Royal Dragon (The Bride Hunt Book 1) (2 page)

“It’s not their hearts that we’re interested in.” Thunder smiled even wider.

“Females are emotional, humans are so much worse. That’s why I’m infinitely glad I’m not taking a human mate. Thunder…” He looked the male head on. “Bring your sisters when you return tomorrow. I would like to meet with them. I hope that one of them will agree to becoming my mate.”

Thunder’s face clouded. He looked both angry and nervous. By the sheen of sweat on his brow and his suddenly pale complexion, Coal would definitely say that he was nervous. “I was very angry when I found out about your sister’s pregnancy.”

“As was I.” Blaze didn’t take his eyes off the male for a second. Their sister, Ruby had been promised to the air king. The deal was that Thunder would take Ruby and in return, Blaze could choose a fertile air princess to mate with. Unfortunately, Ruby had other plans and had become pregnant with a vampire male’s child. They were mated and happy but things were clearly still heated between the fire and air kingdoms. Thunder had not been happy about the news.

The male in question leaned forward. “I may have made some rash decisions, but you can’t blame me.” Thunder’s eyes were wide and he spoke too quickly.

Oh no.

Coal could sense that whatever Thunder was about to say was not going to be good.

Blaze nodded, urging the other king to continue.

“I gave my sisters to the earth and the water princes, it…” No wonder the second princes were in attendance. No damned wonder. Coal clenched his hands into fists.

Blaze slowly stood up. The tic was back and with a vengeance. Blaze banged his hands on the table. “You did what?” His voice was low and deep.

If what Thunder was saying was true, then there were no more available fertile dragon females left in all four kingdoms. The fire dragons were at risk. Huge risk. Thunder sucked in a deep breath. “I did what I felt was right. There will be humans and they—”

Blaze threw his head back and roared. At once, the room was engulfed in scorching flames. Chairs crashed and furniture smashed. By the time Blaze was finished, they all had first degree burns. Thunder was missing limbs and only barely alive.

****

The laundry room was cramped. Clean linen lined the shelved walls. The low hum of washing machines and dryers could be heard in the background. “Room 211 is demanding a clean.” Her supervisor looked at her watch. “You’ve got twenty minutes to get over there and to get it done.”

Julie had to refrain from rolling her eyes. She pursed her lips together, holding back a choice response. “I was just there. He had a DND sign up,” she finally pushed out. “That’s why I called and asked to be given another room to clean.” As a temp, she only got paid for the rooms she cleaned and then only after one of the managers checked them once they had been returned back into the system. If there were any errors in any of the suites, a percentage was deducted from her pay. Julie needed to clean a minimum of sixteen rooms per shift. That gave her an average of twenty-five minutes a room. She couldn’t afford any errors. Literally.

Callie huffed out a breath, looking irritated. “Well, he’s changed his mind.” She raised her brows. “Now, do you want to keep arguing or should I give this unit to one of the ladies on the next shift?”

Callie was the best of the bunch. Most of the supervisors treated the temps like slave labor. They got the worst rooms. They had to work like dogs to earn something of an income. It wasn’t fun and it certainly wasn’t fair but Julie had never had it any other way. This was her life. “I’m on it.” She pushed the brake on her trolley and made her way back up the hall.

“Oh and, Julie,” Callie called after her.

She turned. “Yeah?”

“Pack up and clock out when you’re done. I need to fetch Harry from school today so I can’t hang around to wait on you.”

“No problem.”

“You sure?”

“No sweat.” Julie gave a reassuring nod of the head.

“Okay then.” Callie nodded back.

Julie continued down the hall. Callie was a single mom. She wasn’t really allowed to leave until everyone had checked out but her life was one big juggling act. Rules sometimes had to be broken. Julie understood that more than most.

It was a bit of a haul to the staff elevator. Julie walked as fast as the outdated housekeeping trolley would allow. It had one squeaky wheel and if she wasn’t careful the door would open and the amenity drawers would fall out. Every minute she had to work over time to get this room done would be for free. The hotel only paid for time spent on rooms cleaned within the allotted shift and then only if they were perfect. She sighed.

