Dragon Marked_ Supernatural Prison #1(14)

A loud knock rang through the house, startling me from my comfortable slumber. Ignoring it, I squashed my face further into the pillow. Whoever it was could come back later. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with any of the women. But of course the knock continued, over and over until I couldn’t ignore it any longer.

Stumbling on the blanket, I got to my feet and crossed the room in a few angry strides. I slammed open the door. My mouth opened, preparing to blast the shit out of whichever desperate girl was outside. Sure, I could have had more sympathy for the women who thought they’d finally be the one to tame a Compass, but their weakness annoyed me. Maybe I’d change my tune if I ever found myself in love. But I doubted it.

I froze as I came face to face with a pair of green eyes which sat atop a small, straight nose and full rosy-red lips. Nose and lips exactly the same as mine.

Mischa stood there, more fire on her face than I’d seen in the hall. She was scowling, another thing we had in common. Closing my mouth, I took a moment to examine her up close. We were eerily similar, and yet not identical. I had the smallest smattering of freckles across my ivory skin. Hers was clear of any marks. Her eyes were a little wider-spaced than mine, forehead a little smaller. But all in all there was no denying our familial relationship.

I opened my mouth but she spoke first. “Jonathon told me where you were, don’t be mad at him. I badgered him until he broke.” I doubted that, her power was nothing on his. He was trying to get us together. “All the years I dreamed of meeting you, I somehow thought it would go differently.” Despite the bite, her voice was soft, sweeter than mine had ever sounded. And why the hell had she been privileged enough to know of my existence?

The way she continued to lower her eyes as she spoke told me everything. She had not been raised in a pack, she did not know anything of dominance. She was unknowingly giving me the upper hand in our relationship. I opened my mouth to say something. I actually didn’t know what would come out, so we both looked a little surprised when I said, “Do you want to come in?”

She nodded, her fine black brows drawing together as she stepped around me and into the Compass home. I shut the door firmly behind her and led the way into the living room. We sat facing each other, a three foot gap separating us.

“So you knew about me?”

She stared at her hands as she twined them over and over. “Yes, Mom always told me I had a sister, that we’d had to leave for both of our safety, but that I’d meet her again someday.”

Well, damn mother dearest seemed to be a hell of a lot more honest than Dad had been with me. Although his last words to me seemed to indicate he’d been in the dark as much as I was.

She was still speaking: “I’ve been alone a lot of my life, and I always imagined the fun of having a sister and a friend. Of course, I was like ten at the time, but it has stayed with me.”

I pushed my hair behind my ears. “Until a few hours ago I had no idea you existed.” I pulled my gaze from her eerily familiar features. I kept wondering if I did the same little things that Mischa did, like chewing the corner of my bottom lip when I was upset, or wrinkling my nose to stop tears. “Why have you returned now? What did you do about shifting if you had no pack?”

Shifters could change at will, and only had a mild call from the full moon. But we still needed to free our animals regularly. If we didn’t, they would force the change on us.

She shrugged. “I’ve never shifted. I knew about you as my sister, but not as a shifter. Mom decided to wait until we were almost here to inform me that our new town was full of supernatural creatures.” A short laugh escaped her and she was doing that lip biting thing again. “And that I was a part-time wolf. Let’s just say I was a tad disbelieving … right up until we crossed that magical border.”

I leaned further back into the soft cushions. She had to have been spelled to prevent her shift. I opened my senses, allowed the wolf to rise to the surface a little. I knew my eyes had changed by the way she shrank back from me.

“Don’t move,” I warned her. “I won’t hurt you.”

With my increased senses I noticed the energy binding her body. It was heavy especially over her chest. I could scent no wolf on her, I’d have thought she was a regular human if she wasn’t coated in magical protection.

I tucked my wolf away again. “You’ve been spelled to suppress your wolf and hide your shifter energy. Is Dad … Jonathon … going to lift that from you?”

“I don’t know.” She dropped her head in her hand, her voice thin. “I’m not sure how to process all of this. I’m a shifter … what does that even mean? I don’t understand why we didn’t grow up together.” I could tell she was crying a little. Shit, I was terrible with sympathy. Shifters love touch, it’s comforting to us. I wondered if she’d received much over the years. I decided to treat her as I would a hurting pack member.