by Starla Night
“You bring it!”
Pyro threw a punch.
It connected with the massive palm of their third brother, towering Security Officer Kyan. His scarred fingers closed around Pyro’s fist.
Mal eased back, distracted by the interruption, and returned to his seat.
Pyro grinned harder at Kyan. “You want in?”
Kyan’s voice was dangerously quiet. “It’s too early for a fight.”
“It’s never too early.” Pyro’s radioactive gaze intensified on Kyan. “Gets the blood moving, makes you feel alive. Or don’t you need it? After black ops, watching after your brothers must be like herding dragonlets.”
His dark blue eyes gleamed. “Sit.”
“You first.”
Kyan showed his teeth. Amid the wreckage of his scarred face, he was a terror to behold.
Pyro laughed recklessly. “That’s right. Let’s do this.”
Jasper set Pyro’s morning peppermint mocha with extra espresso on the table. “Pyro, coffee.”
Pyro hesitated, then stepped back and one-handed smoothed his coat. “After coffee.”
Kyan released his other fist and stalked to his seat. Jasper provided him with a vanilla-flavored espresso. He took it without removing his gaze from Pyro.
Jasper inventoried the stock as he created the last drinks at the conference room coffee cart. “It would be exceptional to break our record with your first launch. Don’t be too nervous.”
Pyro drummed his fingers on the table. “I’m not nervous.”
“You will undoubtedly learn much you can apply to subsequent launches.”
He sipped his coffee and searched the room for a distraction, then landed on Jasper with new interest. “How did you enjoy jail? Nice and relaxing, right?”
“I had many hours to think.” Jasper avoided Kyan’s sharp gaze. “But I can think every night at my lair. I don’t know why you used to go so often.”
“My lair used to be full of women.” Pyro rested his hands behind his head and leaned back. “Now, it’s full of Amy.”
“And you no longer go to jail to relax.”
“No need,” he agreed. “She’s always lesson-planning for next year. She just got hired on full time at the private school, right? Women used to hang off me and cry if I left them alone. Now, I have to do the crying.”
But he grinned, taking any sting away from the words. His wife, elementary school teacher Amy, could entertain herself when she wasn’t lesson-planning. Besides, his days and nights had to be full running the company they’d acquired from their former rivals, Carnelian Clothiers.
Kyan sat silent and watchful, his scars an ever-present reminder of his deadly past as a black ops dragon. He’d just returned from honeymooning with his wife, nurse Laura, which was why he had missed the night Jasper had spent in jail.
Kyan murmured, “Never brandish a weapon you don’t intend to use.”
Jasper’s heart squeezed. “I regret my mistake.”
Not because he’d spent the night in jail. The quiet had given him plenty of time to soak in his regrets. No, because he’d seen the anger and helplessness, the horror and shame in her eyes.
He hadn’t misunderstood. She hadn’t misspoken.
Rose was the most direct person he knew, dragon or human. He’d behaved shamefully. He’d caused a problem with his team.
In the weeks since that night, they’d held a silent truce. Worry lines darkened her face, and she looked more and more exhausted, but she still talked to him as if nothing had happened.
He couldn’t do the same.
She preserved the friendship he’d wanted, and yet, that friendship now tasted bitter. How could he endure? Standing so close to Rose and knowing she would never be his tore still-beating pieces from his heart.
Jasper didn’t blame Amber. She had meant well. Rose was fierce as a dragon, but he had hurt her by dishonoring her humanity.
He had many regrets.
Amber’s seat was empty, and so was her husband’s. They honeymooned on Draconis with Mother.
Jasper carried two coffees to his seat.
Their sixth brother, Alex, flew in moments later. He folded himself into the last seat facing the wall. Despite his rush, the exotic turquoise and lavender dragon kept his poise. His freshly pressed suit made sharp folds at the creases. Every blond hair sat in place.
Jasper passed him a black espresso.
