"Woo-hoo," came the sound of his guild as the battle concluded.
"Why don't you hang out with us a little longer, Bionerd? Saving the world can wait," said Ispy47.
"I'm afraid I can't," Bionerd111 typed. "It'll have to wait till another time. Dragonheart127, I'll see you soon IRL, wink wink." She logged out of the game.
"She wants you," said Ispy47.
"Just leave it alone," Raiden said. "We're friends. Can't men and women be friends without everybody going all matchmaker on them?"
"Sure, as long as you're friends with benefits,” Tangofoxtrot99 said.
"You guys are disgusting," Raiden said. "We're here to win this game, not to get me hooked up with my friends."
"You're the Guild Master. If you don't want to get laid, then that's your business.”
"Great. Now, shut up and play. Our next round is in fifteen minutes. Where is Starboy1010?"
"He had to log out. His mom wanted him to take out the trash."
"Well, he'd better get back soon, or I'll be docking him twenty-five guild points."
"You're such a hard-ass, Dragonheart. The kid has chores to do," said Ispy47. The rest of the guild snickered.
At least they were making fun of someone else now and had another focus for their heckling other than his relationship with Flora. Between his guild and the dragons, he didn't know which was worse. It wasn't that he didn't find Flora attractive. On the contrary—she was beautiful, with long wavy brown hair and big almond-shaped hazel eyes. And curves that went on for days.
She was the epitome of what any man would consider attractive, something between Aphrodite and Scarlett Johansson. It would be a lucky man who ended up with her. But Raiden's dragon never told him she was the one, so what was he supposed to do? Every other dragon who had awakened on Earth had been nearly driven mad by his inner dragon at the very first meeting with his mate.
Raiden had known Flora for almost a year, and his dragon had never said a peep. He'd been around her in dragon form. Nothing. He even asked himself, while he was in his dragon mind, "Is Flora my fated mate?" and the dragon had replied with a shrug. When his fated mate appeared, he should be relentlessly and unendingly passionate about her.
He wouldn't be able to resist her. He wouldn't be able to stop thinking about her. His inner dragon would do nothing but insist that he mate with her at every moment of every day. That was how it had been for everyone else, and that was how it would be for him. Why would it be any other way?
The crew kept asking him to take a mating analysis. But what was the point? His dragon wasn’t feeling it. He couldn't force something just because the girl was beautiful and they liked the same games or because he found himself nearly kissing her every time she was around. That was just typical male attraction. He felt attracted to lots of women. Human women were attractive. Flora was a particularly attractive one.
So while everyone was insisting that he and Flora had to be fated, he was just trying to get on with his life. He wasn't going to get in her way. She had important work to do. There was no point in running a mating analysis when he never felt the spark from his dragon and she never felt the spark either.
They could have an affair. He’d thought about that more than once. Even dragons had needs, and with the available human females in the population, there was nothing stopping him from having physical relationships. He couldn't have children with someone who wasn't his fated mate, but he could certainly have physical intimacy with anyone he chose.
But he didn't want to do that to Flora. She deserved better, and if she wanted to have a fling with him, he was pretty sure she would let him know. She was an intelligent, independent woman who knew her own mind. If she wanted a piece of his action, she would just come out and say it, and she hadn't. So he had left it alone. There was no point in taking it any further.
He wished everyone would just stop talking about it. After his last battle of the day, he sat on the couch, staring at the blank TV, drinking a beer, and thinking about Flora. He'd almost kissed her the last time they'd been together, and he probably would have made that mistake if Hanish hadn’t interrupted them. But even when he thought about kissing her or fantasized about her when he was alone in his bed at night, his dragon never said anything. Not a grunt, not a growl, not a whimper.
Chapter 3
Flora spent every waking moment in the lab with Cato in the basement of the mansion. When she wasn't working, she was eating or sleeping, and the very brief moments she had away from her work and not tending to her physical needs, she spent playing video games with Raiden and his guild. She cherished those moments of reprieve from the intensity of her life.
