Water Dragon's Baby(Dragon Shifter Scifi Alien Romance) (Elemental Dragons Book 3) by Juno Wells, Scarlett Grove

1
    E lla 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