Page 7 of The Dragon at the End of This Pregnancy

"We are fated mates," Galen said.

"Mates?" My voice cracked.

That was news to me. As a beta, I'd been raised to believe I wouldn't have a fated mate. Once, betas were the only males of our species, but then we'd evolved into alphas and omegas to further the race. With our females infertile and fewer born each birth cycle, betas had become obsolete.

By the time I was born, it was my duty to serve the rest of kobold kind as best I could. I'd fallen into my career when I'd stumbled on a baby dragonet clutch as a child. I bonded with all five of the cute little babies, no bigger than pigeons, and led them to our home in the grotto. I'd worked in the dragonet barn ever since, my only time off when Galen asked me to accompany them on trips to our neighboring villages.

I'd wanted Galen since I met them. I didn't know what to think about the prospect of fated mates, though.

"Now that I have molted, and we have returned home, I want to mate with you." They pulled back farther, and I got a good look at their purple eyes in my former celebrity crush's face. Their words seemed too good to be true. "But only after I see how the other half of your kind lives. I must visit this Earth plane to see humans for myself."

There it was. My elation turned to dread so quickly, I tasted bile in the back of my throat. Not only did I need to prove myself to my dragon, I also needed to show them all of humanity was worthy, too.

Galen returned to dragon size, then, curling around me and releasing the spell that had made me look human.

I nestled against their side and pulled my knees to my chest in an attempt to calm my fears. "I'll meet with Priestess Alma in the morning to make arrangements."

I didn't know enough about Earth to take Galen there by myself. I hoped the priestess could spare an alpha or omega, anyone who had lived there for longer than a few days.

* * *

Priestess Alma greeted me with a hug. "Mac! It's been months! It's so good to see you."

Her sleeveless dress matched the brilliant white of her scales. Unlike Olaf, an elder beta at The Grid, she didn't look her age. She'd been our head priestess for half a century, and alive for at least twice as long. Her skin remained supple and firm over her muscular frame, her gaze shone with the vibrancy of youth, and her mind was sharper than mine on most days.

As the fortress's oldest female kobold/human hybrid and head priestess, Priestess Alma was revered among the betas. I'd never crushed on her the way my littermates did. Instead of going to the brothels to lie with the females there, I'd offered myself to unmated alphas to scratch the itch instead.

Never the same one twice, though. I knew better than to get attached. At least I knew now why I'd gotten so attached to Galen. We were fated mates. How was I supposed to bring that up in conversation with someone I'd always thought of as my grandmother?

I took a seat by her desk at the back of the classroom. I guessed it was there for students who needed one-on-one help.

I hadn't spent much time in the omega classrooms. Ours were on the opposite side of the fortress. Now, those classrooms thrived, when before they had been dwindling. It was wonderful to see betas integrated with alpha and omega children when I walked by. The contrast of bright and dark hair with all the brown was a welcome sight.

There weren't enough females, though. Punky and Lark's daughter Clementine was the first born in the last thirty years.

Priestess Alma's frown deepened the longer she stared at me. "You look like an omega."

I shook my head. "My stripes are too dark."

"No signs of slick?"

"None."

She frowned. "Our records on dragon reproduction were destroyed in the fires. Has the dragon mentioned mating to you?"

Gods, I'd been back all of twelve hours, and already I was getting the same mating talk our unmated alphas and omegas received when they started showing signs of imprinting on a mate. Did she think of nothing else? It was even more embarrassing to admit that was exactly why I was here, and this was the segue I needed to broach the subject.

"They have. That's why I needed to meet with you. They want to travel to Earth."

That stopped her line of questioning. "Earth? Why?"

"They want to see how humans live, to determine if we have adequate breeding stock."

She blinked. "Do you think?—"

"They mentioned I'm their fated mate."

"Oh, Mac." She leaned forward over her desk. "That's wonderful!"

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