Dragon's Omega Bride (Shifter Marriage Service 3)

Within the year, Cassie would be pregnant with a number of children. It was the reason their Alpha mates sought out Omegas rather than normal dragon shifters. What Omegas lacked in strength, they made up for in their ability to produce greater numbers of children, often giving birth to anything from triplets to octuplets.

In the old days, it was a benefit to a clan to have copious amounts of offspring in order to keep up their numbers for battle with rival clans. In today’s world, it was not as important, but still considered a mark of virility and honor to have a high number of children to carry on your family bloodline. Aileen’s bloodline was tainted, as far as this clan was concerned. Even if she did choose to go that route, she’d still be a second-class citizen in this clan.

“Can I get your check for you?” the waiter asked.

“No. Not yet. How about you bring me a gin and tonic and keep it topped up until I say when,” she told him.

“Yes ma’am,” he replied, stepping away as she pulled her cellphone from her purse and began to poke around on the internet for any jobs that might be of interest to her. Perhaps, she would look for something away from the clan, and find an apartment somewhere other than the small Wyoming community where she had resided for decades.

The bottom line was that she wasn’t tied to this place. She had chosen to stay. She knew nothing else and, in some ways, she was comfortable here. If she could just accept that she would never be more than what she was, everything would be fine. That was the problem. She couldn’t. There were too many things she wanted to achieve to remain stagnant in the shadow of her father’s shame.

After a few more gin and tonics, she couldn’t really make out much on her phone. She glanced at the time. Shit. Cassie had driven them here and she was gone. It hit Aileen that Cassie hadn’t even considered that she left Aileen stranded. She must have been even more pissed than Aileen originally thought.

Aileen would have to take the bus back home, as cabs were out of the question out here in Nowhereville. The waiter brought her the check and she ventured out to the sidewalk, taking a deep breath of the cool air as she walked the three blocks to the bus stop and sat to wait. There was no one there but her and she pulled her purse to her instinctively as she saw two men walking down the sideway nearby, but they passed by without even a glance in her direction, lost in their own conversation.

Aileen was relieved when the bus finally arrived. Several people disembarked and she idly wondered where they could be going at this time of night. It was the last bus, so wherever they were headed, they weren’t going back to where they had come from – at least not tonight.

“Hello, Aileen,” a voice said as she made her way down the aisle of the bus once she was able to board.

She squinted in the dimly lit vehicle and saw that it was Mary Thompson, one of the older widows in her clan. She had always been a bit of an outcast herself and usually friendlier toward Aileen than most people.

“Hello, Ms. Thompson.”

“Please call me Mary. Come sit with me.”

Though most of the bus was empty this time of night on a Tuesday, Aileen slipped into the seat beside her. They rode for a bit in silence before Ms. Thompson spoke again.

“You look tired, dear, like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders.”

Whether it was that fact that she had drank a bit too much gin or she just desperately needed someone to talk to wasn’t clear, but she found herself telling the older woman everything. It felt like a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders as she finished, surprised to find Mary looking at her thoughtfully, without a hint of judgment.

“Aileen, our clan still lives in yesterday. It is deeply unfair to you that you should have no options other than being someone’s wife or working in a dead end job. I suffered much the same misfortune and chose the wrong path, so let me share my experience. Like you, I wanted a career, but that wasn’t an option when I was your age. Instead, I did my best to marry well. I failed. The wonderful, sweet man that I thought would be a partner in life and parenthood was cruel, abusive and wanted nothing more of me than that I cook, clean and make babies.”

“I’m sorry, Mary. How horrible for you.”

“You get used to it, try to find your happiness where you can. The children were my saving grace, but when my husband died, I have to admit that I was grateful. I had been through three pregnancies and fourteen children, only one of which was a girl. I raised them, with the help of the clan, and when they were grown, I was free.”