Onyx Dragons- Amber

by Starla Night

  Kyan was the only brother who had understood her struggles. His appearance frightened all who saw him. Since he'd been a massive dragonlet, he'd been pre-judged for his size. His gentle nature had made him a target, and he'd suffered terrible bullying resulting in dangerous-looking scars to add to his suffering. As an adult, he'd embraced the stigma, honed his skills in black ops, and sharpened into a deadly protector. He knew Amber hadn't chosen to be a deadly female any more than he'd chosen to be a large male. He'd always treated Amber with the respect of a colleague.

  His replacement, fallen aristocrat Syenite, hadn't mastered that response.

  Syen stood at attention outside her office in a thick leather jacket and glasses that shaded his eyes. He avoided Amber's gaze. So, she avoided noticing him, too.

  Inside her office, her older brother Pyro fixed himself a coffee at her espresso machine.

  He cleared his throat and his actions became jerky as though she'd caught him in a criminal act. "Amber. I'm just making a coffee. For our budget meeting. Hope you don't mind."

  "It's fine." She rested her cardigan on the back of her chair and joined him to fix herself a coffee.

  The bag of specialty roasted beans Jasper had given her was down to its last cup.

  She used it and placed the bag in the recycling. "This bag was full yesterday."

  Pyro held up both hands like he was a hostage. "Not me."

  "Hmm." She fixed her cup, replaced the bag with another from Jasper's extensive stash, and turned around just as Pyro was leaning out into the hall to call Syen.

  "Amber's coffee's missing," Pyro said. "It's an emergency."

  Syen stared at her like a dangerous beast.

  "It's not an emergency," she told Pyro's back.

  Pyro lowered his voice. "Look into it."

  Syen snapped into his earpiece, activating the building security team.

  "Pyro." She leveled a serious gaze at her brother. "There's an ordinary reason it got used. Perhaps Jasper gave this coffee to other dragons, or someone spilled and Rose cleaned. It's fine."

  He smiled stiffly. "Of course it is, Amber. I'll buy you another bag."

  "I have several bags and Jasper arranges purchasing."

  "I'll call Jasper to start a new order." Pyro leaned forward to press her intercom button.

  She covered the button, stopping him. "I will. Later."

  "Sure? Because you're starting to get a little, how shall we say, red around the edges."

  She was feeling red around the edges because Pyro acted like she would explode into a rage over something as unimportant as coffee.

  "I can solve this right now." He sat and lofted his cell phone to dial Jasper. "I don't want to cause another incident."

  "Do you think running out of one type of coffee will cause an incident?"

  "I have no idea what will cause an incident." He smiled without mirth. "My kidnapper incapacitated me with dragon weapons. You flamed a helpless human in an open-air alley. If being low on coffee causes us to lose this company," he lifted his phone, still smiling, "I will fix the problem before you lose your temper."

  "I won't lose my temper or the company over coffee."

  He stared at her hard for a long moment. Then, he put away the phone and leaned forward again. "What have you got for me?"

  "The final figures for your first product launch at Carnelian Clothiers." She activated her wall screen and operated the controls to show the budget, her heart soothing as the numbers displayed. "These are the totals you had to beat. Here is the day Sard Carnelian ceded control to you and returned to Draconis to marry his dragon bride. These lines are your sales days. Here were the projections for your first launch."

  Pyro studied the figures. "The projections came from our on-the-ground sales teams?"

  "Yes. But your actual sales depended on—"

  "CEO Amber has arrived," Serpentine boomed in the doorway. The trio dragon inspectors strolled into her office as if they belonged.

  "Here she is," Ulexite repeated, Graphite scribbling behind him, "the true leader of the company."

  "Hey." Pyro minimized the screen. "We're in the middle of a budget meeting."

  Serpentine finished his mug of coffee and veered to her espresso machine. "Carry on."

  "What?"

  Ulexite murmured behind his hand, "See how she holds the purse string?"

  "I see," Graphite said.

  "This meeting is private." Pyro rose. They'd waltzed in because he'd sent Syen away. "You can't be in here."

