins. What was going to happen? Would their joining give them the same urges as the Four, the urge to hunt and imprison dragon marked?
Chapter 15
“What have you done to our famous dragon shifter?”
Louis’ question distracted me for a moment. “What do you mean?” I wrinkled my nose at the sorcerer before turning back to the quads.
Braxton looked slightly bored, as if he had not a single care about what was going to happen next. But I could tell by the rigidness in his jaw and semi-hooded state of his eyes that he wasn’t as calm as he portrayed. None of us knew what was going to transpire after the joining of their power.
“You’re wearing quite an interesting look right now, Jess.” Louis’ grin was as wide as his damn, arrogant face. “That dragon has you all wrapped up in emotions.”
I snorted. “You’ve been mated, you know how it is.”
Louis’ face fell, the amusement disappearing, and I wanted to smack myself. Damn, why did I bring that up?
He finally answered, his voice more brittle than usual. “She wasn’t … we weren’t true mates. But it didn’t matter. The fates made a mistake, she was my chosen one.”
I tried to school my expression. I had assumed from the way he’d spoken, the depth of his anguish, that she’d been his true mate, but apparently not. I reached out and rested my hand against his shoulder. We didn’t speak again, but I wanted him to know I was here for him. He wasn’t alone anymore. Louis felt things so deeply, hiding it behind power and his jovial attitude, but he loved with all of his heart. Braxton was the same. This was what made them so dynamic … so amazing.
Now that I knew what it was like to be truly loved by Braxton, well, Louis was right … I was different. I had officially lost all chill. I didn’t even care who knew it. If supes didn’t like me all loved-up, well, they could suck it. I was happy. I’d always been happy, but this was like an entirely new level.
I was granted a reprieve from my thoughts when the quads’ training started.
Quale was the one in charge now. He looked a little hesitant as he addressed the four Compasses. Might have been the way they were standing with their “get fucked” expressions in full force.
“There is only one way to know if you four are going to pose a threat to us or the king. We have sworn an oath to … remain loyal to the command of our leader. Many of the mystics did not agree with Gerard’s decision to allow you entry to the sanctuary, though we understood that the circumstances were a little unusual with Jessa’s odd mark. We voted, and the only way you will continue to be welcome here is if you join your powers together and don’t pose a threat to us in the sanctuary. The compulsion to hunt marked will be strong, you won’t be able to fight it.”
Jacob pulled a face in my direction, clearly loving the heck out of this lecture. I forced myself not to laugh at him. Sensing that this was going to take a long time, I slid myself against the wall. Grace – who looked pretty miserable – dropped next to me, and Cardia hesitantly sat on the other side of us, keeping a reasonable space between me and her. I was glad to see she was taking the no-rush thing seriously. I slid my hand across and grasped Grace’s hand.
“You okay?” I asked, without looking in her direction. I really didn’t want her to cry or anything.
She kind of snorted before returning my hand squeeze. “Tyson and I have been playing this game for a long time now, even though he was slow to figure it out.” She paused, before sighing, her voice barely a whisper. “I’m just not sure I want to play anymore.”
Oh, I got that. I totally got it. There was only so much a heart could take, but I had to give it a shot. For Tyson.
“Don’t give up on him, Grace, Ty has a good heart, and I think you two could be happy. True mates or not.”
That was the bottom line, they didn’t know if there was more between them than just anger and raging attraction. And right now, I could see that Grace wasn’t ready to find out.
I noticed then that the quads had stopped pretending to listen to Quale. All of them were staring in our direction, like a force-of-nature smacking us in the face, strong, swift, and breathtaking. Grace and my conversation died off as we became caught in the Compass magnetism. Assholes. They sucked you in and never let go. I shook my head before flipping them off. They needed to focus on the mystics right now. With shakes of their heads, and small grins, they finally turned back to the cloaks. Tyson lingered the longest, his expression unreadable.