Dragon Marked_ Supernatural Prison #1(43)

I shouldn’t have shifted my focus. As I turned back, Melly had moved and a fist was coming straight at my face. I threw my head back, twisting to the side, hoping to avoid his massive knuckles. No such luck. The meaty fist clipped me on the side of my chin and cheek bone. I heard the crunch; my screams echoed around the cavernous training room. As I hit the padded mat, I clamped my mouth shut, cutting off the sound of my agony, since opening my mouth seemed to be increasing the intense stabbing heat. Chaos descended as everyone ran to see what had happened. I was pretty dazed, I wasn’t sure exactly how much I missed in the next few moments. The throbbing hum of agony that was pulsing in the side of my face was distracting me from everything else in the room.

“Jessa!” Soft hands gently touched the uninjured side of my face. “Are you okay? Open your eyes.” Mischa sounded a tad frantic, and I did not want to know what my face looked like.

I opened my mouth, but the agony that stabbed into me again had me clamping my lips shut. Shit. I was going to kill Melly the second my face healed. I was going to cut his arms and legs off and then slice them into little pieces, and after that his eyes – yep, one by one I’d pluck them out and feed them to the closest shifted animal …

Maximus interrupted my thoughts. “Jessa, open your eyes, babe.” Just when I was getting to the good part. Typical.

I slowly opened the eye on my uninjured side; the other was already sealed shut and wouldn’t open. The light was so bright it took me a moment to fight through the blindness and try to see. I knew my cheek was broken, and I was pretty sure I had a concussion. Everything was blurry and out of focus. Not to mention I had the mother-of-all-headaches and was about ten seconds from barfing everywhere. I was forced to shut that eye again.

“We need a healer in here. Now!” I could hear Braxton’s order from close by. His words were so clipped and icy I was pretty sure a layer of chill had settled over the room.

I lost track of time again. My concentration was firmly on keeping the contents of my stomach where they were, and then I felt hands on me. Warmth spread through my body and I knew either a witch or a wizard was using healing energy to repair my broken face. All magic users had some healing abilities, but there were a few who were extra gifted in that department. If they showed this aptitude, they had an additional year after college learning this art, and then they became healers. I sighed as the warmth turned into an intense heat and I could feel the actual bone starting to knit together. I’d have healed eventually, this was just ten times quicker.

“She had a fractured jaw and cheekbone, and her skull was cracked in two places,” said a soft female voice – my healer was a witch. “I’ve mostly fixed her up, but she needs bed rest for a few hours or so. Just to give her body time for any additional healing she needs.”

My eyes flew open and I pulled myself up. Maximus was on one side of me and Braxton on the other. They each placed a hand under my arm and lifted me to my feet. I was facing a tall, slender red-haired woman. She had dark eyes that were scanning my face. She looked familiar but I couldn’t remember her name.

“Thank you…”

“Grace,” she mumbled. “My name is Grace.”

Ahhh, right, now I remembered. When I’d been about fourteen, Grace had declared her everlasting love for Tyson, despite the fact she was a few years older. He’d been a typical immature boy and sent me over to let her down gently. Of course I’d had about as much tact as a troll or a tree, and after my brief stumbling explanation she’d fled in tears.

“Thank you, Grace,” I tried again. “I really appreciate you healing me.”

She smiled. It was genuine and her entire face turned from gamine sweetness to ethereal beauty. She had grown into her lanky looks. “You’re welcome. If you ever need any help, Jessa, please don’t hesitate to call me.”

As she stood, her eyes flicked across to Tyson in a movement almost too fast for me to track. I couldn’t read her expression, but she didn’t seem to be viewing him in the same romantic light of long ago. She looked a little pissed actually.

As Grace marched away, Tyson’s eyes followed her. The wizard looked a little shell-shocked; some gold was bleeding into his eyes. How strange was it that we hadn’t seen Grace for almost ten years? I wondered if she’d left Stratford. I was distracted from my thoughts as the rest of the class moved back into position.

Lincoln was talking to the Compasses. “Take Jessa home and put her to bed and make sure she stays there.” Everyone knew they were my pack. “I’ll see you all in the next class. I’ll inform her father of what happened and he can decide on the punishment for Melly. He’s suffering right now, but I doubt that will be enough for Jonathon.”