Jenna let a small smile tilt her lips but didn’t say a word, knowing her friend wouldn’t appreciate it. “Would you prefer I continue talking about the weather? So, how do you feel about...bears?”
Belle growled, her arms becoming covered with the pink scales of her dragon. “Why do you ask?”
Jenna shrugged. “I’m just making convo. You know, bears are very cuddly,” she remarked.
“My daughter is the offspring of two lines of royalty. Did you know that?” Belle’s words dropped into the quiet of the day.
At Belle’s words, Jenna fell onto her ass, the soft grass cushioning her fall. “I...I knew you were from a high class of dragons, what with the way you spoke. But, royalty? And Lula? You mated another royal, yet they let you leave with an heir? What is wrong with the dragons?” Jenna asked from her spot on the ground.
Belle didn’t turn to face Jenna, her voice cracking as she spoke. “Dragons take a lot of pride in the colors of our scales. My family—the royals of my clan, all have bright-colored scales. Red, blue, green, and gold. To have a daughter whose scales that were pink like mine meant she was not...as good. I was considered not quite up to class in the royal hierarchy. However, my family tolerated me. When I fell for another royal, I thought he loved me, despite my low-class scales,” she snarled.
“Your scales are beautiful.” Jenna wanted to rip every one of the so-called royals’ stupid ugly scales from their equally stupid and ugly bodies.
“While I appreciate your words, in the eyes of my kind that wasn’t so. The dragon I thought loved me, despite my poor coloring, had promised to mate and marry me. The foolish female I was back then believed his lies. I gave myself to him fully. I became pregnant after our first coupling. When I told him, he was very angry and wanted me to get rid of it. Yes, he referred to my child as it. He said he couldn’t mate me. His family were another royal house and of course I should’ve known that they wouldn’t approve.” Belle paused; her voice breaking. She cleared her throat. “I already loved my baby and refused to do such a heinous thing. I left my home, the entire realm that wouldn’t allow me to have her there. The Goddess found me in the In-Between and sent me here, to you. I’ve thanked her and have loved you like a sister ever since. I’ll never forget either of you for what you’ve done for both of us. Now, tell me what it is you’re not supposed to tell me, Jennaveve. If my baby is in danger, I must know. If the dragons know of her existence, they will kill her. Her sperm donor will kill her to keep his lineage free from disgrace. If she’d been born like her father, she’d have been welcomed, but she’s like me, damaged,” she whispered.
Jenna jumped to her feet. “You are not damaged. You and Lula are both perfect. The dragons who said otherwise are the ones that are damaged. They, those worthless scaly bastards, are worthless and less than the shit we flush down the toilet. Now, I must go. I can feel my babies needs beating at me.” She gripped Belle by the arms and kissed her cheek before releasing her.
Belle reached for her best friend. Her dragon nearly roaring with the need to rip out of her. “You didn’t tell me why you were here.”
“I promised I wouldn’t, and I won’t. However, know your daughter is a grown dragon and has to live her life. She can’t be your baby forever, just as you too, need to move on from your past. I want you to find happiness, Belle.” Jenna grabbed Belle’s hands in hers. “I have lived a long life. Hundreds of those years were some of the loneliest of my existence, thinking I would forever be alone. But here I am, Belle. I’m mated to two wonderful wolpires with twin daughters who are my everything. I want that for you and for Lula. Don’t do anything to hinder that, my friend. Promise me,” Jenna implored.
“Is that what you promised Lula? Has she found someone?” Belle squeezed Jenna’s fingers between her own, her strength nearly bringing Jenna to her knees.
Becoming mist, Jenna moved away from the female dragon. “I can’t say any more. Just know things change. People change. Children grow up, and Lula is no longer a baby.” Jenna held up her hand. “Yes, I know she will always be your baby, but she is a dragon grown and has needs she is only just realizing. She’s going to need her mother to be okay with those changes.” Jenna didn’t wait around to hear Belle’s words.
LULA STAYED IN MIST form, hiding her scent behind Jenna’s. Her heart ached as she listened to her mother’s story of her birth and what her family had done. She’d known they couldn’t go to the Dragon Realm, but she hadn’t known why. In her heart, she’d always thought she would be able to travel there at some point. Meeting her family had been a childish dream, one that was squashed like a bug under her huge dragon feet. She thought of her beautiful strong mother being exiled all because of her scales, or rather because she’d decided to keep her. If Lula hadn’t been born, would Belle have found love with another dragon, maybe had other dragonlings and found happiness? Dragons that weren’t...wrong, damaged. No, she couldn’t think she wasn’t good enough, not when she was the spitting image of her mother, but maybe if she’d chosen a different path, chosen not to have Lula, her other children would’ve been normal, not like Lula.
She blinked, tears almost making her lose the form she was in. As Jenna began to disappear, she too, became mist. No way could she go to her mother and tell her she’d found her mates, not when her own mother had lost hers because of Lula. No, she couldn’t find happiness when her mother had suffered without a mate of her own, all because she’d chosen a child instead of love.
Her dragon felt a tug, parts of herself she’d gifted to others alerting her she was needed. “Thank the Goddess,” she whispered, flashing to the mountains of South Dakota, glad she had someone else’s troubles to focus on instead of her own, for a little while at least.
The beauty of the Fey Realm disappeared, replaced by tall trees and the wonderful scent of wolves. It took her a moment to zero in on her dragon essence. Her heart lifted as she materialized outside the alpha’s brother’s house. Sensing Sky, the little wolf who had a bit of Lula’s dragon in her after she’d almost died, her heart lifted, knowing because of her, the little wolf was still alive. Here, at least, she was needed and wanted. Instead of barging in like she’d have done before, she knocked.
“Why are you knocking?” Niall asked, his large form filling the doorway, his face appeared as though he hadn’t slept in days. Ah, the Mystic Wolves were so similar to the Iron Wolves, yet different as well. Alpha males were wonderful, but wolves were not her mates. The thought sent a shaft of pain through her, until she pushed it to the back, where she could function without falling to her knees.
Lula shrugged. “I was being polite.”
Niall narrowed his bright blue eyes, staring behind Lula. “Has Hell frozen over?”
With a growl, Lula shoved him out of the way. “I will burn you, wolfie. Alpha or not. Have you smelled the scent of burning fur? It’s not a pleasant scent, trust me. Now, where are my girls, and don’t get lippy with me. I’m not in the mood for stupid males.”
A female she recognized stepped into the hallway, sighing loudly. She then turned, facing Lula with a squeal. “Oh, thank the Goddess. It’s your turn. Go in there and let her squeeze whatever part of you she wants.” Alaina Malik, mate to the alpha was shaking her arms. She too didn’t appear as though she’d slept in quite a while.