I dropped to my knees right beside his head. “I need to tell you something.” I leaned in close to whisper. There were too many ears in this place.
He shifted himself over then, pressing his back against the wall and I crawled in next to him. It was a tight fit; he had to drape his arm around me and we lay facing each other, our mouths close.
“You can tell me anything, Jess.” I could feel his breath hitting my face. I almost had to close my eyes so I didn’t press my lips to his. Damn, my urge to kiss him was strong and annoyingly inconvenient. Now was not the time to have a sexual meltdown.
“There was another reason I was so determined to free those prisoners,” I said slowly. “I believe they’re dragon marked. And…” I took a deep breath. “I’m marked also.”
Blue flashed darker in his eyes; they looked indigo in this low light. “What do you mean?”
I snuggled my face into the crook of his neck and in whispers told him the entire story, from my birth as a twin, to the lengths Jonathon and Lienda had gone to keep Mischa and I safe. The way Louis had spelled the energy to help us hide.
When I finished, I lay still, my body tensed as I waited for his reaction. He didn’t move for a long time … and hot tears were building up behind my eyes. I willed them not to fall, but if Braxton decided he didn’t know who I was anymore and that he didn’t want to know me, I’d probably fall apart.
Then his arms moved tighter around me and he crushed me into his chest. “Why didn’t you tell me when you found out? Please, for the love of all things, please tell me it wasn’t because you were fucking afraid of my reaction?”
I shook my head against his chest. “Dad said that the last quads born, the Four, are infamous dragon marked hunters. He seems to think that’s to be you and your brothers’ fates also. He didn’t want me to make myself vulnerable to you.”
Braxton cursed. “There’s no way we would become dragon marked hunters, I don’t care about the call.”
“The call?” I asked, stilling. I’d never heard of that.
He was very calm as he spoke. “On the day we join our powers together, we will feel the call. The original four, their calling was to hunt dragon marked – they can track the energy and are lethal at their jobs. No one knows what our call will be, although many guess it is going to be the same thing.” His fierce eyes locked on me. “But we would never hurt you. It wouldn’t matter, I would kill myself first and I know that Ty, Jake and Max feel the exact same.”
“You’re my best friend,” I whispered to him. “I’m thankful every day for you Compasses.”
His lips pressed against my forehead, one of those firm, lingering kisses that sent thrills from the tip of my head down to my toes. “Do you need to tell me anything else?”
Strange that he’d used the word need and not want.
I swallowed, trying to get myself under control. “Do you know any more of the stories of the dragon marked? What exactly is it everyone is so afraid of?”
He settled back against the stone, bringing me with him. “The time of the king of the dragons was filled with war and bloodshed. So many supernaturals lost their lives. When the king made his proclamation, they were in Drago, which is a cave that rests in a mountain range in Romania. We’re right on the cusp of the thousand years since his fall. Legend says the best chance for him to rise will be at the end of this year.”
That was less than a month away.
“How is that supposed to happen?”
Braxton shrugged. I could feel the movement along the mattress. “I don’t know, no one seems to. Something to do with the dragon marked, and a sacrifice.”
During our history lessons, I remembered the teacher explaining that there were words – or an incantation – supposedly inscribed on the walls of his tomb. Of course this was hard to prove since no one had been able to enter the Drago tomb since the king was interred.
“So, from the original four quads, is the shifter a dragon?” I asked.
Braxton’s hands were gently running along my arm now, the movement soothing. “No, they’re old enough that if he’d been a dragon he’d have been killed.”
We lay together in compatible silence for a while before eventually I went back to my own bed. I needed to get some sleep if I was going to make it through tomorrow.
The dream hit me hard and fast that night. It was the same one I’d had all those weeks earlier, with Mischa and the dragons. I fought against the pull again, and again with the attack – death, fire, heat, and pain filled the world. I found myself jarring awake. I managed not to scream but my whimpers were pretty damn loud.
Braxton was crouched beside my bunk, one hand resting on that space between my breasts and throat, his warmth filling my heart and offering comfort.
“Wh-what time is it?” I croaked out. I couldn’t orientate myself without the sun, and there were no interior lights on yet.