Page 1 of The Dragon’s Emberlinked Mate (Dragon Flight Academy #3)

Emmen

When the doorbell alert came through on my phone, I didn’t even bother to look to see who it was.

I knew that it was Lord Malric and his mate, Ollie.

They were coming for dinner, and I’d been staring at the prepared meal for the past hour.

The chef had finished making it and left it simmering on the stove, with instructions to me that I wasn’t to touch it until my guests arrived.

They were afraid I’d mess it up. Their fear was valid.

I immediately hit the button on the intercom. “Come in.” Once upon a time, I’d have had someone who would open it for them, being all formal and such. Times were so different now. All it required was a tap on a screen or to push a button on a wall. Life was both easier and more complicated now.

Within a few minutes, they were walking into my kitchen. It was good to see them. Today was one of those days when I could use the company.

The house I lived in technically wasn’t mine.

It belonged to the academy, which in turn belonged to the clan.

I had the money to buy a fancy house in town or to build something to my specs, and I’d momentarily considered it.

But there was something special about this campus, and living here…

being a part of the community was a thousand times better than having a place to sleep that boasted my ideal bathroom or preferred home decor.

My new home was placed just on the edge of the school grounds, at the top of a hill. I loved the view and how it was accessible most easily by flight. If you felt so inclined, you could take the stairs in your human form, but there were a ton of them, and I much preferred my wings.

No cars could get up here, and therefore no traffic or random deliveries at odd hours. It wasn’t impossible to get to my house by vehicle, of course. Some of the utility vehicles we used around the academy grounds could access the trail to my house. But that was about it.

“Emmen, everything smells delicious,” Lord Malric said.

It did too, but only because I hadn’t made it.

I grinned at my old friend. He, along with myself and Commander Shane, were some of the oldest dragons in the clan.

Lord Malric had found his mate recently, which left me longing for my own.

In all the years I’d known him, I’d never seen him so alive…

so happy as I did now. It was as if his life hadn’t truly begun until he met his mate.

Or maybe I’d watched one too many movies.

Commander Shane was still gallivanting around as if we were living in the times when we battled demons.

He seemed no more interested in finding a mate than he was in uncovering the truth behind Bigfoot.

Although, to be fair, he was really interested in finding out all the details surrounding the lore of Bigfoot.

I teased him a few times that maybe Bigfoot was his mate. He was far less amused than I was.

“Ollie, how are you?”

“Doing great.” And when he said it, I believed it. There was nothing fake polite about his words or tone. He was just as happy as my old friend was. “Excited to eat a meal that I didn’t make and that isn’t SpaghettiOs. You’re not making SpaghettiOs, are you?”

I looked down at the fettuccine dish that I had been salivating over for the past thirty minutes. “Well, it is pasta,” I said. “And I can’t claim to have made it. The chef took care of it and not the one on the canned pasta.”

Ollie chuckled as his mate looked at me, perplexed, which in turn had me chuckling as well. “Works for me.”

Ollie disappeared into the next room, which was my sitting room. I loved how he felt comfortable enough in my home to do his own thing. Many of his generation were intimidated by my age. It was nice to see that my friend’s true love was not among them.

I assumed that he would be curling up on the chair with a book. He often did when he visited, while Malric and I would discuss clan business.

“Long day for him?”

“Long week. The young dragonets have discovered fire. More importantly, they have discovered that each other are fireproof.” Malric’s pride shone through as he described their current antics.

“Ah. I can see how that would be challenging.” Challenging—stressful. Close enough.

It wasn’t uncommon for young dragonets to be able to breathe fire in their early years. Later, that skill would phase out, or on the rare occasion, it would grow. The latter had been Lord Malric. He had the power to breathe fire.

Ollie had worked as a manny for Lord Malric’s son’s family.

He had his hands full taking care of what were essentially his grandkids, so it wasn’t the first time he’d been through this phase with dragonets, but I imagined it was different when it was your own.

It was likely all of the dragonets’ gift of firebreathing would grow like Malric’s had.

