He opened his mouth, but I wasn’t in the mood to hear more lies so I held up a hand.
“Don’t. I’m going to need some time to process my feelings on this. Right now I’m about five seconds from losing my shit. I might not be as big as a dragon but I’ll do my damn best to tear this place to the ground.” And I would. My energy was rolling inside of me, threatening to free the demon.
Maximus dragged me under his arm. “Jessa will be staying with us tonight,” he said.
I shook him off. I needed to stand on my own two feet right now; independence was keeping me from dissolving into tears. Although if the lump in my throat continued to grow in size, it was going to choke me soon.
Braxton moved to stand at my back. I could feel the heat and his unique spicy scent wrapping around me. When I rolled my head to the side, blue and yellow eyes captured me. He was back in human form, but his dragon was still riding him.
“Don’t ever do that again.” His voice was low and deadly. “I could have killed you.”
I shrugged. Maybe … maybe not.
He shook his head before turning to the others in the room. “We’re the future leaders of the American Supernatural Council.” His tone was guttural. “This is the last time I will say this. Stop lying to us – and before more bullshit falls from your lips, omitting information is the same damned thing.”
The council leaders were changed every quarter of a century or upon death. Positions went to the most powerful in that age bracket – simple but effective. The Compass brothers were coming up to their time, only a few more years. At twenty-five, they would be blood-bound to their supernatural races. No one knew who would lead the demi-fey – they were more secretive, only revealing their choice the night before the crowning.
Kristoff stepped toward us, his hard gaze locked on Braxton. “What did you say?” His voice was a whisper of disbelief. A hand on his shoulder had him pausing. Jonathon had halted him. The sorcerer sneered before throwing off my father’s hand. “Don’t touch me, Jonathon. Deal with your shifter.”
My father tensed but didn’t engage the magic leader further. He turned to us. “Don’t forget that we’re still the rulers right now.” Since Jonathon was council leader to all shifters, Braxton’s show of dominance was his problem. “If you pull one more stunt like this, we’re going to have serious problems.”
If the low growls from the Compasses were any indication, we already had a problem. I was not interested in this happening tonight. Jonathon was still my father, and no matter how angry I was with him, I didn’t want a fight to break out. I suspected he’d lose to the powerful dragon shifter.
Time to defuse the situation.
I stepped between the groups. “We’re going to walk away right now … with no further repercussions.” I was ensuring they wouldn’t revisit this situation to punish us at a later date. “And next time you might want to think about imparting a little more information before dropping a freaking house on me.”
Jonathon’s blue eyes softened. “We need to talk about Mischa. There are reasons we didn’t know of her.”
What? He hadn’t known of her either. Lienda was so going down when I got my hands on her. I had noticed my father’s words were deliberately mysterious. Which was annoying, but I understood. This wasn’t the best place to be airing dirty family laundry. Too many here who would use it against us.
“It’s best if you leave and calm down, but make sure you find me in the morning.” He held my gaze until I nodded, lowering my eyes just slightly.
“I love you, Jessa,” he said as he turned and stormed out the door in a wave of power.
He was probably going to find Mischa and make sure she was okay. Damn sister taking my father already. Sure, I’d pushed him away, but that wasn’t the point. I didn’t like to share.
Tears were still burning a trail all the way from my gut up through my throat, and were trying to force themselves free from my eyes. I refused to cry in front of the council members. Those bastards would destroy me if they scented weakness. I turned and followed my father’s path from the building. Stepping out into the cooling air I saw no sign of the alpha wolf. He’d disappeared fast, even for him. Many of the supernatural races were milling around the fountain. Curious faces turned in my direction, but none were game to ask anything of me. I moved through a group of tiny fluttering pixies, their firelight shining up and down the street.
Footsteps sounded first and then Braxton’s arm came around me, his scent enveloping me. “Come on, Jess, let’s go to our place.” And just like that, all of the curious faces were suddenly busy doing something else.
“Dammit, it’s not fair,” I growled. “Your dragon has them all cowering like rabbits.” One of the weaker shifter animals. “Why is it that no one shows my wolf her due respect?”
He laughed. “It might be a dog eat dog world, but ... a dragon eats everyone.”
He made a fair point, but still.
“You better have food,” I said as my stomach grumbled again.
The rest of the Compasses fell in beside us and we made our way through the streets of Stratford. There was no need to rush, besides my want for food; it wasn’t a very long walk to their house. The boys lived on their own near the edge of the forest line. Their parents loved them but had kicked them out not too long after they came into their race powers. They’d had a little trouble putting up with the long trail of women drifting in and out of their friendly sons’ rooms.