  "We do not obey you, low caste male." Serpentine opened Amber's new bag of specialty roast and sniffed the acidic aroma. "We must inspect the behavior of all dragons in this building during business hours."

  "But not our sales figures," Amber refuted.

  "The female tends to the companies," Ulexite told Graphite. "She ponders its financial future."

  "I'm the Chief Financial Officer."

  "Protective behavior as she guards what she has? Or dynamic behavior as she forges ahead?" Graphite asked.

  "Protective and dynamic," Ulexite replied and waited his turn at the espresso machine. Graphite scribbled.

  Pyro's nails grew into radioactive red claws. He tapped on her desk. "You may not know this, but I'm considered the dangerous brother."

  She glared at Pyro. Unlike the other dragons, she had a nice desk, and she wanted to keep it that way.

  He froze and retracted his dragon nails.

  "Look at how the male defers to her in the office," Ulexite whispered. "She controls the 'dangerous, radioactive' brother with a single look."

  They made themselves coffees with her beans and then pulled up around Pyro, who crossed his arms and his knees in the middle of the uncomfortable crowd.

  "We are ready," Serpentine said and slurped her special brew. "Ooh, hot."

  She tried to calm. "Jasper gave me those beans."

  "Hm? Yes, he is the Chief of Operations. Acquiring supplies is his job." Serpentine looked at her in confusion.

  Hot anger kindled in her veins. Her skin itched and her hair crackled.

  Pyro caught her eye and shook his head.

  Right. She was not losing her temper over coffee.

  She focused on the point. "I need Mal's approval to share our figures."

  Pyro stood and stuck his head out the door into the hall. "Mal? Mal!"

  Mal stormed her office, irritated as usual. "I'm on hold with Shanghai. What?"

  "It's our budget meeting and these guys won't leave."

  Serpentine lifted his long dragon nose. "You want us to leave so you can disguise how Amber rules the company. And also you must conceal how Carnelian Clothiers has failed since operation changed to a low caste male."

  Mal growled. "Just show them!"

  He stormed back to his office. The dragon trio settled into her plush seats. Pyro clawed long lines into his trousers. She took a deep breath and let it out while counting to ten.

  Although it irritated her, she showed the budgets. She went over every line before and after Pyro's first launch. Pyro's mood improved along the same line as the upward profit.

  The dragon inspectors muttered aggravating remarks that she tried to ignore and made several loud refills of her coffee—each. But she survived the meeting, and so did they. Everyone rose at the end; the dragon inspectors made yet another refill and then saw themselves out.

  She checked her stash. Her new bag was now half-emptied.

  Deep breaths.

  Pyro lingered at her desk.

  "Are you going to call Syen off the search?" she asked.

  "Huh?"

  "I know where my coffee went."

  "Oh. You do? Oh, then sure." He remained at her desk without making that call. Another thought filled his mind, and concern tautened his features. "How was Darcy last night?"

  Her body flushed with heat and her femininity throbbed. Hours of pleasure, entangled with Darcy in her satin bedsheets, heated her core.

  She pressed the memories do
wn. "Fine. Why?"

  "This morning, you look more dangerous."

  "Dangerous?" She sat back in her seat and folded her fingers around her files. "Why?"

  "Sure you're not angry? Uncontrollable? Feeling irritated?"

  "Well, the inspectors are difficult, but—"

  "Darcy always irritated you. You never had patience for him before."

  "I misunderstood him. He teases, and I used to be upset, but now...some kinds of teasing make me...Darcy has expert skill at making me happy."

  "Happy?" Pyro looked more troubled. "Darcy makes you happy?"

  "We had a nice night. His sisters ceded in arm wrestling combat, his father began dowry negotiations, and his mother challenged me to prove my worth."

  His brows shot up. "You met his family?"

  "Haven't you?"

  He shook his head.

  Amber's chest warmed. Pyro had known Darcy for longer. They went out for drinks. Yet, she was the one who'd met his family.

  "I'm seeing them again tonight. His father wanted to complete the dowry negotiation but Darcy and his mother don't like the custom. I'll decide what to do at their special Taco Tuesday."

  "Don't go."

