Page 75 of Dragon Unhinged

I want to stare at myself, to try to make sense of this, but before I can, I’m in the shower, washing my hair, going through motions of showering like I’m on autopilot. I touch my rounded belly as often as I can manage trying to discern if it’s real or ifI’m having a nightmare. How I could possibly be this far along already? How long was I asleep? I’ve only known Declan for a little while, certainly not long enough for a baby bump to be showing, but it’s not like I was with anyone before him. It’s not like this is a human pregnancy. The baby is half dragon shifter. Maybe they move faster? It didn’t sound that way from everything Pru and Declan were saying. Ash’s wife went to nearly ten months before she had their first child.

Which means there is something magical going on. They’re magically screwing with me and my baby. Fury sinks into my gut as my body keeps moving around like everything is normal.

I finish showering, blow dry and style my hair, and put on the dress the nurse picked out for me. Now, it makes sense why the dress looked so similar, but not quite the same. It’s made to fit my expanding belly.

It’s just seven o’clock when I hear the key unlocking the door again.

“Follow me in silence. Don’t touch anything, don’t try to veer off course, and don’t try anything funny.”

I open my mouth to protest, but predictably nothing comes out and my body does just as she ordered.

Like I’m under fucking vampire thrall. Or so I imagined what it would be like based on what Declan described to me.

My jaw feels wired shut as I try to open my mouth. The nurse glances back at me and rolls her eyes. “Oh, what is it, girl?”

“Are you a vampire?” I say in a rush, like the door opened in my mind just enough for me to speak.

The nurse doesn’t answer, and I’m beginning to come up with an even longer list of questions I want to ask. Like if she’s even a nurse at all.

What were those pills I took? Is that why I’m following along like a lost little puppy? Is this how they got the shifters into cages in the first place?

Did Declan feel like this?

I need to get back to him.

I decide to use my eyes since she didn’t tell me where to look. I take in my surroundings. It’s a lot like my father’s place. Immaculately kept. Sterile. Nothing that looks like anyone truly lives there but meant to be admired with all the expensive material items lining the halls and situated in each room. It’s like a museum display case. It looks like it could be used, but no one is to touch anything or actually sit on anything.

“I see you’ve made it safely. Please, sit.” A man I’ve never met gestures at a chair, and the nurse pulls it out for me to follow the command.

I’m feeling more and more like a dog by the second.

Sit. Stay. Lay down. What’s next? Roll over? Shake? I can only hope for a command like “attack”.

“That’s enough, Donna. You can go back to the training center until I need you.”

The nurse walks out of the room, and for the first time I wonder if he has control of her too.

The man doesn’t look familiar. He’s tall, I suppose, but compared to Declan, he doesn’t seem like it. He’s dressed well, in Armani, if I know my designers…which I don’t really, but my father wears a lot of Armani, this man’s suit looks similar. He has dark hair and dark eyes to match his possibly Italian descent complexion. “I do apologize for the methods used to bring you here. After my discussion with your dragon, I didn’t expect you would come willingly.” He smiles at me, sharp fangs glinting in the candlelight.

He is definitely a vampire.

“You must be Grey.” I’m glad to see the flicker of surprise in his dark steel gray eyes. “I don’t know why you think I’m going to be any more amenable to your bullshit than Declan.” I reach forthe knife next to my plate, but no matter how hard I try, I can’t move my arms.

“There’s no use in fighting me, Brianna. And really, you are in no danger. At least not in your current condition.” He smiles as his eyes drop to my belly. “Besides, there’s nothing you could do with a steak knife to hurt me. Or has your mate not disclosed how to kill a vampire yet?”

I put my hands on my stomach to try and protect my baby from him in the only way I feel possible at the moment. Surprisingly, I’m able to do it. “What do you want from me? From my baby?”

“Exactly that. Your baby.” He grins. “I see the pills Tabitha whipped up are doing exactly as I hoped.” He points at another dose sitting on my plate. “Be a good girl and take your medicine.”

I fight it— the pull in my mind to do just as he says—but it’s useless. Even though I can see my hand struggling to follow the command, his command is stronger than my own will, in my own body. I pick up my water glass in one hand, and the pill in the other. After I swallow it, I ask bitterly, “Just one this time?”

“We can’t have you progressing too quickly. The first two were to get you past what I understand to be the hardest parts of pregnancy. Now just one month’s progress a day. I want you both to remain healthy. He’ll need his mother. At least for a little while.”

At that moment, Peter walks in from across the room. He looks even more like a snake than I remember. He’s dressed similarly to Grey, in a brown suit, his hair slicked back, and his charming smile right in place. I want to smack it off him. He takes a seat next to me like I invited him. He takes my hand, presses his slimy lips on the back of it, and smiles at me, showing his teeth like a wolf bearing theirs. “We’ll keep you around for a year or so, get him to a place where he’s able to eat moresolid foods, do things on his own, and then we’ll have a tragic accident. The world will mourn, and I’ll be the stoic single father, doing everything I can for our baby.” He leans in and kisses my cheek. “I’m sure you’ll be delicious when I drain you dry.”

I’m frozen in utter terror. I can’t yank my hand away from him, I can’t smack him, I can’t take the knife and ram into his smug, glinting eyeball.

There’s a flutter in my stomach and I think I’m going to be sick, until I feel it again and again. I gasp and my hand shoots up to follow the small little kicks coming from inside of me. They’re alive in there. The sting of tears and the relief flooding me makes it difficult to keep my emotions to myself, but I suck in a deep breath and push everything down.

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