Page 59 of Dragon Unhinged

It’s not possible. I haven’t claimed her. She doesn’t wear my bite. She doesn’t even wear my heartstone.

“Pregnant?” She bites her lip, looking at me with wide eyes. She says the word so tentatively, it’s like she’s not sure either. “Ellie said you’d be able to sense it.”

But the change in her scent is there. There’s no denying it.

My mate is pregnant.

“How?” I don’t expect her to be able to answer the question, any more than I can, but at the same time, I feel like we need Syrena, we need someone else to confirm it.

I sit down on my concrete bed, holding her in my lap as I study her face, trying to discern if she’s freaked out, or if she’s as excited about this prospect as I am.

“We need to get away from this house. We need to get you out of those cuffs, and I need you to make me yours in every way possible. I don’t want to do this without being claimed.” She bites her lip, her eyes are wide, her brows high. She’s scared. It’s not something she shows often. “You said this wasn’t possible.” Her voice is small like she’s trying to keep from sound accusatory.

“It shouldn’t be. I swear to you, I wouldn’t lie about this.” I cup her cheek bringing her gaze to mine, before leaning down to press a kiss to her lips. “It doesn’t change anything. You’re mine, and as far as I’m concerned, this just further proves it. Nothing will keep me from claiming you.” I hug her close to my chest, breathing in her scent again. “There’s no way in hell I am going to let Grey anywhere near you. You deserve to be with dragons, especially now that you’re carrying one of our kind. And when I claim you, you’ll also be a dragon.”

She pulls back, blinking at me. “What do you mean?”

There’s so much I haven’t told her, so much she doesn’t yet know about me, my family, being a dragon mate.

“Every human I know of who has mated with a dragon has become an Obsidian dragon after they’re claimed. There’s no reason to think you won’t.” I swallow hard. “Our baby will too, I would assume, since the baby’s clan follows the mother’s lineage.”

“But if I’m not claimed… What if this baby’s just a human? Would you still…” She shakes her head, like she can’t bear to finish the question.

“I will love you and all our babies, whether they’re human, witch, or dragon. You are my family, more even than my brothers, even more than my sister. I don’t care if we have to disappear and start our own sort of clan, as long as I have you by my side.”

It’s then and there that I vow to make sure the Elders stop spewing their hate and bullshit about human mates. They don’t get to decide for the rest of us.

I gently tip her chin up so that she’s meeting my eyes, and I hate that I see tears there, just waiting to fall.

“Will you claim me? Tonight?”

Gods, I want to. I want her to wear my mark, and I want her to mark me.

“I don’t know if I can.” I whisper the words, afraid and ashamed to say them out loud, not feeling good enough for my own mate. “I don’t have control of my dragon. I can’t even make talons form, with these damned cuffs. Everything I know says I must bite you, and that means shifting just enough for my teeth to extend, to break skin. If I can’t do that, I don’t know if the bite will mean anything. I don’t know if it’ll work.”

Too many fucking variables. How am I supposed to keep her safe?

Her lip trembles as a tear breaks free from her eye to slide down her cheek. “In the morning then. As soon as we’re far from here, far from where Grey can keep track of you. When you’re free from his control.”

“As soon as I possibly can. You’re mine.”

I know it won’t be so simple. I need to talk to Syrena and Ash before we do anything. Things are far more complicated than we could ever have been prepared for. As soon as I know it’s safe to claim her, as soon as I know my dragon and I are connected again, she’s mine.

“Then, will you just hold me for a while? I don’t want to let go of you.”

As if she even needs to ask. I shift slightly, so that I can lean against the wall. I don’t care what happens to this suit, the clothes I have no doubt Grey picked out for me, just another way for him to control me. But I do care that my mate is well cared for and comfortable.

We’re having a baby. My dragon preens and puffs up his chest inside of me. The bastard is gloating, smug about his ability to knock up our mate.

I still can’t believe the news. There’s no reason I can come up with that this would happen, unless my missing connection to my dragon is at play somehow. Could I really be more human now, even through so many forced shifts?

Or is it something else, something bigger, that won’t just affect us, but supernaturals across the board?

Magic has always been a sacred thing, something to not be abused, to not be overworked or manipulated. If Grey is manipulating things, who’s to say that he’s not done things to irrevocably change magic as a whole?

Brianna falls asleep, snuggled into my chest, but my mind is racing with too many thoughts, too many questions that I won’t get answers to until we’re free from this place.

Just before dawn,I feel my mate shift against me.

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