Closing my eyes and settling my thoughts were step one. I breathed deeply, deliberately, trying to calm the tumult of emotions. It took some time, but finally, when I felt that I was as Zen as I could be under current circumstances, I reached for my beast.
For most of my twenty-two years, I thought the dragon was a demon living inside of me. My dragon mark had been spelled and she was hidden away, which had damaged the bond between us. I could feel her there. I practically saw her as she prowled around inside, but I couldn’t shift on command. The wall between us was always present; the only time it busted open was when I was in mortal danger.
Braxton had said that my dragon and I needed time for our bond to properly form, that after this all the issues would disappear. So since I had nothing but time right now, I was going to try and bond with the biggest weapon I had at my disposal.
I let my consciousness drift toward her, bypassing my wolf, who was content to let our dragon sister have the floor. I hovered on the near side of the wall, trying to seep through, trying to figure out how to reach her. She roared at me, sensing my need. We needed to escape. We needed to find our family. We needed our Compasses. We needed Braxton.
Calm had slipped out of reach again; my thoughts were red hot, anger mingling with a tinge of sorrow. The Compass quads were my best friends; we had been a pack since we were two. That was all, just pack and best friends. Until a few days ago.
What happened then was the best thing in my life. Braxton Compass. Six and half feet of chiseled hotness, with double dimples, hair as black as the darkest night and eyes so blue the sky was jealous. We’d both fought the attraction for years, me because I was a hardheaded dumbass who was afraid to break our friendship pact and possibly ruin the pack dynamics, and Braxton because I was a hard-headed dumbass and he was waiting for me to figure out that there was so much more between us than friendship.
He had been waiting for me for years. Which was new knowledge for me, and it totally had my emotions on overload.
My body still tingled thinking about the few brief times we’d been together, and as luck – and fate – would have it, Braxton was my true mate … well, sort of. Something had malfunctioned with the bond; it was only partially there, but I didn’t give a flying crap on toast. He was my true mate, chosen by the gods, and for me there was no other choice, no matter if Larky thought otherwise.
Just behind Braxton in my heart were the rest of the Compasses. They were my best friends too, just minus the romance. Their faces crossed my mind, images tangled together, each one more beautiful and badass than the next. Tyson, the wizard with his brown-auburn hair and honeysuckle eyes; Jacob, the slightly more fine-boned fey, with his white-blond hair and leaf-green eyes; Maximus, a massive vampire who rocked some sexy dirty-blond hair and dark brown eyes; then lastly Braxton, dragon shifter and badass. They were quads. They were beautiful. They were arrogant assholes with dimples and attitude problems and I missed them so freaking much it actually hurt to breathe.
My wolf and dragon both started to howl then, and deciding I didn’t give a single shit if the douchey king was watching, I threw back my head and let my anguish pour out of me in one long stream of hoarse screams and growling curses.
My grief was cut off by a low, measured voice. “In my time, ladies did not speak so … vulgar. I think I kind of like it.”
I was on my feet so fast the room spun. The amused voice was close. Somehow douche king had managed to get into my room and was standing before me without having set off a single one of my senses. Goddamn sneaky shifter.
Air exhaled rapidly from my nose as I stared the asshole down. He was handsome, there was no denying that. Though that cold, regal thing he had going on did nothing for me.
Gray eyes flashed as he looked around the room. The amusement did not fade from his quirked lips. “I see your accommodations weren’t to your liking.”
I didn’t take my eyes from him but I knew what he was referring to. Upon my arrival the room had contained three pieces of furniture: a large four-poster bed: heavy, dark timbered, with netting on all sides; a dresser; and a small side vanity. All three were now in a million pieces strewn across the slate floor, most of which was hidden by the ton of feathers I’d ripped from the mattress. It was almost pretty in here now, a snowy massacre of wood.
He paused, as if waiting for me to join his conversation. I didn’t say anything; I was not playing nice with Larky. His eyes shuttered, and in an odd movement he almost stumbled forward, as if he couldn’t help himself.
That’s right, asshole. Come a little closer.
His hands were clenched at his sides, those eyes turning from light gray to a dark tumult of emotions. I remained stationary; my expression did not shift, and as he tilted that golden face to the side – in a movement very much like a predator – I knew he was trying to understand what was going on in my head.