By the end of this month, she’d be up to date with her rent and then she could start saving. Julie had moved plenty as a kid. They were all small towns just like Walton Springs. There had to be more. There was a whole world out there to explore. Big cities. Beautiful views. Breathtaking sunsets. So much adventure just waiting. She was done with small time. Done with small towns.

She’d never flown in an airplane, much less been to another country. Once she saved up enough though, she was leaving. Suddenly the trolley didn’t feel as heavy or the lift so slow. One day… one day soon. She just needed to get out of this hole and ahead enough to be able to save. It was going to happen.

Julie gave a double knock on the door. Room 211. “Housekeeping,” she announced. There was no answer so she tried again. Maybe the guest had gone out.

She cracked the door open. “Housekeeping.” She said again before entering with her spray bottle and cloth in hand. The cumbersome trolley stayed in the hallway. It would be a simple matter of returning to it for new supplies such as bedding and amenities when needed.

“Oh god.” She covered her eyes and backtracked. “I’m so sorry,” she mumbled.

The guy was middle aged and not bad looking. He had an athletic build and salt and pepper hair. He was also completely naked as the day he was born. Her cheeks heated.
Floor please open up and swallow me whole.

Why call for housekeeping if you plan on changing just then? Also, when someone announces themselves at the door, respond and ask them to wait.

“Don’t be silly,” the guy said. “Ignore me, do your thing, I’ll be dressed in a moment. We’re both adults.”

Damn. Was he a weirdo? He must be. Then again, he had a good body. Well muscled. She opened her eyes and he was searching in the closet. His ass was… not bad.
Not looking!
She snapped her head in the opposite direction.

This was weird. He was far too old for her but he had that whole Richard Gere thing going on. His hair had that just showered look even though it was already halfway through the afternoon. Odd! No, he couldn’t be doing this on purpose. A guy like him could get a date. Surely. Definitely. She relaxed just a smidgen. He was obviously just comfortable in his own skin.

She was tempted to leave and wait outside. Every minute she stood out there would be money lost though. She needed to get up to date with her rent. If she wasn’t so damned desperate. Julie suppressed a sigh, she ignored him and got to work stripping the bed. She was sure that by the time she looked again he would be dressed or even better, out the door. First she removed the cover from the duvet, then the sheet from the bed and was just removing the first pillowcase when she looked up.

What the hell!

A squeaky noise came out of her throat.

“Keep cleaning,” the guy said. His face had a pinched look. His back was to the closed closet door. He wasn’t dressing. He wasn’t even attempting to dress. His hand worked his cock. Up and down. In slow easy strokes. Forget Richard Gere, this guy was a creep with a capital C. Gross!

“What the hell are you doing?” She sounded pissed. Which was good, because she felt pissed. Her cheeks felt hot and she could hear the sound of her heart beating. It was as if the thing was in her ears.

“Ignore me and keep cleaning. I won’t touch you.” His voice sounded strained. Of course it was strained. He was getting himself off. His hand was still going. Tug, tug, up and down. Her eyes tracked the movement in a kind of sick fascination.

“You’re some kind of sicko,” she blurted. “You like watching people clean?” What the hell! Talk about a strange fetish.

He made a groaning sound that told her she was right on the money. “There’s a hundred bucks on the dresser.” He pointed with his free hand. “It’s yours. Just clean the room and ignore me.”

She shook her head. “You are nuts. I’m out of here.” No way! Forget it!

“Clean the fucking room and take the money or you’ll regret it.” His eyes narrowed and his hand stopped tugging.

An icy tendril of fear wound itself around her. “I’m not some kind of...” She grit her teeth. “I refuse to—”

“I said that I won’t touch you. Clean my room and do it now. It’s what you’re being paid to do. There’s an extra tip in it for you as well.” He glanced at the dresser. “Now be a good little cleaning lady and do your fucking job.”

“Fuck you,” she whispered as she walked out of the room. Her back prickled and for just a second she expected him to grab her from behind or to attack her or something but he didn’t. At the very least she expected an insult to be hurled at her but there wasn’t. The door closed behind her.

Her heart pounded. What the hell! She’d only been working for the hotel for a couple of months and although she’d encountered some weird shit, what had just happened was top on the list. She could have done with the hundred bucks but not like that. Forget it.

