Chapter Eleven
or All Weird?
Once the three dragons had unraveled themselves from Ciara’s accidental plant trap, she saw how big and intimidating the other males were. Not that they were any bigger than Jakob, but the one they called Match, was so grumpy like a grizzly bear that he seemed a lot bigger than he was.
Where cage was built like a lithe muscular soccer player, Kai had that rough rugby player air about him, not to mention his dark skin and tribal tattoos. Cage and Kai were flirty and welcoming, Match was cranky and broody.
The four of them were currently in the middle of a heated discussion on whether fifty demon dragons constituted a pack or a horde. They traipsed outside to the garden and field where Jakob had battled those monsters, dragging her along.
The black stains on the ground were beginning to fade, and the ashy residue either combined with the dirt or blew away in the breeze.
This sight was part of why Ciara had agreed to stay with Jakob. For now. There was no way she could risk bringing the demon Dragon back to America where they would be able to tap attack her family, friends, who really were just her colleagues. It was horrible of her to imagine her mother running screaming from a snakelike creature in her pristine house, right?
There was another part of her that wanted to be here with him. Wanted to badly to believe his story about destiny and being his mate.
It was the same part that had held out for him to ask her to stay instead of ordering her too. Stupid hopeless romantic.
She knew better than to act that way. But, it had worked. He’d asked her, and she couldn’t say no.
There had to be some batshit crazy in her belfries.
Who decided to shack up with a kidnapping warrior dragon?
Her, that’s who.
She wasn’t sure now if she should head straight to pathetics anonymous or hit the wedding registry.
Maybe both.
The sun was burgeoning on the horizon, and the shadows where Ciara was sure the demons were hiding, rapidly shrank. Not that she thought Jakob or the other burly warriors would let anything happen to her. He hadn’t even let go of her hand since the other dragons had shown up. Besides, she knew better now how to defend herself against paranormal creatures.
Magic.
She even sounded crazypants to herself inside of her own damn head.
Match grumbled something and the group gathered back inside the house near the secret entrance to Jakob’s lair. She felt his uncomfortableness with their proximity to his hiding spot. She didn't know much about dragons, but if there is any truth in the stories and fairy tales, a Dragon's treasure was a closely guarded secret.
“If the relic is gone, and your supposed mate didn't take it then we need to assess the problem with your security.” Match sure was being bossy. “We can't risk losing any other Dragon lore from your lair. Just show us where it is.”
“I've already got Steel working on the problem.” Jakob's hand squeezed and released Ciara's like a pulse. Poor guy was going to turn her hand to pulp.
She could tell them about how Mrs. Bohacek just appeared, but none of them were really listening to her anyway. They were way wrapped up in being alphaholes.
They work out their own problems, while she tried to figure out what she was going to tell her mother about not coming home. She hadn't had a vacation in forever, she was due. She'd simply just have to call and say she was taking an extended leave of absence. Wes could take care of most of her accounts anyway. He had a real knack with the brides. It was that million-dollar smile and the panty melting wink he had.
Even Ciara had fallen for it.
Maybe she’d just email her mother. Avoid the drama llama.
But what was she going to say to Wes? Sorry about our date, hope you had fun at the club the other night?
Yeah, that didn't sound bitter or anything.
If anything, he would be the one who deserved to be upset. She was about to break their first date because she was mated to a Dragon.
Not like she could tell Wes that. She didn't even know if he would be bummed out.
All she'd ever done was make assumptions about how he, and really everyone around her, felt. She never asked. Maybe he didn't even like her that way. On the other hand, she'd spent the last three years eighty percent sure she was in love with him, so it hurt to think that he might not have shared any of those feelings.
What did she know about love anyway?
She knew what it looked like, on other people anyway. She should have a clue how it really felt.
She glanced at Jakob who was scowling at the other three dragon warriors. He was so damn handsome. But, she wanted to rub those worry wrinkles around his eyes away for him.
She shook her head at herself. He made her feel things, pulled up emotions she thought long dead. Emotions she had never been taught to use in the first place.
Was that really her, her feelings? Or was it this bizarre mating thing? Jakob had said he simply knew she was his mate. Maybe those instincts he had talked about were affecting her to.
It could be like when certain animals went into heat. They were drawn to find a mate and reproduce.
Aww, wouldn't a tiny green-eyed version of Jakob running around underfoot be simply adorable?
Kids had never been a part of her relationship equation before. Wesley would probably make beautiful babies too, but she felt nothing thinking about having his offspring.
