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.