Water Dragon's Baby Read online

  Water Dragon’s Baby

  Elemental Dragons

  Scarlett Grove

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  About the Author

  Also by Scarlett Grove

  Copyright © 2016 by Scarlett Grove

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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  1

  Ella Turner stood behind her desk and smiled at her students as they took their seats and prepared for the day. Each student had individual three-dimensional holographic communications technology built into their desks. The holocoms were all integrated into the advanced digital AI system that had been wired throughout the world.

  After she had taken attendance, Ella turned to the holographic computer screen behind her desk and slid her finger over the control panel. She brought up the list of today's assignments for her students and she began the first lesson.

  Her second-grade students were learning about the history of Draconia and its partnership with Earth. Thirty years ago, the alien race of dragon shifters appeared on Earth.

  The Draconians had a genetic abnormality that favored male offspring. Because of this, the dragon shifters needed to mate with other races of women every five thousand years or they would become extinct. Earth was on a rotation with the Draconians to provide brides for their race.

  Unfortunately for the Draconians, who had been involved with ongoing military struggles with their enemies, the Mulgor, they had not realized that humanity had advanced both technologically and sociologically since the last time they'd been to Earth.

  The first time the Draconians had come to mate with human women, humanity had been primitive and had worshiped the dragon shifters as gods. Finding brides among humans had not been difficult five thousand years ago.

  However, when they arrived the second time thirty years ago, humanity had not been as impressed. So the dragon shifters had to offer something in exchange for human cooperation in the mating lottery. That included offering a monetary incentive to the women who signed up for the lottery, and advanced technology for the people of Earth.

  Ella continued instructing her students on the history of Draconian-Human relations. Thirty years ago, the advanced technology that the Draconians had offered humanity had backfired. It had been used in a destructive and negative way, requiring the Draconians to become more and more involved with the human race. Finally, after the Mulgor attacked the Earth, the Draconians were forced to help humanity rebuild their devastated planet.

  “That's why we have the peaceful world we experience today,” Ella told her students.

  “And why haven't you joined the mating lottery?” one of her students said as she raised her hand.

  Ella thought about this question for a moment. She had grown up an orphan. She'd lost her parents after the Mulgor attack and had never known what it was like to live in a family.

  All that time, Ella had been working for the betterment of humanity and had found a good fit for herself as an elementary school teacher. Because there was less and less need for brides among the Dragon shifters as Ella came into adulthood, there was less incentive to join the lottery. It simply hadn't been on her radar.

  “I don't think that's an appropriate question for the classroom,” Ella said to her student.

  “But don't you want to find a mate?” her student asked, making all the other second graders giggle.

  “That is my personal business and I think we should keep it out of the classroom,” Ella said, trying to keep her cool.

  She continued the day’s instruction with the math assignment on her schedule. Her students stopped asking questions about the mating lottery, and Ella tried to put the thought out of her mind. By the end of the day, the question from earlier still wouldn't leave her alone.

  As she said goodbye to her students and left her classroom, Ella was in a state of confusion she hadn't experienced in years.

  Of course there were still plenty of commercials on television and the Internet advertising the Draconian mating lottery. But for a woman like Ella, it just hadn't seemed like the most reasonable plan.

  She walked through the glass-walled building under streaming sunlight, and then outside the front door of the elementary school. She continued to the hover bus stop and waited. With a sigh, Ella tapped her wrist holocom bracelet and brought up her 3D holographic communications system. She had no new messages.

  A few moments later, the hover bus arrived and she climbed on board. The hover bus took off and navigated through the skyways between the towering buildings of new Chicago.

  The Draconian reconstruction of Earth really had brought about a golden era on the planet. Everything was clean and technologically advanced. People had good jobs and plenty of food to eat. Environmental harmony had been restored. But no matter how good things were on Earth, Ella couldn't push her student’s question out of her mind.

  When she arrived home at her little apartment that overlooked Lake Michigan, she sat on her couch and gave her apartment holocom the verbal command to turn on her television screen.

  Sitting down on her comfy couch, she watched a reality TV show about a Draconian basketball player and his human wife. It was one of her favorite shows on TV. She had to ask herself why she enjoyed it so much, and her conclusion was that she found the basketball star extremely sexy. Like every other woman on Earth.

  As the sun began to set outside the bank of picture windows overlooking Lake Michigan, Ella’s heart sank, thinking of the prospect of spending another night alone. She loved the children in her class and she loved children in general. But living a life alone on Earth was not fulfilling her most basic human needs.

  Most human men were too involved in the pleasures of the new Earth to want to settle down and have a family. Ella had been involved in her career and pastimes most of her adult life. But today, for the first time, she was really beginning to think that she needed something more. Just then, a commercial for the Draconian mating lottery came on TV.