It had to be the mating thing. She really needed some time alone with Jakob, not in a bedroom, or a phone booth, to find out more about her psychological and physical responses.
Biology. It was all about biology.
It had nothing to do with love.
Gulp.
They were already mated according to Jakob, so she didn't need to worry about things like love.
Because she was not in love with him. Ridiculous.
Except, what if she was?
If love felt anything like longing and deep unfulfilled needs, then she was screwed.
“I am not showing you where my lair is. That is final, so fuck off, Match.”
Whew, tensions were getting out of control. She could probably do something about that, if she weren't so damn hungry.
Huh. She'd been in Jakob’s kitchen three or four times since she'd been here, and hadn't yet had anything to eat. No wonder she was running out of steam.
Ciara held a hand up in the middle of the group and swirled a little wind around for emphasis. Cage smiled at her and Jakob stepped closer. Match and Kai both watched her like she was a sideshow attraction.
“Let's take this into the kitchen and discuss this like adults and grown-up dragons over breakfast.” She didn't wait for their response and walked away dragging Jakob along with her since he still hadn’t released her hand.
Mr. Grumpypants back there, grumbled, but she heard him following them. The men moved to sit around the island, like she was going to wait on them.
She rooted through the refrigerator and found eggs and a tray of leftover cooked bacon. Rock on.
She found forks and a couple of large bowls next. Then set them in front of Kai and Cage. She slid the container of eggs over to Match “I would like five eggs cracked into that bowl, please.”
Match stared at her for a minute and raised one eyebrow when she didn't flinch under his gaze. She smacked her lips and folded her arms. “If you would like to eat breakfast, you're going to have to help prepare it. I may be a mate, but I am not a slave.”
Cage and Kai made that oh-ho laughing sound guys did when one of their crew got told.
Ciara kept herself from grinning and turned her back on the group. A moment later, she heard eggs being cracked, followed by the sound of whisking with a fork.
“What would you like my help with, badass? I mean mate.” It tickled her that he liked her for making his grumpy friend help with breakfast.
“Can you find me a loaf of bread please?”
She had French toast frying in a big ole cast-iron skillet, with gobs of butter, a few minutes later. She threw the bacon in the oven to warm.
In a few more minutes she had French toast fried egg and bacon sandwiches ready for everyone. As soon the guys bit into their sandwiches, the tension between them slipped away. Amazing what a little food could do. Plus, she had concentrated on imbuing the food with a sense of calm, just to see if she could.
She grabbed the dishes and put them in the sink. She turned and picked up her sandwich, running water into the pan to wash later.
“Wahine, did you do that? Run the water without touching the faucet?” Kai watched her take a bite of her sandwich.
Had she? She'd only just been thinking the dishes needed to soak. She chewed a few times searching for a connection to the water. Doing dishes sucked and she had wished they would do themselves.
“I guess I did. Cool. That's one more thing I didn't know I could do.”
The men all stopped eating, some of them mid-chew.
Match set down his sandwich. “What else did you not know you could do?”
“A lot of things. But a few of the highlights were digging a hole up from Jakob's lair to his garden, tossing the snake guy into the air with the wind, and wrapping you all up in my plant protectors.” She took another bite of her sandwich, letting those little nuggets sink in. They couldn't be any more surprised than she had been.
“Sweetheart, you didn't tell me you also had command of the water element.” Jakob placed his hand on the back of her neck. He rubbed his thumb into her hair at the nape.
She looked around the table and wondered why the water was such a big deal. “I didn't know until now. I didn't know magic even existed until you brought me here, and Mrs. Bohacek told me I would burn your house down if I tried too hard to control my emotions around you.”
“No.” Match stood and shook his head. “Fire too?”
“And wind.” Cage stood and placed his hands on the table.
“The water bent to her will, I had nothing to do with that.” Kai nodded to her and stood with the other three.
Jakob moved to his feet and behind her, his front pressed to her back, giving her some comfort in this weird scenario.
“It can't be, there hasn't been one since the first dragons mate.” Match looked her up and down with both a sense of awe and disbelief in his voice.
You can't deny what we've seen.” Kai said.
She looked from man to man. “What? What's going on?”
They didn’t seem mad at her. But, she’d obviously done something wrong. Maybe it had been a mistake to stay. She didn’t know anything about this magical world she’d been dragged into. There were rules and a whole culture she knew nothing about.
At least with wedding planning and the world of her mother, she knew how to behave, how not to get on anyone’s nerves.
Every move she made here made someone uncomfortable, including her.
