“What is it?” Celeste asked, surprised.
“I think my milk just came in,” Ella said with a gasp.
Then she felt her belly ache with such intensity, it almost threw her out of her seat. She screamed, and Celeste picked the baby up off her lap. Celeste spoke into her wrist holocom and a medic entered the room only seconds later.
“What is it?” he asked, scanning Ella with a medical wand.
“I don’t know. I think I’m in labor!”
Celeste paced the room with the baby in her arms. The medic picked Ella up and put her on a hover bed that a second medic brought into the room.
“I can’t be in labor. It’s too soon!” she screamed.
“We’re taking you to the medical ward,” the medic said.
They quickly pushed her bed out of the room and down the vast hallway and into an elevator. Celeste was beside her in the elevator, holding her hand.
“Shay,” she whispered. “Where is Shay?”
“Try to stay calm,” the medics advised.
“I need my mate. Please tell him to come.”
Chapter 11
Shay flew a speeder to the water lands and broke under the waves in a rush of splashing water. He had to get back to his bride and soothe her mind as soon as possible. He could sense her distress already.
Anger filled his gut at the thought of his lords occupying his throne. It filled him with bitter bile, and he gritted his teeth at the taste.
He needed his anger to defeat these rebel dragons. They wouldn’t have his throne for long. The admirals the other princes had sent to assist him while he was gone met him in their own speeders at the edge of a ravine under the deep ocean.
It was the code of honor to meet an enemy dragon on a neutral battlefield. The rebel dragons would have to honor the code this time too. With the admirals gathered and in agreement, Shay haled the Coral Palace.
“This is your prince,” Shay said through his holocom. “I demand an honest fight for the Water Throne.”
“So, our leader has returned. With some sweet human bride, I assume. Why is it that the princes deserve females but the rest of us do not? Why do you deserve our loyalty?”
“I understand your concern. But this is the way of things. Insulting your prince will not help you once I have my kingdom back. And if the water lords want to be included in the lottery, the fastest way to it is accepting a fair and honorable fight for the throne.”
“Agreed,” said the water lord on the holocom.
Shay couldn’t see his face, and he couldn’t recognize the voice of the dragon on the other side of the conversation. But clearly this dragon spoke for the rest of them.
“Our terms are that you must fight all of the water lords at once if you wish to be considered our leader again.”
“Preposterous,” said one of the admirals of the Fire Lands.
Shay frowned. “And how many are you?” Shay asked through clenched teeth.
“There are fifteen water lords currently fighting to be the top. If you best us all in a fair fight. We will step down. If not… You lose.”
“Agreed,” Shay growled.
“Good, proceed to the fighting pits.”
After ruling over the Water Lands for a hundred and fifty years, Shay could not believe he was being spoken to this way by one of his own men. But since the last female had died, nothing was beyond the scope of the imagination. The other dragon had clearly lost his mind.
If the history of Galaton weren’t part of their vast storehouse of data, Shay wouldn’t have believed it himself.
He told the admirals of the other lands to follow him in their speeders, and the small armada sped through the deep ocean until they came to the entrance hatch into the dome over the Coral City.
It was time for him to take back his throne and prove to his mate that he could protect her from anything from the Mulgor to his own men.
The speeder descended through the exit hatch with the admirals’ speeders behind them. They landed on the landing pad outside the Coral Palace. Shay climbed down the exit ramp, looking around warily at the lords who’d come to greet him.
For everything he’d done for them over the last one hundred and fifty years, he didn’t see a speck of gratitude in their eyes. The lower level lords desired nothing more than to be princes. The common dragons desired to be lords. And on and on it went.
Shay and the admirals hurried through the spiraling pink and green coral entry hall to the elevator that took them down to the fighting pits below the palace.
The smell of sweat and blood bit his nostrils as the door swished open. Without stopping, Shay hurried to the fighting pit where the opposing Dukes and Earls of Water were gathered. They faced him, their sharp teeth bared.
“We will fight with laser swords,” one of the lords said, throwing a retracted laser sword at Shay.
Shay caught it and turned it on, growling at the assembled men.
“Your flunkies can’t help you,” the same water lord said.
“I don’t need their help,” Shay growled through his sharp teeth.
The fifteen lords gathered in the fighting pit and the rest of the audience stood back. A fighting pit was a ring surrounded on all sides by thorny ropes. The thorns had poisoned tips. Landing on one would bring the fight to a quick end.
The floor of the pit was covered in gravel rock, making it easy to kick dust into an opponent’s face. Nothing about fighting pits on Galaton was engineered to be humane or easy on the participants.
The fifteen dragons who’d chosen to compete with Shay did not know what they were in for. He was the strongest prince on the planet. He came from a long family line of immensely powerful dragons who’d kept control of the water throne for millions of years. Shay did not intend to be the first Vishak prince to lose the water throne. It simply would not happen on his watch.
Shay sidestepped slowly as the other dragons started to circle him. He took in his surroundings, using all his senses to note where the other men were in the fighting pit. With his laser sword gripped in his hands, he twisted quickly as one of the lords came at him from behind.