  “Join the mating lottery and see the stars.”

  Ella let out a deep sigh and flicked her wrist holocom. She navigated to the Draconian mating lottery website and began to fill in her information. A moment later, her holocom took a sample of her DNA and added it to the Draconian mating lottery database.

  The way that mating worked for the dragon shifters was a lot different than how it worked for humans. Each Draconian had what they called a fated mate. A fated mate was the one person in the entire universe who was genetically perfect for the dragon shifter.

  Ella had heard it said that fated mates were not only genetically perfect for each other but also spiritually perfect for each other. Ella didn't know if she believed such things, but over the last thirty years, every human woman who had been matched with a Draconian had experienced a deep spiritual connection with her man.

  Within moments, Ella was given her match. She gasped and her hands started to shake with excitement.

  His picture came up on the screen, instantly making her mouth drop and her eyes widen. His name was Shay, Water Prince of Galaton. The look in his moss-green eyes instantly melted her heart. She’d neve
r felt such a strong reaction to an image of a man before.

  Ella had never heard of the planet Galaton and quickly did an Internet search for more information. She soon learned that Galaton was a distant planet in the Draconian star system. It had been terraformed millions of years ago as a Draconian colony. Now, it was an independent principality ruled over by four princes.

  Each Prince represented an element: fire, air, earth, and water. She’d been matched with the prince of water. His lands were a vast ocean on the western part of the planet.

  The more Ella learned about Galaton, the quicker her heart pounded in her chest. How could it be possible that she, a humble elementary school teacher from Chicago, could be the mate of the water Prince of Galaton?

  Almost immediately she received a text on her holocom.

  “You have been matched with a Draconian. Please report to your nearest Draconian Consulate at your earliest convenience.”

  This was all happening so fast. Ella had imagined that maybe she would be matched with one of the dragon shifters who’d been born on Earth in the last thirty years. There were plenty of them; the basketball player in the reality TV show playing on her screen was an example of one of them. Nowadays, most girls were being matched with dragon shifters from their home planet of Draconia and traveling through the wormhole to live there.

  But instead of a dragon from Earth or Draconia, she had been matched with a man who was millions upon millions of miles away on a distant planet she’d never even heard of.

  The more she thought about it, the more nervous she become. Ella didn't know if she was ready for any of this. Maybe it had been a mistake. Now that she had entered the lottery, she had to at least go to the consulate.

  In the past, human women were required to spend at least two weeks with their Draconian mate before deciding whether or not they would stay with them. The Draconians had what was called a mating impulse or ‘thrall’ that, if not satisfied, would slowly drive them mad.

  No woman had ever chosen not to stay with her mate. But how in the world would she ever spend two weeks with a dragon who was millions of miles away in space? It just didn't seem possible.

  Ella rose from her couch and went to the kitchen to use the food replicator. She flicked her finger over the holographic control panel and programmed her replicator to make her a slice of pepperoni pizza for dinner.

  A moment later, her pizza popped out of the counter on a plate, bubbling hot with melted cheese. She grabbed her dinner, went to the couch, and continued watching reality TV shows.

  Ella ate her pizza and tried to decide what she was going to do. When she was done, she cleaned up and went to her bedroom. She had a big foam bed under her window that she climbed into. She was so confused she had a hard time falling asleep. Every time she closed her eyes, all she could see behind them was the sight of her prince’s moss green eyes, staring at her through the vast distances between them.

  2

  Ella woke up early the next morning, and the first thought in her mind was the dragon shifter she'd been matched with the day before. She'd never met him or spoken to him, but there was something about the look in his eyes that made her feel like they'd known each other all their lives.

  She couldn't rationalize her feelings, but that didn't make them any less intense. Since it was the weekend, and she didn't have to work that day, she got ready and left for the consulate. When her hover bus arrived at her bus stop, she got on board and rode through the skyways to her destination. There was a Draconian consulate on the street level in old Chicago that had been there since before the Mulgor invasion.

  When she arrived, she got off the bus and stood in front of the Greek-style building with marble pillars and a domed roof. She took a deep breath and walked up the stairs to the front entrance. The doors slid open, and Ella walked inside, ready to meet her new life.

  As soon as she stepped through the sliding glass doors, she was greeted by the Draconian consulate’s AI system.

  “Greetings, Ella Turner. You have been matched with Shay Vishak, Water Prince of Galaton.”

  Images of Shay projected three-dimensionally all around her and she was struck once again by his overwhelming masculine beauty. She gasped and lifted her fingertips to her lips.