The guy seemed so normal. Julie shook her head as she pushed the piece of shit trolley. The door on it opened as she arrived at the elevator and she was forced to get on her knees and pick up all the spilled amenities. That was another thing, the temps got the worst equipment. Feather dusters with only half their feathers left. Trollies with only three wheels or like hers, doors that wouldn’t close. It was a pain in the ass. She finally made it back to the laundry room just as Callie pushed her locker closed. “What happened?” Her brows were raised and concern shone in her eyes.

Her supervisor was intuitive and a smart cookie.

Julie shook her head. “The DND was still up. I knocked twice but there was no answer, so I hope you don’t mind, but I left it.”

Callie frowned. “That’s weird”—
You don’t know the half of it
— “he definitely called and asked for a room clean.” Then she shrugged. “Oh well.”

It was on the tip of her tongue to tell Callie what happened but she decided not to in the end. She’d sworn at the guy. It might get her fired, despite the circumstances. She’d learned a long time ago that just because you were in the right, didn’t mean that you came out on top. In fact, the opposite was mostly true. She’d checked in with reception and the pervert was checking out this afternoon so none of them would have to deal with him anymore. Julie would try to put it behind her. There wasn’t much that surprised her anymore. She’d seen it all.

It took everything in him to bite back a snarl. “What?” Coal felt everything in him tighten. “Didn’t you listen to a word I just said?” There had to be some kind of mistake.

Blaze strode over to the large window and allowed his eyes to wander over the fire kingdom. It was vast and beautiful. Rolling mountains as far as the eye could see.

“I heard you just fine.” Blaze kept his gaze on the view. “You need to have offspring, Coal.”

“Why? You are the king, not I,” he stated unnecessarily. “You are the one that needs heirs.”

“Yes, but you are next in line. What if something were to happen to me?” Blaze was serious. His gaze was unwavering.

“What could possibly happen to you?” Coal growled. “We are the strongest of the non-humans and you are the strongest of the dragons.” More controlled this time. Deep down he knew that his brother had a point but what was the likelihood of him ever having to step up? Tiny to none.

Blaze sighed. “And yet, I am fallible. As are you. It is for that reason that you need to take a mate and to procreate. We need royal offspring, although…” Another dramatic sigh. Blaze shook his head.

Coal didn’t care if there was merit to what Blaze had just said. “Brother…” he kept his voice even. “I think that you have this backwards. It is you who needs to take a mate and to reproduce as a matter of urgency. Scarlet and I have discussed this at great length and—”

“And nothing.” Blaze sounded almost bored. It infuriated him.

“I wish to take her as a mate.” He clenched his jaw.

“Scarlet is infertile. There are no fertile dragon females left and it puts us in a precarious position. The earth and water princes have the last fertile shifter females and will, as we speak, be trying for offspring. It is a given that they will bear royal dragons.”

“Yeah, but their offspring will not be heirs to the throne. The kings from each tribe will take part in the hunt and we have no idea if human females can bear royal dragons.”

“Exactly,” he growled. “No royal dragon has ever mated a human.” He shook his head and suddenly looked much older. “It isn’t right but what choice do we have?”

“I am sure that a royal mating with a human will be successful,” Coal said. “We won’t know though until you take one and try.”

Blaze shook his head. “I’m considering taking a vampire female.”

“What?” Coal could hear the disbelief etched in his voice. “You can’t. A half breed would never be accepted as king.” Although, according to the lores, mating humans would result in diluted blood. Offspring from humans always had all of the dominant features of the non-humans. This was the main reason why human women were being considered instead other species.

“I know that but I might not have a choice. Ruby birthed a royal child. Her daughter is a fire breather.”

“We don’t know if the little one will be capable of shifting. She might breathe fire but she also drinks blood.” He wanted to call his niece an abomination but couldn’t bring himself to do it. She was a gorgeous little thing. “A child like Tinder would never be accepted. Not by our fire tribe and certainly not by the other kingdoms. It’s madness.”

“That it is.” Blaze nodded his head. “It might be the only way though. If humans are not capable of bearing us royal young, we might need to consider that route. Not all of the royals will end up with a human after the first hunt and those that don’t might just be in favor of trying this alternative. Especially if humans can not bear royal young. You will see how quickly a half breed will be accepted then. I need you to win one of the humans.” His brother wanted him to play guinea pig. Wanted him to take a human so that they could find out if the resulting child of the union would have golden markings.

