Shake The Earth: Her Elemental Dragons Book Three Read online

  Shake The Earth

  Her Elemental Dragons Book Three

  Elizabeth Briggs

  Contents

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  1. Kira

  2. Kira

  3. Kira

  4. Kira

  5. Slade

  6. Kira

  7. Reven

  8. Kira

  9. Auric

  10. Kira

  11. Jasin

  12. Kira

  13. Slade

  14. Kira

  15. Kira

  16. Reven

  17. Kira

  18. Kira

  19. Auric

  20. Kira

  21. Kira

  22. Jasin

  23. Kira

  24. Kira

  25. Kira

  26. Auric

  27. Kira

  28. Jasin

  29. Kira

  30. Reven

  31. Slade

  32. Kira

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  1

  Kira

  I’d traveled the four Realms on foot, on horse, and even on camel, but nothing compared to riding a dragon. I gripped Jasin’s blood red scales to steady myself as he spread his wings and glided over the Air Realm, lifting us higher and higher. Slade’s arms tightened around me while the wind whipped at my hair and exhilaration danced through my blood. I grinned and glanced over at Auric, whose golden body glinted under the sun as he flew alongside us. Revan sat on the other dragon’s back, his pose deceptively relaxed, though he was always ready to leap into action. A sense of rightness filled me at being surrounded by my four mates as we embarked on the next part of our journey.

  “We’re about to enter the Earth Realm,” Slade’s deep voice rumbled at my ear. He was probably anxious to get back to the ground. Slade didn’t like heights or anything that prevented him from keeping two feet in contact with the earth. He never complained, but I could tell he was uncomfortable from the tension in his body every time Jasin ascended.

  “We should find somewhere to stop for the night,” I said.

  Slade scanned the area around us. “If I remember correctly, there is a small lake northwest of here.”

  “I’ll find it,” Jasin’s dragon voice growled out.

  Another benefit of traveling by dragon—it was fast. Over the last two days I’d watched the desert fade away to grasslands and plains and now to forests that grew denser with each passing minute. Below us I caught sight of the border crossing between the Air and Earth Realms, where the guards glanced up at the sight of us flying overhead, but didn’t seem concerned. Most of the world didn’t know yet that new Dragons were rising to overthrow the old ones, but soon they would. The time for hiding was over.

  Within a few days we’d reach the Earth Temple, where I would bond with Slade, allowing him to turn into my Jade Dragon while unlocking my own earth magic at the same time. I’d already bonded with Jasin and Auric at the Fire and Air Temples respectively, and later I would bond with Reven at the Water Temple too. While Jasin and Auric had been eager to become my mates, Slade and Reven had been hesitant until recently. In the last few weeks they’d committed themselves to our destiny and had finally begun opening up to me, but I wasn’t sure they’d ever love me like Auric and Jasin did. Slade and Reven both had secrets from their pasts that held them back, and I was still trying to break through their barriers. If we had more time, I might be able to do it, but we didn’t have that luxury anymore.

  My mates had been chosen by the four elemental gods of Fire, Air, Earth, and Water to replace the current Dragons that ruled the world—and those Dragons were not happy about it. At the Air Temple we’d fought their Golden Dragon, Isen, and Crimson Dragon, Sark, and now they knew who we were. We had to hurry to the next two temples before the Dragons could stop us, and they wouldn’t let us succeed without a fight. They would do anything to prevent me from becoming the next Black Dragon and overthrowing the current one—my mother.

  I’d recently learned that the Black Dragons were descended from the Spirit Goddess and were meant to protect the world for a short time, before their own daughters would take their place. However, the current Black Dragon, Nysa, had found a way to remain in power and had ruled for a thousand years without having a daughter…until now. Until me.

  I still couldn’t believe she was my mother. I’d lived in fear of the Black Dragon and her four mates all my life, especially after Sark killed the people I’d thought were my parents. Their deaths had haunted me for years, and the sight of fire had sent terror through me ever since. Now I could summon fire myself, but I still worried about losing control of it and destroying innocent lives.

  How could the woman who spread fear and death throughout the world be my mother? And if she was my mother, then who was my real father?

  As we entered the Earth Realm the sun dipped lower into the clouds, casting the sky in purple and pink hues. My stomach rumbled, reminding me it had been many hours since we’d eaten. Jasin’s clawed feet hit the ground smoothly, and his blood red tail swished back and forth as I slid off his back. I stretched my aching muscles, which had grown sore from sitting on his hard scales for hours. At least my magic would heal me quick enough—a useful gift from the Spirit Goddess.

  Auric touched down seconds later, carrying both Reven and Brin, Auric’s former fiancé and my newest friend. Despite the dangers we faced, she’d insisted on joining us on our quest, and I appreciated having another woman in our group. She was also an excellent fighter and had guided us through the desert of the Air Realm without any problems. I had no doubt she’d be a valuable member of the team, even if I did worry for her safety.

