Page 1 of The Ruby Dragon's Unconventional Mate

Chapter

One

“Isaid no!”

Lars McCallum didn’t know why his brother was just blinking at him.

Maybe he’d had a stroke.

He wasn’t even sure dragons could have strokes, but it didn’t matter. He’d said no, and he meant it.

“Why not?” Had Logan just asked him that? Seriously?

“I don’t want to.” He didn’t think he could. He was damn good at avoiding things, and he was not dealing with Bryant. Not now.

Maybe not ever.

“Lars, who is the head of the Guardian Council here?”

He arched an eyebrow. “Ask me if I care. Use small words so that I understand them. I said no.” His eyes narrowed. “Then, after you’re done, you can explain to me why you would approve this and not tell me.”

Lars had thought…well, he’d thought that Bryant Markham was going to be…special to him.

He’d thought he was special to Bryant, but that had been a lie.

A lot of things had been a lie, apparently, and he wasn’t going to go train anyone; he wasn’t going to be nice to anyone; and he wasn’t going to fly with anyone either. He’d made his position on this perfectly clear, he thought. “Ask Bea. Ask Jake. Do it your own goddamn self.”

“Why are you being so stubborn?”

He didn’t bother to answer that question. He just stared at Logan over his desk and waited.

Smoke began to pour out of Logan’s nose, and he could see the golden dragon shimmering just right behind the skin, which was fine with him.

Lars didn’t care. He could dragon up just as well as anybody else. Obviously neither Bryant nor his twin brother, Lachlan, had any respect for him, and he’d be damned if he was going to participate in this bullshit. “You hired them. You didn’t ask anybody if they thought it was all right to bring two guardians in to replace Jason. You didn’t bother to ask my opinion about bringing Bryant here.”

And Bryant had let him find out when everyone else did too.

When they showed up in Oro Escondido.

“It’s my position to hire them. Jason had to be replaced! What was I supposed to do? This isn’t like hiring a new receptionist!”

Lars stood, his wings bursting through his shirt. Dammit. “I’m your goddamn brother. I deserved some warning. Get out of my house.”

Logan blinked. “What?”

“Did I stutter? Get out of my house! You’re not welcome here.”

Logan rolled his eyes, and someone was going to die. “Bullshit. I’m your brother. I’m always welcome here, and you’re always welcome at my house with my mate and the babies, sostop it. Be mad, sure. But not like this. This doesn’t work for me. You’re my brother, and I love you.”

Oh, that was not fair. That was totally cheating. Totally cheating to bring up brotherhood and babies and—“I hate you.”

Logan shook his head. “No, you don’t. You’re mad at me. Your feelings are hurt, but you don’t hate me. Bryant didn’t want me to tell you. It was part of the deal. They’re powerful alphas, even with Lachlan hurt. It was too good to turn down.”

Even for him.

Lars felt so damn insignificant.

“I hate that Dakota made you reasonable.” He sat down with a sigh, and so did Logan. “You owe me a shirt.”

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