Mal sat behind his desk and ticked the checklist in his brain.

Flint had researched that the Chinese exchanged business cards. Jasper had never ordered any because the logo wasn’t finalized and other priorities took precedence.

Well, now it was the priority. Thanks to Cheryl, their logo was accomplished and tested. Business cards would be printed. It was time to call China.

Mal opened the manila folder full of contact information.

Alex, who had remained in his office after Mal released Cheryl, pulled the folder from his hand. “I’ll call.”

Rage welled up in Mal. His empty hands flexed for the folder. This was his company. “It can’t wait.”

“It will wait.” His younger brother steeled himself. “We must solve the wife problem first.”

Mal roared.

Alex dropped his chin and bore the brunt of Mal’s frustration.

Mal slammed his fist into the desk, upsetting an empty coffee mug. It rolled off the top and bounced on the carpet.

Alex’s skin shimmered to lavender and turquoise as he fought his own defensive reaction. As an obedient younger brother, he endured his elder’s tantrum. His eyes flashed with anger. But he remained cool and silent.

Pyro would not have endured Mal’s juvenile display. He would have roared at Mal to be an honorable dragon.

That thought stopped Mal. He cut off his rage with a snarl.

This wasn’t his company. This company belonged to all of them. Sleep deprivation hurt his head.

Alex sucked in a hard breath and regained control of his colors. He straightened his perfect collar and smoothed the creases of his flawless jacket. The second-youngest Onyx sibling had more patience than Mal deserved.

“Very well.” Mal stood and paced in front of his desk. “Where does one find a wife?”

“I have researched this.” With relief, Alex turned on the wall screen and began his Power point presentation. “On Earth, potential mates find each other in many ways.”

Pictures of park benches, sandy beaches, and couples walking dogs appeared on the screen.

“Once found, these mates look into each other’s eyes and know the other is ‘the one.’”

Mal grunted. On Draconis, it was more common for the female to spray her chosen mate with lustful hormones. Then any nearby males would be instantly driven into the mating frenzy.

Human eyes must have some mesmerizing power. Perhaps hypnosis? He would carefully watch for it.

“Then,” Alex continued, “the male proposes—”

“The male proposes?”

“Yes.” Alex hesitated. “The female can propose, but it is rarer.”

Everything just got much harder. Mal scrubbed his face. “How does the male prevent an uninterested female from becoming enraged and gnawing his arm off?”

“Humans lack frontal incisors.” Alex tapped his flat, human-form teeth. “However, you will need to exercise caution.”

Both dragons chewed on their situation for a long moment. Although they had crossed solar systems and built a billion-coin company, they were shockingly unprepared for this event.

When they left their scattered places in the Outer Rim, no female dragon would have ever selected the poor, low caste males for her partner. Now Empress Horribus wanted Mal for a husband. How things had changed.

Alex cleared his throat. “There is, luckily, an organization called a ‘dating site’ where mate-ready women gather.”

Oh, good. “Excellent research.”

“Flint found it for us.”

“You were able to contact him?”

“Kyan did.”

As a former special operations agent and mercenary, Kyan had access to technology and contacts that none of the rest of them did.

And Flint was… well, he was Flint.

As the youngest and oddest of the Onyx siblings, Flint regarded the world with gray eyes both all-knowing and weary. He joined Mal because he said it would have no lasting impact on his life; this business idea would end in pain within five years. Mal had challenged his intelligence by promising to prove him wrong. Instead, like most of the strange predictions Flint made from his hidden lair, it was about to be proved right.

No. Mal would thwart this fate.

Alex brought up an internet browser. “I started an account. You must complete these questions. One: What is your ideal day?”

“The day we emerge triumphant over the Carnelians.”

Alex typed in the answer. “Two: What are your qualities, such as strengths and weaknesses?”

How easy. “My strength is lifting fourteen tons, and my weakness is lifting only two tons with my wing bone fingers.”

Alex’s lips pursed. He was impressed with Mal’s honesty. But only a clear-eyed view of his true strength and weakness could let him run a successful company, so the woman he married also had to know.

“Three: What qualities do you desire in a woman?”

“I don’t understand the question.”

Alex studied it. He also had no idea what it was asking, so they reviewed the answers of other males on the site. “Age, hair color, and other physical descriptors of the female. Also her interests and specializations.”

Huh.

“I have no preference,” he said. Males didn’t prefer females. They went crazy with lust or stayed out of the way.

“The answer is required to proceed.”

Mal leaned back in his chair and tossed out the first words he could imagine to describe attractive females. “Beautiful, kind, unlikely to bite off a male’s snout… Quiet, and peaceful, and also shy.”

Alex typed.

An image formed in Mal’s head, and he described her. “She blushes when she speaks. But everything she says is on target. No wasted words. And she’s always working, always drawing her pictures.”

“Like Cheryl?” Alex suggested.

“Yes. With wavy brown hair that comes down to here.” He indicated his shoulder.

“Also like Cheryl.”

“It makes you want to stroke her. And sparkling brown eyes as though she knows a secret you haven’t figured out.”

And she was soft. Squeezable. His hands palmed the ghostly image of her curves, hugged by the ample jeans and dark, secretive hoodie.

Thinking about Cheryl made a kick in his taut belly and a humming in his blood. It demanded action.

He surged to his feet.

“That finishes the profile,” Alex said. “Now to meet—”

“Forget the profile. I figured out a faster solution.” Mal stormed to the door and threw it open. “Alex, out. Cheryl? Get back in here!”