Every now and then, Damon checked his phone. He’d tried to call one of the other council members as soon as possible after they’d made their escape, but he still couldn’t reach any of them.

Which meant that they had to be gathered in Sky Home, on the mountain above the clouds, where the signal wouldn’t reach.

Either way, the attack had been strong enough that the chimera would have sensed it. In addition, Damon had hastily texted and sent emails to the dragons of water and air. If they hadn’t shifted right there at Sky Home to fly to Iceland as quickly as possible, one of them would surely call back any minute.

And if they didn’t, that meant that council backup would arrive in a few hours. Either way, they’d deal with this problem. Autumn would be safe.

“Does this sort of thing happen often?” Autumn asked as they slowly made their way up a rocky hill. “I know there are active volcanoes here—but there were no warnings on any of the websites I’ve checked.”

“No, that was entirely unexpected,” Damon said.

He could feel Autumn's concern—even though they weren’t formally mated, there was already a fragile connection. How could he reassure her? He needed to explain to her about shifters as quickly as possible.

And then he had to hope that she wouldn’t hold the attack against him. She’d been in danger because he’d been there. If he could show her his true power, perhaps she’d forgive him if he swore that from now on, he’d shield her from any harm.

Perhaps this evening, when they’d be safely back in Reykjavik. He knew that he had a lot to make up for—but if he could show her that he was serious about protecting her, perhaps he could prove that he was a good mate.

With a deep breath, he sent his dragon’s senses deep into the earth once more. He’d kept half of his attention focused on the land even as they’d walked, and everything had been quiet.

Now, once more, every stone and rock was singing out to him, greeting the presence of his mate with warm notes of happiness.

Everything was calm. His mate was safe here.

“But it won’t happen again. I promise,” Damon added. “Trust me. I know about rocks, remember?”

She tilted her head in open amusement. “But if that earthquake was so unexpected, how can you be sure?”

Damon’s mouth opened, and then snapped shut again. He gave her an apologetic look.

“You’re right,” he said. He couldn’t very well tell her that he knew because he was the dragon of earth, the lord over mountain and forest. “But how likely is it that something completely unexpected happens twice in one day?”

Now Autumn laughed. “There’s been more than two entirely unexpected things happening today,” she murmured, the warmth in her eyes leaving no doubt that she was talking about him.

Damon took hold of her hand again, entwining their fingers. “Is that so?” he said teasingly, glad for the distraction. “Then maybe it’s a good thing today ended up so explosive. I wouldn’t have wanted to miss meeting you, not for any earthquake in the world.”

She shook her head slightly, her eyes trained on his. Her perfume surrounded him, a warm scent with a hint of spice beneath. She was so irresistible that he found himself reaching out again, running his fingers through her windblown hair.

“I’m glad, too,” she said softly. “Really. That was probably the scariest thing that ever happened to me, but I’m still glad I came here. I’ve been looking forward to this for so long—and it’s so much better than I imagined.”

Damon swallowed. They had stopped, and before them spread the breathtaking landscape of the national park Thingvellir. Power rose from every rock here. It called out to his dragon, who wanted to spread his wings and circle the land, singing in harmony with every rock and stone.

Damon ignored his dragon. Instead, he gently cupped Autumn’s face in his hands. “If you’ve got tomorrow free as well, I’d love to show you more of this country.”

His dragon wanted to take her flying, show her glaciers from dragon back and the breathtaking sight of the sun sinking into the ocean.

But not yet. Not yet. Perhaps tomorrow, if he could find a way to tell her tonight without scaring her.

Autumn’s eyes grew dark and soft, her lips parting a little. Almost without thinking, Damon found himself leaning forward for another kiss.

At that exact moment, his phone vibrated in his pocket, and he drew back hastily.

“I’m so sorry,” he said. “Just one moment. I contacted colleagues of mine about that earthquake.”

Autumn’s look of disappointment immediately turned into one of concern. “Are we still in danger?”

“I don’t think so,” he said as he drew his phone from his pocket.

On our way. Be careful. Jared, the text said simply.

Damon sighed at the griffin’s answer. He didn’t relish the thought of meeting the water dragon again so soon, but with his mate in danger, he’d be happy for any support.

“No danger,” he said to reassure Autumn. “But they caught the next plane to Reykjavik. One of them’s a specialist for water, the other specialized in wind and weather.”

Autumn gave him an amused look. “I didn’t know mining needed so many different specialists. Now all you’re missing for this country is a fire expert.”

Damon froze for a heartbeat, thinking of the fire dragon they currently had locked up in Sky Home. Had their prisoner known of this attack?

Maybe he should’ve told the others to interrogate the fire dragon again and find a way to make him speak...

Locking him away was all very good, but if there were other fire dragons on the loose, maybe now was the time to stop being honorable.

The chimera was old and powerful, after all. And Damon knew all the rumors of his hidden secrets and powers. If there was one creature still in this world that knew how to creature a truth potion, it was the chimera.

Humans had managed to do it, from what he’d heard. And while their medicines and drugs wouldn’t work on a dragon shifter, Damon had no doubt that the chimera could find a way to use that knowledge and alter it for a dragon...

“Hey. You okay?” Autumn waved a hand in front of his face, biting her lip in an unsuccessful attempt to hold back her laughter.

“Sorry,” he said chagrined. “See, I didn’t lie when I told you that I’m boring. Enough talk of rocks and I get completely carried away.”

With a grin, Autumn tugged on his hand, then pointed at the green valley spreading before them. “In that case, tell me about this place.”

Damon pushed his phone back into his pocket. While they were flying across the ocean, there would be no communication anyway. He’d get at least a few more hours without having to worry about the council and their next plan of action.

