Halloween Dragon

by Liv Rider

  He knew that sulking and feeling disappointed was silly. He’d never felt like this when any of his previous boyfriends couldn’t hang out every night or had other plans. And Parker wasn’t even his boyfriend. What were they to each other? Did it even matter, since today had made it so obvious they weren’t a good fit for each other? Parker should be with another shifter. Someone who didn’t need explaining what his job was, or how shifting worked. And Cameron should be with someone who shared his interests in horror movies and didn’t need explanations for all of them. He’d been stupid think someone like Parker and someone like himself could work.

  He grabbed dinner, which was rice, fried vegetables in sauce, and meatballs, then sat down at one of the tables by himself. He wasn’t in the mood to talk, and fortunately, no one joined him.

  At least, not until Stacy joined him with a glass of water.

  “You already ate?” Cameron asked.

  She nodded. “I wanted to have as much time as possible for my makeup. Anyway, how did things go with Parker?”

  “All right,” he replied, not sure what else to say.

  Stacy raised an eyebrow at that, or at least, Cameron thought she did. It was hard to tell with her face full of clown of makeup. “All right?”

  He shrugged.

  “Last night you were practically bouncing with happiness over this guy,” she said. “What’s going on?”

  He poked at his food. “It’s hard to explain.” It was impossible to explain. “It turns out there’s a lot more to him than I thought. Which makes sense since I’ve only known him for a couple of days.”

  “Does he have some sort of horrible secret? He’s not married, is he?”

  “No. And, well, it’s not a horrible secret.” It was a really amazing secret. “He just—He told me some things about himself and his job. Things I probably should’ve asked about anyway.”

  “And?”

  “He has a really impressive and busy job. It’s kinda complicated.”

  “He did dress very nicely.” Stacy was nodding along. “Let me guess, he’s a manager?”

  “He is in charge of a lot of people.”

  “But not a manager?”

  “I’m not really sure how the hierarchy works.” Who was in charge of Parker? Some other, more powerful shifter? Yet another question he’d have to ask once Parker had time for him. “I’d never even heard of his—his company. I didn’t even know a job like his existed. I didn’t know someone like him existed, and suddenly he tells me all these details about himself and his work and he’s expecting me to keep up and he introduced me to colleagues of his and people working for him!”

  “Sounds like he’s serious,” Stacy said. “And maybe a little weird.”

  “It is weird,” Cameron agreed. “I don’t know why he did it.”

  “We already know he’s a weirdo. Question is, do you still like him now that you know more about what kind of weirdo he is? His job isn’t anything illegal, right?”

  “No! No, it’s not. It was just a lot to take in today and after he told me, he just kind of ignored me. I got the feeling he didn’t think talking about it was important. It was like…imagine if the Wilsons, on Friday, had simply announced they were selling the farm and they didn’t have time for questions. Boom, here’s an announcement, moving on.”

  “That sounds kind of rude.” Stacy sounded confused. “But you’re also being incredibly vague.”

  “I know.”

  “You’re not gonna tell me this big thing he told you, are you?”

  “I can’t.” It made him feel even more alone. The only person he could talk to about this was Parker, and Parker didn’t want to talk to him. Not right now.

  “But what has got you looking miserable, then? Okay, so he told you a bunch of things about himself. What’s wrong with that?”

  “Nothing. I mean, he rushed through it, but there’s nothing wrong with what he told me.”

  “Then what is it?” she pressed. “What’s bothering you?”

  He had to think about that question. Parker being a dragon shifter didn’t bother him. Parker being some sort of powerful shifter leader didn’t bother him. Parker dropping a whole bunch of information of him and barely giving Cameron time to process it did bother him, but it wasn’t why he felt crushed and disappointed.

  He wasn’t disappointed in Parker or by Parker.

