Page 43 of Dragon Rivals of New York

“Dragon lore,” he says with a smirk.

“Right, yes,” I step toward the door. “We’re doing a unit on fairytales and mythology.” Guess I’m going to have to write a new curriculum now.

“Alright, next time ‘member to give us a heads up about guests.”

“Of course,” I say, trying not to show how flustered I am. “I’m so sorry. I—”

He’s already leaving and shuts the door before I can finish my sentence.

“Are we really gonna learn about dragons?” Liam asks, excitement in his eyes.

Kyro crosses to the little circle of students. His normal scowl, nowhere to be seen, replaced by a genuine smile that lights his entire face. He takes a seat on the floor and immediately starts asking the kids what they’ve heard about dragons before. I might be more flabbergasted by this than I was by him owning a sex club.

While I stare slack-jawed, he tells the kids stories of different dragon legends from different geographical regions, pointing things out on the map on the wall as he goes. He’s more animated than I’ve ever seen him. And my ovaries are freaking the fuck out.

By the end of story time, the kids are begging for him to staythe rest of the day. The look he gives me is just as pleading. There’s only an hour left, so I agree. He stays, helping me with little things around the classroom, until parents come to pick up their kids.

“You’re really good with kids,” I say after everyone’s gone, and it’s just us straightening up the room and prepping things for tomorrow.

“You sound surprised.”

“Yeah, sorry. I just didn’t expect it. You’re so…” Sheepishly, I search for the right word.

“Unfriendly. Intimidating. Menacing.” He stops laying out graded papers on each desk and keeps his back to me. “I’ve been called all those things before.”

“That wasn’t what I was going to say.” I can see why he’d be called those things, but they also don’t exactly fit with the man I’m getting to know. “It’s just you’ve got this bad boy vibe that exudes sexual energy. A guy who gets in fist fights and rides a motorcycle and has sex in public.”

He turns to look at me and crosses his arms as he leans against my desk. “I do have a motorcycle. Love a good fist fight. And sex where you might get caught is one of the great thrills in life. More my thing than straight up exhibitionism.” He looks down at his crossed arms. “But I also love kids and want to be a dad.”

“You do?” Why is my voice tight? I’ve always wanted kids. It was one of the reasons I didn’t hesitate when Manny asked me to marry him so young. I wanted to be a young mom and eventually a young grandma. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life apart from being a wife and mom. It was my dream. A doting husband and two perfect children I stayed home to raise.

I know it’s a small dream and some people would scoff at it, but it was mine. Well, I thought so—I think so—it’s hard to tell what’s yours and what’s not when you’re conditioned from such an early age to think that marriage and kids are an ideal every woman should strive for.

But I do love kids. It’s why I love this job.

“Do you know much about the Silver Horde?” Kyro asks.

I shake my head and hop up to sit on top of my desk.

“We’ve been dying off. Fewer kids born each year because fewer people are finding their mates.” I wrinkle my brows, wondering what having kids has to do with finding mates, but he continues, “Dragons can only have children with their mates.”

“Wait, are you saying…?”

“If you don’t mate with either Jethro or me, we won’t have children. At least, not biological children. And the horde onlyallows adoptions of dragon children without parents, which there aren’t a lot of.”

Shit. I feel as if a bomb was just dropped. I pull my knees up to my chest, not caring that I’m wearing a skirt, just wanting to curl in on myself. How could I rob these men of a mateanda family?

“Then, I guess there isn’t really a choice here.”

“Fuck.” Kyro leaves where he’s leaning against the side of the desk and comes to stand in front of me. He grips just under my chin and lifts my head so I can’t look away. “You don’t have to give me or anyone else your body or your autonomy just because I want kids.”

“I want them, too.”

The sigh he lets out is almost relief, but the look in his eyes is too sharp. “I didn’t tell you that to try to convince you. I mean, I do want to convince you. Fuck. I’m messing this all up.” His grip on me tightens, tilting my jaw higher. “You can’t make this decision just out of guilt. Don’t feel guilty for setting boundaries for yourself.”

“You can’t just command me not to feel guilty.” I wish he could. It would make my life a lot easier. I’m not sure I would even know how to make a decision without it being based on guilt. Nearly every decision I’ve made in my life has been tainted by it. I even felt guilty about getting divorced, despiteeverything that happened.

Kyro studies me for a long minute, nods once, then lets go of my jaw. He doesn’t step away, though. He wraps his arms around me and pulls me into a tight hug that has tears springing to my eyes. They warned me last night that I might be more teary than usual after my sub drop, but I didn’t expect to feel this emotional.

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