“How powerful are they?” I was having trouble imagining what they were like. The fear their mere names created just didn’t ring true.
Louis turned his head, scanning the area. “Individually, they are no more powerful than your average alpha or race leader, less powerful than some I’d say. But their real strength lies in their ability to join and elevate the power of each other.”
I remembered Braxton saying the same thing. I rubbed my free hand over the smooth, worn denim of my jeans. The chill was increasing the further we got from Louis’ place. Luckily my metabolism was in fine form, or I’d probably be on my way to frostbitten feet.
“So this ability to connect and increase their power is the same that the Compasses are supposed to possess?”
Louis nodded. “Yes, quadruplets are so rare that everyone pretty much expects your boys will turn into carbon copies of the Four.”
I snorted. He regarded me silently for a moment. “Not going to happen,” I felt compelled to add.
The Four were cold-hearted dicks. You’d have to be to lock away babies. The Compasses would never be that. I’d kick the shit out of them if they even started looking in that power-crazy-dictator direction.
“Do you know the exact location of the mountain of Drago?” As soon as the question left my mouth, I wondered why I’d asked him that. I let loose way too many of my thoughts around him.
“It’s in Romania. The Krakov supernatural prison and Drago are both in the Carpathian Mountains.” He didn’t ask me why I wanted to know, so of course I felt the need to babble out my reasons.
“Braxton said that the king is supposed to rise at the end of this month and that he rests at Drago.” Again, Louis was quiet, not giving anything away, so I continued: “Have you heard this before?”
He exhaled lightly, but still more forceful than he usually breathed. “I’ve lived a long time and heard many stories about the rise of the king, but there is some truth to the thousand years. It was said that all dragon marked need to be in the mountain at the time of the rising. If they aren’t, there is a trigger inside the mark energy that will bring about their destruction.”
Great! That was just great.
“The dragon king was pretty big on his ‘You’re either with me or against me’ motto, and he must have figured that any not at Drago when he rises … well, they’d be against him.”
Of course they were. No wonder they’d cut his head off, he was crazier than the Four.
“Is he just supposed to just rise on his own?”
Louis stared off for a few moments, his face blank. “No,” he finally murmured. “There has to be a sacrifice, and there’s a ritual, but I don’t know what it entails.”
If Louis didn’t know, I wondered if anyone did.
“Why are these two women freeing the dragon marked?” I asked him, needing to understand.
His features hardened. “I have my suspicions, but in reality my guess is as good as yours.”
I was thinking that maybe there were some out there who knew the ritual, and I couldn’t figure out if they were freeing the marked for that reason or if they were looking for someone.
Entering the outer zone of the town, we started to move with the masses of people. When that siren rang, everyone responded, no matter what they were doing.
Which probably explained some of the states of undress I was seeing around me. There were naked shifters, who’d clearly been out for a run, and then a few couples who were clad only in their underwear. Of course they’d had time to grab clothes – not to mention the bins were scattered everywhere – but we really didn’t sweat nudity the same way the human population seemed to. Besides a few shy exceptions, most of them wouldn’t have thought anything of their appearance. Certainly not enough to stop and look for clothes.
The city center was already half filled. There were too many of us to fit into the town hall so we’d congregate out here around the fountain. Louis and I started to move closer to the front. Not that I thought being near the Four was a great idea, but I wanted to find my family and I knew the council leaders would be at the forefront. We didn’t have to push, people moved aside for us – okay, mostly Louis, but a girl could dream.
Power, glorious power.
At least the tingles of his cloaking had died right down to almost nothing. After a few minutes of dodging the crowds, my nose crinkled at all of the scents assailing me. I noticed my father standing off to the right. That was where we needed to go. I lowered my head, ready to plow my way through the last few meters. I was almost there when Louis grabbed my arm and halted me.