Braxton was the first to speak. “Explain to me this whole brother-sister thing you two have going on?”
Louis grinned, and I couldn’t help returning it. I let the sorcerer explain, it was his story, and I didn’t know how much of it he wanted other supernaturals to know. He told Braxton pretty much everything – about his lost love, his isolation, the connection he felt when he touched me as a baby. Braxton didn’t interrupt, letting the sorcerer talk as much as he wanted. As I stared between the two of them, it became startlingly clear how similar they were – both commanding, powerful, and unafraid of anything. Louis actually fit in really well with the Compass quads.
We crossed the last of the pebbled path, reaching the building we’d been directed to. A few lower level witches scurried out of our way, leaving the doorway free – yeah, we were badasses.
Just before we entered Braxton faced the sorcerer, his expression neutral. “It’s no secret that males don’t like other males around their mates, and I’m no exception with Jessa. Reality is, dragons are usually the worst of all supernaturals. We guard what is ours with a ferocity that would scare almost everyone … except you – nothing scares you.” I sensed the slightest tone of grudging admiration from Braxton. “I accept what you say is the truth. I will allow this friendship.”
Woah! He did not just say that. “Hang on just one freaking second! Allow … allow the friendship?” I poked my finger directly into Braxton’s chest. “I’ll choose my own friends and no bossy ass dragon is going to change that. You have a problem with any of my friends, you come and talk to me.”
His blue eyes darkened and as usual he enjoyed watching me lose my shit, although he didn’t back down. The next eight hundred years or so were going to be volatile to say the very least. Males were so annoying with their posturing, possessive bullshit.
Louis laughed, distracting us. We didn’t break the stare-off, but some of the tension eased. The slightest of smiles crossed Braxton’s full lips and I got a flash of dimple. I was staying strong though, I would not let his sexiness break me. If he dominated me in decisions like this, he always would. It was in his nature.
“Let’s call it a tie?” he said, mimicking back what I’d said a hundred times to him over the years. My heart swelled at the love that laced his words.
“I promise I won’t threaten your friends without running it by your first. But if I think they don’t have pure and honorable intentions, I will destroy them. Do you understand me? There is only so much I can tolerate, Jess, and you have to understand that you are it for me. You are it.” He was fierce. “There is no other, and there will be no other. So I will fight to the death and beyond to keep you.”
My legs trembled, just the slightest motion, but he saw. His words were like lava, flowing through my body and into my soul. The jump from friends to lovers had been a quick progression, but in reality, we’d been moving this way for a long time. I’d just been too pigheaded to see it. Braxton had been patiently waiting for me. I knew I never saw him with other women because he’d never wanted me to.
“How long have you loved me for?” I couldn’t hide my honest curiosity.
Louis laughed again. “You’re cute. Obtuse, but cute.”
I flipped him off. “Shut it, sorcerer, you don’t get to butt in here.”
Braxton reached out and captured my hand, his thumb rubbing over the soft, fleshy part of my palm. “I’ve loved you since we were children, but as a mate since we were about sixteen.” His eyes held me captive. “Do you remember that season we both came into our powers? We’d just learned to shift and the emotions were so overwhelming. Dealing with new energies, our animals, it was a crazy time.”
I nodded, that was not an experience I imagined I’d ever forget.
“We’d just come back from running in the forest, all of us and you. You shifted to human and were standing in the vines, naked, dirt all over you. You threw back your head and laughed at whatever moronic thing Jake had said.” Braxton’s voice was huskier now. “Seeing you there hit me like never before. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t take my eyes from you. Fuck… I was slammed by my feelings. I don’t know why it was that moment, I’d seen you that way a million times, but I knew then that you were mine.”
I stepped closer, my right hand rising to rest over his heart. “I’m sorry it took me so long to catch up.”
Every part of me was filled with emotion. I remembered what Louis had told me long ago, that without the lows you couldn’t really feel the highs. I couldn’t imagine anything higher.