Page 50 of Falling for Ash
“Yes, sir. Seems they went topside. I suppose that makes them someone else’s problem then, eh, General?” Dell smirked.
“Where are they, exactly?”
Ash stood up, hands gripping his desk so tightly he felt the stone crumble beneath the force. His heart stopped beating while he waited for his legate to confirm his worst fears. The band of soulless had gone topside.
Straight to Hermosa Beach.
“Gabriella!” He snarled and vaulted over the desk.
“I want all legions on deck now. Send double the troops to the Southlands. They have not abandoned their efforts. They are merely trying to distract me by threatening my mate,” he shouted as he ran to the nearest portal.
“Mate? Boss?” Dell asked, but Ash snarled over his shoulder, and the Demon bowed low, his hands rapidly moving over his tablet, already doing Ash’s bidding.
Good.
At least he didn’t have to kill the fucker.
Panic had him shoving past the Sphinx, who uttered a rude word only to bite her tongue when Ash’s tail whipped out and smacked her on the forehead.
The Demon was in no mood.
He wanted his mate.
Now.
At his nod, the Sphinx initiated the portal and Ash emerged, barely able to cloak his wings and horn in time. A necessary, though annoying, evil when walking in the human world.
Was he too late?
He hated to even think it.
“Gabriella!” Ash bellowed her name as he used the shadows to travel to her door, panic holding him tightly in its grip.
He smelled the sulfuric stink of the soulless and recognized the soot covered claw prints that marked the grass in the yard leading up to her bedroom window. The sound of glass shattering sped him on, and Ash roared as he crashed through the half broken orifice to see Gabriella half-shifted and holding one soulless off the ground by the throat.
Holy fuck!
His mate was fearsome and strong, her caramel fur bursting from her pores as she used her Shifter powers to protect herself. Ash bared his fangs at the rogue who dared trespass on the human plane. Another lay gutted on the floor, his carcass already crackling and turning to dust. There was a third struggling beneath his foot, but Ash simply pressed harder. He’d landed on the foul creature when he burst into the room.
“Gabriella! Are you okay?”
His mind raced as his gaze roamed over her body. She had scratches and her clothes were torn in places, but he guessed that was more from her half-shift than the bastards who’d dared harmed her. He was torn wanting to rejoice at the joy he felt at the fact she was all right and needing to lay waste to the whole fucking lot of soulless. The bastards dared touch what was his!
Gabby growled, unable to speak with her half-changed face. He nodded, he understood, but he could not help being distracted by the scent of more of her blood. The bastard she was holding had dared strike out with his claws!
Without wasting another moment, Ash leapt into action, smiting the creature beneath his heel with a sharp stab to its forehead with Ash’s tail.
As if she understood his intentions, Gabby tossed the rogue she’d held by the throat and Ash struck him next. His poisoned venom did its work instantaneously. The second he struck, both rogues crumbled into soot, leaving piles of dust and a faint stink in the air. Still, it was nothing a good vacuuming and some air freshener couldn’t do away with.
He had more important things to worry about at the moment. Like the health and well-being of his mate.
“Gabby!”
Ash waited for her to shift back to human. He gathered her in his arms the second he could without hurting her. The transformation always left Shifters a little sensitive the first few seconds. He had to hold himself in check in order not to grab. But he would never hurt her. Not for anything.
“Did you see that? Wow!” she exclaimed, sounding somewhat gleeful at the gory turn of events.
Ash frowned, unsure if she was truly all right or if it was just shock talking.
