36

The night didn't seem long enough. I loved waking up still wrapped up in Coreys arms even though I knew that it could last and I wouldn't be able to stay in bed all day no matter how much I wanted to just stay right there. Just lay in bed next to the person who I love all day cuddling, it would be perfect but I also know that's not realistic. I wish it was though, I think I would trade all of our power in the tribe to just be with him. I wish we weren't nobles or leaders right now and we're just normal people that nobody would miss if we just disappeared so we could just lay together and do whatever we wanted and only have to worry about ourselves. Have a family like my mother did. Maybe still have my brother and my clan with us. If only we were dragons, we would be able to do this more easily. Lay in bed for majority of the day and then go out and hunt. The peace we could have with a small life, but I know that would mean we would always be looking over our shoulders for hunters and other dragons who might come attack us. It's dangerous to be a dragon and I think we would both always fear for our children once we have some. It might even be enough that we would be scared to start a family. Maybe in a different life and different circumstances we could have a life like this together. A peaceful life but in this life and with our world that's never going to be possible, someone will always be coming after us. His tribe would hunt him down if he just disappeared or said he was leaving, Sam and Liz wouldn't ever allow it to happen if they knew he didn't plan on returning and dragons will follow us wherever we go do to our hybrid blood. We could also be killed by another tribe if we get to close to them or what they see as their territory. Two people can't fight a war and win, but even if we brought my clan we still wouldn't have much of a fighting chance against an army. We may be talented warriors in our human forms, but unless they turned into dragons 15 people against hundreds, doesn't seem like a fair fight. If someone turned into a dragon than we would also soon be fighting dragons as well.

This world doesn't hold any peace for those who live within it. Whatever truly happened all those years ago after the world changed, the survivors made sure that people took their own sides and that wars would be fought. However at some point it was made clear that during one time a year there would be peace, and people couldn't fight wars and that is during breeding seasons. I don't think I will see peace until I die most likely as that is the only time most can find any kind of peace or silence. The world is cruel and unfair to those who live in it and all of those who have lived anytime here know that to be the truth. People die and are killed for no true reason, people are enslaved and used as tools for war. This world has brought the worse parts of humanity out of people, but it has also brought out the good parts in some people. This world you know who your friends and enemies are, although most have snakes lying in the grass around them they also are given way to strike back against them. Just some people's weapons to defend against them are stronger than others just as some snakes bites are more deadly than others. It's a lesson that if May hasn't already learned she will be taught today.

Today we will teach May important information and she will start doing physical activities to start to learn things about the new life she will begin within the next few days. Im sure today won't help relieve any of her fears because today when we go and get her from her tribe it will be one of the last times she sees them for a long time and the last time she will truly of seen and spent anytime with any of them before she is no longer one of them. Even now she isn't truly part of their tribe, she's in transition. She will be in a period of transition until the day after the wedding and then she will start the period of acclamation which will only last a few months and then the tribe will no longer take things easy on her. By then she will be expected to do everything with the same expectations that everyone else has. The hardest part will come and go before she's completely prepared. She has a good start right now though.

Honestly I was still better off when I joined Corey than she is. I had just been raped and taken from my home without my knowledge and honestly I didn't really want to be alone with him and I missed my home but I knew I would be killed if I returned. Even then I had support, I found out my brother was alive and meant more of my family shortly after. I gained more than I left behind which I'm not sure will be the same for May. I was a special case, my parents were the leaders and they kept me away from people so I didn't make many friends, but when I left with Corey the small group of 5 people I had contact with in a day changed dramatically. I now have my own clan of 15 that I normally see and interact with the majority of them on a daily basis and I have two dogs, along with seeing Corey and his family and others from his tribe frequently. Although now I normally only go to the tribe once a week or once every two weeks since I'm needed with my people not with his. I do think the hardest part for me when I finally do marry Corey will be living with his people. It will mean my clan moves closer and into the same village, which can become dangerous since we do things differently. We are dragons we can shift whenever we want right now since all of us have dragon in us but when we move we will lose part of our freedom to it. It makes me fear losing my family because they may choose not to stay anymore. I could most likely do what Coreys father does though and just disappear for a few months at a time and then return with gold or other things I find while with them. I know my world will change yet again after I marry Corey unless I choose not to.

He has another suitor, I could choose to lose and let her take over. Corey could leave for month like his father does and come to me and we could have a family without her ever even knowing, it runes in the family to have a mistress. Our children wouldn't need a title, as long as they were a high hybrid like me. If they aren't like me I would be signing there own deaths though. They would have no way of protecting themselves when we went to war against other dragon clans or hybrid tribes. They would just be killed unless I was able to teach them proper magic, which isn't likely and requires them to have enough witch in them to even be able to preform basic spells. I've never seen Corey do magic of any kind so I'm not sure he has very much witch in him so it's likely they won't have as strong of magic as I do. Even if I marry Corey there's a chance they could have a lot of dragon or witch in them as I do and it could cause them to be killed. Either way my child isn't safe. Maybe that's why my mother left my father, she had to know for sure what I was before she returned to know if I would be safe. She never got a chance to go back though. This world just isn't safe and babies and children die all the time so I know I'm not the only one who worries about having kids. My worries may be different from others worries but in the end it's still a fear of death or harm coming to your own blood. It's a fear I know May is going to have soon enough.

May and Sam will need to have a child after they are married within the year otherwise Sam can start to go see other women and have a mistress legally if May can't provide him an heir. Even if they have a child he will likely seek a mistress if it's a female, because he's second in line for leader and if something happens to Corey assuming Corey doesn't have a child his son will be next in line for leader. It's an unfair trade off but if you can't provide a child as wife the only use you truly are to your husband is to be sold for money to allow his rank to grow. That's what I've seen especially from the few cities that are left. We will pass through a tribe to go to the breeding grounds, but since they have stayed in place for so long they have built a city on the two mountains. Cities rely more on trade and money than tribes do, but cities are more dangerous. May is lucky she's going into a good tribe otherwise if she couldn't provide a male heir then her husband has the right to sell her body for money or items and even in this tribe he can still do that. If Sam really wanted legally he has the right to do so that way he has everything he will need to be able to provide for a second women and children. It's the scariest truth that May will even know, to know she is easily replaceable and at the end of the day she can be seen as the same as a dog or a horse. She is owned and her husband is her master and like a horse or dog she must do as commanded and will be used to benefit him in any way necessary.