Chapter 7 #4
‘Sure,’ I say, though she doesn’t need my assent since she’s already chugging it. I roll my eyes. ‘Go right ahead, Doc.’
When she’s done, she puts the now empty bottle down on the counter and looks at me expectantly. ‘What do you need, Dreythos?’ A practiced eye moves over me. ‘You look fine.’
‘Not me,’ I say, beckoning her as I go into the guest room where the Tribute—
Mari, the dragon supplies.
Of course he’d remember!
Where Mari is still in her faint.
The faction doctor pauses when she sees her.
‘The Tribute.’
I nod.
She purses her lips. ‘I don’t usually get called for the humans.’
‘But you do know their physiologies?’
She gives me a look. ‘I worked at Johns Hopkins for years before the Fall, Drey. Of course, I know their physiologies. I just…don’t usually get called when they’re hurt, that’s all.’
She shakes her head. ‘No matter how many times I tell them to do so,’ she mutters.
Del moves closer to the bed with a frown, sniffing the air. ‘So, this is the Tribute I keep hearing about.’ She lets out a dry laugh. ‘You pissed off quite a few people when you didn’t gift her to Aziel.’
I roll my eyes. ‘Well, she was already claimed, as you can no doubt smell.’
She chuckles. ‘Oh, yeah, I can smell, all right.’ She raises her brows at me. ‘Still quite strong, too. That must have taken a few hours, huh?’
Snorting, I throw myself into the nearest chair, mostly so that I don’t start trying to touch the human.
‘She got here over a month ago. I…’ I let out a breath. ‘I left her care to Dominick.’
‘Dominick,’ she mutters, removing the blanket and letting out a sigh. ‘Probably not the best human-sitter you could have chosen.’
‘That’s a fucking understatement. He and others, I think, have been smacking her around. She said something about not being allowed food, being worked for twenty hours a day.’
Del shakes her head. ‘I can believe it. Aziel’s favored are treated better, marginally, but the others… Well, they don’t last long here. What happened other than that?’
‘Well, Dominick was in here making her get out of bed. He hit her a couple of times. There’re bruises all over her though, so it wasn’t the first time. She was saying she’s tired and she hasn’t been feeling well for a couple weeks.’
‘Understandable with little sleep, abuse like that, and inconsistent meals.’
I nod. ‘Well, I got rid of Dominick and made her some tomato soup with some bread. She ate it all, but then she threw up all over me and ran to the bathroom. She passed out after that.’
There’s an odd, strangled sound coming from the doctor and I realize she’s laughing. Hard.
I give her a long-suffering look as she chortles at me.
‘Sorry,’ she gasps. ‘Sorry, it’s just she threw up all over you?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Ha! I would have paid to see that.’
‘I’m sure,’ I mutter. ‘But maybe you could tell me what’s wrong with my human, huh?’
She makes a clear effort to stop chuckling, raising one brow a little before quickly turning away when I frown in confusion.
‘Of course. But to be honest, Drey, she’s probably just hungry and tired.
Sleep and sustenance are pretty basic needs for any creature.
But who knows what her life was even like before she came here.
I mean you should have brought her to me for tests when she got here.
She could have parasites, radiation sickness, malnutrition, or all of the above. ’
‘I thought she had been.’ I run my hands through my hair, pulling hard at the strands. ‘I trusted Dominick. He said it was done. The fucker dropped the ball hard.’
‘That’s for damned sure. Look, I brought my med kit. I’ll take some blood while she’s out and I’ll come back in a couple days to do the other tests. Sound okay?’
I nod. ‘Yeah. Thanks, Del.’
‘Ok, I’ll just—’ The doctor freezes.
‘What is it?’ I ask, standing up.
‘Just a sec.’
She puts up a finger and I frown at her, but she ignores me, moving closer to my female and taking a long inward breath through her nose.
‘She’s pregnant, Drey.’
‘What? You’re sure?’
‘Definitely. Hundred percent. There’s a scent beneath the others. Faint. But that’s what it is.’
‘Fuck,’ I mutter, my stomach sinking. ‘She told me that no one had made her…’
Del shakes her head. ‘I’ll have to run tests, but from the look of her abdomen she’s probably between eight and twelve weeks. Human gestation is nine months, about twice as long as dragon females.’
‘So, it would have been before she even met Tor and Brax . They must not know.’
I let out a breath.
‘Shoddy. There was a time when Tributes were virgins,’ she snorts.
I can’t help my chuckle, and she grins at me as she draws a little blood from Mari’s arm.
‘I’ll test this first. That should give me most of the data I need.
