The (Not) Satisfied Dragon - Colette Rhodes Page 0,80

a social gathering. Hopefully, the benefits would outweigh the discomfort I was certain this would cause Shira. A social butterfly, she was not. Understandably so.

“Finally!” Roxana said with a dramatic sigh. “Where have you been? Your guests will arrive in an hour and you’ll be serving them thin air and water at this rate.”

“Council business,” Ezra replied curtly, pulling on his clothes. Oren and I shielded Shira while she dressed.

“And you dragged poor Shira along with you? Come now, unlock this door,” Roxana ordered. Ezra gave her a dirty look, which was rich because he’d definitely inherited his mother’s pushiness.

Ezra unlocked the door, and Roxana pushed inside, muttering the entire way to the kitchen about unreasonable preparation time. Seff followed merrily behind her while Shira looked up at me uncertainly.

“Roxana will assume you’re going to help in the kitchen, but you don’t have to if you don’t want to,” I assured her. We make our own traditions in this flight. Ezra’s words echoed in my head constantly these days whenever things got tough.

He wasn’t the perfect Alpha, but he’d been right about that. We made our own traditions and tonight, we’d make that clear to our families and friends.

“I’ll go help in the kitchen. She’s right, we don’t have a lot of time to prepare,” Shira said eventually, wrinkling her nose. So fucking cute.

“Great, I’ll tidy up and the rest of the guys can do the most important job.”

“What’s that?” Shira asked curiously.

“Get the alcohol,” Oren rumbled with a grimace.

✽✽✽

For all Roxana’s panic about the food, we had plenty. Which was basically none, but no one cared because we had enough ale to drown the entire mountain and that’s all dragons cared about.

“What a party,” Zale, one of Ezra’s older brothers, called, raising his tankard to me in a toast. “You’ve all been so secretive recently, I thought this mate of yours was mythical.” I gave him a tight smile as he roared with laughter, his face already ruddy from drink.

“She’s very real,” I assured him, snagging Shira around the waist as she walked past me with Seff. As promised, one of us had stuck close by her side all night. We had to run interference from all the assholes trying to touch her. Even if she hadn’t already had a strong aversion to physical touch, it seemed over the top. Why did anyone think they were allowed to touch our mate anyway? There was absolutely no need for it.

“Tiny little thing, aren’t you?” Zale asked, slurring slightly. “I’ve never seen such a small gold.”

Shira tensed in my arms, even as she plastered a tight smile on her face. “Well, size isn’t everything.”

“Is that what you tell Ezra?” Zale laughed, slapping his thigh. I snorted, burying my face in Shira’s hair. Ezra was fucking enormous everywhere.

“Friends, family, freeloaders,” Ezra called, banging his tankard on the table to get their attention. The crowd responded with uproarious laughter and jeers, and Shira shrank back against me for a moment before regaining her composure and rolling her shoulders back. My brave gold.

“Welcome to the home of Flight Galon, thank you for joining us,” Ezra continued, looking not particularly welcoming nor particularly thankful, but making an honest attempt at it. “We invited you here this evening to introduce you to our full flight, including our gold, Shira.”

He extended an arm, inviting her to join him at the front of the room. I gave her a supportive squeeze, and she shot a grateful smile at me over her shoulder as she approached Ezra’s side. Shira didn’t want to do this, but I was confident she could. She could be the center of attention and command an entire room. She had a light about her that drew everyone in, capturing your attention so thoroughly, you couldn’t look away.

Ezra rested his hand on Shira’s lower back, giving her support, but stepping back slightly to put her in the forefront. The chatter in the room died down to a hum. Curiosity piqued about our mysterious gold who was demanding their notice.

“Hello.” Shira’s voice rang out in the room as clear as a bell, no trace of shakiness or sign of nerves. My heart swelled with pride. “My name is Shira. I’m very glad to meet you all, finally.”

There were some cheers, and a smattering of applause as the crowd warmed up to her. Shira hesitated for a moment, looking up at Ezra before glancing at each of us. I don’t think she was asking for approval — in