Mated to the Griffin (Elemental Mates 5)

“Especially when you’re stuck in a cave all day every day.”

They shared a soft laugh. Rings of pale gold, orange, and the lightest red spread out from where they stood, then faded again.

But there was no answer to the light’s reaction to their presence, and so they kept going forward.

It had been hard to make out at first, because the walls all around them were all made from the same, shining crystal. But once they made it further into the cave, they realized at last that the cave wasn’t as big as expected.

The brilliant light had distracted them, or perhaps it was meant to trick the eye. But now, when they’d made it deeper into the cave, they realized that they’d been walking straight towards a wall of crystal.

The wall gave off the same clear light that seemed to penetrate everything it touched.

Frowning, Chiara raised her hand. She felt strangely translucent. But her hand was still just as it had always been. She hadn’t turned invisible. She was still flesh and blood.

Relieved and feeling a little silly, she let her hand sink.

And then she realized that she’d been wrong. Something was off about the light.

There were no shadows.

Unsettled, she looked around, but no matter where she looked, she and Jared didn’t cast even the smallest shadow.

Maybe that could be explained by the way the light shone at them from the walls all around them. But still. It felt strange.

The light didn’t feel exactly wrong, either—there was something curious about the way it lit up everything so brilliantly. Still, it made her feel strangely insecure, too. It felt a bit like being x-rayed.

And maybe that was what this new dragon did. Maybe he had an infrared gaze, like an old-school superhero.

But he was on their side, no matter who he was. That was the only thing that mattered.

“How do we get in?” There was no opening in the wall that Chiara could see.

Jared reached out and carefully touched the wall. New ripples of light spread from where his fingers brushed the crystal.

“It’s solid,” he said. “Maybe there’s a door we have to find.”

“You could use the golden disk again,” Chiara suggested. “There’s got to be a way past it.”

“We’re in the right spot.” Jared flattened his hand, pressing all of it to the crystal. “I can feel it. There’s something very powerful behind the wall.”

“I don’t think we’re supposed to knock down the crystal. That would feel impolite. And we didn’t bring any tools.”

Maybe they should have brought a power drill. The golden disk really should have mentioned it, in that case.

“Maybe if you shift, you could knock it down with your wings?” Chiara suggested.

Jared shook his head, giving the crystal a dubious look. “This feels solid. I doubt it would make a difference.”

The crystal pulsed again where Jared’s hand touched it.

Intrigued, Chiara raised her own hand and covered Jared’s with it. The light was pulsing faster now, cycling through hues of pale pink, pastel blue, shades of lavender, purple, silver and gold, faster and faster. It was hypnotizing; it felt like watching a giant heart beat.

And then, so slowly that she didn’t even realize what was happening at first, the colors lost their luminance. The crystal was still pulsing—but the light no longer shone as brilliantly.

Startled, she pulled her hand back, but it made no difference. The light in the cave had subtly dimmed. It was still bright enough that she could see clearly, but the otherworldly clarity of it was gone.

Instead, it almost felt like a dark fog had begun to fill the air...

She cried out, realizing what was happening a heartbeat before she saw the tendril of darkness spread through the crystal wall.