  After we all dismounted and stretched, we began to unload the supplies and gear strapped to the two dragons’ backs. Once we were done, Auric and Jasin shifted back to their human forms. They both staggered a little as their wings vanished and their scales were replaced by skin and hair. They were both doing really well considering they’d only just learned how to fly, but I felt their sudden exhaustion through the bond we shared. Jasin had a little more experience being a dragon, but he’d had to practice flying for hours to get it right. Auric, on the other hand, had taken to flight immediately, as if he’d been born in the sky. But I sensed they needed rest and food or they wouldn’t be able to keep up this fast pace much longer.

  We’d landed in a small clearing on the edge of a lake, which was otherwise surrounded by thick, dense trees. The six of us went to work setting up the camp, the routine familiar after many days on the road together, although it had become a lot faster once we didn't have to hide our magic from Brin anymore. She’d learned the truth about us at the Air Temple when we’d fought the shades that had waited for us there, and she’d taken the news pretty well, all things considered.

  As Jasin moved to light a campfire for us, he stumbled over a small rock. I’d never seen him move with anything other than confident grace, a remnant of his many years as a soldier in the Onyx Army. His warm brown eyes lacked their usual hint of mischief, and his auburn hair was messier than normal. He was still ridiculously attractive, the kind of man who turned heads every time he walked into a room, but the hours of flying had clearly taken their toll.

  I touched his arm lightly. “Let me do this. You're exhausted.”

  “I'm fine. I just need something to eat.” He shot fire from his fingertips into the p
ile of wood, then gave me a weary grin. “See? Nothing I can't handle.”

  I shook my head at his display and went to check on Auric. He was using his magic to clear away debris from around the lake so we'd have a place to sleep that night, but his tall frame was slumped with fatigue. Like Jasin, his golden hair was tousled from the wind, and his gray eyes seemed more unfocused than normal. Where Jasin looked like the good kind of trouble, Auric had the face of an elegant, handsome prince—probably because he was one. His father was king of the Air Realm and Auric was fifth in line for the throne, although he’d given up that life entirely when he’d become my mate.

  “Tired?” I asked.

  “A little,” Auric said, with a thoughtful expression. “Our endurance is greatly increased as dragons, but we definitely feel the effects of flying all day once we return to our human forms.”

  “Rest,” I said, rubbing his back slowly. “You and Jasin have done all the hard work so far today. We’ll finish setting up camp and prepare some supper for us.”

  Auric leaned close and brushed a kiss across my lips. “I'd appreciate that. Thank you.”

  “Hey, where’s my kiss?” Jasin asked with a grin that was impossible to resist.

  I leaned close to give him a quick kiss, while Slade pointedly looked away and Reven rolled his eyes. A stab of guilt tore at me for favoring Auric and Jasin over the others, even if it wasn’t intentional. I was still figuring out how to handle all of my mates and keep them happy, though I wasn't sure I'd ever fully master that skill. With four men as my lovers there was bound to be some jealousy and awkwardness sometimes, no matter how hard I tried to prevent it. It didn’t help that Slade and Reven kept pushing me away either. I had to find a way to get closer to them quickly—and I only had a few more days before we reached the temples.

  2

  Kira

  While Slade set up our tents, Reven moved to the edge of the lake and yanked fish out of the water with his magic. Brin and I unpacked some of the other food we still had, and I noticed we were running low on supplies. We'd have to stop at a village and restock in the next day or two. When Reven returned with some fish, I attempted to roast them over the fire, but Jasin huffed and insisted I was going to ruin supper and took over. It was hard to argue when his cooking was much better than mine, and everyone knew it.

  We settled around the fire and began eating, all of us too hungry to do anything but shovel food in our mouths at first. I tried to savor this rare, calm moment among Brin and my mates, as I had a feeling they would become fewer and fewer as our journey continued.

  “We should reach the Earth Temple in two more days,” Auric said, when the eating slowed. The temple was inside a peak called Frostmount, high in the northern mountains, where it was so cold few dared to tread. Another reason we’d have to visit a village soon. We’d left Stormhaven, the capital of the Air Realm, with the gear to travel through the scorching hot desert, not the ice and snow.

  “What's the chance that the other Dragons arrive there first?” Brin asked, as she set her bowl down in the grass. She was one of the most beautiful women I’d ever seen, with smooth golden skin, flowing black hair, and effortless grace. It would have been easy to hate her, especially since she’d once been Auric’s fiancé, but she’d managed to win me over somehow.

  “Pretty high,” Reven said, from where he lazily leaned against a small tree. “They had a head start and can fly faster than Jasin and Auric can since they don’t have any passengers.”

  Brin tilted her head to the side. “But they don’t know which temple we’re going to, do they?”

  “No, they don’t,” Jasin said, as he wearily stretched his legs out in front of him. “My guess is that two Dragons will be waiting for us at each temple. They might have troops with them too. We’ll have to be prepared for anything.”

