Broken Compass: Supernatural Prison Story 1 (3 page)

I made Jessa promise she would take me to visit as soon as we could. There was no rush of course, supes lived for hundreds of years. Still, there was some human in me, and I always worried about running out of time.

A hard kick by the baby had me jumping about a foot in the air, instinctively I clutched my ribs.

“Good boy,” Tyson said, shifting my hand out of the way so he could feel the kicks too. It was unbelievable to see these absolutely lethal males get all gooey over the babies Jessa and I carried.

“You don’t know it’s a boy,” I said, my heart beating rapidly as warmth and joy flittered through my mind and into my blood.

A child was a miracle. There was no other way to describe it. And while I regretted so many decisions I’d made since coming back into the supernatural world, I would never regret my one night with Maximus. It gave me my child, and I wondered at times if a heart could actually explode from too much love.

The baby kicked again and Tyson gave a shout: “Okay, that was a strong one. You’re right, could be a little girl. We know there’s no stronger being in this realm than a female. The way you carry young and feed them from your body, you’re damn miracles.”

From a human male this might have sounded condescending, like they were just trying to placate a silly woman, but supernatural males really meant it. They were earthier than humans, animalistic even; they cherished their females to the point that if a human female ever witnessed these bonds, they would probably die of envy.

Braxton gave a low growl then, and I could feel the heat from the dragon shifter over here. “We’re blessed to have you and our new young in our lives,” he said. His gaze was firmly locked on Jessa, and through the twin bond my own heart clenched at the staggering emotions of their true mateship. He had a way about him. Maybe it was the blue as blue eyes, or the hypnotic rumble of his chest, but I was never surprised when my sister was a gooey puddle at his feet.

My baby kicked me again, harder this time, and suddenly there was dance party going on inside. I shifted on the couch, trying to find a comfortable spot, or hopefully derail the party before it got started and went all night.

“How far along did the witch say you were?” Tyson was looking at my stomach now, his brows raised. “What was the gestation expected to be?”

I knew what he was asking; it felt as if this one was already ready to come out fighting. “They tested me three times, and every single time it was six months expected gestation. I’m about four and a half months, so still a bit to go.”

Jessa shifted forward, curiosity lighting up her face. “I’ve never heard of a vamp-shifter hybrid taking six months to be born. Generally, it would be much shorter. Your baby must fall heavily toward our family line rather than Max’s.”

That made me think of the Compass quads themselves. They were a genetic anomaly. How could they be born of hybrid parents and each have a pure soul of the four races?

“What the heck was the gestation period for Jo?” I blurted out, hoping it wasn’t an inappropriate question. I was completely void of all social graces and knowledge in this world. Totally learning the hard way, foot in mouth style.

Luckily the guys just laughed. “If you ask Mom, she’ll tell you it was at least four years,” Tyson said. “But she ended up going around eight months. That was the longest her body could hold the four of us, and although we were born a little early, there were no issues.”

Of course not, an issue wouldn’t dare show itself around these quads. Damn, they had destroyed the dragon king. They were the new council leaders. They were all gorgeous, looking like they’d been perfectly carved by the gods themselves. Around them, and my sister, I generally felt like a stupid human who had accidentally stumbled into their perfect world. I didn’t fit. I didn’t belong. But I would stay as long as I could. I craved their pack bond too much to leave, even if I knew the moment Maximus returned the ache in my chest would explode full force.

My newly sensitive hearing picked up Jacob coming long before he made it down the stairs. His voice rang out with a slight sense of urgency. “We need to move. They spotted Kristoff at the edge of Stratford, right on the security line. Louis just let me know. He’s heading there now too.”

The males were up and moving before the words even fully registered with me. Jessa was also on her feet, rounded belly just visible beneath her black cotton shirt. “If you all think you’re leaving without me, think again.”

Braxton froze. I could see the gears turning in his head as he searched for the words to placate his moody mate. Jessa had that half-grin on her face. She knew she’d won before he even opened his mouth.

The shifter just shook his head and scooped her up into his arms. “We have to run. I don’t want you to fall behind.”

Likely story. The quads carried my twin around all the time, like she was their personal queen. It was annoying and I was somewhat jealous of how much they loved her. Did these supernaturals even understand how rare this kind of unconditional love was. No competition. No jealousy. No weirdness. Just pure support and love. Assholes. Yeah, I said it. When I swore in my mind, only Jessa knew, so I was safe from Lienda.

Awkwardly pulling myself up, I started to stride toward the front door. I was going too. This was my pack and I wouldn’t let them go into danger without me. I might be pregnant but I was still a wolf. And even though I’d be a lot slower than them, I’d get there eventually. The others followed me, and as we got closer to the front door I prepared myself for the argument to stay behind. That was my life, always pushed to the side.

Tyson gently gripped my arm, stopping me. Then shocked the hell out of me with, “Come on, pretty girl, I’ll take you,” he said, before leaning down to wrap his arms around me. “You’re a little slow right now and we need to get there five minutes ago. Kristoff is a slimy bastard and he keeps slipping through our grasp.”

In one smooth movement he scooped me up and tucked me into his body. I let out a muffled shriek and clutched at his thick shoulders. Unlike Jessa, I wasn’t used to this being carried around business.

My twin grinned at me. “Just go with it, girl. You can’t fight them. They use dimples and pure brute strength to get their own way.”

I snorted. “You’re just lucky I’m tired and fat. Otherwise I’d be kicking your butt, Ty ... and I'm not that slow.”

Tyson just chuckled as he hugged me closer. “We’re tactile guys, you’re just going to have to get used to our manly ways.”

