Moans of ecstasy escaped her as her body twisted and turned against him. Their souls collided over and over, filling her from top to bottom. She could hear his grunts, the sound of his Shifter soul twisting through her. There was a calm amongst the ecstasy, a focus that allowed her to feel every pleasure, every connection on a level much deeper than her physical body was capable of.
She leaned her head back and placed her arms behind her, supporting herself on his knees. He rubbed his fingers against her clit as she rolled and twisted against him. Her body pulsed to the movement of his as they turned again, her legs pulled up around him. He stared down at her with a deep lust in his eyes, holding her tightly as he pushed his hips forward and back, grinding his abdomen against her clit.
Her mouth flew open as her body tensed, the pleasure mounting. As the gates opened, he leaned down and pressed his mouth to hers. He groaned into her as his control wavered. Her pussy pulsed against his shaft, waves of ecstasy overtaking her. She could feel him push deep inside of her and hold there as he too released. Their souls entwined, moving into one as their pleasure collided, mixing and racing through them both. The sounds of their screams and groans reverberated through the veil, echoing against the universe around them.
As they both reached the simmering end of their orgasms, Brighid’s eyes opened to find his staring deeply into hers. Their souls stayed intertwined as they lowered slowly back to the world of the living. They didn’t speak or move, cascading down through the clouds, through the mansion roof, and back into their bodies. There was a brief moment of darkness before the glimmering of the fireplace and the dancing shadows came back into view.
Brighid glanced around her, Zevi holding her tightly to him. “Wow.”
He chuckled, leaning in and kissing her lips. "And no need to even get redressed."
She smirked, glancing at her pajamas. Her body was tight and felt as if it were radiating energy and strength. The heat of the moment mixed with her Shifter fire, and she leaned into him, once again remembering her reality. This time, though, her reality didn't seem so daunting, and she was beginning to believe that with her mates by her side, nothing was impossible.
Chapter Fourteen
Brighid woke the next morning with a sense of urgency. The words that the Dragon Alpha had spoken settled in her soul, and she knew that she had to act quickly. Her mates were already awake when she came out, sitting around, waiting for her. She gave them the rundown of everything that Zarrit had told her, and they were just as surprised that there was a Giant living beneath them all those years.
"I guess in a way, it makes a little bit of sense," Zevi said. "The cracks, the earthquakes, it points directly to a Giant. But the keeper, the Fire Catcher, that's definitely a surprise."
Ash nodded. "It definitely is, and it's something we need to move on and fast."
Finn glanced around the room, sorrow in his eyes. "And help our friends move on to where they're supposed to be."
Brighid stood up, clapping her hands together. "I agree. I think we should head out immediately."
Without another word, everyone moved quickly, gathering their things as they periodically filled their stomachs with the food that have been delivered to their suite. As they headed down the hall toward the exit of the mansion, they found Zarrit standing and waiting for them. "I had a feeling you'd be leaving. I took the liberty of having some of my staff create something for you, something that will get you to the island faster."
Brighid and the guys looked around at each other and followed Zarrit out onto the large front lawn of the mansion. There, a group of Dragon Shifters in their human forms stood around what looked like an enormous saddle with pockets and straps. Brighid was fascinated, knowing precisely what it was. She ran her hand along the smooth leather and wondered how they had worked so quickly to create it.
"This would've taken anyone else months, how did you get it done so fast?"
Zarrit patted the harness. "We've actually been working on it for months. It was to be a gift for you when you became High Alpha, but it just so happens that it'd work perfectly in this situation. Once you're shifted into your Dragon, we'll show you how to maneuver yourself in and out of it, so if you're alone, you won't be stuck."
Brighid handed over her things to the guys and stripped down, knowing she had no time to lose. She stepped away from everyone and pulled her Dragon from its slumber inside of her. The change happened fast, almost instantaneous, and there wasn't even a single whisper of pain. She could feel the energy charging through her, and she stood taller and stronger than she had before. Running down her back was a shimmering trail of white scales, a look that hadn't been there before.
