Dragon Marked: Supernatural Prison #1 (22 page)

Two days until the trial, we were sitting in the gym
area. Braxton was lifting like a thousand ton weight or something ridiculous. I
was doing sit-ups.

His voice startled me. “Jessa, I haven’t heard any
more numbers after eight.” Shit … I’d fallen asleep on the blue mat.

I struggled into another sit-up. “I did like fifty, I
just didn’t count them all.” I smoothed back a few tendrils that had escaped my
ponytail and wiped off the trail of drool from my mouth.

I flicked my head around at an increase in the already
impressive noise level. I stood to try to find the source. The multitude of
guards that were usually camped out around the perimeter started going crazy,
sprinting from their stations toward the front gate. As an alarm began to wail,
Braxton pulled me closer to him. This siren was really different to the short
burst which announced the end of mingling time. 

“What’s going on?” I wondered if Braxton had a better
view.

He shook his head, using a towel to mop up sweat. “No
idea, but something is definitely up. Let’s move closer.” He was all business
as he dropped the white cloth and gripped my hand, pulling me through the
masses. 

As we moved through the crowd I recognized one of the
guards dashing past us. I reached out and grabbed his arm. He glared down at
me, before shaking himself free.

“You might be my council leader’s daughter,” the wolf
shifter growled at me. “But in here you’re a prisoner, and you don’t get to
touch me.”

I ignored his words. “What’s going on? What’s the alarm
for?”

The siren was loud enough to make talking difficult,
but I knew he heard my questions. He hesitated. I didn’t think he would answer,
but then with a sigh he said, “I’m not totally sure, we haven’t been briefed
yet, but that alarm generally means there’s been a breakout.”

He took off then, leaving Braxton and I staring around
the room.

“I heard it was more dragon marked,” a female said
from close by.

My head spun to find a witch, with very short pixie
hair, watching the room. She continued to speak. “It was from a secret room. Two
women, alone, staged the breakout.”

Braxton and I exchanged a glance. Could they have
freed them from that room we got Nash from? How the hell were these women doing
this? Just two of them, it would be impossible if they didn’t have inside
information. I tried to contain my excitement that those poor imprisoned
supernaturals might be freed now, especially the children. They had not been
far from my mind, even with all the prison drama.

The chaos continued for hours, only quieting down when
we were finally back in our cells. The information spreading around was exactly
what the witch had said. Prisoners freed from a separate section of the prison.
What the hell was going on?

The day before we were due to stand trial, I’d just finished in the
shower and was stepping out to get dressed. For the first time, all week,
Braxton wasn’t waiting there with clothes. That was odd. He was so diligent in
his protection of me that even in our cell he seemed to always be on my ass. And
not in a good way. I scrunched my towel a little tighter, tucking in the lip to
stop it from falling down. Looking left and right there were lots of shifters
around, but no massive dragon man to be seen.

I was worried, but knew I needed to get dressed before
I started searching. With my eyes darting around, paying attention to my
surroundings, I crossed the freezing tiled floor in the direction of the
shelves. I reached the women’s section and moved down to find something in my
size. I’d just turned my face to see what was in the next row when something
hit me hard in the side of the head.

I know I let out a strangled yelp, but darkness
descended across my mind before I even had a chance to see my attackers. I
fought the pull. If I let the fuzziness win I was as good as dead. If I knew
anything, it was that an unconscious person can’t fight back. And I wasn’t
going down without a fight. I dropped to my knees; my head wanted to pitch
forward but I held on to consciousness. As my attacker wedged their hands under
my armpits, I swung out with all my strength. A male curse sounded as I hit
something solid, and I took the opportunity to struggle as hard as I could, yelling
and hollering. Of course, all of that came to a stunning conclusion with a
second blow to the temple.

Consciousness returned slowly, the ache in my head almost as bad as the
fey wine hangover. Except this time I didn’t have that moment of disorientation
where I couldn’t remember what had happened. I recalled the events perfectly. I’d
been attacked in the showers.

I didn’t open my eyes straight away, I tried to get my
bearings. I was flat on my back, hard cold stone beneath me. Judging by the
chill, I was naked still and my hands were tied above my head. Icy metal was
biting into my wrists; my feet felt the same.

Great! Could I be in a more vulnerable position? Naked
and chained spread-eagled across the floor.

I had to know what I was up against, so I opened my
eyes. The room was dark, stone walls embedded with earth elements and magic.
Still inside the prison. From the small area I could see, there was no one
close by. Although I sensed them there, just out of my line of sight. I fought
against the bindings on my wrists. The metal cuffs held no silver, which was a
bonus, but I wasn’t strong enough to break them, especially without full
connection to my wolf. I could feel her howling, but couldn’t reach out and
touch her.

Where was Braxton? What had they done to him? Icy
tendrils of fear were churning in my gut. I was afraid for myself, but more
importantly I needed to know my friend was okay. It had to be something big for
them to be able to take him out.

