How Not to Date A Dragon Lord (How Not To 13)

How Not to Date a Dragon Lord (How Not To... 13)
Stephanie Burke
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Copyright ©2022 Stephanie Burke

“Well, fuck. I guess this means I must placate the matron. Just when I got him all… nice. Broody omega dragons are the worst.”

Nithe leaned against the back wall and watched as Alita’s generals led the women in morning exercise. The exertion cut off the gossip about what had transpired though this was more action than the women had ever had during morning exercise… save for when one of the pregnant ladies went into labor while doing lunges and gave birth before breakfast.

“I knew something was up with that girl,” Alita grumbled to herself before looking over at Nithe and leaning on the wall beside him. “But I was waiting for her to come clean.”

“I am sure she would have or Vissar would have just incinerated her and been done with it.” Nithe sighed and turned away from the sight of several hundred women working up a sweat doing the exercises that Vissar had taught them. They were the beginning steps of the war dance that all young dragons learned before they did their military service. All dragonkind at least learned to defend themselves even if they turned away after their mandatory year on the wall and sought employment and education in other sectors offered. Ulvissar, who was a stunningly brilliant warrior, had turned away from military service and instead dove into education and history. Nithe first noticed the small, dark dragon who seemed lost in his own world even while following orders from his commanders to the letter. Nithe had expected the younger omega dragon to fly up the ranks and take his place as a young protector general, like most of the gifted omega warriors had. Instead, he had turned away to follow his own path.

Unlike other earth and air dragons, Nithe made the military his first career path. It was a bit odd because most alphas wanted to leave mandatory service at the first opportunity to get on with the making of laws and guiding dragon society. But Nithe was always just a little bit different. No one understood what drove some alphas to take up arms like the omegas and actually fight invaders to become the first line of defense since no one ever fought as fiercely and bravely as an omega on a tear… but Nithe had always been drawn to violence and bloodshed and the need to protect so he listened to his heart. He shocked a lot of omegas as he rose up to the level of general and protected his post fiercely until his knowledge was deemed too valuable to lose. Then he found himself teaching and training younger omegas who needed battle strategy and experience to hold back the hordes of invading dragons who crossed the Ginza Sea to seek new lands and to kidnap alphas to strengthen their own flagging bloodlines.

Now that he’d left his duties as general, he decided it was a good time to check up on the dragon that had caught his eye years before. Finding out that the delicious- looking earth dragon was also a matron and highly sought after made his hearts do backflips in his chest. After three hundred patient years of wooing the capricious egg bearer and having Vissar almost within his grasp, his effort to protect the stubborn bastard had gone awry.

“And yet you still called her out in front of everyone.” Alita had an amused smirk on her face before she stiffened, tilted her head to the side, and rose to her full height. She gazed over the group of women just finishing stretching and moving on to the dance-like katas that she passed on to the other women after learning them from Vissar. After a moment, she relaxed against the wall again and sighed. “You didn’t even give Suli an opportunity tell who she really was.”

“Vissar checking on everyone?” Nithe asked, carefully ignoring her sentence while casting his gaze about the large cavern used for all big events. Vissar’s army of women was not vast but they fought hard and dirty, almost like dragons, and they were not to be trifled with. Nithe liked that, that his future mate did everything in his power to ensure that his horde of women remained safe. The warrior in him appreciated the fact that he refused to leave these vulnerable women defenseless even if they were doing simple work like farming or spinning. Each and every one was dangerous on their own but when you added the specialized training from the warrior caste, he had protection that even a seasoned dragon warrior like himself would respect. Ulvissar might not like admitting it, but his mountain was better equipped and defensible than a lot of the dragon territories’ warrens.

“He just wanted a quick look about. He’s speaking with Suli now.”

“I should have waited on that one, huh?” he asked as Alita settled in next to him once more.

“It was a bit of a shock,” Alita admitted before crossing her arms over her chest defensively. “Though I knew something was up with her.”

“What was that?” Nithe asked rising to his full height and moving to loom over Alita, his hair waving lightly around his body, his passive control of the wind making his hair look like it was floating underwater.

“What?” Alita narrowed her eyes at the red dragon.

“That tone in your voice, young lady. What was that?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Alita answered so fast that she nearly stumbled over her words. Did it show, her curiosity about the newcomer?

“You like her,” Nithe teased and some of the tension in his shoulders eased a bit. He might have fucked that up a bit -- well more than a bit if truth be told -- but to see Vissar’s most precious of treasures flushed like that over a tiny, red-haired slip of a royal was delicious.

“She is… eager to learn.”

“About the birds and the bees between your silken --”

“Nithe!”

“Sheets. I was going to say sheets.”