I had to finish this scene, so you get a second chapter tonight.
I’m a claimed dragon, claimed by my mate who understands me and loves me. While he heals my neck, I can’t help but curl my head around to touch him. He wanted me, he was planning to claim me to be his. The thought brings peace to my soul. I help Everett pull on my water to heal me. Unlike Cedric, who I had to help be gentle when he pulled on Tana's fire, Everett has a natural ability to heal and be gentle, so once he understands how to pull on my water, he begins to heal me quickly. Maybe it’s natural for him to be mated to a water dragon, his body is mostly made of water, so it’s already a part of him. Or maybe it's his natural ability to heal, but he takes to my element very quickly. “Kaylani, are you alright?” Kenna asks me. I lift my giant head and turn to see that Yhendorn and Merethyl have the elven troupe encased on some magical spell. “Everett is healing me. They tried to claim me by having the entire troupe fight against me,” I growl. It goes against the ancient tradition
I can’t believe I’m a dragon rider. I can’t believe Kaylani submitted to me. Even more than that, I can’t believe she’d been waiting for me to demand it of her in bed. I had no idea she wanted me to claim her so much. My mate, my dragon is truly one of a kind. I need to talk to Kaylani. I can feel the difference in me and I want to understand it. I know from being around the others that the rider takes on some of the power and the element of their dragon. The water has felt easy for me to connect with, probably because I already have it in my body. The other elements would have been much more difficult for me. But Kaylani’s water just feels right. The strength that I feel is another thing I’ll have to be careful with. When I was putting Elio’s IV in, I snapped the first two accidentally before carefully holding the third and finally getting it into his arm. The fatigue that has become so common unless Kaylani feeds me her strength, is gone. I feel energized, almost buzzing with energ
It was early in the morning when Everett began tattooing me with his chosen mark. He had me sit on his lap with a light shining on my back as I held up my hair for him. Each time he cut deep enough to make me bleed, he’d lean forward and kiss my shoulder, or tell me how much he loved me. He drew the image on me first, so it didn’t take him long to use his scalpel and slice open my skin before he applied the dye. “Are you able to close your skin without healing your body underneath?” He asked me. “Like this?” I asked, working to do what he asked. It was harder than I thought, only healing my skin but letting the dye continue to seep into my flesh. “Yes. Does that hurt?” he asks, rubbing his thumb over the area I just sealed. “It’s tender, but it doesn’t hurt. It’s probably the same way my mark feels on your chest,” I tell him. When it’s done, he kisses my mark. “Do you feel alright?” he asks. I turn and look at him over my shoulder. “I feel fantastic.” “Good, come shower with me
“Tell me again why you feel the need to find this female?” I ask Pyralis. I’ve always liked having a harem of men around me, enjoyed being the only female in a group of men, especially during sex, so I’m not thrilled that Pyralis is insisting on finding this female. “You saw how they took down that dragon. The man told her to submit when she was subdued. That’s what we need to do, we need as many people as we can get, and then we need to go after the white dragon. If I claim it, then it will become part of our group,” he says. “What does that have to do with this girl?” I ask. “She’s strong. Haven’t you smelled her scent? She’s definitely got some dragon in her,” he says excitedly. I growl, swiping my large lion’s paw at him, scratching his chest. He snarls, slamming me against a tree. “Knock it off, Truda.” “Make me, Pyralis,” I growl. He spins me around, his teeth puncturing my neck on either side of my spine until they hit bone as he rips my pants down and thrusts inside me.
We checked on the returning dragons and most importantly, Morgan. She had shifted but Amne was able to help her. The two of them animatedly told me about her shift and how she and Amne would shift back and forth. I notice Ancalagon being unusually quiet, but I wait until everyone else is settled and Naida steps away with Tesha. I’m pretty sure Tesha just wants someone else to be there when she says hello to Fenian. “Ancalagon, you’re very quiet. Is everything okay?” “Fine. Just being around thirteen, loud and boisterous dragons was a lot,” he says, acting moody again. I haven’t seen him like this for awhile. “I’ll check with Everett. You should be getting close to your shift now, Cal.” “No, I know it’s not time.” “How do you know?” I ask him, curious at his response. He gives me a dragon version of a very arrogant raised eyebrow. “I’m the Alpha of dragons, Kaylani. Just because you didn’t feel it, doesn’t mean I don’t.” “Well, I’m so glad your vacation put you in such a good mo
I wrap my arms around my overwhelmed mate, holding her while she cries, but inside, I’m on the verge of joining her. I have wanted children of my own, had hoped for children when I was younger. But when I didn’t find the right woman, someone who could accept my need to dominate them in the bedroom, I gave up the notion. Then, when I met Kaylani and realized that she was everything I ever wanted in life, I didn’t care as much about having kids. We both adopted children that needed parents and I was able to become a father, without having any of my own biological children. So, while I may not have over a century of wishing I was going to have my own child like Kaylani has, I’ve had a couple of decades. And now, my dream is going to come true with the love of my life, the incredible, amazing dragon who is all mine forever. I pull back, kissing my beautiful mate, and wiping her tears with my thumbs. “I’m sorry, I’m just so happy,” she says tearfully. “You have made me incredibly happy
I had to make some modifications to my class schedule since I can’t shift. Zephyr told me she was feeling left out since the rest of us are pregnant and I’m sure in a couple of weeks she’ll be announcing her own pregnancy. In addition, Everett began treating Brooke with Avani’s DNA. Her body is beginning to respond and he’s hoping that he can wake her in another week or so. He called Yhendorn about books on human-dragon mate bonds and child births. He and Kenna arrived one evening, a couple of days later, just before dinner and the four of us sat down to go through what he brought. “These are ancient manuscripts, you understand that? These are one of a kind books that I and my family have collected over centuries,” Yhendorn says, before laying a canvas bag on the table. “I understand. I’m only interested in them because I need to know how to keep Kaylani and my children safe during and after her pregnancy,” Everett assured him. “What are you concerned about, Yhendorn?” I ask him.