She and Cato had made very little progress since she had joined him in his work. As a genetic biologist, Flora was bringing a lot to the table, but Cato and his spaceship were the real miracle. She only had her human perspective and her years of training in the human genome. But even with her experience, Cato's ship, and Zephyr's scientific genius, they still hadn't cracked the code. They needed a way to use mated Dragon Soul blood in a vaccine that would work for all humans.
So far, in their trial simulations, they had found that Dragon Soul antibodies acted like a cancer in humans, eventually killing them. In their computer simulations, they’d found that injecting mated Dragon Soul blood into an unmated Dragon Soul had less of a disastrous effect, but it still didn't make the Dragon Souls' blood poisonous to vampires.
They'd run hundreds of these simulations with Cato's ship computer, Bethi, and each time, the simulations had come back negative. They'd been working on this problem for more than a year, and now that she was on board, she didn't have any illusions that they would suddenly find the answer that the Dragonian scientists had been working on for so long.
Two weeks after arriving at the House of Flames, Flora was sitting at the dinner table with the whole gang. Cato had made a special meal for the group from in-season seafood and harvest vegetables. It was turning toward the fall, and she was beginning to feel the familiar chill in the air. She took a bite of her crab and dipped it in garlic butter before popping it into her mouth and savoring the flavor.
Aiden, Aria, and their mates, Dax and Winnifred, had come home from their music tour a few months earlier, and they were working on a new album. Aria was the Dragon Soul singer of the House of Flames who had a magical ability to heal people with her music, and Aiden was a brilliant guitarist. Dax was a big, buff warrior more at home on a football field than in the recording studio, but he was a brilliant protector of and advocate for the sweet-natured Aria. Winnifred, an effervescent and independent artist who had found her niche in designing album covers for the group and for other musicians, was Aiden's mate. She was a classically trained painter whose work adorned the entire mansion of the House of Flames and was beginning to fill the mansion of the House of Storms.
Flora enjoyed listening to their discussion of music lyrics and chord progressions at the dinner table. Winnifred had a keen interest in music and always gave them a lot of insights and pointers. Dax's main concern was that Aria did not tire herself out too much and that the whole thing did not become boring.
Cato and Penelope were both interested in computer science, Flora's sister being a computer scientist and Cato leaning that direction more than biology and genetics. Zephyr was more of a physicist than a biologist. Sometimes, the three of them were joined by Yuki, an engineer who had his own insights into the projects the scientists were working on. But of the five of them, Flora best understood genetics and biology, especially human biology.
Kian—the leader and prince of the House of Flames—and his mate, Everly, were busy with their two children. Ember, their adorable three-year-old, had curly black hair and blue eyes like her father, and Ray, their one year old, was now toddling along with her sister. Kian and Everly were the parents of the household, making sure the refrigerators were always stocked and everyone went to bed. Flora was more than pleased to have a housemother and housefather takin
g care of everything for her while she and Cato focused on their work.
"Dinner was delicious," Penelope said, rubbing her belly. "I wish the little flame liked it as much as I did." She groaned.
"Are you all right?" Cato said, looking at her with concern and touching her shoulder.
Penelope's wrist device started to beep.
"Penelope, you are in labor," came Bethi's voice through Penelope's wrist device.
"It's time," Penelope said, her eyes growing wide.
Cato shot up from his chair, and it went skating backward across the kitchen floor.
"Everyone, stay calm," Kian said, having just gone through the experience a year before. "I'll drive you to the hospital."
"Everything is ready." Penelope grimaced as a contraction shot through her.
"I'll help you get the bags to the car," Flora said.
"Don't leave me." Penelope took her twin sister's hand and squeezed.
"I won't leave you," Flora said.
"I'll get the bags," Cato said, hurrying out of the kitchen.
The rest of the crew looked around, shocked and unsure of what to do.
"How can we help?" Winnifred asked.
