Page 69 of Chase Me

Cage followed him at a distance, which was a good idea since Jakob needed to kill something.

He opened his mind and searched for Steele. “Tell me you haven't been digging around in this godforsaken land since I sent you over here.”

It didn't take Steele long to reply. “No, sir. I haven't found any evidence of a witches' coven, but we have been rooting out more demon dragons than normal.”

Jakob hadn't had time to follow-up with Steele and let him know that his theory about Ciara having a coven or other partners in crime had been wrong.

“Good. I'm in the mood for some death and destruction. Show me where we can find some.”

“I'm always up for a good demon dragon battle, Zeleny, but shouldn't we meet up with Match and Ky?” Cage flew in a circle around him.

“Go if you want to. I'm happy to do some dirty work on my own.”

“By all means, lead the way. It's been too long since I've had the opportunity to let off a little steam.”

They followed Steele’s directions and didn't have to go far. Steele waited for them in a park maybe a mile from where Ciara lived. He had cleared the area of humans, and the stench of evil would keep more from wanting to come this way.

Jakob would be assigning at least six green dragons on permanent undercover duty to guard Ciara. But first, he would destroy every single one of the little shits he could find in her vicinity and then some.

As if they had been waiting for Jakob to land, a dozen demon dragons rose up out of the shadows the second his feet touched the ground. Excellent. “These are mine.”

Jakob tore into the demon dragons like a Viking berserker with fangs and claws. He eviscerated six of them while the others gawked at him. He didn't care. Bring on more.

He got exactly what he wished for.

All of his frustration and anger were channeled into the battle. None even got close to him before he turned them into stains on the ground.

“Jakob! Look out.” Both Steele and Cage called out the warning. A mass of demon dragons dropped from the top of a nearby building, through the trees, and tackled him. Five or six of them held him down while two others reached for his soul shard.

A blast of fire threw half of them off of his back and a blast of water took out three more. He looked up to see Match, Ky, Cage, and Steele all joining the fray.

Jakob swung his tail around clobbering the two bastards who had gotten their hands on his shard. They hadn't been able to take it off of him but had lit up with delight, which was completely creepy, when they had touched it. One of themdisintegrated into a puff of ash, but the other took off bounding across the park and disappeared into the shadows.

Jakob spotted it again a couple hundred meters away running directly for the building where Ciara lived.

They were going after her.

Over his dead body.

WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?

Ciara slept the majority of the car ride from Washington DC to home. She still felt like she could sleep for another week. She was groggy enough that Wes suggested he take her straight home instead of stopping to get her car at the wedding hall. Mrs. Moore, the elderly lady who lived across the hall from her had a spare key, so she agreed. Now that she was here and had Wesley Alexander inside her house, she didn't know what to do with herself. Or him.

She putzed about the kitchen for a few minutes before he shooed her away. “Ciara, sweetie pie, go sit on the couch. I'll throw together a quick amuse-bouche and some wine, and you can tell me all about where you've been the past couple of days. Unless you want to go to bed and I'll get out of your hair.”

“No, it would be nice to have some company for a while.” She didn't know how much she could actually tell him about her insane adventure without sounding like she needed to be sent to the mental hospital. She could probably relate asimilar story to what she had told the people at the embassy. They seemed to have bought that, so she would stick with it.

Wesley pulled a couple of glasses and a bottle of wine off the shelf, poured hers and gave her a light shove toward the living room. She curled her legs underneath her on the couch and took a sip of the wine. Then she sat and stared at the wall for a good five minutes.

She may not have even blinked until Wes set a cutting board with slices of avocado, cheese, chunks of rotisserie chicken, and crackers in front of her. It was the most beautiful meal she had ever seen, and it made her burst into tears.

“That's right, honey. Let it all out.” He slipped onto the couch next to her and wrapped her up in a big bear hug.

She dreamed more than once of being in Wesley's arms. But she didn't feel a single tingle or butterfly. He was kind and comforting, and she was completely emotionally drained. He stroked her hair while she sniffled, trying to get herself back under control.

No, no. She'd vowed not to sweep her feelings under the emotional rug anymore. She leaned into him and let the tears flow. It felt good to let it all out. She couldn't remember the last time she had cried. Maybe when she'd been a little girl and her father had left.

It didn't take as long as she would've thought to get all cried out. She blew her nose on one of the napkins and grabbed up her glass of wine to wash the taste of salty tears away.

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