by Zoe Chant
There was no place for adventure in that life—but who needed adventure when you could have happiness? People who wanted too much ended up with nothing at all.
Emily. Violet. Jayden. She whispered their names in her head, gazing at the pictures for a long time.
The girls were smiling. The boy grinned at the camera with Mark’s easy laugh, the laugh that had first made her fall in love with him.
Mark wasn’t Damon—but without Mark’s betrayal, she’d have married him, and she would have been perfectly happy.
Tears rolled down her face as she stood, looking at the children. She stretched out a hand, resting her fingers against the wooden frame.
Her daughter, Emily. The oldest. She’d have read books to her before bedtime and made breakfast for her in the mornings. She’d have held her in her arms when she cried and watch her make new friends at school.
Goodbye, Autumn whispered softly, the stone in her chest growing and growing until she felt as if the pain would tear her apart.
But she didn’t falter. She looked at the pictures and the small, light-filled living room as shadows closed in on her once more. She didn’t blink even once as she looked at the children that could have been until the very last moment.
Goodbye.
Then everything was dark. For a moment, all she could hear was the beating of her own heart, the pain over her loss hurting so bad that it felt as if someone had stuck a needle deep into her heart.
At last, the darkness receded, and she realized where she was.
She was still in the cave. Damon’s arms had come around her, holding her tightly. In front of her, shadows were moving rapidly across the wall of rocks, showing first a dragon’s head, then a serpent's tail again.
Tears were still running down Autumn’s face, but to her own surprise, she found that she was smiling.
As much as she’d wanted that happiness, it had never been her choice. It was Mark who’d destroyed that dream. She couldn’t have it back—even Damon couldn’t give that to her.
But what Damon could give her was happiness. It might look different. It might mean a life among shifters, with children who could do things she’d never be able to do—but then, she couldn’t play the violin either, but would have happily paid for lesson for her daughter, if she’d wanted them.
“Good,” the voice said from out of the darkness.
It was no longer quite as intimidating. It had softened with satisfaction, and now, at last, Autumn could feel the warm, golden glow of the bond sustain her once more.
She didn’t reach out for Damon’s hand. Instead, she sent her own love flowing through the bond as she straightened.
It was a different happiness—but it was happiness. Happiness so overwhelming and all-consuming that she’d happily fight fire dragons with him until the end of her life.
Damon’s amusement rushed into her, together with a wave of reassurance.
“You’ve chosen well, Damon Drago, dragon of the earth,” the chimera’s voice continued. “I am pleased.”
“Thank you,” Damon said. He shot Autumn a small smile.
“Now, tell me about what you found in Iceland,” the chimera demanded.
Damon straightened. “We were attacked three times. The first time, fire below the earth caused the road beneath us to burst apart. They attacked as we tried to make our escape. It was only one dragon at the time. The second time, they found us in the national park. Three dragons attacked. Both attacks happened in tourist spots, out in the open.”
“Those are bad news,” the disembodied voice murmured. “They are no longer content to hide.”
“The third time, they trailed us back to the hut I was renting. Five dragons came. We escaped just in time. I didn’t want to place Autumn in any danger, so I flew straight back home.”
The master of the council made a thoughtful sound. “Five of them. No wonder there were rumors of strange dragon activity.”
“I don’t know where they came from,” Damon said. “If they hid underground, it was too far for me to feel them. And after the first attack, they made sure to approach from the sky.”
“They knew you,” the chimera’s voice growled. “They knew you are the dragon of the earth.”
Damon nodded. “I think they’re ready to move against the council now. That’s why they didn’t come out of hiding until you sent me to Iceland.”
“In which case,” the chimera mused, “water and storm will draw them out just as well. And we have both of them in Iceland now. I have no doubt Gregory and Timothy will be able to deal with any danger. But there has to be more to it. Why come out of hiding now? What’s their plan?”
“Let me question the prisoner,” Damon demanded. “He hasn’t talked before—but now that his friends are no longer hiding, we need to know what he knows.”
The chimera roared at Damon’s words.
