by Chant, Zoe
“Pity,” Braeden muttered, his eyes narrowing as he resolutely turned away and quickly strode back through the broken bars. He pressed his hands to the rock on the other side of the cell. For a long moment, he remained silent and motionless. Then, with a sound of frustration, he pulled back.
“No good. Maybe if I had my powers—but we can’t break through stone.”
“Like I said. We’ll have to wait. The dragon of earth will return and deal with them,” Ginny said quietly.
As if summoned by her words, another crack in the distance made the cave around them tremble.
Clenching her teeth to hold back the terrified sound that wanted to break free, Autumn took a step forward.
Was she just imagining it, or had the outline of the door become more visible?
It was definitely growing warmer. She’d dressed sensibly for the journey—but she wasn’t wearing her coat now, which Ginny was still carrying. Even so, she was so hot that she could feel her hair stick to her sweaty skin.
Autumn knelt and put her hand on the ground. The stone was warm.
Even if their enemy didn’t yet know where they were, they were definitely searching the right area.
And if they accidentally make this cave collapse on us, it won’t matter if they find us or not...
“This way,” Braeden hissed. “Hurry.”
He motioned for them to come past the broken bars, gesturing towards the smaller cave opening there.
With a suspicious look, Autumn followed.
It’s not like it can get much worse.
Ginny walked closely behind her. When they stepped into the smaller cave, they saw that it held a bed. Beyond it, another tiny cave opened up. It held a rudimentary bathroom—and there, in the corner opposite the small shower, was a ventilation shaft.
“Big enough for a mouse,” Autumn said quietly, her heart clenching in her chest as she looked at Ginny. “He’s right. Get out while you can.”
Ginny shook her head, glaring at the dragon shifter. “He’s wrong. There’s nothing I can do to help.”
“You don’t have to help. But you’ll be able to get away.” Autumn swallowing back her fear.
It was the right thing to do. Even if she couldn’t escape this trap, there was no need at all why Ginny should die here with them.
“I’m not going to abandon you when—” Ginny began.
“You’re not.” Braeden was pale, but his face was determined when he turned to Ginny. “You’re small. You know the tunnels here. You can escape them and go for help.”
Ginny silently shook her head again.
“Go,” Autumn said, then fell silent when from the larger cave beyond, an ominous crack echoed.
“They’ve found a fault in the stone they can use,” Braeden said. “Go!”
He jumped up and grabbed hold of the grating that was bolted to the ventilation shaft. He dangled from it for a heartbeat.
Autumn watched as his body tensed, his muscles straining against his shirt.
Then, with the screeching sound of metal tearing, the grating gave, and Braeden dropped back to the ground with it in his hand.
Ginny grabbed hold of Autumn’s arm. “I’ll go. But only to find Damon. I’ll send him back to you, as fast as I can.”
Autumn nodded, her heart pounding in her chest. “Good luck.”
A heartbeat later, Ginny’s body shimmered—and then vanished, just like that. The clothes she’d borrowed from Braeden dropped to the floor.
Then a tiny mouse peeked out of the sweater, and Braeden knelt down, offering his hand.
Ginny crawled onto his palm. Carefully, Braeden lifted her to the small opening of the ventilation shaft.
The mouse made a final chirp that could have meant Good luck, or I’ll hurry—and then she vanished into the darkness, leaving Autumn behind with Braeden.
“Now what?” Autumn asked after a moment, her throat dry.
It wasn’t just her fear, she realized—the air was getting so warm that soon, it would become difficult to breathe.
“Now we play for time,” Braeden said. The look he gave her was very serious. “I know that you have no reason to trust me, but I swear on my life that I will not harm an innocent. I know nothing about your human net flicks magic, or your human wings that carry you to the moon—but I’ve learned enough to know that you aren’t what I thought you were. I’ll try to protect you, as much as I can.”
“If we get out of this, I’m definitely getting you Netflix, chimera or no,” Autumn muttered with a faint smile.
“I’d like that. I think.” He gave her a brief smile, but then immediately turned serious again.
Together, they peered back into the larger cave. There, past the broken bars, the wall had begun to crack. And the outline of the door was glowing now—an eerie, red glow, as if something behind it had heated the stone almost beyond what it could bear.
“We’ve only got minutes,” Braeden whispered. “There’s one last thing we can try. They don’t know you’re in here with me. Go back into the bedroom. Hide beneath my bed. I’ll wait out there by the bars. They’re looking for me—if they break down the wall and find me, they’ve got what they came for. Wait until they are gone. Then try to run as fast as you can.”
Autumn swallowed. It was so hot now that she was desperately craving some water, but instead, she reached out her hand.
Braeden looked at her in confusion, then smiled with sudden understanding when she grabbed hold of his hand.
He shook her hand, his fingers firm.
“As fire dragons go, you’re pretty okay, you know,” she said.
“It was an honor to meet you as well, my lady of the earth,” he said and bowed formally. “My congratulations to your mate.”
Then he turned and walked back into the larger cave, facing the wall where the door’s outline was now glowing a terrifying red-orange.
