Page 60 of Chase Me

He reached out and touched her shoulder, planning to pull her into his arms and comfort them both. She jerked away and walked to the other side of the room.

What did she want from him, want him to say or do to make this better? Aha. “We can have a human wedding if you want to. Invite a thousand people. There are churches dotted all over this country or we could have it in the back garden.”

She shook her head and rubbed her forehead. Suddenly the fire was burnt out in her. “I don't think so. This,” she waved her hand back and forth between them, “isn't going to work.”

Wait a minute. What was she talking about?

“Ciara.” He closed the gap between them in an instant and pulled her into his arms whether she wanted to be there or not. He needed to feel her there.

She placed her hands flat against his chest. “We don't even know each other. You know nothing about me, and I barely even understand what you are, much less who. Your world is filled with magic and demons and dragons. All things I had no idea existed outside of fairytales until a couple of days ago.”

They had time to get to know each other. Hundreds of years. As soon as this business with the relic was taken care of he’d devote a thousand percent of his attention to her. Until then, she simply needed to know she belonged. Not only to him, but in the world of the dragon warriors. Mates were revered, and she being the first of this generation, even moreso. “You're a part of that world now. You've got more magic in your little toes then most witches have in their entire body.”

“Maybe, but I've lived twenty-eight years without it, it'll be easy enough to go back to that.”

“And what about the dragons?” It was one dragon in particular he was asking about. Could she go back to living without him?

“I can’t live with…can’t be in love with someone I hardly know.”

He was.

“We’ll get to know each other then. What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?” He knew more than enough to know he was in love with her. She could ask him anything and he’d answer honestly.

“It doesn’t really matter. I want to go home Jakob. Back to my life, my job, my friends, and forget all of this ever happened.”

No.

He’d only just found her. She couldn’t leave, forget about him. They were soul mates.

Jakob’s soul shard glowed, and Ciara looked away.

Why did that hurt so bad?

She already had his soul, maybe he should give her the shard containing a small piece of it to her.

No one he’d ever known had done such a thing. The soul shard was every dragon’s most prized possession. A piece of the First Dragon’s soul intertwined with a part of their own. He and every dragon received it at the age of forty, roughly equivalent to seven in human years.

He’d never taken it off in the hundred and twenty or so years since then.

As a little boy he’d felt like the biggest badass in the worldthe first time he’d shifted after receiving his soul shard. What would happen if he did give it to Ciara?

She didn’t have any dragon blood in her, so he doubted she’d shift. Her powers continued to amaze him though.

Would giving it to her be enough to prove he believed they belonged together, not separated by an ocean?

He could only try.

But what if she truly didn’t want it? She was right that this wasn’t her world. Hadn’t been. The significance of the gesture may be lost on her.

He fingered the talisman, feeling its warmth in his hand. He would wait. Just until she decided to stay, to keep the commitment she’d made.

“Ciara. I don’t want you to go. You mean everything to me now. I am sorry you feel cheated out of your wedding plans, and I will make it up to you any way that I can. Stay, my love.”

“Please, don’t call me that. We aren’t in love. Lust maybe, more likely it’s something to do with the crazy and scary events of the past few days. It’s the adrenaline talking. Couples who fall in love during dangerous situations rarely last.”

All the warmth and magic had faded from Ciara’s voice. She sounded like a robot repeating lines it had been programmed to say. She’d been adamant about letting all her feelings out. She was burying them instead.

She was less emotional now than when he’d first kidnapped her.

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