“Don’t force him to mate with me. I’ll stay. I’ll raise this child here. I’ll do whatever you tell me to do, just don’t force him. Please.” She’d caused Kai enough trouble.
Blaze looked her in the eye for the longest time. She could feel her heart beating in her chest. “It is you who has forced him.” With that, there was a cracking noise as he began to shift. Ruby quickly stepped back. For a second she was tempted to follow but she knew that defying him at this point would have dire consequences. This wasn’t just about her anymore. There were other lives at stake. There were things Kai needed to know. She put a hand to her belly.
Chapter 11
Ruby stared up into the sky, watching as her brothers became specks in the distance. Almost invisible to the naked eye. Invisible to humans. They would avoid any flight paths and stay high to keep from being seen.
The male moved in next to her. “They left,” he said. Without having to look, she knew it was the king that wore the strange clothing. Ruby had heard him approach. She could scent him as well.
She nodded her head. “Yes.”
“I take it that they have agreed to our terms?” He asked.
“Sort of.”
“What does that mean? I’m Brant by the way.” He held out his hand to her.
Ruby wasn’t sure what to make of it. She’d read a multitude of novels and knew this was the human way of greeting. It seemed strange he would use it on her. Instead of questioning the male, she reached out and took his hand. They shook twice before he released her. “My brother has given me the space I need.”
He nodded, looking satisfied. “You are welcome here. I will ensure you are assigned a room. Zane informed me Kai’s eager to meet with you, to discuss the child and…” He let the sentence die.
Ruby nodded.
“Although the male is eager to see you, this child comes first, would you like to see the healers now?” Concern shone in his eyes.
Ruby shook her head. She really did believe that the healers couldn’t help her. Either a female would make it through the releasing or she wouldn’t. Either a child would be born or it wouldn’t. Dragon healers had never been much help and she truly believed the same was true of the vampire healers. This child might be part vampire but it was most definitely a dragon shifter. She could feel it inside her. This pregnancy had progressed normally. Everything was as it should be. At least, mostly everything. “I would like to meet with Kai first.” Her breath froze in her lungs at the prospect.
She couldn’t wait to see him, to talk with him and yet, she was afraid. So much had changed. The way he had looked at her when he found out…Ruby rubbed a hand over her belly. I’m here for you, baby. It’s you and me.
Brant nodded. “Follow me, I will take you to him.” He removed a device from his pocket. It was a phone. The first one she had ever seen. She’d read about these devices. Dragons had no use for them. They did not possess the technology required to operate them. The male pushed a couple of the buttons and put the phone to his ear.
There was a grunted greeting from the other end.
“I am on my way. The princess is with me,” Brant said.
“Good.” A deep voice on the other side. “Kai is out of his mind with worry.”
He was worried. For her. No, he had obviously been told about the possible problems with her pregnancy.
“We’ll be there in five.” The male beside her pressed a button on the device and pushed the phone back into his pocket.
“Is there anything we should know?” The male frowned down at her as they continued to walk.
“Like what?” Ruby wasn’t sure what he meant. She frowned right back at him.
“Like…I don’t know. You can obviously still shift. I take it you eat normal food.” He was pulling a face. His expression spoke of confusion.
“Three meals a day, although”—she put a hand to her stomach—“a snack or two would be nice. I tend to get a bit hungrier…at the moment.” She rubbed her belly.
“Have you felt him move yet?” His whole demeanor softened as he spoke of the child. There was a goofy grin on his face.
What? Was he being serious? The male was joking. “Of course not.” She laughed. “That’s silly. One thing though, dragons like meat. Lots of it. And we prefer it rare. As in still bleeding, if possible. Raw is fine or very lightly seared.”
It was hilarious because the vampire male pulled a face and visibly paled. He was a blood drinker but the thought of eating bloody meat disgusted him. How strange.
“No problem. Is there anything you can’t eat?”
She shook her head. “I’m not a big fan of eggs and eggplant. I don’t eat any form of dairy.”
