Mated to the Earth Dragon (Elemental Mates 2)

My mom might not be a doctor, but she was a head nurse. That sort of look doesn’t scare me, she thought. If there’s one thing I learned from Mom, it’s not to be intimidated by people like you.

A moment later, the crocodile shifter gave her another reluctant smile, her lips pulling back again to reveal her teeth—even though the toothy smile suddenly seemed less scary.

“We’ll get along just fine,” the old woman declared, grabbing Autumn’s hand in a grip that was surprisingly strong.

Autumn looked at her with new respect. Suddenly, it didn’t seem so strange to imagine the seventy-year-old woman setting broken bones and dislocated shoulders.

“I think we will,” Autumn agreed, smiling back. “Good to meet you.”

“You should head to the town square,” Irina said. “Rumor has it that the rhododendron’s in bloom a few weeks early this year. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that?”

Damon laughed. “The ways of nature are mysterious...”

“Mysterious, my ass,” the doctor snorted.

Damon laughed in reply. “But you’re right. It seems we’ll have an early festival this year. I’m counting on your cocktail stand, doctor.”

“Humph,” the doctor said. “Better go and give the sheriff some warning then. You know how those folks get when the festival’s coming up. There’ll be fighting about who gets to bake the cake, you mark my word.”

“Not this year,” Damon said firmly. “This year, we’ll all be on our best behavior to impress my mate.”

“Doesn’t look like that’ll take much,” the woman muttered as she looked at Autumn.

Autumn grinned back, unimpressed. “After crossing the ocean on dragon back, I’m pretty sure I can take anything you people throw my way. Unless it’s spiders,” she added after a moment, shuddering. “You don’t have spider shifters, do you?”

“No spider shif

ters, I promise,” Damon said promptly.

Autumn sighed in relief. She could live with crocodile shifters taking a dip in their lake, if she had to—but spiders was where she drew a line.

“Wonderful. Then let's go and try to stop that brewing cake war of yours.”

Chapter Twelve: Damon

True to the doctor’s words, there was already a small crowd gathered in the square. Even Jake, who’d drifted lazily past them in the river earlier, had shifted back into human form and put on dry clothes. The family of lion shifters had come; Damon’s childhood friend Jenny was there with her falcon shifter husband and their two daughters; the large clan of bears who’d built their houses at the edge of the forest; and everyone else who’d settled in Dragon Springs, from the dormouse baker to the giraffe florist.

It was a strange mix of shifters who’d come to live here, but all of them had been attracted by the peace and stability which could be found in communities that grew under the dragon’s peace. With a powerful dragon in residence, even cats and dogs could live in peace, and there was little work to do for the sheriff.

Now, all the gathered families and friends were curiously staring at him—or rather, everyone was staring at Autumn.

Damon smiled proudly. He couldn't wait to introduce Autumn to his parents, who were due for a visit soon anyway—but this little shifter community was family as well.

“Hey uncle Damon, is it true the garden is in bloom?” one of the precocious falcon girls shouted excitedly.

Damon grinned at her, even as Jenny tried to hush the black-haired girl.

“The rhododendron’s in bloom,” he announced. “And as is tradition, I’d like to invite you all to come over to the gardens this Sunday. I’ll take care of the wine and meat. Sheriff, I hope you’ll do us the honor of manning the barbecue?”

“Of course,” the grizzled dog-shifter said, giving him a look that clearly expressed that anything else would be an insult.

“Is she going to come live with us?” a small boy demanded, a huge grin on his face. “Grandma says we’ll have a dragon wedding! And there’ll be cake!”

“Not so fast,” Damon said, smiling at the tiny, excited lion shifter cub. “Let’s show her our town from its best side first, shall we? And there’ll be cake this Sunday, I promise.”

“I’ll bring the cake,” Cynthia, the gray-haired bear shifter, immediately proclaimed.

From the other side of the square, tiny, curvy Melissa with her braided, red hair immediately pushed forward from behind her clan of fox shifters.