She opens her mouth. Closes it. Her hands flatten against my chest and I feel them trembling. Lila doesn't tremble. Doesn't hesitate. But this moment is stripping away every defense she's built.
"I think I'm pregnant."
The words hang between us. Simple. Devastating. Impossible.
Everything stops. The ocean. The wind. My own heartbeat. Reality narrows to three words that can't be true because dragons don't— because my line ended— because Mikhail made sure?—
My mind goes blank. Reboots. Tries to process information that rewrites everything I believed about my future.
Pregnant. With my child. Continuing a bloodline I spent centuries convinced died with Saoirse.
The possibility hits like dragon fire to the chest. Burning. Brutal. Beautiful.
"You're certain." The words scrape out of me. Not a question. A demand for data because I need her scientist brain to make this real.
"Not certain. Not yet." She's cataloging symptoms the way she catalogs everything, but her voice shakes. "But the signs are there. Increased metabolic demands. Heightened olfactory sensitivity. Hormonal changes I can feel." Her hands flatten harder against my chest, anchoring herself. "The transformation rewrote my biology. Dragon DNA. Accelerated fertility. It hasn’t been long, but the symptoms suggest pregnancy."
I process what she's saying—not confirmation, but strong probability based on observable data. My mate. My dragon. Possibly carrying the child that will prove Mikhail failed. That my line survives. That everything he tried to destroy continues.
The weight of it staggers me. Centuries of solitude. Of hunting the phoenix who murdered my mate and burned any chance of family to ash. Of believing I was the last. The end of something ancient and irreplaceable.
And now this.
Her scientist brain is working through variables, words spilling out like she needs to explain the impossible into existence. "The claiming was intense. The bond formation, the magical integration. My body was still adjusting to the transformation when we..." She trails off. "Variables I didn't account for."
I watch her face. The way hope and terror war in her expression. The way her hand drifts unconsciously to her belly before she catches herself. The way she's looking at me like she needs me to tell her this is real.
My dragon roars. Possessive. Protective. Mine and ours and everything Mikhail tried to take blazing back to life.
I pull her against me hard enough to hurt. She gasps but doesn't pull away. My hand finds her belly, pressing flat against the place where our child might be growing. Where my line might be rebuilding itself cell by cell.
"If you're pregnant." My voice comes out rough. Raw. "If you're carrying my child." I press my forehead against hers, letting her feel everything I can't articulate. The centuries of loss. The sudden savage hope. "Then Mikhail didn't win. He tried to end my bloodline and instead?—"
"Instead it continues." She finishes the thought. Her hands frame my face. "But Finn, I need to verify. I need certainty. I can't just assume?—"
"Your instincts are dragon now." I cut her off. "You feel it. Here." My hand presses harder against her belly. "Don't you."
She nods. Small movement. "Yes."
First dragon born in generations.
The possibility hits like a physical blow. Mikhail spent centuries trying to destroy my line. Killed Saoirse. Hunted me. Built an empire on the bones of supernatural creatures he enslaved and experimented on.
And here I stand with my mate telling me she might be pregnant with the child that will continue everything he tried to end.
My line. Rebuilt.
"How do we confirm?" The question comes out rougher than intended.
"I don't know." Frustration bleeds through the bond. "There's no established medical protocol for dragon pregnancy. No tests. No baseline data." She looks up at me. "I need to verify before I state it as fact. But Finn, every instinct I have says yes."
Dragon instinct layered over scientific training. She's learned to trust both.
"When will you know?"
"Soon. Days, maybe. The symptoms will either intensify or disappear." Her hand moves to her belly. Unconscious gesture. "I'll document everything. Build a knowledge base. Future dragons will need this information."
Already thinking ahead. Planning for a future that includes our child.
