Serenity's POV

"I'll be glad when the first trimester passes" I told my mate and Angela. I had just finished throwing up for the hundredth time.

"She's just being feisty" Angela beamed and she patted my stomach.

"She?" Goliath and I asked.

"My gut tells me my sibling is female and I'm usually right"

Goliath turned red and I shot him an amused look. My mate kept to his promise and started to act with Angela like a father should with a daughter. Things between them were still awkward but it looked to be getting somewhere.

Suddenly the water beneath us got rough and the boat was tossed about.

"Oh shit!" I exclaimed seeing the edge of a waterfall up ahead. It wasn't long until the boat went over and all of us were tossed out of the boat. I shifted to my dragon form and was quick to grab Goliath, Angela, and Bronx within my claws. I flapped my wings and flew to the shoreline near the waterfall.

I released the others before landing on all fours. I returned to my human form and eyed our surroundings.

"Looks like we're somewhere in Africa" I told my mate and Angela. "Nigeria probably, Elisa's ancestry comes from here"

"Interesting" Angela said. She then gasped and I looked ahead to see the corpse of a big cat. It's skin was taken most likely to sell on the black market. I gave a dangerous growl which made Goliath become concerned.

"Whoever killed this big cat did it for sport as well as for profit" I explained. "Dragon shifters sometimes share the same fate"

Goliath growled dangerously at that.

"You're kind is hunted too?" Angela asked as we left the corpse.

"Yes my father's clan was slaughtered by my mother's family" I explained turning to her. "I never met my maternal relatives and have no desire to, when my mother was pregnant with me and my twin brother they went as far to kill my mother and us, all because my mother fell in love with a dragon, and now I have more reason not to engage with those despicable excuses for human beings"

I protectively placed a hand onto my stomach. I also looked to Angela.

"I may not be you're mother Angela but I've grown to care for you, as you were own child"

"That means a lot to me Serenity thank you" Angela said.

Goliath simply shot me a teasing look and I glared at him in response. Pregnancy made a dragon female moody and it was no exception for me. The sound of children laughing broke my train of thought and I scented Diane Maza nearby.

It wasn't long until we found Elisa's mother and she was telling a tale of the supposed Panther Queen. I had heard this tale before because Noah told it to me. After Diane finished her story the children laughed again.

"Is that woman queen of this tribe?" Angela asked.

"She's a friend" I reassured her. Up ahead in a cage was a black panther and it was beautiful. It was eager to be free and I didn't blame it. I always felt free whenever I took flight in my dragon form.

"Damn it" I growled feeling sick again. I turned to my mate. "This is the only pregnancy I'm having with you my Beloved of Night, our hatchling is relentless"

I then threw up the contents of my stomach behind a nearby bush. My retching got Diane and the other tribe members attention.

"Oh Serenity!" Diane exclaimed coming over to me. She gave me a motherly hug and I returned the gesture. "It's good to see you"

"Same here Diane, is my brother behaving himself?"

Diane chuckled and nodded.

"He finally asked Elisa to marry him"

I smirked at that. Noah and Elisa has been together for two years and mated for one so it was about time he popped the question.

"So what brings you here to Nigeria?" Diane inquired.

"Long story and I'm currently pregnant" I answered. "My child thinks making its mother miserable is amusing"

"When I had Beth and Elisa inside my womb they were the same way" Diane said with a chuckle. Suddenly a human woman appeared with two human males. They held guns and I immediately got protective of the unborn child inside me. One of then tribe members approached the woman and demanded what was going on.

Her called her Tea and I scented she was a hunter. I held back a growl since I despised hunters with a passion. One of the poachers approached the cage containing the panther and the cat made it's disapproval known. Diane hurriedly blocked the panther and the man Maku started to moan and I could scent a shape shifter. I watched as he shifted from human to a black panther.

