Mated to the Earth Dragon (Elemental Mates 2)

She made herself ignore the worried look in Damon’s eyes. She was just going to go back to the trip schedule she’d worked so hard on, and everything would go back to being the safe, touristy experience she’d been looking forward to.

And then Damon’s hand shot out. He grabbed her wrist, his neck arching as he searched the sky.

Involuntarily, Autumn found her eyes following his. Her heart gave a painful thump when she saw three tiny, black specks in the distance.

Birds, she told herself.

Or maybe helicopters. People did helicopter tours here. She’d looked at the websites herself, only to realize that those went way over her budget.

A second later, Damon jumped up onto his feet, grabbing hold of both of her hands. He was peering into her eyes with an intensity that made her tremble, her stomach contracting at the way his eyes had taken on that strange, metallic glow again.

“Autumn, do you trust me?” he asked urgently.

She felt like she was sinking into his eyes, dimly reliving that strange experience of drifting through caverns, past veins of metal far underground, guided only by his deep, comforting voice.

“Do you trust me?” he asked again, his voice echoing with a power she didn’t quite understand.

But she understood the urgency in his voice. He was afraid. And there was only one thing that could make a man like Damon afraid...

When she looked up, she saw that the three specks were rapidly growing in size. They didn’t look like helicopters, or like anything else she’d ever seen.

No, that was wrong. She knew exactly what she was looking at. She’d seen it before, after all.

There were three dragons in the sky, rapidly approaching.

Her heart skipped a beat as her stomach contracted with instinctive fear.

None of this made sense. She still wanted to close her eyes and pretend that all of this was simply a nightmare.

But from somewhere, she could feel waves of concern and urgency come flooding through her. It wasn’t her own terror, not quite.

It was the fear of someone else. Someone who was concerned for her...

She didn’t question how she knew. With the three dragons quickly coming closer, she made her decision right then and there.

Her heart pounding, she clenched her fingers around his, meeting his gaze.

“I trust you, Damon.”

Even as she watched, the metallic gleam in his eyes intensified until it seemed like his eyes had turned to liquid gold.

“I can outrace them,” he said, his shoulders tense. “There’s no time left. Whatever happens, don’t be afraid—just hold on tight. Trust me, Autumn. No matter what—trust me.”

Silently, she nodded, unable to speak. There was a strange ball of emotion glowing in her chest— but they weren’t all her emotions.

Some of them were Damon’s, even though she had no idea how that could be. But she knew that she felt what he felt, and the alarm that made this strange connection between them throb with urgency wasn’t something she could ignore.

Damon let go of her hands. He took a few steps backward.

And then, just like that, his outline began to shimmer. A heartbeat later, Damon was gone.

In his place stood the large dragon, glossy scales shimmering in all t

he many hues of rock and metal.

Damon.

He bent his neck, kneeling down. He spread out his wing in invitation for her.