Mated to the Earth Dragon (Elemental Mates 2)

In the heartbeat before the flames reached them, he surrendered to his dragon’s protective anger. Power streamed into him. Its energy sizzled through him, filling him with the strength of his element: the steadfastness of rock, the hardness of metal, the brilliance of diamond.

A split second later, he stood above Autumn, spreading his wings as he roared his own challenge at the enemy dragon. With his blood thrumming with his dragon’s powers, he pulled on the earth’s strength to shield him. This time, the shield that protected them was larger, effortlessly diverting the burning dragon fire.

He dug his claws deep into the earth, feeding on the strength of soil and rock. His shield steadily grew in strength despite the fire dragon’s continued attack—and then the dragon swept past them, roaring a mocking goodbye as he made straight for the clouds.

“Holy shit,” Autumn said out loud, then clasped her hand over her mouth when he turned his head to look at her.

Her eyes were very wide, and even as he looked at her with worry, torn between the need to make sure that she was okay and his dragon’s desire to pursue the fleeing fire dragon, her knees gave in.

“This isn’t real. This can’t be real,” she muttered, still staring straight at him.

This wasn’t how I wanted to tell you, Damon thought in misery.

He lowered his head deeply in apology, his dragon’s senses still intertwined with the power of the earth, listening for any sign of a further fire dragon ambush.

A moment later, when the rock murmured a calming song of quietness and reassurance in his mind, he shifted back with a deep breath.

“Holy—” Autumn gasped again, then fell silent, her mouth still open.

“I’m sorry,” Damon said.

Slowly, he moved closer, then went to his knees in front of her. He saw her tremble when he carefully reached out with one hand, but she didn’t flinch back when he touched her shoulder.

“You’re a dragon,” she said. “You’re really a dragon!”

All Damon could do was nod in misery.

Chapter Seven: Autumn

Her first thought had been that she’d gone insane.

Her second thought was that maybe there’d been something weird in the hot chocolate the nice grandma from the bus had offered her.

Or perhaps the people who’d warned her about elves had managed to leave out dragons, and this was all real.

“This is stupid,” she said out loud. “Dragons aren’t real.”

“Umm,” Damon said. He gave her a chagrined look. “Actually—”

“No,” Autumn said firmly. “I don’t want to hear it. Everyone knows dragons aren’t real. Neither are elves, actually. This is all just some sort of elaborate joke. It’s some sort of conspiracy to fool unsuspecting tourists. Admit it.”

“I’m a dragon, Autumn,” Damon said. “Sorry.”

He didn’t look particularly sorry.

Even now she could see the way he’d looked moments ago. The entire experience had been terrifying—but still, there’d been something glorious and graceful about the large creature that had spread his wings over her to protect her.

While fire had rained down all around them, his wings had shielded her. The dragon’s body had been covered in gleaming scales that ranged from black to a glossy brown—the colors of rock and expensive wood. He’d had large wings and a long, graceful tail, too. She’d even seen his claws, which had dug deep into the earth close to her.

But it wasn’t real. It couldn’t be real!

“No,” she said again, determined. “I’m not stupid. I might not travel a lot, like certain other people, but everyone knows that dragons aren’t real.”

Inexplicably, she felt tears rise up in her eyes. Angrily, she blinked them away. This was supposed to be the best week of her life, and instead she’d almost died several times, had felt the earth give way beneath her, and had been nearly burned to death.

Well, this would stop now. She’d go back to her hotel, take some aspirin against the headache building behind her eyes, and when she woke up in the morning, all of this would turn out to be a dream. A really stupid, disappointing dream, where she got a date with a hot guy, only for her subconscious to add in earthquakes and dragon attacks.

She took a deep breath, pushing herself up onto her feet despite the fact that her knees were still trembling.