“Egg and eggplant?” The male smiled. “You are a weird one…no offense, princess.”
It felt good to be treated normally. Ruby laughed. “None taken.” They walked into the castle. Vampires stared at her. All out stared. They stopped what they were doing and stared. Many of them sniffed at her. Their nostrils flared and confusion was written all over their faces. This was going to be fun.
“Um.” Brant looked uncomfortable. He pushed a button on the wall next to the steel sliding doors. It looked like an elevator. At least she was sure it was one. The thing dinged and opened. Yup, definitely an elevator.
Brant put a hand to her back. “After you.”
She peered into the small boxlike room. “I’m not sure…”
“You’ve never been in an elevator?” He frowned at her.
Ruby shook her head. So it was an elevator.
“You’ll be fine. I promise.”
“I can’t go in there. What if I need to shift? I’ll kill myself. No.” She wrapped her arms around herself. “Dragons don’t do small confined spaces. We wouldn’t die but shifting in a small space is akin to torture. It might be dangerous…for the baby.”
“No problem. Good to know.” He was looking at her like she was crazy. “We’ll take the stairs.”
Once they were on the landing on the next floor, he turned to face her. The male rolled his eyes. “I’m can’t believe I’m about to say this. Go easy on Kai. You kind of fucked him over with this whole thing. Tell him all of the information he needs to know. Be honest. Once you are done, I’ll have the guards take you to our healers. When are you due?”
“Due? I’m not sure what you mean.” She shook her head.
“When is the baby supposed to come?”
“The baby? No, not for a while yet.” At least, she didn’t think he…or she…would make an appearance just yet. She rubbed her belly. It had become a habit.
He seemed to relax. “Okay. This is Kai’s room.” Two guards stood on either side of the door. “If you need anything, have one of them call me. Zane and I…” The door opened and the other king emerged looking tense. Brant cleared his throat. “As I was saying, Zane and I have your best interests at heart.”
“I also have Kai’s best interests at heart.” The leather clad male said. His voice deep and ominous. “I also need to think of him.”
“Yes,” she whispered. “Of course.”
“This child is important.” Brant looked down at her belly, he shifted from one foot to the other. “Relations between our species is important. I will be sure to keep in contact with all parties involved. If you have any concerns, call me.”
Zane raised his brows. “What Brant is trying to say is that we don’t want a war and I don’t want to see Kai come to harm…we also want to see the child safely born, of course.”
“Stop…” Kai stepped into the doorway. He filled it with his immense bulk. Even next to these two males. The kings of the species, he was formidable. Right now she found it laughable that she had ever believed him to be human. Even for a second. She had been desperate. Not thinking straight. Maybe she had simply believed what she needed to at the time.
Brant growled. He didn’t like that a subordinate was telling him what to do. Typical behavior of an arrogant royal. It seemed that they were
the same regardless of species. Zane put a hand to his chest. “Let’s get out of here.” His deep voice vibrated. “They need to talk.”
After what felt like the longest time, Brant nodded.
****
Talk.
Understatement of the fucking century.
They needed to talk big fucking time.
It irritated him how gorgeous she looked. She was wearing leggings and a lose fitting top. Even her pregnant stomach appealed to him. She worried her tongue across her bee-stung lips. He suddenly understood what that adjective meant. Plump as fuck lips, the color of overripe cherries.
“Come inside.” He growled, as he yanked the door open.
She flinched. Fuck! He hated that he made her feel that way. Scared of him. He huffed out a pent up breath. Once the door was shut, he put his forehead to the cold wood for a half a second. Calm the fuck down. “You’re safe with me.” He worked to keep his voice calm and neutral.
When he turned around, her lip was between her teeth. Her forehead lined with worry. “I know that.” Her voice was calm. Her arms were folded over her chest. It made her bump stand out even more. Small, neat, his baby. He had the sudden urge to drop to his knees and to run his hands over her belly. To talk to the unborn child. His baby.
