A woman stood nearby holding a crying baby. The children all spoke at once, chanting something and making faces at her. They bumped and jostled her, laughing like they were playing a game.
Then in another instant they fled.
A young man in a fancy uniform with a United States of America flag on it walked toward her scowling at the scamps. “Miss, you need to be careful hanging around Hlavni Nadrazi. If you had anything in your pockets, those Romani children have it all now.”
“Romani?” She shoved her hands into the pockets of the jacket and came up with nothing but air. They’d stolen her food.
The reality of being homeless in a city like this, in a foreign country hit her hard and she started crying.
Dammit.
“Commonly known as gypsies. They hang around here and a lot of the other touristy areas making their living. Are you okay?”
“No.” She sniffled and tried to wipe at her face, but the sleeve of the jacket fell off, the remaining shreds simply giving away.
The young man looked her up and down, but in a much more gentle way than the train conductor or anyone in the station had. “I’m a US Marine, ma’am. I work at the embassy here. Do you need assistance?”
Boy, did she ever.
The marine took her on a tram, paying her fair, and escorted her all the way to embassy row. The city was gorgeous, with a giant castle on a hill, a river through the center, covered in ornate bridges.
She wished she could have seen it any other way.
Another time, in another life maybe.
She gave her sob story to a woman who the marine introduced her too at the embassy, giving only enough details to make the story plausible, and leaving out every bit about dragons, and magic, and falling in love.
Before she knew it, the embassy woman was in tears too. Must be that emotional part of her new-found magic she didn’t understand.
They cried together, the woman got her a meal and some clothes, and somehow finagled her onto a military transport back to the US.
She slept the whole way, despite the noise and stares of the military personnel on board with her. When they landed, she didn’t feel any more rested than when they’d taken off.
Someone showed her to a phone and she called Wesley.
“Hey, babe. Where you been?” He was as perky as the day she’d left him.
“It’s a long story. Do you think you could come get me? I left my car at the Ketcher-Fast wedding.”
“Sure. Where are you?”
A four hour drive away. The Bridezillas of Willingham Weddings were going to have to wait. “Washington DC.”
“Jesus. This better be one hell of a story.”
She’d have to figure out what to actually tell Wes while she waited for him.
“It is.”
One that she wanted to forget as soon as she could.
Chapter Sixteen
Burning down the house
He was going to kill her. First, he was going to find her, then he was going to kiss her, then he was going to fuck her three ways to Saturday until she remembered they belonged together, then he was going to kill her.
When Jakob had woken up without Ciara in his arms and found her missing, he’d panicked. But, when Kai had helped him track her through the forest and they found evidence of not only her escape from demon dragons, but the scent of a dragon none of them recognized, he’d gone well beyond panic and into weapons of mass destruction mode.
If anything had happened to her, he would tear down the world to get her back or die trying.
They followed the train tracks where Ciara's was scent lingered. She wasn't in any of the small towns along the route to Prague. Thankfully, neither was the sent of the unknown Dragon.
All wyverns knew every single Dragon in their Wyr. That worried Jakob more than anything else. It was inconceivable to him that there could be a rogue Dragon. But, if there was one, he would be very dangerous. It would be too coincidental for him to be in the area around Jakobs Villa without being involved in all of the problems that had reared their ugly heads in the past week. Whoever he was, he wouldn't be able to hide from them for long, and if he had Ciara, he wouldn't be long for this world.
Kai picked up Ciara’s scent again outside the main terminal. He tracked her across the bridge and up the hill to Mala Strana. Prague Castle loomed above them and Jakob swore that when he found Ciara he would take her to the giant hall in the old part of the castle and marry her right.
Her trail landed them standing outside the US Embassy.
“They aren't going to let us in there. None of us even have passports, bro.” Shit, Kai was right.
“Speak for yourselves,” Cage said. “I've had a passport for years but, not on me. It's not like I flew here commercially.”
“Dammit, I'll tear the building down.” Jakob paced back and forth in front of the gate.
Match put a hand on Jakob's shoulder and stopped him. “If she went in there, she safe. Come, let's find a place we look a little bit less like a group of terrorists scouting the US Embassy. Will figure out our next move then.”
They walked around the corner, and into a little gastropub. Cage grabbed them beers and they sat at a table in the corner.
Before any of them could come up with a suggestion for what to do next a group of young men entered the bar.
Their loud voices told Jakob that they were probably American tourists, except the one that ordered from the barkeep spoke pretty good Czech. Maybe he lived and worked here.
“No, you guys. I'm telling you she was like a hobo in a ball gown. And the second I told her I was a US Marine she burst into tears,” he said as soon as he joined his friends with the beers.
