Then it all stopped. The silence was so sudden, so deafening, that it took a moment for my mind to register what happened. I drew my head out of Xander’s embrace, looking around cautiously.
“It worked,” I breathed.
A hole the size of a large male had punched through the wall, and the roots of the tree I’d summoned supported the new passageway. Traces of red and green magic were intertwined through the new tunnel, a marker of the power we’d used. A heavy mist shrouded the other side, rendering whatever lay over there invisible.
A trio of roars came from behind us, and Xander cursed as heavy footsteps thundered from down the tunnel.
The beast had broken through.
Daegal threw his pack down the passageway. “Everyone, hurry.”
We hadn’t come all this way just to get eaten. In record time, we were on the other side, standing in the dark mist.
Placing my hands on the wall, I reached out to the earth.
Thank you for your gift,I said.
The mountain rumbled, and the roots disappeared back into the ground. The wall shook, and rocks fell, covering the space where we’d just been. A deafening roar of frustration came from the other side as the beast arrived.
There was little time to worry about that, however, because the murky mist cleared. My heart pounded as I realized that the beast at our backs was the least of our worries.
Mine
XANDER
The mist lifted, revealing the next part of Shadowfell Mountain, and my stomach twisted. Aileana had been so amazing, working with Ryllae to break out of the labyrinth. I thought we would end up in another section of the mountain when she brought up her plan. I had never expected to see this.
A cacophony of senses assaulted me all at once, overwhelming me as each begged for my attention. A heat so intense that it was hard to breathe emanated from the fiery lake of molten lava a few hundred feet away. The fire sizzled, frothed, and churned as currents of bright red and orange flames ran between dark crimson, almost black stones.
My skin prickled, as though I was standing too close to the sun. Sweat acted as a glue, sticking my clothes to me, and the thick air made breathing nearly impossible. The acrid scent of burning sulfur was strong, and the fire itself gurgled and spit like a wild animal as it moved swiftly, guided by unseen currents.
Black crystals spiraled from the ceiling, their ends sharpened into deadly points. There were just enough of them to know that my dragon could not fly across the lake of flames. Thin, twisting pathways stretched across the expansive body of lava, barely wide enough for one person to walk over them, let alone two.
And on the other side of the lake…
Mine.
A snarl ripped out of me, echoing through the cavern. Nothing else mattered except for the platform on the other side of this hollow mountain.
Mine. Mine. Mine.
The dragon’s chant was so loud, it tuned everything else out.
Piled so high that it grazed the cavernous, blackened roof was a dragon’s hoard of treasure. Piles of golden coins and precious gems of every color winked at me, beckoning me toward them like a beacon in the darkest night.
An animalistic, ferocious sound rippled out of my chest. My fists clenched and my neck cracked. My blood boiled and my nostrils flared as my feet moved of their own volition.
A clatter came as I dropped my sword on the ground, lurching at the lake.
“Xander!” Aileana yelled. “Stop!”
I couldn’t do that. Not right now.
Mine.
“Dammit,” Maiela cursed from somewhere behind me. “I knew traveling with a dragon was a bad idea.”
My mate snarled, “Not. Helpful.”