Page 56 of Escaping my Dragon

“Shamash, whom you know as Alistair, is our daddy,” the orange runt explained. “Although we only met a few months ago, on account our mother stole his seed to fertilize her clutch eons ago. We might not have ever hatched, were it not for Malone. Well, Abaddon, Persephone and Pollita, at least. My volcano in Hawaii has always been more or less active, but my egg must have been wedged in a bad spot since I only recently matured enough to be born.”

“Tigger, you’re talking too much again,” Alistair chided. “You’re going to confuse her.”

“Too late for that,” my dry retort. I rubbed my forehead. “So let me get this straight, Alistair is your father? Dare I ask how much you had to drink when you slept with their mother?”

Laughter barked out of him. “Not enough to agree, I assure you. She drugged my refreshment.”

“Probably best you were passed out. I can’t imagine it would have been fun for you,” I said, eyeing the shape of the dragons versus the man.

“Who gives a fuck about how you became a dragon daddy. How do I know you aren’t going to steal Velma to appease your great times a hundred grandaddy?” Noah remained wary.

“Because she’s currently the only leverage we have.” Alistair didn’t couch the truth.

“Going to dangle me as bait?”

“Only if necessary.” Alistair didn’t lie, and I kind of wished he would.

“And will I survive if you do use me as a meat carrot?”

A shrug didn’t reassure. “I have no idea. I’m only here because Astaria deemed it important.”

“Who’s Astaria, and how does she know Velma?” Noah’s patience held on by a thin thread.

“She’s a selkie who can see hints of the future.”

The answer Noah sought pinched his lips into a flat line.

“Selkies are real?” squealed Joslyn. “Think she’d do an interview?”

I mean, legit question, wrong time. “I think we need to focus on mega dragon.” I glanced in its direction, and despite the distance, I had no trouble seeing the beast still lounging in its volcanic cradle of magma. “You called it The Destroyer, which might be apt. When we talked, it mentioned it planned to eat.”

“Did it tell you its favorite snack?” Tigger bounced, his wings fluttering. “Mine is cheesy poufs, although, cookies, ice cream, and chips are kind of my faves, too.”

“Apparently, it used to nosh on dinosaurs, but since its arrival caused the ice age that wiped them out, humans are now on the menu.” I grimaced.

“Caused the ice age?” Alistair’s brows almost met his hairline. “Guess its longevity explains the size.”

“My understanding is it eats until it almost wipes out all life, then naps. Wakes. Eats. Naps. Although, it napped longer than usual this time. Something about its drones abandoning it.”

“Drones? Did he mean servants?” Abaddon queried.

I shook my head. “The way it explained it, they’re actually its children.” I paused before adding. “Apparently, it doesn’t need another dragon to make them with because it threatened to use my eggs to make a new batch.”

“But your eggs are tiny and fragile and… human.” The one called Pollita practically sneered the last bit.

“Yeah, that didn’t seem to be a problem.”

“Do you mind backtracking to the comment you made about its arrival.” The purple dragon sounded quite perturbed. “Was it not born here? Because I had always assumed our ancestors were dinosaurs, and, like the early Cro-Magnon, developed intelligence and other abilities as part of that evolution.”

“It claims to be an alien,” I stated without any kind of preamble. “Says its meteor, egg, whatever the fuck you want to call it, crashed here on Earth.”

“Where did it come from?” The query came from Tigger.

I shrugged. “It didn’t say. Although, it did confirm it was the only one of its kind to land here. Something about their appetite making it unfeasible to share.”

“We’re aliens?” Abaddon’s consternation emerged clearly in those two words.

“Perhaps originally, yes,” Purple answered. “But given what Velma has told us, we are the product of the original sire mixing its DNA with that of local organisms. Which, given how long ago that happened, makes us as native to this planet, as humans.”