Mated to the Earth Dragon (Elemental Mates 2)

“I’ve never killed a human in my life—” Braeden began in annoyance, then suddenly fell silent. “Never mind. What’s going on? What are you doing here?”

Autumn looked at Ginny, who calmly answered her gaze but remained silent.

Well. Doesn’t look like I’ll get much help from this side.

Would it be better to keep quiet? They didn’t want Braeden to get any ideas. On the other hand, even if he knew about the other fire dragons, he was still locked in his cell. What harm could he do?

“Fire dragons are attacking,” she said finally. “Don’t think you’re getting out of this, though. We’re here because this is the safest place in the mountain. The one place where they definitely won’t find you.”

As if in answer to her words, a distant rumble made the ground beneath her vibrate.

Suddenly terrified, Autumn bit back a gasp, clenching her fingers until her nails bit into her skin.

She wouldn’t show any weakness in front of Braeden.

But even so, with every minute apart from Damon, the terror in her heart grew.

She wasn’t afraid of being locked in a cave, or of the distant force that made the mountain tremble.

But she was afraid for her mate. She’d lived for so many years without him—but now that she’d finally found him, it seemed impossible to ever live without that all-consuming love in her life again.

Be safe, she sent through the bond, not knowing if it would even reach him. Be safe, my mate!

Chapter Eighteen: Damon

Damon’s dragon was filled with rage at this new threat to his mate, aching to shift and destroy their enemy once and for all. At the same time, the human side of him was torn as he’d never been before.

Had he done the right thing? He’d just abandoned his mate with their prisoner.

But the prison was the safest place in the mountain. They’d constructed it so that even a powerful shifter wouldn’t be able to break out.

Which also meant that no one should be able to break in.

Still, even now a part of Damon ached with the need to race back and fly his mate to safety.

But Ginny was right, he couldn’t abandon the chimera. Gareth might be powerful—but an attack, right here at the heart of the council’s power, was unheard of.

They’d have to meet this threat. If the fire dragons managed to wound the chimera—or worse, kill him—all shifters would be severely weakened. If the fire dragons proved strong enough to strike a severe blow to the council of elements itself, it would weaken morale enough that they might be unable to keep the peace.

And without all shifters peacefully united against this terrible threat, the resulting war would claim too many innocent lives...

No, there was no choice. Autumn was as safe as she could possibly be, and the best thing he could do in her defense right now was to join forces with the chimera and drive out this threat.

Damon hurtled up the stairs, then raced along a narrow corridor. It was too small for a dragon—deliberately so. This way, an escaping prisoner would be unable to shift, unless his animal was smaller than a human, and so less dangerous.

But right now, this meant that Damon couldn’t shift either.

He used his dragon’s senses again, sending his thoughts deep into the stone that had always obeyed his command since the day he’d been born.

Danger, the stone now whispered. Fire. Smoke. Shadow. Shadow...

Damon cursed, unable to see through the darkness that blocked his dragon’s sight, even here at the heart of a mountain where his dragon’s element should be at its most powerful. He’d never experienced that sensation before. It made him uneasy.

No fire dragon should be strong enough to stand up to his power like this. Not unless there was a dragon born with the power over the element of fire itself...

But there had never been a true master of fire. The council of elements had never held a plinth of fire. Perhaps, long ago, before dragons had begun to keep recordings, a master of fire had existed as well—but the fire element had been wiped out once and for all in the Middle Ages, when knights hunted them down like wild beasts.

Skidding around a corner, Damon finally reached the part of the large system of caves and tunnels that had been made for dragon size. Within a heartbeat, he shifted, his wings stretching until they brushed the walls of the large tunnel leading upwards.