Dating A Dragon (The Mating Game Book 2) by Georgette St. Clair Page B

you.”
    “It’s too soon!” Cadence clenched her fists and tried to quiet her quaking stomach. “The tests won’t be accurate until next week!”
    Then he bared his teeth in a frightening smile and stepped in very close, towering over her. The scent of his sickly-sweet cologne clogged her nostrils, and she struggled not to gag. She’d woken up that morning very sensitive to smells.
    Part of her new dragon metamorphosis? she wondered. She had never heard of dragons having a good sense of smell. Or was she getting a bit of her wolf back? She’d never heard of that happening before either. Once the more dominant shifter genes took over, the other genes were dormant forever.
    She took a step back, but he moved closer to her again.
    Her stomach roiled.
    “Move back,” she warned him.
    “Last chance to do this the easy way,” he said, his lips curling back in a snarl. Icy vapor blew from his nostrils. “Let’s say my men and I have to drag you back by force right now. Assuming you even have dragonlings in you, who knows what would happen to them if I’m forced to get rough? They’re so fragile these days. Whereas if you come with me right now, and agree to be a willing and enthusiastic partner in my bed, I will ensure that you receive the best medical care, and once you deliver the dragonlings, if they are fire dragons, we’ll even return them to the Garrison clan.”
    Never. “I mean it. Move back.” Cadence took a gulp of air.
    “Hey, you heard her!” Darlene glared at him. “Lady with a baby. Leave her alone!”
    “I’ve called Orion,” Gretel said, waving her cell phone at Humphrey. “He’s on his way, and he’s pissed.”
    He ignored her. “If you are carrying ice dragons, we’ll keep them in my clan and you’ll be allowed to visit them. Of course, you’ll need to let me impregnate you again immediately, as soon as you’ve delivered.”
    “I said get back!” Cadence yelled, and then it was too late. She leaned forward and emptied out her breakfast, vomiting all over his shoes. It splattered on his pants and suit.
    “She said get back,” Gretel agreed as he leaped away from her, roaring with rage.
    “You did that on purpose!” he shouted as the female dragons crowded around her protectively.
    “No, you just genuinely made me puke.”
    “See? It’s obvious she’s pregnant!” Laetitia snarled. “You’d better back off before I fry your face.”
    “She’s an ice dragon!” he snapped at her, shaking with rage and disgust. “What do you care?”
    Laetitia drew herself up to her full height. “She is carrying dragonlings . I will burn you to death if you attempt to take her with you.”
    All the other dragons around her snarled their agreement.

Chapter Thirteen
     
    The clinic was located on a mountaintop and built like a fortress. There were both fire and ice dragons guarding it, in equal numbers. When it came to protecting dragonlings, the dragons didn’t mess around. They couldn’t afford to. The future of dragonkind quite possibly lay within the clinic.
    Cadence had spent the last five days lying low until she was far enough along to get an accurate test. She hadn’t left Orion’s castle the whole time.
    She also hadn’t shared his bed. She’d told him that she was under too much stress to be with him until she at least knew whether she was expecting or not, but that wasn’t the truth. She was falling for him in a big way, craving him when she wasn’t with him – and she didn’t want to fall any harder. She might have to flee with her dragonlings and never see him again – and she wouldn’t even know for months.
    She needed to distance herself now. If only she could. If only she didn’t crave Orion every minute that she was away from him.
    She sighed and squirmed on the bed, and her paper gown rustled. Dr. Kowalski and the owner of the clinic, a research scientist named Dr. Andrew Hamill, were talking with each other in hushed tones as the ultrasound tech squirted