Mated to the Griffin (Elemental Mates, #5)

by Chant, Zoe

  She settled into his embrace, barely able to suppress a yawn.

  “Okay,” she murmured, pressing a kiss to his shoulder. “But I don’t want my old life back. Just my dad. I’ve already got the best life I can imagine...”

  He said something in response she couldn’t make out, sleep tugging at her with irresistible hands. But his voice was warm and soft, and through the mate bond, she could feel his love for her, steady and strong like the sun itself.

  Everything will be all right, she thought as she fell asleep, a smile on her face. It had to be.

  ***

  “Damn it, why isn’t she answering her phone?” Chiara glared at her own phone in frustration.

  They’d slept in—she’d needed the sleep after all the excitement of the past days. Jared had prepared breakfast in his generous kitchen with the wide glass doors, which led out onto a patio that overlooked the small town nestled into the mountain valley.

  Everything was perfect. The rays of the morning sun were warming her face, she was clutching her second cup of coffee, she was all filled up on eggs and bacon, and her gorgeous mate was sitting across from her, gloriously shirtless.

  But Auntie Mary still wasn’t answering, and she had no idea who else to call. They didn’t have much family left, and she’d never been particularly close to anyone. None of her distant cousins would have any idea what was going on with her dad. Auntie Mary was the only one who bothered to always keep up to date with family gossip.

  Frustrated, she took another sip of coffee, then tried calling again.

  And this time, at long last, someone picked up.

  “Chiara, is that you?” the familiar voice of her aunt said. “Oh, thank god, I’ve been trying to find you!”

  Chiara suppressed a sigh. Whatever her aunt had tried to do, it clearly hadn’t involved checking her messages.

  “What’s going on?” Chiara said. “I was just calling to find out how Dad’s doing—”

  “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you! Chiara, where are you? Your father found out that you’ve sold everything and left for France! He was distraught; I couldn’t talk sense into him. He said it was all his fault—”

  Shit.

  “It’s all right, Auntie Mary. I’m back now. I’m doing okay—I’m doing fine, actually. I met someone...”

  “Never mind about that,” her aunt said, sounding worried.

  Chiara straightened. What was going on? If her aunt ignored the news that Chiara had finally found someone, something had to be very, very wrong...

  “It’s your dad. He was worried for you. I couldn’t talk him out of it!”

  Chiara’s heart was suddenly racing. “What did he do?”

  “He bought a plane ticket and left for France. To search for you.”

  Chiara slumped back into her chair, relief and horror rushing through her. “I’m not even in France anymore! And how would he find me there? I was hiking in the mountains...”

  “I’m so worried for him,” her aunt said. “At his age, and all alone in a strange country!”

  “He’ll be all right,” Chiara said firmly. “They do speak English there. Maybe he’ll just have a really nice time sightseeing in Paris.”

  But what if he ran into another shadow dragon?

  “Don’t worry—oh, Auntie Mary, please don’t cry! I’ll take care of it, I promise!”

  It took another minute or two until she’d convinced her aunt that yes, she was completely sane, and no, the man she’d met wasn’t imaginary or one of her alien hunters.

  By the time she ended the call, Jared was looking at her worriedly.

  “Everything all right?” he asked.

  She shook her head. “My dad... I thought he was angry with me for throwing my life away. Well, I guess he was. But he was also worried. I knew he was worried, that’s why he was so upset with me. But I didn’t think...”

  She took a deep breath. They’d only just made it back home. And she hated to drag Jared away from his parents when they’d only just found each other.

  But she also knew that she’d never forgive herself if she abandoned her dad now.

  “He bought a plane ticket to France to go and search for me. Can you believe it?”

  Even now, despite her worries, there was a warm glow inside her. Her dad hadn’t given up on her. He still loved her. He’d loved her enough to come after her.

  “I can,” Jared said softly, smiling at her. “Wouldn’t you do the same if you had a child who ran away to search for aliens?”

