Dragon Mystics: Supernatural Prison 2(3)

I loosened my grip, looking down again, blinking at the crumpled paper. “What the crap? It’s gone…” I immediately turned to Braxton. “It was just there a moment ago but now the writing is gone.”

Braxton swore low, his eyes flicking down to my hand. The vehicle started to slow; he lowered his window, letting in drafts of arctic air before signaling something to Tyson, the driver of the other SUV. I figured they were trying to find a place to pull over. Unfortunately we were not in the best position, and we had no phones to call back. Louis had confiscated everyone’s electronics so we wouldn’t be tempted to use them. We were going to find some prepaid burner cells soon. Soon, of course, did not help us right now.

I flipped the paper over but the back was just as blank as the front.

“I’m killing that fucking sorcerer.” The familiar lament was from Maximus. He’d also moved his massive bulk into the center of the car.

Braxton leaned forward, paying close attention to the road we were on. “We have no choice but to remain on this path. There is nowhere for me to turn around. We can meet up with the others as soon as it is wide enough. Maybe Tyson will have some insight into what happened to the letter.”

Tyson was a pretty powerful wizard, but he wasn’t a sorcerer yet. The quads – and Mischa and I – were twenty-two, which for a magic user was way too young to have evolved into a sorcerer. I think the youngest sorcerer in supernatural history was Louis, and he’d been thirty. Tyson was planning on giving him a run for that title. I really hoped my wizard best friend could get a read off this paper, because without it we were completely screwed.

Not only was it nearing dusk, but the snowstorm which had been holding off was starting to fall. We had exceptional night vision, and the high beams were already flooding the road, but still visibility sucked.

Mischa’s green eyes darted around, examining the increasing fall of snow and shifting terrain outside the window. “Should we stop for the night?” Her voice trembled. “We don’t want to drive off a mountain.”

Braxton almost smiled at that one. “Have some faith … I’m a dragon, we have unparalleled reflexes and powerful vision. I’m not going to drive you off a cliff.”

Dragon. His words reminded me of the moment I’d shifted to my strange, fluffy dragon. He was not kidding about the unparalleled senses part.

The colors I had seen had been so intense, as if dragons experienced much more of the light spectrum than any other creature – well, any other creature I’d turned into, which, sure, was only wolf and human, but I was probably still right. Dragons were special.

My gaze was drawn to the side mirror again. I could barely see the black shape of Tyson’s car any longer. Just a shine of lights every now and then. “Ty isn’t a dragon,” I reminded Braxton.

Blue flashed at me, and for a moment all I could see was the cloudless spring sky that Braxton’s eyes mimicked. The air in the space between us started to morph into something intense. My insides clenched in need and want and fire. I forced myself to try to remember the reasons I wasn’t willing to risk our friendship, but in this moment I couldn’t think of a single one strong enough.

I received a reprieve when Braxton shifted his face away. He lowered the window again to signal something else.

My breathing was a little harsher than usual as my heart and thoughts both raced. What the hell was going on?

Ever since we’d been locked up in Vanguard together, it was like our relationship had gone through an evolution. We’d been best friends for twenty years. Now, though, I had no idea where we were heading. No matter how sexified my thoughts were getting, I wasn’t sure it was worth risking our friendship. What if we didn’t work as a couple? What if something tore us apart? What if one of us found our mate?

So many what if’s … it hurt my head just considering them all. But the biggest of all – what if Braxton didn’t feel the same need? Maybe I was trying to force something because of my own newly discovered emotions? If I acted on it he might be the one to turn me down, and I wasn’t sure I could survive that.

Shit! I was so not thinking about this any longer.

Maximus’s long arm came between Braxton and me; he pointed toward a sign. “There seems to be a lookout or turnaround section just there.”

It took me a moment to focus. I called on my wolf for help, and was finally able to see what he was talking about. Braxton eased our car off the main road, turning left. The wheels lost traction for a moment before we powered out of the slide and drove across the fresh powder into a large circular flat. I was relieved to see the second vehicle pull in beside ours. Of course, while I was happy to see the others, I was not looking forward to getting out in that cold. Luckily, it seemed as if they were coming to us.