Maku hissed and growled dangerously but he was suddenly shot. He went flying backwards and he landed on his back. He was still alive but weakened. Tea pointed the gun at him and this time I ran forward and stopped her from shooting Maku. The shape shifter got to his feet and ran off into the jungle. Tea shoved me aside and ran after her prey. One of the men pointed a gun at me but Goliath and Angela took action.

My mate punched the man who threatened me with the gun in the face knocking him out. Goliath then took the other gun and easily destroyed it from the other human male. The frightened human backed away in fear and came face to face with Angela. Bronx then leapt into the poacher and I breathed a sigh of relief. After throwing the two human men into the cage and setting the panther free did I introduce Diane to Goliath, Angela, and Bronx.

Diane was slightly scared which was to be expected.

"So is this Goliath your mate?" Diane asked eying my Beloved of Night.

"Yes he is and the father of my hatchling"

Diane was speechless and I didn't blame her for being surprised. We then decided to go after Maku and Tea. It was humid in the jungle and I sweated a bit. The sounds of gun shots filled the night air and Goliath opened his wings and took flight. It wasn't long until we came upon a gorge with another waterfall and Goliath had Tea in his grasp. Across the gorge Maku fled for his life. Angela decided to go help her father and soon was in the air.

My eyes widened when Tea's body began to change and soon Goliath was holding a very pissed off female black panther. Tea scratched at Goliath and my mate dropped her. The panther fell into the water below.

Goliath landed next to me and checked to see if he was wounded. He wasn't thankfully and Diane gasped. Below Tea climbed out of the water and soon disappeared into the jungle. Thankfully we had Bronx and myself to follow the scorned lover's scent trail.

Bronx led us out of the jungle and in front of us was the same city from Diane's story. That also meant that spider Anasi was real too. Spiders didn't bother me but my dragon hated them with a passion. When I was teenager a spider bit me while I was in dragon form and made us both sick.

"Maku and Tea are here" I told everyone. "And they came through recently"

Up on ahead Bronx whined and he lost the trail. Goliath suggested we split up and I decided to go with Angela and Bronx. Diane would be safe with Goliath. Diane was going to be part of my family soon so it was important she was protected.

"Are you feeling dizzy?" Angela asked as we walked behind Bronx.

"No I'm good for now" I reassured her. "You don't need to worry about me so much my friend"

"You're the main reason why my father decided to try and pursue a relationship with me, you also carry my unborn sibling, I also like you a lot Serenity, you're a kind and strong dragoness"

"And you are a fierce warrior with a kind heart" I told Angela. "Your words mean a lot to me so thank you"

Angela smiled before Bronx ran on ahead and we called for him to come back. We ran after him and found the gargoyle dog stuck in spider webbing. My claws came out and we freed Bronx using our claws. Then something silk like fell on top of us and it was more spider webs. Angela and I again used our claws to shred the webbing off of us and Bronx.

Disgusting little bastards my dragon hissed.

"Agreed" I told my other half wiping the webs off of my body.

"Who are you talking to?" Angela asked.

"Oh my dragon half, she hates spiders"

"I do too" Angela replied with a shiver.

Bronx suddenly took off again and I heard Tea close by. Both Angela and I ran after the gargoyle dog and when we found him, Bronx jumped into the air and knocked the spear out of Tea's grasp. The human female was knocked over just as Goliath and Diane rejoined us.

Goliath took the spear and broke it while Angela got Tea to her feet. Diane helped Maku to his feet while Goliath asked Tea why she was so determined to kill the man she loved.

"Ask him he knows" Tea growled turning to Maku.

"I loved you" Maku answered.

Maku ended up marking Tea because he loved her and didn't want her to leave. I found that sweet but due to his selfishness, Tea didn't embrace her other form instead of accepting it, Maku didn't even ask her permission to mark her.

"So who turned you into a panther?" Angela inquired at Maku.

"I did" a creepy male voice spoke. We all turned around to see a huge blue spider emerge onto his webbing. My dragon snarled at the sight of Anasi.

