by Chant, Zoe
He turned his head to stare straight at the fire dragon who’d gone pale, his hair disheveled from the way he’d tugged at it in frustration.
“You don’t know anything,” the fire dragon said, but there was no heat in his voice. After a moment, his eyes slid away.
Damon reached out to wrap his free hand around one of the bars between them.
“Look,” Damon said quietly. “I don’t hate you. That’s not why we had to lock you up. But as long as you’re a danger to others, you stay in here. You could have killed so many people when you attacked the storm dragon.”
The fire dragon scoffed, then gave him a suspicious look. “Spare me the lectures. Why are you here? Why are you really here?”
Damon shrugged. “Your friends nearly killed my mate. They attacked us three times in Iceland. There were five of them coming at us when we left. I’d like to know what you know about that.”
The fire dragon snorted. “I won’t talk. You can torture me, or kill me, but I won’t betray my people.”
“I pity your people,” Autumn said softly, and the fire dragon flinched again, giving her a wide-eyed look. “To bring up their children to hate the world they live in... What sort of childhood is that?”
“You don’t know—” the dragon growled, but Autumn didn’t let him speak.
“I know that centuries have passed since the Middle Ages. You were the ones who chose to keep hiding, planning your revenge. You were the ones who deprived your own children of the sunlight, of friendship, of freedom.”
The fire dragon remained silent.
“You’re not what I expected at all from a fire dragon,” Autumn finally said.
The fire dragon fought with himself. Damon could see the confusion on his face as he swallowed.
“Human women are not at all what I expected either,” Braeden said heavily. “I wouldn’t hurt you, you must believe that. And if I were free now—I don’t know what I would do. But I know I would be careful not to harm anyone who didn’t deserve it. Still—I’m not a traitor. I won’t betray my people. I’m sorry.”
“Fair enough,” Damon said after a moment.
He didn’t quite know what he’d expected. It had been foolish to hope the fire dragon would just give up all of their secrets.
Still, there were definite cracks showing in the dragon’s facade. Perhaps, over time, Braeden could be made to see reason...
Damon didn’t like the thought of a full-out war against the fire dragons. For one thing, it would be impossible to keep their secret from humans. For another, it would be just as impossible to keep humans safe from the fire dragons’ mad idea of revenge.
No, if they wanted to stop the fire dragons, they’d have to strike quickly and decisively.
If they knew their hiding place, they could take the war to them. A battle somewhere far away from human settlements was probably the best outcome they could hope for.
But Braeden wouldn’t give up the information willingly. And having seen him just now, Damon was pretty sure that force wouldn’t cut it either.
If there was a different way to get the information out of him, perhaps the chimera would know.
Chapter Seventeen: Autumn
They were halfway up the stairs again when a loud rumble made the stones shiver around them.
Autumn found herself clutching at the wall, feeling it vibrate against her hands.
An earthquake...?
“Shit,” Damon cursed.
He’d jumped forward to shield her with his body, Autumn realized. She reached out a grateful hand to rest it against his back—both to show him that she was alright, and for the reassuring feeling of his muscles shifting against her palm.
He was so tense that he felt hard like a statue. Autumn had to swallow against her sudden fear.
“What’s going on?”
“I don’t know,” Damon said, his voice low. “Something’s going on. The rock is upset. But I can’t see what causes it...”
Autumn watched as he reached out to rest both of his hands against the stone. For a heartbeat, he didn’t move—then he recoiled with a swallowed curse, his fist hitting the rock.
“Damn,” he cursed in frustration. “It’s like there’s a shadow. I can’t see through it...”
Through the bond, Autumn could feel his frustration—and his fear.
She’d never seen Damon afraid before.
“Whatever it is—it’s bad,” he murmured, turning around to face her. “The stones aren’t speaking to me. That has never happened before.”
“Maybe it’s the chimera?” Autumn said hopefully, even though her heart had begun to pound in her chest with sudden fear.
Damon was right—something was wrong. She didn’t know how she knew, but she could feel it. It was like the entire mountain had tensed around them. And there was a faint, acrid smell... a smell like something burning...
Suddenly, out of the gloom before them, a tiny shadow came racing down the stairs.
With a growl of anger Damon whirled around to face their attacker—but the creature raced straight past him, too small to be stopped.
A moment later, it halted after all. There, on the stairs below Autumn, illuminated by the flickering light of the torches, a tiny mouse sat.
“Ginny!” Damon said in surprise. “What’s going on?”
Right before Autumn’s eyes, the tiny mouse shimmered. A heartbeat later, she’d transformed into a human and very much naked woman.
“Fire dragons,” she said hastily, her eyes wide with terror. “Here. In the caves. Attacking the chimera.”
Quickly, Autumn stripped out of her coat, and the terrified mouse shifter gratefully wrapped it around herself.
“They’ve somehow blocked me from seeing what’s going on.” Damon gritted his teeth as he turned from them to stare up the stairs, pressing his hand to the stone again.