He sipped the bitter drink with appreciation. “You track our favorite drinks so accurately.”
“Thank you.”
“You should offer your services to our enemies.”
“Inventory? Or—”
“Barista.” Alex’s cool eyes played over their brothers and he lowered his voice. “Observation is the first step to finding weaknesses. Then blackmail, and last, domination.”
Jasper smiled at the Head of Sales, who also handled diplomacy. “I don’t have the personality.”
“Anyone can train themselves to exploit weaknesses.” Alex’s thin lips tightened. “Anyone.”
Before they could talk any more, the meeting started.
“Now that we’re all here, listen up.” Mal pressed the button for the wall screen to display the clearest broadcast from Draconis. “Time for the updated list of businesses outside Draconis. Last week, we were number one and Carnelian Clothiers was number twenty-two.”
Pyro fidgeted. “We will be number one. Anyone who doubts it will see me on the roof.”
“You won’t know final numbers until Amber gets back from her honeymoon, but it’s time to see early sales reflected in…”
The rankings list was replaced by an intergalactic message.
Empress Horribus has entered her death-sleep. Business is suspended until her successor defeats all rivals in claw-to-teeth combat.
Mal clicked his teeth.
Pyro swore. “Of all the weeks to up and die!”
“She’s not dead yet,” Alex pointed out.
“Well, she’s too old to pull out of it. It’s only a matter of time.”
“On the plus side, she can’t try to marry one of us and take over the company. The next Empress will never consider us for marriage.”
Jasper fumbled for a smile. “Flint’s not so sure.”
Everyone turned to him.
“You talked to Flint?” Mal’s green scales shimmering beneath the surface of his skin with agitation. “What does he think?”
“He didn’t tell me.”
“Quit speaking in riddles, Jasper! Is the new Empress going to take over my company or not?”
“I don’t—”
“Answer my question!” Mal slammed his fist on the conference table. “Get Flint on the screen. Now!”
Kyan spoke into his earpiece. He was the only one who could locate their wily youngest sibling.
The wall screen beeped with an incoming call. Their mother stood, a flamboyant red dragon silhouetted against severe rock cliffs and a lava red sky. She was at their Outer Rim estate in full dragon regalia.
“Malachite, my darling dragonlet, how convenient you are with your siblings. I, of course, am here with your sister, Amber, and her delightful husband Darcy, and his mother. We are having a fabulous time. But, perhaps you have heard that they’ve stopped all ships in a holding pattern until they crown the new empress.”
“Yes, and Flint said that some dragon’s trying to take over my company!”
“Oh? I haven’t heard that.”
“Ever since Empress Horribus tried to marry me and take it over, it’s been one dragon after another!”
“Do you think so?”
Mal turned red atop his green scales. His eyes bugged. “Yes, Mother, I think so!”
“Do you mean because Empress Horribus tried to marry Pyro and then Kyan, and then because Chrysoberyl Carnelian tried to marry Amber? But, that danger has ended. Jasper is courting a human female, and so, there is no risk of any crusty old dragon bullying her way into marrying him.”
Mother
laughed. Her aristocratic silver piercings tinkled on her red scales.
His chest ached.
Mother stopped laughing and focused. “Jasper, I have waited weeks for you to introduce me to your female. I’ve liked all my wonderful human in-laws, many of whom carry my future grand dragonlets. Where is your female? I demand you introduce her to me at once.”
He sucked in a deep breath. It hurt. “You will not meet her, Mother. She has rejected me.”
The conference room dropped silent.
Their mother erupted first. “Rejected you? My dragonlet? My steady, smart, strong, beautiful Jasper?” Her throat glowed red and smoke poured from her mouth. “Where is this female? I will rend her limb from limb, chew her bones into kibble, and burn the—”
“Thank you, Mother, but that is unnecessary.”
“It is very necessary! I will destroy cities—”
“I would not like that. We work near a city, and you would injure many innocent people.”
“There are no innocents when my dragonlet is attacked!”