Aria began to sing, her voice rising over the chaos that had started in the kitchen. Her soothing tones ran over Flora's skin. Flora could tell the singing was having a calming effect on Penelope too.
"That feels better than an epidural," Penelope said with a sigh. "Can you come to the hospital with me?"
"Of course I can."
After the guys got the bags into the car, everyone helped Penelope out to the Escalade and into the back seat. Flora and Cato sat on either side of Penelope as Kian drove and Aria sat in the front seat. They made it to the hospital in fifteen minutes, and an emergency nurse pushed a wheelchair out to greet them at the curb.
A few minutes later, Penelope was in the delivery room, surrounded by nurses and doctors. Aria sang a slow tune, giving Penelope relief from the pain. Penelope held Cato's hand and looked up into his eyes as she went through her breathing exercises.
Flora stood on the opposite side of the bed, ready and waiting to help her sister with whatever she needed. She ran to get ice chips and reapplied cool compresses to Penelope's head. She got her juice and water and played the focus music Penelope had chosen for the birth.
When it was time for Penelope to push, Flora was right beside her, holding her hand, as her sister grimaced and heroically brought her new baby daughter into the world.
Flora was so proud of her sister. A tear slid down her cheek at the sight of the baby. They laid the baby on her mother's chest, covered in goo, as the child gave her first wails of greeting. After the two had bonded for a moment, the nurses took the baby to wash and check her before bringing her back to her mother again. After the final delivery process, when Penelope was all cleaned up, mother and baby rested comfortably in the bed surrounded by friends and family as Aria sang them a beautiful, sweet song. It filled the room with the healing power of her voice as mother and baby gazed into each other's eyes.
"She's so beautiful," Penelope cooed, the tears rolling down her cheeks unabated.
"She looks like Mom," Flora said.
"She does, doesn't she?" Penelope said. "We'll name her Effie Gabriella Flame."
"That's beautiful," Flora said.
"That’s the perfect way to honor your mother."
"She would have been so proud of you today, Penelope," Flora said.
Everyone stood around in all of the glow of mother and child until the sweet reverie was broken by Dax fumbling into the room, carrying half a dozen balloons in multiple colors that said everything from "Get well soon" to "Congratulations, it's a boy." He was also carrying massive bouquets of flowers and a pocket full of cigars.
"I think this is everything," he said, setting the bouquets down on the table opposite the bed. Aiden and Winnifred came in behind him, and everyone laughed at his antics. Even Penelope, who was exhausted, giggled.
"I think, after visiting, Penelope is going to need her rest," Cato said.
Winnifred had brought Penelope a piece of cake that she'd missed from dinner, and Penelope gratefully took it and nibbled while Cato rocked Effie in his arms in the rocking chair. After everyone gave their congratulations and Aria sang once more to help Penelope heal, all the visitors except Cato and Flora left the hospital room. They slept on cots in the hospital room, taking turns helping with the baby throughout the night.
In the morning, the doctor cleared them to leave, and the new family wheeled Penelope out to the curb and helped her into the car while Flora buckled the baby into the new car seat.
When they arrived at home, Penelope and Cato retired to their bedroom, and Flora lay down in her bed to recover from the long and mostly sleepless night. The birth of her niece was monumental. It was a point of change and transition into a new life, even more than Penelope's mating with Cato.
Although most of the dragons were legally married to their mates through the court system, Cato and Penelope had never really had a wedding. Because the claiming was such an important and private moment and because they'd spent so much time together as a group, no one really saw the point in having a big celebration.
Aside from that, Flora and Penelope were each other's only family. Penelope had invited her friends from the library to the small courthouse ceremony that she and Cato had arranged when they found out they were expecting. Then they took them out to a big meal at a local steakhouse.
The courthouse was enough for most of them. Aiden and Winnifred hadn't even bothered to get married. Dax had wanted to marry Aria right away. Kian and Everly had been legally married very soon after their mating.
