Page 40 of Chase Me

Okay. She was pissed. He could handle that. At least now he knew what he was dealing with.

“She’s gonna kick your ass, man.” Cage whispered, having way too much fun over this. Any second now he was going to pull up a chair and grab some popcorn.

“Fuck off.”

“Nope.”

Jakob could only hope that someday Cage would find amate too. Mostly so that Jakob could make Cage’s life just as miserable when that happened.

He didn’t even know if that was likely. He knew nothing about how or why he’d been blessed with Ciara.

“Jakob,” she snarled.

Cage was right. She was pissed. Cute as hell too. Her cheeks had that same flush to them when she was mad as when she was coming.

All Jakob wanted to do was take Ciara to bed and show her exactly what that mark meant. “Cage, get out.”

Ciara pointed to Cage. “Oh no. If you won't tell me what you did to me, then maybe he will.”

Cage held up his hands and began to back out of the room. He was no dumb dragon.

“This doesn't concern him. That mark is between you and me.”

“This isn't a mark. This is unauthorized body art. It's a frickin' tattoo.”

Cage made it to the door, and grabbed the handle to pull it shut, leaving Jakob and Ciara alone. “She's gonna kill you. But if you survive this, you've got to call an AllWyr ASAP. Have fun with that.”

Cage shut the door, leaving that little truth bomb to explode inside Jakob's head.

Shit.

He could call an AllWyr, a meeting of all four Wyverns, and then everyone would see how he fucked up. He certainly wasn't turning out to be the leader his father had been. But what choice did he have?

The villa and his lair had been compromised, demon dragons had tried to steal his soul shard, and he had marked and claimed a mate.

He was in way over his head. He'd been trained to lead his troops in battle against evil and keep peace among his Wyr.

That's what his father and his father’s father before him had done. It's what all Wyverns had done since the first great battle a couple thousand years ago. If that's all he had to do, he'd be a bad ass Wyvern.

But mating? Love?

He had no idea when it came to either of them.

He’d known Ciara for a couple of days, there wasn’t time for love. This mating was completely instinctual, it had very little to do with feelings.

“Is there any way to get this thing off of me? Why would you put a tattoo on me in the first place?” Ciara rubbed her fingers over the mark like she was trying to rub it off.

He might be feeling like a failure at the moment, but he needed to put that aside and take care of his mate, which was something he hadn’t done since the second he’d found her.

Jakob finally figured out how to pull his head out of his ass and crossed the room to Ciara. He placed his hand over hers and stopped her scrubbing at the mark.

“A lot has happened in the past few days and quite honestly it's as overwhelming to me as I think it is for you.”

She glanced at him in the mirror, a flash of mixed emotions flew through her eyes staring back at him. There was a good dose of disbelief, some frustration, and the one that bothered him the most, fear. He’d done more than enough to make her fear him. The opposite of what a mate should be doing. He needed to start earning her trust instead.

“I am sorry for everything I've put you through. But I won't apologize for claiming you. I will be thanking the First Dragon for the rest of my life that we were brought together.”

Ciara's shoulders sagged under his hand. “I'm not your property to claim.”

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