  Slade scratched his beard with a frown. “We barely managed to escape two Dragons at the Air Temple. How will we make it into this temple if they're prepared to stop us?”

  “Assuming the Earth Temple is still even there,” Reven added, bringing back memories of the ruined Air Temple we’d visited.

  “We need allies,” I said. It was something I’d been thinking about over the last few days while we’d been traveling, and I’d come to believe it would be the only way for us to defeat the Dragons. They were more powerful and experienced than we were, plus they had the entire military at their disposal. We’d also learned recently that they could control shades, malevolent spirits trapped between life and death that wanted nothing more than to steal life from others. For all we knew, the Dragons controlled the elementals too, though we didn’t know that for sure. The six of us didn’t stand a chance against all of that.

  “Allies?” Brin asked, her dark eyebrows shooting up.

  I nodded. “Now that the Dragons know who we are and where we’re going, there's no hiding from them anymore. They'll do everything in their power to stop us, and we can't defeat them alone. We need help.”

  “Who would help us?” Auric asked, as he ran a tired hand through his golden hair. “Even my father would be hesitant to stand openly against the Dragons, as much as he would like to aid us.”

  “The Resistance,” Jasin said. “They're the only people who have dared to oppose the Dragons.”

  Reven crossed his arms. “Except they do it from the shadows. Would they be willing to actually help us?”

  “It can't hurt to ask, but how do we find them?” I turned toward Slade. “You were once part of the Resistance, and you helped those prisoners in the Fire Realm find a Resistance base. Do you know of one here in the Earth Realm?”

  He hesitated, but shook his head. “No, the one I knew of was only temporary, and that was many years ago. I doubt they would still be in the same place.”

  “That’s too bad.” I sighed. “Can you tell us anything that might help?”

  “There’s not much to tell. I made them weapons for some time, but I gave up that life. I thought I was done with fighting and revolution and impossible wars.” He scowled. “It seems the Gods had other plans for me.”

  I rested my hand on his knee. “If we can find them, do you think they'll help us?”

  Slade’s eyes were so dark they were almost black, as if he was lost in memories he didn’t want to revisit. “I doubt it. They don't trust easily and they don't like to take unnecessary risks or expose their people in any way.”

  “Maybe once we show them who we are, they’ll change their minds,” Jasin said.

  “They will,” I said.

  They had to—they were our only hope.

  Once we finished supper, Auric and Jasin retired to their tents while Reven took first watch. I went to the lake to clean our utensils and bowls and then left them out to dry on a piece of wood. By the time I got back the camp was quiet, filled with only the sounds of crickets and the wind in the trees, and everyone else had gone to bed too. Jasin and Auric weren’t the only ones who were exhausted after our days of traveling.

  I peeked inside their tent and found them both fast asleep only a few inches apart. The summer night was warm, and they both slept without their shirts, showing off their tanned, muscular chests. Desire rippled through me as I gazed at them, and I removed my traveling clothes and slipped into the gap between their bodies. Jasin’s hand slid around me to cup my behind, while Auric’s arm draped across my waist. I let out a soft, contented sigh as their warm skin pressed against mine, while my magic helped ease their fatigue to give them energy to fly again tomorrow.

  When I awoke, it was still dark and the camp was quiet. I carefully extracted myself from my two mates, threw on a dress, and climbed out of the tent. I disappeared into the brush to relieve myself, and when I returned I saw Slade leaning against a tree, keeping watch over our camp. I’d originally planned to return to bed with Auric and Jasin, but after seeing Slade there I couldn’t resist going to him. With the Earth Temple getting closer every day, I needed to spend as much time with him as I could.r />
  I moved close and breathed in the fresh, clean scent of pine trees and moist soil. “It’s good to be back in the Earth Realm, isn’t it?”

  “It is,” Slade said, as he straightened up. He was the largest of my mates and his broad shoulders were as wide as the thick tree behind him. With his dark skin, trim beard, and strong frame he had a rugged attractiveness that always made me feel safe and protected. I longed to be wrapped up in those muscular arms again and to press my lips to his soft, full mouth. “It’s only been a few months, but it seems like forever since I left my village.”

  “I know what you mean.” The girl who had worked as a huntress in Stoneham seemed like a distant memory, even though I’d been her not long ago. I’d changed so much since leaving that small town, as had the rest of my mates. “I wish we had time to return to Stoneham and visit Tash. I wonder if she’s gotten my letter by now?”

  “Probably,” Slade said.

  Tash had been my best friend for the last three years while I lived in the Earth Realm, but I’d left her behind when I’d embarked on this journey with my mates. I’d promised to visit if I could, but with the Dragons on our tail it wasn’t prudent or safe. I’d sent her a letter from Auric’s palace and he’d promised to use his faster courier, but there was no way to tell if she’d received it by now.

  I leaned against the tree beside Slade and gazed at his serious face. “I would like to visit your village and meet your family too. Maybe once this is all over…”