“It’s a lot better since Autumn helped me to convince him to get satellite internet up here.” Ginny laughed softly. “I can finally watch my shows again. Just imagine, last week he was asking me what I was watching, and I think I’ve got him hooked on Game of Thrones now.”
Liana giggled helplessly, and Timothy couldn’t bite back an amused snort of his own.
“Really? I can’t imagine him watching that...”
“Oh, he’s not watching it.” Ginny grinned. “Every day, he asks me about the latest episode I’ve watched, and then he rants about everything they’ve got wrong about dragons. I think he’s quite enjoying that, actually. I’ve been thinking about getting him the audio books.”
Gregory leaned back, wrapping his arm around his pregnant mate. “I feel that’s the most contact to another person he’s had in ages. It was a good idea to get some internet up here—and not just because we can finally keep in contact by email now.”
“Braeden definitely profited from binging on Netflix,” Ginny said, then suddenly fell silent and swallowed. She turned towards Damon. “No news of him yet?”
Damon silently shook his head.
Timothy suddenly realized that he hadn’t seen the griffin shifter since they’d arrived in Sky Home.
“Where’s Jared?”
“Don’t worry, he’s fine,” Damon reassured him. “But I think he blames himself for losing Braeden. It wasn’t his fault—what’s a single griffin to do against twenty fire dragons? But he immediately went back out to patrol the area. I think he’s hoping to pick up a trace of where the dragons might have taken Braeden.”
“Well, where would they take him?” Timothy forced himself to ignore the lingering sense of worry for their fire dragon. “I bet they’re happy to have him back. He’s probably telling them all our secrets right now, all safe in their secret lair.”
“No,” Autumn said firmly. “I can’t believe that. They wanted to kill him. I was there when they broke into his cell, remember? They were definitely out to get him.”
“What if that was all part of their plan?” Timothy said. “What if they just wanted to make us believe that he was on our side, so that we’d trust him and he could find out our weaknesses?”
Autumn shrugged. “We won’t know until we find him again. But I was there. He saved my life. No matter what you say—I trust him. He’s changed. He doesn’t want any humans to come to harm.”
“If we find him again,” Timothy said darkly. “I don’t like the thought of Jared all alone out there.”
“He’ll be fine,” Damon said. “Given the pattern of their attacks, they were going after the three of us—trying to keep us from finding our mates. Because they knew how dangerous we’d be to them once we’d be able to access our full power.”
“They didn’t succeed.” Liana leaned into Timothy’s embrace. “But they nearly killed Timothy. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
“It didn’t feel like fire—at least not like the fire they used before,” Timothy said quietly. “It felt—tainted, somehow. Dark.”
“Who knows what they got up to in those centuries they spent in the darkness.” Damon gave Timothy a thoughtful look. “I felt that same sensation when they attacked Sky Home. I didn’t question it at the time, because I only thought about saving Autumn. But you’re right—it felt as if their power was tainted by darkness.”
“Maybe that’s what happens when there’s finally a master of fire,” Gregory said. “Either way, it doesn’t matter where it comes from. We’ll have to deal with it before they can wreak destruction all over the world.”
“And I’m sure the chimera will come up with a plan for you,” Naomi said firmly. “But for now, I believe we should let these two rest. And who knows, maybe Jared will return during the night.”
“It was great to meet you at last,” Liana said when they got up.
Timothy stretched when he got up. “Let’s have breakfast together tomorrow.”
Even though his right wrist was completely healed and he’d regained his full power, it had been a long and exhausting day. And as beautiful as their secret cave behind the waterfall had been, he was looking forward to a full night’s rest with his gorgeous new mate in his arms.
Tomorrow they’d start worrying about the fire dragons again. Tomorrow, the chimera would probably come up with some dire, ancient prophecy that would mean more hard work for them all.
But today, all he wanted was to rest with Liana in his arms and listen to the soft sound of her breathing—knowing that she was finally his, and that nothing and no one could come between them ever again.
Chapter Nineteen: Liana
They’d barely had time for breakfast with the other two dragon shifters and their mates when they were hastily summoned back to the council chamber.
When they filed in, Liana saw that the cave was illuminated by the eerie light of the symbols that decorated four huge plinths of rock.
Each plinth was the seat of one of the council members, large enough for a dragon to perch on it.