Mal’s siblings ranged around him in the conference room of the Onyx Corporation headquarters, an office building in the middle of a field in Vancouver, Washington.

Only five could be gathered on this short of notice. They all had red eyes and strong cups of coffee.

On the wall screen, their mother addressed them. “You have done very well and I’m exceedingly proud of you.”

She was in full dragon form. Jewels tinkled from the two long, tapered horns above her eye ridges. Silver studs twinkled in her gold, scaly lips and snout.

“That is why the Empress of Draconis has recognized you, Mal, with her offer of marriage. Why did you not leave Earth immediately to take her claw?”

His blood beat in his ears. There were many reasons. He started with the most critical. “We must discuss the future of this company.”

“There is no future. It will become the property of the Empress and she has chosen to dissolve it.”

His siblings remained silent.

The blood in his ears beat louder. “But why? We rank second of all businesses operating outside Draconis!”

“The Empress sees no need for two clothiers.”

Curse Sard Carnelian for existing!

Mal paced at the end of the conference table. His gray houndstooth suit flapped.

The Onyxes and the Carnelians had both arrived on Earth five years ago, surprising the local residents. Earth lacked essential minerals for space travel, and humans lacked the gene for shifting forms, so their planet had been ignored as a backwater on the edge of the Empire for centuries.

But their isolation had caused them to create ingenious works of art, music, and culture. Clothes—for decorating the dragon shifters’ human forms—became an instant hit on Draconis and the two companies couldn’t import it fast enough.

Because it was decorative rather than functional, its possession was unrestricted. All strata of society, from the lowest bastard male dragonlet to the Empress herself, now enjoyed draping their human forms in stunning patterns and soft cloths.

But no matter how many new outfits the Onyx Corporation launched, Carnelian Clothiers beat them.

Was it because the CEO, Sard Carnelian, was an aristocrat?

No. The Onyxes would pull ahead. It would be the next launch. So what that Mal hadn’t slept in three weeks? He scrubbed his red eyes. He just had to work harder.

Except now the Empress intended to marry him and shut down the company. “Can’t you save it?”

“And I don’t see the need for two clothiers either.”

Her declaration hit him like a fist. He went slack. The ground fell away and his stomach lurched.

Oh, in fact, he had gotten so surprised he floated several inches off the ground. The trace elements of stellarium in dragon shifter bodies activated during a shock. His loafers dangled.

“You may very well be surprised.” Her eyes flashed with anger. “For while you have all been off amusing yourself at the ends of the Empire, you forgot the one thing I required you to produce.”

“Which was?” he asked faintly.

“Grand dragonlets!”

He hit the ground with a thump. “Dragonlets?”

“Ferocia Carnelian has twenty-five! Her last grand dragonlet was just born. Do you know how many fire teas I have attended where only I have no grand dragonlets? And you know I never got to play with my own.”

Their father had been a lower class male. The then-matriarch of the Onyx family, Mal’s grandmother, had refused to recognize their children as official heirs, thus damning Mal and his siblings forever to low class. His parents’ marriage was never validated. And his mother had been forced to give up dragonlet after dragonlet.

Now she was matriarch and they were all adults. His mother had lost her chance for her own dragonlets. She obsessed over grand dragonlets.

“You are my only hope and you have failed me!”

He gritted his teeth. “We were waiting for this company to reach number one so we could attract worthy females to strengthen the Onyx name.”

She blew a raspberry. “You could marry a brimstone miner for all I care.”

His siblings shifted uncomfortably. Their father had been a brimstone miner, and she’d had seven dragonlets with him, so she spoke the truth.

“But since you haven’t married a brimstone miner or anyone else, I will take the marriage arrangements that have been offered.”

Back on Draconis. Ending the business he had poured his life, soul, and pride into.

This betrayal felt as hot and as raw as the Lower Academy Commencement Day when he had broken all the rules to present himself to her—and she, knowing his snooty grandparents were looking on, had ruthlessly forced herself to turn away and deny him.

He raked a hand through his hair. “This is too sudden.”

“I have waited months!” She rested the back of a clawed hand on her scaled forehead. “I’m going to be dead before I see any grand dragonlets.”

His brother Alex tried to cajole her. “Mother, a female in your fullness of life is too young to have grand dragonlets. Ferocia must look half dead.”

Their mother fanned herself, mildly appeased. “Perhaps. But you mustn’t say such things aloud.”

He smiled and shook his head. His unusual two-tone eyes, one lavender and one teal, accented his handsome charm.

“Anyway, you must come home now. Your wedding to the Empress will take place tomorrow.”

Mal couldn’t let it all be destroyed like this.

His siblings looked dazed and lost. Just like when he had found them, scattered around the Empire, and presented his crazy idea to found a company on a distant planet. One by one, they had believed in him and joined.

