I felt the empty ache before I’d even become completely conscious. Something was wrong. I rolled over to find my mate, and she was not there. My dragon let out a massive roar, and I was on my feet, still naked, roaming my castle. She was gone. Someone had taken her.

I sniffed the air and was shocked to find the scent of Cezar and his mate.

You. Will. Pay.

Cezar’s laughter rang in my head, and I looked around for anything to pound my fists against. She called my mate and demanded we come and get her. Do you need lessons on satisfying your female, brother?

I exploded in a fiery ball of fury and took to the sky as my dragon. I would find Cezar and challenge him to a battle.

Cherry’s thoughts were pushed into my addled brain. It’s not Cezar’s fault. My sister doesn’t know that you’re mates. You should have explained that. You’re going to have to work on her.

I’d found Cherry’s unexplained visits to my head humorous before, when she was poking fun at Cezar, but at that moment, I was infuriated. She is my mate. She should know. I should not have to court her.

I felt Cherry sigh in my head. It’s not always that easy.

It is that easy. Dragon finds mate, mate accepts dragon, the end.

Cezar growled. Watch yourself. Speak more nicely to my mate, or I will accept your battle challenge.

I blocked any further communication and soared higher in the sky. I knew I needed to talk to them more and figure out what was happening with my mate, but I didn’t trust that I wouldn’t attack Cezar at first sight. He had assisted my mate in leaving me.

Why would my mate want to leave me? I knew I’d pleased her the night before. She’d cried out during multiple orgasms, and I had felt her body respond. Her leaving did not make sense to me.

I knew Cezar always talked about modern human women in this world, but the females on Earth weren’t that different from the dragon females in the old world. When they felt that mate calling, it had to be the same. It was strong, forceful, and it changed everything. My own mother had left her parents and siblings right away for my father. She’d been pregnant with us twins within the first month after she’d arrived at my father’s kingdom.

It should’ve been that simple. Mates mated. Cherry and Cezar are telling me that I, a mighty dragon warrior, a king, must court her like a flaming coward. I will not!

I soared higher, where the air was sparse. Higher, where my fire struggled against the thin, cold air. I didn’t look down at my new home. I rarely did when I flew that high. I could almost pretend we were still in the old world.

Everything was simpler then, especially in my kingdom. Everyone had a role, and they filled it without question. No one ran from their roles.

It’s different with human women, Blaise. Beast and I had to win our mates over. You must prove to her that you are worthy of her risking her heart with you.

I growled at Cezar’s interference. I didn’t want his opinion. I knew Beast and Cezar had to fight for their mates, but they are weak; they are not of the crimson dragon lineage. I’d heard plenty of things about their kingdom from my father. It was as different as possible from my home. My father had always said that they were not true warriors. Even though my father had been gone for over a hundred years, his harsh voice still echoed in the back of my mind. I tried not to think less of Cezar, he was a friend after all, but I would not take advice from a soft, cowardly dragon like him about claiming my mate.

Well, I wouldn’t take any more advice from him. It was just by chance that I’d met my mate while following his advice about searching in places humans found their mates.

It took hours to calm down just enough to descend to a normal flying height. I was furious. If I delved into what I was feeling enough, I knew there would be hurt underlying the anger, but I wasn’t ready to let go of the anger. My mate had chosen to leave me. Despite what Cherry and Cezar said, my mate should’ve stayed.

I thought back to my parents. Remy and I had grown up in our royal palace. Although we’d had servants, assistants, nannies, and maids, the only other mated pair I witnessed was my parents. Their mating was…remembering it conjured a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. It was not at all the type of mating I wanted with Chyna.

If that was what Chyna and I were destined to become, perhaps I should just let her go. Shame washed over me. Maybe I was better off without her. No, maybe she was better off without me.

But my heart could not accept that. I was not my father. I would not have a mating like he had with my mother. There had to be another way.

Something I could say for the new world we’d landed in was that it was much lusher than my old home. Green vegetation covered everything. Even where we’d chosen to stay, in the swamps and marshes. In the old world, a place so surrounded by water wouldn’t be as green. Plants and trees drowned and died out once the waters took over. The new world was so different from my home.

It was hard to accept that the old world was gone to us, even after nearly a hundred years away from it. Remy and I had been kings—all of us had. Virtual gods in our own kingdoms. Here in the new world, we hid our true natures. It didn’t feel right.

I wasn’t over my brooding, I decided. Flying higher again, I let out a short burst of flames and growled. I was mixed up.

I wanted my queen. She was mine. She was destined to be at my side. I couldn’t help feeling bitter because things had not gone the way I’d planned. More thoughts of my father filled my head, and it was all I could do to stay in the air.

Shaking my head and thrusting my wings, I tried to outfly those thoughts.

Everything about Chyna was perfect. Except maybe her stubbornness… I didn’t know. We had barely spoken. I didn’t know what she was like, outside of the bedroom. It did not matter in the end because I would have her as my mate, no matter what.

I longed for her, and whether I agreed with Cezar’s approach or not, my dragon and I had waited for hundreds of years for a mate, and now that I knew who she was, I no longer had the patience to wait. I would find her myself.