“You heard her fucking coming. You planned that, you cunt,” he growls in a voice I haven't heard before. It’s not just angry. This is full-on fury. He turns to me.
“I swear, Lila, that was all him. We’d simply been talking, but we could hear the two of you coming down the hallway. Just as you pushed open the door, he lunged at me.” Caspian steps toward me and pulls me out of Link’s arms. “I swear I would never do something like that to you.”
“Did you tell her about us?” Dylan sneers, flopping down on the nearby couch and gesturing between him and Caspian. “Did you tell her we were a thing?”
Hurt stabs at my heart. I’m not stupid; I know that he would have had lovers before me, but I would have thought he would have told me that Dylan was one of them.
Caspian sneers right back at him, the tiniest hint of black creeping into the edges of his iris. “Please, once or twice when I was horny. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement, and you knew it could never become anything. You knew my beast wouldn't allow it to be something real, and it hasn't happened for a while now.”
“But I love you!” Dylan yells, bolting up from the couch, and both Link and Caspian snort.
“You sure proved that love by having sexual relations with most people on the ship. Only a few of us said no, and you obsessed about the ones who denied you. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times he’s propositioned me. It’s like it was a challenge that he just had to win. Like that Earth game... What’s it called? Pokemon! He had to catch them all.” There’s no snark in Link’s words, just honesty, and that’s what makes me believe him. It doesn’t sound like he’s trying to hurt Dylan. He’s sharing his experience as objectively as possible.
Whoa, this just got all soap opera-like. Hello, Jerry Springer. Ready to give me a spot on your show now? I’ll take surprise alien egg babies and raise you a slutty dragon with boundary issues! I could sign a multi-episode contract with all the shit that’s going on.
“I can’t believe you mated her.” He looks me up and down in disgust. Gone is the kind, friendly guy that I had been getting to know, replaced with this vicious, jealous twat. “She’s nothing, barely even a Skarrian. No powers or anything.”
“Skarrian enough to get mating marks, seal that bond, and carry his eggs. How’s that for beingnothing?” I know I’m throwing it in his face, but I’ve about hit my limit. Tonight was supposed to be relaxing, an opportunity for me to get to know my mate and learn more about another potential partner. I did not sign up to be looked down on and insulted.
“You’re pregnant? You let him implant you? You fucking whore!” He lunges for me, but Link and Caspian jump between us, not letting him near me.
“But why?” I cry, wanting to know the answer. “I thought we were friends!”
“Haven't you heard the saying ‘keep your friends close but your enemies closer’?” he screams at me, spittle flying from his mouth.
Holy shit, he’s flipped his sanity switch. He’s breathing smoke through his nose and vibrating.
“Fuck, he’s going to shift,” Caspian yells, and Link lunges, grabbing Dylan's shoulder and pinching. Dylan's eyes roll back into his head, and he collapses before he can manage to go full fire-breathing dragon on us.
The guys let him drop to the ground, none too gently, just as the door to my suite slams open and my grandpas run in, followed by two armed security guards.
John wraps me in his arms as Eric and William check out Dylan's prone figure before looking at Caspian and Link.
“This your doing, Doc?” Eric asks, gesturing to the unconscious dragon shifter.
“Yes, he was out of control and almost shifted. In his current emotional state, he would have destroyed Lila’s room, not to mention I think he would have eaten her.” I’m still a little shocked, so I hear his statement even though the words seem to bounce off of me. I definitely can’t handle thinking about being eaten right now. Or ever, really. I mean, is NOT becoming one with someone’s digestive tract really that much to ask for?
“What just happened?” I still don't understand.
“Dragons can be a little unstable. The need to breed rides them hard, but like Caspian, they need to be compatible with their partners. So it won’t happen until they seal a bond. Though there are others, like Dylan here, who choose promiscuity over permanency. He may claim to have loved Caspian, but that was the man. The beast he carries inside of him knows that Caspian can’t reproduce with him and would have never sealed the bond.”
“But wasn’t Dylan gay? He would have never found a breeding partner?” I ask, feeling confused.
Everyone snorts. “Dylan fucked anything that could be nailed down,” William tells me dryly.
I shiver a little bit as I remember the way he looked at me when he was in my room. I got changed in front of him. Damn, was I wrong. I’ll never assume again.
“Gay dragons have options. They will usually find a donor dragoness to give them children. They pay very handsomely for it, and some female dragons use this service to set themselves up before they settle down with their own clutch.” Link gently rubs my shoulders as he imparts his up-to-date dragon breeding information. I wonder if he brushed up on all of the species on the ship when he realized his kraken knowledge was lacking; he seems like the type who would.
“So dragons only breed with dragons?” I ask as I take the glass of water from Caspian before he sits on my other side. I’m still trying to ignore the fact that the guy I thought was going to be my new bestie just tried to attack me. Me and my babies. I rub a hand across my little bump for comfort. Noticing what I’m doing, Caspian takes my hand, placing a kiss on it before putting it back on my stomach.
“No, like me, if they choose to mate with another species, the mating bite will change them to make it possible for them to breed. Females will be able to lay eggs and incubate them, while males will be able to impregnate those eggs for females to lay.” Caspian leans back, pulling me against his chest, while Link keeps hold of the other hand.
I feel myself relaxing as these two provide me with comfort and some distraction.
“Throw him in one of the cells overnight, make sure it’s got shifting restrictions on it. We will let him wake up and calm down, and then we will put him on the next flight home. He has no place here in the circus after an attack on our granddaughter.” At William’s order, the guards pick Dylan up, dragging him out of the room.
“Caspian, you will have to do your show without him. Lucky we only have one stop after Earth before we take our month-long break. We’ll put a call out for new dragons or something else to replace him during that time.” John’s all business now that the threat is over.
