I stepped through the portal that Juniper directed me to, my blood pounding in my ears with fear. She’d explained it was a portal that would take me home, but what would it do to me? More importantly, what would it do to my child?

She insisted it was safe, so I took a step towards it. She was behind me, almost pushing me because I was so hesitant to go through. I heard a shout as I took another step, heard the cry of “dragon!”. I looked around frantically until I saw Malcolm standing at the bottom of the pyramid surrounded by women. Women who had been trained to kill him.

I tried to move, to step away, but Juniper pushed me through the portal and I was tripping into my own world before I knew it. I caught myself on a tree and looked around. Whoever made those portals was good at what they did. I was in the forest not far from my mother's house. I began to walk towards my mother's home, but my steps slowed as I came near it.

The sun was just coming up here, it was breaking over the horizon, and the foggy mist that can often be found in the mountains on cold mornings was coming up from the valley below. It didn't look any different here, and it was still cold. I had been gone for months and it was still cold. It should have been warm by now. What was going on?

By now my stomach was big enough that I was beginning to waddle a little when I walked, and I put my hands to my back to try to ease the ache there. Mom sure did have a surprise in store for her when she saw me. I picked up the pace as I neared the house and I found the key that she always hid in a potted plant.

I was in the kitchen pouring a glass of orange juice when my mother came in, a double barrel shotgun in her hands pointing straight at me.

“Mom,” I shrieked, fear sending a lance of pain through my belly. “What are you doing?”

“Arista?” My mother’s eyes immediately welled with tears as she stared at me in shock. “Baby, you’re home?”

I ran to her, taking her in my arms after she put the shotgun down safely, and kissed her cheeks.

“I’m home, Mom.”

She pulled away, her eyes racing over my face while her hands checked my limbs for injury.

“Where have you been? And what is this?” Her hands were over my stomach cradling the child within.

“That’s my baby, Mom. You’ll get to meet him in around four more months.” I gave her a grin of pure happiness. I should have been sad and maybe even weeping, but I hadn't seen my mom in so long and we were together again. I should probably have been terrified, I’d left Malcolm when he was surrounded by a city full of hunters, but I had faith in him. I also thought I’d be feeling pain or sickness if he was dead. I wouldn’t worry until I felt something and right now I didn’t, so I was determined to enjoy being reunited with my mother.

“Where have you been, honey?” She led me to the table and we sat down together.

As the sun filled the room with light, I began to see the toll my disappearance had taken on her. The skin beneath her eyes was bruised, and her cheeks had sunken in. She'd lost a lot of weight too, and I felt guilty for causing her worry.

“I don't know how to explain it, Mom,” How could I? “I've just been gone and right now I can't tell you a whole lot about where I've been.”

“Honey, you don't know what's happened. Your father, well, your father has had me charged with your kidnapping and murder. He thinks I went crazy and killed you the night you disappeared. Willow tried to explain that she would have heard if I’d done anything to you because she was there with you, but nobody would listen. I've just…” Her words trailed off as she began to wring her hands. “They all think I'm crazy. Everybody in this town, and all those lawyers, them people from the city, them reporters.” She paused through a sob before she pushed it down and started to speak again. “All of them think I'm crazy and that I killed you. My trial starts next week. Luckily, Anna was able to get me out of jail and hire me a lawyer.”

“What? What the hell, Mom? Oh my God! What the fuck is wrong with Dad?” I stared at her in horror before I stood up and began to pace around the kitchen, not noticing the amount of swearing I was doing. Mom didn’t reprimand me, so I kept on.

“Oh God, when I find him, I’m going to wring his fucking neck. How dare he?”

“Honey, he was only afraid.” She paused to search for the right words. “If I hadn’t seen you go off with that dragon, I'd have been worried too. I guess that's part of it, why they think I'm crazy. I told them all you'd gone off with the dragon and none of them believed me. I guess it's to be expected nowadays, people don't believe in dragons anymore.”

“Mom, we have to fix this. Dad might have done this out of the good of his heart but putting you in prison for murder is just crazy. Crazier than they think you are. Apparently, that's a whole lot of crazy.”

“Now baby, don't be mad at your dad. He's been grief-stricken since you disappeared. He's had a hard life you know, first a crazy wife, and then his daughter disappears. It's not been easy on him. He's only done the best he knew how to do, and he's done that out of love.”

I sat back down, finishing off my orange juice. “I guess so but I'm still mad at him. Imagine thinking that you killed me. What a load of horse sh—”

But I stopped myself that time.

I spent the rest of the day at the police station making sure they knew I was alive. I kept my story simple and told them I needed a break. I've been ill, I informed them, and I just needed some time to myself. The police chief kept looking at my belly, and I knew he had questions, but he kept them to himself.

It seems I was only gone from my world for three months, definitely not long enough to have a belly of this size, but I guess they knew there was a man involved if I was pregnant. I kept the truth to myself and didn't volunteer any information that wasn't necessary. By late that afternoon, I was back at Mom's and she was making us dinner. All of the charges against her had been dropped of course. I had yet to see my father.

