Page 8 of Marked By His Alpha Dragon's Desire

That was crazy, right? To be so drawn to someone so quickly. It had to be a fluke.

Next time I saw Raphael, I’d be normal.

Chapter 5

Raphael

There was something about that omega human paramedic. My dragon purred with delight the moment we saw him. I knew it deep within my scales that he was the reason I was drawn to Willowdale.

Ever since he had stopped by the station, I hadn’t been able to stop looking out the window, hoping to catch sight of him again. His scent lingered on me, and I was desperate to see him againin person. Maybe I’d make my way over there. I could make up some excuse to see him.

“Don’t worry,” Levi said, standing next to me at the kitchen sink, looking out the window across the street. “You’ll see him again. We run into the EMTs all the time.”

I didn’t want to say the words out loud that had been ringing through my mind, but I couldn’t stop myself. “I think he might be what I’m looking for.”

“Well, good. Otherwise, all this obsessive pining for a man you interacted with for less than five minutes would be weird. But don’t take him away from us, all right? We’re rather fond of Luca around here.”

“He’s the only human I’ve encountered since I’ve been here. Granted, I haven’t been here long, but the place doesn’tscentof humans at all.”

“They don’t tend to stick around,” Levi said. “And it’s easier if they don’t. We’re not against having humans around—clearly, we love Luca—but it’s just easier when they aren’t sticking their noses in things. We like to be able to shift and run or talk about shifting. We don’t have to worry about keeping our kids from shifting. When humans are around, we can’t truly be ourselves. The only humans here are mates or Luca.”

“So, is the hope that Luca will move on?” I asked.

“Not at all. We love him. He probably thinks we’re all weird as hell, but we couldn’t drive him out. We didn’t even try. He’s good people. He’s special.”

“He is indeed.” My dragon rumbled at that. Luca was special because he was ours.

“Although, I think he’s on to us. He thinks we’re all a little weird—but he likes us anyway. Theo—he’s my younger brother—is close friends with him.”

If what I thought was true—if Luca was more important to me and my dragon than I could yet admit—then he would know our secret sooner or later. The rest of the town wouldn’t have to worry about hiding themselves from him because he would learn about us.

Before I could dwell on that thought, the alarm sounded, and each of our pagers went off. The lights flashed, letting us all know that we had an emergency to tend to.

“We got a live one! Barn fire out on Turner Road. The old sheep barn. Get dressed,” Tyler shouted. “Newbie, you’re going on a run on your first day.”

“I haven’t even filled out my paperwork,” I said. I wasn’t actually concerned about that.

“We’re not too worried. Besides, you’re a dragon—you’re fireproof, right?”

I laughed because, yes, I was indeed fireproof. That wasn’t the only reason I went into this career. My dragon and I loved helping people, and this was one way we could help most. I could go into fires that others wouldn’t dare.

Which was exactly why it was impossible for me to work on human crews. They never really understood how I could run into a burning building and get people out safely without a scratch, or how I always seemed toknowexactly how a fire was going to spread or how it was going to grow.

I rode in the back of the truck as Tyler sped down the street with the sirens blaring. The ambulance was ahead of us, and I knew Luca was in there.

Once we arrived at the fire, the structure was engulfed in flames. The old wooden barn was secluded from the other building on site, but there were trees surrounding it. The crew set to work. It wasn’t a raging fire, so I observed more than anything, helping wherever I was needed.

“Please!” a woman cried, panic thick in her voice. She went straight for Tyler. “Alpha. He’s in there! He hasn’t come out yet. Iknowhe’s in the barn!”

Tyler spoke into the walkie-talkie, alerting the ambulance crew and the rest of us.

“We have a person inside. Doug is in there. Fifty-year-old male. Susan, do you know where he might be in there? What was he working on?”

“I-I-I don’t know. He might be in the pen getting it ready for the sheep we bought last week. They’re supposed to arrive tomorrow. Oh god!” Tyler wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

“We’ll find him. You’re up, dragon,” Tyler said.

I nodded. This was what I lived for. I wore my turnout gear, but it was mostly for show. I could walk in there without feeling the heat.

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