  Despite herself, she had to laugh. Wouldn’t that serve her right if her own kids turned out to be just as much trouble as she’d been!

  “You know I would.”

  “Good.” He got up with a grin. “So, how about you do the packing and I get us booked onto the next flight?”

  “Really?” She hadn’t thought that he’d try to argue her out of going after her dad—but still, this was a relief.

  He shook his head at her, his eyes warm. “I of all people know how important family is. Of course we’re going!”

  “This probably isn’t the honeymoon you imagined...” she began.

  “But it’s probably the sort of honeymoon two people like us deserve,” he finished for her. “And once we find him, we could always add a weekend in Paris.”

  “Paris,” she sighed dreamily.

  She hadn’t seen much of it—she’d been too focused on her task of finding the magical object waiting for her in the mountains. She hadn’t even made it on top of the Eiffel Tower, although she’d seen it from below.

  “And a real honeymoon once we’ve managed to settle down and all of our parents are where they belong,” he said firmly.

  She found herself smiling at him, trying to imagine what it would be like to spend a week or two without any sort of crisis or family emergency interrupting their lazy mornings in bed.

  “I’d love that,” she said softly. “And thanks for taking this so well.”

  He came closer and reached out for her, his hands firmly settling on her shoulders as he drew her close. “We’re mates. That means that your dad is my family, too. I’ll go and rescue him from magical mountains anytime.”

  She laughed but nodded, still grateful, something warm fluttering in her chest as she realized that what he said was true. They were a family. All of them. Including her dad and Jared’s parents.

  It would take some getting used to—but not having to shoulder these things all alone made such a difference. She’d almost forgotten what it was like to have someone she could trust to always have her back.

  “Right. Packing,” she said resolutely and turned to the wardrobe.

  The sooner she got done, the sooner they could go and rescue her dad from himself.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight: Jared

  Jared had booked the earliest flight across the Atlantic he could find, giving them just enough time to make it to the airport using his own wings.

  He didn’t like leaving his parents behind so soon after he’d found them—but his parents weren’t going to run away. They’d understand.

  After all, it was Chiara who had brought them together with her map. And now, hopefully, he could make up for it by reuniting her with her own father.

  “Everything ready?” he asked.

  Chiara nodded, carrying a small bag. She’d only packed one change of clothes.

  They could always buy new clothes in France. Right now, they both wanted to get moving as quickly as possible. With Zane defeated, surely the fire dragons and the Darkness that had tainted them would take a while to gather their strength before returning to the surface.

  Still, even so. Jared liked the thought of her dad all alone out there as little as Chiara did.

  “We’ll find him,” he told her, hating the worry in her eyes. “I promise.”

  Her eyes lit up, and her shoulders relaxed a little as she leaned into him.

  “I’m ready,” she said.

  He nodded and took a step
forward, getting ready to shift.

  And then he felt it.

  Something very, very powerful had just appeared at the edges of what his griffin’s new powers could sense.

  Whoever it was was close to Mountain View—and quickly coming closer.

  In his mind’s eye, he could see flames and feel the sizzling heat of fire. But it wasn’t Braeden, the dragon of fire. He knew Braeden and his mate Alyx. His griffin wouldn’t have been filled with such instinctive alarm.

  Which meant this had to be...

  “Shit,” he said, hastily stepping in front of Chiara. “A fire dragon.”

  She gasped and gripped his shoulder. “Where?”

  He could hear a dragon’s challenging roar now. A moment later, a dragon arose—but it was a dragon he knew.

  Gregory had obviously felt the same powerful intruder approaching. The storm dragon had shifted and was now soaring in the air above the small shifter town, ready to deal with any threat.

  And then they could see their enemy.

  At first, it looked like a ball of fire was approaching.

  It came from the east, a brilliant blaze of red and orange and yellow, trailing through the sky with the burning colors of a sunset.

  But it was far more dangerous. A power exuded from the dragon that set Jared’s teeth on edge.