“Now, if I were a tour guide, I’d tell you that this is the place of the oldest parliament in the world,” he began.

Autumn beamed. “I read all about that on the plane.”

“I expected that.” He winked at her. “Which is why I’m going to suggest that we’ll take a walk through it, and I’m going to tell you all about the fascinating rock formations to our left instead...”

Autumn gave the dark stones a skeptical look. “And that’s going to be interesting?”

Damon grinned, reaching out to the rock below with his senses, which in return offered up fascinating secrets of men in armor who had once gathered there centuries ago. “Well, if you take a look to the mountain to our right, it once witnessed a secret rendezvous exactly 612 years ago.”

Damon nudged the rock with his mind to see the old love story unfurl. Flashes of a bearded man reaching out for the hand of a woman appeared before his mind’s eye.

“She was supposed to marry another, you see,” he began, but then fell silent when he noticed that Autumn had stopped paying attention.

Her head was tilted up at the sky, and she had turned pale.

“What is that?” she asked, her voice trembling. “It looks like a... a dragon.”

Even before Autumn had stopped speaking, a terrible awareness rushed through Damon’s senses.

Fire. Menace. Destruction.

The fire dragon’s aura made the air around him thrum. The dragon within him rose up immediately in protective anger.

His mate was in danger. That was the only thing his dragon knew, and the only thing it cared about now.

“Duck,” Damon shouted, grabbing hold of Autumn’s hand to hastily pull her down behind a large rock.

There, he saw to his relief a narrow path leading down. It was shielded by the overhanging rock. It would not be enough to protect them from an angry fire dragon, but it might give them precious moments to get as far away as possible...

“What’s going on?” Autumn’s voice was trembling in terror. “Damon, what’s going on here?”

“Run! There’s no time for explanations!” His heart was pounding in his chest as he tried to focus his dragon’s senses to figure out where exactly the fire dragon was.

Had they managed to fool him?

The dragon was too close now. All Damon could feel was the alarming thrum of danger that pulsed through his blood.

He’s close—way too close.

Before them, the narrow path turned a corner. When they rushed around it, Damon saw to his dismay that the overhanging rock pulled back, no longer shielding them from view.

And a second later, with no warning at all, a lance of fire fell from the sky.

Dragon fire, scorching hot, enveloped the narrow gorge. It burned the lichen that clung to the rock.

Autumn cried out in utter terror when the flames surrounded them, threatening to devour them.

Just in time, Damon threw himself atop her, covering her with his own body. In his human form, his powers weren’t as strong. Still, it was enough to throw up a small shield, channeling his power over rock and metal to erect an invisible barrier around them that was as strong as diamond.

It deflected the dragon fire, which continued to sizzle down through the gorge. Only a circular spot around Damon was spared by its destructive force.

As soon as the fire was gone, he pushed himself to his feet again, grabbing hold of Autumn’s wrist. He could feel her terror—and her fear only increased his own dragon’s protective anger.

They couldn’t escape. Not from this enemy.

But this gorge was too narrow to shift...

“Run,” he gasped, “run!”

Before them, he could see the rock pull back, the narrow path opening up into another small valley.

If they could make it there...

Then, above, he heard a roar. Autumn cried out again when a large shadow swept past them. When Damon looked up, he saw the red-scaled dragon finishing his turn, his wings lifting as he prepared to dive straight at them again.

Autumn was panting. Her terrified heart was beating in time with his own as Damon counted the seconds it would take the fire dragon to come into range again.

Any second now—any second...

They spilled out of the gorge, nearly tumbling down into the small valley before them. Damon turned his head—and there, so close that Damon could make out the rage gleaming in its black eyes, the fire dragon opened its maw.

Another shower of fire streamed towards them. Autumn clutched at his arm in overwhelmed terror.

And then Damon’s dragon broke free.

In the heartbeat before the flames reached them, he surrendered to his dragon’s protective anger. Power streamed into him. Its energy sizzled through him, filling him with the strength of his element: the steadfastness of rock, the hardness of metal, the brilliance of diamond.

A split second later, he stood above Autumn, spreading his wings as he roared his own challenge at the enemy dragon. With his blood thrumming with his dragon’s powers, he pulled on the earth’s strength to shield him. This time, the shield that protected them was larger, effortlessly diverting the burning dragon fire.

He dug his claws deep into the earth, feeding on the strength of soil and rock. His shield steadily grew in strength despite the fire dragon’s continued attack—and then the dragon swept past them, roaring a mocking goodbye as he made straight for the clouds.

“Holy shit,” Autumn said out loud, then clasped her hand over her mouth when he turned his head to look at her.

Her eyes were very wide, and even as he looked at her with worry, torn between the need to make sure that she was okay and his dragon’s desire to pursue the fleeing fire dragon, her knees gave in.

“This isn’t real. This can’t be real,” she muttered, still staring straight at him.

This wasn’t how I wanted to tell you, Damon thought in misery.

He lowered his head deeply in apology, his dragon’s senses still intertwined with the power of the earth, listening for any sign of a further fire dragon ambush.

A moment later, when the rock murmured a calming song of quietness and reassurance in his mind, he shifted back with a deep breath.

“Holy—” Autumn gasped again, then fell silent, her mouth still open.

“I’m sorry,” Damon said.

Slowly, he moved closer, then went to his knees in front of her. He saw her tremble when he carefully reached out with one hand, but she didn’t flinch back when he touched her shoulder.

“You’re a dragon,” she said. “You’re really a dragon!”

All Damon could do was nod in misery.