Page 11 of Kidnapped Forced Mate

It’s that nagging sense that I’m hiding the biggest secret from the ones closest to me that makes breakfast with my family rather uncomfortable. Luckily, everyone is too caught up in their own chit-chats to notice how little I’ve had to eat. The newlyweds aren’t present, but yesterday’s wedding is all everyone seems to be talking about.

“Are you alright, Stryder?” Stryker asks, cutting through the silence of me wallowing in my self-inflicted mess.

Having to force a pretend smile to keep up appearances seems to be something I’m used to by now. Stryker remains oblivious to my true feelings about the human mating process – the whole idea of having to produce offspring, for that matter. Even now, he smiles warmly at me, only fueling the remorse that looms over me like a dark cloud.

“I’m fine, Brother,” I lie, glancing at Draco as he plays with Tyson on his lap. “Has the Alpha given you any indication of today’s meeting?”

Stryker shrugs. “As far as I know, you’re the only one apart from the Council who’s been called in. Even I’ve been told to sit this one out.”

“That’s… Strange,” I think aloud, though my heart begins to race as if I can foresee the future. “If it’s about me, I’d like you to be there.”

Stryker frowns, seemingly conflicted. “We’ll have to ask Draco if–”

“Ask me what?” Draco cuts in. Even though he’s preoccupied, the Alpha always has a way of picking up on things. Like he’s eavesdropping. That’s why Stryker and I often travel to the mortal world for some privacy. That’s why I have to keep my true disdain for my turn in the human mating process so secretive, that not even my twin knows how I feel.

I hate keeping things from him. But this whole human mate thing has left me no choice.

“I’d like Stryker to be present when the Council announces who my mate will be.”

“Naturally,” Draco chuckles. “It was Stryker who offered to sit out of this one.”

Slowly turning toward my twin with a skeptically raised brow, I notice the way he avidly avoids making eye contact with me.

Is there something you’re not telling me, Stryker? I ask through a mind link that cannot be heard by the others. Because we’re twins, we share a special telepathic connection that allows us to speak privately.

He shrugs but replies mentally. Not hiding anything, Brother. I just thought you’d want it to be a private affair.

Since when do we do things without each other? I ask, though it pains me to pose such a question when I’m the one hiding things from him.

Forgive me, Stryder. I thought it was something you’d wanna do alone.

I shake my head. I need you now more than ever, Brother. That right there is the truth.

***

While we wait for the Council members to gather in the boardroom, we learn that the Vulkan family is leaving for Italy tonight. Everyone’s visiting Draco’s villa there, leaving Stryker and I to tend to the island. Perhaps the gods have decided to be favorable to me, and I don’t have to tiptoe around my family while the human I rescued is on the island.

I wouldn’t know what to tell them, anyway. Draco and Aragon had good reasons to bring human females to the island when they kidnapped their mates. Felix too. But the human I brought to the island isn’t my mate. Neither is she someone I’d consider for a one-night-stand.

She’s not my type, anyway.

When Father clears his throat and draws our attention to the beginning of the meeting, the looming dread over my head grows until I can’t see the light anymore. Even though I’m saved by the fact that my family will be away, leaving me to deal with the human in my bedroom, I still have to face what comes next.

“... With everything that’s happened between my older sons and their mates, the Council has decided that we will no longer use force to bring the humans to the island,” Father explains. “The human women should be allowed to decide for themselves if this is what they want.”

Nova, the Fire Force elder on the Council, chuckles. “If what Felix says is true, the Cube seems to unveil the dragon shifter’s true, fated mate. Giving the human female a choice is simply for the sake of her own well-being. It’s inevitable, if she is the dragon shifter’s fated mate, that she’ll fall in love with him anyway,” Nova adds.

“It’s natural, but I do believe it’s the right thing to do if we consider her happiness. After all, she leaves the mortal world and becomes immortal when she births a dragonspirit child. Her happiness should be taken into consideration.”

Draco and Aragon, as the Alpha and Beta of the Aurora Dragons and members of the Council, nod in agreement. Both my brothers had been through the wringer with their mates, kidnapping the human females and forcing them to the island. I never agreed with it, and I’m glad the changes are being made.

This is the Council’s way of bringing more harmony between the dragon shifters and the humans.

Except, I haven’t fully come to terms with having to mate at all. Gulping, I shift uncomfortably in my chair when the Council’s attention comes to me. Avoiding their gazes does little to ease my worries, and when Father speaks again, I think I’m going to pass out.

“Since you are next for a human mate, Stryder, we have decided that you will visit the mortal world and become acquainted with her first.”

I frown, finally lifting my head and staring warily at my father. “Become acquainted with her?”

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