He was in the middle of a story and his friends were enjoying it immensely. “Dude, the sight of you does make most women cry.”
The group laughed, but Jakob and the rest of the wyverns got very quiet. It was more than wishful thinking that they were talking about Ciara.
“What would make you dickheads cry was the site of her double D's about falling out of that dress. She had curves for miles. I would've escorted her all the way home, if they would let me. If you know what I mean.”
If they were talking about his mate, he was going to eat them all for dinner. Two of the men raised their glasses in a toast to the asshole’s dirty minds.
One of them prompted their friend to continue the story. “And she said she'd been kidnapped? Who the hell kidnaps an American woman and brings her to the Czech Republic?”
Who else could they possibly be talking about?
“I don't know, man, he must be one sick mother fucker, because she also said he tried to force her to marry him.”
Fuck. He’d done no such thing. Had he?
“Jesus Christ, this dude needs to get a life.”
“I don't know, maybe we ought to hook him up with your sister Maria.”
“Shut up, man.”
“So, when can see her again? Maybe show her a little comfort, Marine style?”
The story teller got series. “Assholes, the lady has been through a serious trauma. Show a little respect.”
They didn’t know the definition of the word. Jakob’s fists clenched. He would teach them.
“In other words, they sent her back to the States, didn't they?”
“On the military transport that left today.” The table erupted into laughter again.
Jakob pressed his fists down on the table and slowly stood up. He had no doubt they were talking about Ciara. Had she really set all of those things about him? He had kidnapped her, but this story made it sound like he was a monster.
One of the other wyverns grabbed at his shirt to stop him, but he was solely focused on the man telling the story, and how he was going to rip his head off.
He walked up to the group without saying a word and lifted the young man up into the air by his collar. “Where is she?”
No one was laughing now. The rest of this young man's comrad
es stood pushing back their tears ready to defend their friend. What he needed now was some of Ciara's calming influence.
“Where. Is. She?” He growled, and could feel his Dragon pushing toward the surface.
The friends who were so ready to help all took a step back. One of them whispered a series of expletives under his breath.
The man in Jakob's hold grunted. It would probably help if Jakob released his throat. He dropped the man to the bench, watching him gasp for breath. He croaked something out that Jakob couldn't understand.
“What did you say? Tell me where Ciara is.”
The man glared up at Jakob. “I said, fuck you.”
Jakob's talons extended, and his vision sharpened as his eyes and peoples elongated in their Dragon form. This little peon would not have a quick death. Jakob would gut him and pull his entrails out slowly until the man told him what he wanted to know.
Cage stepped between Jakob and his prey. “We've learned enough from his story. She went home.”
Jakob growled at Cage. Now that he was this close to the man, he scented Ciara all over him. He had touched her. No one touched his mate. She was his.
Cage stepped forward forcing Jakob to back up. He tried to shove Cage out of the way so he could eviscerate his prey. Suddenly, Match and Kai flanked him, creating an immovable wall of Dragon warrior. He bared his teeth at them all, showing them just how close he was to shifting.
“These humans do not need to be let in on our ancient secret. Control your temper, Zeleny.”
Jakob had already come to blows with Match, he would do it again.
“Bro, the longer you stand around here pissing in the air, the longer we all have to wait to get to America and find your mate.” Kai said the first thing that made any sense to Jakob. He took a deep breath and pushed the Dragon back down.
He hurried out of the pub, wanting to take flight immediately. But, the city of Prague hadn't seen a dragon flying over it in more than a thousand years. Either they would need to wait until dark or go back out into the countryside before shifting and flying across the ocean to find Ciara.
After a minute he was joined by the rest of the wyverns. “I managed to talk the soldiers into not reporting that incident. The one who found Ciara took a little extra convincing. He's actually a good kid and just wanted to know she was safe from our resident dickhead, over here.”
Cage was a smooth talker and had more treasure than the rest of them combined, so he'd probably paid them off. They could all have all the gold in his lair and more if it would help him get to Ciara.
But did she even want that?
For the first time since he had taken her, he wasn't sure what to do. She was his mate, but she was also a human and he couldn't force her to be a part of his world.
She had tried to tell him as much before her second seizure. He wouldn't listen. He should have.
Maybe he should just leave her alone, at least for a little while. That idea tore through his gut like St. George's sword. But, if it would make her happy to be out of his life, he would suffer.
He had to check on her though, make sure she wasn't in any danger. They were going to America anyway to find the relic. They had no idea where it might be and the logical place was to start where he'd found it in the first place.
With Ciara.
His Ciara.
Jakob slammed his fist into the nearest wall leaving a good sized dent in the façade. “I'll go out of my skin if we have to wait until nightfall to shift and fly across the Atlantic. But, it'll take just as much time to find an area secluded enough to shift out of sight of the humans.”
