Jazz moaned at the fierce pain plaguing her head. It felt as if a mariachi band was playing at top volume inside her brain. She opened her eyes and immediately closed them when the blaring light threatened to burn them from her skull. Her tongue snaked out to wet her lips and she realized her level of thirst. A Water Dragon couldn’t go very long without contact with their natural element.

She wiggled until she was in a sitting position and looked down at her body. Thankfully whoever had kidnapped her had thought to clothe her but she didn’t understand their choice of the white robe. It was a garment usually reserved for mating ceremonies and christenings.

Her normally smooth skin had withered a bit and small, shiny scales had erupted to salvage the remaining water in her body. How long had she been here? Wherever here was, she amended.

“Hello?” she called softly, coughing when her parched throat balked at the effort. “Somebody, please? I need water,” she pleaded.

Creaky hinges heralded a door opening, the ear-splitting noises echoing repeatedly throughout what sounded like a very large, open ceiling room. Then footsteps approached her from behind. She pulled the lapel of her robe more tightly against her throat and bowed her head. She was scared, tired, thirsty and hungry. She wanted to go home but more than that, she wanted Damien. A light fluttering skittered throughout her womb, almost as if the baby shared her need for the Prince. Slowly and carefully so as not to draw attention, she slid her hand down to the small bump already protruding from her stomach.

She suddenly wished she’d told Damien of the miracle they’d created. Has she thrown caution to the wind and just told him, she wouldn’t be in this situation now. She wasn’t afraid for her life, her terror was all for the small life growing inside of her. By all rights, the child was the legal heir to the Water Elemental throne. It didn’t matter if she and Damien were legally and completely mated or not.

Illegitimacy didn’t exist among their kind. Just as their ceremonies and rituals for marriage wasn’t the same as the humans.

Suddenly a bucket of barely-warm water hit the top of her head, washing over her like the heavy rush of a waterfall. She moaned as her body began pulling the life-saving droplets through her pores like a vacuum. Slowly, as if one at a time, the small opalescent scales receded leaving behind only lush, hydrated skin.

By the time her body had finished regenerating, the robe had dried completely. Her short, curly hair still hung in limp spiraling strands, but for the most part she was a tad more comfortable.

She pushed a few pieces from her eyes, wishing she had a bandanna and cast a weary glance up at the figure towering over her. She inhaled sharply when her eyes met very familiar ones.

“Elder Coffer?” she asked in confusion. “What’s going on? Why am I here?” She pulled her knees to her chest and pulled at the robe until it completely covered her from neck to toe. “Where am I?”

The youthful - yet powerful - man chided her gently with the cluck of his tongue. He dropped the now empty water pail onto the cobblestone floor and pulled a white handkerchief from his pocket. He first mopped the few droplets of water that had managed to spatter in his face when he’d dowsed her and then used it to clean his hands thoroughly before replacing it in his right pants pocket.

“All in good time, my dear,” he murmured. “All in good time.” He hitched up his two pants legs until the hems rested way above his ankles and squatted in front of her. He reached forward and grabbed her by the chin, forcing her to meet him eye-to-eye.

“But for right now,” he murmured and twisted her face so he could study her from several different angels. His motions disturbed her much more than his touch.

It reminded her of the time she’d visited the small, family owned butcher shop in Negril, not long after Sera brought her to the island. She watched through the large glass window as a man studied a hanging piece of meat with large ribs. Armed with a cleaver, he’d plotted his course of action and set about quartering the carcass into edible portions.

“What’s the matter dear,” he asked with a smirk. “Does my touch bother you?” he whispered and rubbed his thumb back and forth across her chin. “I suggest you get used to,” he advised. “You and I will be much more acquainted after tonight’s ceremony.”

She sat ramrod straight at his declaration, her mouth gaping in shock.

“What are you talking about?” she demanded.

“Oh, did I forget to mention it?” Elder Coffer mocked, clearly enjoying this little game of cat and mouse. “I shall be taking you for my bride tonight,” he informed.

“I don’t understand,” Jazz claimed although she had an uncomfortable idea where this was headed.

