David Lee didn't think of himself as a coward. After all, he'd been leader of Clan StoneRiver for nearly a decade and had dealt with would-be terrorists, the American Department of Dragon Affairs, and even other clans trying to encroach on his territory. Pressure and even danger wasn't anything new to him.

However, as he watched the volunteers for the week-long dragon orphans event arriving, he was tempted to hide in a corner to avoid one particular female.

His inner dragon—the second personality inside his head—sighed. I think it's admirable she wants to help. She's human, and yet she's volunteering her time to help the orphan dragon children.

Except you're forgetting one very important thing, dragon—you know she's our true mate. That's reason enough I need to avoid her.

His beast grunted. You're the only one who has a problem with that. I want her, and if she shows the tiniest bit of interest, I'll kiss her.

No, you won't. I'm stronger and I'll stop you.

His dragon huffed and fell silent. When it came to control of their mind, David was indeed stronger.

Well, as long as he didn't kiss the human female and start the mate-claim frenzy. His dragon would then take over, David unable to halt the instinctual need, and his beast would stop at nothing to fuck the human until she was pregnant.

And David couldn't let that happen, not even if the female in question wanted it. Hell, wanted him.

No, because any female who became his mate would, in effect, be receiving a death sentence. And that wasn't something he wanted on his conscience.

His dragon sighed. Not this again.

Deny it all you like, but the last five StoneRiver clan leaders have all lost their mates within the first few years of claiming them. I won't risk any female's life that way.

There's no fucking curse.

You might not believe that, but what about the assholes who target dragon-shifters and want to banish them to other countries? They're a threat. And make no mistake—they'll target any mate of ours, if they can.

They've been quiet.

That doesn't mean they don't exist.

David was all too aware of the America for Humans Only League—AHOL—who would like nothing more than to banish every last dragon-shifter from the United States, whatever it took.

The League had caused trouble for the human mate of one of his clan members nearly a year ago. It was only a matter of time before they tried something else.

Especially if David did indeed take a human mate himself. The League viewed humans mated to dragon-shifters as dirty traitors. While the League had avoided killing anyone for a while, at least to his knowledge, they'd done so in the past and would no doubt do it again.

And given the history of Clan StoneRiver, the odds were that a kidnapping and maybe even murder would happen to any mate of his.

Before his dragon could try to argue yet again why they should woo Tiffany Ford—their true mate—some of the volunteers arrived, and he smiled as he greeted them.

Most of them were dragon-shifters, but humans either mated to a dragon or related to a human who was had been able to apply to help.

Which meant Tiffany, whose brother was mated to a female dragon-shifter on nearby Clan PineRock, had every right to be here.

His beast sighed. More than a right. Her essay, for why she wanted to help, was easily the best of them all.

Not wanting to remember her passionate, kind words and how she'd wished to take in all the children herself, if she could, David ignored his beast and kept an eye on the door. As the minutes ticked by and she didn't show, he wondered if maybe Tiffany wouldn't come after all.

He didn't wish anything bad to happen to her, but if she just so happened to catch a cold and had to stay home, the next week would be so much easier.

Especially since she'd never come to StoneRiver, and he rarely ventured to the bar and restaurant owned by one of his clan members, where Tiffany worked.

So yes, if she didn't come this week, David would probably be able to avoid her for a long time, if not forever.

Which meant she'd be safe. And even if he didn't really know her, that was important to him. Protecting his clan was paramount, and it was easy enough to extend that drive to the true mate he could never have.

And as the clock ticked ever closer to the end of the registration period with no sign of the female, he decided the next week might not be so bad after all.