Without a thought, Shay thrust his sword into the lord’s chest. The man’s hot red blood seeped from his wound. Shay pulled the sword from his chest, just in time to maneuver around and kick at an oncoming Earl.
Shay thrust his foot into the man’s stomach, pushing him backward into the group of three others. The three lords stumbled and fell into the thorny ropes.
They gasped and groaned, black bile forming on their lips as the poison took hold. It was a gruesome sight, but Shay had no time to contemplate their deaths. There were still twelve dragons to overcome and their strength was evident as they circled around him.
He turned, slowly, meeting the faces of his opponents. He challenged them, raising an eyebrow. The dragons all moved in at once, trying to rush him.
Shay ducked low, twisting around on the balls of his feet in a graceful spin none of them expected. He cut five lords at the knees before the rest hurried out of reach of his sword. The men he’d hit screamed as their bodies were relieved of their lower legs.
Blood ran over the gravel floor of the fighting pit. The iron tang of it was thick in the air. Shay growled, wishing this fight to be over so that he could go home to his bride.
She called out to him over the distance as if there was something wrong. Shay forced himself to push it from his mind. He could not risk distraction now.
Seven dragons remained, including the lord who had organized the challenge. Shay narrowed his eyes at the one he’d decided was the leader. Shay spun forward, thrusting his sword with lightning speed toward the man’s heart, but the other dragons were on him.
The pushed him bodily to the side and the lord he’d aimed at rushed forward, slicing Shay’s stomach before Shay could spin out of the way. The laser wound stung and blood seeped from Shay’s wound. His hand went to the cut, feeling the wet blood pouring from inside him.
 
; It was a bad wound. He knew that much. But he could not stop for medical attention. Without missing a beat, he ducked and spun around behind the lord who’d cut him. He was faster than the other man, even with a gaping wound.
Shay thrust his sword into the man’s back and it came out the other side through his chest. The dying lord let out a long, low groan as Shay pulled his sword from the man’s limp body. It felt to the gravel floor, and Shay faced the remaining six dragons.
They stepped back, meeting his eyes with utter dread.
“I concede,” the first one said, dropping to his knees in front of Shay. The other five followed his lead and soon they were all kneeling before their rightful prince.
“I accept,” Shay said through gritted teeth. The pain from his wound sliced through him like a knife.
“Medic!” the admirals of the other lands cried out.
Medics hurried toward Shay, running their medical wands over his body until he was fully healed from the slice in his belly.
With the loyal admirals and his now subdued lords behind him, Shay left the fighting pit. For the first time since the last female had died, he felt as if there would soon be peace in his kingdom.
As soon as he was back in his chambers, he flicked his finger over his wrist to bring up his holocom. He wanted to tell Ella the good news. He’d won his throne. She could come join him in the Coral Palace.
“You must return as soon as possible,” said a voice that was not Ella’s.
“What’s wrong?” Shay demanded.
“She’s gone into labor.”
“It’s too soon!”
“Just hurry,” the voice said. “She needs you.”
Shay flung himself from his balcony and shifted midair, flying down to the landing pad in front of the Coral Palace. He jumped into his speeder and was in the air in record time, ascending to the exit hatch at the top of the dome.
The speeder hurried through the depths of the water and then into the sky. He directed it straight toward the Obsidian Palace and didn’t slow down to take a breath or to even think.
When he settled his speeder on the landing pad in front of the Obsidian Palace, he jumped out and ran toward the entrance hall.
Prince Salvatt met him inside the black walled hallway and brought Shay to an abrupt halt.
“We did everything we could to halt the contractions,” Salvatt started.
“Where is she,” Shay growled, ready to tear the prince’s head off if he didn’t take him to his bride in the next nanosecond.
“Come,” Salvatt said, stepping back and hurrying down the hall.
They made it to an elevator that they took upward until they came to the next floor. The door swished open, and Shay burst out into the hall. Salvatt stepped out beside him and started toward a brightly lit room with an open door.
Shay couldn’t wait for Salvatt. He broke into a run and charged down the hall, into the brightly lit room.
There, in the bed, lay the most beautiful sight he had ever beheld in his two hundred years of life. Ella, holding a tiny, blue-green skinned baby.
“Ella,” he whispered as he went to her.
He fell to his knees beside the bed and took her hand in his. She held the baby in her arms, her breast exposed for the tiny creature to suckle.
“I did it, Shay,” she said in a weak voice. “I gave birth to our son.”
“It’s so early. Is he all right?”
“The child will be fine. He is a strong one,” the medic said, moving a scanning wand over Ella and the baby.
“Thank the gods,” Shay murmured, looking at his mate and child. “It’s time to get you home.”
“You won?” Ella asked, her voice croaking.
“I did, my beloved. I have won the Water Lands back for you and our son.”
He leaned down and kissed her lips. She kissed him back with a little moan of contentment. The medics helped him bring Ella and the baby to Shay’s speeder, and they were all safely strapped in before Shay started to take off for home.
