As my head broke above the surface I gasped, trying to suck in as much air as I could in those first few seconds. Braxton’s chest heaved beside me, but he was mostly silent as he held me, keeping us both afloat. The other Compasses were up now also, all of them breathing hard and trying to figure out what the hell we’d just stumbled into.
Braxton wrapped one of his hands around the back of my neck, threading his fingers into my long dark hair and tipping my head back. “You ever plunge into water like that again,” he said, his low voice echoing around the cavern, “shift into your dragon. She has a much larger lung capacity, loves the water, and will always know which way is to freedom. We can feel the call of the sky.”
I coughed a few times before managing to answer: “That’s what you were trying to tell me. Man, I wish you could talk in my head like king dragon dickhead did. Would make things that much easier.”
Braxton’s grip tightened and silence descended across the darkness, all-encompassing like a vacuum had been fitted to this underground cavern. I didn’t have to guess about what had caused the soundless and angry vibrations from my mate. I had just noticed that the icy water was getting warm when Braxton thrust me toward Maximus. The vamp caught me as blue flames licked across the shifter’s skin.
“He was in your head! Like a mate bond?” The words ripped through the shifter’s teeth, a definite snarl on the end of each one.
I was enthralled by Braxton, his hair so black, slicked back from his perfect features, blue flames highlighting every facet of his dark beauty. But then I registered his words.
“No,” I shouted. “No way! There’s no mate bond between me and Larky! It was just that we were both in dragon form. You said we could communicate in dragon form, right?”
Water swished as he moved closer, the flames dying down until they were no more than a fine tendril coating his skin. “Yes, that’s right, but he should never be allowed in your head. I need to teach you how to block those you don’t want to hear. How to protect your mind. The dragon has natural protections, but if you encounter someone more powerful than you, they’ll be able to get in your head.”
The more he spoke, the calmer he got. The blue flames were all but gone, and the underground seemed a lot darker than it had been, even with Tyson’s light still shining around us.
Speaking of, the wizard had something to say: “Well, I don’t know about you all, but I’d like to get the fuck out of this water pit. Who the hell knows what’s in here with us, and I’m kind of freezing my balls off.”
He made two very good points. If I had balls, mine would be frozen by now. This water was like the freaking Antarctic, and I refused to even consider if there was any creepy shit in here.
“I doubt they’ll want to mess with two dragons. They’ll leave us alone.” Braxton was confident as he reached out and captured my hand, pulling me from Maximus. He then threw me up onto his back. The total hotness of that was sort of dimmed by the implications of what he had said.
What things are in the water?
Before I could freak out and start trying to see into the depths below, we were moving, swimming rapidly across the chilly water. I wasn’t sure what landmark they were using for direction, but I hoped it wouldn’t be too long before we were on land and dry. The heat which was a natural part of Braxton’s body was keeping me warm enough, but I still had that urge to get out and shake the water from my fur – metaphorical fur, but still the same sensation as when I was wolf.
“Hey, Brax!” yelled Jacob. “Not sure they got the ‘won’t mess with dragons’ memo.”
I scanned back and forth in rapid jerks of my head, but still couldn’t see anything.
Braxton still wasn’t worried. “If they come any closer, I’ll shift into my dragon. I think for now they’re just curious.”
My voice got all shrill: “You asshats have two seconds to tell me what’s in the water with us or I’m going to start punching the shit out of you.” I didn’t get scared much, not that true fear which starts heavy in your gut and rises up to choke you out, where you can’t swallow or breathe. Surrounded by the quads, my fear was manageable, but water was not my thing, and dark underground holes in the world of Faerie added an extra dash of creep to it.
“Look for yourself, Jessa babe,” Jacob said from my left. “Knowing you, you’ll probably want to keep it as a pet.”
I snorted. “Speak for yourself, you were the one always collecting animals and bugs.” Tyson and Jacob both. Their affinity for nature resulted in an unnatural attraction to everything in the great circle of life.
I was the one who got all soft-hearted when animals were hurt or treated cruelly. Humans were often on my shit list for the way they disregarded the rights of their animals. Pets. Those to be eaten. Don’t get me wrong, I ate meat – my wolf was definitely no vegetarian. But I expected that we not only ate the meat, we used the bone, the skin, the fur … everything. And we did not kill them without mercy or waste what we took. The circle of life. It was there for a reason, and I hated people screwing with it.
Since the boys seemed to expect I’d be able to see whatever was in the water with us, I stopped trying to see below and stared instead into the darkness behind. I caught a flash in the dull lighting.
Holy shut the eff up!
I had to be dreaming … or hallucinating. Maybe I had drowned and was floating at the bottom of this lake, because there was no freaking way that the Loch Ness Monster was following us right now.