Dragon Mystics: Supernatural Prison 2(11)

Even though I’d been joking about the nap thing, I did find my eyes fluttering closed at the rhythmic walking. Sure, one would think the current situation wouldn’t lead to a comfort level to sleep, but one thing I knew was that there was no safer place in the world than with my quads. Not a single place.





Chapter 3



It felt as if I’d closed my eyes for like eight seconds before I was jarred awake. We were no longer moving. I stifled a yawn as I looked around. We appeared to be at the start of this sanctuary and I was glad that I hadn’t missed our journey through the different zones. Despite the fact it had been subzero temperatures on the outside of this cave, a desert lay right in front of us. I could feel wafts of heat rising from the red sands. There were definitely fey elemental manipulations and magic spells all over this place. The scent of … something preternatural lingered in the air. Magic was rarely subtle; it was hard to hide.

I tapped Maximus on the shoulder. “Let me down.”

For once he didn’t ignore my request. I was dropped gently to the rock floor. “Did I miss anything?” I asked Mischa, who was by my side.

She shook her head, before reaching up and ripping the wool hat from her silky hair. “Nope, it was pretty quiet on the walk down the mountain, and now we are just waiting to cross the zones.”

Waiting for what? I peered around the broad shoulders blocking my line of sight. Jacob might not be as big as his brothers, but he was still huge. And he was in the road. Finally, as I scooted to the side I was able to see Cloaky. He was no longer alone. The fey was in a serious looking conversation with four other males, all wearing blue cloaks. Great, it was a freaking cult or something.

I sidled closer to Braxton. He looked relaxed, but his attention was firmly locked on that group. He never glanced my way, but still knew I was there, reaching around to tuck me under his arm. “Can you hear anything?” I managed to mumble.

“They’re discussing you and your mark.”

I pulled back enough to see his expression. Stormy eyes, chiseled features, furrowed brows … okay, my first assessment was very wrong, not relaxed at all. He was pissed. And throwing off heat like a goddamned fire.

I started to wiggle out from under his arm. The warmth was smothering me.

“I’m wearing too many clothes,” I said as I continued to maneuver myself so I could get the thick jacket off.

“Hells yes you are.” Jacob the jackass was back. I’d missed him.

“Screw you,” I growled.

Tyson joined his fey brother, standing shoulder to shoulder. “Well, you do love sex, remember.” Tyson’s eyes twinkled, which was about the only thing to save him from having his testicles permanently lodged up into his throat.

Our joking was interrupted by the convergence of cloaked figures. For the first time the hoods of their cloaks were down, so I could really see their faces. The five of them were all different, but I was surprised to see one similarity: each had a head of pure silver hair, sort of like old people gray but more shimmery. This especially stood out because their faces were young.

Could you only join this cult if you were prematurely gray?

Original dude from the tunnel still seemed to be the spokes-gray. “My name is Gerard, I am the second in charge of this sanctuar … sanctuary.” I noticed he lapsed into what sounded like Romanian at times, but there was no indication if this was his native language or not.

I stepped forward, my jacket draped over my arm crinkling loudly. “We need to speak with Quale.”

No more screwing around. I was tired, hungry, worried about my family back in Stratford, and … mostly hungry. Identical expressions of rapidly blinking eyes and open mouths descended over the five grays’ faces. I had taken them by surprise.

“How is it that you know of Quale?” the shortest of the grays asked me. He was only an inch or so taller than Mischa and I.

The four Compasses took a singular step toward the group. I freaking hated it when they acted like a single unit. The motion had tingles racing down my spine and dread settling in my stomach.

“Take us to Quale.” Braxton had also had enough, he was not even trying to hide his annoyance.

The grays didn’t seem very concerned by his angry stance. Either they had no idea what Braxton was, or they were very used to dealing with dragon shifters. “Follow us,” they said together.

Everyone in our group shucked off any extra layers before taking the first step onto the red dirt. Heat engulfed me and I sighed. I didn’t like to be baked; there was probably some snow wolf in my lineage. Sweating, I stripped off another shirt, leaving myself in just the singlet. I hoped it didn’t take us long to cross this zone, otherwise I’d be naked before anyone knew it.