Coffer’s eyebrows quirked and he tilted his head as he continued to study her. He jerked her head roughly to one side before releasing her. He stood back up and glowered down at her as if she were no more than an ant; a tiny, disgusting ant.

“Then allow me to explain,” he countered. “After all, I haven’t been able to boast of my plans. Who better than my intended mate to be the first?” He chuckled and she caught the maniacal hint in his laughter. Physically he appeared no older than thirty or so, but she knew that the Elders were much, much older than any other dragon. They were what some used to refer to as The Ancient Ones.

They were among the first of the race to occupy this planet. The Council maintained twelve members - three for each of the four factions. If one died, another was ready to take their place within hours.

She knew Sera was grooming Bridget to succeed her. Although the young woman had fought her mother fang and claw, she’d eventually had to step up and accept the responsibility. Since Jazz wasn’t a biological child, she could never fill Sera’s shoes, not that she’d wanted to.

“You need an heir,” she announced flatly as it all suddenly made sense.

“I do indeed,” he agreed with a pleased grin spreading across his face. He looked like a fox invading a hen house.

“Why me?” she asked. “I’m not exactly your type.” She tried to keep her voice conversational, with as much neutrality as possible. She understood that the other Factions had very few females left, which was the reason the Elders had decreed that all four Princes take a mate.

Prince Jaxen Monroe, leader of the Earth Elementals had taken one about four months ago and then Prince Axel Ashwind of the Wind Elementals had married shortly after. But as far as she knew, both men loved the women they’d married.

Prince Jax’s mate was a human/dragon hybrid and Axel’s was the last female Wind Elemental. Jazz’s own Water Elementals had quite a few more women that either of those. But what she couldn’t figure out, was why Elder Coffer of the Fire Elementals would try and take a Water Elemental for his mate.

The Factions weren’t interchangeable. They couldn’t successfully interbreed. They’d tried many centuries ago and the results had been gruesome and lethal. Every child born of an inter-elemental union had been rabid, ravenous, unintelligent monsters. The Elders had stepped in and killed the majority of them but a few escaped and created much havoc on the humans. They nearly wiped every being off the face of the earth before a secret sect of dragon hunters were hired to track them down and kill them.

The mated couples were separated and each re-mated with a fellow Faction member. It had been a very low point in the history of their species.

“But, we’re different Elementals,” Jazz insisted and gazed up at him. She wished with everything inside of her that this was all a mistake, that he’d mistaken her for someone else.

His eyes widened slightly and a small glimmer of hope slipped through her heart. Then he threw his head back and roared with laughter.

“Yes, my dear,” he admitted between gulping bellows. “Yes, we are.” And his expression suddenly shifted from maniacal joviality to sinister malevolence.

“You and I are going to create a new race of dragon-kind,” he announced and bent to wipe a tear from her cheek. She hadn’t known she was crying until his finger touched her face and she couldn’t stop from shrinking from his ministrations. “Together, you and I will sire the next generation. Just call it evolution dear.”

He lifted the finger holding her tear and studied the small drop almost like he’d never seen one before. Then with a shrug of his massive shoulders, he stuck his finger and the tear in his mouth and suckled.

“Tastes like surrender to me,” he announced triumphantly and brushed past her. “I shall see you again shortly my dear,” he called over his shoulder. “Please make yourself presentable.”

Jazz waited for the creaky hinges to announce his departure and then she dropped her forehead to her up-drawn knees, surrendering to the tears building within her. Even though her rational mind told her she had no hydration to spare, she let the tears build and fall until her chest heaved in great sobs. How could this be happening to her? She’d finally accepted the fact that her soul mate didn’t want her and tried to move on. Then he’d shown up in her literal backyard for one last encounter.

What would happen once Coffer realized she carried the Prince’s child? Would he kill her and the child both? What exactly were the Elders conspiring? She wouldn’t allow herself to wonder if Sera were involved. She knew her adopted mother well and refused to believe she’d be a part of such a heinous plan.

She wrapped her arms around her middle and leaned forward as if to shield the growing baby inside her.

“Don’t worry little one,” she murmured. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”