Page 11 of The Dragon's Flamebound Mate

“Any advice?” I asked.

Kellan grimaced. “Zayne’s a stickler for punctuality.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I gathered that.” He hadn’t even given me a chance to explain.

“You did great with the kids, though. They listened and they’re excited to work with you. Just as we are. Zayne will come around. He doesn’t have a choice.” Kellan didn’t seem to notice anything with Jay. Please let that mean it was all in my head and he was done with the not-being-a-dragon thing.

I nodded but kept quiet. Yeah, he didn’t have a choice, and we could coach the team without being best friends, but something inside me wanted more from Zayne than just acceptance. I wanted him to see me as an equal, as part of the team. As something more.

Something that included touching.

I shook that thought out of my head. Zayne hardly looked at me as a person, let alone as something more than that. To him, I was a reminder of his past failings, even if they were truly his. And I wasn’t so sure they were.

One thing was for sure, the attraction I felt was one-sided and needed to stay under wraps. The quickest way for me to lose this job would be to start showing inappropriate feelings toward my boss. Even if we were Co-Leaders, Zayne still outranked me based on his tenure.

Since I was new, I didn’t have other courses assigned to me yet. Instead, I was set to simply fill in where needed and perhaps shadow a few of the other classes eventually. I wasn’t sure if this was protocol or what the rationale was, but either which way, it meant the rest of my day was free.

Lucky for me, I had a mess to deal with at my cabin. It would keep me busy and distract me from the situation I managed to get myself into.

I hustled across campus, speed walking through the halls of the west building named Taldrek Hall, after one of the first Flight Commanders at the school. The students affectionally called it Talls, since it was a tall building and saying Taldrek Hall was too much of a mouthful.

The courtyard between Talls and the lake was filled with students, some in individual study groups, some as whole classes enjoying their lessons outside, and a few sneaking a kiss.

I could shift and fly across the lake to my cabin, but I opted to walk. I needed the time to clear my head, but that wasn’t the only reason why. If I was ever going to fit in here, people were going to need to see me as part of the school. Hiding behind my wings wasn’t the way to foster that.

The groundskeeper, Bryn, was just walking out of my cabin as I arrived. Perfect timing.

“What’s the damage?” I crossed my fingers all it needed was a new wire or two and some paint. Immediately, his posture changed, and I knew that was not the case.

He shook his head. I grimaced. This wasn’t going to be good.

“The power surge from the outlet short circuiting fried the panel, so we need to replace that, along with the outlet and the wires in the wall that burned, and that’s only part of it.”

“Well, shit. I assume that’s not a quick fix?”

Bryn shook his head. “’Fraid not. I’ll have to get a real electrician out here. No electricity in the house until the work is done. You’ll have to talk to the Commander about getting a room in one of the staff dorms.”

Great. Just great. Nothing sounded good about being in a dorm as the only eagle on the grounds.

“Thanks, Bryn. I appreciate you taking a look.” It wasn’t his fault, and objectively, it could’ve been so much worse. At least I wasn’t hurt and got it out quickly. Burning down a cabin on my first day would not win me any points.

He told me he’d be in touch and got on his way. I wasn’t ready to deal with it yet, and I sat on the front steps with my head in my hands. It wasn’t the end of the world, but it was an inconvenience I didn’t wish to deal with. I really wanted to start this job on the right foot and so far, luck was not on my side.

“Something wrong?” Zayne’s voice started me, and I jerked upright until I was standing.

Of course, he was here to see me looking dejected and helpless.

“Only everything.” I hated that I let that slip.

I wasn’t one to feel sorry for myself. I told myself when I took this job that I was going to take the punches in stride, because I knew there were going to be rough patches. An omega eagle shifter leading a dragon flight team was unheard of, but I was going to do it and do it well.

“Something wrong with the cabin? I smell smoke. I smelled it on you this morning when you arrived to class.”

He noticed that? I sometimes forgot how much better their sense of smell was to mine.

I waved my hand toward the front door. “Minor mishap with a hand-mixer and a poorly wired outlet. Unfortunately, the panel is fried, and I won’t get power back until it’s repaired. I need to head up to Winghaven Hall to talk with the Commander about temporary housing.” My stomach rumbled embarrassingly loudly. “And I need to eat.”

He didn’t speak for a few seconds, his eyes on the cabin.

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