  He was disappointed in himself. There was no way someone as amazing as Parker would want to be with him in a long-term relationship. When Parker had been so insistent and enthusiastic, Cameron let himself get swept away in it. So what if he didn’t know anything about Parker? So what if they didn’t have anything in common? They were attracted to each other and got along great. Nothing else mattered. Or so he’d thought.

  “He is way out of my league. He is nowhere near my league.”

  “Huh.” She frowned at that. “Last night he sure seemed to think you were in the same league.”

  “Yeah well, maybe he did for one night.”

  “Well, that sucks,” Stacy said, putting Cameron’s feelings into words. “Do you think you’re gonna see him again?”

  “I hope so.” There was still so much he wanted to ask. So much he wanted to know. But if Parker was going to be busy with whatever a Keeper of the Peace did, there wouldn’t be much time. And today had made it clear that Cameron had already taken up a lot of Parker’s precious time.

  “Cameron?”

  He looked up to find Michael standing behind them. “Yeah?”

  Michael gestured for him to come along, and Cameron did, abandoning his dinner. “About what you asked me last night.” Michael’s voice was quiet as they walked over to the exit of the Maze of Terror. It was usually quiet around there while everyone was preparing for a night of Halloween Fest.

  With everything that had happened, he’d almost forgotten he’d asked Michael to look into why Everett might be interested in the farm. “Yes? Did you find anything?”

  “I did.” His face was grim. “I don’t have access to a lot, but I do have access to information about budgets for future projects. One of those projects is a new highway, and they need this land for it. I didn’t realize it before because they don’t exactly call it ‘the Wilson farm’ in the project, obviously. It’s always numbers and other designations for the plots of land involved.”

  Cameron frowned. “But why would Everett want to buy a farm if there’s gonna be a highway here in a couple of years? He won’t be able to do anything with the land himself.”

  “He doesn’t want to do anything with the land himself. He wants to get as much money as possible out of selling this land when the city needs it for that highway. I know from the Wilsons how much he’s offered for the farm, and I know from past projects how much gets paid for land in this kind of situations. The profit involved….” He let out a low whistle. “It’d be a nice amount.”

  “That’s why he isn’t in a rush to get us out of here.” Cameron had wondered about that. “But how did he find out about the plans?”

  Michael shrugged. “Same way you did, probably. He’s got his contacts. The news of the highway isn’t public yet, after all.”

  “But it won’t be long before it is, and that’s why he’s in a rush to buy it.”

  “Yeah, I think the plans will be announced in the next few months, and then there’ll be objections and protests from home-owners, farmers and environmental activists that the city council will need to deal with,” Michael replied, and smiled. “It would be hilarious if one of those protests caused the highway to be built elsewhere, though.”

  Cameron laughed as well. “Poor Everett, stuck with a farm he didn’t want!”

  “Fingers crossed.” Michael checked his watch. “I better go and find Andrew. He’s always nervous on the final night, and he’s been so worried about next year….”

  Cameron felt another stab of guilt at that. He knew Andrew loved the Fest more than anyone. “Fingers crossed for that too.”


  As Michael walked away, Cameron grabbed his phone. Parker had to know about this.

  He hesitated as he was about to call, his throat tight with nerves. Parker had made it clear he was busy and didn’t want to be disturbed. He wouldn’t have time for Cameron.

  But Parker and the council members needed to know that the farm they wanted to buy wouldn’t be a good place for them for long. They were better off buying some other farm, maybe one with a pond or a river nearby. Or maybe this would make them want to buy this farm even more. If Everett could make a profit off of it, so could Parker and his council, and that money could be put towards a better location.

  He had to make the call.

  Steeling himself, he pressed the button and held his phone to his ear. His stomach squirmed nervously, both dreading and yearning for the moment Parker picked up.

  12

  Parker

  It was so much easier to concentrate when Cameron wasn’t sitting right there next to him. As much as Parker wanted to follow Cameron out the room, he knew he couldn’t. He had his duties here.

