by Starla Night
Their mother’s picture appeared on the screen. She undulated, fully dragon, with her aristocratic piercings tinkling like silver jewels. “My dragonlets! Two days in a row hearing from you. This is a mother’s fondest dream.”
They greeted her, and she glowed with happiness.
“Now, to business. Jasper, Adviser Wrathmoda has received your acceptance and is sending her daughter, Larimar, as an emissary to finalize the details of the marriage.”
“That is—”
“Larimar will arrive in a few days.”
“While—”
“You will work with her to complete the marriage agreement, display your lair, and impress her with your body so she will report to Adviser Wrathmoda. Then—”
“I have changed my mind,” Jasper said.
His siblings turned to stare at him.
“—you will work to give me grand dragonlets!” His mother clasped her claws, noticed the rest of the siblings staring at Jasper, and tilted her head. “I’m sorry, my dragonlet. What did you say?”
“I cannot marry Adviser Wrathmoda.”
She dropped her claws. “What?”
“My female, the one I have pursued all this time, has agreed to marry me.”
Pyro lowered his coffee mug to the table with a click. Alex stared hard enough to bore holes into Jasper’s head.
Kyan leaned across Amber’s empty chair. “Last night?”
He nodded.
Mal slammed his coffee down. It cracked on the table. “How dare she?”
Their mother rolled her eyes. “Well, of course she has. Look at you, Jasper. You are a fine male and an honorable dragonlet. There’s no reason she wouldn’t.”
“Who is this inconvenient human female?” Mal demanded.
Jasper faced his oldest brother squarely. “Rose.”
He blinked three times. “Rose? Our employee, Rose? Our Rose?!”
“Yes.”
Mal dropped his jaw. Alex also looked stunned.
Kyan didn’t.
“You knew,” Jasper told him.
“She is the only human employee you have ever visited outside of work.”
“True.”
“We have been monitoring her safety for some time.”
“Thank you.”
“Even before the safety issues uncovered by—”
“Impossible!” Mal appealed to the ceiling. “Why on Earth couldn’t she have agreed to marry you twenty-four hours ago?”
“Agreeing to marry you off Earth would have also been fine.” Alex pinched his cuffs.
“I don’t know.” Jasper returned to his mother. “What can we do?”
“We?” Their mother shrugged her massive dragon shoulders. “We will do nothing.”
“But Adviser Wrathmoda may be upset by the change in plans, especially if she’s already sent an emissary.”
“Yes, I would be very surprised if she doesn’t try to rip your limbs off for the deception.”
Jasper swallowed. “It wasn’t a purposeful deception.”
“Do you think that matters? Now that this ‘Rose’ has come to her senses, it is her responsibility to defend you from Adviser Wrathmoda. And Larimar, because she will arrive sooner.”
Alex appealed to the view screen. “Mother, can’t you or Amber do anything?”
“Oh, now it falls to us?” She tutted. “I wanted to delay, Jasper. You were too eager.”
“I apologize.”
“Yes, well, even if we wanted to leave—which we don’t, Amber and I are having a delightful time with lovely Darcy and his mother—it would be impossible. General Ragiosa has moved another fleet into the colonies, and Adviser Fumerous is threatening to shut down intergalactic traffic from the Outer Rim until after the succession. Empress Horribus had thirty-two dragonlets and never named an heir. Every dragon is fighting for their piece of the Empire, and the ones with the most power are expanding it while she’s in her final sleep, before her scales have even turned gray.”
The reality of facing an enraged, powerful, dangerous female alone sank into Jasper’s bones like ice. Why hadn’t he felt this yesterday? Oh, yes. He’d been so chilled by Rose’s dismissal other emotions hadn’t touched his numb heart.
Now, he had every reason to live. Refusing Adviser Wrathmoda hurt more than just him.
“Mother, please delay,” he begged.
“I can’t, Jasper. Your female must protect you.”
“She’s a human.”
