Terror 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 head.

“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.

Dragonsbane or not, he didn’t like the fact that their prisoner had made it past his stone bars.

Damon would have to use more of his powers and repair the cell before they could feel safe again. But that could wait until later.