Page 1 of Never Flirt with a Dragon

one

RANDA

Romantic music accompanied the couples swaying on the outdoor dance floor at my best friend’s wedding. There were flowers everywhere, and the twinkling lights made the place feel magical. The way her new husband held the back of her dress so she wouldn’t trip made me itch to pick up a pencil and sketch the two of them.

They were a gorgeous contrast to each other, which only added to my desire to draw them. She was average height and size, with pale skin and thick, black waves falling down her back. He towered over her, with golden skin and hair, thick muscles, and pretty blue eyes. He was a dragon shifter, and she was… whatever a dragon shifter’s mate was. Not human, anymore. Not a dragon, though.

Not that she’d told me, at least.

I got the feeling she was keeping secrets. Dragons were always secretive, so I figured they’d probably sworn her in or something.

Viola, my identical twin sister, had spent the whole evening arguing with one of the groom’s brothers. Eli. They didn’t get along, but there was chemistry beneath the disagreement. I kept waiting for them to hook up, but it had yet to happen. She insisted that she despised him.

I got tired of listening to them fight, so when the dancing started, I slipped off to an empty corner of the gorgeous field the wedding had taken place in. It was on the edge of the forest, not far from the cabin Elodie and August, the newly-married couple, lived in.

As I walked, I adjusted my short, dark green bridesmaid dress. The annoying thing rode up every time I walked, which drove me crazy.

It was quiet on the edge of the field. The fairy lights overhead were woven through the trees and draped across the open air, making the party feel alive. And while the music played loud enough to hear, it wasn’t deafening.

I could still hear myself think.

And of course, my gaze went back to the couple on the dance floor.

Elodie and August.

I’d never been the kind of girl who ached for true love or searched for a partner, but watching them made me curious.

What would it be like to have that?

To have someone to hold?

To exchange knowing smiles and inside jokes with the same person you slept with every night?

I enjoyed sex, but there was something empty about it.

I’d wondered if there could be more. More than just the physical sensations, but an emotional connection, too.

The wedding emotions were probably just getting to me.

And I’d always been fascinated with supernaturals, so that didn’t help any. Besides August and his two brothers, there were a handful of demons at the wedding. All of them were in mated pairs that practically sang of romantic bliss.

The way their bodies seemed to gravitate toward each other made that slight ache in my chest just a little worse.

A massive body crossed my vision, and my gaze followed the gorgeous, golden figure.

It was August’s middle brother, Jasper.

I didn’t know anything about him, except his name. I’d seen Eli plenty, and had hung out with August pretty often since he and Elodie became a pair, but Jasper? He was a mystery.

Elodie had warned me that dragons tended to avoid human women whenever possible, so I wouldn’t be offended if he turned me down. I’d avoided him too, for his sake, after she told me that.

But there was something electric about him. I found my gaze drawn to him constantly.

He looked just like August, but… harsher.

The edges of his face were sharper.

His expression was more closed-off.

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