Page 22 of Dragon My Crazy

He’d dressed the part in well-worn jeans and a faded T-shirt that stretched across his broad shoulders. It clung to the hard planes of his chest, the sleeves straining against his biceps. The denim of his jeans was worn thin in all the right places, and the fabric molded to the powerful muscles of his thighs.

I was surprised he even owned something so casual. He really was very different from his brother. More casual. Way more laissez faire.

Was there a saying that meant the opposite of he cleaned up well? Because hot damn! A dressed-down Emmett was a sexy-as-fuck Emmett.

The town didn’t have a dedicated bookstore yet, though it did have a bookstore/gaming store combo that clearly made most of its profit on the latter. What Solsticedidhave was a small cluster of essential shops. This included the aforementioned book/game store, a bakery, a family restaurant, a hardware store, a pharmacy, several coffee shops, a specialty grocery store that catered to the myriad of different cultures that had settled here, and a brunch spot called Howl & Honey that currently had a surprising forty-five-minute wait.

Like Darlington, Solstice had become a beacon for the magical,whether theyhadmagic orweremagic. That meant people from all over the world came to find a place where they belonged. The result was a diverse, vibrant community. A community that was out in force this weekend.

“Where’s the sheriff’s department?” I’d asked earlier.

“There isn’t one. We have sheriffs here in Canada, but they aren’t the same thing,” Emmett had explained. “But I think I saw the logos for the EA and the RCMP over by the post office; they probably all share the building with a town this size and this magical.”

That had been before we’d taken a number at Howl & Honey. The brunch spot was packed, and it was impossible to ignore the whispers that had sprung up in the crowd. Among them, I kept hearing one word: dragon. I had a feeling Emmett’s ability to sneak by and hide among the monsters had been grossly overestimated.

Now we stood in the book/gaming store, surrounded by what appeared to be the largest collection of Dungeons & Dragons books known to mankind. The children’s book section was noticeably absent.

I approached the counter where a lean, lanky man stood watching us with wide eyes. He couldn’t seem to look away from Emmett.

“We’re looking for the children’s books section,” I said.

“We don’t have one,” he said, his eyes still on Emmett. “But the toy store might have a selection.”

“Toy store?” Emmett asked. “We didn’t see one coming in.”

“It’s new,” the man stammered, his eyes growing even wider. “Doesn’t have a sign yet. I can’t believe there’s a dragon in my store. Wait… how do I address you?”

I wasn’t sure if the stammering was in awe or in fear of the larger predator. I wondered what type of monster he was.

Emmett looked distinctly annoyed. “How do you know I’m a dragon? No one recognizes me when I go into the big city. But everyone here seems to know exactly who I am.”

The man’s face lit up. “Of course we know who you are. You drove away that greedy mining company that wanted to blow up the side of the mountain. And you stopped them from building that dam that would’ve flooded all our homes. Well, the news didn’t actually say a dragon chased them off, but we all knew you were our mysterious benefactor. I mean, who else could the man from Dragon Manor be? They used a picture of you from the big gala down in Darlington.”

“Sounds like your good deeds precede you,” I said.

Emmett looked like he wanted to protest, but said nothing.

The man swiped a hand over his hair. “Do I call you ‘my lord’? ‘The Old One’? ‘The Dragon of Solstice’? We’ve just been referring to you as the ‘dragon from the mountains.’”

“Uh, Emmett is fine.” Emmett sounded genuinely flabbergasted.

“Are you sure?” I asked mischievously. “The Dragon of Solstice sounds pretty good. They called Desmon the Dragon of Darlington. What about the Big E?”

“Oh, the Big E sounds catchy,” the man said, nodding.

“Emmett is fine.”

We got the exact location of the toy store and thanked the man.

“Wesley the were-weasel at your service,” he said with a little bow. “Come back any time.”

“So much for our cover story,” I said as we stepped back out onto Main Street Solstice.

“If I’d known this would happen, I would’ve worn my suit,” Emmett grumbled.

“What, feeling naked without your armor? I think going casual is a good thing; it makes you more approachable. More relatable. And it looks like you’ve been busy. I didn’t know you were such an environmentalist.”

“I’m not,” he huffed. “It was all selfish reasons. I wanted those assholes off my land.”