Page 73 of Chase Me

Match swooped in over the horde and took out a dozen right down the middle. The remaining right flank of them froze in their tracks, encased in blocks of ice by Ky which he then shattered into hundreds of chunks of demon-cicles.

Jakob shouted his thanks and jumped into the air over the battle. He put on a burst of speed, needing more than his own wings were capable of doing. He flew faster than ever and still hadn’t caught up to the front of the pack.

A warm wind blew him from behind. “Go to her brother. Save your white witch. Save your mate. We’ll protect the rest of the humans from here.”

Jakob sped ahead, cracking more skulls with his tail as heflew overhead. He spotted Ciara’s apartment instantly by the broken glass door.

Fuck. Three demon dragons were inside, and he didn’t fucking fuckity fuck fit through that doorway. He wouldn’t even fit inside her apartment. Not as a dragon.

His only weapon as a man was his command of earth, and they were a hundred meters up from the ground. Ciara had cleverly brought a good metric ton of earth up, but much more and her floor would collapse.

He landed on the small wooden porch and had to dig his claws into the brick of the building to keep it from collapsing under him. Inside, she had the demon dragons encased in what looked like termite hills, but they were already breaking free. If he shifted now, his human form would be too vulnerable to do any good. He could protect Ciara for no more than a few minutes before the demon dragons would slice through that weak form.

But he couldn’t stand out here with his thumb up his ass watching as they attacked her.

He roared and ripped the frame of the sliding glass doors out of the side of the building, tossing it to the ground. That garnered him only a little more than a glance from one of the demon dragons. They knew they were safe from him inside this tiny space.

But the look of relief on Ciara's face made the effort worth it. Her energy was flagging, he could see it in the exhaustion written all over her face and the way she supported herself against the kitchen counter. Poor thing had been going like a damned Energizer bunny hopped up on meth for days. He hadn’t given her half a chance to rest. He’d barely fed her. If they made it out of here alive, he swore he’d take better care of her, feeding her gourmet meals in bed if she wanted.

Her breathing was labored, and her outstretched arms shook like blades of grass in the wind. She wasn't used to battling these bastards or even wielding her magic, and didn’t know how to conserve her energy. If he didn't do something soon, her reserves would be exhausted.

You are doing great, my love. I am here for you. We just need a plan to get you out of here.

She gave one quick shake of her head and looked toward a closed door on the side of the room. “I can't leave. My friend Wes is hiding in the bathroom.”

One of the demon dragons broke free from his dirt bonds and advanced on her. Jakob swiped the one part of his anatomy that he could get into the apartment, his tail, trying to reach it. The demon dragon jumped to the ceiling to avoid the dangerous spikes, realizing when it did, that Jakob couldn't get to it. It landed back on the floor and turned its back on him, stalking toward Ciara.

Christ. He had made the situation worse.

Ciara pulled a spray nozzle from the sink and shot a steady stream of water, pumped up by her command of the element to the level of a fireman's hose. That deterred the demon dragon for only a moment, until it pushed forward through the water, inching closer to her.

Another beast broke free and she was forced to move the spray back and forth between the two of them, only managing to irritate them.

God dammit. He had to figure out a way to get the focus off of her and back to him. They could easily destroy him if he shifted back to a man, but why would they? He’d be no threat.

He scratched and yanked out more pieces of the wall, trying to get to her. An older woman came to the window above and stuck her head out. “Shut up, down there. You'llwake the —” Her eyes went as wide as the rollers in her hair when she saw Jakob clawing at the side of the building. He roared at her and she disappeared back into her apartment. If he was lucky, she would think this had all been a dream. But to get to Ciara, he would need to destroy that woman's apartment too. That would be hard to explain away.

“Jakob. Help me.” The third demon dragon had freed itself and the three of them now had Ciara penned in the kitchen. She had climbed up on top of the counter with the help of the plants growing up the walls.

Why weren't they just attacking her? What were they waiting for?

The answer to that would be the key to saving her.

“Stop fight. Dragon not save you. Come now, witch.” One of them screeched and growled words at her.

Holy shit holes. They weren't out to kill her. They wanted her to come with them for some reason.

He needed to find something they wanted more to get them away from her. He didn't even know until tonight that demon dragons wanted anything. They were mindless monsters.

Someone or something else had to be pulling their strings. That was some powerful dark magic.

One lunged for her and Jakob pulled up a wave of the earth inside her apartment to push it back. He used the momentum of that to propel the demon dragon hard into the wall, and then he gathered the rest of the dirt and tossed it and the demon dragon over the side of the building. It fell those eight stories, flapping its useless wings and crashed into the ground below

One down, two to go. Except in watching that bastard fall to its death, he’d seen the horde he’d had overtaken wasnow approaching the building. The Wyverns, Steele, and a young red dragon who must be Daxton were taking them out one by one. But there were so many that their efforts were more like thinning a herd, not sending them all off to slaughter.

He had maybe three minutes before they reached her building and began the climb up.

Think, for fuck sake. What did these demon dragons want, besides Ciara?

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