Brimstone grunted his gratitude and Amber rolled her eyes, but smiled at her dragon’s preferred method of communication.
“Come this way. My Antoinette will enjoy meeting you too, Amber.” They followed across a dusty yard. “You said there was something rather urgent you need to talk about?”
“If you call a demon invasion of the Human Realm urgent, then yes.”
Kaden froze and swung around, pinning Slade with a hard stare. “Demon invasion? How do you know this?”
“We saw them, all eight hundred or so, gathered outside the new portal between our realms.”
“And they smell,” Amber helpfully pointed out.
“Yesterday, a demon snatched Amber to lure us both into a trap.”
It was Kaden’s turn to snort. “Smart move to get between a dragon and his mate.”
“Tore them the fuck to pieces,” Brim boasted.
She slapped his arm. “Yeah, and scared the crap out of me.”
“I said, I was sorry,” Brim grumbled and Amber hid her grin at his contrite expression.
“Good thing I’m a forgiving person.”
Slade chuckled, but Kaden’s expression was stern, and with a shake of his head, he resumed walking at a faster pace. “How is this possible? The entrance to and from the Dragon Realm is guarded.”
Brim tugged her along and she needed to jog to keep up with their larger strides.
“I’m laying good odds on a traitor to our kind letting them slip through.” Slade's tone was grim.
“We need to gather everyone we can to fight, and quickly, before their numbers grow too great.”
“I’ll contact all the dragons and outer realm creatures I know living in the Human Realm.”
Kaden led across the dusty yard, and past a large homestead with a wrap-around veranda to a large, weather-beaten, old shed. Pushing the old double doors open, they entered into a surprisingly modern, air-conditioned dining and rec room.
“Beauty, we have guests,” Kaden called and a small, pretty, sandy blonde woman popped her head out from behind a door.
Her hazel eyes widened in surprise and the rest of her followed as she joined them. It was clear from her distended stomach, she was in an advanced stage of pregnancy. Kaden quickly pulled out a chair for her, the complete adoration in his eyes telling of a man much in love.
“Brimstone, Slade—welcome back.” Her gaze fell to Amber, and she smiled warmly, her smile widening when her eyes dropped further to where Brim kept a possessive grip around Amber’s waist. She raised a questioning eyebrow at Kaden.
“Brim found his mate. This is Amber. Amber, my Antoinette.”
“Just call me Terrie, everyone, but Kaden does, but congratulations to you both. Have you come to say hello and goodbye before you head home then?”
“Unfortunately, no. We have trouble, love,” Kaden explained.
Her smile fell. “What kind of trouble?”
“End of the world kind of trouble.” Slade's grin was positively cheerful.
“Many demons to kill,” added Brim.
The men exhibited a bloodlust gleam in their eyes which made Amber again wonder what the heck she got herself into. Terrie, on the other hand, wasn’t too fazed and Amber could only guess she was more used to this stuff than she was.
“Oh, I see. Guess I’ll need to make some more lemonade if you’re going off to call in the cavalry. Will you help me, Amber? I’m a bit short on helping hands this weekend, with all the lads off on a break.”
Amber relished the chance to do something other than worry. “I’d love to help.”
“Thank you, beauty. We need to move quickly.”
“Go, go. Amber and I will be fine here.”
Kaden leaned and kissed his wife while Brimstone grabbed Amber and pulled her in, lifting her off her feet and branding her with his searing kiss. “I hate leaving you, but you’ll be safe here. I’ll be back soon.”
“Don’t worry so much about me, Brim. Go out and do what you need to do to kick some demon ass.”
Brim's own brand of adoration shone in his gorgeous, ruby eyes. “How’d I get so fucking lucky?”
Amber shrugged, but grinned. “I don’t know, but we’ve got centuries to find out.”
Another quick kiss, and he let her loose from his arms, following after the other dragons who already left. She stared after him and sighed; the same kind of empty, lost feeling welled within her chest when he was no longer in sight.
A feminine chuckle made her turn her head and she felt her face flush beet red.
“Dragons really are a breed of their own. It can be a bit overwhelming at first.”
“Oh, you got that right. I got slammed so hard, I hardly know which way is up anymore.”