  The disappointed look on Cameron’s face when Parker turned down his suggestion to get something to eat and explained that he wouldn’t be at the Fest tonight still lingered in his mind. His gray eyes, usually so bright with joy, had dimmed, and Parker’s chest had ached at the sight.

  His dragon was still annoyed over it. We should be with our mate!

  We should be doing our duty!

  Parker had made his choice. He’d been neglecting his duties as Keeper of the Peace for too long in favor of being with Cameron, and now that Cameron knew the truth about him, it was time to focus on his job again.

  “Okay, I’ve sent you all an email with the address of the Wilson farm and when Halloween Fest starts,” Parker told his council. He wished he could be there tonight. “You won’t have to be there as soon as it starts, but it’ll be good to spend a few hours there.”

  “Are you sure you won’t come with us?” Isaac asked.

  “Of course,” Parker replied, and his dragon snorted in anger. “I have things to catch up with here. Besides, I don’t want to influence your opinion of the place.”

  “Yes, we can’t have that,” Olivia muttered.

  Is she challenging us? Parker’s dragon, already on edge, roared.

  It certainly sounded like it, but Parker tried to ignore his own flash of rage. Yes, he’d been passionate about his idea, but only because it was a good idea. They’d know that once they saw the farm and the barns and the land around it.

  “Are you sure?” Julianne sounded worried. “I mean, Cameron’s your mate. We understand if you want to be with him. You’ve only just met, so the need to be with him must be strong.”

  The need was certainly getting stronger the more people talked about him. Parker folded his hands together tightly and made sure to keep a polite smile on his face. “It’ll be fine for one night. After all, I’ve already spent a lot of time with him lately and I can’t neglect my duties any longer.” It was enough for now. It would have to be. He couldn’t be a good Keeper of the Peace if he always put his own needs first.

  “But you also can’t ignore your mate,” Olivia said.

  “It’s fine!” Why was his council telling him how to handle things with Cameron? Cameron was his mate! Parker knew what was best. “We’re fated mates and the mating bond between us is strong. It can survive one night apart.”

  “Well, if you put it like that….” Glen trailed off.

  Olivia nodded as well. “So, are we all going or not?” Julianne, Isaac, and Lee all wanted to go. Vivian said she trusted their judgment, and Glen felt their opinion was more important than his, since he had plenty of good shifting places already. “Four’s a majority, at least,” she concluded.

  “Let’s assume for a moment that we agree it’s a suitable enough farm.” Isaac leaned forward. “How do we prevent Everett from buying it? Cameron said neither party has a reason to pull out of their agreement.”

  “Offer more money?” Glen suggested, which Isaac immediately scoffed at.

  “Everett might offer more,” Isaac replied. “And we don’t want to start a bidding war, do we?”

  Olivia was typing away at her laptop. “What makes people not want to buy a house at this late a stage?”

  “Or what makes someone not want to sell,” Glen added. “If we can dig into Everett’s background and find something that shows he’d be irresponsible with the farm, the Wilsons might not want to sell to him.”

  “It also depends on what he wants to do with it,” Isaac said.

  “I met him. He didn’t answer that question, but I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want it for farming.” Parker was reluctantly impressed with the way his council was discussing the matter. They were quick to come up with suggestions, even if not all those suggestions were equally useful. “He did mention reports and bureaucracy, and something about not wanting a dispute with neighbors over land.”

  “Oh yes, that’s true,” Vivian said. “Establishing the exact borders of the property is important before drawing up a deed. You know, is this river or road part of the property or not?”

  “I wish you’d stop mentioning rivers,” Julianne grumbled, sagging in her seat.

  “Maybe we can use that against him,” Glen suggested. “What Parker said about all the bureaucracy involved.”

  “Are you suggesting that we mess around with the borders of the property?” Vivian frowned. “How would we do that?”

  “Rare animals.” Olivia was grinning at her laptop.

  “What?” Parker asked, since everyone else remained quiet.

