Octavia stormed down the hallway to the elevator and rode it downstairs to the first floor. She passed some Draconians and a few human women but it didn’t stop. No one stopped her either. She was out of here, and she didn’t care what anybody thought of it.

She certainly didn’t care if Joss went insane from his crazy dragon. It served him right as far she was concerned. She looked out into the muddy snow over the expanse of Central Park. It would be a long walk back to the refugee camp. But anything was better than being stuck in an apartment with a man who obviously had no respect for her.

As she walked, she realized that she was mostly hurt by the fact that she thought what they’d shared meant something to him. She had been prepared for empty sex. But it hadn’t turned out to be completely empty. Then, after letting herself feel vulnerable and open to him, he continued to treat her like an inferior idiot.

She realized that someone would undoubtedly come to get her before the end of the day, but she wasn’t going to just sit around and allow herself to be disrespected. Besides, she wanted to see her friends and make sure everybody was okay back at the camp.

Maybe Joss wouldn’t come for her. Maybe the whole mating impulse thing was just an excuse. How the hell was she supposed to know?

Besides, she didn’t really care if he went crazy.

Then she remembered the look in his eyes when he was above her. The way he’d locked his gaze onto hers. The way it made her feel in her body and her soul. That sense of attachment he created in her only made her hate him more.

By the time she made it back to the refugee camp, her feet were freezing cold from trudging through the deep snow. She went to the communal bonfire and sat beside the warm glow on a broken, discarded lawn chair.

“What you doing back here?” Ashley said, a line of children walking behind her. “I thought you got matched with a Draconian or something.”

“Thanks for the concern,” Octavia said, irritated that her best friend hadn’t been more worried about her.

“Octavia, don’t be like that.”

“Weren’t you worried about me at all?”

“I was worried when you decided to go storm down to the consulate in the first place. We all found out that you’d been mated with a Draconian when the secretary brought back Dan’s truck. Why did you do it?”

“It was the only way that I could get close to the architect who is reconstructing New York City.”

“And did you talk to him?”

“Yeah, I’ve talked to him. That’s not all I’ve done with him.”

“What you talking about?” Ashley asked, looking back at the children with concern in her eyes.

“I was matched with the grand architect of Draconia, believe it or not,” Octavia said, moving her cold, numb feet closer to the fire.

“Really? What is he like?”

“He’s exactly like the kind of person who would draw blueprints that would turn a grand old city like New York into a series of cellblocks.”

“And he let you leave?”

“Let me? I don’t know. He’ll probably come for me. Apparently, Draconians go crazy if they don’t claim their mates.”

“I don’t think this conversation is appropriate for the children. I’m sorry, Octavia. I have to go.”

“It’s fine. I understand.”

“Please don’t be angry with me,” Ashley said.

Ashley walked off with the kids and Octavia heaved a heavy sigh. She was being a jerk to her best friend, and Ashley totally didn’t deserve it. All Octavia wanted to do was protect her people and her city from the mess the Draconians were making. They’d already made such a mess of everything else. Now they wanted to make a mess of the reconstruction process. It wasn’t fair. It was like being taken over by completely oblivious idiots. She just couldn’t accept it.

That’s when she saw a dark figure sweep across the sky on wide-spread wings.

Here we go.

The dragon swooped down and landed behind the refugee camp. Joss had probably sent one of his flunkies to drag her back to the Draconian compound. Well, whatever idiot accepted that mission was in for a challenge. She didn’t intend to go back to that jerk ass without a fight.

She didn’t expect to see the very man she’d left storming into the camp. He stood on the opposite side of the fire, his arms crossed, glaring at her.

“What are you doing?” he demanded.

“What are you doing?” she mocked.

“You are contractually obligated to stay with me until the claiming process has been completed.”

“Then sue me,” she said, crossing her arms and digging in her heels.

“Your justice system is in a shambles. What is to stop me from taking you back by force?”

“Nothing, I guess. That’s the kind of man you are. Dragging tiny women half your size back to your dungeon of horrors.”

“Dungeon of horrors? Why is everything you say so irrelevant and dramatic?”

“Why is everything you say so insensitive and ridiculous?”

He sighed and stepped around a lawn chair to sit down beside her. “Obviously, we are having a misunderstanding.”

“Obviously.”

“I will try to adapt more to your needs. I understand most of the other males who have been mated with human females have gone to quite a bit of trouble to adjust to their mates’ particular tastes. There are many brides already in the compound, and I’m sure they could help you adjust to life among Draconians.”