  He wanted to shift, to challenge the intruder—but he also didn’t want to abandon Chiara on the ground.

  “Wait,” she said a heartbeat later, as if she could feel how torn he was. “That’s not—that’s not a dragon!”

  “What else would it be?” he demanded. But then, as he stared at the brilliant colors approaching, he saw that Chiara was right.

  The intruder was close enough to make out details—and the stranger looked like no dragon Jared had ever seen.

  In fact, the strange shifter reminded him of a peacock... A large peacock made of burning fire.

  All of a sudden, he remembered Braeden and Alyx’s story about the strange shifter who had helped them when they were trapped in the fire dragon lair—only to later betray them.

  They’d called her the firebird. And that was exactly what this shifter looked like.

  Long feathers of red and orange burned against the bright blue of the sky, trailing brilliant flames. Jared had never seen anything like it before. Whoever this firebird was, she was powerful.

  Had she come to try and find new allies, now that they’d dealt another blow to the fire dragons?

  And then Jared realized that the firebird hadn’t come alone. She was carrying something. Something that looked very much like a human...

  All of a sudden Chiara gasped and stiffened. Her fingers dug into Jared’s arm as she peered up at the sky.

  The firebird had just skillfully evaded the storm dragon, who was trailing her warily without attacking.

  “That’s my dad!” Chiara cried out, moments before the firebird dropped its burden right in front of their feet.

  She rushed towards the man as he groaned and groggily tried to raise himself back up to his feet.

  Jared, meanwhile, kept his eyes on the firebird.

  For a moment, they locked eyes. Then, with a trilling cry, the shifter rose up into the sky again—but one of her feathers was slowly falling towards the earth, brilliant and so entrancing that Jared could barely take his eyes off it.

  When it hit the ground, the fiery blaze of it dimmed just a little. Even so, Jared found himself drawn towards it by an irresistible pull. It was like being hypnotized; he couldn’t look away from the pulsing of red, orange, and yellow, like a feather made out of living flame...

  When he reached out to touch it, it didn’t burn his hand.

  For a moment, he found himself imagining an armful of the fiery feathers, turned into a cloak for his mate. How beautiful Chiara would look—a true Lady of the Light, wearing the blazing amulet and the radiant feathers that would never dim, never lose their fire...

  He gritted his teeth, shaking off the sudden vision. With shaking hands, he pulled off his shirt and wrapped the feather in it.

  A moment later, he found himself relaxing at last.

  What a strange experience that had been. He’d been right when he thought that the firebird was powerful. No wonder she tried to avoid company, if that was the effect her feathers had. Was she used to being hunted for them?

  Still, the chimera might want a look at the feather. Whoever she was, she was powerful—and they still didn’t know whether she was an ally or an enemy.

  “Dad!” Chiara gasped, wrapping her arms tightly around the man who still looked dazed as he stared at her. “Dad! What are you doing here? We were just getting ready to come and get you!”

  “Chiara?” There was awe in his voice. His hand trembled as he reached out to touch Chiara’s mermaid hair.

  A heartbeat later, his arms were around her.

  He held her so tightly as if he never wanted to let go of her again. Jared, who’d only got to hug his parents for the first time a few days ago, knew exactly how he felt.

  “What happened?” Chiara demanded when she finally pulled back, laughing and crying at the same time.

  “I don’t know.” Her father looked stunned. His hand trembled slightly as he raised it to his head.

  “I... I was trying to follow your trail. I made it to a small town in France—they said you’d planned to hike up into the mountains. So I got ready to follow you there as well. And then—then there was a strange darkness, creeping up on me. I’ve never seen anything like it before. I thought I was going to die. And then something grabbed me. Like a bird made from fire. I remember flying... A terrible nightmare, only it all seemed so real! And now here you are!”

  “Oh, Dad.” Chiara wrapped her arms around him again, pressing a kiss to his cheeks. “I’m so sorry I dragged you into all of this.”