Well, she was a woman and it was her prerogative to change her mind if she wanted to. That week off in Prague was sounding better all the time.
But she’d told Jakob she’d stay.
Jakob turned her on her stool so that she faced him and had her back to the other men, probably to tell her he’d changed his mind. She wasn’t what he thought she was, and it was time for her to go.
He searched her eyes, probably trying to find the best way to let her down. An empty place inside reopened, waiting to absorb the bad news. She couldn’t let him see her disappointment. Never let them see you sweat. Or cry.
Ciara stared right back at him, doing her best to keep her face expressionless. The gas range behind him lit up like a bonfire. A breeze rattled the pots and pans hanging from the rack above their heads, and a misty fog filled with snowflakes filled the room, until there was only him and her.
Still Jakob didn’t take his eyes off her. He did blink when a basil plant formed a crown around his head.
He raised a hand and ran his thumb over her lips then stroked his knuckles over her jaw. “I will never get enough of you. You, my curvy lover, are very special. How do you do it?”
Like she knew. She barely understood. “I thought they were tied to emotions. Different emotions, different elements.” That’s how the woman in white had explained it.
Jakob shook his head and grinned at her. “Is that how you call on the power?”
Jakob’s eyes flashed to her mouth and back up.
This was a confusing conversation. She had the distinct feeling they were only partly talking about magic. “You don’t?”
The other men were mumbling in the background about not being able to see a thing. Good. She liked having Jakob to herself right now. The fog got thicker and she heard someone bang into something and swear.
Jakob didn’t notice, or if he did, didn’t care. “No. I’ve used them to enhance it, like when the demon dragons attacked, I fueled a burst of power with anger. It’s nothing like what you’re doing now.”
He moved even closer to her. So close she could taste the lust pouring off him. It was the flavor of cinnamon, just on the verge of being spicy.
“Okay.” So, he wasn’t kicking her to the curb. That was good, right? She was so damn confused. If magic and mating were tied up in her own emotions, she was never go to get the hang of them.
“I don't understand why you think this is a big deal. You can do the same thing with the earth and plants and stuff.”
“Zeleny, get your mate to drop the shield of fog. No one is going to harm her.” Match’s voice came through but muffled.
She wasn’t ready to face the other guys yet. Jakob shook his head and rolled his eyes.
“Unless of course you’ve got your tongue down her throat or in other fun places, then by all means, keep the fog up.” Cage piped in.
“Speak for yourself, Goldilocks. She’s fucking fine and I wouldn’t mind seeing her—” Kai’s voice was cut off by an oomph.
Jakob continued on as if was used to ignoring them. “Yes, one element. Every dragon can. Earth, fire, wind, and water. Four elements, four kinds of dragons. But none of us, or any other being we know of commands more than one. Only one other witch in all time has wielded the same powers as you, commanding all four elements.”
If this other witch was anything like Mrs. Bohacek, Ciara was sure she should meet her. “Who is she? Maybe I should talk to her. Get someone else to show me the ropes.”
“She was the first Dragon's mate. And the mother of all Dragon kind. The White Witch.”
Hmm. Could it be? Was the mysterious Mrs. Bohacek this White Witch? “You know that lady I told you about, the one who helped me escape the room and the lair?”
Jakob nodded and she saw him putting the pieces together too.
“She taught me some of the basics of how to use the elements, by using them herself.” There were some other vague memories of a discussion between Mrs. Bohacek and another man, but she couldn’t quite grasp them now. “I think she might be your White Witch.”
With a whoosh of hot wind, the fog around them disappeared.
“The White Witch and the First Dragon are gone. You couldn’t have seen or talked to her.” Match spat the words and when Ciara turned to look at him, smoke wafted up from his mouth and nostrils.
Cage flicked his wrist and blew the wisps of smoke away. “There’s something bigger going down here. We need to call and AllWyr.”
Kai leaned forward. “I agree. We don’t have enough info. All we know is that the relic’s gone missing, the demon dragons banding together to attack Jakob’s lair in a horde, and now he’s got a mate. We’re missing something that’s linking those all together.”
“Jakob’s witch is the key. She had the relic, she has powers beyond what any witch should have, including an unexplainable hold on a Wyvern. How do we even know she’s his true mate? She could be working a spell we’ve never seen before.”
Jakob’s soul shard shot light into the room like an explosion. The force of it literally knocked Match to the floor. He was back on his feet in an instant and charging at her. A red shimmer floated across his body and he shifted into a mean fire-breathing dragon, hell bent on eating Ciara.