Page 13 of Dark Dragon’s Mate

He’d had every right to kill all three of them—they’d colluded with the man who’d kidnapped and tortured the royal line of Al-Maddeiri. This outpost was all that was left of Al-Maddeiri territory, and the old laws still held here.

Or whatever laws were enacted by the Ruling Council. Which was basically him.

But he’d had enough of killing and death, and in a moment of soft-heartedness he’d paroled them instead, sentencing them to mining atherias—the rare and magical mineral that financed his entire domain.

“Sure, kill us,” Zakerek said. “If you want to mine your own damn atherias, which you don’t. You’re as stuck with us as we are with you. You do have a wolf pack living in your castle, by the way. Wolves? Sheep? Duh. So maybe go talk to them about your little complaint, and leave us alone. Zakerek out.”

He disconnected before Emon could ask him about this month’s yield. His reports were late—again—and Emon needed to know if they were going to earn enough to build the bridge and aqueduct needed over by the western farms.

He was going to have to fly out to the mine in the next few days, which he was not looking forward to. Zakerek always gave him a headache.

He couldn’t tell if Zakerek was telling the truth about the sheep. He couldn’t imagine who else would have taken them—he doubted very much that the research team had hunted and killed nineteen sheep and made them disappear without a trace.

On the other hand, Zakerek would enjoy pissing Emon off by stealing sheep. And if he and the other dragons were running short of game to hunt, he’d be too proud to ask Emon for food.

He should check whether there were enough dragon-sized munchies in the forest near the mine. As much as the Wild Dragons annoyed him, he didn’t want them to starve.

He wasn’t a complete monster.

Only about eighty percent.

He leaned back in his chair, rubbing his eyes with his thumb and middle finger. He didn’t need this shit. Not today.

Not with his potential destruction coming to dinner.

Chapter 7

After Emon left the room, Trish sank down in the nearest chair, every hair on her body standing on end.

What the actual fuck had just happened there?

Emon’s dragon had talked to her. Just taken over his body and did it. She’d never heard of someone’s animal doing that.

She didn’t even think he realized what had happened. That right there was exorcist horror-movie shit.

And now she was supposed to figure out how to dress for an impromptu formal dinner with the ‘dark, dangerous, brooding master of the house’, who could start randomly talking to her like a demon-possessed monster at any time. In between toe-curling kisses.

If she didn’t still need his help, she would totally be skipping dinner.

Of course, if this were one of her books, she would have the perfect ravishing gown in her trunk—one that would make him instantly fall in love with her.

But she had no trunk, no gowns, and no weapons in her arsenal of feminine wiles capable of turning a demon-possessed monster into a puddle of devoted moosh.

She was fucked.

Should she try to look slutty and alluring instead? She didn’t actually need to make him fall in love with her—all she needed was to soften him up enough so that he might consider using his Al-Maddeiri superpowers to help her control her wolf.

On the other hand, this whole scenario was quickly sliding downhill from gothic romance into horror movie territory. And everyone knew who the first victim was in the horror movie. The slutty blonde.

She finally went with something less victim-y: black skinny pants, a sparkly black top, and one of her favorite pairs of glitter sneakers.

Glitter sneakers were Trish’s other guilty pleasure. She picked out her dressiest pair—wedge sneakers with gold and silver glitter—and put them on. After taking extra care with her makeup, she headed for the dining room, giving herself plenty of time.

She thought.

Problem one: She had no fucking clue where the dining room was.

Problem two: Once she’d been down a few corridors and made a few turns, she had no clue how to get back to her room either.