  “Rare animals. There’s a lot of building projects that get delayed or canceled entirely because a rare animal or plant has been found on the site.”

  “But this isn’t a building project. The buildings are already there,” Parker pointed out, intrigued as he was by the idea.

  “True, but if a rare animal turns up in one of the barns, it’ll at least delay the sale,” Olivia explained. “They’ll have to call in an expert to establish the exact species and so on. If Everett is the impatient type, he might blow off the sale.”

  Lee was starting to nod along. “And if there’s one thing we have plenty of, it’s rare animals.”

  Isaac gaped at him. “Are you saying we send a shifter over there to pose as an actual animal?”

  Parker winced at the suggestion too. As good as the idea was, it would be incredibly embarrassing and humiliating to pretend to be a wild animal. But Lee also had a point. There were plenty of people around who shifted into a rare animal, and they’d only need one volunteer.

  “Yes, Isaac, that’s exactly what I’m suggesting,” Olivia replied.

  Isaac turned to Parker. “You don’t agree with this, do you?”

  “It’s a dangerous plan,” Parker said. “We run the risk of revealing the existence of shifters, for one. And while we have rare animal shifters in the district, it would have to be someone with the right kind of animal. An animal that could reasonably turn up at that farm at this time of year. That already shrinks our pool of potential volunteers, and it would have to be a volunteer.”

  “But you’re not disagreeing,” Olivia said. “Or are you?”

  “I think it might work. Obviously, I can’t be the volunteer.”

  The other council members all looked at each other.

  “Bullfrog,” Isaac said. “We’re common as dirt.”

  “Dolphin,” was all Julianne said.

  “Crow. Probably more common than bullfrogs.”

  “Grizzly. I think they’d try and shoot me to chase me away.”

  Glen studied his laptop while Vivian was suddenly preoccupied by her phone.

  “Vivian, remind me, what kind of polecat shifter are you exactly?” Parker asked, although he already knew the answer.

  She glared at him. “American polecat.” Her voice was sullen.

  Olivia immediately began typing. “Also known as the black-foote
d ferret,” she read out, “and classified as endangered. Vivian, you’re perfect for this. You’re—”

  “Nowhere near any of the reintroduction sites,” she replied, glaring at Olivia now. “Look it up. They’re also well-monitored.”

  “Oh.” Olivia frowned as she scrolled further down whatever Internet site she had found.

  “Trust me, if a black-footed ferret suddenly turns up at that farm, there’ll be scientists swarming the area looking for more,” Vivian replied. “I’d attract far too much attention. Not to mention that they’d want to make me part of their breeding program.”

  “And we definitely don’t want that!” Parker quickly said. “Definitely no—no breeding programs.”

  “They do seem to be effective.” Olivia was still reading the rest of the website.

  Vivian coughed pointedly.

  “For the actual black-footed ferrets!” she added. “Good on them. Hopefully they won’t be endangered for long!”

  Vivian was still glaring at Olivia, and Parker could tell this wasn’t going anywhere good. “Glen, you’ve been quiet.”

  “Gray bat.” He sat back in his chair with a sigh and gestured at Olivia. “Go on.”

  “They are protected under the Endangered Species Act,” Olivia told them. “And Lewiston is within their range. But they live in caves, not in barns.”

  “Glen can be the exception.” Vivian sounded pretty pleased, most likely because she was off the hook.

  “A suspicious exception,” Glen replied. “Just because they won’t make me part of a breeding program doesn’t mean there won’t be scientists interested in the sudden change of habitat.”

  “Would they do a lot of investigating during hibernation season?” Olivia asked. “I doubt they’d want to disturb a vulnerable species.”

  Glen groaned at the mention of hibernation season. “Are you saying I’d have to stay shifted until spring?”

  “You’d get to hibernate, though,” Lee pointed. “Consider it a nice, long nap! No council duties! No meetings! No shifters nagging you to solve their problems!”

  Glen started to look more cheerful at that.