Page 186 of Claimed

I will honor her wishes and ask about filtering the magic. Just to be sure. But I already know, darkness can’t exist in the light. And I have my pregnant mate with my two sons to think of. There’s nothing but light in me. Light always has dominion over dark.

53

Stacy

I struggle as Jase holds me back.

Of course it’s sheer stupidity that has me struggling in Jase’s grasp like there’s anything I can do about Grey being in that building, but it’s on fire! Grey and Soleil are in there and the structure is falling down just like the office did for Silver Hills Salvage when he was so furious.

I go limp in Jase’s grasp and bawl, clenching my hair in my hands at both sides of my head as I will the man I love to come out here and be okay. Because the feeling in my chest in Grey’s spot doesn’t feel okay. At all.

I’m here with Sherry, Aphra, and Halla as well as the blonde witch Soleil called Sheena, but everyone is moving further away from the door as more smoke billows out and the awful sounds of the building crumbling assault our ears.

The other women aren’t in sight and there’s one less vehicle here than when I got here, so they must have taken off. Jase yanks the electrical cord out of the back of Jared’s Airstream and hits a button making it quickly snap into place on the back. He tugs my hand to take me to the pickup truck, telling me to get in so he can pull it away from the building. He puts me into the back seat beside Halla who just climbed in.

Sherry gets in the front passenger seat.

Aphra stares at me.

“C’mon, Momma. Quick so we can get away from the fire!”

“Quick, yeah?” Jase tells her.

“I… I don’t have anywhere to go.”

Jase gets into the driver’s seat, saying, “Come with us. We’ll figure it out.”

Aphra and I exchange a loaded look before my eyes bounce back to the building, looking for my mate. She gets in and shuts the door, buckling her daughter’s seatbelt as Jase turns the truck on.

Suddenly I see Grey! The man I love emerges from the burning building, bare-chested, eyes glowing silver as his chest rapidly rises and falls. He’s looking for me, zeroing in. He spots me and I’m trying to get out of the truck, but the child locks are still engaged so the door won’t open!

“Argh!” I cry out and pound on the window in frustration.

Grey pulls the door open and now I’m in his arms. He’s squeezing me tight, kissing the side of my face as I sob, wrapping my limbs around him.

It feels so, so good to be embraced by him, to smell him underneath the scent of smoke. I put my hands to his jaw and kiss his face over and over.

There’s a loud boom from inside the warehouse and Jase says, “Gotta get this moved!”

Grey sets me on my feet and shuts the truck door.

“Hurry,” he says, tugging my hand so we can rush but changes his mind and lifts me again, running across the street impossibly fast with me in his arms.

Just as he sets me into the passenger seat of his car, there’s another explosion sound inside the warehouse, but Jase is already pulling the truck onto the road in front of us. I seeSheena in the truck with the camper bed on the back. She drives one way. Jase drives the other way and we follow.

A minute or two later, we’re on a highway, still following Jase.

“Your mom?” I ask.

“Okay now.”

“Your…mother…”

“Dead.”

“You?” I ask.

He takes his eyes off the road for a split second to look at me and I see immense pain there. Also relief.

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