Now, everything was about to end.

He faced his mother head on. “We are not a historically significant family. Why me?”

“The Empress recognizes an exceptional winner when she sees one.”

His chest warmed. There was no glimmer of doubt in his mother’s eyes. Only steadfast belief. She honestly thought his own qualities made him worthy of the Empress.

He didn’t. “There must be some other reason.”

“I didn’t care to ask. You will marry her and get to work making me bouncy, adorable, ferocious little dragonlets.”

Mal’s sister Amber, Chief Financial Officer, finally cleared her throat. All the males turned to her respectfully. “Isn’t the Empress too old for dragonlets? She’s on her death bed.”

“Any miracle is possible.”

“And didn’t she chew the arm off her last husband?”

“Rumors.” Their mother dismissed the concern. “And anyway, Mal, you are a good son and will not make her angry.”

Amber—as well as the rest of the siblings—all made various worried faces, widening their eyes and rolling their lips and wrinkling their brows. They had spent a good deal of time in the office building with Mal on Earth. Their mother had not.

“Please reconsider,” Amber said tightly.

“Mal is forceful,” Jasper, steadfast Chief Operation’s Manager, said in his reasonable way. “He wasn’t raised in the palace. They won’t understand the ways of a dragon from the Outer Rim.”

Mal’s chest warmed again. His siblings, who had once barely shown an interest in meeting him, were now fighting to protect him.

Their mother sniffed. “He will alter his behavior in ways befitting a full-blooded aristocrat.”

That was the other thing.

The Empress’s consort was automatically elevated to the aristocracy because she was the matriarch of the Empire. No one overruled her. As soon as she married Mal, he would instantly have all the money, fame, and benefits of the Empire he could ever desire.

The Onyx name would be inscribed on the walls of the palace. His mother would receive preferential treatment and a permanent seat at court. The family would gain an estate on Draconis and an exclusive apartment within the capital, along with all the goods associated with being centrally situated. Powerful families would try to gain their favor and make alliances.

If Mal did happen to father a female dragonlet with the Empress, she might even become a future ruler.

And, after the Empress passed, assuming he still had both his arms, then he’d be ideally placed to attract another aristocratic female for a second wife. He might consult in matters of state or foreign treaties. He could, behind the scenes, alter the entire face of the Empire.

It sounded great.

For someone else.

Mal didn’t want to be an aristocrat. He didn’t want to be elevated over his siblings. What might the Empress make him do? The last powerful female aristocrat to rule their lives had denied their existence. He would never do that.

Plus the Empress intended to destroy their company.

Even if she didn’t, he could never take pride in making his company number one. He wanted to prove a bastard male from the Outer Rim could beat the aristocrats. How could he if he was an aristocrat married to the Empress?

No. Leaving behind Earth, this company, and Sumatran extra-dry roast for a crusty old dragoness rumored to chew males’ arms off wasn’t the success he’d imagined at all.

He grabbed his cooling coffee and slugged back the sharp drink. He needed to think.

“The rest of you will marry aristocratic females the Empress selects,” their mother continued.

Jasper leaned forward. “I’m sorry, Mother. I can’t do that.”

Her eyes turned a dangerous shade of black. Her nostrils flared and smoke curled. Little flickers of flames breathed through her prominent teeth. “And why is that?”

“I already have a female I love.”

“Oh.” Her eyes returned to normal and the smoke dissipated. “Why hasn’t she been introduced?”

“I’m still pursuing her.”

Her eyes swirled to black again. “If you have not so much as performed a single mating flight, then I am no closer to grand dragonlets. End this foolishness and come home.”

He faced her anger steadily. “Earth females are different. They take more time to decide upon their mates.”

“How long?”

“It does not matter because I love her.”

Their mother shook her head, ruffling all her scales. Colors shimmered across her iridescent coat. “Very well. I expect an introduction or you will come home and marry Adviser Wrathmoda.”

He nodded, sat back, and folded his hands. The light and dark brown bands in his jasper-colored eyes reflected his steady mood. Although he did not look pleased, his execution had been stayed.

Wait. That meant—

“I, too, cannot return,” Alex said, swiftly. “I also have an Earth female I am pursuing.”

Their mother’s eyes darted to him and narrowed. “You too? Really?”

“And I,” Mal said.

She rested on him for a long, burning moment.

He held his breath.

Her skeptical gaze flicked to Kyanite. “And you too, I suppose?”

The hulking, scarred Security Officer nodded silently.

She flattened her lips. “Where are Pyrochlore and Flint?”

“The Vice President is in prison,” Alex said. “And our Research and Development Lead is beyond the reach of our communicators tonight. I, uh, believe they also have females.”

Her eyes narrowed to glittering slits. “So, you all have Earth females you are pursuing. Fine. I will tell the Empress there has been a delay and I will come myself to meet all of these Earth women you intend to affiance. I will see you in two days.”