“And?”
“I do not think she can defeat a dragon in teeth-to-claw combat.”
“Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
Alex intercepted once more. “What size is Adviser Wrathmoda? Is she nearing her death sleep?”
“Nearing, but you know female dragons keep growing until the very end. Empress Horribus was a full ten feet tall and seven hundred pounds shifted into a human; as a dragon, she barely fit in the Palace. Adviser Wrathmoda is much younger, but she’s still ancient. And her scales have only hardened.”
Kyan spoke quietly. “The humans don’t possess a weapon that could penetrate ancient dragon skin.”
“Then your Rose will have to insist she remain in human form to engage in combat. There’s no telling if Adviser Wrathmoda will agree. It’s been a very long time since she’s fought a rival. The last one she flayed and made into a handbag.”
His mouth went dry.
He could never let Rose endanger herself in that way. Never.
Alex raised a finger. “If it’s been ages since she fought a rival, and we only introduced handbags three years ago, how did it happen?”
“She had preserved the skin in the family vault. When your alligator-skin accessories hit the market, more than one female made purses out of rivals. It sends a message, you see.”
They saw.
Alex lowered his hand and raised his brows at Kyan, silently asking what security measures the black ops dragon could take to make Jasper safe.
Their mother continued, “Of course you must go through Larimar first. She’s equally strong, at least two hundred pounds of muscle as a human, and is rumored to be the real driving force behind her mother’s expansion into Earth. She will eliminate any threat.”
Pyro raised both hands. “All right, all right, all right. Hear me out. If Adviser Wrathmoda wants to take over Earth, why does she need Jasper? She can just muster her warships and take it over.”
“Chrysoberyl’s uncle still positions Empress-loyal warships over Earth.”
“Okay, so why the marriage? I get why the Empress wanted to marry Mal. She was going senile.”
“And that explains what?” Alex asked.
“Well, okay, I don’t get it, but it’s an explanation. This Adviser Wrathmoda isn’t senile yet. She could marry an aristocrat. Why marry down to Jasper?”
Their mother gasped. “Who wouldn’t want Jasper? He’s a desirable male! Just like all of my dragonlets.”
“No, I mean—”
“Pyro means that Adviser Wrathmoda has no need for marriage to a dragon of any caste. Our family benefits from the relationship much more than she does.” Alex clicked his claws together. “What secret motivates this marriage?”
Their mother shrugged again uninterested. “You must ask her.”
Alex leaned forward to address Kyan. “We need Flint.”
Kyan pulled out a transmitter and frowned.
“Flint?” Their mother warmed. “I’ll be seeing him shortly. What shall I ask?”
The rest of them stared in astonishment.
Mal took over. “You’ll see him!”
“He attended my last fire tea. Such a delight.”
“He is in the Outer Rim? We thought he was in Earth’s solar system. What is he doing?”
“Charming all of my friends. He bowled over Ferocia Carnelian. If she were a half-century younger and not already married, there would be a marriage flight!”
His siblings regarded each other.
Flint as a
romantic didn’t sound at all like him. After arriving on Earth, he had split off to pursue his own ideas and only consulted on occasions that interested him. Usually his predictions, no matter how strange, were correct. When had their youngest brother stopped helping them and returned to the Outer Rim?
“What is he doing now?” Mal murmured, echoing what they were all thinking.
Flint flew in his own headwinds, that was for sure.
Their mother sighed. “Yes, we’re having a delightful time. Darcy’s mother is so focused on her children, but I tell her, that is nothing compared to grand dragonlets! I think I’m winning her over. She seems to need an awful lot of rest…”
The signal beeped out and turned to snow, then popped back to her.
“Ah, farewell, my dragonlets! Our signal is worse than usual. Probably Adviser Fumerous is ending communications. Farewell for perhaps a long time, my loves!”
The signal cut off.
A sad awkward silence reigned over the conference room.