  Almost forgetting where she was and what she was doing, she didn't notice when the Draconian secretary approached her and cleared his throat. She looked up at the seven-foot-tall dragon shifter, wearing a skintight gray uniform and gasped again with surprise.

  “Ella Turner,” the Draconian secretary said. “I am Secretary Kim. You know you have been mated with Prince Shay of Galaton. Congratulations.”

  “I still don't understand what all this means,” Ella said. “How can I be mated with a Draconian who is so far away? How can I possibly have a two-week trial over such a long distance?”

  “Indeed,” Secretary Kim started. “This is a very good question, Ella, thank you for asking. You should be aware that if you accept the mating with Prince Shay, we cannot ensure your safety or safe passage back to Earth if you choose not to stay with him on Galaton.”

  “Can't he come here?” Ella asked.

  “In fact, he cannot. The culture of Galaton prohibits him traveling all the way to Earth. The Galatonian dragons are known for their warlike culture. Unfortunately, since the last female died on their planet, the lower level aristocrats have been actively trying to overthrow the rule of the princes. Draconia cannot get involved with the politics of an independent planet. But we have opened the lottery to Galaton. And we will assist you in going to meet your prince. However, there are some other conditions you should be aware of.”

  “Other conditions?” she asked, feeling more and more nervous about this with every passing second.

  “Should you accept your match with Prince Shay, you will be artificially inseminated with his seed. The trip to Galaton will take a year. And during that time, you will be prohibited from interacting with him.”

  “So I'm going to get pregnant with the baby of a man I've never met and then travel through space for a year while pregnant just to meet him? And you can't ensure that I can ever come home again?” she said, shocked.

  Just verbalizing the words made her realize how ludicrous this proposition happened to be.

  “That is correct. But just like other dragon shifters, the water Prince of Galaton will have already begun his mating thrall. It would have started for him the moment he found out he had been matched with you. If you do not go to join him, he will lose his mind and eventually die. Since we cannot ensure your safety, we can also not force you to join the prince on his planet. But we do encourage you to go.”

  “Have any other brides made it safely to Galaton?” she asked.

  “Two other bride ships have already left. The Fire Prince’s bride has already arrived with her baby. From what I understand, she is quite happy.”

  “Well, that’s some reassurance at least,” Ella said.

  She couldn't believe she was even considering this. All around her, images of Shay filled up every holographic screen available. He was tall and strong and gorgeous in a way she had never experienced before. The sight of him drew her as if there was already a bond between them that she couldn't explain.

  “Why don't you take some time to think about it and give me your answer as soon as possible,” the secretary said.

  “All right,” Ella muttered, dazed and confused.

  She turned on her heel and left the consulate, feeling more muddled than ever. How could she leave everything she had ever known on Earth to join a man she'd never met? It didn't seem like a very good life choice.

  Ella walked down the stairs of the consulate to the ground-level street of old Chicago. She gazed at the old Maple trees that lined the street. The orange, red and yellow leaves fluttered to the ground as the breeze blew through the dark branches. She had always loved this time of year on Earth. The thought of never seeing it again hurt her heart deeply.

  She con
tinued walking, thinking about her life as she went. Ella had never once been one to make rash decisions. Growing up in the orphanage, she had always been the most conservative girl in her group. Ella always looked before she leaped. She made balanced, rational choices. That had led her to a very productive and stable life.

  But no matter how productive and stable her life was, she couldn't help but feel like something was missing. Many of the men and women of her generation were consumed by the pleasures readily available on the new Earth. Few people wanted to settle down and start a family anymore. And Ella, as conservative as she happened to be, was fairly tired of playing holo-games and going to music festivals. She wanted something more, something substantial, something real.

  She thought about her students and how much she loved them. Ella had always wanted to be a teacher because she believed in the next generation. She loved children more than anything and being a teacher had fulfilled many of her core needs. But none of those children were her children. No matter how much she loved them, that would always be the case.

  She could try to find a human man to start a family with on Earth, but so far, the opportunity had not presented itself. Ella was starting to believe it never would.

  From everything that she knew about the dragon shifters, they were immensely loyal to their mates, giving them everything that they ever wanted. But the Water Prince of Galaton was not the same kind of dragon that she was used to.

  Maybe he would be cruel to her. Maybe her life would be difficult. There was no way of knowing until she jumped headfirst into a completely new life. A life she wasn't sure that she was prepared for. She walked down the street and sat in a café on the corner while she watched the leaves fall from the trees.

  A waiter came out and she ordered a chai latte. When he left, she thought about her prince. He had the most beautiful moss-green eyes she had ever seen. The thought of allowing him to die a horrible death by the madness of his own inner dragon tore her to the very core. How could she allow such a beautiful man to be destroyed by his own dragon – a dragon who wanted nothing more than her?