It’s been an extremely busy time for me in the laboratory. I’ve been working to fix Brooke’s DNA which I think is about done. I’ve been working on the anti-venom for the paralytic, which I am ready to begin testing and then I’ve been pouring over the manuscripts that Yhendorn gave me. I realized right away why he wouldn’t want anyone else getting ahold of these. It has everything from dragon anatomy, to ways to claim a dragon, to ways to kill a dragon. My stomach turned more than once with the reminder of the cruelty of humans. However, it’s not just humans that are cruel. The elves and other shifters have also been cruel to the dragons. The desire for power makes people do terrible things. Every night, when I wrap myself around my dragon, I’m impressed all over again by her ability to love unconditionally, so wholeheartedly. After everything that has been done to her kind, she still willingly gives herself me. I know she can feel the turmoil in my head, feel the fear that has start
Six months later School is in full session. We nearly tripled the number of students in this semester’s classes. A large portion of those are werewolves, which has brought an entirely new set of problems and solutions to our growing school. Cedric wanted more protection around the school, so he added werewolf patrols. Sometimes, those wolves take their jobs too seriously and not only keep others out, but try to keep the students in. And while I don’t want students wandering around on their own outside the school boundaries because it’s unsafe, I also know that a lot of our hybrids were held captive and knowing the are free to leave at any time goes a long way to making them feel safe here. Thankfully, Cedric and Tana manage the wolves and Cedric holds them accountable when they become overzealous about not letting the students out of the territory. The other group that has added to our numbers this year is the elves. We had several already, but now most of the troupes have sent at l
I’ve been working as many hours as I can without taking too much time away from my mate and our newborn twins. I’m exhausted, but I can’t stop. I can’t figure out what Oliver did to cause the problems in Ancalagon’s DNA. What I do know is that his attitude has become abhorrent. He’s gone from the sweet, kind dragon that he used to be, to an arrogant, asshole prick who loses his temper over simple things. Yesterday, he blew his fire over the hybrids and it was only because of Ajax and Elio that he didn’t burn some of them alive. The three of them, Cal, Jax, and Elio, had started to get closer as friends, but now, I’m not sure if that will last. Ancalagon is being an equal opportunity jerk, lashing out at the elves, the werewolves, the hybrids, the lab dragons, the elemental dragons, and even his friends. The hardest part is that those who have dragon genetics in them feel the draw to answer to him because he’s their Alpha, no matter what kind of prick he's being. I’m not sure how I d
I stayed at home one more week after Everett returned to work, taking care of the twins. Once we got them on the same feeding schedule, it got easier. And then, by the end of the second week, we began supplementing my milk with formula, giving Everett a chance to help me feed our babies, but also giving me the opportunity to go back to work. Bajaro and Kayid had reached out to the shifters in the forest and there were several who had lost families or were alone who liked the idea of living among a bunch of young supernatural beings in a place that felt safer to them. We quickly renovated mine and Everett’s old rooms into a nursery where all of us could drop off our babies while we are teaching class, or for me, when I’m working. It’s a good thing that so many shifters wanted to come work for us, because we have a large number of babies with the possibility of more coming next semester. Before the end of the semester, all of the elemental dragons agreed to add in a class for claiming
Having a baby is exhausting, everyone says so. Having two….yeah, this is exhaustion like I’ve never felt before and I did my residency in the emergency department of a hospital. As a resident, I always got put on the night shift. There’s no such thing as sleep when you’re a resident. Of course, I’m older now, but, wow! I’m not sure if I’d prefer my babies be in sync and both want to be up at once, or if it’s better that one is just finishing when the other starts to cry. Then when that one is done, the first one is ready to eat again. Even as babies, my dragon babies have a voracious appetite. I’m rocking Ebba after she’s finished eating. Again. I’ve learned how to slide down in the rocker so I can hold her while she sleeps and still catch a little sleep myself. As I rock, I feel my mate put her hand on my arm. “Don’t, Kaylani. You’re feeding two dragons and sleeping less than I am. Don’t you dare push your strength into me,” I say, tired enough that I don’t bother opening my eyes.
