She looked up at him with wide eyes, clinging to his waist. He nipped at her lip as he pushed deeper, spreading her wider than she could possibly have imagined.

  She groaned up at him, running her hands up and down his back, his velvety blue skin smooth under her fingers. He thrust further, sinking inch by glorious inch inside her. Her body widened around him, accepting his impossible girth into her tiny body. Her DNA had altered, allowing for her to take a man the size of a mammoth deep inside her core. He filled her and sank to his root. She gasped, barely able to breathe from the fullness, on the edge of both panic and pleasure. Elait cupped her chin in his hand and kissed her lips. He kissed her cheek and whispered in her ear.

  “I'm going to mark you now,” he said. “You will be forever mine.”

  Elait kissed down her neck and she felt the tips of his sharp teeth brush over her sensitive flesh. He tilted his hips, pulling his girth out of her, only to thrust forward again. As he filled her to the brink of sanity, his teeth punctured her flesh.

  Sophia cried out but his teeth sank all the way into her neck and cut off her scream. He held her neck in between his teeth as he thrust again and again into her soft, moist pussy. She pressed her eyes shut, allowing herself to relax into pure abandon.

  As he clamped down on her neck and fucked her senseless, his soul bound together with hers and she knew the depths of who he was at the core of his being. She had never expected to find such tenderness and love at the heart of a warrior.

  The mating bite filled her with a new sense of awareness, something beyond Elait himself. He was changing her. She would never be a dragon, but his bite imbued her with something else. Long life, vigorous health, new insights and intelligence beyond that of any human.

  He growled above her and she felt his seed shoot deep inside her. She orgasmed as the flood of his heat filled her, completely surrendered to her presence.

  As they both began to calm from the climax of their release, he withdrew his teeth and licked her wound until it healed. Ever so slowly, he withdrew himself from inside her, leaving her hollow at his absence. Her mind reeled with the new knowledge of who she was. Her new body, her new mind, her new soul. She was forever entangled with Elait.

  Now, she was the Princess of Galaton, Land of the Air. She had become something more than Sophia Castillo had ever been. She was born again in the image of the Draconian, and she would never be the same again.

  Chapter 12

  Elait left Sophia sleeping in the bed as the pilots navigated through the star system towards Galaton. They would be home in just a few days. Warp drive could only be activated once every twenty-four hours and Sophia had used it at just the right moment. He had nothing but pure and utter respect for his mate and would allow her to fly spaceships whenever she wanted.

  Sophia had proven a quick mind and a steady hand. If he could trust her with his life, he could definitely trust her with her own. He went to the meeting room and ran his hand over the holographic control dashboard, hailing his contact in the Draconian military.

  A man's face came up on the screen, older than Elait by several hundred years and beginning to show the signs of age.

  “Admiral,” Elait started. “This is Elait Purr, Air Prince of Galaton. I have had to leave my planet in order to save my bride from a Mulgor invasion on the transport route from Draconia. I am requesting assistance from the Draconian military to deal with this threat. More brides are on their way, and our trade routes are in danger.”

  “I am afraid we cannot spare any vessels at this time,” the admiral said.

  “What do you expect us to do?” Elait asked, irritated.

  Draconia had insulted Galaton for far too long. They’d kept them out of the mating lottery for thirty years, causing the unrest on Galaton that he and the other princes were dealing with today. He was growing tired of their disrespect and indifference to his culture and his planet and his people.

  “The state of Draconia is not accustomed to providing military assistance to planets that are not under her direct control.”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “I mean that if you were to convince the princes to give up power of Galaton to Draconia, I'm sure we could spare our military vessels in your defense, otherwise you will have to defend yourselves.”

  “We have been allies for thousands of years,” Elait said through gritted teeth

  “In that time, we have never provided military assistance and we have no reason to. We are trade partners and that is all. Galaton can be replaced. You use our mating lottery and don’t bother finding your own mate contracts. I wouldn't overstep my bounds if I were you,” the admiral said.

  “Very well,” Elait said. We will mount our own defense. Galaton has always provided for itself and we will continue to do so. I only hope that the Mulgor invasion does not interfere with trade in the essential minerals Draconia requires from Galaton. Thank you for your time, Admiral,” Elait said.

  Elait turned off the holographic screen, knowing that he had made his point. But he couldn't wait around for Draconia to help Galaton. He and the other princes would have to do something to take care of the planet themselves.

  As the ship slowly piloted through the dark void of space, Elait contacted the other princes to give them an update of the situation. He brought up all three of their faces on the hologram and addressed them together.

  “I have good news and bad news,” Elait said. “I have rescued my bride and she is an amazing woman. As for the bad news, the Draconian military refuses to send any help in repelling the Mulgor threat in the only safe route between Draconia and Galaton. How goes the defense of my land?” he asked.

  “The Air Lands are well secured,” the Fire Prince said.

  “That is good,” Elait said.

  “What are we going to do about the other two brides?” the Earth Prince asked.

  “Can we create new travel routes and send them the coordinates?” asked the Water Prince.

