How to Date a Dragon(7)

Why, oh why didn’t dragons have their own dating site? He snorted to himself and a slight curl of smoke exited his nostrils. Because we’re almost extinct, dumbass. At least that’s what he’d been led to believe.

If dragons were open about their alternate identities, he might be able to find more, but “coming out of the cave” was forbidden. Humans would fear them. Fear leads to hate, and hate leads to discrimination—or worse, annihilation. No. He was stuck. There must be other dragons out there but he had been unable to find them, because each had learned the sad truth about being different.

He sighed and scanned a few profiles. Okay, Cameron. Think. There’s got to be a way to find a like-minded individual. His father had found his mother, and that was before the Internet. She worked in a store specializing in all things Celtic—mostly Scottish and Irish woolens, jewelry with symbolic thistles or Celtic knot designs, some imported foods, and books about Ireland and the United Kingdom.

His paternal grandparents had moved to Nova Scotia from Scotland when his father was a wee lad. He smiled, thinking about how his grandparents spoke. His maternal great-grandparents had come from Ireland a century ago. His great-grandfather on his father’s side was supposedly the “last dragon.” During the Middle Ages, his family had been rich and powerful, but after that debacle, the dragon clans went into hiding. Returning to living in caves, they’d given up everything to protect what was left of their dwindling species.

His father visited New Brunswick one summer, and according to family history, he and his mother had a whirlwind romance. They married the following winter and Drake was born a year later. Surely his mother’s and father’s families weren’t the only dragons to immigrate and intermarry.

There was no “dragon community” he was aware of. How nice it would be to have the Dragon-American club, like the Polish-Americans or French-Americans and many other ethnic subgroups.

Wishing wouldn’t produce results, so he settled in for the great hunt. Thank goodness the site had a free trial. If things kept going the way they were, he might be fired and then he’d need his money while he looked for another job. Ha. Fired while being fireproof. If only they knew…

***

Bliss had made the card, drawing it by hand. She designed the inside text with Claudia’s basic Word program and printed it using Claudia’s color ink-jet printer. Thinking about how much she’d have to spend to replace everything was giving her indigestion, but there was no other way to stay in the race. She needed to buy a decent laptop and good quality software at a rock-bottom price that same day. The printer could wait a bit, but she’d need one soon to proof her own work—and the rules of the competition required that she receive no outside help.

The most important contract of her career hung on her ability to produce all her designs in three weeks. Unfortunately, she didn’t have a few thousand dollars for forensic data retrieval, so she’d have to recreate every one of them from scratch.

She couldn’t even afford a hotel for more than a night or two, so she called her mother, who alternately sobbed and yelled into the phone. As predicted, her mother wanted her to move home and never leave again. Yeah. Good luck with that, Mom. I may be poor and desperate, but I’m not suicidal.

Her next stop was the fire station. Maybe that would be a kinder experience.

She approached the open bay, hoping Cameron was still there.

A dark-haired firefighter she barely remembered seeing earlier caught sight of her, grinned, and strolled over. The name Benjamin was stitched onto his dark blue uniform shirt. No help as far as knowing if they display their first or last names.

“Hello, beautiful. Can I help you?”

“I was wondering if Cameron is around.”

His expression grew serious. “Ah, no. He isn’t. Is there something I can do for you? Get your cat out of a tree or something?”

She couldn’t help but smile, then she quickly schooled her expression. “Well, you can give him this when you see him.” She handed Benjamin the card she’d made.

He glanced down at the envelope as he took it. “What’s this?”

“Just a thank-you note. He went above and beyond for me today.”

“Oh!” Sudden recognition dawned in his eyes. “You’re the chick who got him to run into that apartment building for some computer or something. Yeah, he’s in a shitload of trouble for that little stunt.”

She frowned. Apparently word got around. “Yeah. I’m afraid that’s me. There’s also an apology in there.” She nodded toward the card.

“It better be a doozy. He’s been suspended for a week.”