“No.” His breath was hot but he managed to keep smoke from clouding the conversation.

“I’m not asking you, Coal. You need to do this for—”

“A puny, little human. They’re not much better than rats.”

Blaze laughed. “You’ve never been on a stag run. You’ve never even breathed the same air as a human. How do you even know that you wouldn’t like them?” He laughed some more. “I have a feeling that once you have a taste of one, you will fall flat on your face.”

Coal growled. He couldn’t help himself. “Humans are low on the food chain. I would never fall over anything to be with one and I don’t have to meet one to know that to be true. I’ve never had, nor will I ever have, any desire to go on a stag run.” No way! Twice a year, all of the males sought out human companionship. It was a rut fest. The males got more and more excited as the date neared. They talked endlessly about the females that they would bed. Once the stag run was over, they talked endlessly about the females that they had bedded. On and on. Waste of time. Coal had been quite happy with the dragon shifter females and had made his mind up about Scarlet, thank you very much.

A human… forget it. “You would force me to mate with something I consider to be more like food than an equal? No.”

“I need to know if royalty can breed royalty with a human. I need—”

“Ask Inferno, he loves humans. He would be more than willing to mate one and—”

“Our brother is still a pup. There is no way he can stand up against the kings, the best warriors our species has to offer, and actually win. Not without using fire. No way in hell! You on the other hand will cream them. You will be victorious. Our tribe needs you to bring a female home and to impregnate her as soon as possible. If she bears gold, I will follow suit and if not I’ll take a vampire female.” Blaze touched the gold design embedded in his skin. It was proof of his royal blood. Lesser dragons had silver markings. They were born that way.

Coal felt horror and dread at the thought of a human female. Humans were primitive beings. It was like asking a lion to mate with a gazelle. It wasn’t done. It wasn’t right.

“The fire tribe is still on top but that won’t be the case for much longer if the princes from the other tribes breed royals and we are unable to reciprocate. Do you understand the ramifications of that?”

All too well.

“I can’t,” he croaked. “You can’t ask this of me. Anything but this.”

“If there was another choice, I would take it. There are no other options. You need to win the hunt and then win the female. Do all you can to get her to accept you and to agree to mating with you. All I ask is that you enter into this with an open mind. You might just be pleasantly surprised.”

Like hell he would.

****

The next morning…

The bus had arrived early. Okay, only by about a minute, but early nonetheless. Julie had run after it for about a half a block but the driver hadn’t stopped. The next bus was late by four minutes. Go freaking figure. Now she was being summoned to the Executive Housekeeper’s office, for being five minutes late. Really?

This day couldn’t get too much worse. She’d be assigned the worst rooms, the worst trolley. This sucked.

Julie pulled in a deep breath. She smoothed her uniform down, put a smile on her face and opened the door.

“It’s about time.” Gretchen Harridge was a middle-aged, severe woman. She reminded Julie of a nun, but only if said nun was seething with underlying aggression. She had yet to see the woman smile, even once.

Her hair was cut short and her face devoid of all make-up. Her mouth was upside down in appearance. Her eyes were on her laptop. She continued to type for a few minutes. Julie remained standing at the head of her desk.

At long last, Miss Harridge removed her glasses and raised her eyes to Julie who tried not to take a step back. The older woman shook her head slowly.

It was only five minutes. This woman needed to take a chill pill.
Suck it up, Julie
. “I apologize for being late. This is only the second time in all the months I’ve been employed at Lofty Heights Hotel. I’m reliant on public transport.”

“Take a seat.” Mrs. Harridge pointed to the old, linoleum covered chair in front of her desk. Her office was cramped. As with most hotels, the housekeeping department was in the bowels of the hotel. The laundry, staff change area and housekeeping office had been squeezed into a small space, not much bigger than a hotel room.

Her desk was covered in stacks of paperwork and open files. The shelved walls behind her were filled with more of such files. They were labeled things like orders, staff, room checks and maintenance.

Mrs. Harridge cleared her throat. She sighed. “We have to let you go,” she said, without batting an eye.