Autumn swallowed, her tongue heavy and dry in her mouth. She returned to Braeden’s bed, kneeling down on the warm stone floor, then squeezing beneath the bed.
For all that he was a prisoner, the bed was made of a sturdy frame of heavy wood, and covered with large, warm blankets. Crawling all the way to the back, resting against the wall of the cave with the blankets hanging down, she would be completely invisible to anyone who looked into Braeden’s bedroom.
Maybe he’s right. They don’t care about me. They don’t even know I’m here. They’re here to free their friend. As soon as they’ve broken him out, they’ll all run. And then Damon will come for me.
Thinking about Damon’s majestic wings shielding her from the dragons’ fire helped a little.
Every now and then, she heard strange cracks echoing through the cave. Those had to be the fault lines in the stone Braeden had mentioned. The fire dragons had heated the stone so much with their fire that any weak spots in the rock would crack and open—like the time her favorite mug had finally cracked when she’d filled it with boiling water.
No. Think about Damon instead, she told herself firmly.
Swallowing down her fear, she closed her eyes. Little by little, she could make out the golden glow of the fragile bond between them in the darkness.
They’re here, she thought, imagining that the words were beams of light that would pulse with the bond right through the stone until they’d reach Damon.
And then the distant crackling and popping in the stone around her turned into a strange, inhuman sound, like something terrible grinding together and tearing.
A heartbeat later, the rocks around her groaned, and another cloud of dust and tiny rocks exploded even into her tiny space beneath the bed.
They’ve broken through, she thought, her heart pounding so loudly in her chest that it took a moment until she realized that everything had become strangely silent.
Then she heard Braeden speak from the other room.
“You’ve found me,” he said calmly. “Now finish it.”
Chapter Twenty: Damon
Terro
r and rage pounding through his veins, Damon spread his wings. He needed to get to his mate. He couldn’t think of anything but the overpowering need to protect her.
With his powers, he probed the boulders that blocked the entrance leading down to the prison cell.
He could simply throw his powers at it, and the stone would follow his command, as it had always done. But this time, it wasn’t only the power of earth that had taken control of the stones.
The rocks were still hot. And he could feel the opposing power of fire threading through the mountain, although the same sensation of smoke and shadows blocked his view of what was going on below.
He could force the stone to obey his command—but Damon had no command over fire.
Heat had destabilized the rock too much. And he could feel enough to know that if he forced his way in with brute force, the entire tunnel might collapse—perhaps even the cave where Autumn was hiding.
Furious and terrified for his mate, Damon forced himself to concentrate.
One by one, he began to remove the boulders that blocked his way, his dragon’s senses pushing deep into the rock all around him to make certain that nothing he did would weaken the tunnel further.
Once or twice, he only managed to stabilize the rock at the last moment. His dragon furiously worked to fight back against the weakness caused by the fire, which had cracked the stony roof of the tunnel.
How much time was left?
He bared his teeth, roaring at the stone in frustration as he kept working as quickly and as carefully as possible.
And then, when he wasn’t even halfway through the blockade, he heard his mate’s voice in his mind again.
They’re here! Autumn shouted in terror.
Her fear flooding through him, accompanied by the sensation of unbearable heat and exploding rock.
That’s when pure dragon instinct took over.
Damon abandoned all pretense of carefully working through the collapsed tunnel. Instead, his dragon struck out with raw force.
Never before in his life had he wielded such power. The power of the earth itself rushed through his veins, energy sizzling in his blood until the sensation was too painful to bear, his tail writhing back and forth as he tried to contain it all inside himself.
And then he released the energy, sending it straight into the collapsed tunnel before him, and beyond.
Distantly, he could hear his own, furious roar as he flung his senses deep into the rock—straight into the heart of fire that had blinded him with smoke and shadows for so long.
At his relentless attack, suddenly the shadow gave way.
And at last, Damon could see.
His dragon’s awareness flooded through the rock, stone and metal singing to him as it always had. The energy that streamed through his body burned like acid in his veins, nearly tearing it apart, but still he forced it to do his bidding. Like a stream of blinding light, he forced it into the collapsed tunnel. Damon blasted it open with brute force, stabilizing the trembling rock all around it with nothing but the power of his dragon.
His chest burned. His heart was pounding fiercely, skipping a beat every now and then when the strain became too much. Still, the way was open now.
He was halfway down the stairs, shifted back into his human body, before he was even aware of what was happening.
It was very hot down here. That was his only warning, before he skidded around a corner and found himself face to face with four men clad in black leather. Their faces were smudged with soot, their hair dark and their eyes gleaming with the red of flame.
Fire dragons.
Even though his heart was beating so fast that every breath he took was painful, Damon channeled his power once more. Without slowing down, he forced his energy to go into the stone beneath them, yanking it up with all his might—and the rock obeyed.
The ground the shifters had stood on trembled. Then the dragons fell backwards, their shouts blocked by a sturdy wall of rock, which had shot up exactly where they’d stood a moment ago.
Damon didn’t waste time to see whether they’d been knocked unconscious by the blow.
