"Thystle is correct," Jade pointed out calmly. "As you know, we share a common ancestor—Holy Drake. That is why dragons can breed with all shifters, regardless of species."
Thystle looked smug. "Told you."
"Okay, yeah, fine," Aurum said, waving him off. "But I'd rather mate with another dragon. Wouldn't you?"
"No, because I'm not a speciesist."
Aurum groaned, slumping into his seat. "Here we go... Wake me up when Thystle's done with his lecture."
Elbowing his twin in the side, Saffron asked, "Can you at least listen to my idea before deciding Thystle's an annoying asshole?"
"I can literally hear everything you're saying," Thystle said in an irritable deadpan.
I rubbed my temples. I could only take so much of the younger half of my brothers before a headache assaulted me.
As if sensing my mental anguish, Jade chimed in. "Regardless of your preferences, Aurum, it's a biological fact that dragon shifters can breed with any shifter. It's an unfortunate reality that not many dragons are left. So unless you'd like to mate with one of us—which is possible but biologically useless, since we're all alphas—your choices are limited."
Aurum wrinkled his nose. "Oh, good. My choices are brother-ass or generic wolf-ass."
"Brother-ass is a genetic dead end, I'm afraid," Jade said with a smile.
I withheld a snort of laughter.
"Cobalt." Viol's deep, dangerous voice cut through the amusing atmosphere like a knife. "Speak."
The rest of us piped down. Nobody wanted to incur Viol's wrath. His tone implied that he had places to be, shit to do—likely involving violence—and he wanted to get the fuck out of this family meeting ASAP.
I was also ready to end this silly conversation, but for different reasons. I had a hoard of suits to attend to.
"We need mates," Cobalt announced. Nobody disputed this fact. "We need a catalyst. An event. Instead of wasting our time scouring the land, we need to bring the mates to us."
Saffron perked up, grinning with enthusiasm. At the same time, I felt my hopes crash to the floor. Cobalt wasn'tseriouslyconsidering Saffron's idea... was he?
Cobalt went on. "Saffron suggested hosting a game show to invite omegas to our island and compete for our love, and the right to breed with us."
There it was. Finally, the idiotic suggestion was out in the open for everyone to hear. I scanned the table eagerly, waiting to hear everyone's raucous laughter.
Except there was none.
"Guys?" I said when nobody spoke.
Jade rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I see. That's a convenient idea. Not only does it increase the possible options by making multiple omegas compete, but it brings them straight to us."
My jaw dropped.
"Game show!" Aurum cried, high-fiving Saffron. "Dude, that's awesome!"
Saffron grinned back. "I told you!"
Across from them, Thystle huffed. "A game show, huh? That's so dumb it might actually work."
My hopes crashed faster than a city collapsing under dragonfire.
"You all cannot be serious," I muttered.
Saffron stuck his tongue out at me in a childish I-told-you-so gesture. "Get over it, Crimson. Everybody likes my idea except you."
I turned desperately to Viol, who hadn't said a word since ordering Cobalt to speak. But even my crazy brother didn't seem to agree with me. A tiny smirk appeared on the edge of his lips and he gave a slight nod.
