Page 5 of Marked By His Alpha Dragon's Desire

I nodded.

He whistled. “Don’t see many of those.”

“No, sir.”

“Well, welcome to Willowdale. You’ll fit in fine. I’m Tyler, the fire chief here, also pack Alpha.”

My brow rose in surprise. Should I bare my neck? I had interacted with wolves before, but never the Alpha of the pack.

He chuckled. “Don’t worry about formalities. I don’t care about that sort of thing. You looking for a long-term position or just a short while?”

“Long-term. I… I think my mate is here. My dragon... It’s hard to explain.”

He clapped me on the shoulder. “Let me guess, your dragon led you here, and he wants to stay?”

I nodded.

“See? Not difficult to explain to all. Maybe humans wouldn’t understand, but we do. Let me give you a tour of the station.”

As he led me deeper into the building, I couldn’t help but feel like I was stepping into the right chapter of my life.

“Clearly, this is the engine bay.” He gestured toward the trucks. “We’re a small town, so we really don’t need much. Two tanker trucks and the small aerial engine. We also have two pickups, one I drive primarily and the other is used for search-and-rescue. The EMS garage is across the street. We work closely with them. Let me show you the fun stuff.”

We passed by lockers and cubbies with enough turnout gear for twenty people.

“How many firefighters do you all have?”

“Four full-time guys, plus me, but I’m more of a part-time chief, full-time Alpha. Then we have another fifteen that are volunteers. We service a lot of the rural area, as well as the whole town. And we help with neighboring towns when needed.”

He led me into the office area.

“We’ll come back here to do your paperwork, but I can show you the living area first. Do you need a place to stay or have you figured that out yet?”

“Not yet. I literally just pulled into town.”

“I suspected as much. I would have heard if someone else had run into you. You can stay here until you find an apartment. It might not be ideal, but it’s free.”

“That will work. That won’t cause any issues? I don’t want to cause trouble with the crew for any special treatment.”

Tyler waved a hand in the air. “Naw, we’ve all used the station as a temporary home once or twice. Hell, Sanjay’s omega kicked his ass out of the house two years ago for a slight misunderstanding. He stayed here until he could beg for forgiveness.” He winked. “But that’s a story for a different day.”

He kept walking. “This way to the common area.”

As we walked, I took in the sense of family and camaraderie that filled the station. The walls were lined with past accolades and photos of the crew during downtime and town events.

The hall opened up into a large space that had a full kitchen straight ahead and a living room type space to the left. There was a large television, two plush couches, and a billiards table. A large table sat near the kitchen with a couple of half-finished puzzles and a chess board on it.

“The bedrooms and showers are on the upper level.”

“Looks like you guys keep busy,” I said.

“Hey, Alpha.” Two broad-shouldered men came down the stairs. They stopped when they saw me.

“Dude, is that a dragon? Or... something else?” His nostrils flared, and he stepped closer.

“Dragon,” I said.

“Guys, this is Raphael. He’s going to be joining the team,” Tyler said.

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