  “Those are uncharted star systems. Our best course of action is to fight the Mulgor directly.”

  “We will have to mount a defense on our own,” Elait said.

  “Our brides are already on the way,” the Water Prince said.

  “You can skirt around the Mulgor as I did with your cloaking shields up. But you will both need to leave quickly,” Elait said.

  “Only one of us can be gone at a time,” said the Water Prince.

  “The Earth Prince’s bride is several months behind the Water Prince’s bride. The Water Prince should go out first while the rest of us devise a plan to take down the motherships,” Elait said.

  “That sounds like the best course of action,” said the Fire Prince.

  When they were done and in agreement, Elait closed down the hologram of the other princes. All he wanted was to get back under the covers with his princess and feel her warm little body pressed against his.

  Chapter 13

  When Elait’s space pod finally broke through the atmosphere of Galaton, Sophia couldn't have been happier. She had everything she'd ever dreamed of. Her prince, her baby, and the chance to fly a spacecraft anytime she wanted to. She had seen parts of the universe that most humans could only imagine, and now she was coming home to Galaton for the first time.

  The transport pod flew into the landing bay over the Crystal Palace.

  It landed on the docking bay and the exit hatch opened up. Sophia picked up Hectosh from his transport cradle and carried him down the exit ramp, walking beside her tall, strong prince.

  Elait and his bride were greeted by Air Land admirals, and the dragons of the other lands who had come to protect Elait’s throne while he was gone.

  The admirals and the crew walked across the broad crystal landing bay, through a wide and impossibly tall arch overhead. The crew walked off in another direction as the rest of the party continued together.

  Inside the castle, the curving crystal walls glimmered with reflected light. It was all so magnifice
ntly beautiful that Sophia's heart leapt at the sight of it. The group continued to a reception area that was decorated in a comfortable manner, similar to an ancient style on Earth: a cross between medieval and Renaissance, but with amazingly high technology.

  Everyone sat down in the chairs around a roaring fire in a clear crystal fireplace. The admirals of all the lands briefed Elait on what had happened while he was gone, but wrapped up the briefing quickly and left the reception chamber, leaving Elait and Sophia alone with their baby.

  They sat together on a couch, facing the fire while Sophia held Hectosh in her arms. He reached up and grasped her hair in his little fist, tugging it with the strength from his Draconian blood. She smiled down at her little baby.

  “What will happen now?” Sophia asked. “Will the Draconian military come to eradicate the Mulgor?”

  “We will get no help from Draconia,” Elait said.

  “But why?”

  “Because they have no reason to help us.”

  “What will you do?”

  “The other princes and I will mount efforts of our own. We have the resources and the technology. We simply need to mobilize our own military defense. But the Water Prince and the Earth Prince have brides already on their way. We will have to support them as they go rescue their brides.”

  “I can't believe Draconia won't help us,” Sophia said.

  “Fear not, my love,” Elait said. “Galaton will defend itself as we always have. That is how we have remained independent and free of the Draconian Empire. Accepting help from Draconia would only mean our dependence. And we will never give up our freedom.”

  “We can win this,” Sophia said, feeling the pride in her husband's words. Galaton was now her home.

  She thought briefly of her parents and the people of Earth and realized that the desire burning inside her heart never quite fit in on Earth. Perhaps it didn't quite fit on Galaton either, but at the same time, she and Elait fit perfectly together.

  She had brought a piece of herself from Earth that completed him and he brought of piece of himself from Galaton that completed her. Together they were something completely new. Not quite human. Not quite dragon.

  Together they were something more, and together they would help ensure the safety of the galaxy and of all the people of Galaton.

  “Soon we will allow the rest of the dragons on Galaton to enter the mating lottery and bring their own mates here. We must win this battle against the Mulgor in order to ensure the survival of our species and happiness of the dragons of Galaton.”

  “I know we can do it,” Sophia said. “The Galatonians are the strongest race in the universe. And I, for one, am proud to be a princess of this land.”

  Water Dragon’s Baby

  Elemental Dragons 3

  Their need for each other transcends time and space … but making their mating a reality will take all their strength combined.

  Elementary school teacher Ella Turner has always played it safe. But when she realizes that life is passing her by, she signs up for the Draconian mating lottery. She’s matched to the impossibly sexy Shay Vishak, the Water Prince of Galaton … and then learns the whole truth. If she doesn’t accept him -- and agree to long-distance fertilization with his seed -- the man she already longs to touch will die from the agonies of the mating thrall.

  Even knowing his mate is pregnant and on her way to him, Shay is tormented by the need to make Ella his own. The news that the Mulgor, Draconia’s ancient enemy, are lying in wait along Ella’s route forces Shay to abandon his throne and race to her rescue.

  By the time Shay and his new family return to his underwater kingdom, the Coral Palace has been seized by upstart dragons. Can Shay protect Ella and their child and reclaim his throne, or have they risked everything only to lose their happy ending when it’s finally within reach?

  Chapter 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.