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.”