He arches an eyebrow at my words, and I blush, because it’s clear from my thoughts that I’m not in a hurry to go back, no matter what I say aloud. I like our private time. Melina’s back in the city for the most part—though we run errands for her when she sends a message now and then—but Amy still lives in our apartment with us. She’s still wearing my dirty clothes and using my shampoo, and when we’re gone, she takes to her ‘panic’ room that we’ve set up a few floors down in the building’s old security room. In case of emergency, Amy can lock herself into a room with a steel door and reinforced walls. She has a flare gun she can pop off in case of danger, and several air horns to alert us if we’re nearby and somehow miss a big honking dragon horning in on Kael’s territory.
For the most part, things are quiet, though. Male dragons have been largely absent from our area because they sense a male with his mate and don’t wish to disturb our nest, Kael tells me. We see an occasional red or two, but Kael’s able to drive them away.
Ironically enough, since we’ve ‘settled’ in this territory, we’re protecting Fort Dallas. The dragon attacks have stopped since this is now Kael’s territory instead of a place to fight over. Dakh is somewhere on the outskirts of the city, I think, but we don’t go looking for him. I don’t like leaving Amy alone, even with the panic room set-up, because I remember all-too-well that Kael tore apart a building to get to me.
If I have to choose between Sasha and Amy, I choose Amy. I know that Sasha must be safe out there somewhere, and I feel guilty that she didn’t get to pick her fate. But it has to be better than what was waiting for her back in Fort Dallas. I tell myself that. Often.
Sometimes it helps the guilt, sometimes not.
At some point, when Amy’s safe, I do think I’d like to go searching for Sasha and Dakh. I want to know what happened to my friend—one way or another. And I want to travel to see what the rest of the country is like. Are there bigger, better cities than Fort Dallas? What about the dragon girl in Fort Orleans? There are so many places I want to visit since we can fly anywhere…but Amy’s safety comes first. I don’t know that she’d be safe on Kael’s back, or if other dragons would be attracted to her scent and attack us to get to her.
Heck, one of our first rules for Amy was to not masturbate. Ever. It was as embarrassing for her to hear as it was for me to tell her, but we can’t be too careful. Just like a shark can pick a droplet of blood out of the water from miles away, I suspect a mate-less dragon could follow the scent of a lone unmated female’s arousal from a long, long distance.
So we stay in our territory, and that means Amy’s always at home. I like having my sister there, but at the same time, I like alone time with my dragon, too. So we tend to fly off regularly and make out like bunnies in public places. On the back of a car, in an old bank lobby, on a roof. On the shore here. Wherever and whenever we can get a few moments alone.
We have sex a lot…and it’s had a few other unintended consequences. I study Kael’s handsome face, wondering if now is the right time to bring up what I want to talk about. I trace a teasing finger over his pectoral. “So. What were you like as a child?”
Kael thinks for a moment and then shrugs. I do not remember.
I bite back my frustration. One of the side-effects of Kael’s transport here was the madness. Unfortunately, the madness has sucked away a lot of his memories of his land, and all he recalls are occasional fragments. Memories are missing, leaving big gaps in his knowledge, and that means we don’t have a lot of information to go off of. “You don’t remember anything at all? What about when drakoni females get pregnant? How does that work?”
He gives me an amused look and rolls our twined bodies over on the sand until I’m under him. Shall I show you how a male drakoni claims his female? He shifts his hips, and his cock—still deep inside me from our mating minutes ago—strokes inside me.
I bat at his shoulder. I don’t want sex right now—okay, I’m a terrible liar, because I do. But I want to talk about this. “I need to know more about your kind, Kael. Do you know if females have babies in battle-form or what?”
He shrugs and gives his hips a delicious, grinding roll. I do not remember.
“Well, think,” I reply tartly.
He pauses, sensing my mood, and I feel him sorting through his muddle of memories. Edges of madness touch my mind, but a moment later, he pushes them away, his eyes swirling back to amber. I have a memory of my father.
It’s a start. “Oh?”
He rubs his cheek, and the white scar that is there. I remember disobeying him, and he gave me this. It was back in…the other place. His eyes go vague and unfocused for a moment. That is all I recall, other than I deserved it.
Great. “That’s not super helpful, baby. Do…do you think father dragons have high emotion?” I bite my lip, worried. Kael is calm around me, but what if that changes?
He snorts and leans in to nip at my neck. No more than any other time. I was not a drakoni youth that listened very well. He lifts his head and narrows his beautiful amber eyes at me. Why is this so important?
A stab of terror shoots through me. Now or never. I lick my dry lips and put my hands on his cheeks, cupping his face. “Because I’m pregnant.”
Kael hesitates. He blinks his gold eyes, and I watch as they flare to black, then swirl back to gold.
And he smiles. I can feel pride and joy bursting through his mind, and his hand slides to my stomach and he caresses it. My child?
Yours, I tell him, my throat too thick with tears to speak.
He grins, and it’s clear he’s happy. I am, too. I’m terrified, sure, but I’m happy. Things are going to be okay, I realize. This isn’t an end to our happiness but a beginning.
I mean, I need to know if I’m going to have an egg, or a dragon hatchling, or if it’ll come out human, but…we’re in this together.
We’ve got this.
And I smile back up at my beautiful, fiery dragon and feel a surge of happiness. “Pleased?”
The look he gives me is incredulous. The fire in my blood carries my child and you have to ask?
I grin and pull him down against me. “Come on, baby. You know by now that I always have to ask.”
His chest rumbles with laughter as he tangles his hands in my hair and pulls me closer. I do know this. Ah, my Claudia. My mate. My everything.
And as he nuzzles my throat once more, I’m full of love and hope for the future. I have no idea what it’s going to bring…but as long as I have Kael?
It’s going to be amazing.
Author’s Note
Dear Everyone!
I hope you liked this!!!!! I’m using a billion exclamation points because I’m so excited this book is finally coming out. I wrote this many years ago but wasn’t satisfied with how it had turned out, so I’ve completely rewritten it, changed tenses, added scenes, and all of that good stuff that makes you want to beat your head against a door when you are in the middle of the book. Of course, once you’re done with the book, you’re pretty happy with how the darn thing turned out! <3