Chapter Fourteen
an’t do it
Jakob envisioned carrying Ciara up the stairs, curling their bodies together for hours, until the other Wyverns were ready to go on the hunt for the relic. He needed to take care of her.
That’s not what was currently happening.
His lady love had stormed out of the lair, and when he said stormed, he meant hundred mile an hour winds, thunder and lightening, and hail that fucking stung as it pelted him and the other Wyverns in the face.
Match was oddly sulking instead of blowing his top with his fiery temper. His flames could have dried them all in an instant, but Kai was the only one who was still dry since he’d been smart enough to command the water away from himself.
Cage plucked chunks of ice out of his hair. “Man, you should have told her what the ritual meant before we all got dressed up.”
“There wasn’t time.” He’d choose making love to her over explaining out-of-date rituals that no one had used in almost a century. Who fucking cared about the silly words and ceremony?
Apparently, she did.
First he’d take care of the Wyr business and then he’d go find his mate and figure out exactly what was wrong and how much groveling he needed to do to fix it.
“Kai, you think you can use that nose of yours to find the relic with what Ciara told you?”
Kai stroked his chin. “I’d like a little more to go on than ‘America’. That country is fucking huge. I can’t scent the relic either. Haven’t been able to since before we got here. Something more powerful than your angry mate is using some fancy-ass magic to hide it.”
“We should all go.” Match stood off to the side, away from the rest of the group. He hadn’t said anything for several minutes, which was completely unlike him. “A massive demon dragon attack on a Wyvern, a white witch mate, and the relic being used by an unknown entity aren’t signs we can’t ignore. Something big is happening and we’d better figure out what.”
“You are acknowledging that Ciara is my mate.” Jakob didn’t make it a question. If a temper tantrum rain storm was all it took to get Match’s head out of his ass, he wished he’d pissed Ciara off earlier. She had proven herself as a true mate and had hardly blinked twice about the trial.
There was no way Match could object any more. She was powerful, she was beautiful, she was smart, and he loved her.
Yes. By the First Dragon, he absolutely loved her.
The feelings in his heart stretched and grew like a seed pushing up through the soil for the first time. It had been dark for so long, dormant because of his belief that he would never have a mate this new sensation felt incredible.
This wasn’t just a result of the mating or the ritual. That compelled him to be with her, to protect her. It controlled his out of control lust for her.
Even if none of those factors pushed him toward her, he still would have fallen head over tail for her. He didn’t want to spend any more time with these yahoos.
He’d give them five more minutes of his attention and then he was blasting his way out of here to go find Ciara.
Flashes of some emotion he’d never seen on Match flashed through his eyes. Regret?
Match cleared his throat and Jakob half expected smoke rings to come out of his mouth. Instead he got an apology.
“I, above all, never expected any of us to have mates, and only wanted to protect the Wyrs. I still can’t believe it, but she has proven herself. I apologize to you and your mate for the… distress.”
Match had pushed, but Jakob hadn’t done enough to stand up for Ciara, to protect her. It never should have come to this.
Match clasped his hand on Jakob’s shoulder, and he returned the gesture. “Take care of her well, brother warrior. You have been blessed like no other among us probably ever will be.”
“I will.” Oh, how he would.
“Good. We’ll make the preparations to travel to America. You see to the care and feeding of your mate.”
One more thing. A prescient fate must have been in his office with him two days ago, because he’d gotten the ball rolling on this investigation in the right direction.
“I sent Steel there to see if he could find out anything about who had taken the relic in the first place. Contact your red, Daxton, to see if they’ve made any progress. We can start with whatever they’ve found.”
Match and the others nodded and Jakob took his leave of them, shifting into his dragon form to exit the lair as fast as possible. He had an angry mate to tend to. Which he planned to do with a lot of kissing and other darker pleasures.
He followed her scent up to his bedroom where he found her still storming, pacing back and forth and muttering to herself.
“Ciara, come to me.”
She stopped mid-stride and pointed a shaking finger at him. If he didn’t know better he’d think she was cursing him.
“I am not talking to you like that. You turn back into a man right now so I can look you in the eye, mister.”
She’d banked her powers for now, no tornadoes or dust devil accompanied her demand. But, her face was flushed and her body was tense.
He’d help her work all that tension out. He shifted, ready to let the words of love pour out of his mouth and into her heart.
“I can't believe you robbed me of planning my own wedding. Do you know how long I’ve been dreaming of this day?” She threw up her hands and returned to her angry stomp stomp stomp across the room, to the window and back.
Ah. So that was it. He could explain and then they could get to the love declarations and kissing. “I did not rob you of anything, my little thief.”
She folded her arms around herself. “Did we, or did we not just star in a ceremony where I wore a special gown, you wore a special suit?”
What did that have to do with anything? He thought she’d like the dress and he wanted to look his best for her. “Yes. We did. But,--”
“And did friends and family witness an exchange of vows that binds us together for as long as we both shall live?”
Not that they’d needed the ceremony, it’s ritual, or any words to bind them together. They were mated. They’d be together forever. In this world and the next.
“Yes. You and me for the next four-hundred and fifty years or so.”
That was also news he probably shouldn’t just spring on her. Her lifespan would now match his. Her aging would slow and she would remain her luscious twenty-something self for as long as he was still in his Prime. A big adjustment for a human.
If she heard him, she either didn’t care or wasn’t ready to discuss it, because she continued her tirade. If she would just let him explain that the ritual wasn’t important, that they were bound together the second they first met. Then they could commence with the love making portion of the evening.
“And if we didn’t have to go running off to America to find the relic, would we now be expected to entertain those guests with food and drinks, music and dancing?”
