Chapter One
Gabriela Santos stepped into a hotel ballroom in South Lake Tahoe and did her best to remain calm.
Even though she'd secretly been entering the dragon lottery for years—her brother thought it had only been once—hoping to be chosen, her nerves still threatened to show now that she was about to start her life-changing journey.
As she gave a cursory glance at the couple of hundred men—human men—all sitting in rows, looking at her with curiosity and occasionally lust, she nearly gave a nervous laugh.
After so many years of dragon-shifter males saying she was too headstrong, too idealistic, too human, it was strange that so many men were gathered for the chance of sleeping with her.
Her inner dragon, the other half of her personality, spoke up and huffed. Of course they should be here. It's not our fault the dragon males were too overprotective, too domineering to notice or want us. These humans do.
Which Gaby knew, of course. And yet… They may be here by choice, but one of them is going to be in for something more than they'd bargained for.
Gaby was probably the only twenty-four-old dragon-shifter virgin among the four dragon clans near Lake Tahoe.
Her beast grunted. That is all your fault, not mine. How I've stayed sane this long despite you denying what we need, I'll never understand.
Guilt tugged at her heart. Inner dragons needed sex on a regular basis. To them, it was as necessary as eating and breathing.
Still, she took a deep breath and managed to get out, I couldn't give in to one of them. At first, they just wanted to lose their virginity. And as we got older, they saw us only as a conquest. Thanks, but no thanks.
And how is that different than these men?
At least these men won't expect anything afterward, such as free reign to growl and tell others how to treat me.
Not all dragon-shifter males were unbearable, but any of the decent ones who saw a mating as a partnership instead of the male thinking he had every right to protect her without her input were rare.
Really rare, at least in her experience. Maybe if her clan interacted more with the other three dragon clans in the area, she might've found someone.
No, the human males in the room were her best chance at losing her virginity, having a child, and sculpting her own future on her terms.
Her beast replied, For all you know, you could pick one who acts the same way.
Ah, but it's only sex and then it's done. That's a situation I can control. It's not forever.
Unless you find your true mate.
Gaby mentally snorted. Right, because that happens so often at these things. Given how Jose found his true mate a month ago, it's more likely I'd win a jackpot in Reno than find him here.
While she was happy for her older brother, she couldn't help being a little jealous. A true mate was a dragon-shifter's best chance for happiness. Not a guarantee, but better odds than with a random stranger.
Her dragon replied, He could be here. And before you protest some more, remember that the strongest human males will mate a dragonwoman. It's not impossible.
Strongest not just physically, but mentally as well. Well, there aren't any human male mates in the four clans in the Tahoe area, so let's just treat this for what it is, okay? We'll have a child of our own and can live our lives without a male trying to guard us every second of every day.
Maybe. But what happens if we die on a firefighting assignment?