Page 7 of Alien Dragon's Bride

Chapter 4

Levx

“You aren’t even trying,” Levx’s father grumbled. “Most of your brothers and some of your sisters have found mates and are expecting. We’ve been here for so long and yet you’ve nothing to show for it.”

“Sydron has hired a surrogate to have his baby.” Levx shrugged. How many kids did their father want? A whole planet of them? “And with everyone having babes, why do I need to?”

“Because our race is dying out!” His father roared. “Renjerians…dragons as humans called us…will be no more. Our race is nearly extinct and you’re not doing your duty. How can I ask the handful of our loyal subjects to carry this burden alone? No, it is up to every one of my children who have my royal blood in their veins to carry on our lineage.”

He rolled his eyes when his father shook his head. “Would you be satisfied if I go Sydron’s route?” Which included deceiving the woman into thinking she was carrying a human couple’s baby and not an alien’s or that the baby was half hers.

“I don’t care if you never mate with a human or not…but you will have offspring…or I will gut you and roast you and toss you up to the old gods as a sacrifice.” His father narrowed his gray eyes, his thin lips nearly disappearing in his scowl. Would Levx ever get used to seeing his Renjerian parent in his human form rather than his massive reptilian one?

“Fine. I’ll arrange a surrogate through Sydron’s fake company.” All he had to do was get a girl pregnant. But the idea of lying to someone carrying his child made a hole burn in his chest. He wanted to find someone to care about, maybe even love, but the Tryns had come to his planet and laid waste to so much of it and killed so many of his people and family that he’d had time for little more than surviving and war.

“See that you do.” His dad snatched up a beer bottle: one of his vices since returning to earth though his dad complained for the longest that mead and ale wasn’t as prevalent. “What kind of king am I if I can’t get my own sons to obey my rule and do their very best to increase our numbers so we might one day return to Renjer and cast out our enemies.”

Desmonda, Levx’s sister, placed a tray of fruits on the table and plopped down beside him. “Hungry?”

His dad stormed out, slamming the door behind him.

“Not after the verbal ear chewing, I just got.” Levx crossed his arms.

“Well, I’ve got three younglings,” she popped a grape in her mouth and chewed, “you can always borrow one and pass it off as yours until father gets wise.”

Levx chuckled. “Our father might be old and should’ve tried again to abdicate the throne again after our brother’s death, but he’s no fool. He’d know I didn’t hatch a full-blooded, two-year-old Renjerian.”

“So what are you going to do?” She cocked her head. Her appearance so different now than on their home-world. Here, she had blond hair and turquoise eyes. If he squinted just right, he could almost imagine her in her true form.

“Do what Sydron’s doing…hire a surrogate. Might as well, it’ll get father off my back and I helped Sydron start up this company in the first place by giving him a healthy share of the gold from our mines.”

“It just seems so impersonal.” She shivered. “D-do the human women know? I mean that they’re carrying a Renjerian’s baby and everything? Deanna and Isabelle have had a contract drawn up, swearing the women to secrecy about the father’s identity and everything, but I can’t help wondering if it’s too much of a gamble. So much could go wrong.”

He didn’t have the heart to tell her that his brothers who had used the service never told the women what they were. One human had already died giving birth. Her child didn’t survive and the Renjerian had claimed he loved her, turning himself into his dragon form and flying straight up into the sky until he died and crashed into the ocean because he loved her.

Or that for months, Levx had interviewed dozens of women to carry his baby but none felt right to him. Which was ridiculous. They were only tools to have more Renjerians…or half-breeds anyway…what did it matter if he liked them at all or was even attracted to them? He wasn’t going to have sex with any of them. Dena had given them syringes to shot their sperm up into the women once they agreed. Nine months later, a baby would be born, the woman paid and forgotten.

But Levx didn’t want that. He wanted his child to know his or her mother. A chance at a family that he never had. His own mother had been killed in one of the Tryns battles when he was younger. Too young to have lost a mother. His father, as king, was too busy to care for a youngling and Desmonda had done her best to care for her brothers and be the substitute mom in their lives.

“Father doesn’t care about the issues, only results.” Even without discussing it, he knew the king would object to anything about trying to find a life-mate or forget love. His father had lost his heart to a human who didn’t make the transformation into Renjerian after his brother Khol was born and was never the same. Females were little more than broodmares to him now. A way to increase their numbers. But the Tryns had them beat in that depart. The devils multiplied rapidly; all they need was dead carcasses.

“You should eat something.” His sister nudged him. “Give me an excuse to stay for a little more quiet time while my mate guards the kids.”

“Wha—you don’t fool me—you love your triplets.” For good measure though, he snatched an apple from the tray and spun it in his hand.

“Never said I didn’t. But having a break is nice,” she said with half-closed eyes.

“How about you stay here and take a nap?” He gestured to his couch across the chamber. Since they’d been in America, the Renjerians had bought this apartment building and each family had their own. Big improvement from the caves they were living in on Renjerian, but he still missed the massive palaces they’d occupied before the Tryns came.

She laid her head on the table. “I’m fine. Just need to close my eyes a minute.”

Eight seconds later she was snoring. Levx picked her up and carried her to his couch. After he laid her down, he grabbed his phone and headed out.

Time he stopped this silly romantic notion of finding true love. It didn’t exist anymore. Not for his kind.

He typed a text to his two brothers who usually worked late as he rode down the elevator.

Heading into the office and I’ll take the next client that walks in the door as my surrogate.

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