Page 46 of The Dragon at the End of This Pregnancy

They dropped to the ground and shifted in one smooth motion, almost knocking me off my feet. A shadow darkened the surrounding grass, and I clambered up Galen's side to their back. As soon as I was seated, they leaped from the ground, jarring my bones. I leaned forward over their neck and held onto the blunt scales between their shoulder blades.

They roared and twisted away from a spout of flame. A blanket of magic pressed me closer to their scales and held me in place, or I would have dropped to the ground, now alarmingly far away.

We spun and twirled through the air, putting distance between us and the fortress. Soon, we reached the summit of Galen's mountain, and their cave. Instead of climbing inside with me, they puffed themself even bigger than the cave opening.

"Go inside, my heart. I need to speak with my paragon and siblings alone."

I knew better than to argue with them. I also had the perfect hiding place.

ChapterSixteen

Galen

My paragon had returned.I knew they would be back after my final molt, but I hadn't expected them so quickly upon our return.

"Where have you been?" Chance asked. They were my oldest sibling, still larger than me by the size of one of the kobold cabins below. We were both larger than Paragon now. Chance's black scales had lightened to a bright blue with their final molt, while mine remained black.

"We have been traveling," I said.

"You stink of Earth." My paragon dropped onto me from above, the thick claws on their wing shoving my neck to the ground. They held me there with a hind foot. I tried to look up at them, but they snaked their head down to me. "You …" They glared at me for a long breath and then released me.

I shoved myself back to full height with my wings. I'd expected their return to be fiery, but the pain in my chest brought stinging tears to my eyes. They were still my paragon, and their actions hurt.

"You are already pregnant?" Paragon asked. "How can this be?"

My grief hardened into bratty indignation. "I found my fated mate here, in The Spike."

"The Spike." My paragon scoffed and spat a gout of flame in the village's direction. "They aren't worthy of you."

"He's my fated," I insisted. "Please. I need to know more about fated mates."

"It's a good thing you found them," my other sibling, Lux said. They now had a maroon tinge to their black scales. They shimmered in the sunlight like coals. "We didn't find any kobolds on the other planes."

"None?" I asked.

"They've been destroyed by disease," Paragon confirmed. "We found entire communities in mass graves."

"Why were you gone so long, then?" I asked.

"Their dragons demanded we stay and mate with them." Lux shuddered. "It was horrible."

"Against your will?" I asked.

"No. We wanted to help," Chance said. "At first. Then, they wanted us to stay and raise the children."

"I didn't even get to touch mine after they hatched." Lux glared at our paragon. "We left them behind!"

"We had to leave, or you would have stayed forever," Paragon said. "You did what was best for you. Now, you'll have a chance to find your fated mate like Galena has."

"Galen," I said.

They bowed their head, their dark eyes glittering. "Galen fits you."

"Where is your mate?" Chance asked.

I spread my wings before my cave door and made myself as large as I could. "None of your business."

"Galen," Paragon said. "I know I said you stink of Earth, and you do, but you are in far better shape than the dragons we left. If your mate is responsible, I want to thank him."

---