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

healing dragons, for example. They’re probably a good example of a family that’s as ‘out’ as you can get as a dragon, but the general populace still doesn’t seem to realize it.”
    The Goldplains were a stupendously rich family of musicians, known for their band Gold Dragons. Now that Isobel heard it being said out loud, picturing the visual shows that the band was known for, she couldn’t help but feel a little bit silly.
    Of course they were dragons.
    The fact that coming to grips with that was easy showed just how comfortable she was beginning to feel in this madness.
    The countless dragons seemed to fly closer to one another, swirling in a round pattern, biding their time. The thunder and lightning roared around them and when the first of the dragons let out a screech of its own, Isobel’s heart skipped in her chest. They sounded louder than the thunder did. Like something out of the ancient times.
    “As for your first question… Well, I know most dragons don’t believe in it, but you can find true love at the tournament. I didn’t come into it willingly, almost no one ever does, but it was hard to disagree with fate once I was faced with it.”
    She gave her husband the gentlest look and he returned it, taking her free hand in his and squeezing it affectionately. One look at the two of them confirmed that they had a wealth of emotion and love for one another, heartfelt and true.
    Despite knowing better than to be jealous, Isobel couldn’t help but feel the tiniest twinge of it. She had been hoping to be that woman, glowing with joy next to her husband. Instead, she’d found a rat of a man who was barely worthy of being considered a decent specimen of his kind. And now she’d been whisked off into a setting in which she had no say and where finding anything remotely alike happiness seemed to be a fool’s errand.
    For the umpteenth time over the course of her ‘stay,’ Isobel glanced around herself, looking for a way out. It was a naïve notion, being surrounded by the dragon elite and their mates and families, but she had to keep trying. She had to get out, somehow.
    I’ll figure out a way, she thought to herself as the thunder sounded so close and loud that it rattled the stands. No one but me will decide on my fate this time.

Aeon
    T he skies were thick with jostling, excited bodies, wings scraping against one another at times and talons scratching over backs and tails. Silently, Aeon found a spot for himself in the swirl of dragons waiting to be allowed to start the race.
    He hadn’t really noticed, but he had picked a spot for himself lower than he would normally. It was not wise to stay beneath most the other dragons in a race like this, as it made one vulnerable to swooping attacks. But this was the only spot where he could consistently get a look at Isobel, seated in her throne and looking marvelous.
    Like a princess should.
    Stop it, Aeon reminded himself. You can’t think of her that way. It is your fault that she is here and you will make sure that she gets out of this safely. She made it clear enough already that she has no interest in anything further.
    The thought brought with it far too much bitterness for Aeon to handle with dignity. He’d never thought himself as a brooding kind of man, but that was certainly how it was beginning to look.
    May the best dragon win, a voice spoke in his head, carrying with it the familiar slither of Shade Grayson.
    A snarl immediately rose to Aeon’s maw as he looked up, spotting the large, dusky gray dragon not far above him. While Aeon’s scales glittered with every color under the sun, if the light hit it right, Shade was completely matte, sometimes disappearing into the clouds completely.
    It was the Grayson family that controlled San Francisco, for example, and many other coastal cities. Each morning, the dragons would cross over the city, bringing with them the endless fog and taking it with them just the same. They were ghostly creatures,