Mated to the Griffin (Elemental Mates 5)

This was nothing. It wouldn’t convince anyone of anything.

She was exactly where she’d always been—the crazy lunatic who’d seen a werewolf, and who now had a pretty necklace she claimed was magic.

She knew what her dad would have to say about that.

“Can I see it?” Jared asked.

Wordlessly, she handed the necklace over.

The moment his hands touched the gold, a rumble went through the cave. All around them, the crystal chimed, like the glasses in her cupboard when there was an earthquake.

Was this an earthquake? Or had the dragon managed to break into the maze at last?

“I think we really should leave...” She reached out to grab Jared’s arm.

And then the ground opened up beneath them.

She screamed as they began to fall.

All around them, crystal was bursting. The translucent trees she’d so admired were splintering into a thousand glistening pieces. The delicate beauty of the light-filled cave that had seemed so magical to her vanished within seconds.

Instead, all that was left was a giant, black void the shattered crystal was falling into. It still pulsed faintly with the remnant of the beautiful light—and they were falling into it as well, along with the crystal.

There was nothing beneath them but darkness now.

Were they still inside the mountain? Or had they been transported to some terrible, magical place? Somewhere where they would just fall endlessly into an abyss, swallowed by darkness?

Or maybe the theories about aliens had been right all along, and this was what it felt like to get transported to outer space for alien experiments...

Suddenly, there was a new sound. At first, Chiara couldn’t place it. It was a loud rushing sound, almost as loud as the thunder of her heartbeat in her ears.

Then she realized where she’d heard it before. It was the rushing sound of giant wings beating the air.

The dragon!

A heartbeat later, she found herself clutched by giant claws.

She almost felt grateful that Zane had come to kidnap her again—before she realized that below her, Jared still had to be falling to his death.

She squirmed in the claws, desperately reaching out into the gloom.

“Jared!” Her terrified voice echoed eerily in the vast darkness below.

And then she realized that the claws holding her weren’t that of a dragon. They were those of a bird. A giant bird.

Her heart beating in her throat, she looked up.

It wasn’t a dragon who’d caught her. It wasn’t Zane who’d returned to kidnap her once more.

Above her, she saw the head of a giant eagle, the huge, sharp beak glinting in the dying light of the shattered crystal.

It was the last thing she saw before everything went black.

Chapter Ten: Jared

When the crystal cave collapsed, Jared hadn’t been able to think of anything but Chiara. Instinct took over—and probably saved their lives. In an instant he’d shifted, the golden necklace dangling from one of his claws, his wings beating the air.

And then he’d dived down after her.