  "Why not?"

  "Because it's dangerous."

  "I don't understand."

  "You're dangerous."

  Hurt stabbed her. Her brothers thought so. All of them. They just rarely said it to her face. "I'm dangerous to Darcy?"

  "Not you, dragons. Look at what happened to Cheryl. What happened to Laura. Who could better protect a mate than Mal or Kyan? And yet other dragons took their mates away. Chrysoberyl wants to marry you. There's no rock he won't crawl under. If anything happened to Darcy..."

  "No dragon will dare threaten Darcy. If they try?" Her hair crackled. "He's mine."

  Pyro sighed. "Darcy has no idea what he's getting into."

  "He has some idea. He's not afraid."

  "Only because he hasn't seen you angry."

  "I transformed for him. We bared everything. He saw my dragon."

  "No, Amber. Angry." Pyro's eyes gleamed red. "You angry is terrifying. You're out of control."

  "But—"

  "The only reason Darcy's hasn't run screaming is because he doesn't know what you're like when you're furious."

  Chapter Eighteen

  Amber didn't want to believe Pyro's warning, but a cold black hole of dread opened in her belly and squished her organs in fear. She felt sick. "You're wrong."

  His eyes returned to normal. He rapped the desk with his knuckles. "Just be careful."

  She nodded, and he left her office. She finished her coffee—cold because unlike the dragon inspectors who drank and muttered, she had to talk and work during a meeting—and washed up.

  A commotion broke out in the hall. Snarls, scuffles, and shrill accusations. Amber rinsed her mugs. Just another day at the—

  Mal roared for her. "Amber! My office. Now!"

  She blew on her mugs with a little flame. The liquid dried. She hung them on the tidy mug tree beside her espresso machine, then floated to the CEO office.

  The dragon inspectors slunk out Mal's door. "This has nothing to do with us, so we will—"

  "Hold on, you sniveling traitors!"

  Amber blocked the hall. Her heels clicked together and her fingers linked in front of her schoolgirl style flannel skirt. They saw her and recoiled like she was blowing rings of fire and gnashing teeth. Ulexite clutched Graphite, and Serpentine ducked.

  "Excuse me. You're in my way."

  Serpentine straightened, cleared his throat, and spoke in a high-pitched tone that broke. "We have a duty to make our reports."

  "To the Gentleman's Society." Mal crossed behind her and herded the dragons into his crowded office. He slammed the door. "Not to Chrysoberyl Carnelian."

  Inside, her brothers ranged around Mal's conference table.

  The door to Cheryl's half of the office was closed, so she must be inside with the most advanced noise-canceling headphones in the universe, unaware of the scene, drawing collectible art cards for their next outfit launch.

  From the wall screen, Chrysoberyl stood ramrod straight, offended, with the background of the galaxy overhead. The rumor was that he couldn't go home until he'd secured new employment; his family wouldn't let him come home after he'd screwed up his placement on Earth.

  "I knew you were sinking my noble company." He sniffed. "The figures don't lie. Ever since a non-aristocrat male displaced me, the rightful heir of Carnelian Clothiers, our shares have declined. You're ruining us, and I now have the evidence to present to the Empress. She will oust you from Earth and cede both your companies to me."

  Mal exploded into dragon, malachite-green pouring over his human skin as his teeth elongated to the dragon fangs and his knuckles flexing to deadly claws. "Never!"

  Chrysoberyl growled.

  The Onyx brothers growled back.

  Pyro whirled on the dragon inspectors. "How dare you betray us inside our own company?" Radioactive red gleamed in his eyes and veins stood up on the backs of his hands.

  Serpentine swallowed and then puffed his chest. "You dare to insult the integrity of the inspectorial arm of the Gentleman's Society?"

  "I don't dare. I do."

  The trio returned his snarl.

  In a flash, the entire office burst into colorful dragons. Suits shredded and coffee splashed. Wings knocked over Cheryl's potted plant and chairs flew, bouncing off the hard glass. Then, the fight began.

  Amber wove between fights to reach the screen. She asked, calmly, "What are you talking about, Chrysoberyl? Carnelian Clothiers isn't declining. We're up three percent over last quarter."