In the meantime, the vomiting is probably morning sickness.
Bland foods. Little and often. Make sure she’s hydrated and that she rests.
I’ll be back in a couple of days. Call me if you need me.
’ She frowns and gives me a pointed look.
‘And I’d keep her here, Drey. A couple of Aziel’s guys are sick sons of bitches when it comes to human girls. They might try to hurt the baby.’
My blood runs cold at the thought of one of them getting his hands on her, but I just give Del a curt nod.
I sit with Mari for a few minutes before she stirs with a groan.
‘What happened?’
‘You fainted in the bathroom.’
‘I did? Sorry.’
My lips thin. ‘You don’t need to be sorry,’ I say gently. ‘Do you want some water?’
She nods and I fill her a glass which she drinks from thirstily.
‘I’ll get out of your hair. Sorry.’
She makes like she’s going to get up and before I know what I’m doing, I’m caging her in.
She looks up at me with a gasp.
‘Sorry, ‘ I mutter, backing off and putting my hands up. ‘You don’t need to go anywhere. You’re staying here. No more kitchen work.’
She doesn’t look scared, but she sits up carefully. ‘I don’t get it. You didn’t care before. What’s changed?’
Everything.
‘I didn’t know what was happening. I’m run ragged most of the time. That’s no excuse, but I didn’t see. I’m making it right. Tor and Brax left you in my care and I’ve done a shitty job so far. With you, you know…’ I make a broad gesture at her torso.
She blinks at me. ‘What?’
‘You know, your pregnancy.’
‘My what?’
‘You do know you’re pregnant.’
She just stares at me.
Jesus. She didn’t know. And I just told her. Like that. It takes everything in me not to facepalm.
‘That’s not possible,’ she finally says. ‘They told me it wasn’t possible.’
‘The doctor confirmed it,’ I say.
‘Well, the doctor is wrong!’ she says loudly, her eyes flashing in anger. ‘They said it’s not possible, so it isn’t and you’re wrong!’
My dragon is in awe of her fire and I’m not far behind.
Claim her now while she’s angry! She’ll bite and scratch as a mate should!
I shut him out because she’s breathing fast and now pressing herself into the corner of the room. Tears are leaking from her eyes.
I go to her, squatting in front of her. ‘I promise you, everything will be fine,’ I murmur, putting my hand over hers.
I’m gratified when she doesn’t move it away.
She shakes her head vigorously.
‘No,’ she pants. ‘Won’t be fine. My mom died. So will I.’
She looks into my eyes, hers swimming with tears.
‘Why did they lie to me?’ she whispers
My heart breaks for her, as the dragon snarls that we should find the humans who did this, who tricked her somehow, and kill them slowly.
‘Who?’ I grind out. ‘Who were they?’
But she’s suddenly lunging forward and burying her face in my chest.
I’m frozen in surprise for a good few seconds before my arms wrap around her and I pick her up.
I take her to the couch and sit with her on my lap. Holding her until her breaths even out.
‘I’m sorry,’ she says in a small voice. ‘I don’t even know you.’
You will, the dragon mutters.
‘But you feel like the others do,’ she sighs.
‘Tor and Brax?’ I ask.
She nods against my chest.
‘How do they feel?’
She’s quiet for a moment. ‘Like home.’
Her words make my mind stutter to a stop. Like home.
That’s exactly how dragon mates describe their bond.
But she’s a human.
She can’t be a true mate.
I frown as my phone buzzes, and I let out a breath when I read the message with the specifics of the meeting I have to attend with the other factions in a couple of months to discuss the problems in the Borderlands as well as other issues.
I decide then and there that Mari is coming with me no matter what.
I’m not leaving her care to anyone, not even Del. She’s not leaving my side.
I hesitate for a moment, but then message Tor and Brax. Their banishment isn’t even half over, but I want them to see Mari. That’ll make her happy and, hopefully, keep her calm. And I can trust them at least not to stab me in the back.
No, they’ll come at me from the front once they hear how I’ve let their human be treated on my watch.
I sigh, holding a now slumbering Mari close.
My phone buzzes.
It’s Del. She wants to run more tests. She doesn’t elaborate, but I wouldn’t expect her to.
She’s always been a law unto herself even when she was a youngling, and I was five hundred years her senior.
Those were the days. Being a laird of a small clan in Scotland circa thirteen hundred was infinitely easier than being a commander of an entire faction these days.
But something comes across in her message that gives me pause. It’s as if she’s hiding something.
‘What is it about you, little human?’ I whisper. ‘What secrets are you keeping?’