Never Feed a Dragon (Mate Mountain #3)

Chapter 1

one

VI

The spaghetti on my front seat smelled like defeat.

On a normal day, I wouldn’t have gone anywhere near that scent. I wasn’t the kind of person who gave up on anything . Especially a grudge against a complete asshole.

But said asshole happened to be the brother of Jasper, the dragon shifter my twin sister was marrying.

They’d been mated long enough that marriage seemed pointless to me, but Randa was excited.

So, it was time to be the bigger person and accept my loss.

Eli was more stubborn than me.

I would’ve thought it was an impossibility, but he wasn’t backing down. And I’d promised Randa that I’d get over my issues with him.

Hence the peace offering.

Our detestation of each other had begun with spaghetti, so a bowl of it was the logical sign of me throwing in the towel on my hatred.

Then again, hatred wasn’t the right word.

I didn’t hate Eli.

He just drove me insane. And liked to get me riled up.

But the man was as gorgeous as he was infuriating.

I actually kind of enjoyed our arguments. And the way a little dimple appeared in one of his cheeks when he grinned wide enough. And the way he didn’t back down.

Shaking my head, I focused on the spaghetti.

It was defeat , dammit.

I wasn’t supposed to be thinking about how attractive the bastard was.

The headshaking didn’t dispel my mental image of Eli’s stupidly-gorgeous face, so I turned my rock music up louder.

It didn’t drown out my thoughts as thoroughly as I hoped. Thankfully, the drive was a short one.

I’d had to leave halfway through Randa and Jasper’s reception to grab the spaghetti in time, without missing anything important, but I made it back just fine.

The bowl was cradled against my ribs as I strode back into the huge, elegant building my parents had rented out for the party. It was catered, so I got multiple strange looks from the place’s staff as I walked in with dinner, but no one called me out.

My floor-length, dark blue dress flowed around my legs as I walked, driving me crazy with the amount of fabric. I’d be glad when the party was over, and I could finally rip the dress off my body.

The music was tastefully loud, which was too quiet for my liking. But, the lower volume in the ballroom made it easier for me to search for Eli when I was finally back inside.

Multiple women laughed loudly to my left, and I turned in that direction without hesitation.

Where there were women laughing, a person would find Eli.

Unless the woman was me.

And Randa told me most dragon shifter guys avoided human women, so I had no idea why he was so damn flirty .

It was fine, though.

I was fine.

Everything was fine.

I wasn’t going to get pissed about it at my sister’s wedding, that was for sure.

Eli’s eyes met mine over the group of women surrounding him.

Did they light up when he saw me?

No.

No way.

I was so obsessed with the way he looked, I was starting to see things.

Sheesh, I needed help.

Medication too, probably.

Having my sister and best friend mated to sexy-as-hell dragon shifters was messing with my head. Particularly since they were both brothers, and looked pretty similar.

And Eli looked just like them too.

Which was a red flag, right?

Gah, I needed to get out of the wedding reception before I lost my ever-loving mind.

I’d deposit the spaghetti with the asshole, then hide in the corner with the booze until the reception ended. I was the maid of honor, but Randa hadn’t wanted my help with anything, so I felt pretty useless.

But, like I said, I was fine.

Totally. Fine.

“Excuse me,” Eli said, slipping away from the women. It didn’t pass my notice that he didn’t touch any of them.

Maybe he was avoiding them in that way?

I wanted it to be true so badly, I was making shit up.

Lovely.

“Spaghetti,” Eli said, his voice playful. “I haven’t seen you in hours.”

The Spaghetti he was referring to?

Yeah, it wasn’t the bowl in my arms.

It was me.

The bastard literally nicknamed me Spaghetti .

After we’d argued time and time again about how much he didn’t like spaghetti, and didn’t think it was worth eating.

So the nickname itself was an insult.

“It’s only been fifteen minutes. Here.” I shoved the bowl at him, and he grabbed it when I let go. “This is a peace offering. We’re not enemies anymore. Enjoy.”

With that, I started to walk away.

“Wait,” he protested, catching my wrist to stop me. “You actually made spaghetti?”

He sounded surprised by that.

“Cooking is my life, remember?” I bit my cheek to stop myself from hitting him with an icy glare, instead keeping my gaze forward.

“I remember. Sit with me while I try it.”

I couldn’t hold back my scoff. “So you can insult me again?”

“So I can accept your peace offering. And keep up with the lie I told the single humans.”

My forehead creased as I finally turned toward him. “What lie?”

“That you’re my mate.” His expression was slightly sheepish.

I’d never seen Eli sheepish before. “Why the hell would you tell them that?”

“They were objectifying me.” He didn’t release my wrist.

Instead, he intertwined his fingers with mine and tugged me toward him.

The touch and motion caught me so off-guard, I let him pull me.

“You’re the kind of guy who likes being objectified, E.”

He flashed me a grin. “Only by you.”

I rolled my eyes.

“I’m serious,” he said. “You don’t play games. They do.”

“You like playing games.”

His grin remained firmly in place. “Only if the games involve pasta.”