The days began to pass as they always did, and the sickness of being separated from Malcolm started to take a toll. The child within me helped to ease some of it, so the signs were slower this time, but it was still happening. I'd been worried that Malcolm's father would come for me, but I hadn't let that stop me making sure that Mom stayed out of jail.

Weeks began to pass instead of just days, and Mom tried to find a way to get me back to Malcolm. She was the only one who knew the real story, but this she kept to herself for a change. She and Dad had been seeing more of each other, and I was hopeful for a reconciliation.

I heard them talking out on the porch one night. The nights getting warmer now, and I heard him admit for the first time that maybe he’d been wrong. He still thought her dragon talk was crazy, but he didn't think she was dangerous or ever had been. It was a start, at least.

My pregnancy slowed down to match the time of the world I was in, and between that and the mating sickness, I was having a hard time staying awake. I spent a lot of time dreaming about Malcolm, wondering where he was, but we had no idea how to get me there to him.

Willow, miraculously, was still clinging to life. She could still walk, and her mother would bring her to sit with me often. One night, when I was particularly tired, she decided to stay the night so that we could binge watch terrible movies from the 1980s. We were watching a rather raunchy movie about boys trying to get into a strip club when we heard a tap at my window.

I ran to the window, hoping it was Malcolm, but it was only Henry. Henry only had eyes for Willow, which I found intriguing, but I was more concerned with where Malcolm was.

“What are you doing here, Henry?” I asked, looking behind him to see if Malcolm was there.

“He's not here but he will be soon. Take this,” he said quickly, handing over some kind of amulet on a necklace. “Keep this on you at all times. It will keep you and the child safe.”

He could not take his eyes from my cousin and I couldn't help but smile when I looked back to see her just as engrossed. Perhaps Henry was her mate? I could see color coming back into her face and her skin beginning to soften. The lines were disappearing as the minutes passed. I’d found her mate at last. I wanted to dance with the excitement of it all, Malcolm was coming, and my cousin had found her mate!

“Henry, do you want—” I began, but he cut me off.

“No, no. I don’t have time, Arista, I have to go. But Malcolm will be here soon, so be ready for him.” He started to turn away before he turned back. “Who is she?”

I smiled because he could still not take his eyes from her.

“She is my beautiful cousin, Willow. And if you would like to come in I could properly introduce you.” I blinked my eyelashes at him comically, a smile wide enough to make my face ache.

“I’d love to, but I really must go.” His captivated expression told me that was a lie. I had to suppress the urge to dance again. I knew how they both felt, what they were thinking, and most of all, I knew if I could get him back here, Willow would improve tremendously!

Henry gulped loudly and caught my attention once again. “Father does not know my part in this and I would rather he did not learn about it. just keep the amulet safe until Malcolm gets here and give it to him. He’ll know what to do with it. Maybe... maybe I can come back and tell your cousin how everything progresses. Later of course, not right now, because I have to go. But she is so beautiful... I have to go. Good night to both of you.”

With that, he was gone into the night. I swear he was blushing when he shifted, and I had to laugh at just how distracted he’d been by my cousin. I was elated because I knew that Malcolm was coming for me at last. I'd waited so long and now it was almost over.

I went back to the bed and now my cousin really wanted to know the truth. I began the long tale, telling her how I’d met Malcolm, about the mating sickness, and how he’d cured me. I didn’t tell her I thought Henry was her mate, just in case, but I saw her glancing at the window. I think she already knew the answer to that. The sky was starting to get light by the time I finished.

We pulled the covers up to our chins and Willow was already asleep by the time I was over my excitement enough to close my eyes. It had been a long time coming, and I didn’t know what the end result was going to be of our latest effort to be together, but I was happy because Malcolm was coming.

I don’t know how much longer Godwin would try to stalk us, I just hoped he’d leave us in peace soon enough. With the baby coming, and the last few months of continually being on edge, I was really starting to feel burdened. I loved Malcolm, he was my true mate and my love. I loved that I carried his child and that we were going to be a family. But I could do without the interference from his father.

That part was getting old quickly. I turned to Willow and threw an arm over her skinny waist. Henry was going to have his work cut out getting her back to health, but if he was anything like his brother, I knew he could do it. If his father let him, that was. Having two dragon hunters in the family might just make the man’s head explode. It served him right, I thought, as sleep started to make my brain foggy. Acting like I was scum just because I was a hunter. I was carrying his grandchild for goodness sake.

I suspected that was one of the reasons he’d left me alone so far. I didn’t think the child was completely human, not if Malcolm could talk to him. Maybe he was only half-shifter? That would be terrible if only half of him shifted! Malcolm had explained to me that if he was half-shifter, our baby might not be able to shift but he’d have other powers. I hoped so. In a world of ghosts, vampires, and shifters, I thought my child was going to be a target. That meant I needed his father. Hopefully, Henry was right, and I’d have Malcolm back soon.

I fell into sleep at last, too exhausted to think anymore.