Page 67 of Pregnant Rejected Mate

The Council members remain quiet as they exchange worried glances.

“I do apologize,” I say as I lean forward. “It was my fault they knew about us.”

“An oversight, I’m sure,” Zark, the Elder of the Blaze Legion Elder from the East Coast of the world, speaks up. I haven’t heard much from him since the Blaze Legion attacked us a few months ago, but I know he means well. He understands the magnitude of oversight when he’d placed the wrong dragon shifter in the leadership of their clan.

“Yes, an oversight,” I nod. “But one that can be avoided in the future. I have a suggestion, if I may.”

“Go ahead,” Father permits. “If it can help us avoid future incidents like this one, we’d love to hear it.”

I steeple my fingers in front of me and continue, “Now that we’re exposing ourselves to humans through the mating process, we risk being discovered by others apart from just our mates. We’ve already seen what happened with the Lady Dragon’s sister,” I say as I glance over at Draco. “And with the werewolves. Why do we still hide?”

The Elders glance at each other warily, Father shrugging when he says, “It’s how things have always been. We’re meant to be Earth’s protectors from the shadows. If we exposed ourselves…”

“Then what?” I counter, raising a discerning brow. “We are, after all, dragon shifters who have powers and strength beyond compare to what’s out there. Perhaps it’s time we stopped hiding in the shadows and let the world know that we exist.”

Another long stretch of silence follows as the Council Elders contemplate my suggestion. From how their eyes glow with deeper color, I know they’re sharing a private word between themselves telepathically.

“We’ll give this some thought,” Father finally relents. The meeting then continues with discussions of successful trials in the human mating process.

Not just with our clan but with the other dragon shifter clans. Though I’m no longer the Beta of my clan, I can’t help but feel pride swelling in my chest for how well things are going. It has me wondering, though, if what I suspect is true. I decided to bring it up the next time someone is meant to take a human mate after I’ve tested the theory with Sierra myself.

This is why I’m glad when the meeting is over and that I can rush back to her. She’s probably with her father, showing him around the island like she planned this morning. To be sure of this, I stroll to the boardroom window when the elders have left, peering out to spot my mate wheeling her father across the bridge.

“Congrats, Brother!” Aragon praises as he joins me at the window. “Draco just told me that you’re gonna be a father.”

I can’t help but beam from ear to ear, my eyes trained on Sierra down in the courtyard. “Isn’t that what the whole mating process is about?” I muse.

“If you asked me five months ago, I would have said that it’s a waste of time,” he scoffs. “But now that Yazmine is here, I can genuinely admit that it’s more than just about producing offspring for the clan.”

I glance at my brother and realize that he’s speaking from his heart.

“I know exactly what you mean,” I concede, nodding back to the view of the island where my mate shows her father the rugby field. “That’s why I’m planning on giving Sierra everything she deserves, starting with a wedding on the island.”

Aragon makes a muffled sound. “You’re beating me to all the things I wanna do,” he chuckles. “You sure you don’t want the Beta position back?”

“Nah,” I shake my head. “Fate gave me a second chance for a reason, and I plan on spending it making up for lost time.”

Epilogue - Sierra

Two Months Later

“This was such a bad idea, Yaz,” I complain, staring at my reflection in the full-length mirror and pouting my annoyance.

“No, it wasn’t,” she protests while bouncing Lily’s baby on her lap. “You look perfect.”

“I look like a swollen whale!” I complain, cupping one hand over my swollen belly clad in white lace. The dress is beautiful, fitting me like a second skin. It only serves to amplify how extremely pregnant I am, about to pop at any given moment.

“You do not!” Lily huffs when she comes in, picking up Tyson from Yazmine’s arms. “You’re beautiful, Sierra. Remember, this was your mate’s idea, after all.”

“A very bad idea…” I mumble under my breath, though the reminder that this was Felix’s idea brings a sense of comfort that dissipates the tight-knit between my eyebrows. When he proposed to me in the courtyard in front of my father two months ago, I’d been over the moon. Becoming his mate, I didn’t think we’d need to get married in the traditional sense.

Felix was adamant that he wanted to give me all the things he thought I would want in the mortal world. One of those things was to get married in a white dress—something he thought I’d have when he left me in the hopes that I would move on.

Since being reunited, he decided that he would be the one to give me all those things. As a wedding gift, I was offered Mount Aurora as a spot to conduct yoga classes for the weredragons. The hot-headed species can do with some downtime, to calm their nerves and bring them back to Earth where they can focus better on training.

Everything has been blissful in Aurora Island, and the proposal of marriage seemed incredibly sweet when he got down on one knee. I’d agreed on the spot, to my father’s approval—amplifying the feeling of contentment.

I just didn’t know what to expect when the time came around. Now that I’m pregnant with twins, I’m carrying way bigger than Lily and Yazmine did. Neither of the two other human women had to lug around a giant belly and wear a wedding gown in front of the entirety of the Aurora Dragon clan.

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