The very next day, we implemented a requirement that any dragon claim, whether hybrid dragon, laboratory dragon, or pure dragon had to be requested. Any claim not going through the proper request would be stopped, by force if necessary. Ancalagon had snorted at the pure dragon wording in the decree. “Who would be stupid enough to claim me?” he asked. “Anyone who is power hungry enough to want the strength that only you can give them, Ancalagon. You’re the Alpha of us all. Controlling you means that someone could conceivably control all of us. That is a scary thought, considering the Chief and Oliver haven’t been dead that long,” I tell him. “What about Sunshine? Does this clause include her?” The way he asks, it’s as if he expects that it doesn’t include her. “It includes all dragons, Ancalagon,” Zephyr says to him. “So, if say, a certain white dragon tried to claim her, and I came across them, I could stop the claiming?” he asks, as if the rest of us don’t understand what he’s a
Tana’s delivery was a bit more intense than Zephyr’s. Being a fire dragon, her emotions literally run hotter. Add to that, Cedric missed the birth of his first two children, and he becomes very possessive when Tana is delivering a baby. After warning him twice, I finally had to wash him out and threaten to keep him out of the room if he couldn’t control his temper and his fire around Everett. All of our mates are possessive, but Everett is a doctor and Cedric can get over it. No one threatens my mate. After Tana snarled at him to get his shit together, he finally settled and Everett delivered their baby girl, one with a Lycan gene this time. They named her Aithne, which means fire. By the time we had delivered two babies, I was exhausted and so was Everett. As we walked back to the main house, Everett scooped me up. “You don’t have to carry me,” I tell him, but my head falls on his shoulder. “I know I don’t have to, but you’re exhausted.” “So are you,” I mumble. “Rest, my dragon
It was a long night. None of us were willing to go to bed while Ancalagon, Avani, and Zephyr were out. When they finally returned, we were all exhausted. I did find out from Zephyr that Ancalagon blames himself and realizes that Eliane probably blames him for what happened to her. Ancalagon had cried his dragon’s lament for hours, devastated with the news that Everett had given him. There are so many problems with the mate bond between Ancalagon and Eliane and I have no idea how to help them come together. “I wish I could do that thing that Merethyl does, where she says ‘peace’ and it flows through the person she wants to calm. I may only be human, Kaylani, but I am your rider. So, peace. I need you to relax. You’re carrying our twins and that’s already a lot of stress on your body,” my mate says once we’re back in our room. “I’m so tired, but I don’t know how to shut my mind off, Everett. This situation is terrible, putting brother against brother for a mate, one fated, one possib
I watch as the dragons work together to calm Ancalagon. His anger is something to behold and it never occurred to me that as the manipulator of four elements, he could, quite literally, destroy the earth. As I watch, it makes me even more concerned that his DNA is breaking down where his mate bond should be. If his brother intends to fight him over his mate, would he really kill him? What would that do to Avani and Zephyr? Zephyr’s mental state isn’t as steady as the others, although Ishir keeps her mind from breaking. How would something like this affect her? How would it affect Ancalagon? And how would it affect Eliane? When Merethyl and Zephyr finally calm him enough, I walk up to him and put my hands against him, wanting to heal him with my element. It’s the first time that I’m attempting to do this with such massive injuries, and I know Zephyr is also pushing her element into him to heal him, but as soon as I open myself to my element, I can feel Ancalagon’s power and the heat o
“Kaylani, can I talk to you?” Tesha asks, as she knocks on my door. “Hey Tesha, come in,” I say, getting up from my desk and coming around to hug her. She looks like she needs a hug. “Do you want me to close the door?” She nods. I close the door and then lead her to a couch where we can sit together. “What’s on your mind, Tesha?” She looks everywhere but at me, before focusing on my stomach. When her eyes finally meet mine, I’m pretty sure I know what’s wrong. “I’m pregnant. I mean, I think I’m pregnant. I’m pretty sure I’m pregnant,” she huffs, then looks at me. “I’m pregnant and I don’t know what to do.” “What happened to the condoms?” “They burned off. Every time we used them they burned off. Then Fenian started pulling out but sometimes…” she scrubs her hands over her face. “I had no idea how strong the mate bond is. How good it would feel to be with him. In that moment, I don’t want him to pull out any more than he does, and now…” “Have you been to see Everett? Just to con