He folded his hands, his heart calm and his body resigned. He had never doubted his mother’s love, no matter how she showed it, and hearing her anger on his behalf filled him with warmth. “Thank you.”
The glow went out of her throat and the smoke dissipated. She focused on him, a little lost. “Well, Jasper, what would you like to do? You must give me grand dragonlets. Ferocia Carnelian has twenty-five, and don’t think one wretched female who can’t see with the eyes in her head will get you out of it!
“That said, you will, of course, experience losing a great love. You are capable of wordless devotion, Jasper, just as your father was. Therefore, you will require time to mourn, so—”
“No, I have already mourned. I’m ready to perform my duty and help the family.”
Her dragon shoulders dropped. “You are?”
“I alone have the correct personality to enter an arranged marriage.”
Her long claw tapped the clear glass table beneath the view screen. She puffed smoke out her nostrils and then confessed, “So, as you may remember, the original marriage plans included Empress Horribus marrying Mal and her advisers marrying the rest of you. Most dropped interest, but Advisor Wrathmoda still wishes to marry you, Jasper, as originally discussed. She was impressed that you worked for Space Voyage Inc. and that you have grown the Onyx Corporation to a high level. She is coming to Earth to invest in her own company and you will manage it.”
“Yes, Mother.”
His mother dropped her gaze to peer into his human eyes. “Jasper, you do not show your emotion as readily as my other sons, but that does not mean I do not see you.”
“Yes, I know.”
“And you may think marriage is an excellent opportunity to strengthen the ties between the Outer Rim and Draconis. During this dangerous time, it would be better for Palace advisers to listen to us local dragons rather than to listen to voices who want to take over Earth and strip its resources as they tried in the colonies. The last thing I would want for you is another Colony Wars on our claws.”
“Yes, I understand.”
“But I will not sacrifice you, my darling, for Earth or anything else. You are my beloved son. And so, regardless of the cost, I will contact Adviser Wrathmoda and delay.”
“No, Mother. I—”
“And let’s not forget the most important part of marriage: Giving me grand dragonlets! Adviser Wrathmoda has several, and she told me to my face she would not produce any with you.” His mother crossed her arms and snorted fire. “Why, I almost challenged her to a duel right there myself. Getting married and not having dragonlets! Perish the thought.”
Jasper felt relief. Adviser Wrathmoda would not require him to perform sex more than once during the marriage ceremony. As the matriarch of her family, she could validate the marriage without producing a dragonlet.
“Anyway, my darling, I will tell her you must reconsider her offer, especially with no dragonlets, and—”
“I accept the marriage offer,” Jasper said.
She cut off in mid-sentence. “You…don’t wish me to delay?”
“No. I will do what I must for everyone.”
“Well, if you…are you sure?”
He nodded.
“I see. But we must resolve the dragonlet issue.”
“I am young and she is old. Perhaps even before her death sleep, she will release me with new connections to sire dragonlets.”
“Eh…perhaps…” His mother looked over the rest of the dragons, then seemed to shrug. “Goodbye, then.” She closed the view screen.
The spell that had held his brothers quiet broke.
Mal bolted to his feet and roared. “No! We will not give up Jasper!”
Pyro leaned on his denim elbows. “How ironic, Jasper, that you got us out of these forced political marriages and you’re the first one to get roped in.”
Alex paled but his tone sharpened like a knife. “The only one. Flint will never marry. And I would choose death first.”
His cold proclamation chilled the conference table, stilling the argument with sober reality.
“You won’t have to die,” Jasper promised. “My final contribution will be to save you.”
His perfect brows wrinkled. “I don’t ask for this sacrifice.”
“I know.”
Kyan reached across the empty chairs and rested a hand on Jasper’s shoulder. “I cannot protect you in Adviser Wrathmoda’s lair.”
“I wouldn’t need protection inside her lair, would I?”
He frowned.
