Thunder’s face clouded. He looked both angry and nervous. By the sheen of sweat on his brow and his suddenly pale complexion, Coal would definitely say that he was nervous. “I was very angry when I found out about your sister’s pregnancy.”

“As was I.” Blaze didn’t take his eyes off the male for a second. Their sister, Ruby had been promised to the air king. The deal was that Thunder would take Ruby and in return, Blaze could choose a fertile air princess to mate with. Unfortunately, Ruby had other plans and had become pregnant with a vampire male’s child. They were mated and happy but things were clearly still heated between the fire and air kingdoms. Thunder had not been happy about the news.

The male in question leaned forward. “I may have made some rash decisions, but you can’t blame me.” Thunder’s eyes were wide and he spoke too quickly.

Oh no.

Coal could sense that whatever Thunder was about to say was not going to be good.

Blaze nodded, urging the other king to continue.

“I gave my sisters to the earth and the water princes, it…” No wonder the second princes were in attendance. No damned wonder. Coal clenched his hands into fists.

Blaze slowly stood up. The tic was back and with a vengeance. Blaze banged his hands on the table. “You did what?” His voice was low and deep.

If what Thunder was saying was true, then there were no more available fertile dragon females left in all four kingdoms. The fire dragons were at risk. Huge risk. Thunder sucked in a deep breath. “I did what I felt was right. There will be humans and they—”

Blaze threw his head back and roared. At once, the room was engulfed in scorching flames. Chairs crashed and furniture smashed. By the time Blaze was finished, they all had first degree burns. Thunder was missing limbs and only barely alive.

****

The laundry room was cramped. Clean linen lined the shelved walls. The low hum of washing machines and dryers could be heard in the background. “Room 211 is demanding a clean.” Her supervisor looked at her watch. “You’ve got twenty minutes to get over there and to get it done.”