That was just the thing. I didn’t want to get used to it and then have it ripped away from me again. Somehow these supes were slowly infiltrating themselves into every part of my world.

And I was starting to like it. A lot.

We moved out the door so fast my head was spinning. Even though I’d put on a decent chunk of weight with this pregnancy, Tyson didn’t show any strain at all as he carried me.

It was still cold, but the first signs of spring were emerging. The huge acres of forest bordering Stratford were already blooming to life. I had been loving the wolf runs we’d been having lately. Not having a murderous dragon king controlling me had really freed up my time for other fun activities.

As the security force field surrounding our town came into sight, a wiggle of nerves started in my belly. I almost let out a sigh when Louis appeared on the edge of the forest. The absolutely gorgeous sorcerer, with his light hair and arresting purple eyes, was waiting patiently for us.

I found Louis to be such an anomaly. If I’d never seen him and just heard him speak, or felt his power, I’d have expected him to look like a wizened little wizard – something about the way he knew everything, could do everything, and had an ancient power which literally made my bones ache. All things that did not fit the Calvin Klein underwear model look he had going on. He was tall, not quite as bulky as the Compasses, but definitely not lacking in the body department. Looked about twenty-eight years old, but I knew he was well over a hundred. Supes aged really well. We didn’t start to look old until we were like eight hundred years or something.

Louis’ power slapped across my face as we closed in on him. Together with the Compass quads, there wasn’t much that could best these five. Which was a relief when I had a precious one to protect.

I still couldn’t figure out what the hell Kristoff Krass wanted. He’d been the council leader for the magic users before the quads took over. Though, actually, he lost his position long before that, for trying to frame and murder the boys to keep his place of power. He was quite a piece of work.

There had been multiple sightings of the sorcerer over the past week, and now the boys were trying to deal with that as well as learn their new duties.

We’d just finished one war and I’d be damned if another landed at our feet anytime soon. But I had this weird sense that something big was coming our way, and I really hoped we were all equipped to deal with it. New motherly instincts were blazing through my soul. I would protect my child or die trying. That was the first promise I made to the baby when I found out I was pregnant, and it would be the last also.

Maximus Compass

I was rapidly reaching the conclusion that humans were fucking idiots.

Until recently I had never spent much time in their presence. We’d occasionally had to slip into the regular world to chase down supe criminals, but that rarely required an extended stay with the locals. It was better that way; there was something very
other
about us, and this scared the humans. They didn’t like anything that couldn’t be easily explained. The Guilds were the only ones who could handle knowing about our world. They were born in to it and had a lifetime of training for their role.

I’d been wandering the human streets for a week now, slowly working my way home but managing to find enough distractions that it was definitely taking me longer than expected. The excessive number of dishonorable humans was keeping me busy and fed.

During my time out of Stratford I’d saved many of this short-lived race from rape, torture, robbery, and violence. At first I’d ignored them, not wanting to get involved, but eventually the berserker rage inside of me needed somewhere to go.

Like the piece of shit humans I fed from, my nature was violent, much more so than them. I was the nightmare lurking in the shadows of their world. Until recently I’d directed those urges toward the path where it could do the most good, and hurt the least. I’d always volunteered for criminal collection duty. But now I no longer cared. I was leaving a bloody trail in my wake.

To date I hadn’t killed any of the humans; that would be too easy for them. I chose to weaken and scare the life out of them, reducing them to piss-covered jeans and a fractured mind. For the rest of their lives they would be busy looking over their shoulders for me.

Not that I stuck around. Every day I moved on. Running was my release. The moment I slowed, my mind reminded me that there was no waking from the nightmare.

I started this journey high in Canada, making my way down to the east coast of America. The landmarks around me were familiar now. I was back in Connecticut, and as winter started to disperse, the earthy forests bloomed to life around me. I was about a day out of Stratford, even less if I pushed myself, but that wasn’t going to happen. The moment I returned, I would no longer be able to shut down. The ripping fire which burned across my chest would be released, and I’d be consumed.

As I crossed through a small town, faces turned in my direction. I got that a lot around humans. Don’t really know why. Probably because most of them were tiny-ass punks, and they feared the giant, angry male in their midst.

More likely it was to do with the fact that I looked like total crap. A shower and a change of clothes would come in handy; I’d stolen my last set a few days ago. All I had on me was a dead cell phone. The battery died days ago. Which was great at first, no way for anyone to find me, but then I started to worry. There was a reason I always harped on Jessa about keeping her phone on her. If something went wrong, there was no other way for me to reach her.

It was probably a good sign that I was worried about my pack. Meant I was starting to remember that I wasn’t the only asshole in the world to have suffered a loss. Part of the grieving process was about being purely selfish. I hadn’t wanted to deal with anyone else, so I took off. I’d just wanted to be in my own head, but it was starting to get damn annoying in there.

I recalled Jessa’s last text. She’d mentioned the bears and a coup. Was that related to their inability to get a leader on the council? Surely they wouldn’t try to take on Braxton.

If they did, that would solve a lot of problems. Challenging a dragon, you might as well fall on your own sword. Pure suicide. Especially when our Jessa was with young. My brother was going to be crazy protective over her right now.

Still … the bears had never shown much self-preservation, and us Compasses didn’t have a monopoly on arrogance. I found my footsteps speeding up; my pace increased to a run. I needed to know that everything was okay with my pack. My brothers were alive; our bond gave me that much information. None of them were in pain. None of them were experiencing strong emotions. But unless we were actually joined, I didn’t know more than that.