Dragon Mystics: Supernatural Prison 2(42)

I got a sudden whiff of my own disgustingness, the scent tingling my senses and not in a good way. Definitely time for a shower.

“I’m going to clean up,” I said, “and then before I hit the bed we need a game plan.”

I turned back to enter my room, but paused as I heard a noise. I’d thought everyone was out, but someone was moving in the room Braxton and Maximus shared. I caught a familiar vamp scent.

I dashed down the hall. I couldn’t wait to see my vampire. I’d missed him so much, and I knew he’d have been completely pissed and worried when both of us disappeared. It would be cruel to not let him know straight away that we were back.

“Jess!” I heard Jacob yell for me, but I was already at the door.

I flung it open and stepped into the dimly lit room. Only one bed was occupied, a sea of blankets piled up high. I had just a moment to wonder why the hell Maximus was in bed in the middle of the day before more scents hit me hard. I gasped as two heads popped up from the covers.

My eyes had adjusted to the lack of light, so I recognized the tousled dirty blond hair of my best friend, and the tiny beauty queen vampire who’d taken Maximus away right before I’d disappeared. Cardia. They were intertwined, lingering traces of sex in the air. Sex and blood.





Chapter 9



I just stood there in the bedroom doorway, my hands hanging limply at my sides as I tried to process my emotions.

Maximus sprang out of the bed, as lithe and agile as only a supernatural could be. “Jess!” His exclamation was loud as he dived toward me, naked in all his glory, but not aroused, so clearly I’d caught them between rounds. I had just enough time to register the darkening anger on Cardia’s face before I was hit with a wall of muscle.

“I’ve been so damned worried about you, Jess.” His voice cracked a little as he pulled back, both hands gripping my biceps. “Where the hell were you?” His emotional tone shifted into a growl, fangs slightly descended and his eyes shaded to black.

I’d never seen him vamp out in such a short time, especially when he wasn’t hungry. But that wasn’t my most prevalent thought. I was having a breakdown similar to the one I had the time I thought Mischa was a dragon shifter. I knew the only way Maximus would be in bed with this chick while his brother and I were missing was if she was his true mate. Not to mention he generally never slept with the same female more than a few times. He liked to cut them off before they got attached. It had been three weeks with this Cardia.

The first few months after finding your mate were intense. Supernaturals had trouble leaving the house and going out into public. Plus, I had not missed the vamped-out nature of the interloper. Her clawed hands and descended fangs screamed of a territorial reaction.

I was pissed. Anger coursed through me with the force of a speeding train, flooding my gut and ricocheting out. It wasn’t that I felt the way for Maximus that I did for Braxton, but still, this was the beginning of the end of our perfect pack life. I would have to pull back from the very close proximity I had with the Compasses. Cardia would not tolerate that.

I let my expression dissolve into blankness, taming my inner turmoil. “It doesn’t really seem as if you were too worried about me.”

It was either cut him down or lose my shit and cry like a baby.

Yes, I was being a bitch, mate bonding couldn’t be fought against. What my parents had done was insane in the scheme of supernatural relationships, separating themselves to protect Mischa and I from the marked hunters; it was unnatural. As I had this thought I realized I wanted to see my parents. Where were they? I assumed they had been given their own apartment close by.

Maybe somewhere for me to escape to.

I was avoiding thinking about Maximus, even though he was standing before me, seemingly trying to figure out what to say in response to my anger.

Tears pricked at my eyelids. I refused to let them fall. I deliberately removed both of his large hands and took a step back, working hard to calm myself. I hit a hard wall of warmth, and for a second I sank into the comfort that was Braxton. My shock and pain had been so great I hadn’t even realized he’d been standing behind us.

I tore myself from the dragon shifter. “I have to go. I need some air.”

“Jess…” Maximus’ voice was hoarse now. He held out a hand toward me. “Please, don’t go, we need to talk.”

I shook my head. I needed to grieve and come to terms with everything I’d lost. And I needed to do it alone.

“Don’t follow me.”

I issued the last warning before I ran out of the room, and using every facet of my shifter speed dashed across the apartment and out the front door. I was in the elevator when three Compasses burst out the door – Maximus ripping his pants on, the doors sliding closed between us.