“Cage and I have been working on a little something, that will help, inspired by your mate.” Kai stepped to the side and raised his hands into the air.
The couple of fluffy white clouds dotting the blue sky over Prague gathered, grew, and darkened. Cage grinned and joined Kai. He took in a deep breath and with his exhalation winds whipped through the city. Within a few moments an enormous storm had formed, clouding out the sun.
When the torrential rain started coming down the light of mid day turned as dark as midnight. Jakob and Cage were soaked to the bone almost instantly. Kai danced around in the puddles.
The rain around Match evaporated before it hit his skin. “A little something I prepared for the next tempest from your white witch.”
The four of them shifted and took to the skies. As soon they hit the coast, because Kai dived and went into the water. He could swim as fast as they could fly. None of them were as strong a flyer as Cage, but with him along they wouldn't need that extra support of the other golds to push them through the jet stream.
Normally, Jakob didn't mind the silence of flight, but today it gave him too much time to think. Had he forced Ciara into this relationship?
He wanted to blame it on the mating, but he was no primitive beast. He lived his entire life without her, without even a clue he would ever find her.
He would have to find a way to live without her again.
If that's what she wanted.
But, the way she writhed under him when he'd fucked her, she, part in his arms every time he'd been inside of her. At least her body recognized their connection, even if her mind didn't.
She'd agreed to stay the first time he'd asked her. Maybe, that had been a lie, something to give her more time to figure out how to escape him.
His senses were all out of whack when it came to her. Maybe he couldn't scent lies or love on her. He'd been wrong on both counts.
In the hours that followed, in one moment he was determined to leave her alone and the next convinced he should go after her.
Not since the first days since he'd become wyvern had he second-guessed himself so much.
Well, he needed to man up. Be the warrior he was trained to be, the Dragon he was born to be.
The way his brother wyverns had banded together almost from the moment this trouble started, amazed him. He thought he needed to hide his problems from them and prove his worthiness to be wyvern.
What he really needed to do was learn from those who had been wyverns longer than he had. He had secluded himself from them and in the meantime they had been learning how to work together.
He was afraid they would need that teamwork for whatever chain of events had started with the missing relic.
They approached the eastern seaboard of the United States. With each flap of his wings, the light in Jakob soul shard grew brighter. It had known its mate all along glowing from the first time he'd laid eyes on her.
He banked, adjusting their flight path toward where he had originally found Ciara. Match and Cage followed him and as soon as they were over land Kai joined them in the sky again. She wouldn't be in exactly the same place as she was before, but Jakob trusted his instincts to guide him to her.
“Are you sure this is the right direction?” Kai asked. He hesitated as they flew over a part of landmass that hooked into the ocean creating a cape. “Something or someone is pulling me in that direction.”
“I'm sure. I don't feel her there. But is it possible that is where the relic is?”
“We should split into two groups. We know that Ciara is somehow tied to the relic. If we find it we may also find her and vice versa.”
“Agreed. When we are in range I'll connect with Steele and see if he has found anything.”
“I'll do the same with Daxton.”
The group split with Kai and Match heading north, while Jakob and Cage flew south.
Even though they had the time change in their favor, the flight had been long and dusk was setting over the land. It helps Jakob to recognize the lights of the city to where he'd first tracked Ciara. He swooped down over the building he kidnapped her from, but he didn't feel her presence there. Where was she?
He opened his senses as wide as he could and felt a glimmer of her not far away. Within a few minutes he and Cage were perched on top of a building that overlooked where he felt Ciara. It didn't take long bef
ore he found her.
His heart busted open beating so hard at the first sight of her. There, a few floors down from the top he could see her through the window. She was sitting on a couch, with a glass of wine in her hand.
He didn't even know she liked wine. He had an extensive cellar filled with vintages from both his Moravian vineyard and Kai's New Zealand one. One more thing he didn't know about her.
He promised himself he was only here to make sure that she was safe. He'd finally decided in the last hour of the flight. But, it took everything he had not to cross over and crashed through her window.
A moment later he wasn't sure if he was glad he hadn't or not. She was joined on the couch by another person, a man.
Jakob's vision went green, creating a hazy site of her hugging this bastard.
Cage shifted away from him on the roof. “Oh, shit. Here we go.”
Fucking hell, this had to be the boyfriend she had talked about. One more indication to Jakob that she did not want to be with him.
The other man stroked Ciara's hair and she leaned into him.
If he watched this for another minute he would tear the man in half and take Ciara back to his villa to lock away in his dungeon.
Jakob finally made the right choice. He spread his wings and took to the air.
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 Kai?” Cage flew in a circle around him.
“Go if you want to. I'm happy to do some dirty work on my own.”