Mated to the Earth Dragon (Elemental Mates 2)

“Then let’s do this and make sure it won’t.” She held out her hand to him.

He hesitated for a long moment. Then he took hold of it, and she smiled at the warm glow of protectiveness that came flooding her through their bond.

Maybe she wasn’t a dragon shifter, and maybe she hadn’t seen a lot of the world. But that didn’t mean that she was helpless. And it didn’t mean that she wouldn’t fight back as well as she could to protect her mate and his world.

Our world, his voice whispered softly in her mind.

Our world, she agreed.

Chapter Sixteen: Damon

“I don’t trust him,” Damon said as they made their way down the winding staircase cut from the rock of the mountain. “He refuses to talk. He hasn’t even given us his name. No matter what he says to you, don’t believe a word.”

“What could he even say to me? There’s nothing I know that could be of interest to him.” Autumn shrugged. “I could probably set him up with a good deal for a cruise, but that’s all I can do.”

“I just don’t like this,” Damon said, feeling her amusement through the bond.

He scowled at the door at the end of the staircase. This had been a stupid idea, and he couldn’t believe that Jared had suggested such a thing. Usually he could trust the griffin shifter to show some common sense.

“This makes sense. You know that,” she said softly.

Damon’s dragon was grumbling deep inside him.

“I didn’t fly you out of their reach only to watch you walk right into the lair of yet another fire dragon.”

“But he can’t shift. And it’s not a lair, it’s a prison,” Autumn pointed out.

“I suppose,” Damon sighed, reaching out a hand to place it against the door. It had no keyhole; only a member of the council would be able to open it. “Ready?”

At Autumn's silent nod, he nudged the metal of the lock with his dragon’s power. A second later, the door unlocked with an audible click.

Damon entered first.

The room was filled by the warm, artificial light. There was no window; these caves were supposed to hold the most dangerous of shifter prisoners, and so they’d taken every precaution. Even if the fire dragon made it out of his cell somehow, he’d still be deep inside the mountain, without his powers, so that they could easily subdue him again.

There was a man inside the small room they’d just entered. Bars divided the room, so that the fire dragon couldn’t have attacked them even if he’d had the strength to do it.

There was a chair, a table and a desk. Someone had brought in books as well, which were stacked with surprising care on the desk. On the right, an opening led into another small cave, which served as his bedroom.

It wasn’t the most comfortable home, but on the whole, Damon didn’t think the fire dragon had anything to complain about. For someone who hadn’t cared at all about the lives his attacks had endangered, this was more comfort than he deserved.

“What do you want?” the fire dragon growled, then looked up with a shocked gasp when Autumn entered the room after Damon.

“I’m sure you remember me,” Damon said.

“Dragon of the earth,” the fire dragon said mockingly. “Of course I remember my captors.”

“This is my mate.”

The fire dragon’s eyes widened. He looked Autumn up and down, and Damn had to fight his dragon for control at the sudden, protective instinct that surged up inside him.

But this was different to the attacks in Iceland. This fire dragon was harmless, his power chained by dragonsbane.

“A human,” the fire dragon said with obvious surprise and suspicion. “Why’d they bring you to me, human?”

Autumn crossed her arms, looking unimpressed. “I have a name, dragon. Among humans, we introduce ourselves. Don’t they teach you any manners?”

The fire dragon was so surprised that he took a step back.