Maku apparently came to the spider and in exchange for feeding him, Anasi granted Maku the gift of becoming a panther. Tea grabbed a rock and ran forward but Anasi easily sent her flying using two of his eight legs. Maku rushed to his beloved and begged for Anasi to remove the panther curse from Tea swearing his eternal loyalty.

Anasi found this amusing and boasted he would have new hunters in each of us.

"Over my dead body" I growled.

Anasi chucked at response before suddenly grabbing me with his many legs. Goliath and Angela snarled before climbing onto the spider web. Anasi simply used another leg to smack Goliath away and he threw Angela off by tapping his web.

"A dragon is the ultimate hunter and you'll do nicely my dear" Anasi said to me.

"Yeah my dragon disagrees with you" I growled.

Maku suddenly shouted out and he transformed into his panther state. Snarling the black panther leapt onto Anasi's head and the spider couldn't see until he threw Maku off of him. The male panther landed against the webbing and more was wrapped around his body. Tea shifted and tried to leap onto the webbing but she fell.

Angela shouted and a second later she and Goliath were back on the webbing. Diane and Bronx began to shred the webbing from the bottom while the gargoyles did toward the top. Maku was released and he fell to the ground. Tea hurried to her beloved and used her claws to shred the webs from her beloved.

Anasi fell from his webbing and landed on the ground with a heavy thud. His grasp on me lessened and I was able to high tail it sway from the spider. Diane tossed me a spear which I threw to Angela. She caught it and quickly gave the weapon to her father. Goliath pierced the spider's hide with the blade and light shot out of Anasi. He yelled in pain and my mate glided off of his abdomen.

A flash of light later the fat spider was gone and the two panther shifters returned to their human forms. They hugged one another and vowed they would use their curse to protect the panthers against poachers and the jungle.

We headed back to the village afterwards and the sun would be rising soon. On the riverbank was the boat and I was surprised it was still intact after we fell over the waterfall. Angela was skipping stones when Goliath approached her.

I listened to what he said.

"Your quick thinking helped us defeat Anasi as well as saving Serenity, I am proud of you my daughter"

I did a fist pump while Angela exclaimed.

"Oh father!"

She then threw her arms around Goliath and he happily hugged her back. I smiled as the two of them turned to stone alongside Bronx.

"Your friends are good folk" Diane said to me.

"Yep and I'm proud of my mate" I beamed looking to Goliath. "Now I know he'll be a good father to my young one"

"How far along are you?" Diane asked.

"A few days the fetus hasn't even formed yet, at this stage only the scent of changing hormones will tell other shifters I carry a child"

"Well you will be a good mother Serenity" Diane told me with pride.

I spent the rest of the day sleeping and thankfully I didn't get sick. I had a quick meal and said goodbye to Diane before heading over to Goliath, Angela, and Bronx. The sun set and I watched as my mate awakened alongside his daughter and Bronx.

I smirked as Angela pulled away from her father and she smiled at me before getting into the boat with Bronx following her.

"I have you and Diane to thank for encouraging me to act like a parent to Angela" Goliath said as he came up to me.

"I'm proud of you as well my Beloved of Night" I replied. "Angela is lucky to have you"

"She's lucky to have us" Goliath corrected. " I know you care for her deeply my Warrior of Flame, and she cares for you"

He then placed a hand onto my stomach.

"She will also care for her new sibling as will I, I already love our child"

"Well she won't be born until nine months from now" I teased my mate.

"Are you certain it's a girl you carry?" Goliath asked.

It's a girl alright I just scented the hormone for a female hatchling my dragon added.

"Looks like Angela was right because my dragon just confirmed it's a daughter"

Nearby Angela did a fist pump and I knew she heard the baby's gender reveal.

"Her name shall be Eden" Goliath stated. "For she will be a beautiful creature of human, dragon, and gargoyle alike"

"I like that name" I replied placing a hand over his. "You better not spoil her too much though"

"Oh I won't but the same may not be for her sister and the rest of the clan" Goliath joked.

I shook my head as Goliath kissed the top of it. We then headed to boat and soon we were on the water wondering where Avalon would send us next.