Page 7 of Dragon Heir

“Whatever.” I bump him with my shoulder because Pax might have maintained a reputation as a playboy, but he got top marks without seeming to even try.

The campus is warm and muggy as we make our way along the stone paths toward the buildings of the school. DLSA consists of several large buildings circling a central pantheon. The campus is outside, the only shade provided by lines of palm trees and open-concept buildings with glass exteriors. Well, the buildings look like they’re made of glass from a distance, but close up, I can’t help but notice that the nearly transparent exterior is much too thick and has a prism effect like its actually made of a transparent stone.

“Dragon stone,” I breathe because I’ve never seen the legendary material. Even a regular human from a small town knows about the stone, which is basically what happens when a Sun Dragon concentrates their fire on a stone, similar to the way a lightning strike turns sands to glass.

Besides that, the one building with opaque walls waits at the exact center of the university, and I immediately recognize the palatial eight-story library from my parents’ stories about the school. Dragon Liaison and Scholar Academy doesn’t promote itself. It doesn’t have to. They have thousands of applicants every year and only accept one-hundred students for liaison studies and ten scholar applicants.

Of those, maybe one or two will ever actually work with a dragon, and that will be years down the road, after proving themselves worthy. Dragons are nothing if not suspicious.

Not that they don’t have good reason to be.

“You’ll have to tell me if you meet any cool supernaturals in the dragon liaison program,” I say to Pax. “They only accept humans as Scholars.”

We’re the only race that’s both cunning and physically non-threatening enough to the dragons to handle their treasure troves. To be honest, I’m a tad disappointed about that, since I was hoping that I’d get to bump elbows with shifters and fae once I left village life behind. The liaison student population is about fifty-percent human, according to Pax.

As we turn down the wide path towards the main building, a flash of red catches my eye. I turn to see the Sharp Tooth redhead walking our way, his hair a shock of copper that stands out among the greens and greys of this damp morning. He has a backpack, and somehow in this mundane setting, he looks a hell of a lot less scary. The guy is tall but not even as close to as bulky as the two guys standing beside me. He’s actually a little cute and looks about our age. And he notices me staring.

I turn back to the path, only to have Pax and True say that they need to head in a different direction.

Pax pulls me aside as True waits a few feet away. “You going to be okay, or do you want me to walk you to class?”

“Seriously, Pax,” I say, punching his arm. “I’m going to class, not riding off with Wild Hunters.”

Pax doesn’t smile. He lifts a hand as if to stroke back the lock of my hair that’s blowing in my face, but he stops himself. Then we just stand there awkwardly for a second.

“Have fun in class,” I say, standing on tiptoes to plant a quick kiss on his cheek. Without staying to see his reaction, I turn and jog towards the scholar building. My lips tingle, and the raving sex monster that’s taken up residence in my genitals threatens to reawaken. Still. I hope Pax thinks about my lips on his cheek half as much as I’m going to think about it this morning.

The distance to the Scholar Library is further than I thought, and I look back only to find the flame-haired guy walking a few paces behind me. His eyes meet mine, and a little unease passes through me at his nearness. I reassess my reassessment of him and pull the straps of my backpack tighter as I hasten my pace. Behind me, his footsteps beat harder, and I’m all but running when I feel him right on my heel. A squeak catches in my throat as I dart aside, sure he’s going to make a grab for me. But the guy doesn’t stop, just passes me easily and continues up the road toward the library. I slow my pace, a tide of embarrassment washing over me. Why am I suddenly so jumpy?

I’ll have to ask Pax if there’s a squid shifter in his program who can tattoo “scared little country girl” on my forehead. As I trudge up the hill, wanting to pull a grain sack over my head to hide my burning face, a realization hits me. The redhead is a scholar. Which means he’s one of forty others in my program, and definitely a human despite the odd features. It also means that no matter how uneasy I feel in his presence, there’s no way that I’m going to be able to avoid him.

Chapter Four

Pax

I adjust myself under True’s glare, tucking my hard cock into my waistband and making sure my shirt covers it.

“You’ve become way too familiar with her. You need to pull yourself together, Paxton. If you can’t do your duty, you will be removed from your assignment.”

“Yes, sir.”

He’s right. Vynessa gives me a single, tiny kiss on the cheek, her vanilla and cinnamon scent wrapping around me, her soft fingers safe in mine, and I forget everything I’ve been training for. They told me I shouldn’t be the one living with her, but secrecy necessitated it. I can handle myself. I have for my entire life. I’ve managed to be her friend all these years, after all—just her friend.

When True turns away, I touch the warm spot on my cheek, sure her lips seared my skin, but it’s my imagination. There’s nothing there, nothing but the memory of those lips. I’ve thought about those lips a hundred times this summer, a thousand. And before that, millions.

“Should we really be leaving her in there alone?” I ask as I follow True into the largest liaison building on campus.

“She’s well-guarded,” True says, but the brusqueness of his tone makes me think that he wasn’t the one who made this decision. “I expect you to be my star student. You’re not getting any leniency in my classes.”

Is it just me, or is Frosty the Snow Dick even colder this morning than usual? The guy is all business all the time, but there’s an extra snap in his tone that wasn’t there before breakfast. It’s possible he’s just in a bad mood, but I think it’s more than that. I think he’s jealous. He will never know her the way I do. No one will, but True doesn’t comprehend how much that fact has backfired on me. It’ll be my undoing.

I got to share a lifetime of memories with her, but they were all based on a lie. When she finds out, she will never forgive me.

The lie we’ve had between us is already coming apart. She’s been looking at me differently since I came home. Once, I thought I caught a glimpse of desire in her golden eyes…

But no. That was wishful thinking, and dangerous as well. Vynessa is not for me. No matter how I feel about her, I can’t act on it. I’m nothing compared to her.

I have to think of her like that now. Not as the girl I’ve been in love with all my life. Not even as a friend.