Page 4 of Marked By His Alpha Dragon's Desire

He shrugged. “The Maze run is different. It’s... tradition.”

“What’s the purpose of it?” There had to be more significance than they were letting on.

Michelle and Theo exchanged a glance. “Um… It’s just for fun. There’s a superstition that whoever finishes first will find their ma— life partner next.”

“Oh. Well, that’s kind of fun.” Weird, but fun. Not that I believed in any of that sort of thing, but traditions were always fun. And it fit in with the rest of this town’s quirks.

“Should I do it?”

“No!” Theo shouted. Then he smiled, grasping my forearm. “We need you to be a medic, dearest. Lots of silly w— runners get hurt.”

I was met with lots of nods.

Yup. Definitely another one of this town’s weird quirks.

Chapter 3

Raphael

I drove over five hundred miles, stopping only at a few different places—including the parking lot to rest my eyes for a few hours—before a sudden sense of rightness overcame me.

As I suspected, it was the town of Willowdale.

Now that I’d crossed the city limits into Willowdale, I could see it was true to its description. It was a cozy little town that had ahandful of stoplights. The streets were bustling with small-town activities, and cute little shops and stores lined the streets.

Like I had for my entire journey, I let my dragon guide me, which had me turning down a side street, driving two blocks, and then parking in front of a one-story ranch house with white trim and deep green shutters. The landscaping out front was lush with green gardenia bushes that were in bloom.

My dragon rumbled his approval.

Someone lived here. It wasn’t as if I could buy or rent the house, so why was my dragon sure that it was ours? Some days I wished the creature came with a manual. He had never steered me wrong before, and I trusted him. The least he could do was provide a map.

I could not, however, remain outside some person’s house staring like a crazy person. I forced myself to put the truck back into drive and pull onto the street.

With my dragon content with the town, I needed to scope out a place to actually stay.

Then I came upon the fire station, which sat on the corner, directly across from the bakery and the emergency medical services station. The wordsFirefighters Wantedflashed on the digital sign out front.

It was fate, and I would not question it.

I pulled into a parking spot, got out, and stretched my legs. I had lost track of how long I had been driving that stretch, but it had been a while.

The garage door was open, giving me a clear view of the three bays. Two of which had tanker trucks, while the other had a small ladder truck. No one was running about, so it didn’t seem as if they were actively going toward a call. The place scented of shifters—a wolf, a bear, maybe a few others. At least I wouldn’t have to worry about hiding my dragon.

I paused a moment and drew in the scents.

There were many different shifters here, and no signs of humans at all, anywhere in the town.

Come to think of it, the entire town kind ofscentedof shifters.

Did any humans live here?

“Can I help you with something?” a voice called.

I turned to see a man—an alpha wolf by the scent of him—approaching. He wore a pair of bunker pants and a navy-blue t-shirt with the department logo on the chest. Based on the peppering of gray in his hair, he was in his early to mid-forties. Or perhaps he was just the type to go gray early.

I held out a hand for him to shake. “My name’s Raphael,” I said. “I just arrived in town and wanted to talk with someone about the position available.”

He shook my hand slowly, his nostrils flaring. “Dragon?”

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