The sound echoed through the large cave so that Autumn shivered instinctively. She still couldn’t make out the exact shape of the chimera. Whenever her eyes seemed to make out a shape in the shifting shadows—a dragon’s wings, a goat’s head, a serpent’s tail—the shadows dispersed again, tricking her eyes.
The experience was unsettling, and she was glad that the chimera had shifted his focus from her to Damon.
“He hasn’t talked yet,” the chimera growled. “He’s a stubborn one, our fire dragon captive. The only thing he’s asked for is to talk to the storm dragon’s mate again, which I’ve forbidden so far. What can he hope to gain from talking to a human? He must be hoping he can trick her.”
Damn made a thoughtful sound. “He seemed very unsettled by Naomi. Without her, we wouldn’t know what we do. It’s the only weakness in his armor I’ve seen. They’ve hidden away from the world for so long, stewing in their hate, that they have no idea anymore what humans are really like.”
Autumn shivered a little as she imagined a fire dragon trapped in a cave right below her. They’d made the earth split apart beneath her in Iceland—who was to say that this fire dragon wouldn’t do the same?
“We keep him from shifting,” Damon explained softly, as if he’d noticed her discomfort. “There’s a way to do that. Dragonsbane—a drop or two is enough to keep us from shifting for a while. And as long as he’s our prisoner, we’ll keep him safely dosed with it.”
Again the chimera made a thoughtful, drawn out growl that echoed through the large cavern.
A moment later, the griffin came forward, surprising Autumn, who’d all but forgotten about him when the chimera had drawn her into the painful vision.
“Why not try a different approach?” the griffin suggested. “We know he won’t talk. And we also know how shocked he was when he met the storm dragon’s human mate.”
“What do you suggest?” the chimera boomed from the shadows.
“Don’t send Damon in alone. Let him take his mate along. They’ll both be perfectly safe. The fire dragon can’t use his powers. And humans unsettle him. Meeting another might be just what it takes to make him talk.”
“No,” Damon said at the exact same moment as the chimera growled his agreement.
“I won’t put Autumn into danger. I’m not taking her to meet a fire dragon,” Damon said heatedly.
Autumn still felt terrified by the thought of being face to face with one of the terrible beasts who’d breathed fire on them in Iceland. At the same time, she liked the thought of Damon leaving her with the unsettling chimera even less.
And they drugged the fire dragon. He’ll be just a man, like Damon and Jared. He won’t be able to shift or breathe fire.
Hadn’t she made her decision before? She’d chosen Damon over the simple life she’d dreamed of long ago. And choosing Damon didn’t just mean choosing the strange world of shifters he’d revealed to her. Being his mate meant standing by his side, no matter what.
She could face a fire dragon again, as long as he was there with her.
“I’ll do it,” she said before the argument could
continue.
When Damon turned to stare at her in obvious surprise, she met his gaze evenly.
“I’m not afraid of a fire dragon,” she said, then flushed when she realized that Damon could feel her apprehension through the bond. “Okay, maybe I am afraid. But I didn’t particularly enjoy being hunted by fire dragons. And if this helps to put a stop to that, I’ll do it. I don’t want to wake up one day and find that they’ve made their way to Dragon Springs.”
“Never,” Damon said heatedly. “That’ll never happen.”
“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.
He’d reacted in much the same way to Gregory’s human mate. Damon imagined that he’d grown up being told tales of the evil human knights who’d slaughtered all dragons in the Middle Ages. But if he still thought that this world was a world of peasants and evil knights, he was in for a surprise.
Not that the fire dragon would ever leave this prison, if Damon had a say in it.
“My name’s Autumn. Autumn Carter,” she said, giving the shifter a pointed look. “Nice to meet you.”
“Braeden,” the fire dragon said, his eyes almost comically wide.
Damon could just barely hold back a grin. He’d forgotten how satisfying it had been to watch Naomi scold their captive.
It was probably much easier to think of humans as stupid sheep to slaughter if you’d never actually met one face to face. Perhaps Jared had been right. Captivity certainly hadn’t done much to make their prisoner talk. But maybe a human woman was stronger than dragonsbane...