  He curled his lip to snarl at her.

  She raised one eyebrow in warning.

  He thought better of it and rearranged his robes. "Don't lie to me. I know our revenue declined since I left. I saw the figures yesterday."

  "Yesterday? How? I never ran that report."

  "I asked and you sent it."

  "I sent it?"

  "Your low caste CEO."

  She turned. "Mal?"

  The fighting was still ongoing. Brother fighting brother to get to the dragon inspectors, who had retreated. Ulexite hid under Mal's desk while Jasper and Alex growled insults, challenging him to come out. Serpentine upended and used the conference table as a shield against Mal and Pyro, who attacked with crazed fury. Graphite was altogether gone.

  "Mal."

  Pyro split the massive conference table and threw the chunk out of his way. Half the conference table flew past Amber's head and thumped the inner wall. It cracked the wall screen. On the screen, Chrysoberyl ducked.

  Cheryl opened her office door to ask a question, saw the fight with wide eyes, and slammed her door shut again.

  "Mal!" Amber shouted. Her hair crackled and fire flickered in her mouth. "Maaal!"

  Jasper and Alex shifted back to human first. They allowed Ulexite to crawl out from under the desk. Pyro shifted next, flexing his bloody knuckles and swearing. After a moment of silence, the hall door opened and Graphite strolled in with his tablet. Somehow, he'd ducked out and escaped the office during the fight.

  Only Mal crushed Serpentine with the intact half of the conference table, then ripped it away and pounced.

  "Mal," she snapped. "Act like a CEO."

  "I am!" His claws wrapped around Serpentine's neck. He banged the struggling male into the floor. "You. Will. NEVER. Take. My. Company!"

  Serpentine's tongue stuck out and he started snoring.

  Pyro nudged Mal. "You choked him out."

  "I have only begun choking him!"

  Pyro looked at Amber.

  "Fine. Please finish your choking and explain. Chrysoberyl says you gave him the wrong financial report yesterday."

  "Wrong?" Mal shifted back to human and clambered off, leaving the green leader snoring on the carpet. "What's wrong with it?"

  "I don't know without looking."

  Mal led her
to his desk, righted his chair, and brought up the report on his debris-dusted computer screen. "I compiled it myself."

  The entire report made her head ache. "You didn't match budget codes. These date ranges are wrong. You've double-counted purchase orders, ignored existing inventory, mixed in the work orders for former and future production lines—"

  "Your system is too complex!"

  "It fits our business to give meaningful reports." She thwacked the screen, dislodging flakes of the conference table and tufts of shredded upholstery. "This is nonsense."

  He stared at her for a long, blazing moment and then shrugged. "I tried."

  "If you need budget figures, tell me."

  "You were gone."

  "I'll come back."

  He grimaced.

  "Look at how she takes over the meeting." Beside the now-groaning Serpentine, Ulexite held the remains of his robe around his waist like a shredded towel. "She remained calm while the males lost control."

  "Truly a leader," Graphite agreed while scribbling.

  Her anger crackled. She gritted her teeth to remain calm. "I can provide those figures right now."

  Chrysoberyl sneered. "I should come down there, Amber. I am not an idiot. I will understand your budget with your mellifluous explanation."

  "You're still restricted from the planet," she returned. "I will send you the corrected figures."

  "Why don't I come down and pick them up?"

  She raised a brow at him. "No, I will transmit the data through our usual secure connection."

  "But..." He drew his large cape closer. "Perhaps you do not realize I am an aristocrat with an extensive lair to attract a bride."

  "Good for your bride. I applaud your consideration of her."

  He snorted. "Perhaps you do not realize that the bride I mean to woo you."

  "But I am engaged."

  "I am ready to marry the right female," he said, ignoring her statement. "Especially one such as yourself."

  "It's too late."

  "Oh, no, the human method of exchanging rings has no relevance to me."

  "We are engaged in the dragon way."

  He looked horrified. "What? You bared yourself, your entire body, to a human?"

  "Now all I have to do is bear a dragonlet. My mother will approve and validate our marriage forever."