When Time Stops: Dragon Shifter Surprise Pregnancy Romance by Anya Nowlan Page B

Isobel what was actually going on here. She took a deep, calming breath and found that it really didn’t do anything to calm her down. That, too, was not particularly surprising.

Aeon
    “ Y ou do realize that you’re not supposed to be here, right?” Hex asked, strolling into one of the expansive dining rooms in the castle and finding Aeon there.
    Aeon cocked a brow but didn’t look up from the book he was reading. What was Hex going to do, kick him out? They both remembered how well the last time had went.
    “Your wounds healing, brother?” Aeon asked casually, finally moving his gaze to Hex as his younger brother flopped down on the seat opposite of him.
    “Cut the crap, Aeon. You know I’m fine. What are you doing here?” Hex questioned, narrowing his eyes slightly.
    Aeon met it with a glower and then proceeded to ignore him for a moment longer as he put a finger between the pages he was reading and folded the book.
    “I came to check up on you. I’m supposed to keep an eye on all the family businesses this year, am I not? As far as I’m concerned, the castle is one of them.”
    Hex didn’t seem impressed and Aeon couldn’t really blame him for it. If anything, the excuse was a made-up one to begin with and a flimsy one at that, as evident from how easily his younger brother could dismiss it.
    “It’s been like a week. You can’t keep coming back here. That isn’t the point of this exercise.”
    “Who passed to the higher plains and made you the Alpha of the family? Oh, wait, that’s right. I’m the Alpha. You can’t tell me what to do,” Aeon grumbled.
    “But I can. Family rules, we went over this,” Hex said with a yawn, relaxing in the chair with all the nonchalant airs of a man who knows for a fact that he’s right.
    And he was, too. That smug bastard.
    “Maybe it’s time to rewrite the rulebook,” Aeon snorted.
    Hex just smirked at that. They both knew they wouldn’t be doing anything of the kind. While Aeon wouldn’t admit it to his brothers, he was secretly rather proud of them for playing him so cunningly. In his moments of rational thought, he’d quietly commended them for living up to the potential of their bloodline.
    Time dragons had to be as sly as they were powerful. After all, what was the use of being able to manipulate time if they couldn’t make it work in their favor?
    Disgruntled, Aeon sank back in the seat and glared at Hex, who was completely unfazed by it. It was Aeon that was trying to twist the truth here and both of them knew it far too well.
    “Well?” Hex asked after a while.
    “Well what?”
    “Are you going to go or what?”
    “Don’t be a prick about it.”
    “The sooner you get out of here, the sooner you can discover all that the world has to offer!”
    Aeon rolled his eyes, seeing the cheeky smile that Hex conjured up. This was amusing to the younger Prevoir, that much was clear. Had the tables been turned, Aeon might have been feeling much the same.
    Though, if he had to be honest, it wasn’t often that he’d thought that his younger brothers were anywhere near as passionate about guarding the hoard as he was. As such, it was sort of hard to imagine that they would be moping around much at the idea of having to go sow their wild oats for another year.
    Yet, here Aeon was, looking in from the outside, all thanks to his brothers.
    Perhaps I have been wrong?
    It was an interesting thought on its own. That Hex and Phase had tricked him to get him to stretch his metaphorical and actual wings was clear enough, but had they perhaps done it in order to get closer to the base of their wealth as well?
    Maybe I have been a tad… greedy.
    Not that being greedy was a bad thing in the dragon world. If anything, it was a defining characteristic of their kind if there ever was one.
    “Right. I’ve already gone through most of the businesses in the country. I guess I’ll have to head out to the others next,” Aeon said, trying to take the conversation on a