“Awake I see.” A shadow crossed over my face and a
male stood over the top of me. Scar-face.

I snarled at him. I was in such a submissive position
and I hated it. If my wolf hadn’t been chained down, she’d be going nuts.

Scar-face grinned as he continued to stare at me, his
stone-like eyes eerie. “Sorry if my boys were a little rough, we only had
moments before your guard awoke.”

I schooled my features to hide my relief. Did that
mean Braxton was alive?

“Simple tranq took care of him … for five minutes,” he
muttered. “We left him be. Our issue is not with him, but with Jonathon
Lebron.”

He stepped a little closer and I started growling. I
wished I could attack him. He tilted his head to the side, watching me closely.

“Sins of the father are the sins of the daughter. So
you must die.”

Well, damn. That was harsh.

“Although, my friend wants to have a little fun with
you first.” He looked away from me, and as if he’d sent a silent signal,
another shadow peeled itself off the dark walls.

Vlad. Great, he’d be looking to punish me for my
attitude the other day, and Braxton for his threat.

With nothing to lose, I decided it was time to speak
up. “Little pathetic, don’t you think? You didn’t even give me a chance to
fight. There is no victory in winning like this.” I spat each and every word at
them.

The two men exchanged a glance, and once again an
unspoken conversation passed between them. Scar-face gave me one last smile
before he left the room … left me with one of the most insane, violent
supernaturals alive.

Vlad knelt next to me. “You’re mistaken if you think
this is about me proving my dominance. I don’t need to best you in combat, I
don’t care for that accolade. This is purely about punishment and my own
personal enjoyment.” He leaned even closer and his foul breath washed over me.
“And you couldn’t be in a better position for what I have in mind.”

I froze then, my entire body and mind shutting down,
as if it couldn’t process what was about to happen. I had no doubts of what his
words meant, and fear blasted me like a snowstorm. Sure, I was a tough wolf
shifter, but the thought of rape is enough to bring anyone to their knees.
There’s nothing quite as debilitating as having your humanity stripped away
from you.

I refused to show fear to this creature, though. He
would never know that he had brought me to a place no one else ever had. A
place of being a victim. He hadn’t even touched me yet, but my imagination
needed no help. I knew what was to come next.

I went with false bravado. “Someone is going to find
me. I have friends on the inside here.”

He grinned, the pointed teeth reflecting the small
fragments of light in the room. They must have a lantern or something lit. “I
have a lot of power inside these walls, and I spent the entire week working out
the exact logistics of capturing you. Trust me, by the time they find you …
well, actually, there will be nothing left to find. This is not the first time
we’ve done this, and people disappear inside here all the time. They’re used to
it.”

I calmed my voice. “Not the shifter alpha and council
leader’s daughter. I’m thinking they might investigate a little further into my
disappearance. And the Compasses…” I grinned for the first time since my
capture. “Oh, the Compasses are going to have fun with you.”

At least I knew that much. Even if I did die in this
shithole today, my revenge would be exacted. It made facing the next few hours of
my life almost bearable.

His confidence faltered, so minutely that if I hadn’t
been boring holes into his face with my eyes, I would not have noticed it. But
he’d let it slip.

“If you let me go, I will forget this happened. We
both walk away and never speak of it again.”

Lie.
I was going to fucking kill him. But he was a vampire
and they couldn’t scent truth in someone’s words as easily as a shifter. I’d
always been an excellent liar. I’d steadied my heart rate and controlled my
fear.

For a second there I thought I’d gotten through to
him. Then he straightened, resolve crossing his features again, and I knew that
he’d moved past the fear. He was back in a position of crazy sociopath vampire.
No thoughts, no worries.

He reached behind him and grabbed something dark. I
struggled, throwing my head side to side when I realized what it was. He
gripped my face tightly, holding it in place as he shoved the entirety of the
strip of material into my mouth.

“Stop talking, wolf. I’d like to enjoy myself, and
this incessant chatter is making me angry. Angry enough to kill you. And I
promised I wouldn’t do that. That’s someone else’s joy.”

As he released my face I started struggling again,
spitting and swearing behind my gag. I could feel myself morphing into something
a little feral, animalistic. My caged wolf howled and screamed with me, and I
was still thankful to have her, suppressed bond and all. I fought and bucked
more as he leaned into me, and then with no hesitation he sunk his fangs into
my throat.

I’d never let any vampire drink from me, not even
Maximus. Although he’d healed a few of my cuts and said my blood was delicious.
So I had no idea of the sensation of being fed on, and now that I knew, well, I
didn’t like it. It hurt. Badly.

Vlad wasn’t trying to make it nice for me. He was
rough and mean and did not send even an ounce of calming energy toward me. He
wanted my fear and anger; strong emotions made the blood change. See, I’d paid
attention in vampire studies.

I knew I was starting to lose a lot of blood. I could
feel that crazy, light-headed haze that preluded a black out. I wanted to
fight, but my strength was disappearing.