Chapter 12
The prospect of losing her child was the most frightening thing she’d ever experienced. But the medics of the Obsidian Palace had helped her safely deliver the baby, using her body’s own natural processes.
She’d wanted more than anything to give birth to her baby, rather than have him cut from her womb the way the other brides of Galaton had given birth.
Her sweet child had even suckled soon after coming into the world. Ella was a proud and happy momma. Looking at her valiant mate as he drove them home for the first time, her heart sang with gladness and true love.
He’d done it. He’d won back the Water Lands for their family. Now they had a place to go to call their own. Ella didn’t need to be a princess. She didn’t need a palace. All she needed was Shay.
But Ella knew that Shay needed to maintain his lands for the future of his family line. It meant the world to him, no matter what he said. She would help him preserve his kingdom with the last breath in her body, if for no other reason than for the love for her prince.
When they made it to the Water Lands, Ella noted the vast sandy beaches that stretched around the edge of the ocean. She couldn’t see it with her naked eye, but she knew the oceans covered a huge section of the planet.
The speeder began to dive toward the water and her first instinct was to recoil. But Ella had been on a spaceship long enough to know that all would be well.
They dove under the surface of the water and into the depths. Huge sea creatures swam past, dwarfing the speeder with their massive size. The scale of these creatures was beyond imagining. Some were at least twice the size of the largest whale on Earth. Others were lithe and agile like dolphins. But they did not look like Earth sea creatures. They all had trunks like elephants, making them seem almost comical to her human eyes.
They approached the dome, and Shay maneuvered the speeder into an exit hatch. Soon, they were flying over a vast city, made of pink and green spiraling coral towers. Florescent green lights flickered from the windows of the towers. Ella knew these lights were made of bioluminescent algae and they filled the depths of the ocean with bright green light.
It was a wonderland to behold and her heart thrilled at the sight of her new home. Shay set the speeder down on a landing pad and helped his new family out the exit. They were met by Shay’s loyal men. A medic appeared with a hovering chair for Ella to sit in for the walk into the palace.
She sat with the baby, and Shay pushed the chair behind her, telling her everything about the wonders she saw. He explained how the coral stayed alive. He explained how the algae lights worked. It was all so interesting and she couldn’t wait to understand and experience everything in the Water Lands and on Galaton.
Soon, they were upstairs in their new chambers. The deep sea colors of coral pink and kelp green filled the room. Shay helped Ella sit on a comfortable Draconian foam couch, while she held the baby in her arms.
“It is so good to be home,” she said as Shay sat beside her.
She cradled her child in her arms, loving him more with each passing second.
“What should we call him?” she finally asked.
“Winnor Vishak,” Shay said.
Ella giggled. “Like winner?”
“No, Winnor,” Shay said. “It was my father’s name.”
“I like it,” Ella said. “He will be Winnor Vishak from a long line of Vishak winners.”
“Indeed.”
Ella giggled again. She and Shay were from two very different cultures. They’d never even met when they’d conceived their child. But even with all of that, they were still perfect for each other. Ella would never forget how grateful she was in that moment.
Her heart swelled with pride and warmth as Shay put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her into his chest. She held the baby close and felt Shay’s strong embrace around her.
After all this time, and after all their troubles, Ella Turner was finally home.
Eart
h Dragon’s Baby
Elemental Dragons 4
Will their fated love prove strong enough to end an ancient war?
Agricultural analyst Cora Brighton has worked hard to help reconstruct Earth after the Mulgor invasion decades ago. But now, facing another lonely Christmas, she realizes life has passed her by and signs up for the Draconian Mating Lottery.
Magmus Murcul, Earth Prince of Galaton, is weary of fighting his own men who are frustrated at being shut out of the mating lottery. Now, he finally has a mate after long years of waiting -- but the Mulgor infestation makes the journey unsafe for Cora, so he must journey into space to find her, leaving his Earth Lands unprotected.
With the powerful Galatonian armada at his side, Magmus travels to the stars to find his bride and fight back the Mulgor threat. When he finally meets her, their bond is unmistakable, and their shared passion could heat the bitter cold of space.
But claiming his mate is not enough -- the Mulgor must be stopped. Can Magmus and Cora finally take down the Draconian's ancient enemy and put an end to the war? And if they do, will they have a home to return to when it's done?
Chapter 1
Cora Brighton walked under the glass dome of the greenhouse she managed with her holographic tablet in hand. She checked the rows of ripe red tomatoes growing happily in the hydroponic substrate and checked off the list on her tablet. Cora approached the end of the line and added the last of her checks to her data spreadsheet.
The greenhouse was in excellent running order and all was ready for the tomato harvest. Cora stepped to the control terminal at the end of the row and uploaded her data, then she activated the mechanical harvester with her tablet. The robotic arm started at one end of the row, snipping the fruits, one by one, and placing them into shipping boxes.
She watched as the robot harvested each row of tomatoes, and placed the full boxes on a conveyor belt that took them to the shipping room. With a smile, Cora completed her work for the day and got ready to go home for the long holiday weekend.