“I’ll take him back,” Louis said. “I’ll find you on the island. It might take me a while, but if you need me, just call. I’ll always come.”
Louis kissed me on the cheek, ignoring Braxton’s growls – though the sorcerer definitely got out of my personal space quickly. I gave my father a hard hug, trying to squeeze another few more precious memories from this moment. Some daughters might freak and feel abandoned by Jonathon, but I understood. My father had always had responsibilities outside of me.
I took a few, deep, steadying breaths as the pair disappeared through Louis’ step through. That was all the unease I allowed myself. The entire supernatural world was depending on us.
As I took that first step out onto the golden path, quads by my side, my wolf and dragon went into high alert. When nothing crazy jumped out in the first few feet, I relaxed and the five of us hurried our pace. It was wide enough for us to walk side by side.
There was no casual conversation. Our goal was to get over this bridge in record time. Still, sensing a gaze on me, I found a pair of burning blues locked on me.
“Are you really okay, Jess?” Braxton’s voice was not a whisper; he didn’t bother to hide his fears from his brothers. “What happened while you were gone?”
I rubbed a hand over my face, trying to decide what to tell them. I wouldn’t lie, but maybe there was some things to skim over so that they didn’t completely lose their minds. Ah, screw that. This was my pack and they deserved the full truth.
I started at the beginning, explaining Larky’s castle and the illusions, then moved on to Rose and my escape attempts, which was what ultimately led them to me.
“So he never laid a hand on you? He was trying to … seduce you? Romance our Jessa?” Tyson’s eyes had those streaks of gold through them. He wasn’t too happy.
“Next time I’m going to make sure I hurt him just a little more.” Braxton was all growls and rumbling chest right now. My boy had pretty much been one big growl since we’d found each other again.
Tyson interrupted. “What’s his ultimate game? I don’t understand why he hasn’t pulled the army in and started training them. Why are the marked still just hanging around?”
I had no idea, and that was more worrying than anything. Before Larky had come back from the dead, I always thought his first act would be to gather his army and then wage a massive war. So far, though, he’d been more interested in me.
Our pace along the bridge was just short of sprinting, my energy holding steady, but if I didn’t get food and sleep soon I’d be completely useless. Food was a dream that I’d hold close to my heart, the sort of dream that I’d bring out and examine when I needed some beauty in my life. My precious one.
Stretching my muscles as I jogged, I winced as that low pain rocked through me again, my hand instinctively reaching back to press against it.
Braxton never missed a thing, and I should have known he would jump all over me now. “What’s wrong, Jess? Are you injured?” His pace slowed, and I knew I was about eight seconds from being scooped into his arms.
Jacob opened his big mouth and dumped me right into the shit. “Her back has been hurting since we were attacked in the maze, but she should be healed. I don’t know what’s wrong.”
Concern etched across all of the quads’ faces, and the others slowed their pace, forcing me to stop.
“Spill, Jessa.” Four sets of eyes locked on me, eight muscled arms crossed across broad chests. They were so alike that I actually had to stop myself from kicking them. They were doing that stupid thing like the Four, where they were carbon copy robots. I wanted my individual boys back, right now.
Knowing they were as stubborn as me, and that we could be in a standoff all day, I spoke quickly. “I’ve been having this lower back pain. At first I thought it was just from when a critter dug his claws into me, but Jake is right, I should be healed by now.”
Braxton’s hands reached around me to gently massage my back, his warmth and energy soothing not only my pain but my soul.
“I sensed you had some discomfort there, but I didn’t realize it was actual pain. Why didn’t you tell Louis while he was here? He’s the best we have to heal anything complex.”
The shifter in Braxton was rising up with the need to protect and care for his mate. I’d been thinking about the pain a bit, and I actually had an idea about what it might be. The timing wasn’t exactly right, but maybe with my journeying in and out of Faerie, the timeline was all messed up.
“It’s possible I’m coming into my fertile period,” I said. Generally I had very distinct symptoms a few days before it was to begin, symptoms which I hadn’t had, but this was also the first time I’d been fertile since the release of my dragon mark. And none of us knew what that might have done to my body and hormones.
Fears crossed my mind. “Do you think Larky did something to me? Brought on my fertility early? We all know he wants something from me. What if that something is a baby?”
As the thoughts continued to pour from me, my voice sounded a tad hysterical, which was another thing that occurred during my fertile period – heightened emotions. I felt Braxton’s arms tighten around me, and before I could blink my feet were off the ground. The dragon shifter had his arms tightly wound around me and I could feel the heat pouring off him – the rage and fear.
I kept my voice low and calm. “He never touched me, Brax. There’s no way I could be pregnant with any little dragon babies, unless he used osmosis.”