"DaThoren!" His brother growls with shock. I can see every muscle go tense in his large arms.
DaThoren pulls a blanket to hide me. Apparently, he doesn't like to share his toys which honestly I'm glad; I guess he meant it when he said no one else was allowed to touch me. DaThoren looks at his brother, and seems mostly unbothered about being caught.
"What are you doing with the dog!" The brother yells coming in the tent slightly.
My brute man, Wait did I just say, MY brute man? He grows louder, "Her name is Seraphin,"
"You named the dog?"
"She had a name your fool no one bothered to ask it."
I almost want to smirk at his response but I decided that's not a good idea right now.
"DaThoren is this why you have not taken a whore or wife because you are fucking this, this-"
"I mated her!" He booms but with him on his knees beside me, he doesn't look all that scary against his older brother.
"Impossible," His brother whispers and comes closer, "Impossible."
I look at him oddly, why is that impossible? These brute men mate their women every day sometimes four times a day!
"Show me, brother," The older brother lowers his voice. DaThoren pushes my hair back and runs his hands over where he bit me.
"You were able to push in your life force?" He asks cocking his head to the side.
"It is odd brother, it did not feel as if I were coating her so much as it was her life force clinging to mine."
I don't understand a fucking thing they are saying and they aren't even talking in their tongue.
His brother must have noticed my confused look.
"Have you explained this to her?" He raised an eyebrow and I take a close look at him. He has green eyes and doesn't look as brutish up close. DaThoren smiles, "I have called her my mate many times though I do not think she understands me."
"Sarah" His brother calls me which earns a growl from DaThoren which I find funny seeing as how everyone has been calling me the dog.
"You are his,"
I blink, I know I'm his.
"She doesn't get it," His brother says seeing my blank expression. He looks thoughtful. "Do you have parents?" He then asks. My eyes glide away,
"They are dead?" The brother guesses correctly and then sighs, "Did your father only have your mother, or did he take many?"
I glare at him which makes DaThoren laugh and his brother smiles. "Well, now I know why they named her firey one." The brother booms. I snort at the brothers who think they're funny.
"Come now Kaggun do not tease her."
So the eldest is called Kaggun.
DaThoren looks a me, "Pet did your father take many lovers?"
I get frustrated mostly because I don't remember them but I do remember one thing.
"He loved her," I said "She was his one, his only, his - I paused as the word was fixing to slip.
"His mate," Kaggun spoke, "You are his mate." He points to DaThoren.
It takes a moment but then my eyes slide to the man who marked me, and I breathe in. The mark, he marked me, he mated me!
Suddenly I feel stupid, how did I not know that! My mother had a mark on her wrist, and if I recall it scaled over. Of course, I was very very young when I lost them, or they lost me, whichever. Have I been so degraded that I don't remember basic things such as mating? It should be as instinctual as nesting! I look at my hands, how can this be possible? How can this be something instinctual to me, I am human.
"Calm my mate,"
Calm, how can I stay calm I'm confused!
"Sarah do you understand, this is a big deal we, our kind have long forgotten how to bond and mate. Our most basic instincts long diluted with the decline of shapeshifters and women of our kind." I listen to his brother while thinking of the things DaThoren said to me the night he mated me.
That's why they took so many wives, they didn't know how to mate anymore!
I try to sit up but hiss,
"Down mate," He says to me and then smiles,
"Did you break her?" His brother asks,
My mate's smile grows, "No, I bred her"
His brother hits his knees near us, "Impossible!"
There is no way, I would, I would know if I was pregnant. But then his hands moved the sheets and spread wide across my belly, and I can feel it, the shell protecting our baby.
"I smelt it yesterday but wanted to be sure," My mate leans in and smells, "You are pregnant."
I blush with heat from panic. Not a bad panic, just, a panic. How did this happen?
His eldest brother puts his hands on his brothers shoulder. "I am proud of you brother you have stayed true to yourself, unlike the rest of us."
Then he looks at me "May I feel?"
My eyes glide to my mate who smiles with approval. Together they both feel my flat belly, but it is my mate who puts his head against mine and Whispers, "Good girl."
I growl at him for ruining the moment even though I'm not that fond of his brother touching me. I know once the others know they will want to feel it too so I had better get used to it and I cant blame them. This is rare.
"There she is, my little fire-breathing dragon," I smile at his new nickname for me I like it the best. "Now listen to your Alpha my dragon and kiss me for I have bred you and you have taken all of me."
Part of me wants to deck him, but instead, I do as he says.
But we had no idea how much those words rang true. For I wasn't ever a dog.