She looked horrified for a second. “Don’t jinx me.” Then she nodded. “It’s fine, I’m one of the lucky females, at least I am fertile. If I’m not with child, there’s always next time.” She tried to sound like she didn’t mind either way but Candy could see the longing in her eyes.

“What happened to your species?”

Sky shrugged again. She looked sad. “Females just stopped being born. Simple yet devestating. A female birth is a rare occurance. She-dragons that go into heat, are even more rare at that. And here we are”—she waved her hands about them—“surrounded mostly by males. Most of our remaining females are elderly and already mated.”

Candy nodded. She tried to lighten the mood. “Hopefully us humans can help out, for a while at least. Who knows, if enough she-dragons are born in the coming years, there’ll be no need for any future hunts.”

Sky laughed. “Firstly, the hunt is a dragon tradition that was started because there were not nearly enough females to go around. Male dragons have hunted she-dragons for many years. It’s considered exciting and fun. Only the strongest, most resilient males win and continue the bloodlines. Then…” She hesitated. “You really weren’t told anything before being hunted?”

Candy shook her head. “We were fed bullshit, remember?”

Sky made a humming sound. “Right. Human females will only birth males. At least, it is most likely that you will birth males.”

“How can you know that?”

“It is twofold. Firstly, the two human females that have birthed dragons both had males and then, the other shifters species that interbred with humans also all had males. It’s the same with the vampires. There has yet to be one female offspring from a non-human with a human, and this being true across the species.”

“Okay.” She licked her lips. “I haven’t given kids much thought. I guess I wouldn’t mind either way. It’s good to know I won’t have to push out an egg though.”

Sky pulled a face. “The only downside is that we are pregnant for much longer. It’s only six weeks incubation time for the egg layers and then it takes about six weeks for an egg to hatch. We have to carry for a whole six months. It’s back breaking. Labor is much longer and—”

“Only six?” Candy laughed. “Try nine on for size. That’s how long humans are pregnant for.”

“Nine.” Her eyes were wide. “I won’t complain then. Labor lasts about six to eight hours. Our young are pretty small and weak when they are born, normally around four and a half pounds.”

“That’s tiny. I’m beginning to think that human women got the short end of the stick.”