But Muzo was more important than that. Being asked to smother my feelings for him was like asking me to pretend he wasn’t my fated mate.
Jade’s soothing green eyes subdued my rising fury. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to,” he said calmly. “All I’m asking is that you don’t jump on Muzo the second you’re being filmed.”
My frown etched deeper.
“And at leastacknowledgethe other contestants,” Jade continued. “They came all this way for a chance to be your mate.”
My insides roiled at the thought. I didn’t want any of them that way. I only wanted Muzo.
“Why can’t the show be about our deepening connection instead?” I grumbled.
Jade laughed. “I’ll take note of that for future seasons. But keep in mind, you’ll have to play along if there are tobefuture seasons.”
The gravity of his statement grounded me. He was right. I wasn’t the only alpha dragon on this island. Besides Crimson and Thystle, my younger brothers hadn’t found their mates yet. If the Dragonfate Games tanked in popularity and no more omegas applied to be contestants, they might lose their chance.
My protective instincts swam back to the surface of my consciousness. I had a duty to put aside my own selfish desires and help my family.
Jade tilted his head with a reassuring smile. “Muzo isn’t going anywhere. You’re still free to choose him as your mate.”
That was true. Muzo wouldn’t disappear if I adhered to Jade’s suggestion. I knew the location of his hotel room, and even if he was moved to a different one with a functional door, his scent was burned into my memory. My dragon would hunt him down.
I nodded stiffly and mumbled, “Okay. Sorry for the trouble.”
“It’s all right, Cobalt. I’m glad to see you all incensed for your mate’s sake,” Jade said. “You’ll see Muzo tomorrow during the first challenge. Can you bear to be apart from him tonight? We don’t needtwohotel break-ins in one day.”
I glanced ruefully up at the building. After a taste of spending time with my mate, I craved more, but Jade had sneakily put his foot down. If I was a lizard-brain, then Jade was a snake. He was cool and slippery, and had a way of convincing you of anything without a scrap of disagreement.
“Okay,” I said.
Jade nodded primly before picking up his phone. “Excellent. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to make some calls about that door...”
Nine
Muzo
I hated gettingsand in my nose.
Sneezing loudly for the third time, I groaned. “C’mon, not again...”
The first challenge was set on the beach, so we’d assumed our animal forms. I got bored of waiting for Gaius to arrive and start the whole shebang, so I dug around in the sand for fun—only for my nostrils to get bombarded with tiny sand particles.
Poppy whimpered in concern beside me, his ears flattening against his head. He’d been giving me that sad expression a lot lately.
“Um... maybe if you stopped hunting for crabs, you wouldn’t get sand in your nose?” he suggested.
I pawed at my nose. “Yeah, but I’m bored.”
Poppy glanced over his shoulder. His yellowish-white fur was puffed up along his neck from nerves. “Gaius and Cobalt should be here any moment,” he assured. “So, um, maybe you can stop doing that and, er, pay attention?”
What was up with Poppy? He seemed more anxious than usual.
I lifted my head, opened my mouth to reply, then sneezed again. Sand flew everywhere.
A disgusted scoff came from my left.
“It’s called covering your mouth. Ever heard of it?” Alaric snapped. He drew up a white kitty paw and cleaned the offending grains from his whiskers.
“My bad,” I said, sniffling. “It’s only sand.”
