Page 9 of The Dragon's Mate Proposal

“Not impossible,” Vicek said with an assurity that surprised me. “Those are the terms. Mate with one of the humans. A True Bond. She must accept it. Do that, and your debt will be cleared.”

I sagged back onto the floor, thinking it through.

“Not likely to be able to convince a human woman to fall in love with a broke dragon like me,” I muttered. “She’s setting me up for failure. I have nothing to my name.”

Vicek cocked his head. “That’s not entirely true. You have the property that—”

I cut him off with a snarl. “That old rundown place? I think not. I haven’t set foot there since the last time I was on the isles.”

“So, are you turning down the offer?” Vicek asked. “Think carefully.”

Sighing, I met his gaze. I was trapped, and we both knew it. What other choice did I have? There was no other way I would find the gold in the thirty days I had left before Reed and Lincoln came back for me. I had to accept.

Even if I didn’t want to.

“Yes,” I growled. “I do, damn you. I accept.”

Chapter Five

Samantha

I was an idiot for going through with this.

The words burned in my mind as the rock wall shivered upward, revealing a giant cavern. Eight human women, none of whom knew one another until five minutes ago. Now, we slowly walked into the massive underground chamber, trying not to pee our pants.

It wasn’t easy. High above us, perched on thick ledges carved from stone, numerous dragons stared down with baleful eyes blazing with fire. A reminder of the death that might await us if we stepped out of line.

While I didn’t think the dragons would bring us all that way just to kill us, there was no way to tell with the capricious beings. In their territory, we were completely at their mercy. I had to remember that. The normal “laws” I was used to would be of no protection there. Only the dragon customs mattered.

Whatever they were.

Torchlight glittered, pulling me back to the moment and the giant cavern, which had a ceiling lost to the darkness somewhere high above. Fear washed over us as we moved to the center of the cavern by unspoken agreement. There, a single torch embedded into the rock itself waited for us.

“Silence,” a deep voice boomed from somewhere high above.

My head swiveled around, trying to pinpoint which dragon had spoken.

“Why?”

My eyes nearly bulged out of my head at the bold response from one of the other women in our group.

“Because,” that same voice said, “the selection process is about to begin.”

Before anyone could respond, the cavern wall across from us began to shiver. Then it slid smoothly into the ground, revealing inky darkness beyond. And in that darkness, something moved.

Talon on rock. Breath from giant lungs. Twin yellow eyes, high above us. Dragon eyes. Together, we retreated from the center circle as the beast moved into the chamber with us. I licked my lips as fear tried to overwhelm me.

Then, suddenly, the dragon was a man. It happened fast. A quick glance away, a long blink, and it was over. The other women gasped in surprise, and I reminded myself to act equally astonished. Most humans had no idea dragons could do such a thing. I didn’t want to be singled out, so I went along with it.

“You,” the dragon said, pointing at one of the women.

And so it went, dragon by dragon, they came in and picked a woman, like some sort of dark, perverse episode of The Bachelor. It was wrong. How could they possibly know who to pick? By looks alone? They had demanded eight women as mates. Surely, that wasn’t how they chose their partners. Was it?

Then again, every dragon-man who came through the door was incredibly jacked. Either it was natural—the muscle required to carry around the dragon frame, only packed into human size—or else they spent a lot of time in the gym. So, perhaps they were that selfish and vain when it came to selecting mates.

In which case, it was no surprise to me that I was being passed over. The only thing I had going for me was my height. With these giants, perhaps that appealed to them. Then again, as yet another woman walked out with a man who had seconds earlier been a red dragon, maybe not.

My hair was thin and limp, my body more pudge than curves. I didn’t have much of an ass or boobs. It was a wonder the dragons had even accepted me in the first place. Now, though, they were passing me over again and again. Nobody wanted me as their first choice.

---