Chapter 101

Chapter 101
Ryker PoV

There’s an unfamiliar burning in my chest, I know it’s not my dragons breath, that’s never hurt me before. Not once in all my years alive has it burned me. But this feeling, I don’t fucking like it. Not one bit, and I know exactly what it is.

I’ve heard of this feeling before, I just never thought I’d be the one to come face to face with it. Jealous. I’m jealous of Maddox.

He was inimitable with our mate, and I didn’t even know, no one spoke to me about it. No one gave me a heads up. Or asked if I wanted to join.

Fuck them, both of them. Let them keep their secrets.

Elora is pregnant, she isn’t carrying his child inside of her, her body will swell with his son or daughter, and I will be forced to watch from the sidelines.

They have made it perfectly clear that I’m not on the same level as them, well fine. If they don’t see me as their equal, then I won’t treat them as mine.

No more playing nice.

If Elora wants his children so badly, she can fucking have them. But once she has popped this child out, she will be carrying the dragon heir next. I can’t have a child with anyone but my fated mate, she knows that.

She must give me an heir.

I didn’t even think we were at a point in our relationship where sex was an option, but clearly it wasn’t me that interested her, it was Maddox. How dare she leave me on the sidelines?

How dare Maddox take the first moment of intimacy with her without even talking to me about it? Fuck. I could explode with how much rage I feel burning inside of me.

This is all Elora’s fault, if she hadn’t have shown herself to me on that human farm, I would have never known who she was to me.

I could have lived in blissful ignorance for the rest of my days.

She doesn’t know it yet, but she has awoken a beast inside of me that will not be tamed. I want her. I hate her, so fucking much right now. But I still want her.

I want to know what her body feels like beneath mine. I want to hear her call out my name as she reaches the apex of her pleasure. But she won’t. She doesn’t want me.

I’m not like Maddox, I’ve made no effort to get to know the softer side of her. Perhaps that is where I went wrong.

Maddox walks back into the dining room after taking our mate back to her bed, the sickness is weakening her, and she hates it, but the best thing for her right now is rest.

“Tell me what is on your mind.” Maddox says, slumping down in his chair, “I know this news if affecting you more than you have said.”

I place my fork down harder than I needed to, “when were you going to tell me that you had been intimate with her?” I ask.

The hardest part of who I am is trying to control my inner beast, it is something Maddox and I have in common. We both struggle to control the wilder parts of us.

If I’m not careful, this will turn into a fight, one I don’t want.

Now is not the time to stress the fae woman out, it would risk her life and the life of his child. It may not be my baby, but for some reason. I feel oddly attached to it.

The creature is no bigger than a single finger nail, but I want to protect it with everything in me, even if I am mad about how it came to be.

I hope it’s a girl with a fire in her eyes, just like her mother.

But knowing Maddox, he will want a son. Someone he can train and spar with. A mini version of himself.

“It didn’t cross my mind that I needed to inform you.” He says, watching me a little too closely. “Are you angered by the fact she is carrying our child?”

I shake my head, fighting the urge to flip the table. “it isn’t my child, it is yours.” I say. “I just wanted to be included, she is my mate also, not yours alone.”

“This child may not have your DNA, but it is still yours.” Maddox says, eerily calm. “The three of us our bound by destiny, linked together by fate and kept together by the strength of heart.” He leans closer, “I was intimate with her once, you had your way second, but that doesn’t mean yours was less meaningful. You will have your chance to put a child inside of her.”

He’s right, I may not have done it at the same time as him, but when Elora and I touch, the whole world brightens in a way I never thought that it could.

I shouldn’t be angry, I should be happy that we are starting a family, even if it has come at a time of war.

I sigh, my shoulders lowering as my anger washes away, “do you think she noticed my hesitation to accept the child?”

Maddox shakes his head, “I don’t think she did, but you know how crafty our little fae woman can be.” He says. “She picks up on a lot more than she says.”

I nod, understanding the meaning behind his words, “I will go and apologise to her immediately, I don’t want there to be any animosity between the three of us.”

He grabs my arm, pulling me back down into my chair, “not right now, she is sleeping away the sickness.” He releases me the moment I settle back and grab my coffee, the one human drink I can’t stand being without. “Let her rest, then go to her.”

I nod, swallowing down the hot liquid, it burns a little, but the pain is a good reminder of who I am.

I don’t have to let my anger rule me. I’m more than just the dragon within.

I hate that she isn't swollen with my child, but there is still time, we have the rest of our lives to have more children, right now I should be concentrating on the war, not a woman.

but gods, I want to concentrate on her, she's fucking perfect, and she'll only get more perfect as she swells with a child inside of her.

she'll look amazing waddling around, she's only small, but I know she'll handle it well.

she's made for this, to carry our children until she no longer can. And fuck, I'll make her carry a dozen of mine.

But first, the war.