Mal slammed his fist on the table. “Retracting your offer is suicide! Larimar will be here in days. Jasper, change your mind back.”
“I can’t.”
“Without Amber, no female can stand in Larimar’s way,” Pyro pointed out.
Kyan rested his large, scarred hands on the conference table. “No weapons or army can turn her aside.”
Alex took a deep breath, uncrossed his legs, and straightened. “I’m sorry, Jasper, but Mal’s right. You have to marry her. It’s the only way.”
Normally he would compromise. And he felt awful because his refusal endangered his siblings. “I’m sorry, Alex. I can’t betray Rose.”
Alex frowned as if he couldn’t understand Jasper’s feelings. “She’s a human. She can’t punish you.”
“I don’t fear punishment. Rose is my mate.”
“You’re being irrational.”
“Yes, I know.”
Mal slammed his fists. “Why did you agree? We could have avoided this a day ago! Now an enraged dragon will rain down fire on Earth, my wife’s planet, while she’s suffering from morning sickness, all because you charged ahead and changed your mind.”
“Yes, Jasper.” Alex leaned forward, and the other dragons also leaned in. “Why did you accept Adviser Wrathmoda’s marriage offer yesterday?”
His heart thudded. “Rose vowed we would never date or marry. I knew she would not change her mind.”
“Yet, she changed her mind?” Alex inserted.
“Ah…Yes.”
Mal barked, “Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“So maybe she’ll change her mind back!”
A harsh growl roughened his throat. Jasper swallowed it back. He did not mean to attack his brothers, especially when their points were so reasonable. He channeled calm. “Not if I am careful.”
“Jasper, your desire for Rose once saved us, but now it’s about to destroy you—and us with you. And Rose won’t fight.”
Pyro held up a battle-scarred hand, stopping Alex. “Who could fight a female dragon? C’mon.”
“Rose fights injustice,” Jasper agreed, grateful to Pyro. “She would stop anything she didn’t believe in.”
“So if she chose the field of battle and the weapons, then she would fight for you?”
He remembered the previous night’s conversation. Can’t you fight? No. When Briar takes Liam, he’ll be more gone than my car. And that was about the child she’d raised since his third day of life.
She wouldn’t fight a twin who was her same physical strength. What about for his freedom? No, there was no doubt. Even if she could fight for him, she would not.
The other dragons heard his answer in his silence.
Mal’s order cracked down the table. “It’s too late. You must break up with Rose or face annihilation.”
Chapter Thirteen
Rose cruised into work at her usual time, hung her lunch bag in her locker, and took her cleaning coveralls out of the decontamination unit. The fresh scent of lavender kissed her nose. She shouldered on the coveralls, zipped them, and put on her boots. Today she was cleaning the shipping bay to prepare for the next product launch, and so she’d be fully covered.
And so would her cleanest jeans, nicest shirt, and neatened hair. In the inspection mirror, she had an extra shine to her eyes and a bounce to her step.
The new boss, Peridot, snuck up behind her as she was fastening her utility belt. “Why aren’t you at the morning meeting?”
She jumped and shrieked. “Oh! You startled me.”
He stared at her with irritation. He struck her as a washed-out version of the toned Onyx siblings. His eyes were pale green in light yellow-tinged skin with combed blond hair and a light gray suit.
“Morning meeting?” Her heart thudded. “What morning meeting? This morning?”
“Yes. This morning. Because you didn’t come, you’re late.”
She flushed hot. “I didn’t know about it.”
“It’s your responsibility to know about meetings. I will mark this in your employment file.” He turned on his heel and strode to Jasper’s—now his— office.
She dropped onto her booted heels, then shook her head and raced after him. She couldn’t lose this job, and she’d never been a bad worker, never. Her voice cracked. “You can’t write me up! How was I supposed to know about the meeting? Where did I even find out?”
He stopped outside his open door. “I made an announcement across the building.”
She met him there, almost out of breath. “But I wasn’t here.”
