Broken Compass: Supernatural Prison Story 1 (23 page)

He’d gone straight ahead.

It took me no time to make it into a living area. The building was very much in the styling of upmarket warehouse – huge ceilings, all open concept, a couch in one corner and an enormous kitchen with island bench in the other. There was also outdoor-indoor dining, leading out onto a covered patio area.

It was night. I hadn’t realized. There was no window in my room, no way to judge time. As I continued along, Jessa popped into view. She must have been in the kitchen. Big surprise.

“What’s up?” she said, joining me. “Did you tell him about the true mate bond and Cardia?”

I nodded. “He deserved to know. It was his life as much as mine that got screwed with.”

My sister took my hand as we continued hurrying out of the warehouse. I would have loved more time to observe the industrial space. Exposed beams. Rustic wall art. Huge fluffy rugs on cement floors. But all I could see was the huge shadow out on the manicured lawn.

“Give me a second with him,” I said, hugging Jessa tightly.

She laid a kiss on my cheek. “You got it, sister! No one will ease his pain like you. Just go with your instincts. You have good ones.”

I snorted. “Yeah, maybe. Hard to tell sometimes.”

A gentle punch landed on my arm. “The sanctuary was not your fault. True mate bonds are serious stuff. They literally drive supes insane. Had we known there was a chance you were true mates, we would have expected you to act as you did. Even worse, actually. The fact that you managed to stay as strong as you did was pretty incredible. And then all the times after, the way you fought Larky ... I’m proud to call you twin. You have a quiet strength, but that doesn’t make it any less valuable.”

I don’t know why her words resonated so strongly with me. I didn’t need her approval; no one should crave the approval of others, but she was my twin and the strongest, most kick-butt female I knew. She was life goals. To have her call me strong, to not see me as weak, kind of made me reassess the negative way I’d always treated myself. Confidence crashed through me and for the first time I started to truly believe I might be a worthy mate for Maximus.

That I might be worthy of the miracle child within me.

Leaving Jessa with one last hug, I stepped out into the humid air. I’d never been to China and was unfamiliar with the thick smoggy scents assailing me. The heavy air had undertones of cherry and something sweet and floral.

The yard was quite large, long and thin, with lots of landscaped areas filled with small hedges and bushy plants. The moonlight washed across the grass and created the most beautiful of pictures. My hand actually twitched for a paintbrush. I wanted to capture the splash of light, the shadows of the world, the perfect alignment of different plant heights scattered about. My mind took a mental picture and I knew it was something I would preserve on canvas another time.

A small stream trickled through the yard. I followed the bubbling brook until I reached Maximus. He was standing beside a koi pond. I couldn’t see any fish in it, but the darkness hid much from us. I was at his side, our arms grazing as we both stared down into the twinkly depths of the water.

The moment didn’t feel uncomfortable or tense, and despite the fact he was clearly still fighting his vampire temper, I wasn’t getting a heavy rage vibe from him.

When he finally turned to me his eyes and face were calm. “I’ve been saying this far too much to you, but I am so very sorry, Mischa. I don’t deserve you.”

In that moment I realized how much we’d both been beating ourselves up over something that was really outside of our control. It was time to stop. He was a supe who always looked out for others, the protector, so of course he would be hard on himself in this situation. And something told me I was the only one who could relieve him of his guilt.

“Max, we can’t change the past. I wish we could, you have no idea how badly, but I’m ready to move forward. Together. You are no more to blame than me. Both of us have suffered, and I don’t think either of us should give Kristoff or Cardia any more of our thoughts or emotions. We let them go now.”

I sucked up my courage, and reaching out took his hand. In my life I’d rarely ever initiated physical contact with others; the fear of rejection was strong within me, but it was different with Maximus. It always had been. Which was partly why it had hurt so badly when he’d turned away from me at the sanctuary. The trust had been damaged between us, but maybe not as much as I initially thought.

We stood there hand in hand for many minutes, the moon reflecting off the pond, the stars twinkling above us. Maximus untangled our hands to reach around me and drag me into his side. “This feels right,” he said. “Cardia and I … we were never right. The magic was there. The connection was there, but the rest could not be produced. I never wanted to touch her. You … I can’t keep my hands off you.”

“Kristoff did say the more you bonded with your brothers, the stronger your shifter side would become and the more our mate bond would kick in.”

He chuckled. “Hope it doesn’t get too strong too fast. I’m trying to figure out how to win you over with my romantic side.” His eyes flashed black for a moment. “The vampire though, he wants me to throw you over my shoulder, hide you in a secluded location, and feast on every part of you.”

I couldn’t suppress the shudder which rocked from the tip of my head right down to my toes. And a few places in between. The newly-formed bond between us had our mutual attraction stronger than it had ever been. My body felt needy in ways I had never known before. Not even the first time with him.

“I’ve never been able to resist this pull between us,” I admitted. “And it’s so much … stronger now.”

Maximus threw back his head and laughed. “From the start I promised myself we’d be nothing more than friends. It was too complicated. There was too much to lose. And yet I couldn’t stop myself. If it hadn’t been for the treachery with Cardia, I’d have come back to you again.”

In some ways it was nice to know that the hold he had over me, the emotion I’d deemed as a weakness, went both ways. Maybe together we could learn to find a balance.

My legs, especially the one with the burn, were starting to ache. Maximus noticed the way I was shifting from foot to foot. “Time to get you back into bed,” he said, sweeping me up into his arms.

I opened my mouth to protest his carrying me again, but decided it wasn’t worth wasting my breath. This was just the way with these males. It was how they cared for us.

