Page 7 of Emperor of Draconis

Chapter 2

Torr Needs

Goddess! Spending time with Kitty just made him want her more. It wasn’t fair that he would want her so much while she held herself back. Having her near was even worth the difficulties of making the new program work.

Some program would have been needed regardless with their bride planet suffering such tragedy. But these Earth females were strong and not as easy to deal with as the former brides had been. Maybe that was why several high-ranking males hadn’t found their matches and often settled for what they could find in the old program.

Fifty years of being an emperor and you would think things came easily by now, but his position was always challenging and dangerous. This new threat was really nothing new. Just another group unhappy with their lot and blaming those in charge.

It was almost amazing how anyone could have a complaint except the temporary scarcity of mates. That was something they were working on as hard as they could to fix and the cause of that problem was obvious. Jobs were everywhere as their economy boomed. Some of the Earth females had solutions to age old problems that had helped them all.

Those against the Earth females must not have met one like Dori or Betty. They commanded respect and loyalty in everyone they met. Kitty was so much like her mom in so many ways. She would have that loyalty too once their people knew her better.

His cousin, Earlist, was an amazing PA who he had lured away from another kingdom. Not with offers of gold or social standing, he’d simply told him he’d meet many of the females in the program before others would. That was true, and part of his position with Kitty. It was a benefit many of their males would fight to have if they knew of it. Good thing none of them did.

These recent problems weren’t anything new, just their cause was new. No one had ever objected to a source of mates. Now when these sources were more limited than ever, someone had decided to be picky. It was even more odd in the face of what exceptional mates had been procured so far. This was a problem one had to understand to deal with and he didn’t understand it at all.

Right now, he was on his way to the cafeteria where he hoped to catch Kitty eating breakfast. His smile was bright as he caught a glimpse of her in the kitchen. It seemed she was making her own breakfast. Maybe she would make his as well?”

“Good morning.” He said as Kitty startled and almost jumped into the air. “Sorry to surprise you.” Really, he wasn’t sorry at all. He’d enjoyed watching her jump.

“Good morning.” She returned woodenly. It was clear she wasn’t pleased to see him.

“Are you fixing yourself breakfast?”

“Sort of. I agreed to make some French toast for Tomi. Her girls are behind. I’ll take mine out and grab some sausage and I’ll have my meal.”

“Could I have the same?” He asked.

She shot him such a put-upon look. He didn’t care. It meant she would fix his plate too. She put at least twice as much on his plate. A decent meal for a dragon. Once she set their plates on the table, she put the pan with rest of the toast near the other foods available for breakfast.

He’d never had this kind of toast before and it looked very different from the plain toast he’d had before. “This is very good.” He praised. The sweet egg coated bread went well with the savory sausage. She’d brought him coffee and juice too. It was almost like they were mated.

Kitty sat across from him eating her food delicately. The female was too damn appealing and his haste to claim her at first had worked against him. He feared she still held it against him.

“What are you staring for? Do I have something on my face?”

“You’re just to lovely for words.”

“You’ve turned into a charmer lately.”

“Just the honest truth.”

They finished eating and someone came to clean up their spot. Kitty offered them thanks then he escorted her to her room. When they reached her door, he gave her a light friendly kiss. Not that he meant it in a friendly way at all. He was just following the advice Kitty’s family had given him to slowly work his way up. At least she allowed it.

Kitty hurried into her rooms where Earlist was probably waiting for her. Not that he saw anything between the two of them other than friendship. The chemistry he felt for her just wasn’t there with Earlist. It might be because he’d already told him Kitty was his. He followed her in.

“Have you set the dates yet for the trip to Earth?”

“I’m sure you know I have. We’ll leave in three weeks.”

“How is the mating going so far?”

“You might be surprised to know that all locations are doing well. Even the prisoners are matching up and not always to other Earthers. Around ten percent have already fully mated, and several are getting to the commit or move on point. Beyond the mating, many of the people have settled well and in jobs they selected. Even a young male who said he wanted to be a stay at home dad.”

“You have that on your world?”

“We do. Sometimes the mothers make more money and sometimes the fathers are just more suited to raising children.”

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