Page 22 of Desired By the Dragon

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Indigo Cove Community Center was a building more used to shows and music than dragon revelry. Though, for the sake of the damage deposit, things would be kept relatively tame and all the hatchlings had been left at home.

Lit up spectacularly by lanterns outside, it made the rest of the town square look almost eerie in the evening mist that had rolled in off of the seafront, the mural on the side a hulking shape in the dark.

Dinner had been nice, Mom had seemed to be in a good mood, and that put me in a good mood too. There was even almost a smile on my face by the time I walked through the doors of the large building and an upbeat live band crooned a strange cover of Spooky by Dusty Springfield.

I handed over my coat at the cloakroom and as soon as we stepped into the hall, I knew instantly that we were right to have eaten before we came. There was a few finger foods being passed around on silver trays by waitstaff, unidentifiable wisps of mousse and crackers and fancy cocktail sticks loaded with onions and olives and something slimy and orange that smelled like pickled cabbage. Snacks better suited for intervals during ritzy show nights. I wrinkled my nose. Pizza on the boardwalk had been the right call for sure.

A bar was set up at the back of the room, and somehow Mom had managed to slip through the crowd to grab us drinks in record speed.

“Thank you.” I accepted the sparkling faceted tumbler she handed to me and took a sip. “Oh, that’s good.” The rum was fruity, like currants, rich and smokey and warm, despite the cold of the ice cubes.

“It’s that tourist rum, Kennie’s,” Mom said, a smirk falling around her mouth. She’d been trying to get me to try the swill for a while and I’d been resistant. But I had to admit, on this one she was right. I’d assumed it would be overly sweet and cheap, nonsense for the tourists to buy or order at the Kraken’s Keep, but I was pleasantly surprised. “We wanted to riff off that other rum, Kraken,” she hummed, clearly pleased to have been proven right.

Wait. We? “I didn’t know you were involved with it, Mom. I’d have tried it sooner! After all, a woman of your taste is bound to know good rum when she makes it.” I took another sip and then tilted the glass in her direction, a silent cheers.

Colour flushed in her cheeks and she slapped my arm gently. “Oh, stop it. Really, Max, Perry isn’t here, so you don’t need to be such a suck-up.”

We laughed and I listened attentively as she told me more about her work with the distillery from out of town and her efforts with the council on fun new ideas for the tourists this season.

“Of course, it would have been out sooner if that witch, Isolde, hadn’t made the process so difficult.” Mom rolled her eyes and I waved to Taylor as I spotted him walk through the door. “Really, I think she just wanted the witches to be in charge of the whole thing.”

I got the sense that witch wasn’t the descriptor Mom really wanted to use, but given that we were in public with sensitive ears all around…

“Oh no,” Taylor joked as he approached and dropped a kiss on my mom’s cheek. “Don’t tell me this grump infected you with his mood, Leah?”

Mom giggled and I pretended not to see the way she blushed at Taylor’s attention. Just harmless flirtation. Plus, Mom was an adult, she didn’t need me interfering in her day-to-day life, or pointing out the obvious to Taylor — that I’d do more than punch him if he took things too far with my mother.

“I don’t know what you mean,” Mom teased, holding onto Taylor’s arm. “Max has been very pleasant all evening.”

“I’m sure that’s just because of his company,” Taylor returned and I cleared my throat. “Has he seen his girl yet?”

The band switched up the pace, a funky cover of Glinda Goblin’s Under the Moon playing and getting some of the attendees dancing. The lights made my mom’s eyes gleam as she whipped her head to look at me. “There’s a girl?”

“She’s not my girl,” I corrected, stiffening as I glared at Taylor over Mom’s head. “And there’s nothing to tell.”

“Oh, well, in that case I suppose I can introduce you to a few lovely, eligible, dragons?”

Adjusting my tie, I made a show of ignoring her and instead scanned the room.

Red gleamed and my breath caught in my throat. She was here.

“Looks like you’ll get to meet her,” I heard Taylor say, but it was like he was underwater, his words barely registering as I craned my head to see better.

The world slowed down and my centre of gravity shifted, tugging me toward the woman across the room with her back to me, oblivious to my attention. I didn’t need to see her face to know it was her. Kiernan.

“Mm, that’s a look I recognize,” Mom said and I blinked, casting her one short look before mumbling under my breath and stalking across the hall to the woman who’d fucked me senseless and then run away.

A frisson of awareness rippled across my skin and I rolled up my shirt sleeves, exposing the dark swirl of tattoos across my forearms.

“Kiernan.”

She shivered and I licked my lips, eyes dipping to the stretch of bare back she had on display above her silky trousers. On anyone else, an all-white jumpsuit might have looked tacky, but the floaty cream material made her look angelic.

I knew better.

Kiernan may have had wings, but an angel she was not.