“You’ve got to go. Protect the chimera!” Ginny was trembling, but even so her voice was full of determination. “We need him. If they manage to harm him—or kidnap him—”
“I can’t.” Damon clenched his jaw as he turned around. “I’m not going to leave Autumn. I promised to keep her safe.”
“She won’t be safe if they get to the chimera,” Ginny said. “I’ll protect her.”
“You?” Damon shook his head. “No. No way.”
“Listen to me,” Ginny said. She was speaking very softly, but there was a core of strength in it. “There’s one place in this mountain where Autumn and I will be safe. That’s where I was going. A place where only a council member can go...”
“The prisoner’s rooms.” Damon shook his head. “No way.”
“No. I’ll go,” Autumn interrupted. Her heart was beating in her throat—but she remembered how the door in the stone had only opened at Damon’s touch. No key could open it. Only a council member could.
“Ginny’s right,” she continued when Damon stared at her in open surprise. “You’ve got to go and stop them. I don’t know what’s going on—but I’m not a dragon shifter. I’m holding you back. I won’t let them use me as a weapon against you. We’ll be safe in those caves.”
“He got his weekly dose of dragonsbane yesterday,” Ginny said. “And he’s behind bars. Couldn’t harm a fly that way. You’ve seen him.”
Damon shook his head again, his eyes dark and desperate as he reached out for Autumn.
She let herself be pulled into his arms willingly, kissing him with all her need for him while her heart kept pounding in her chest.
Go, she whispered silently, hoping that he’d feel her through their fragile bond. I love you. I know you’ll keep us all safe.
His mouth on hers was hot and desperate. He groaned into the kiss, his arms tightening around her waist as if he’d never let her go again, his powerful heart beating against hers with the same terrified rhythm.
But his terror wasn’t because of the fire dragons that threatened them, she realized when he finally let her go.
He wa
s terrified for her.
“You’re my mate,” he whispered hoarsely, so close that she could feel his hot breath on her lips. “I’ll give my life to protect you if I have to. I’ll come back to you. I swear it.”
“And I swear that I’ll wait for you. I’ll be safe. I’ll be safe with Ginny.”
She kissed him again, and then, at last, he tore himself away from her, panting.
“Hurry,” he said, his voice low and urgent. “I can’t feel them. There’s a shadow covering them—they could be very close.”
Together, they rushed down the stairs. In front of the heavy door of stone that had no keyhole, Damon pressed his hand to the wall.
“I’ll seal it after you,” he said quietly. “It’ll become part of the rock. Once this is done, I’ll come back as soon as possible and let you out.”
“Be safe,” Autumn said, looking up into his eyes which were gleaming with the sharp, metallic hue of steel now.
He was strong, she knew that. He would be fine.
Still, her heart clenched in her chest when he hastily kissed her one last time, and then stepped back out through the door.
Autumn shuddered when it fell closed with a deep, echoing thud.
A moment later, the outline of the door began to shimmer and shift. Within seconds, all traces of the door were gone. She was standing before a wall of rock.
A wall with no door. Which meant in turn that she was now trapped in a cave with one of the fire dragons they were hiding from.
Her heart racing, Autumn turned around. And there, from the other side of the bars, the fire dragon was watching them in confusion.
“What’s going on?” he asked slowly.
Silently, Autumn shook her head. She couldn’t talk right now, not with her fear for Damon like a stone in her throat.
Braeden frowned at them. Then, when he took in Ginny’s state of undress, his eyes widened and he flushed, immediately turning away. Without speaking a word, he hurried away from them, ducking through a hole in the wall into another cave.
A few seconds later, he returned. His eyes averted, he thrust a sweater and what looked like a pair of pajama bottoms through the bars.
Before Autumn could react, Ginny had taken hold of them. She had blushed, too.
“Thank you,” she mumbled.
The fire dragon hastily retreated back into the other cave to give them some privacy, and Ginny quickly dressed.
She was curvy like Autumn, and the pajama bottoms were too long for her. But even though they were cut for a man’s hips, there was just enough stretch in them to fit her curves.
In any case, it had to be better than waiting in this cave wearing only Autumn’s coat.
“Can I come back in?” the fire dragon called out meekly after a moment.
Surprised, Autumn had to bite back a laugh.
“Yes, thank you,” she called back, smiling in amusement when Braeden made his way back to the cell they were currently sharing.
“You’re awfully polite for a big, bad fire dragon,” she said.
“You may not believe it,” he said, sounding affronted, “but we have honor, too.”
“Mm-hm,” Autumn said, not convinced at all. “That’s why you and your people think killing humans is no big deal. Very honorable, that.”
“I’ve never killed a human in my life—” Braeden began in annoyance, then suddenly fell silent. “Never mind. What’s going on? What are you doing here?”
Autumn looked at Ginny, who calmly answered her gaze but remained silent.
Well. Doesn’t look like I’ll get much help from this side.
Would it be better to keep quiet? They didn’t want Braeden to get any ideas. On the other hand, even if he knew about the other fire dragons, he was still locked in his cell. What harm could he do?
