I sat up straighter in my hard-back chair before scanning the room. “Where are they?”
“They’ll be here soon,” Jonathon said.
The area behind us, which seemed to be the unofficial Compass-support-zone, was starting to fill with females. Lots of teary eyed, overly primped females. I sighed.
“Is it always like this?” Mischa was warily eyeing the sobbing supernaturals.
I narrowed my eyes. “Yep, unfortunately, hanging with the boys equals dealing with their ladies, and I use that term loosely. Most of them are groupies, hoping to get noticed.”
The Compasses were pretty picky, but they were still men and there were plenty of supernatural females to go around. They were the top dogs in this meadow, so generally all they had to do was look in the direction of a female for a little longer than a heartbeat and they were surrounded. Surprisingly enough, Braxton was the most circumspect. In fact, I didn’t know of more than a handful of his hook-ups over the years.
Damn I missed the boys. My chest tightened and I gripped the bench in front of me so firmly I could see the white of my knuckles. Mischa reached out and wrenched my fingers free one by one and took my hand in hers. I was struck by a strange sensation. My heart flip-flopped a little. I had a sister, a twin. Somehow just knowing that made me feel less alone in the world.
“I’m really glad you returned,” I said. I stayed facing forward to hide my emotional leaking.
“Me too.” She squeezed my hand harder and we sat in companionable silence. I knew our parents were watching us, I could feel their stares, and … I scented the air – they were happy. Insert some sort of wolf-pack love anthology here and you get the gist.
Lots of glances were being thrown toward our group. Some covert and others very obvious. So far I wasn’t seeing many viable suspects for the murderer, too many weaker powers in here. It was someone who was smart, strong, and evil. Which at the moment still had Kristoff as my number one. It was ten minutes until the start of the trial. Once the time ticked over, the doors would shut and nobody else could enter or leave until the spell was lifted. As a shifter I chafed at the sensation of being caged, but I’d deal.
Right before the doors were about to close, a hush fell over the room and then the first of the red band wizards entered. Five led the way, and then my breath caught in my throat as I got my first glimpse of the Compasses. The boys were brought in one-by-one in a straight line, their hands again secured behind their backs with the magical cuffs. They were surrounded by magical security. I examined the four of them closely, but they looked the same. A little scruffier maybe, and a whole lot less fashionable – dressed in gray sweats – but there was no damage to them that I could see.
Mischa’s grip on my hand was the only thing that stopped me from rising and running toward them. Maximus, in the front, his face bore no expression, but there were firestorms burning in those dark eyes. Braxton wore his trademark smirk, the one he used when he was preparing to beat the living crap out of someone who’d been stupid enough to run their mouth. That look worried me. It was his dragon that gave him the strength to throw himself into risky situations. But I didn’t want them being reckless.
Not today.
As far as I was concerned, they’d better not do one thing to jeopardize their release from Vanguard.
They stopped moving when they reached the center of the dais, standing between Louis and Kristoff and facing the room. All of their gazes touched on me – I was surrounded by chattering idiots who thought they were looking at them – and smiles crossed their four handsome faces, full dimples gracing the room. Damn, I was pretty close to joining the pathetic souls behind me and fanning my face to lessen the heat.
Instead I blew them a kiss, and my eyes leaked for a split second before I pulled myself together. I was just so happy to see them alive and not hurt. Louis was also staring at me, a knowing smile across his face. Which I was kind of wanting to slap. He should keep his opinions to himself. I did not need anyone coming in and upsetting the status quo.
The clock ticked over and the doors were slammed shut. The securement spell washed over the room in a haze of yellow. The trial started out normal enough. Kristoff started laying out the evidence against the four of them. There was something from each, including Tyson’s spell, dragon claw marks, a flaming circle from Jacob, and apparently the murdered vampire and Maximus had had a raging argument last week outside the training hall. That was the motive apparently. Seriously, the Compasses argued with everyone … it was not a killing offence. Of course Kristoff then dropped the main bombshell.
“The argument in question, of which I have six witnesses who testified under truth…” His slimy voice gave me the worst feeling in my gut, like period cramps only a zillion times worse. “Was about Jessa, and whether she was free for Markus to pursue. This upset Maximus Compass to a visible degree, and we believe at the time of his death the victim was on his way to the Lebron home. It was at this point he was intercepted by the four Compasses.”
Ah shit-damn. Not good, everyone knew the Compasses were hot-blooded over me; it was starting to look more like a real motive. Kristoff had a few more bits and pieces of evidence, like the magical trace forensics which found proof all of them were at the scene. Hair, scent, even a fingerprint. Of course that was to be expected – we all were there, we’d gone and gawked liked morons when we should have stayed home. But too late to worry about that now.
When he was done, it was Louis’ turn. I could see Jo and Jack tightly gripping hands as they watched their boys. Each of their sons had touched their brow and saluted two fingers to their parents upon arrival, a supernatural sign of respect. They followed that with a wink for their mother. Their confident swagger did not seemed to have lessened Jo’s worry.