The broadcast cut.

A long silence followed. All they did was breathe.

This was a disaster.

Mal rested both fists on the table. “She’s going to shut down the company. What are we going to do?”

No one answered.

He looked at the empty seats. Too bad Pyro had decided to celebrate their last launch by disturbing the peace. The loud mouth vice president never had any trouble brainstorming. Even if half of the ideas were to go to the Carnelian offices and rip their aristocratic spines out, his few useful gems had put their company on the Outer Planet Rank List and kept it there.

“Good idea to invent a human lover,” Alex told Jasper.

“I didn’t invent her,” Jasper corrected.

Alex’s charming brows rose.

Mal was also surprised. Jasper really did love a human? When had he found the time?

Earth humans and dragons were essentially the same. Any mixed offspring were dragonlets due to dominant dragon shifting genes. Earth mothers had to tie leashes around their dragon babies to keep them from drifting off.

“We have to do something,” Mal ground out, bringing them back to task. “I won’t have the company destroyed. What can we accomplish in two days?”

They were silent. It seemed hopeless.

He thumped his fist on the table. “We need more time!”

“Our uncle could delay her.” Alex pursed his lips. “She likes the outer nebulas. He could take her on a month-long nebula cruise.”

“Why would our uncle do that?” Amber asked. “He feels uncomfortable around aristocrats, just like our father did.”

“He would agree.” Alex looked away and scratched the back of his neck. “I just have to ask him.”

As their most beautiful and exotic sibling, Alex was one of the few invited to visit the manor during their grandmother’s lifetime. He knew how to speak to aristocrats and frequently seemed to “notice” secrets.

“Will our uncle really be able to convince Mother to go on the cruise?” Jasper asked.

“Yes. I am certain if he asks, Mother will not refuse.”

After ascending as the matriarch, their mother had taken the unusual step of inviting their father’s low-class relatives to manage her estate. She was a large, dominant female and did a lot of unusual things.

If Alex used his charm to convince their uncle to intervene and give them more time, Mal would take the reprieve.

“So long as we’re not risking his arms, then okay.” Mal rubbed his own biceps pensively. “That will only delay her. What will stop her in her tracks?”

“Grand dragonlets,” Amber said. Sarcasm crackled under her buttoned-up, distant tone.

“We need time,” he said, yet again. “Time… to produce grand dragonlets.” Right. That was it. He smacked his hand into his fist. “We need to marry human women.”

“That’s what we implied,” Alex said.

“We need to actually do it.” He wrote on the interactive table Operation: Dragon Wife. “If one of us produces a dragonlet, she’ll shower her attention on it and forget the rest of us.”

“So you’re looking for a sacrifice. One of us to go back to Draconis and marry.”

“No, I’m looking for one of us to make our lie real. If a human wife produces a dragonlet, Mother will leave us alone to get on with our work. Here, on Earth.”

He held their attention now.

They’d all had different reasons for crossing half the Empire and helping Mal found this company. Now they had different reasons for staying. He would harness those differences to execute his project and succeed.

“Who is closest to marrying a human?” His question cracked down the conference table.

No one answered.

“Jasper?”

The steady dragon’s lips folded in. He shook his head. “I am not close.”

Mal called on the others in turn. No one had a female to pursue.

“Think,” he demanded. “This is critical to the success of our company. One of us needs to drop everything and pursue an Earth female, and the rest will help him secure her. Who’s it going to be?”

Silence followed his question. He stared hard at Jasper. The Operations Manager avoided his gaze.

Amber turned to face him. “You’re the CEO. This company is your idea and your responsibility.”

“Agreed,” he barked. “So?”

She regarded him with golden brown eyes.

Realization heated him, filtering in slowly with tingles of destiny. “You think I should?”

“It is the CEO’s responsibility to manage the company,” she said.

“I must manage it!” he roared. “Not take weeks off to impregnate some female!”

“You’ll have nothing to manage if you don’t.”

His jaw tightened so hard his teeth ached. She was right. Everyone knew it.

But he couldn’t drop everything. He was the CEO. He’d pulled them all away from their other lives and gathered them here. He was necessary to keep the company running.

Wasn’t he?

Of course he was. He forced the sliver of fear away. His siblings needed him. They couldn’t throw him away.

He would have to do both.

“Fine,” he ground out. “But tomorrow morning we also begin the hunt for our next sales product. It may be our last opportunity to challenge Sard Carnelian. I cannot allow the distraction of marriage to change our end goal.”

“We will assume your company responsibilities,” Amber promised, and the rest of his siblings nodded agreement.

The sliver of fear wiggled into a sharp pain. “Not all—”

“All.” Her set face brooked no disagreement. “We will manage the company, Mal. You concentrate on acquiring a wife.”