As he strode back into the house I tilted my head up to see him. “So what’s the plan now?” I’d been suppressing the last week, pushing it way down into the cave which held my darkest moments, focusing on the unbelievable fact that Maximus was my true mate.

But the memories were no longer staying suppressed. “We need to hunt Kristoff down before he hurts anyone else. Justice will never be safe either.”

Darkness descended across Maximus’ golden features. “
We
will not be doing anything. I’ll be hunting that bastard down while you’re safely behind Stratford’s securities. The healer said the baby was close to being ready. The trauma almost set you off into early labor. You could still have her at any time.”

With a sigh I acknowledged his concern. “Okay, I’ll agree to that for now. Protecting her is our top priority. But Kristoff must suffer. He must die.”

Maximus grinned at me, flashing the slightest hint of fang. “Oh, my sweet Mischa. Do not worry yourself. Pretty soon there’ll be no world in which Kristoff will exist.”

My wolf started to howl, and even baby girl kicked me. Looked like we were all in agreement. Kristoff was living on borrowed time.

Maximus Compass

Our time was up in China. We needed to get back to Stratford. As peaceful as it was here, in the sanctuary of Chan, the ancient healer, I was feeling an urgency to get Mischa and Jessa protected behind the securities of our home town. I knew Kristoff would come for them again, not to mention my brothers were having trouble with the bear shifters.

Braxton had contacted me this morning. They’d had a bit of a tussle outside the town hall. The bears were demanding a representative on the council, despite the fact these leaderships were pre-ordained long before the actual supe took power.

At this stage, the next five leaders who’d step up after us had not been chosen, normal considering we were only in the first month of our twenty-five years, so there was plenty of time to figure out who’d step up next. The way the bears were acting, they were blowing any chance they had of one of their kind getting the role. Leaders were decided by the collective of all the supernatural elders, and this behavior would be taken into account.

Our leadership selection had been a little different. Normally they’d never allow any as young as us to have such power, but being quads, and having our unique bond, allowed us strengths others could never achieve. Still, the bears seemed to think we had cheated our way into our spot, that it was not deserved. But even if that were true, they should know better than to just demand a leadership position. It didn’t work that way. Supernaturals could be liberal in a lot of ways, but we respected our leaders. Otherwise they would squash you and not look back. It was time for us to bring the heavy on the bears, time to put them in their place, before anyone got hurt in the midst of their rebellion.

I’d left Mischa a few hours ago to sleep. She was still exhausted, recovering. Scars written across her body and soul. The bond between us had settled in strong and unwavering, except for the small part which prevented us from seeing into each other’s mind. Maybe I needed to figure out how to unlock the part of me which was shifter. Or maybe there were still tendrils of the fake mate spell in my soul.

As my thoughts turned to Cardia, flickers of the red vampire haze shrouded my vision. So much made sense now. The unease I’d felt around her. My lack of interest in our relationship, even in the bedroom. The way she’d not responded to the dragon king’s call. So many lies. A complete world of lies. It had almost cost me Mischa. What if I hadn’t come back to Stratford in time? What if Kristoff had gotten his hands on her and I never knew about my child? I would not make that mistake again. The pain of the bond with Cardia was almost gone now. Whatever spell Kristoff used was wearing off. Her death had freed me.

As screwed up as it was, now every part of me was glad she was dead.

A familiar scent drifted toward me and I turned to find Jessa crossing out of her sister’s room. She’d barely left her side while she recovered. Their twin connection was strong and fierce. When she reached me, she wrapped her arms around me in a hug. As I pulled her closer, I thought of all the times I’d wished she was my true mate. Now I couldn’t be happier that she wasn’t. I loved Jessa, she was my pack, my family, but Mischa held my heart.

Jessa pulled back a little, leaving one arm draped across me. “Braxton contacted me. He said we need to stop in at Sinchin prison before heading back to Stratford. Which will actually work out timing wise – Louis is off dealing with more of the supe smugglers, cracking a few skulls and shit, so he’ll not be able to get us until tonight.”

“What do we need from the prison?”

She shrugged. “No idea. Apparently he’ll contact you soon, when he has more details.”

Jessa bounced on the spot a little. “I really can’t wait to see Sinchin. I’ve read the books and seen the pictures, but there’s nothing like experiencing the ingenuity in person.”

Her enthusiasm had me smiling, a real smile. That had been missing from my life for some time.

“It’ll be good to meet the leaders there,” I finally said, turning to stare out into the garden again. Chan had it set out in such a peaceful,
feng shui
design. It encouraged you to stand and stare at it. “We should have done a quick world tour when we were first initiated as council leaders, but everywhere was such a mess that it was postponed for a later date.”

Wars don’t end when the final battle is over. Rebuilding lives is sometimes harder than the fighting itself. And the supernatural prison world still needed some serious rebuilding.

“I can’t quite believe you guys are leaders already. F
eels like it got here so fast,” Jessa said, her blue eyes huge as she shook her head.

I laughed. “How do you think we feel? I could have done without the few years skip ahead in time. Our community deserves great leaders, and so far we aren’t there. We don’t know enough, and despite our power we’re lacking. We were barely schooled in leadership, management, or supe control. You know we prefer to use our fists to sort out drama, but now we have to be diplomatic and use our words.”

Jessa laughed this time, her light chuckles floating into the morning air. “Brax is trying so hard to be diplomatic with the bears, when all he really wants to do is go dragon and rip their guts out.”

“They need their guts ripped out,” I growled. “Haven’t we had enough trouble recently? Why step in now and demand a leadership spot? Why create discord in a community already trying to recover? That’s not the sign of a leader.”