He pulled away from me then. There was a loud crack.
It took me a few moments to realize he’d slapped me. The pain was a dull
register.

“Don’t pass out on me yet, I want you conscious for
this. It’s no fun if you don’t know what’s happening.”

He was going to die a thousand deaths, in this life
and every single one after this. The right side of my face was numb, which
meant he’d hit me hard enough to do a bit of damage. In fact, my eye was
starting to swell and close already.

“Your blood is incredible. I’m tempted to steal you
away and keep you as my personal sex and blood slave.” He sighed. “But alas, other
important people need some of you, so I’ll just have to enjoy my fill today.”

He started to touch me then, running his finger from
my lips down my chin to my breasts. Despite my lethargy, this sent a shot of
adrenalin through me and I started to fight and scream around the gag. I would
not let this happen, I could not let this happen. I tried to reach my wolf,
fighting the bars that caged her. But it was like trying to dig through stone
with my fingertips. Useless. We both started to howl together. And then a third
voice joined in.

My demon.

The vampire’s fingers were moving lower again,
circling around my belly button. The piece-of-shit was prolonging this, driving
the fear, the anticipation for himself, so full and flushed with my blood.

I flung free the cage on the demon. After twenty-two
years I was damning all consequences and releasing the bonds. An unearthly
whistling started to ring through my body, so loud I couldn’t tell if the noise
was inside or if the vampire could hear it too. Then power flooded me, strong,
thick, and all encompassing. The cage around my wolf was blown away, but in
that moment I was too overwhelmed to latch on to her. In fact, she seemed to be
cowering away a little, letting the demon power free. It continued to fill me.
I could see the tide flowing and I wondered what would happen when it reached
the top of my head.

As the swell reached its peak, I knew I was about to
find out. I closed my eyes, as if somehow that was going to make this easier.
It didn’t.

A thousand knives stabbed through me, filleting my
skin, breaking my bones, destroying everything that I was and remaking me as
something new. I’d felt a similar pain the first time I’d shifted to wolf, but
such a minute piss-poor version that it was barely worth comparing. I huffed in
and out, my breath limited behind the cloth. I needed more air, I needed to be
free. There was nothing worse than this sort of pain and the inability to move
around on the ground. My eyes were still closed, I couldn’t seem to open them.
My chains burst free, and in the same heartbeat I shifted.

It took longer than usual, and afterwards I was
disorientated. Getting to all fours, I expected to feel like my wolf. But
something was wrong, off about the shift. Why the hell was the floor so far
away? My eyesight was strange as well. Generally I saw things in a black, white,
and grayscale landscape, but now I had super intense vision. Even in the
darkness the room was so bright, colors streaming at me in long waves – was I
seeing the freaking light spectrum?

I was hungry, so hungry. I wanted to eat, and there
was only one thing in this room even remotely edible. I stumbled, unsure of
these new longer limbs. It felt as if I was heavier at the back; something
dragged along and tripped me up. It took two steps to reach the vampire
cowering in the corner.

Enemy.

Must be destroyed. Instinct driving me, I opened my
mouth.

“Jessa!”

 A shout halted my movement. I spun around; my head
seemed to be able to swivel at least ninety degrees further than it could as a
wolf. Braxton stood on the other side of the room, his hands held aloft. I’d
reacted to the noise of his yell, but the name meant nothing to me.

I was not a Jessa, I was a nightmare brought to life.
I could kill, destroy and hunt with ease. I was never going to be weakened
again. I was a dragon.

It had taken my mind a few minutes to piece it
together. Not a shadow spirit, I was the real deal.

Braxton didn’t move, but his voice lowered and started
to caress my senses. “It’s okay, sweetheart. Nothing will hurt you now. You
need to shift back, find Jessa inside.”

I stepped closer, more sure on the clawed feet. Then
his scent hit me; it was that of family, kin. He was me and I was him. We were
not enemies, but friend. I opened my jaw and a loud, echoing roar emerged. In
that moment I found myself again. If I didn’t have so much experience
controlling my wolf, I think the dragon would have taken me over forever. But I
could fight it and I did. My demon was a dragon. I was a dragon and a wolf
somehow.

Dual shifter? I’d never heard of anything like that in
my life. I knew the demon … dragon, would not go back into its cage. So now it
was about learning how to live with her. Already the wolf had accepted the
third part of me. Human, wolf, and dragon. It was not natural and I wasn’t sure
how to control it. The only thing I had working for me was the fact that I’d
been dealing with the wolf and demon energy my entire life. It was this
strength I drew on, pulling the dragon energy back far enough to trigger the
shift to my human form.

After my change I lay on the freezing floor, unable to
lift my head. Shudders continued to flow over me. The dragon settled back
inside, almost voluntarily moving into her cage. It was as if now that she’d
been free once, she was more confident in her place within me, no longer
fighting me but coexisting, like my wolf.