"She's getting stronger," Zarrit said, glancing over at the guys. "She's going to need as much strength as she possibly can muster."
Brighid stepped forward and knelt down on the ground as the staff explained the harness to her. She'd be able to slip right into it as her Dragon, and when she shifted into her human, it would stay upward as to not crush her. When she was fully strapped in, she did a loop around the mansion, making sure that her flying abilities weren't hindered in any way. As she landed, she noticed Zarrit speaking to Finn, who was nodding in understanding.
Zarrit nodded to his staff, who brought a ladder over to Brighid. She watched as her three mates climbed up onto the saddles and strapped themselves in. Even Ash, who could fly himself, was going to ride atop her back as she was much faster than he was at full speed. Zarrit walked over in front of her face and put his hands on her snout. "You can shield yourself from wandering eyes below. Focus on it, pull that new energy that you have, and you'll be able to cloak everyone."
Steam billowed out of her snout as she stood up, her belly brighter than ever. The others backed away as she spread her wings wide and gave Zarrit one last thankful nod before taking off into the air. She looked around the Field of Dragons, mustering her cloaking. Before it had taken over, she could see everyone stopping and looking up, but as the shield kicked in and protected them, no one even noticed she was flying overhead. She knew it was working, and she could feel it surging through her.
Opening up her mind, she spoke to her mates even though they were in their human form. "Hold on tight. I can go pretty fast, and I don't want you tumbling off."
Ash chuckled. “Yeah, especially these two non-flyers.”
On the inside, Brighid smiled, focusing her magic and power to the core of her Dragon as she rocketed off through the veil and out over the fields and forests below. She needed to make haste, and the guys knew that they wouldn't be stopping if at all possible. With her speed, she found that she was making twice as much time as she normally would have, even with the extra weight on her back. She found it invigorating, and the scenery whipped by so fast around her that she could barely focus on any one thing in particular.
They flew all day until dusk, finally making their way back to the island. "Going to do a quick survey, just to make sure that nothing has changed."
She tilted, swerving around the island, looking down in all directions. Ash yelled out from behind her. “Over there! To the right.”
Brighid's Dragon narrowed its eyes, staring down at a swath of trees that had been smashed. It looked like something had mowed right through them. "I've got to go find this giant. They're notorious for walking at night, and they have very little self-awareness, so I can only imagine it came from him."
She circled around and landed on the beach, the men jumping down off her back. She thought about what Zarrit had said and shifted to her human, able to stand up tall beneath the saddle. Zevi put out his hand and helped her from beneath it, handing her clothes from his bag. "Do you want to go to the house first?"
Brighid shook her head. "We need to find an entrance to where the Giant is living. I think it's best if we split up. We're capable of communicating even in our human forms, so we'll do that, and when any of us find the entrance, we'll meet you there."
The guys didn’t look conv
inced. It was obvious they didn’t like the idea of her going out on her own. She smiled and put her hand on Ash’s shoulder. “Remember, I went out by myself for years, even before you were my unseen protectors. You’ll be able to hear me.”
They finally relented, and they all headed off in different directions. Brighid knew precisely where she was going. If there was a crack at the base of the volcano, then there would be an entrance or exit somewhere near there as well. She took off at a run, feeling her energy higher than ever. She maneuvered through the woods and up and over embankments until she reached the smooth rocky solid base of the volcano. The heat pumped from it as she made her way around to the enormous crack in the ground.
She peered over the edge but didn't see any lava flowing beneath it. Brighid inspected the entire area, looking for another way down. She didn't like the idea of propelling downward into an unknown space, but either way, she was going to have to muster up her courage.
"Guys meet me at the base of the main volcano, there's an opening here, and I think I'll go ahead and go down," she said pulling at the rope around her waist.
Finn called out in her mind. “Wait until we get there.”