Instead, he stuffed his hands into his pockets. “Sit.” He urged. “I need to know what’s wrong with…him.” His eyes were glued to her stomach. Kai tried to swallow down a lump in his throat. If anything happened to the baby. His.
Shit.
He ran a hand through his hair waiting until she was comfortable. If sitting on the edge of a sofa with a straight back, could be deemed as comfortable. Kai stayed standing.
“What do you know about the…problem with my pregnancy?” Just hearing her voice cut him. It bought back memories of their time together and his belly tightened along with other things. Fucking head in the game. It was just his body’s reaction to a female in his space. It meant fuck all. The fact that he still found her scent so damned appealing meant even less. It was his body remembering the pleasure she had brought him.
“I don’t know a damn thing,” he said. “Who am I? I’m just the father of this child. The fucking father.” Pull it together.
Her eyes were wide. She clasped her hands tightly. He was upsetting her and it wasn’t good for the child.
“I’m sorry.” He managed to choke out. “All I know is that there is something wrong.” He spun away and dug his hands into his hair. He took a deep breath into his lungs and turned back. “Tell me. I need to know everything,” he growled. “I deserve to know everything.”
This time, she kept her eyes on him and squared her shoulder. “I should’ve released two weeks ago.
He frowned. “Come again.”
Her frown deepened. “I’m two weeks overdue.”
“So soon? That would mean that, as a dragon shifter, you’re only supposed to be pregnant for…” He did the math in his head. “Six weeks? Is that right? That can’t be right.” He said the last to himself.
She nodded. “Yes. Six weeks. I’m two weeks late. It’s never happened before. A female has never carried this long. A female can be a day or two late. Maybe three at the most but a whole two weeks…never.”
His eyes moved to the bump. To the way her hand caressed the curve of her underbelly. His baby. “What does that mean? How is it bad? Our females carry for much longer.”
“Good to know. It is a mixed species baby. A first. There has never been a vampire/dragon child before. I hope it is the main reason for the delay. I am”—she nodded, swallowing hard—“pretty sure it’s the reason for the longer wait. How long are your females pregnant?”
“A year.”
Her eyes widened and she gasped. A hand flew up to cover her mouth. Her sexy as fuck lips. “What? No! That can’t be right.” She shook her head. “How long after that before the baby hatches?” She looked horrified. Then again, he was sure that he did too.
What the fuck!
“I’m not sure what you mean.” Please lord, don’t let this be what I think it is. He forced himself to stand his ground. Tempted to grab ahold of her and to shake her until she gave him all of the answers he was looking for.
She shook her head, looking confused. “Hatches as in—”
Fucking hell! “Explain your pregnancy to me. One step at a time, including timelines. Start at the beginning.” He spoke quickly, sounding panicked. Warriors did not panic.
“Well, a male and a female…”
“You can skip that part,” he growled.
“I’m sorry!” She yelled. “You’re making me really nervous and I can’t think straight when I’m nervous.”
He sucked in a deep breath and closed his eyes for a few beats. “I’m sorry. Let’s start again, a dragon shifter becomes pregnant and then?”
“An egg develops inside her for six weeks.” She spoke so matter-of-factly. Like this was common knowledge. “The female then releases the egg which needs to be left to mature for a further five or six weeks.” She paused. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Vampires give birth to live young.”
“Really?” She gasped. “I know humans do too. I assumed that all non-humans…had eggs…like us…”
He shook his head to signal that she had been wrong in her assumption. Very fucking wrong. What did this mean for their baby? His eyes moved back to the bump. Small, tidy, very rounded and tight. It looked like an egg. Could it be? Kai went and sat down. He lasted all of three seconds before he jumped back up. An egg. An egg!
“Do you think he might be without a shell?” Ruby swallowed thickly. She licked her lips. “I haven’t felt even the slightest movement so that can’t be it…can it?”
“You might not be far enough along.” Kai shrugged. “I don’t know too much about pregnancies. You look like the thought of him…shell-less…” It felt weird to talk about his baby being inside an egg. A fucking egg. “Worries you.”
