Mated to the Earth Dragon (Elemental Mates 2)

Autumn nodded, her heart pounding in her chest. “Good luck.”

A heartbeat later, Ginny’s body shimmered—and then vanished, just like that. The clothes she’d borrowed from Braeden dropped to the floor.

Then a tiny mouse peeked out of the sweater, and Braeden knelt down, offering his hand.

Ginny crawled onto his palm. Carefully, Braeden lifted her to the small opening of the ventilation shaft.

The mouse made a final chirp that could have meant Good luck, or I’ll hurry—and then she vanished into the darkness, leaving Autumn behind with Braeden.

“Now what?” Autumn asked after a moment, her throat dry.

It wasn’t just her fear, she realized—the air was getting so warm that soon, it would become difficult to breathe.

“Now we play for time,” Braeden said. The look he gave her was very serious. “I know that you have no reason to trust me, but I swear on my life that I will not harm an innocent. I know nothing about your human net flicks magic, or your human wings that carry you to the moon—but I’ve learned enough to know that you aren’t what I thought you were. I’ll try to protect you, as much as I can.”

“If we get out of this, I’m definitely getting you Netflix, chimera or no,” Autumn muttered with a faint smile.

“I’d like that. I think.” He gave her a brief smile, but then immediately turned serious again.

Together, they peered back into the larger cave. There, past the broken bars, the wall had begun to crack. And the outline of the door was glowing now—an eerie, red glow, as if something behind it had heated the stone almost beyond what it could bear.

“We’ve only got minutes,” Braeden whispered. “There’s one last thing we can try. They don’t know you’re in here with me. Go back into the bedroom. Hide beneath my bed. I’ll wait out there by the bars. They’re looking for me—if they break down the wall and find me, they’ve got what they came for. Wait until they are gone. Then try to run as fast as you can.”

Autumn swallowed. It was so hot now that she was desperately craving some water, but instead, she reached out her hand.

Braeden looked at her in confusion, then smiled with sudden understanding when she grabbed hold of his hand.

He shook her hand, his fingers firm.

“As fire dragons go, you’re pretty okay, you know,” she said.

“It was an honor to meet you as well, my lady of the earth,” he said and bowed formally. “My congratulations to your mate.”

Then he turned and walked back into the larger cave, facing the wall where the door’s outline was now glowing a terrifying red-orange.

Autumn swallowed, her tongue heavy and dry in her mouth. She returned to Braeden’s bed, kneeling down on the warm stone floor, then squeezing beneath the bed.

For all that he was a prisoner, the bed was made of a sturdy frame of heavy wood, and covered with large, warm blankets. Crawling all the way to the back, resting against the wall of the cave with the blankets hanging down, she would be completely invisible to anyone who looked into Braeden’s bedroom.

Maybe he’s right. They don’t care about me. They don’t even know I’m here. They’re here to free their friend. As soon as they’ve broken him out, they’ll all run. And then Damon will come for me.

Thinking about Damon’s majestic wings shielding her from the dragons’ fire helped a little.

Every now and then, she heard strange cracks echoing through the cave. Those had to be the fault lines in the stone Braeden had mentioned. The fire dragons had heated the stone so much with their fire that any weak spots in the rock would crack and open—like the time her favorite mug had finally cracked when she’d filled it with boiling water.

No. Think about Damon instead, she told herself firmly.

Swallowing down her fear, she closed her eyes. Little by little, she could make out the golden glow of the fragile bond between them in the darkness.

They’re here, she thought, imagining that the words were beams of light that would pulse with the bond right through the stone until they’d reach Damon.

And then the distant crackling and popping in the stone around her turned into a strange, inhuman sound, like something terrible grinding together and tearing.

A heartbeat later, the rocks around her groaned, and another cloud of dust and tiny rocks exploded even into her tiny space beneath the bed.

They’ve broken through, she thought, her heart pounding so loudly in her chest that it took a moment until she realized that everything had become strangely silent.

Then she heard Braeden speak from the other room.