“I’m sure they’d be happy to invite you and your pasta into their games,” I retorted.

He laughed as we finally found an empty table and sat down. There were fresh sets of silverware at all of the open seats, so he didn’t hesitate to pull the lid off the bowl and dig in.

I forced my gaze out to the dance floor. Randa and Jasper were probably buried somewhere in the crowd, staring lovingly into each other’s eyes.

As much as I loved seeing my sister happy, I hated that she wasn’t just mine anymore. I wished we could go back to the old days, where it was the two of us and Elodie in our little apartment. They were suffering through school while I survived a job I hated, but it had been fun.

And now I lived alone.

Granted, I did like my newish job.

But I didn’t like being on my own all the time. That was lonely.

Randa and I chatted over a video call almost every day, but it wasn’t the same as running errands together. Seeing her for a few minutes here and there wasn’t as fun as having her in the apartment with me, where I could rant to her whenever, and laugh with her about whatever weird things she’d noticed that day.

I just… missed her, I guess.

I missed Elodie, too, but she’d been mated even longer than Randa, so I was more used to her absence.

Elodie and her mate, August, spun into my view on the dance floor. She was laughing, and he was grinning.

My chest ached just a little.

I didn’t want romance.

I didn’t want love, either.

I’d been engaged before. Nearly got married, too. And all it led to was heartache.

So I didn’t want that. Not even a little.

But companionship… I did miss that. Maybe I even envied it.

Though it could be difficult for me to get along with other people, I didn’t want to be alone all the time.

Maybe I needed to go out and make some friends who were also single.

Or find a sex buddy or something.

Since I was at a packed wedding reception, maybe it was the perfect time to make a new sex friend.

Eli’s groan ripped me out of my thoughts. “This is not spaghetti.”

My attention snapped to him. “Of course it is.”

“Spaghetti doesn’t taste this good,” he protested, gesturing to the bowl with his spoon.

The remark wasn’t an insult, but considering the nickname he’d given me, it kind of felt like one.

I forced myself to let out a slow breath instead of insulting him back. After I made peace with him, I’d just stay away from the asshole so I wasn’t tempted to argue with him anymore.

Or to feel offended anymore.

“When the right person makes it, it does.” I leaned back in my chair, folding my arms over my chest.

A woman sashayed up to us, her elegant dress flowing around her. She wore the red silk a hell of a lot more comfortably than I wore my blue chiffon bridesmaid dress.

“Hello, Elijah,” the woman said, extending her hand.

He didn’t reach back.

My eyes narrowed at her.

He had spread the word that we were mated, but she didn’t seem to care.

“He goes by Eli,” I said.

She blinked at me for a moment before looking back at him.

Her hand was still outstretched.

He busied himself by putting another bite in his mouth instead of touching her.

Huh.

Interesting.

Guess it was time to play into the fake relationship bullshit he’d spewed.

“Are you hoping my mate will kiss your hand or something?” I drawled.

The woman jerked backward. “I thought…”

“You thought wrong. Eli’s mine. Walk away.”

Her eyes widened, and she finally hurried off.

I’d probably been too mean, but I wasn’t in the mood for kindness. It had been a long, uncomfortable day.

“That was fucking hot,” Eli said.

My face warmed.

I ignored my body’s reaction, rolling my eyes and focusing back on the dance floor. August and Elodie still looked ridiculously happy together.

“Peace offering accepted, Spaghetti. I will never insult your cooking skills again,” he added.

“Great.” My voice was flat.

He was silent for a moment before he finally asked, “Did it offend you when I complimented you?”

The question came out sort of uncomfortable.

Maybe even a little awkward.

I liked that. Not because he was uncertain, but because it humanized him a bit.

“No. I’m hard to offend,” I said.

It was a lie.

I was easily offended, I was just good at hiding it when I was.

“Alright.” He took another bite. “What should I give you as a peace offering?”

“I don’t need one. We’re pleasant to each other now.”

“Doesn’t feel like it to me.”

I took in a slow breath, then emptied my lungs. “Fine. Help me find a guy to leave the party with, and we’ll be even. I don’t want to go home alone tonight.”

Eli was silent for a moment.

A long moment.

A few long moments.

When I finally looked back at him, his gaze was scanning the crowd almost… predatorily.

“You’re finding me a date?”

“Mmhm.” There was spaghetti in his mouth again.

As much as I was frustrated with him, I was still stupidly proud that he liked my pasta.

“There’s a dark-haired guy off to my right. He looks human. I haven’t seen him with anyone, and he’s not wearing a ring,” I said.

Eli stiffened. “Not him.”

“Why not?”

He lifted a shoulder. “Bad vibes.”

“ Bad vibes ? Since when do ancient dragon assholes care about vibes ?”

“We have good judgment about these kinds of things.”

They were prison guards.

Dragon shifters guarded the supernatural jail in the mountains outside the city I lived in, Scale Ridge. So, I supposed he’d been around a lot more jerks than I had.

Then again, he didn’t really know humans.

