Page 48 of The Dragon at the End of This Pregnancy

"They still feel the pull to their fated mates," I answered, "even when they are children." I thought of Robin and Weld.

"They haven't been mated to humans, instead?" Lux asked.

"No." I was still angry at my paragon for leaving, but I understood their worry of the unknown. We had over a century of mating data on the kobold/human hybrids now. The only danger to their species was the eventual extinction of females, which had no rhyme or reason, except, "The curse."

"Right." Paragon continued their story. "We only needed enough of them to become priestesses, so I made a deal with the goddess. Only a female kobold born of a kobold beta and a dragon can break the curse, and only if she lives to see her first molt."

I cringed at the threat to our baby, but before I could ask what she meant, Mac waved his arms before his flat abdomen.

"But how? I'm not an omega! Where, how is the egg supposed to come out?"

"Magic," Lux said.

"Magic," Mac and I repeated.

"Magic," Paragon confirmed. "When it's time, the egg will let you know it's ready to join the nest. Until then, you will gestate it like a human child, safe within your body."

Mac took a deep breath through his mouth and exhaled through his nose. "I'm carrying a child?"

"A girl," Paragon confirmed. "A sweet girl to break the curse."

"And we'll have two eggs, one kobold and one dragon?" I asked.

"You will." My paragon perked up at the mention of my dragon egg. "And you will have family around to help you raise them."

I didn't want my family around. I wanted to hold my mate and talk through everything we'd just learned about our combined fates and the fate of both our species.

"We've been staying at our ancestral caves," Lux said. "We'll return there and let you think through everything Paragon has said. We know it's a lot."

"What? No." Paragon tried to resist as both of my siblings grabbed their arms and tugged them toward the cave entrance. "We're staying here, with Galen."

"No, we are not." Chance shifted into a kobold alpha form like mine and took Paragon's hand. "We will let Galen come to us when they're ready."

"Well, you must come to the ancestral egg cave when it's time to lay your egg. That's where you were born. That's where our family was born."

"I will," I reassured them, mostly to get them out of my cave. "When I'm ready."

"Good." Paragon broke free of Chance's grasp. I thought they would claw me, but instead, they clutched me to their chest in an awkward hug. "It is good to see you, Galen. I am sorry for scaring you and your mate earlier. That is the way of dragons. We are never sure how to greet each other."

"The way you left might be to blame for that."

I no longer felt the ache of sadness and its partner, anger, which surprised me. I understood their desire to restore the way of life the kobold/human hybrids had destroyed. While it should have made me even angrier to know they'd run off without me for nothing, it only further proved my truth. Mac was my mate. He and the other kobold/human betas were the future of dragonkind.

"I'm sorry we left you behind, my sweet." My paragon hugged me even tighter before letting me go and taking both Chance's and Lux's hands.

We followed them to the cave entrance, Mac gripping my waist as tightly as I clung to his.

"I daresay," my paragon said, "you are even more magnificent because you grew up without us."

"Speak for yourself," Chance said. "I missed you, little pipsqueak. Wish we could have seen you grow up."

"We scried, though," Lux said.

Chance hissed at them to shut up.

I didn't want to imagine them spying on my worst, or even best, moments. I needed to rush them outside before I died of embarrassment.

"Wait here until they're gone," I told Mac before I entered the light pool at the cave entrance. I took my dragon form again and pushed myself large enough to block the door once they were out.

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