Alex crossed his legs. “Jasper, Adviser Wrathmoda is at least as old as the Empress. She hasn’t had a consort in decades and she’s easily infuriated. She ran off several potential sons-in-law who were older and more aristocratic than you.”
“But I will be her husband.”
“She’s said to enjoy fighting even more than Pyro. In her younger years, she mated any male who bested her in strength and cunning. Despite her age, her tastes have not reversed. You are too agreeable. She will get bored and shred you.”
His other siblings nodded. Fear and concern stamped their features.
But Jasper was not afraid. This was not the most frightening future he’d faced by a long margin. In fact, he felt invigorated again. Pleasing Adviser Wrathmoda would be a challenge, but winning her approval could protect Earth, his siblings and their mates, and the company they had built. It was the best sacrifice.
“Yes, I understand.”
Chapter Six
“Jasper’s engaged!” Patty skidded into the environmental technician closet, Elle on her heels. “Rose, did you know?”
Rose positioned her toilet fragrance spray bottle under the big dispenser. Her hand shook. She disguised it by fighting the last couple of drops out of the empty dispenser. “No.”
“Shawn?”
“Yeah, I heard. Some dragon back on Draconis.” Shawn hefted the big rocket pack onto his wide shoulders and strapped the vacuum hoses around his generous middle. His long hair got in the way. He tucked it into a bandana. “You didn’t hear anything?”
“She’s a high-level political figure. Super rich. Rose, you don’t care?”
They all looked at Rose.
“Why should I care?” She stood, capped her empty bottle, and stowed it in her cart.
“I always thought you were great ‘friends.’” Patty squeezed Rose’s forearm. “He never let slip that he was engaged?”
“Nope, never. Because he wasn’t.” She checked her name on the rota for the third time, realized she was stocking the cart when she should prep to dust and de-static the shipping floor, and unhooked the keys for the floor sweeper. “And we’re not that great of friends.”
“Aren’t you glad he’s moved on?” Patty nudged her belly. “He went after you all that time, and then a week later, he proposed to another woman.”
“Exactly. Why should I be bitter?” She slammed her feet into her rubber boots,
zipped her rubber-lined coverall, and stormed past her coworkers. “It’s good. Good for everybody. I’m glad.”
Patty exchanged glances with the rest of the custodial team.
Shawn raised a brow like it was none of his business.
Elle bopped her head to the music in from her earbuds.
“Rose…” Patty said in warning.
“Don’t harass me. Ask Shawn about his mom.”
Patty shrugged and moved over to their coworker. “So, Shawn, how’s your mom’s throat cancer?”
“Yeah, it’s good. She’s responding. Did you get your business license approved?”
“I haven’t turned it in yet.”
“You want me to look it over, let me know. I’m having a study session with Elle.”
Her coworkers chatted, Rose having deflected them yet again. She stormed past the elevators just about the time she realized she’d left the keys on the shelf next to her locker.
She muffled her curse, stopped in her tracks, and whirled.
Mid-whirl, the elevator door opened and Jasper walked out. “Rose. Good morning.”
“Jasper.” She bit his name and kept right on whirling away. “Congratulations.”
He turned to follow her. “Where are you going?”
“I dropped something.” She stomped through her coworkers into the environmental tech closet and snatched the keys.
Everyone scattered.
Jasper filled the doorway. His eyes were dark, serious, and not apologetic. “Can I see you in my office?”
Her heart somersaulted.
She returned the keys to their labeled hook and followed him into his office.
These last three weeks had been so weird. She’d been noble. Kind without overstepping. Treating him like an ordinary coworker, like she was always supposed to. And now, he was over her. He was stern. Like nothing had ever happened.
It made her ache.
But it was for the best.
So now, why did he call her into his office? Her heart thudded in her ears. It was almost like—
Jasper rested a box on his desk. “Your trash bags came in.”
That was it? That was all?
He looked at her impersonally. Like he was wondering how long until she took them and exited his office.
