Dragon Marked_ Supernatural Prison #1(9)

“Braxton Compass,” I scolded him, moving right up into his strike zone, my hands on my hips. “Your scaled dragon ass is blocking the doorway.”

Jacob, Tyson, and Maximus crowded behind me. They were ready to snatch me up if their brother made the wrong move. But I knew it would have to be pretty exceptional circumstances before Braxton would lose enough of himself to hurt me.

The massive beast lowered his head until we were eye to eye. He would scent trickles of my fear, but despite my body’s involuntary response, I wasn’t really afraid of Braxton. His dragon was a little unpredictable, but he was strong enough to keep both of them controlled. I knew he’d pulled this stunt to remind the council where the real power lay and that he didn’t like secrets being kept, especially when they personally affected us. I wondered for a second then where Mischa had ended up in the crazed exodus from the hall.

The dragon and I continued our stare-off, my dark blue eyes locked on his yellow. “Let’s call it a tie,” I finally said, grinning and raising my eyebrows at the same time.

With a huff of smoke that enveloped my entire head, he lifted his long snout full of razor sharp teeth away from me. There was a pull of power, and with a bit of a light-and-energy-show he started to shift back to human form. I let out the breath I hadn’t even realized I’d been holding, my heart rate finally slowed, and when Jacob moved to grab Braxton some clothes I turned to find my father right beside me. My smile faded out to a glare. Jonathon was far too close for my liking right now.

“I’m not talking to you.” I pointed a finger, uncaring that he was my alpha and council leader. “How could you have lied to me all of these years?” I hated that my voice trembled on those last words. My anger sometimes turned me into a hot mess of tears.

He opened his mouth, but I wasn’t in the mood to hear more lies so I held up a hand.

“Don’t. I’m going to need some time to process my feelings on this. Right now I’m about five seconds from losing my shit. I might not be as big as a dragon but I’ll do my damn best to tear this place to the ground.” And I would. My energy was rolling inside of me, threatening to free the demon.

Maximus dragged me under his arm. “Jessa will be staying with us tonight,” he said.

I shook him off. I needed to stand on my own two feet right now; independence was keeping me from dissolving into tears. Although if the lump in my throat continued to grow in size, it was going to choke me soon.

Braxton moved to stand at my back. I could feel the heat and his unique spicy scent wrapping around me. When I rolled my head to the side, blue and yellow eyes captured me. He was back in human form, but his dragon was still riding him.

“Don’t ever do that again.” His voice was low and deadly. “I could have killed you.”

I shrugged. Maybe … maybe not.

He shook his head before turning to the others in the room. “We’re the future leaders of the American Supernatural Council.” His tone was guttural. “This is the last time I will say this. Stop lying to us – and before more bullshit falls from your lips, omitting information is the same damned thing.”

The council leaders were changed every quarter of a century or upon death. Positions went to the most powerful in that age bracket – simple but effective. The Compass brothers were coming up to their time, only a few more years. At twenty-five, they would be blood-bound to their supernatural races. No one knew who would lead the demi-fey – they were more secretive, only revealing their choice the night before the crowning.

Kristoff stepped toward us, his hard gaze locked on Braxton. “What did you say?” His voice was a whisper of disbelief. A hand on his shoulder had him pausing. Jonathon had halted him. The sorcerer sneered before throwing off my father’s hand. “Don’t touch me, Jonathon. Deal with your shifter.”

My father tensed but didn’t engage the magic leader further. He turned to us. “Don’t forget that we’re still the rulers right now.” Since Jonathon was council leader to all shifters, Braxton’s show of dominance was his problem. “If you pull one more stunt like this, we’re going to have serious problems.”

If the low growls from the Compasses were any indication, we already had a problem. I was not interested in this happening tonight. Jonathon was still my father, and no matter how angry I was with him, I didn’t want a fight to break out. I suspected he’d lose to the powerful dragon shifter.

Time to defuse the situation.

I stepped between the groups. “We’re going to walk away right now … with no further repercussions.” I was ensuring they wouldn’t revisit this situation to punish us at a later date. “And next time you might want to think about imparting a little more information before dropping a freaking house on me.”