JoJo and Hanish of the House of Storms were married as well, but that was mostly because JoJo needed a visa to stay in the country. Krista had no plans for marrying any of her three mates, and Flora understood why she wouldn't want to show favoritism to any of them.
But the presence of her niece was a bigger change for Flora than her sister's coupling with her dragon mate. It was the first real step into adulthood and responsibility with no going back. Flora and Penelope had always tried to outdo each other. When Penelope had left school with her master's degree in computer science to take a position at the public library, Flora had given her no end of teasing. But Penelope had been happy with her work, and it was paying most of their bills back then, whereas Flora was still taking out student loans.
Now that Penelope was not only married but had a baby as well, Flora got the sense that she was falling behind her sister. She had thought that none of that mattered anymore. But after seeing the beautiful child and her striking resemblance to their mother Gabriella, Flora felt she was missing something, and the feeling wasn't just based on competition.
She missed the foundation of a family and a sense of connection—things that her job couldn't give her. She loved her work, and she still wanted to do something great, but maybe, just maybe there was time in her life to find somebody to love.
Chapter 4
Everyone at the Storm house gathered around the computer screen, staring at the picture of the baby, Penelope, Flora, and Cato. Everyone was oohing and aahing over the newborn, but Raiden couldn't take his eyes off her aunt Flora with her flowing brown hair and big hazel eyes. Her twin had looked just like that before her pregnancy. Raiden couldn't help but imagine what Flora would be like as a mother. He blinked at the absurd thought, his inner dragon still completely silent on the issue.
He growled at himself and walked away, feeling ridiculous for having such thoughts about this woman without any reason to back them up. Before the cataclysm on Dragonia, there had been no women left. And he had a feeling that being around any woman at all, especially a beautiful, talented Dragon Soul like Flora, was beginning to take its toll.
He and Zephyr were the last of the awakened dragons to be without mates, and he was beginning to wonder if he would ever find one. Just because the others had found someone di
dn't guarantee that he would. Azure, their ship's AI, had awakened the group because so many of the crew's mates were alive on the planet. Raiden, Akash, and Yuki had all been mated to Krista. Then Hanish had found JoJo, and it was a match made in bossy, demanding heaven.
Raiden sighed at the two of them as they gushed over the baby, and Hanish rubbed JoJo's stomach. Raiden rolled his eyes and left the room. He had of battle with his guild in fifteen minutes and would catch hell if he was late. He sat down at the couch in his usual spot, which was beginning to wear a hole in the cushion, and turned on the game.
"Took you long enough," said Ispy47.
"My cousin just had a baby. It was Bionerd's sister."
"Just watch. She'll be wanting one now too, Dragonheart. And she knows where to get the seed she'll need to do it."
Raiden heard snickering through his headset and rolled his eyes. "Bionerd is a scientist. She likes academic types, not crusty old military types like me."
"You never know. I heard good girls like bad boys."
"What was that about bad boys?" said Bionerd as she logged into the game.
"Nice of you to join us, Bionerd. You're the least reliable member of our guild," said Tangofoxtrot99.
"Stop giving her crap. I told you, she's not a core member of the guild. She's a casual member. Give her a break—she's trying to save the world."
"Since when is trying to save the world an excuse?" said Tangofoxtrot99. "When I was deployed, I still made it to raid times on time."
"Bullshit," said Ispy47.
"It's true," said Tangofoxtrot99.
"Pick your weapons, gentlemen. Five minutes. Are you playing, Bionerd? Starboy isn’t here. We have a spot."
"No. I just dropped in to say hi. Are you coming over tomorrow?"
"We're all coming, so I'll be there."
"See you then."
Bionerd111 logged off, and Raiden's crew started saying "Awww" and making kissing noises. Raiden chose not to say anything. Reacting just made it worse. When he was dropped into the game, he took out his frustration on the enemy. They won the round, breaking the record for the quickest time and the most kills. He grinned as the scores floated across the screen and his name was at the top of the leaderboard.
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