Of all of them, Sever had undergone the greatest shock in the new world. He’d gone looking to avenge his mate, only to find out she either didn’t exist and was a powerful hoax or had betrayed him.
Sever also looked the least different now. He’d kept his long braid, but with his square jaw, handsome features, and huge build, he pulled it off.
Dante saw the biggest difference in the mirror. He hadn’t felt any regret over chopping off his golden locks to better blend into the real world. In the past, women had fawned over his long, masculine mane, but in the modern world, short hair was more admired.
And Dante liked to be admired.
Which wasn’t uncommon. Dante Gildenstern was beautiful. He always had been, always would be.
“Dante, pay attention,” Citrine said. “Don’t zone out. There still hasn’t been any sign of Mercury, and the oracle is keeping an eye on that. So right now we need to focus solely on getting you all mated. Tonight is our first open house. Are you ready? Any questions?”
Dante knew Citrine probably had three petulant dragons glaring at him right now.
Citrine sighed, putting a hand up to his forehead. “Look. We’ve done plenty of training. You know modern rules. You should understand modern women.”
“Human women.” Adrien scoffed.
“Right,” Citrine said. “And if you want to never be in your dragon form again, never feel air under your wings, then stay jerks and ruin everything. See if I care.” He threw up his hands. “I’m going to go let the women in.”
Adrien looked at Dante. “What’s bothering him?”
“You,” Sever said.
“Shut up, both of you,” Dante said, straightening the crisp suit he wore. A light gray, it set off his tanned skin.
All they had to do was please women. That was easy. He would be the example for his team, show them how it was done. “Let’s all behave for the sake of our freedom.”
“Impossible,” Adrien muttered. “I can’t mate a human.”
Sever just shrugged his heavy shoulders and looked uncomfortable in his tailored suit. They’d had to go custom because designer suits just weren’t made for hulking men who stood between 6’3” and 6’6”.
Sever’s gray eyes went to the large double doors and then darted away.
Dante stood, squaring his shoulders. He’d always handled things admirably in his time, whether that was wooing women in the village, visiting merchants or dignitaries, or chasing off rogue dragons who threatened their territory.
He expected he would be just fine now.
Citrine was at the doors now, taking a deep breath. “Good luck to us,” Dante heard him mutter.
Dante grinned. They wouldn’t need luck. They were the noble metal dragons.
Ella Stanton set down her book, a particularly juicy romance novel, to look at the text that was dinging and lighting up her phone.
She reached over for it with a groan and sighed when she saw who it was from.
Her sister. Her perfect, beautiful, about-to-get-married sister.
And she still didn’t have a date for the wedding.
Ella flopped on her back, her unruly curls making a frizzy halo around her head. She didn’t want to go to this thing. All told, it’d be around a week with her family. Which she didn’t mind. She could almost look forward to that part.
But it was being back in her hometown that she dreaded. The last thing she wanted was to go home alone.
But all efforts at looking on dating websites were in vain. Ella just didn’t want to start a relationship to go to a wedding. That wasn’t fair to the other person, and besides, she had long ago given up on any hope of romance.
She didn’t need it. She had her job as a business consultant for struggling companies, and she was good at it. Whether it was helping with marketing or representation or product management, she’d always been able to make a positive difference.
And then she could come home to her bird and her books and have a quiet night alone. With some wine and good food.
Life was just fine, thanks, and she didn’t need some dude coming in to mess it up just because she needed company for a week.
She downed her glass of wine, feeling only slightly warm and not at all tipsy. She never drank to excess. She plopped herself on the spinny chair in front of her computer and opened Google.
Shouldn’t there just be someone she could pay for this? She giggled as she typed in “buy a date” and her city and hit enter. As results popped up, her eyes went to the first result.
Date-A-Dragon.
Weird name.
She clicked on the website and gasped at what she saw. The design was simple, amateur even, but they didn’t need any fancy marketing materials.