Page 10 of Desired By the Dragon

Perry was something like my fifth cousin twice removed. His parents had gone traveling and so he’d come to join our little family for a while, apparently my mother and his were close.

“Mom lets me jump in the leaves,” Perry muttered and my mom rolled her eyes.

“Oh, quit your whining.” Mom snatched up Perry’s hand and tugged him along the cobblestones, not even wobbling in her heeled boots. “We’re going to be late.”

I strolled along next to them, my much longer legs able to keep up with my mom’s frantic pace easily. The air was crisp, and I looked longingly across the street to where the smell of fresh baked pastries was drifting across to me. There would be plenty of food at the celebration, but I had a weakness for the Crows Nest’s pastries and coffee.

Leaves crunched under my feet and Perry did his best to kick clouds of the multicolored piles up into the air, earning him a chastisement from my mom and a cough to hide a laugh from me.

The dragon clans tended to gather in the same place for all of our occasions, Lakeside Park. The open space was helpful for any accidental shifting that might occur, and it was easier to put out any fires. Literally. Plus, I was pretty sure that the damage deposit to hire the community center had been lost too many times for the clans to bother hosting indoors again — at least, not any events where the hatchlings would attend. But with a few hundred of us in Indigo Cove, we needed the extra space.

We strolled through the park gate and I was grateful I’d opted for my long coat as it helped prevent the dew beading on the grass from soaking the bottoms of my jeans.

Less than a second after passing through, a streak of orange and red flew straight at me.

I snagged the bundle out of the air and smiled down at the runaway hatchling. Humans thought having babies was hard, but human babies had nothing on hatchlings. What could be more daunting than babies that could shift into tiny dragons and breathe fire? Though, thankfully, most hatchlings only managed sparks until they were older.

Most.

I patted out the small fire on the collar of my coat and cradled the baby against my chest, tutting when she tried to fly away. “Come on. Back to your parents.”

Sure enough, a frantic looking woman snatched the hatchling seconds later. “I’m so sorry. Did she get you?”

I grinned as the baby dragon shifted back into humanoid form and tweaked the hatchling’s nose. “Only a little. My eyebrows are intact, thankfully.”

The harried mom sighed. “She’s really picked up flying quickly, much faster than our eldest, and she’s been a terror since.” Oblivious to her mom’s distress, the baby grinned up at me gummily, only three teeth in her dribbly mouth. “Thank you for catching her.”

“Of course.” My smile faded as I realized just how much attention we’d attracted. Great. The only thing worse than dragons in heat, were dragons in heat who saw a guy rescuing a baby. I glanced at my mom, hoping she might take pity on me, and only found amusement dancing in her blue eyes, the same shade as mine.

There would be no help there, then.

“Why don’t I make you up a plate?” the woman said, smiling tentatively before adding. “I’m Avery, by the way, and this is Selah.”

“That sounds lovely, dear.” Mom stepped in and steered the woman toward the long table that had been set up buffet style, leaving me to the hungry looking bystanders.

“Good luck,” Perry whispered before darting off to play with the other kids.

“Traitor,” I muttered and then forced a smile when the first woman approached.

I spent the next half hour politely engaging in chitchat before I was able to escape into the relative seclusion of a large oak tree and watch the organized chaos from afar. Several families had set up picnic blankets on the green and a group of three hatchlings were playing next to them, slipping from their humanoid forms to their tiny dragon bodies with ease. That was the beauty of Indigo Cove, we didn’t need to hide. There were humans in town, but there was also a glamour in place to prevent them from seeing too much and to keep our existence a secret.

A hatchling darted up, wings flaring so their membranes were illuminated by the sun, and I took a step forward, ready to catch them if they drifted too far. Without even looking, a woman on the blanket next to them reached up and tugged gently at the clawed foot of the hatchling and he fell back to the ground with a soft thump that transformed into giggles as he reclaimed his humanoid form of chubby cheeks and sticky fingers.

I relaxed, the leaves crunching under my shoes as I leaned back against the tree trunk.

“Mom, seriously. I’m fine. You didn’t need to follow me — Oh.” My glance to the left was casual, but the way seeing her face in the light of day hit me was anything but. “Sorry,” she said, a small smile twisting her full mouth. “Thought you were someone else.”

My answering smile was a fraction too slow. “Sorry to disappoint.”

She laughed, and when she stepped closer, peering up into my face, I felt my stomach drop. “Not at all. I’m Kiernan.” Deep brown eyes looked up at me expectantly, one finger hooked in the belt loop of her dark jeans. An auburn brow rose when I stayed quiet.

Fuck. She didn’t remember me. How was that possible?

“Max,” I said, after a pause that was a bit longer than it should have been. “Nice to meet you.” I cleared my throat and looked away. Did she really not recognize me? Or was she pretending to save herself some awkwardness? Either option didn't bode well for me.

Her eyes ran over my face again, like she was trying to place me. “New in town?”

I shook my head. “Been here all my life.” It was true, and maybe a little depressing now that I thought about it. Sure, I’d gone on a few trips, but I was a dragon of over a hundred years old and still lived in my hometown — I was young by dragon standards, but still. Unless the long sleep claimed me or something terrible happened, I would likely live a life-span akin to immortality. I just hoped I’d have something to show for it.