Except the women who kept crowding around him. It was no secret among my parents’ social circle that Randa’s dragon only had one unmated brother left. The Sky brothers had become something like celebrities among the rich and elite that my parents ran with.

“Fine. Who?” I asked.

Eli’s gaze lingered on someone to my left. “Him. Next to the food table.”

He was an attractive guy, with dark skin and curly black hair cropped close to his scalp. He wore a sharply tailored tux, and looked muscular.

“Deal. Introduce me. I can appreciate a good bow tie.”

“Not the bow tie guy. The one behind him.”

The one behind him was…

“My cousin? Ugh, Eli,” I snapped. “Seriously?”

Eli had met my side of the family at the rehearsal, including said cousin, so he knew exactly who the man was.

He flashed me a grin. “I’m sure he’d drive you home.”

I smacked his arm with the back of my hand. “Screw off. I’ll find my own hookup. Peace offering not accepted.”

With that, I stepped out of my chair and started to walk away. From the corner of my eye, I saw a few more women heading in his direction.

He deserved that, though.

And—

A thick, warm arm wrapped around my waist, and Eli stepped up to my side. He lowered his head, and his lips brushed the shell of my ear as he said, “Word is already spreading that we’re mates. If you want to take someone home tonight, I’m your only option.”

My body flushed.

My abdomen clenched.

“If that was your attempt at propositioning me, you did a shitty job,” I gritted out.

He chuckled.

His teeth caught my earlobe, and I couldn’t stop myself from shivering in response.

“You’re the sexiest woman at this party. Let me have you tonight.”

My mind short-circuited with his words.

My panties were absolutely drenched.

I knew it was a lie—but maybe it was a lie I could play along with, until the night was over.

I’d been attracted to him from the beginning. Attracted enough that Randa had told me to hook up with him just to get it out of my system.

If we were really going to get along, having sex could clear the air.

And erase my loneliness for a few hours, at least.

“Afterward, we have a truce?” I asked.

“Mmhm.”

It was a good option.

Maybe even a great option.

There was a chance that being with a supernatural would ruin me for other guys, but I wasn’t looking for an actual relationship. Ever. So, what was the damage? I knew where the vampires hung out. If I had to, I could hit up a vampire club when I got really horny.

But let’s be real—my vibrator could take care of the horniness just fine.

It was being alone that got to me.

“Deal,” I said.

He squeezed my hip. “Good. Your mom’s on her way over here right now.”

My head jerked to the direction I’d last seen her in. Sure enough, she was striding toward me like hell was on her heels.

Great.

I tried to ease away from Eli, but he held me tight. “We’re mates, remember?”

I scowled at him.

“Why did Julia Kidmann just congratulate me on having two daughters mated to dragon shifters?” Mom hissed. “And what the hell are you doing, standing like this?”

“The single human women are vipers. Viola kindly agreed to be my wing-woman and pretend mate for the night,” Eli said, with a wink.

Most people couldn’t win my mother over with anything, including a stack of cash, but she seemed to have a soft spot for Eli. I’d never heard her say a single bad thing about the guy. Hell, she usually complimented him.

As expected, she relaxed slightly with his words. “There’s no mate bond?”

“Not in this lifetime,” I retorted.

Eli chuckled.

My mom’s lips curved upward. “I’ll spread the word tomorrow that it was just a one-night thing.”

“Thank you.” Eli’s smile was so wide, I could’ve sworn my mother was about to start fanning herself. “Shall we dance?” he asked, dragging me out onto the dance floor.

“No, we shall not,” I grumbled, trying to step away from him.

His grin widened, though, and he pulled me closer. When my body pressed against his, I tripped and ended up smashed against him even more.

“This is nice, right?” he teased.

“It is,” I admitted, slightly grudgingly. “But you’ve got to tone it down a notch. All of the old women are going to end up horny for you if you keep smiling at them like that.”

He laughed. “I think that was a compliment, Spaghetti.”

“Unlike your clear insult.”

“What insult?”

“You hate spaghetti, E.” I wasn’t sure when I’d started calling him E . Eli was fine. E just rolled off the tongue. I think I’d been trying to annoy him the first time I used it, but it just fit him so well that it slipped out sometimes.

“I call you Spaghetti because you get all fiery when you talk about it. It’s sexy. It’s not an insult .”

“Sure it isn’t.”

He pulled me closer, pressing my hip against his erection.

The thickness of it had me sucking in a breath.

I hadn’t realized he was attracted to me too.

“Does it feel like I hate you?”

“Lust and hatred can coexist, so I don’t know.”

“If I hated you, I wouldn’t be dancing with you. Or taking you back to my place after this party is over.”

“We’re going to my place,” I corrected.

“Deal.”

I relaxed a little.

Only a little.

“But sex is a pretty good motivator, E. Wanting to have sex with me doesn’t mean you can’t hate me. Neither does dancing.”

“I’ll prove it when we’re alone,” he promised. “And I’ll show you why you don’t need to hate me.”

I rolled my eyes.

But when he stepped to the right, pulling me with him, it felt too good to stop.

So, I played along.