I sucked in deeply. “What about Jo and Jack … and Nash?” I didn’t want the Compasses to suffer either, or their new little dragon marked charge.
The wizard’s violet eyes darkened. “I tried to bring them also, but they refused. They should be okay, I have a few friends keeping an eye on them.”
I struggled in Jacob’s embrace, my feet were still off the ground. “Put me down,” I ordered, and he actually complied. My bare feet hit the warm sand. Braxton’s dragon crowded in a little closer to me. Warmth washed over my neck, shifting strands of black hair.
I crossed my arms over my chest, my gaze drawn to the sheer number of creatures that surrounded us, seemingly unable to penetrate the bubble of magic Louis had erected.
“Can you take us home?” I asked the sorcerer, who was clearly the reason we’d been found.
He nodded. “Yes, though getting into Faerie is easy. Coming home … not quite as simple. But I’ll manage.”
I’m sure he would. No doubt the wine he’d given me long ago at dinner had been procured directly by the sorcerer himself. He seemed to know how to wander in and out of this land.
“You don’t seem surprised that I’m a dual shifter?” I had concealed this from the sorcerer last time we spoke of my marked abilities. Thankfully he didn’t seem that upset by my previous evasiveness.
He smiled in his enigmatic manner. “Let’s just say this does not come as a huge surprise to me, I sensed more from your energy. You are called for something higher.”
Great. I loved being called for something.
Louis turned to Braxton then: “You can shift back now, I will keep us safe,” he said. The dragon snorted again, growls ripping from his open jaws. “I know it chafes at your instincts to let others do the protecting, but for once you’re just going to have to deal with it.”
Braxton threw back his massive head, jaws wide as he roared to the sky. As his snout lowered, I narrowed my eyes, before reaching up and tapping him once on the nose.
“Bad dragon,” I said, striving for some humor. Hopefully the lighter tone would help him regain some control.
He snarled at me, and I sighed before waving his anger aside with a swish of my hand. I wasn’t afraid of Braxton. And clearly neither was the sorcerer. Louis turned his back on us and started a complicated set of movements, opening a doorway home.
I felt a surge of energy, and in a rapid change Braxton was back on two legs. Louis did not stop his hands moving, although he dropped one finger onto the dragon shifter’s shoulder, clothing him.
I drank in the sight of my best friend, his startling blue eye, hair as black as night. He had been my last thought before I plunged into the earth and I didn’t want to wait one more minute to tell him how much he meant to me. Without Braxton and all the Compasses I would be nothing. I threw myself into his arms and without hesitation he pulled me close. His strength surrounded me, and for the first time in hours I breathed easy. I gently nuzzled my face against the soft shirt he now wore.
“I couldn’t save you.” I heard the low anguish of his words, each ripped from his throat. “I had to watch as you plunged into the ground … I heard your bones break.” The anguish turned back into fury and suddenly his grip on me was even tighter. “I’m going to kill every last creature on this world, one by one, piece by piece.”
Jacob’s face popped up over the side of his taller brother. “This is the reason the fey abandoned Faerie. No longer is it safe for us here, and all the fighting is too much.”
I managed to wiggle my face free so I could see my fey best friend … and I needed to breathe – breathing was really important.
“Have you been here before?” I asked.
“Yes,” was all the reply I received.
Jacob was always quite cagey about this place and the tales of his people. We had few secrets in our pack; Jacob’s reticence was not of his own choice, they made all the fey swear oaths. He told us what he could, but it was very little.
“The doorway will be open in about a minute,” Louis said, sporting that half-grin cocky expression I associated with him. “I doubt you’re going to have time to go on a murderous spree, lizard, even on your best day.”
Braxton lifted his head from where he had it buried in my neck. I couldn’t see his expression, but I felt the sudden tension which filtered into his already hard body.