Chapter 3. Dismissed My Family

**Mikel Diego**

I scented the beautiful woman and knew she had run into my bedroom, but how did she escape Abigail and Nana's clutch?

I closed the door, knowing she wouldn't be able to escape or fly out the window since I doubted she could fly. I had to dismiss them to avoid raising panic throughout the entire palace. I was the dragon king, but my mother, the queen, and my sister were around, and they hadn't seen her—except for my chosen mate, Zuri, who had been with me when Aaron arrived with her.

Zuri's eyes burned with disgust because the human was pretty, and worst of all, Aaron brought her in bare without any clothes. How could this happen?

I felt hard pressed seeing how sexy and curvy her waist was. I was a dragon king, 540 years old, but since my conception and birth, I hadn’t seen a pretty human female like her.

We didn’t grow older in our kingdom, but we abducted human females for crossbreeding purposes to maintain balance in our system, as female dragons hardly birthed many hatchlings. They were jealous and possessive of us, hating the idea of us taking human females away from their families for breeding, but we had no other options.

Since I accepted Zuri as my mate 300 years ago when I came of age and before I lost my father, Zuri hadn’t conceived for me. I still had no idea why.

Zuri refused to leave, and worst of all, she didn’t support me in the idea of taking a second mate.

I knew she was burning with rage seeing me stare at the pretty human with lust, as Aaron had clearly provoked me about the situation, knowing how cute she was and purposely bringing her in without clothes.

She possessed a strong personality, and I had a lot of questions for Aaron. He needed to explain to me where and how he chose to bring her in bare, especially with a multitude of people gathering in front of our magnificent palace and staring at her.

I was sure many would soon come to purchase her, as we sold any new human captured to become a mate for any dragon family that wanted them.

"King Mikel, we need to talk!" Zuri's loud voice echoed in the passage after I dismissed Abigail and Nana. I walked up to meet her to prevent her from stepping into my room.

"Talk about what, Zuri? I will see Aaron later and find out why he chose to bring the human in without her clothes. I’m sure it wasn’t intentional," I said to Zuri calmly. But Zuri was raging, looking like she wanted to set the human female ablaze. 

Some human females had been killed by jealous dragon females, and I just hoped I could protect this pretty, stubborn human from my mother, my sister, and more likely Zuri, as Aaron wasn't a problem.

Aaron had his own mate, Aspen, and she had given birth to two daughters for him. Lily and Lola were twins, and Aspen was pregnant again. We hoped it would be a male dragon so that I could rest assured that Aaron's male child would be my successor to the throne, continuing to rule over our kingdom.

"King Mikel, I don’t want that human kept in this castle with us. Send her away to wherever she came from! I don’t need her around here!" Zuri complained bitterly, but I continued walking away through the passage so that Zuri wouldn’t sense the delicious human scent as we met up with Aaron.

Aaron indeed knew how to show up when I was in distress. He asked, "What’s going on here? Zuri, you know our tradition. Do you want to wipe out our entire clan? You’re unable to birth a son or daughter for my brother, and now you want to send away all the pretty females we’ve captured? Are you a witch, Zuri?!"

"Enough, Aaron! Let her be," my mother interrupted as she walked up with Lucy to meet us.

"Mikel, Aaron, where’s the new female that was brought? I heard she came into this palace without clothes!" my mother asked as she peered at me.

"Mom, I need to be left alone. Abigail and Nana are dressing her up and preparing her to be sold tonight," I lied, knowing the pretty woman wasn’t going anywhere.

I was the king, and whatever decision I made was final. I had a soft heart, but that didn’t mean I would sit back and watch this lovely human sold to a male in my clan while I remained childless.

It seemed the gods of our lands had chosen to bless me not just with any human, but with a pretty human at that, and I smiled.

"Hmm... It’s alright. Come, Zuri, let’s go. Besides, you don’t need to worry about the lady. She will be sold tonight," my mother told Zuri as she walked up to her, pulling Zuri by the arms to follow her. Lucy just stared at me and Aaron in silence, her red eyes focused on me.

Lucy had stubbornly refused to leave the palace since she didn’t want to lose her princess title. Luckily for her, we didn’t age like the humans, maintaining our youthful appearances even as our years increased. We remained the same year after year, although I had heard some dragons lost their human mates. This pretty human, however, wasn’t going anywhere.

I made up my mind to turn her into a dragon, as only I, Aaron, and my sister had the power to do that, being born of ancestral royal dragon blood.

Although we didn’t tell the other dragons about it, so they wouldn’t be aware of the fact that we could turn a human into a dragon, I was ready to try it on this pretty human. I patiently waited to dismiss all of them and shut the passage door, wanting to be left alone with the human female while waiting for night to fall so she could be sold.

Although it wasn’t auction season, many dragon males had already seen her as Aaron brought her in without clothes. I was sure they would be willing to drop millions of gold for her, even for just one night, but I wouldn’t let that happen.

"Brother, how do you see her?" Aaron turned to face me, and I breathed out in relief.

"She's beautiful. Where did you find her? She looks like the other princesses that had been sold," I said.

"Yes, brother. I think so, but she's strong and ruthless. She was the one who killed the two guards we sent to abduct the human females and bring them to the palace," Aaron explained.

"How interesting. But I seem to like her, which might be a bit of a problem since she escaped from Abigail and Nana's clutch and is currently in my chamber," I told Aaron, and his jaw dropped.

"What?! That’s even the best idea, as I purposely brought her for you. I could have killed her, as she disguised herself as a male, but when I felt her burning yellow eyes, I knew only the royal family of Sunfield had such eyes. I perceived her scent and immediately realized she was of royal blood, but I was confused seeing her dressed as a male. She’s tough, brother—though she looks small. You have to be careful with her, as she wouldn’t hesitate to cut off your member."

Aaron smirked, showing me his arms, which were still healing. I asked, "She did this?"

"Yes. She’s a perfect swordmistress, and I’m sure she wants to avenge her deceased family and lost sisters."

"Hmm..." I hummed.