Page 8 of The Dragon's Mate Proposal

All sorts of alarms went off in my head at that phrase.

“No,” I said bluntly. “You can make your offer, but anything that promises to help me will come with a catch I absolutely am not interested in. Just so you know. But you were sent to make your offer. The least I can do is hear you out.”

Vicek tilted his head in appreciation.

“It’s actually quite simple, really. And the catch is obvious. There’s no hidden aspect to the deal, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“That’s even worse,” I said with a bark of laughter, which I immediately regretted when pain coursed through my body. “That means it’s so bad, there’s no way it could be hidden.”

“Perhaps.” Vicek shrugged.

“Just spit it out already,” I growled. “I hate this political bullshit you all indulge in.”

“Is it really any different from the way you speak about business?” Vicek challenged. He held up a hand to forestall a response. “It doesn’t matter.”

“If you say so. Now, what is it?”

“We’re looking for people to help fulfill the terms of the ceasefire,” Vicek said bluntly. “Eight human women will be coming to the Dragon Isles in a matter of days. The sovereign needs eight dragons to volunteer to be their mates.”

I laughed again, ignoring the pain that time. “How typically arrogant of her. Stipulating terms she doesn’t actually have anyone to fulfill. Thinking she knows best for our people and then realizing she has no volunteers. Instead, she has to coerce people like me to do her dirty work for her.”

“Careful,” Vicek growled warningly, fire blossoming in his eyes. “That is my mother you speak of. Show some respect.”

I wasn’t really in a position to continue being a dick. So, I let it drop.

“All right. So, what’s the deal?”

“Take one of the human women as your mate. See if the bond is true.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yes, I got that much already. But why? Why would I go back to the isles, a place I haven’t been since I was a youth?”

“Because if you do, the sovereign will pay off your debt to Kalann.”

My eyebrows rose, even though it was what I expected. Still, to hear Vicek say it …

“All of it?” I asked to confirm.

“All of it,” Vicek stated unequivocally.

I sat back in thought. I had no love for humans, but in the decades I’d spent among them, I’d taken a number of human women to bed. What would be one more? It would be nothing to tell her to simply to pretend, to act the part until my debts were clear.

Then we could leave for the human world and be free. She could go her own way, and I could go mine.

I opened my mouth to accept.

“But,” Vicek said, stopping me cold. “There’s one caveat.”

Clenching my teeth, I nodded. “Of course there is,” I said tightly. “Of course there is. What?”

“You must prove it’s real. To everyone.”

“What do you mean?”

“A scale bond,” he said, naming the ritual performed between two dragon mates, where they bonded one of their scales to the flesh of the other, forever linking them.

To remove a scale bond was to kill both parties.

“You’re insane,” I said bluntly. “Scale bond with a human? Impossible.”

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