Chapter One
Jose Santos waited inside a small room, one adjacent to the ballroom of the human hotel, and resisted the urge to run.
He'd never understood why people wanted to live cheek and jowl among thousands, with concrete and pavement covering the ground and banishing most of nature. Despite having worked with the humans in the US Forest Service for over a decade, he still barely understood them.
And yet here he was, inside a hotel in South Lake Tahoe, about ready to pick a human female at random to hopefully impregnate and increase his kind.
His inner dragon—the second personality inside his head—spoke up. Remember, you can't fuck this up today or you'll dash Gaby's dreams.
Ah, yes. Gabriela, the little sister who had entered them both into the yearly lottery, one she couldn't enter herself since it had to be all the unmated siblings in a family or nothing. Considering she didn't ask my permission, I'm being pretty fucking generous just being here.
You had the chance to back out last month, but you didn't. And we both know why.
Damn dragon, knowing too much.
Every dragon-shifter lived to find their true mate, the one that stirred their inner beast and kicked off a mate-claim frenzy when kissed.
However, despite the millions of visitors that came to the greater Lake Tahoe area every year, Jose had never so much as glimpsed at a female who urged him to do more than growl and tell them to leave him the hell alone.
He had no tolerance for the dragon groupies that came to the lake to try to find a dragon-shifter to kiss or fuck. Entire tourist companies had grown around such a goal. He was surprised the human government hadn't stepped in to intervene, especially since, in recent years, it'd forced most of the dragon clans in the area to keep more and more to themselves to avoid the hassle.
Not that dealing with the groupies was his problem to solve. Jose only wanted the chance to spot his true mate, and this lottery gave him a chance to really look at a group of humans without having to run and avoid females throwing themselves at him.
His inner dragon snorted. That one who jumped off a boat, to try and land on us as we floated in the lake, deserved some points for originality.
No, it was pure stupidity. She couldn't swim, and we had to save her. And we're not the only ones who've had to dodge them like bullets.
His beast huffed. Well, you can't complain too much about today, then. The rules won't allow the females to run or jump on us.
Which is the only reason I'm here.
True, while the chances of her being inside the next room were slim to say the least, it was worth the time to look, even if his true mate ended up being human, which wasn't his first choice.
And even if she wasn't here, then he should at least get a few fun fucks out of it—ones where he controlled the situation—so it wasn't a complete loss.
An employee from the American Department of Dragon Affairs—or ADDA—barged into the room. Even though the female was short and would probably blow over if Jose breathed too hard, she stood tall and didn't wither at his hard expression. Good thing, too, as these lotteries tended to work better when the humans in charge weren't afraid.
He'd met her once before and knew her name was Ashley Swift. The human motioned with her hand. "Come on. It's time to get this thing started."
Not moving, Jose asked, "How many are there?"
"About two hundred or so candidates passed the interviews and tests this time."
Two hundred lucky ones, at least according to the humans. Every few years, they held these lotteries in South Lake Tahoe for the surrounding dragon clans, and every time thousands entered. Not all dragon clans in the US were as open to mating or reproducing with humans, but the four Tahoe area clans preferred survival over purity.