Brighid began grinding a stake into the ground. "I need to get down there. Nothing is going to happen in the five minutes that it takes you to get here. I want you to stay up there until I know it's safe. There's no use in all of us getting ourselves killed."
“And let one of us go,” Zevi replied.
Brighid shook her head, knotting the rope around the stake and walking toward the opening. "I might be the only one that can talk to this Giant. They're stubborn creatures, and we need to be careful. If they don't accept us first, we'll never gain their trust. I'll be fine."
She locked the rope around her, tightening the clasp on her belt to secure it. She took a deep breath and yanked on the line making sure that it was tightly in place. Very carefully, she backed up toward the opening and looked over her shoulder down below. She raised an eyebrow and shook her head. "Here goes nothing."
She began to descend, going deeper and deeper into the darkness. The cave walls were wet and dripping with condensation. Brighid's hands were raw from clinging to the jagged stone as she made her way down the steep hidden embankment into the caves. She had lived for years on the islands, nurturing them, bringing them to life, keeping them safe, and in all of that time, she had never known that the caves were there. They weren't cold like the caverns on the mainland, they were warm and sulfurous, sitting close to the thick bubbling rivers of lava that ran beneath the island. The smell was almost intolerable, and Brighid continuously wiped her eyes, feeling the sting of the sulfur on her skin.
She reached a small ledge and steadied her feet on it for a moment as she adjusted the straps around her waist. She tugged on the rope that led up and out of the embankment, tied to the stake she had placed on the ground. Glancing over her shoulder, she could finally start to see the bottom, a flat rocky area shimmering just like the walls with condensation.
"How do I get myself into these things?" She whispered to herself. "Oh yeah, I was born into the next High Alpha line. I guess it's better than some of the alternatives."
She tugged one more time on the rope, finding it secure and continued down. The further she went, the hotter it got, but she knew whatever was attempting to speak to her, trying to warn her, was deep within those caves. Her foot slipped, sending small pebbles ricocheting off the ground below. Maneuvering to the right around a tall jagged shard of stone, she reached for a crevice with her fingers. As she grasped on, the pull of the rope around her waist released. Her eyes went wide, and she looked down at the clasp, but it was still intact. Following the line upward, she watched as the end of it came trickling over the edge of the embankment and spiraled down into her lap.
Her foot began to slip, and she gasped, trying to keep her hold on the wall. A shadow fell over the tunnel of light coming from above. Squinting, she looked up, finding the figure watching her from above. They were cloaked in shadows, and she couldn't see their face, but whoever it was, they were holding the peg she had put in the ground. Her shoulders shook, trying to hold up her body, and as she moved her other foot, the stone gave way in her hands. She fell back, rocketing down the corridor toward the bottom.
Brighid closed her eyes tightly and waited for the impact, expecting there to be some sort of broken bones. She couldn't shift into her Dragon, the space was too small. She would cause the entire cave to collapse. But when the wind stopped flying past her, and no pain or impact was felt, she slowly opened one eye, glancing around. There she was, at the base of the embankment, a tunnel of stone spiraling upward to the sky. She was floating just a foot above the ground, the rope piled beneath her. She looked at her hands and her body, but she didn't see any sort of magic, not any kind that she was controlling.
Carefully her body floated to the ground, and she sat up looking back toward the sky for the figure that had been watching her. They were gone, and everything was silent. Her brow furrowed, she knew better than to think she was alone. Somehow, someone had stopped her from hitting the ground, but who that was, she had no idea. She brought herself to her feet and dusted her legs off, curling the rope around her hand and clipping it to her belt. She had no idea how she was going to get back out of the cave, but it didn't matter at that point. The answer she looked for lay ahead of her, until she had it, Brighid knew she couldn't return to the surface.