“It would be dangerous for me. Possibly very dangerous.” Ruby looked pale. Her amethyst eyes looked huge.
“In what way?” The feelings of panic returned.
“I’m a dragon, we breathe fire.”
Fucking hell! They were oil and water. Ying and fucking yang. Their species didn’t belong together. What had possessed this female to leave her kind, to seek out a male for the purpose of becoming pregnant? She had to have known what she was doing. In retaliation? As a fuck you to her obviously controlling brother? What was her reasoning? A dozen of such questions swirled around inside of him but none of them were important right now.
“How is fire breathing significant? Wait a minute…do babies of your species breathe fire as well?” He recalled how smoke had wafted from the shifter male’s nostrils.
“Even our unborn young, when developed sufficiently within the egg, breathe fire. More and more as they ready themselves for the hatching. There are others of our species who later lose the ability…it is what makes the Fire dragons so strong, but that’s not relevant. This child will start to breathe fire soon.”
His jaw dropped. “They breathe fire before they’re even born?”
She nodded. “Yes. I would regenerate if…” She rubbed her hand over her belly. “It would be excruciatingly painful but I’m sure I’d be okay. I think.” She didn’t look sure.
He couldn’t imagine how being burned from the inside would feel. Kai swallowed thickly. He grabbed the back of his neck. Then rubbed a hand over his mouth. “You might just be carrying a bit longer because of my vampire blood. You could still have an egg inside you.”
“There is no way of telling. I guess I didn’t think this through. I thought you were a human. I’m so sorry…I was desperate…I…”
“Ruby.” He whispered her name and she stopped talking and chewed on her lower lip instead. Gone was the fierce female. The vulnerable one was back and in full force. “There are more important things right now. I can’t believe this is happening. Shit…
” Kai grit his teeth and moved to his haunches in front of her. “Thing is, it is happening whether we like it or not. We are going to have a serious talk about…why you did what you did. I’m angry.” Understatement of the century. “I don’t like you very much right now.” Fucking understatement of the millennium. “I doubt anything you say could change that.”
Fuck! Her eyes filled with tears. She blinked them away and pulled herself more upright. Her eyes hardened up. She was working hard not to cry.
Kai looked down for a moment or two, feeling himself calm. At least she wasn’t using tears to get to him. She seemed so genuine, so…nice. Why? Why? Why? Once again he pushed away the questions. “Regardless of how this happened though or how I feel right now, you are carrying my child.” He couldn’t help it any longer. His hand moved to stroke her belly.
Ruby tensed up. She released a small huff of air as soon as his hand made contact.
“Is this okay?” Emotion made his words thick. He couldn’t help himself. Feelings of…he wasn’t sure how to label them…just pure, intense emotion…rose up in him. It was like nothing he had ever experienced before.
“It’s fine.” Her voice shook. “I don’t mind.”
He brought both of his hands to her stomach and closed them around the very egg-like mound. “I want to be there for him. My feelings for you won’t change that. Whatever happens between us will never change that. I’m with you every step of the way. I promise…” He lifted his gaze.
Ruby was crying. Big tears rolled down her cheeks. “I’m sorry.” She blurted, wiping them away. She looked embarrassed. “It’s just…I thought I was alone in this. I didn’t think my child would ever know his father.” She fanned her face, looking up at the ceiling. “I’m sorry. I hate crying. I’m so hormonal. I cry for anything right now. Just ignore it…ignore me.”
Kai let go of her belly. He wanted to touch it some more. To nuzzle his face against it. Now he understood Lazarus’ need to carry his mate around. Especially now that she was so swollen with child. Twins. He couldn’t even begin to imagine. York was just as bad. He grunted at anyone who came anywhere near Cassidy. He talked to the baby and hugged and kissed her tummy constantly. Kai had thought it so strange to watch grown-ass males reduced to…that. Now, he could summon up a good dose of understanding.
A Mate for Kai (The Program #6) Page 10
