“Taking human mates is the only solution. We cannot take too many at once though, a handful of females. Males who take part in the hunt can win themselves a female. The usual rules will apply including the no fire rule.” Thunder looked pointedly at Coal before turning his gaze back on Blaze. “Equal opportunity for all.” The fire dragons were the only dragons capable of producing fire.

The idiot actually thought that he, prince of fire, would lower himself and take part in such a hunt? For a human? Hardly a prize. It was absurd.

“Where will we find these females?” Blaze asked. “The vampires advertised in the local newspapers, and females came flocking in droves. We, however, do not possess such luxuries. We need to remain hidden. Humans are not permitted to find out about our existence. We were all but wiped out by the humans two centuries ago and our numbers were strong back then. Humans have always feared us, and rightly so.” He looked thoughtful for a moment.

“We may be much stronger but they outnumber us by at least a hundred thousand to one. In today’s age, they have weapons of far greater power. We would be doomed. Back to my original question, where will we find these females?”

Granite smiled. “We’ll simply take them.”

“No.” Blaze shook his head. “We’re not animals. We’re not in the business of kidnapping females.”

“Granite is right,” Thunder said. “We have no other option but to take some of these human females. I’ve had scouts on the lookout for the right ones. Young, strong, fertile and—”

“No.” Blaze hit his fist against the table. “How will it look when human females suddenly start to go missing? Aside from the implications, it wouldn’t be right. We are an honor bound species, we don’t steal females.”

“What if the females were in need of rescuing? What if they were lonely, hungry, destitute? We can save the females, offer them a better life and in the process, we can save ourselves as well.”

“It’s walking a fine line. Just because someone is desperate and lonely, may not mean that they want to become the mate of a dragon shifter. I don’t like it.”

The water king shifted in his chair. “It’s not ideal,” Torrent conceded. “Though dragon shifters have everything a female could want. We offer them good lives. Females beg me to take them with me when I return from a stag run. It is the same every time without fail.”

Granite shrugged. “Maybe we should forget about the hunt and bring females back with us who express an interest in becoming a shifter mate.” He raised his brows.

“We’ve discussed this at length,” Thunder growled.

Coal felt irritated at this statement. Proof that the three kings had met privately to discuss this. Why the need for all the secrecy?