When Time Stops: Dragon Shifter Surprise Pregnancy Romance by Anya Nowlan Page A

did. Whether or not it was a good thing that Isobel was beginning to pick up on the intricacies of the dragon kind remained to be seen.
    “Good. Anyway, if you look up, you can see them circling above already. Good turnout this year.”
    Isobel looked upward and a gasp of surprise tumbled from her lips. The sky was filled with dragons, their massive wings making the clouds spin and twist, billow and reform around them. It was a miracle that they didn’t keep colliding with one another, or so it seemed to Isobel. She couldn’t begin to count how many of them were there, giving up when she reached two dozen, but she was sure there were more of them hidden in the higher clouds.
    “Impressive, right? It’s usually three challenges. The dragon who wins the last one, wins you. The first one is usually on strength. They have this straight line circuit through high cover and whoever gets there first, wins. But since there are no obstructions, then it turns into one giant brawl. That’s why there are so many people here watching. It’s usually the most violent challenge.”
    There was a note of excitement in Casey’s voice that Isobel didn’t quite know if she could share. The thought of countless men, be they dragons or something different, duking it out for some undefined right to ‘have her’ seemed kind of… well, medieval.
    “I don’t know how much I can enjoy it all,” Isobel admitted with a sigh.
    “It gets easier when you’re not the one being fought over, I’ll give you that.”
    “Were you a tribute, a ‘princess’?” Isobel asked with surprise, perking up visibly.
    For some reason, it hadn’t really occurred to her that she could be surrounded by women who had shared her fate. In her mind, the moment anyone like her got a chance, they’d hoof it for the nearest possible escape route.
    “I was,” Casey nodded. “Four years ago.”
    “And you’re… uh…”
    “Happy?” Casey finished Isobel’s sentence.
    Isobel nodded meekly.
    “I couldn’t be happier, yes.”
    Casey cuddled closer to her mate and the dragon shifter’s arm snaked around her protectively. He squeezed her into the crook of his arm like he was intending to keep the worries of the world as far away from her as possible.
    “Please don’t take it as anything personal, but can I ask… how?”
    Isobel couldn’t really think of a more dignified way to ask that. Even now, she could feel countless curious eyes on her, examining and judging her. Being thrust in a situation like that, it was nearly impossible for Isobel to see how someone could walk out of this as truly happy with what had happened to them.
    As Casey was about to answer, the skies crackled and roared above them. Isobel yelped and sprang back into her seat while Casey smiled, looking up. The clouds were lit with flashes of thunder, the clouds themselves roiling together and then falling apart in the most mesmerizing way.
    “Wow.”
    “They’re about to start,” Casey explained. “They always get a few of the thunder dragons to put on a little show.”
    “Thunder dragons?”
    Isobel was sort of beginning to feel like a child being helped along to catch up with the older kids. Everything Casey said sounded completely alien to her.
    “Well, you see, all the dragons have certain powers. They move down their family lines and are kept strictly within the bloodlines. The thunder dragons control thunder and lightning. The water dragons can contain and use the power of water vortexes, and so on.”
    “I thought dragons breathed fire,” Isobel said, cringing a little at how that sounded.
    Why would I think that? It’s not like I’ve seen any of them breathe fire! Maybe it’s because of the smoke thing…
    She’d witnessed more than one man spout swirls of smoke from his nostrils at the reception when the topics had gotten more heated.
    “Oh, they do. That’s something they all share,” Casey nodded. “But they do something else as well. The Goldplains are