Me? I had a gift that was not often used and was not shared with most others. Malric knew about it, of course, as did some of my other closest friends. But that was it. It had been centuries since I’d even had to use it. I planned to keep that streak going.

“It is an adventure.” My old friend chuckled.

“It sounds like a fantastic adventure indeed.” One I was glad not to be on.

“We’ve gone through six fire extinguishers this week. I almost canceled on you, thinking that Ollie would prefer to stay home. That was a hard no. He said he didn’t want to talk to anyone, not even me, and he would love to sit and read a book.”

I chuckled. “Well, I’m happy to lend my sitting room. To what do I owe the pleasure of the Lord’s visit? I’m guessing it’s more than to have a meal prepared by my chef. They are good but not special-night-out good.”

Malric rolled his eyes. “Things are going well at the academy.”

“Indeed,” I said, dishing up a plate and sliding it over to Malric. I might not have slaved over the meal to make it the best it could be, but we didn’t hold much for ceremony around here. Ollie would come into the kitchen when he was hungry.

“The clan has been doing well,” Malric continued. “Prosperous. A lot of the changes that Ollie has come up with have been instituted.”

“Indeed,” I said.

“I’d say we’re the strongest we’ve ever been.”

“Agreed.” I had no idea what he was getting at, but I knew he’d tell me in due time.

“I owe that to Ollie.”

I had a feeling that Malric was doing more than bragging about his mate. He wasn’t the type to rub it in that he had found his mate—his second mate, technically.

“What are you getting at, Malric?” There was a but in the wings. I could feel it.

“I don’t like to see you alone.” And there it was.

“I haven’t found my mate.”

“You haven’t looked.”

I rolled my eyes. “Like you were looking when Ollie stumbled into your life?”

“That’s different.”

“Cut to the chase, Malric. I don’t have time for silly games.” Every twenty-five years or so he reminded me how single I was, as if I didn’t already know. But I wasn’t going to randomly settle down with someone, and fate hadn’t had my mate cross my path yet. It was what it was.

“The academy’s doing well. You know I consider the academies as sub-clans, a tight-knit group within our own larger clan. And you, as Commander, are in a very similar position as I am, as Lord.”

Yes, we’d had this conversation before, back when I was selected as Commander for the academy. Our friend Shane was Commander for his own academy. As such, we were also advisors to Malric.

“Having a mate would strengthen the academy. Strengthen your leadership.”

I bristled. “I do know that. But like I said, I have not found my mate. So unless you think I should just find a random person and mate with them—”

And he better not.

“Would that be so terrible? You wouldn’t be the only dragon to settle down with someone who wasn’t necessarily their fated. That doesn’t make their love any less.”

On that he was wrong. Fated mates existed for a reason. Why would I accept less?

“Is this one of those misery-loves-company type deals? You are mated. Your son is mated. Now I must be too?”

Malric sighed. “Both Ollie and I have noticed you’ve been lonely.”

“I am,” I said. “I won’t deny that I would love to find my mate. But in five hundred years, it hasn’t happened.” Patience was not my strong suit, but in this case, I didn’t have a choice. I couldn’t force it. I deserved better and so did my future mate.

“Emmen, that doesn’t mean you couldn’t find yourself someone.”

I sighed. “Confession time. I have thought about it,” I said.

“I’ve even begun dating a bit. Nothing serious, but trust me, I do know that the academy is getting large enough that a partner would help me to manage things and maintain strong relationships with my staff and the students.

” And if I could take back all of those fumbled attempts at dating, I would.

They wasted both of our time and only highlighted how alone I was.

Malric’s eyes widened. “Do you need—Ollie has some friends that—”

I held up a hand. “I do not need help getting dates.” Nor did I want any.

Thankfully, we dropped the conversation once Malric knew that I was taking this suggestion seriously. And I was. As much as I wanted to find my fated, I wasn’t going to do that without at least some effort.

I would have to be more strategic in my dating. Did I hope it would lead to my fated? Absolutely. But if it didn’t, at least maybe I could find someone to form a partnership with. Someone I could spend my time with. Someone to chase the loneliness away.

As long as we both knew going in that was all it was, it would be fine. Right?