“What about you?” she asked, raising her eyebrows questioningly.

“I will do what I must. What is it that you require?”

“You could start by not saying that everything I say is irrelevant.”

“I could attempt to do that.”

“You could change the design of your plans for the reconstruction of New York City.”

“Impossible.”

“Then it’s impossible for me to go back with you.”

“Don’t forget, little human, I can force you.” His eyes grew wicked and hard. She knew he wasn’t joking. Considering what she knew about Joss, which wasn’t much, she didn’t put it past him. She’d never heard of other Draconians being that way. But before the Mulgor invasion, everything had been different.

“Will you at least consider listening to my suggestions?”

“I will…consider listening,” he said carefully.

Octavia knew she was not in a winning position. She played her hand, but she knew she didn’t have any more cards. The commercials on TV before the Mulgor invasion always made the Draconians seem like such big sweethearts. Joss definitely was not living up to that expectation. Still, she wasn’t going to test his sincerity.

“Okay,” she finally said. “I’ll go back with you.”

“What are we waiting for? Let’s go.”

He stood and rolled his shoulders, looking down at her with that stony gaze. Her stomach lurched. How could she have had any feelings for a man like him? She felt like such an idiot for falling for such an obvious play. They walked out of the camp, and he flicked a spot on his Draconian uniform that made it retract. He stood naked in the snow, seemingly impervious to the cold.

“What are you doing?” she demanded, her face flaming hot with embarrassment. What if someone saw him like that?

“You will ride me back to the compound.”

Without another word, he stepped back a few paces and contorted, growling. His body broke apart and reformed into a giant, gold dragon. Octavia nearly swallowed her tongue and choked to death. Sputtering and blinking, she tried to regain her ability to breathe. The dragon turned his face toward her, and his lips curled back, showing rows of sharp white teeth.

Tentatively, she stepped forward. He motioned towards his bent knee as if to tell her that’s where she should climb up. She stepped up on his leg and hoisted herself onto his back.

She had expected the scales to be cold and slimy, but they were smooth and warm to the touch. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she let him know she was ready.

He leapt into the air, his wings pumping with indefinably strong muscles. She could feel his body shift under her seat. She let out a terrified shriek and hid her face in his scales. The air blew over her as he gained speed. She finally attempted a glance around her and realized that it was a mistake. They were high above the park, and she instantly felt vertigo threaten to make her puke.

Unlike the walk to the refugee camp, the flight back only took a few minutes. Joss landed gracefully in front of the compound, and she carefully slid from his back. Taking several steps away, she watched as he shifted back into a man and flicked the spot at the base of his neck that made his uniform retract over his naked flesh.

“That was freaking terrifying,” she said.

“As terrifying as having the Mulgor bomb your city?” he asked pointedly.

“Well, no. Of course not.” Why did he have to be such a know-it-all?

“Come. I’ve arranged for you to meet the other brides. They are eager to speak with you.”

“This ought to be interesting.”

She followed Joss into the small front entrance of the compound, where a group of young human women were waiting for them. Two of the girls had babies and the third was heavily pregnant. A fourth girl, who wasn’t visibly pregnant, walked down the hallway and joined the rest of the group.

“Brides, this is Octavia Reynolds. She is my mate. The one I told you about.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” one of the girls said. She had a little baby in a stroller who looked as if she was four or five months old. The baby was a little cherub, and Octavia instantly felt herself enchanted by the small creature. “You told us already, Joss.”

“You humans are so inappropriately disrespectful and informal,” Joss said.

“We have a similar opinion of you, Joss,” the pregnant girl said.

“I leave you now.”

Joss turned on his heel and stormed away towards the elevators. All of the girls started to giggle uncontrollably behind his back. The girl with the baby in the stroller reached out to take Octavia’s hand as the rest of the girls huddled around her.

“I’m Lexi Garcia,” the young mother said, shaking Octavia’s hand. “This is Loretta Franklin.” She indicated the girl with the baby in a sling across her chest.

“I’m Tabby Wilson,” said the pregnant girl. “And this is our new friend, Indigo Robertson.”

“You guys are all mated with Draconians?” Octavia asked.

“Yes, but our guys are nothing like yours,” Tabby said.

“Don’t make her feel any worse than she probably already does,” Loretta said.

“So, I got the one asshole in the bunch, huh?” Octavia asked.

“I wouldn’t say that. Not all Draconians are universally Prince Charming types. But they usually come around,” Loretta said.

“Come on, let’s go shopping!” Tabby said. “You really need some new clothes, girl.”