  “It’s all right. I’m sorry we stopped talking. I never meant to hurt you; I just didn’t know anymore what to do to keep you—”

  “It’s okay.” Chiara smiled through her tears, then at last let go of him to step back. “I don’t know how to tell you, Dad... But it was all true. Well, not the aliens and the vampires, but...”

  She trailed off, obviously uncertain of how to explain.

  Jared stepped forward and gently nudged her arm. “May I?” he said, then nodded towards the sky. “What do you see?”

  Squinting into the direction he was pointing, Chiara’s father frowned. “Blue sky... Mountains? That one cloud looks a bit like a dragon...”

  Chiara’s face fell. “I forgot! He can’t see mythological shifters...”

  “He can’t... Unless we want to be seen by him.” Jared laughed softly. “I apologize in advance, this isn’t how I thought our first meeting would go. But your daughter isn’t crazy. She’s right—about the werewolves, at least. And there are more shifters. Shifters like me.”

  With her dad’s eyes still on him, he took a few steps back.

  And then he shifted. The power of the light streamed through him, and he spread his wings, showing off for Chiara’s father, who’d suddenly gone very pale.

  “That’s Jared, Dad,” Chiara was saying. “He’s my mate. And he’s a griffin shifter.”

  “Holy shit,” her dad mumbled, shaking his head. “Either someone found me in those mountains and drugged me, or I’ve just gone completely crazy.”

  “Not crazy,” Chiara said tenderly. “It’s a lot to take in. But we’ve got all the time in the world to explain now.”

  Jared shifted back, and her father’s eyes widened again.

  “How do you do that?” he demanded, then passed his hand over his eyes. “I’m getting a headache from all of this.”

  Jared reached out to clasp his shoulder. “How about we get you inside and let you sit down? If she brought you all the way from France, you must be ravenous.”

  Her father gave him a wary smile. “I could do with a bite,” he admitted. “And then... Then you can explain again. From the beginnin
g. And maybe this time it’ll all start to make sense.”

  “We’ve got all the time we need, Dad,” Chiara said. “I promise. And I’m never going to leave again. Everything will be all right now, you’ll see.”

  As if on command, Gregory approached and landed, his eyes going from Chiara’s father to the wrapped-up feather in Jared’s hand.

  As soon as he shifted back into his human form, Chiara’s dad flinched. “Where the hell did you come from?” he demanded. “What is this place?”

  “I am Gregory Drago, the storm dragon.” Gregory bowed. “Welcome to my home. Welcome to Mountain View.”

  “Dragon, huh?” Her father didn’t look at all convinced, but Gregory didn’t seem fazed by that.

  Instead, Gregory reached out to shake his hand. “Now you may see me when I shift,” he said earnestly. “Welcome to the family.”

  “Dragons and griffins and werewolves,” her father muttered, looking around in obvious confusion. “I’m not sure I’m made for this...”

  “Give it time,” Chiara said, winding her arms around his. “Let’s get you some coffee, Dad. I’ll make pancakes, the way I used to. You remember that?”

  His eyes softened. “I remember,” he murmured. “The best pancakes I’ve ever had.”

  As they turned towards the house, Gregory suddenly stiffened. For a moment, there was such panic in his eyes that Jared hastily moved forward, energy prickling along his skin as he got ready to shift to defend his mate and her father.

  Then Gregory gasped, and his eyes went wide. “It’s Naomi!”

  “Is everything okay?” Jared demanded. “Did the firebird scare her?”

  “No, it’s not that.” For a moment, Gregory stood motionless, his eyes on his mansion that overlooked the valley on the other side of the town. His eyes were dazed. “It’s—it’s the baby!”

  “Is everything all right with Naomi?” Chiara asked worriedly. “What happened?”

  “It’s—it’s coming! The baby’s coming!” Gregory’s mouth snapped shut. All around them, the wind picked up, leaves and petals whirling through the air as Gregory’s element broke free.

  A second later, without another word, Gregory shifted, the powerful, silvery body of his dragon hastily rushing back towards his mate.