She was completely fixated on this. Could she really be this upset about a dumb ceremony or was there something else bothering her and this was the convenient fight to pick?
“I guess so.” He wasn’t exactly sure on the protocol for after a Wyvern mating ritual, but a party felt in order.
“Was there supposed to be a cake?” Her voice was getting more shrill with each question.
Maybe she wanted the party. “If you want one.”
“That, my dear mate,” she spat the word at him, “is the very definition of a wedding.”
Jakob crossed the room and stood in front of her so close she had to tilt her head up to look at him. The fire, ice, wind, and lush green in those eyes took his breath away. He didn’t want to fight with her. He wanted to make love to her. “Ciara. Calm down.”
That was apparently the wrong thing to say, because every plant in the room wilted, the petals fell off the blooms, and one small pot he’d been preparing to put seedlings in burst into flames.
“Don’t tell me how to feel.” Her voice was quiet, but the wind whipping through the room at gale force wasn’t. “You're the one who brought up all these, these…feelings in me, dammit. So, don't go expecting me to shove them back inside. I won’t and I’m going to have to learn how to deal with that.”
Emotional women were not exactly his forte. He couldn't remember the last time someone had yelled at him. People didn't raise their voices to wyverns. He had said he wanted to see her riled because she was gorgeous lit up this way. He ought to be more careful what he wished for because, he wouldn’t be surprised if she, of all women, sudden learned how to breathe fire.
“Ciara, sweetheart –”
“Don't you sweetheart me, Jakob Zeleny. Do you have any idea what my entire life has been about for the past eight years?”
He did know how to answer that question because the answer was ‘not a fucking clue’. But that probably wasn't what she wanted him to say. At this point no matter what he said he would probably be wrong. He wasn't even a hundred percent sure she was mad about not understanding the words to the mating ceremony and that it had all happened without her say so on the flowers and decorations.
She had asked him a question about her life back in America, so maybe she was upset that she would be leaving that behind.
That was something they definitely hadn't discussed. Okay, he could see how she would be mad about that. Good. He would dig in and get to know every part of her psyche, so she wouldn’t have to be sad or mad anymore. He wanted his mate to be happy.
Happy mate, happy fate.
“I don't, but if you'll just tell me what you're really upset about, I will do my best to fix it for you.”
He patted himself on the back for that. He might be new to being a mate, but he knew that they took care of each other. If she needed to have a job to feel comfortable and happy, he'd buy her whatever company she wanted.
“I'm trying to tell you why I'm mad. I'm a wedding planner, asshat.”
Uh-oh. They were back to the creative name calling. “I'm sure there are plenty of couples in the Czech Republic who need help planning their own weddings. That's not really a dragon thing, but once I called the household staff back, some of the women can probably help point you in the right direction.”
“No, jackass. It's not about other people's weddings. I wanted to be able to plan my own. Now it's too damn late.” She held up her ring finger in a gesture that almost looked obscene.
That wasn't what bothered Jakob. It was the tears gathering in her eyes. She turned her back on him before any of them fell. It didn't matter because his gut told him with the empty burn spreading from the pit of his stomach to his throat that he was too late to stop them.
He hadn't spent an entire minute his whole life thinking about a wedding. He certainly never thought he'd have one, even if he did find a mate. He didn't consider the ritual they had just performed a wedding.
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 more so. “You're a part of that world now. You've got more magic in your little toes then most witches.”
“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 world the 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 it’s 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.
Her emotions were completely quashed. Burning down the house.
How could he reach her now? She’d been the most alive, the most free when he’d dominated her. If he didn’t give her a chance to think and analyze she might let go of this ridiculous notion that they didn’t belong together.
Jakob slid his hands down her arms, lightly skimming across her skin and took her wrists in each of his hands. He needed to do this next part carefully.
He raised her arms. She resisted at first, but then allowed him to push them up and over her head, then back to wrap around his neck.
The position thrust her chest out pushed her ass back into him, her soft plump rear caressing his cock through his trousers.
“You’re mine, Ciara,” he whispered in her ear and nibbled on the shell of her ear.
She shivered, her moans so quiet he wasn’t sure he’d heard her. “Don’t.”
“Ask me to stop and I will. Don’t ask me to, and I’ll prove to you just how much you belong to me.”
She didn’t move, except to tilt her head to the side, baring the mark. Yes.
His lips found the tattoo, then his tongue, and his teeth. He bit down hard, reclaiming her and making sure she knew it. She sucked in a gasp and wilted in his arms.
This wasn’t submission, she was entranced again.
Fuck, shit, fucking shit.
He lifted her and carried her to the bed, ready to call out to the others. But, her body tensed, shook and then she opened her eyes.
“Kur-jara is coming. We must stop him before he finds her.”
The voice coming from her mouth was not her own. The dragon mark on her neck writhed as if trying to escape her skin, to rise up and protect her.
His own dragon tattoo stretched its wings, reaching for her. How could he protect her if he could feel, see, or find the enemy. Who the hell was Kur-jara and was the woman he searched for Ciara or another?
“Ciara, can you hear me? Wake up.”
She shivered and her body went limp.
“Ciara, come back to me.”
Her breathing returned to normal and her eyelids fluttered. She struggled to open them and when she did, they were unfocused.
“Jakob?”
“I’m here. What did you see? Are you okay?”
“Go. To America. Quickly. Find the flower.” Her words were slurred.
Jakob didn’t think she even knew what she was saying. “I’m not leaving you.”
The other Wyverns could go to America. He was not moving from Ciara’s side ever again.
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