With a deep breath, she stepped forward, moving into the darkness. Her eyes shimmered, glowing, helping her to see. Her Dragon had become more a part of her, and she was able to summon some of its abilities in her human form. She thought that the flashlight eyeballs was an exceptional talent, laughing about it most of the time. Still, down in the caves, it was so dark that even her regular flashlight wouldn't have done much good.
Brighid made her way to the end of a long corridor, feeling the heat intensify. As she reached the archway made by nature and fortified with stone, she paused, peeking around the corner. To her surprise, it was no longer a small room, but instead an expanse opened high up into the air and spread out as far as she could see. There was a red glow that emanated from the space created by pools of lava that bubbled and gurgled sporadically through the makeshift pathway of smooth stone and hardened lava.
It was beautiful, but Brighid hadn't expected it at all. She walked carefully inside, paying attention to the ripple of energy pulsating in her chest. Looking down at the stone, she could see indentations of what looked like footprints. She was confused though, the prints were not only were enormous, but they had to of been made by something immune to the heat of drying lava. She walked forward, stepping over each of the footprints until they disappeared.
She stood in the center of the cave, turning in all directions, wondering just how far it went. There didn't seem to be any exits off of the main area, and the lava curved as if it had been placed there by someone or something. Suddenly the ground began to shake, and a deep booming voice reverberated all around her. She put her arms out and shifted her stance, trying to keep herself on her feet so she didn't tumble into one of the lava pits. Dragon or not, her human body would never sustain heats of that magnitude.
Overhead the voice growled loudly. "How dare you come here! I have warned you! Your presence in this place will only provoke war. The rivers beneath this island will no longer run red with lava, but instead will house the bodies of thousands that will die by your actions."
Brighid lifted an eyebrow, her eyes shifting back and forth. “Well, that doesn’t sound good…”
Chapter Fifteen
Brighid braced herself, stones and debris clinking on the ground around her, hissing as they fell into the rivers of lava. She could see the heat wavering through the air in front of her as her eyes shifted back and forth. In the shadows in front of her, she saw the blink of two large eyes high up in the air. Slowly, an enormous leg stepped forward, and the Giant came into the light. He was massive, towe
ring 50 feet high, his body making the vast cave look small.
"Who are you?" The Giant growled, his breath blowing her hair back.
Brighid put up her hands and very slowly lowered to one knee. "I didn't come here to do you any harm. My name is Brighid, and my father once lived on this island. We're Dragon Shifters, and the Dragon Alpha sent me to speak with you."
The Giant carefully bent toward her, looking her up and down. She suddenly became very aware of how small she was and how easily he could crush her. She considered turning into her Dragon, but she felt it might threaten him. His eyes narrowed as he looked at her. "Your father? The Dragon warrior."
Brighid's eyes carefully shifted up toward him, and she nodded her head. "Yes. He has long been gone, but I've lived here for many years. I had no idea about you or the Fire Catcher until just yesterday. I've come to ask for your help."
The Giant blew a deep breath from his nostrils and rubbed his chin with his enormous hand. "Your father was a kind man. He was always nice to me. He allowed me to walk the islands at night. He trusted me with the honor of keeping the Fire Catcher captive."
Brighid stood cautiously, raising her head toward the Giant. "And you have done an honorable job."
The Giant growled, standing up and waving his arm to the side. He hit a stalactite hanging from the ceiling and knocked it to the ground. Brighid jumped back slightly, several large pieces of the stone crashing in front of her. The Giant shook his head. "I have failed. I have disgraced your father. Everyone will now die."
Brighid bit the inside of her cheek, seeing that there was a kindness in him, but the Dragon Alpha had been right; he was all emotion and very little intellect. She stepped toward him, and he paused suddenly aware of her presence around him. "No, you haven't failed my father. Things happen, and we all understand that. You have watched the Fire Catcher for many years. You have kept my sisters and me safe. But now, he has escaped. You have the chance to get him back. We need to get him back, or the Shifter world will be doomed, and everything and everyone around it."
Her Fire Mates: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance (Shifters Of The Elements) Page 9
