Page 13 of Pregnant Rejected Mate

Now, I’ve probably just crushed them.

The urge to go ahead and enter the room and show her that I never stopped loving her is intense. My heart won’t let me follow through with what my mind demands. I’ll probably just make things worse. I can’t afford that. Not until I figure out what to do.

Brother Felix… It’s Aragon through a mind link. I have Diego Alverez in custody. We’re in the dungeon.

I’ll be there in a sec.

I inhale sharply, the remnants of Sierra’s sweet scent lingering in the air of the balcony. I’ll take what I can get since I don’t deserve any of it anyway. With one last glance at the bedroom door, I turn toward the island and step up on the rail to flash out in dragon form.

I’m angry and torn all at once, lifting my head toward the clouds to roar out a cloud of fire as a way to blow off some steam. The raging emotions blur my vision as I make my way to the dungeon behind the mountains.

I slow down and land near the entrance, where Aragon is meeting me outside.

He shakes his head, eyes weary. “That fucker doesn’t stop talking,” he huffs.

Chuckling without humor, I pat my brother on the shoulder to thank him for the help. “I’ll take it from here. Thanks, Bro.”

“Get yourself some earplugs,” Aragon muses before setting off in a jog.

The dungeon’s entrance is at the base of the mountain, a cave-turned-bunker with a steel door that only opens up with face recognition. I take a deep breath before turning to the surveillance camera, the thud of the doors unlocking, echoing along the outskirts of the island.

Once inside, the doors shut before Diego opens his mouth.

“Hey! You! Let me out of here!”

“Not so fast, Diego Alvarez,” I say calmly, casually strolling toward the cell where his knuckles are paled from gripping the bars. The stout man with gray hair and bags under his eyes has sweat beading his forehead as if he ran a few miles.

He’d probably given Aragon a hard time. Luckily, he wasn’t with me for the flight. With the way I’m feeling toward him, I’d have conveniently let him accidentally slip from my grip.

“We had an agreement, Diego,” I remind him as I pace the stone floor outside his cell.

“I stuck to my agreement, Señor,” he says quickly. “My daughter was right there, in my house. I go outside, but dios mio! When I come back, she’s gone. Desaparecida.”

Unable to control myself, I let out a sardonic chuckle as I glared at the shorter man. His eyes go wide when I’m face to face with him, and I know I’ve frightened him. There’s something else that flashes past his eyes, almost like recognition. It’s a whole array of dreadful emotions that flash there. He should be afraid.

“Quit the bullshit, Diego,” I warn him sturdily. “I know what you’re all about, and I know that you kidnapped your own daughter.”

Diego relents and hangs his head in shame. “I had no choice.”

“So you lied to the Dragon Council and told them she agreed. All because of money?” I frown, knowing that the price of his silence was only worth half of what he’d been offered. The other half was for his daughter, on the condition that she agreed to this.

Poor Sierra…

Diego shakes his head with remorse flashing in his eyes. “Not for money, weredragon. I wanted to see my daughter happy again.”

I pause in my stroll, stopping to let his admission sink in. This is Sierra’s father, after all—the one she’d run away from almost nine years ago. The man who made her life a living hell, which led her to Charlottesville all by herself, without two pennies to rub together. All in the pursuit of freedom.

He wanted to see her happy?

I snap around at Diego, glowering. “You wanted to see her happy by forcing her to an island full of dragon shifters where she’ll become my mate?”

“Yes, I—”

“Bullshit!” I call him out again, pointing a finger between his eyes. “She was happy, and you ripped that from her! You stole your own daughter’s life!”

The only consolation in this situation is that I am the dragon shifter she’s supposed to be with. I know who this man really is behind these bars. I’ve heard all about him, and I don’t believe a word he says. Bullshitter!

“No, I was trying to give her one,” Diego says sadly, hanging his head again. “My daughter’s been through a lot. Her life wasn’t always easy, especially when her boyfriend left her.”

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