“You should have been at work.”
“Why?”
“Because of the meeting.”
“But how could I know?”
“You—”
“I would have come in early if I’d known. Tell people in advance.”
He blinked like this was a foreign concept. “Where does it say that in the handbook?”
“Okay, I don’t know about that, but it’s common sense. You have to tell people to come in at a different time. This is the time I always come. It’s my scheduled time. I’m on time.”
He eyed her like she was trying to get away with something, which made her crazy and scared because she was not a bad employee. She wasn’t. He nodded and continued inside to Jasper’s—now his—desk and sat facing her. His expression, still irritated, tinted to reluctant magnanimity. “I will give you a warning.”
“A warning!” She stumbled in. “But for what?”
Her coworkers ringed Peridot’s desk. They had avoided his guest chairs and remained standing, arms crossed, frowns black. This was a mutiny.
“Have a warning,” Shawn told her grimly, no longer sweet and gentle like a large marshmallow. “You have one. I have twenty-three. Patty has seventeen. We all have warnings.”
“You have multiple warnings.” Peridot reviewed a spreadsheet. “Six days this year you were absent. The handbook says that absences are given warnings, and after three warnings, you will be fired.”
“I wasn’t absent!”
“Dragon record-keeping is flawless. Your most recent absence was on March eleven.”
She counted back. “My nephew had a dentist’s appointment. I came in three hours late, and it was excused. “
He tilted his head. “Excused?”
“Yeah!” She tapped the handbook. “It doesn’t mean an excused absence. You have to be a no-call, no-show to get a warning.”
“It’s not in the handbook.”
“But isn’t it in our contracts? Or, like, the Washington State Employment laws? Or maybe it’s Federal.”
He took a deep breath, held it, and then exhaled. “There are more rules to read?”
“Yeah, you can’t write us up for excused absences. Otherwise, how would we take a vacation? Or a sick day?”
“Those words don’t translate.”
“Which words? Vacation? Sick days?”
He nodded.
She looked at her coworker
s for backup, but they just stared at Peridot stonily. His first day on the job and he’d alienated the entire Environmental Tech department.
He gazed at the handbook with flat lips.
She snagged her usual seat. “Look, there are lots of rules to learn, but it’s best to not write up the entire department on your first day, right? I’ve been here since the beginning and there was a huge learning curve in the first few weeks. You can ask us questions and we can help you instead.”
“I’m your superior, so I won’t do that.”
She stood. “Fine. But don’t treat us like dragons. We’re not.”
“Of course you’re not, or you would already be fired.” He rested his clean hands on the handbook. “Where are these additional human laws written?”
“They’re—”
“You’re not asking us questions.” Shawn’s angry gaze glanced off Rose and centered on Peridot. “She can’t help you.”
Rose closed her mouth and joined her coworkers in solidarity.
Peridot returned Shawn’s gaze evenly. “I will find these laws without help. Then, you will all be fired.”
Her coworkers murmured.
Rose stepped forward again. “Why? Why do you want us fired?”
“I can just quit,” Shawn told the ceiling, and Patty agreed. Elle stayed silent but kept her music lodged in her ears.
“Because you are not dedicated to your work,” Peridot replied to Rose. “Look at this history of absences, schedule adjustments, partial days. You only work forty hours a week.”
“Only!” she blurted. “How dirty do you think this place is?”
“Precisely. I could hire two dragons to complete your work in a mere 80 hours a week, and they would not request time off. You have taken advantage of Jasper’s generosity for too long. I will end this slacking.”
Her coworkers gasped.
Elle raised her voice. “So, what, are we fired?”
“No. Jasper asked me to treat you honorably, and I will.” He turned to the computer. “I will use your own improper actions against the agreement you already operate under to end your employment.”
Everyone stared at him in shock.
“Go to your stations and complete your tasks.”
Shawn snorted. “Do you even know what our tasks are?”