Chapter Five
Craig
Ralph was acting a little off. He kept eyeing the guy behind us, and I wondered what that meant. Nobody could deny he was hot, but my friend and I saw a lot of hot guys at the club and other places we went. The wolf shifter was remarkably uninterested in any of them, and I sometimes wondered if maybe he was just happy not in a romance.
I tried not to think what that might mean for me. If he wasn’t interested in anyone, then it meant he wouldn’t be interested in me either. Not good. But if he just hadn’t spotted the right person, and now maybe thought he had. Also not good for me. A true friend would want their bestie to have everything they wanted in life, even if it did not meet their personal goals.
Love is never jealous…so why was I?
I peeked over my shoulder again at the tall person Ralph was so into. He put the hot club guys to shame. Even the shifters. I thought he might be one due to his body type. He looked strong, his forearms making me want to squeeze them just to feel the tone. And his eyes were brown but with a bit of gold in them that seemed to move like a candle flame. I peeked again, just to confirm, and the hottie caught me.
His smile spread heat through my core, expanding into my limbs. Whew. I faced forward again and tried to pay attention to where my roomie was getting our room taken care of. The man helping him was likely a shifter as well. I couldn’t always tell, but in the years hanging out with Ralph, I’d learned that most of the males I found attractive were shifters of one kind or another. My type, I supposed.
If only I was theirs. Or at least Ralph’s. Although, I wouldn’t kick the guy behind us out of bed for eating crackers. Or any other reason I could think of.
When had I become so fickle? Just a few minutes ago, I’d have sworn there was nobody for me but the wolf shifter who wouldn’t notice me as more than a friend, if I was on fire. Which, at the moment, I sort of was.
“Your room will be ready in about ten minutes,” the host informed us. “We apologize for the delay, but it’s our biggest event of the year, and we’re doing our best.”
“Thank you.” Ralph nodded. “We don’t mind waiting.”
“If you’d like to take a seat”—he gestured around the lobby, which actually, except for the check-in area, resembled a home more than anything else—“we’ll get you situated just as soon as possible.”
The room was nicely decorated. Not fussy, but the type of place you’d like to sit down and relax, maybe read a book, or talk with some of the other guests, and I hoped there would be time to do that. Especially the shifter who’d been in line with us. Something about him drew me to want to know more, and the heat his gaze sent through me had not yet entirely dissipated. What was he?
“Nice place,” Ralph commented, pointing to a love seat against the front wall. “Want to sit there while we wait?”
“Sure.” I followed him over and settled on the cushion next to his, our thighs about an inch apart. “Ten minutes, he said?” I remembered, but my brain was not running smoothly for some reason, and I just felt the need to say something. Not the usual between me and my oldest and best friend.
“Right. I hope you don’t mind waiting.” He bumped my shoulder with his, but I noticed he was also looking across the room toward the check-in desk. “I know you want to get an early start and see everything at the Dragon Festival.”
“Not at all.” I was enjoying watching the other man talk to the host. The back view of him was every bit as good as the front. “It’s still early. And that poor man had to deal with those karens. I hope we don’t see much of them while we’re here.”
“Me too.” He leaned back and crossed his ankle over his knee. “I was hoping they would decide to leave.” He grinned. “Or that they’d push just a little harder and the hosts would throw them out.”
“They make a good team, don’t they?”
“They do.” Across the room, the shifter host was looking down at his screen and typing, shaking his head. “How do you suppose his partner knew he needed help?”
“The mating bond can be like that.”
“Like mind reading?”
“Can be, sort of,” he replied. “Some mates, in rare cases, can speak to one another without saying a word. Whole conversations.”
“Wow.” If Ralph had chosen me…would we have had telepathy together? I would never know. He’d never once looked at me the way he was fixated on the shifter who was currently waiting to get his room assignment.
I couldn’t be jealous. I would be a good friend and be happy for him. If he and that shifter hit it off, they’d be a stunning couple. And I hoped very happy.
But that couldn’t quite silence the voice inside me crying out, Why couldn’t it be me?
“Not every couple has that level of communication, though. There are all kinds of ways the mating bond can surface,” Ralph went on. “Some just love each other and hate being apart.”
“Like human spouses,” I put in.
“More intense than that, I think, although I am no expert. And sometimes, the mates get what is more like feelings. For example, the omega who was in the kitchen with their little girls who were creating what had to be a very loud sort of music with the pots and pans might have had a sense that his partner needed him. And experience would have shown that a difficult guest could raise his mate’s temper.”
“He said his mate was afraid he’d flame them…” My chest tightened, my heart rate speeding up. “It wasn’t an expression, was it?”
Now, my friend turned to face me. “No.”
“Is he…is he…” I lowered my voice, as if saying the words might make it not be true. “Is he a dragon?”
“You can speak up.” Ralph ticked his chin toward the desk. “Both of those dragons can hear you either way, and they aren’t likely to consider being called a dragon an insult.”
“Two dragons? We haven’t even been to the festival yet!” I threw my arms around Ralph’s neck and gave him a hard squeeze. “This is the best birthday I’ve ever had.”
“Even better than your party at the club last year with all our friends?”
“It’s not like there were dragons there,” I scoffed.
“Lots of shifters, though, and despite your obsession with them, I’d be careful in front of the others about implying dragons are better than the rest. Some of them might take it amiss.”
I let go and sat back, aghast. “I didn’t mean that. Your wolf is the best. He’s gorgeous and furry and smart and runs like the wind.”
“He isn’t upset. He knows he’s the best and recognizes your over-the-top fandom for what it is. Also, he’s pretty fond of you, so you would have to try a lot harder than that to make him feel anything negative toward you.”
“Are all shifter animals like that?”
“They’re all different, just like people. But I can think of a few of our acquaintances whose animals are on the stuck-up side and would bite before accepting what they thought might be an insult.”
“You are a complicated group,” I sighed, watching the profile of the dragon guest as he spoke with the dragon host.
“You said it, but I have often felt the same thing about humans.”