“Much better,” Autumn said, her amusement and relief trickling through the bond.
Apparently Braeden wasn’t what she’d imagined a fire dragon to be like either.
“Why are you here, huma—Autumn?” the fire dragon said again, catching himself just in time.
“I was curious,” she said, and then hesitated for a long moment. “Curious—and afraid. You see, five fire dragons attacked me.”
“So you wanted to see what such beasts are really like?” Braeden said with a bitter laugh. “Here I am. A captive monster.”
Autumn tilted her head. “You don’t look particularly monstrous. And you’re younger than I expected. But mostly you’re more human than I expected.”
The dragon shifter stared at her, his mouth open. Apparently her observation had startled him so much that he’d forgotten how to speak.
“Why do your friends attack us?” she asked. “Why did they attack me? I didn’t even know that dragons existed.”
“They’re not my friends,” Braeden said with sudden sharpness. “They’re kin. I owe them my loyalty. Friendship has no place in dragon culture.”
“Really? That’s sad,” Autumn said softly.
The fire dragon sputtered. “I don’t want your pity,” he snarled. “And I have no idea who attacked you, but I know why. Isn’t it obvious? They didn’t care about you. Thy wanted him. The dragon of the earth, Damon Drago himself. We're no longer hiding. We’re no longer content with the underground life you forced us into. For centuries, the council of elements has thought that they can rule all shifters. But that time is coming to an end. It’s starting now. And you can’t stop it. This will be the reign of fire. This will be our time.”
“Is that what you believe in?” Damon said, shaking his head in disgust. “Do you even want that? We’ve had long centuries of peace. And you want to destroy all that? You don’t even know the world you want to rule!”
“I don’t need to know it!” Braeden growled. “Centuries of deprivation, of hiding in caves, of licking our wounds. But no more of that. No more secrecy.”
“Really? Ruling the world?” Autumn gave Braeden an unimpressed look. “The world has changed a lot since the Middle Ages. Perhaps you should try living in it for a while before destroying it. It can’t be fun to rule over smoking ruins.”
The fire dragon stared at her again, then began pacing back and forth.
Damon felt a sudden twinge of compassion as he imagined being locked up for weeks without being able to shift and stretch his wings. But then, given the destruction the fire dragons had planned, it
was hard to feel too sorry for him. Braeden had brought it upon himself.
“Does that mean you’re here to let me out?” the fire dragon asked sarcastically. After the ensuing silence, he smirked. “Didn’t think so.”
“Do you really think you deserve freedom after what you’ve just said?” Damon asked. “This isn’t a punishment, not really, don’t you know that? We’re protecting innocents. Innocents you don’t care about in your mad quest for revenge.”
The fire dragon crossed his arms, his eyes going from Damon back to Autumn. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but then pressed his lips together again.
“Do you believe that I deserve to die, because long ago, knights hunted dragons?” Autumn asked quietly.
“You don’t know what it’s like to grow up like I and my brothers did,” Braeden said sharply.
Autumn still looked distinctly unimpressed. “Oh, boohoo. You don’t know what it’s like to grow up like I did either. Moreover, you don’t care. We’re just here to be killed to make your plan of revenge come true, aren’t we? I don’t have any special powers like your people, but if I had, I’d curse you to live my life for a year. See how you like getting up at 6am every day, spending the day trying to help customers who blame you for every little thing that goes wrong, and shouting at you when an airline cancels their flights. And then at the end of the day, you take home just enough to pay the bills, and you scrounge for years to pay off the car you need for your job, which you need to pay off your car. And that’s what your life is like for years until you start to believe that all the things you’ve once dreamed of will never come true. And worse, that you’ll have to settle for a man who doesn’t even believe that you should have dreams—or that you’ll die alone, never holding your own child in your arms...”
“Hey,” Damon said softly. He ignored the fire dragon’s wide-eyed stare as he moved closer to Autumn, wrapping his arm around her waist. “Don’t let him rile you up. In the end, he’s wrong, and he knows that he’s wrong. How can you hate something you don’t even know?”