enough for him to get her outside.
“Rakell!” she shouted, recovering her wits momentarily before starting to struggle once more.
There was a pause. A growl louder than before, that almost sounded like he was shouting ‘mine!’, and then there was a tremendous crash. It was followed by another noise, one she had never heard before, but that didn’t sound good for Rakell’s foe.
Then there was silence.
“Let me go,” she hissed, but Josh was filled with delirium from his wound, and he didn’t realize what was happening. He was still trying to drag her from her office when another voice spoke. Very clearly this time.
“That was a very, very bad idea,” Rakell said hotly.
Laura could hear the fury behind his exterior. He was pissed.
A massive arm reached around and with casual force unwound Josh’s limb from around her neck.
There was a whuff of air, and then it was just her and Rakell. She turned, throwing herself into his arms, on the verge of tears. He wrapped her up tight, clamping his arms around her and holding on while she trembled.
“It’s over now, right?” she asked once she was confident her voice would no longer fail her. Rakell’s shirt was soaked from her tears, molded to his chest in a large oblong shape right in the center.
“Yes,” he said, stroking her head with one hand, squeezing her tight with the other. “It’s all over. You’re safe now.”
“I thought I was safe before,” she said quietly. “I…I didn’t really think that they would come for me again.”
“Neither did I,” Rakell said thoughtfully. “Neither did I.”
There was so much more she wanted to say, things she wanted to ask, but Laura’s mind was still trying to process everything. Coming up with a coherent string of questions was next to impossible.
Leaning to the side, she watched as more drywall crumbled free of the destroyed wall of her office building, showering the—hopefully only!—unconscious form of Josh, his hand still swollen and misshapen.
“You know,” she said, couching her fear in humor. “I think I might start working from home for a bit.”
“I think,” Rakell rumbled, twisting around to look as well. “That might not be such a bad idea.”
How long am I going to have to do this for? Will they try for me again at my home? When will I be safe?
Laura shivered as another question entered her mind.
Would she ever be safe again?
Chapter Seventeen
Rakell
Glancing over at where Laura was curled up in the passenger seat, Rakell’s mouth twisted unhappily.
They had come for her again.
He couldn’t puzzle it out. There should be no reason for the Cado to be showing any interest in Laura. She was just a human. After Blede had destroyed the team hunting his mate down, Laura should have gone unnoticed by the Cado.
So why had they come after her again?
My presence as a bodyguard, it should have been fictional. Not real. I should never have actually had to save her from any danger.
Though he was glad he had been around. If he’d listened to Laura at first and just left her alone, who knew what the Cado would be doing to her now. They were not known for being overly kind or polite to their victims, human or shifter.
He was going to need to talk to someone about this, to try and decipher what the strategy of the Cado was, and how the dragon clans could be prepared for whatever came next.
Rakell had no doubt’s that something more would happen. The Cado did not give up easily. Plus, now Rakell had killed one of their own, and they would try for vengeance as well. He would have to watch both his and Laura’s backs.
Although Laura hadn’t said much since leaving her office, he was surprised at how well she seemed to be taking things. Perhaps because it wasn’t the first time? Rakell couldn’t be sure, not without asking her. Talking to her about it was going to open up a whole new set of questions, and he was hoping they might escape that topic.
Beside him she shuffled around as he pulled into her driveway, parking the car next to his truck. Rakell looked at it with longing as his legs creaked upon exit from the tiny compact. It was brutally uncomfortable for someone his size, but he wasn’t about to complain to Laura about it.
It just didn’t seem important right then.
“So,” she said, crossing her arms as he came around to her side, heading for the front door.
“So?” he repeated, pausing when she