Julie narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean?” She tripped over the words. “I do a good job, I’m conscientious. Callie was planning on putting me forward for a permanent position, when one became available, that is.” She huffed out a breath when she realized that what she was saying was having no affect on her department head. None whatsoever.

Mrs. Harridge looked at her, deadpan. Her glasses still in one hand. It was like she couldn’t wait for Julie to leave so that she could carry on with her work. It didn’t matter to her how this news would affect Julie.

“Why?” Julie finally asked. She swallowed hard, pushing down the panic that threatened to overwhelm her. If she lost this job, she wouldn’t make rent, again. If she didn’t square up with James, her landlord, by next Tuesday, she was out. So far she’d been on track to do just that. It had meant living on beans and toast, but hey. She was doing it. Now this. If she didn’t find a way to change Mrs. Harridge’s mind, she was going to end up homeless. In just a few days, she’d be out on the streets.

Panic churned her gut and turned her hands clammy. She fought not to squirm in her seat.

“Did you, or did you not, swear at a hotel guest?” She cocked her head to the side.

No.

God no.

It was the pervert from room 211. He’d actually gone and filed a complaint about her. “Um.. what?… no…” She shook her head. “That can’t be right. He didn’t…” Anger welled up in her. “I can’t believe he actually filed a complaint about me. The bastard.”

Mrs. Harridge looked taken aback. She leaned forward on her elbows and finally let her glasses go. “You just called a hotel guest a bastard. Well, at least this proves that you did swear at him. Don’t even try and deny it now.”

“He’s a pervert. He was naked when I opened the door,” she blurted. Oh great. Now she had made it sound like she’d walked in on him.

Her boss cocked her head and raised her brows. “All that tells me is that you didn’t follow correct procedure. It certainly doesn’t make him a pervert.”

Shit! “I knocked and announced myself, three times. He called moments earlier requesting a room clean. I entered. I most certainly followed procedure, to the letter.” She wasn’t going to just accept this. Forget it.

“You saw him naked and swore at him.” Her superior gave a small shake of the head, looking taken aback.

It sucked to high heavens that Mrs. Harridge immediately took the side of the guest. The customer might be king but that didn’t mean that he was always right. “He told me to clean his room. Said to ignore him. It was almost the end of my shift and he seemed like an okay guy so I got to work.” She pulled in a deep breath. “I should have left. It turns out he was a major pervert. He started…” She wasn’t a prude but the way her boss glared at her made her feel like she was the pervert, not him. “He started to touch himself… inappropriately. I asked him to stop. He didn’t. Instead, he offered me money to clean his room while he touched himself. I’m sorry, but I’m not desperate or depraved. There was no way I was staying in that room for a second longer. No damned way. It was sick. He swore at me. I was just defending myself.”

Mrs. Harridge picked up the phone on her desk. “Please, can”—she put her glasses on and peered at the screen—“Susan Jones come to my office?” Then she replaced the receiver in the cradle.

“I swear to you that…”

Mrs. Harridge held up her hand. “I’ve heard enough. I need to speak with Susan and then we can conclude.” She turned back to her computer and continued typing.

It was the longest seven minutes of her life. She felt like a naughty school girl. She could tell that Gretchen Harridge was not interested in what she had to say. Hell, the woman had fired her before hearing her side of the story. What the hell was she going to do?

Even if she found another job today, there was still no way she was making rent on Tuesday. James had been clear about any more non or part payments. He wanted the total outstanding by Tuesday, no excuses.

That bastard from room 211 had totally lied and strung her out. He’d said that she’d be sorry. She wasn’t though. Julie would rather be out on the streets than taking handouts from a lowlife pervert.

There was a light knock on the door before it opened. “You called?” Susan ignored her completely. “How can I help?” Susan was one of the permanents.

“You cleaned room 211 yesterday afternoon?”

Susan nodded. “The gentlemen complained that he had asked for a room clean. The room attendant that showed up originally, swore at him and left without doing the room. I went and sorted it out. He was quite upset. I had him direct his complaint to the shift supervisor, as per company policy. He was happy when I left and accepted the apologies put forward. He was given a free night at the hotel for his troubles when he checked out that same day.”