He focused his power once more. Then he threw himself into the cave, ready to strike out with all of his might at the shifters that had dared to threaten his mate—only to find himself right in front of Braeden, who was facing off with the two remaining dragon shifters.
Autumn was nowhere to be seen.
What have you done with my mate? Damon’s dragon roared inside him.
At the same time, he heard Autumn’s voice—not through the bond, but echoing through the cave they were in.
“Damon,” she called out fearfully.
Her voice came from somewhere at the back. Had she hidden in the smaller cave there?
Smart mate, his dragon hissed, and then turned his rage onto the remaining dragon shifters. She’d be safe from any stray fire there.
Each of them now had a ball of fire glowing in their hand. There was still a look of surprise on their faces at Damon’s sudden entrance. They must have hoped that they’d have more time to break their friend out of his prison.
The bars of hard stone that had kept their prisoner safely contained had been destroyed—but even so, they hadn’t been fast enough.
They wouldn’t pass Damon.
A heartbeat later, both fireballs were released at the same time.
It was exactly what Damon had supposed would happen. The cave wasn’t large enough to shift, but even in his human form, power was coursing through his veins, strong like never before.
Without thought, Damon cast out his shield. He’d only meant to protect himself from the attack—but his power had grown so immensely that he’d misjudged the size of his shield. Instead of just covering himself, the wall of invisible stone surrounded not only him, but also their prisoner, and impacted with the two enemy dragons.
The force of it was so strong that they were thrown against the wall of the cave, held immobile by the strength of Damon’s shield pressing against them. The balls of fire were still glowing in their hands. As Damon watched, the balls were growing brighter and brighter.
“Dragon of the Earth,” one of them finally hissed, “this has only begun. Now starts the reign of fire.”
Gritting his teeth, Damon kept feeding his energy into the shield, holding them safely entrapped.
Let the chimera deal with them later. Three prisoners were better than one, and who knew—maybe one of them could be made to talk.
Then the two shifters turned their heads to look at each other. They bared their teeth in a fierce grin.
A heartbeat later, the balls of fire in their hand grew to a white-hot inferno. It exploded into two columns of fire, devouring the shifters, while the rest of the cave was safely protected by Damon’s shield.
His heart continuing to pound in his chest, Damon turned to face the remaining dragon shifter—their prisoner, Braeden.
Damon kept his shield up as he stared at him.
“Looks like you won’t escape today after all,” Damon said, allowing his dragon’s anger to shine through. “If you’ve laid a single finger on my mate, I swear I will—”
Braeden bent over, beginning to laugh even though he clutched at his chest.
“Is that what you think happened?” Braeden asked a moment later, when he’d managed to straighten again. He gave Damon a fierce grin. “They haven’t come to free me, idiot.”
“They came to kill him,” Autumn said.
She’d appeared in the doorway that led into the prisoner’s sleeping cell—and she was unharmed, not a single, beautiful hair singed.
Damon drew in a deep breath. Relief rushed through him with such force that he didn’t even realize he’d dropped his shield until she was in his arms, clutching at him as he hugged her as tightly as he could.
“I heard your cry for help,” he said, at the same time as she said, “Did Ginny find you?”
They stared at each other. Then Damon grimly shook his he
ad.
“What happened? Ginny’s not in here with you?”
“We helped her escape through the ventilation shaft,” Braeden said, giving Damon a challenging look. “She was the only one small enough to fit. I guess you’ve realized by now that the attack on the chimera was just to keep you distracted?”
“You claim that their real plan was to get to you all along,” Damon said slowly. “Why should I believe you? Why would they want to kill you?”
Braeden shrugged. “Your mate heard them. And isn’t it obvious? They’re protecting our secrets. I won’t be able to tell you anything of use if I’m dead.”
“So you do know important things,” Damon began, only to be interrupted by Autumn.
“Can’t your quarreling wait?” she said impatiently. “We need to find Ginny! What if she ran into more of those dragons?”
Damon shook his head. “This was all of them. The shadow of smoke has lifted. I can see the entire mountain now—everything is as it should be.”
In fact, he saw more clearly than ever before, the gentle song of rock and metal now nearly a roar in his head.
He grimaced, resisting the urge to rub his aching eyes. He’d be able to rest soon enough. For now, he couldn’t show any weakness in front of their enemy.
“I can see her,” Damon said finally. The stone sang to him of the path tiny feet had taken, scurrying through tunnel after tunnel until at last, she’d made it to the council chamber. “She’s with the chimera.”
Damon took another deep breath. He forced the building headache away as he sent a burst of his new power through the rock, straight to the council chamber where the chimera had in turn just begun to reach out with his own powers.
Wait, Damon answered. We’ll come to you. They’ve been defeated—for now.
The chimera sent back an impatient acknowledgment that echoed in Damon’s head, making him grimace again.
Perhaps he’d overdone it. He’d never used so much power before. But then, he’d fight a hundred fire dragons to save his mate. What was a headache when he finally had Autumn back by his side?
“We’re meeting him in the council chamber. And you—you’re coming along.” Damon gave Braeden a suspicious look.