“Fire dragons are attacking,” she said finally. “Don’t think you’re getting out of this, though. We’re here because this is the safest place in the mountain. The one place where they definitely won’t find you.”
As if in answer to her words, a distant rumble made the ground beneath her vibrate.
Suddenly terrified, Autumn bit back a gasp, clenching her fingers until her nails bit into her skin.
She wouldn’t show any weakness in front of Braeden.
But even so, with every minute apart from Damon, the terror in her heart grew.
She wasn’t afraid of being locked in a cave, or of the distant force that made the mountain tremble.
But she was afraid for her mate. She’d lived for so many years without him—but now that she’d finally found him, it seemed impossible to ever live without that all-consuming love in her life again.
Be safe, she sent through the bond, not knowing if it would even reach him. Be safe, my mate!
Chapter Eighteen: Damon
Damon’s dragon was filled with rage at this new threat to his mate, aching to shift and destroy their enemy once and for all. At the same time, the human side of him was torn as he’d never been before.
Had he done the right thing? He’d just abandoned his mate with their prisoner.
But the prison was the safest place in the mountain. They’d constructed it so that even a powerful shifter wouldn’t be able to break out.
Which also meant that no one should be able to break in.
Still, even now a part of Damon ached with the need to race back and fly his mate to safety.
But Ginny was right, he couldn’t abandon the chimera. Gareth might be powerful—but an attack, right here at the heart of the council’s power, was unheard of.
They’d have to meet this threat. If the fire dragons managed to wound the chimera—or worse, kill him—all shifters would be severely weakened. If the fire dragons proved strong enough to strike a severe blow to the council of elements itself, it would weaken morale enough that they might be unable to keep the peace.
And without all shifters peacefully united against this terrible threat, the resulting war would claim too many innocent lives...
No, there was no choice. Autumn was as safe as she could possibly be, and the best thing he could do in her defense right now was to join forces with the chimera and drive out this threat.
Damon hurtled up the stairs, then raced along a narrow corridor. It was too small for a dragon—deliberately so. This way, an escaping prisoner would be unable to shift, unless his animal was smaller than a human, and so less dangerous.
But right now, this meant that Damon couldn’t shift either.
He used his dragon’s senses again, sending his thoughts deep into the stone that had always obeyed his command since the day he’d been born.
Danger, the stone now whispered. Fire. Smoke. Shadow. Shadow...
Damon cursed, unable to see through the darkness that blocked his dragon’s sight, even here at the heart of a mountain where his dragon’s element should be at its most powerful. He’d never experienced that sensation before. It made him uneasy.
No fire dragon should be strong enough to stand up to his power like this. Not unless there was a dragon born with the power over the element of fire itself...
But there had never been a true master of fire. The council of elements had never held a plinth of fire. Perhaps, long ago, before dragons had begun to keep recordings, a master of fire had existed as well—but the fire element had been wiped out once and for all in the Middle Ages, when knights hunted them down like wild beasts.
Skidding around a corner, Damon finally reached the part of the large system of caves and tunnels that had been made for dragon size. Within a heartbeat, he shifted, his wings stretching until they brushed the walls of the large tunnel leading upwards.
His senses were stronger this way. Furious, he clawed at the stone as he raced upwards, sending his thoughts deep into the earth—but still something resisted.
Fire. Smoke. Shadow.
He bit back a roar. Perhaps they weren’t expecting him. Perhaps he could surprise them...
Maybe whatever wa
s blocking his own power was blocking theirs as well. If the strange shadow was of their making, they might not be able to see through it either.
There was a noise in front of him now. It was a dim roar which made the stone around him vibrate faintly.
Damon knew that sound. It was the roar of a dragon—no, of several dragons. And by the way the sound echoed through the rock all around him, he knew exactly where they were, even without being able to tap into the stone’s sight.
They were at the heart of where the strange shadow was concentrated.
They were directly in the giant council chamber—and they weren’t alone.
With his dragon’s anger at this new threat to his mate burning like a furnace deep in his own chest, Damon at last rushed out of a tunnel into the large council chamber. He spread his wings, shooting up to hover beneath the roof of the cave. His neck twisted back and forth as his dragon’s roar filled the cave—and there, at the back of the cave, he could at last make out the source of the shadow.
Smoke filled that part of the cave. It was so thick he could barely make out what was happening—but he could see just enough to immediately understand what was going on.
Right at the center of that cloud of smoke, a large shadow was rearing up—a shadow that seemed to constantly shift between forms so quickly that Damon felt sickened by it.
The chimera.
And around Gareth, smaller shapes were flitting through the smoke. Every now and then, he could make out the shape of a wing or a flexing tail.
The fire dragons.
It was hard to make out exactly how many there were. Three, he thought—and then the smoke shifted, and the dragons were not where they’d been before.
No... five?
Even where he was hovering high above them, the acrid smoke stung his eyes. But he’d seen enough.
Damon drew in a deep breath, releasing it in a roar that made the mountain tremble. The smoke might block his vision, but he was still the dragon of earth.