Dragon Misbehaving
Torch Lake Shifters, Book 11
By Sloane Meyers
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Similarities to actual people or events are entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2018 by Sloane Meyers. All rights reserved.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Thank You For Reading!
More Books by Sloane Meyers
About the Author
Chapter One
Krystal Roth hiked her heavy messenger bag higher onto her shoulder, and raised her hand to knock on the ornate wooden door in front of her. She’d never been here before, in the rich part of town, and what stood out to her most was how fancy so many of the front doors were. Many of the windowpanes had scrolling designs etched into them, and one even had stained glass. This one was solid wood, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t fancy. The carving on it was so intricate that Krystal guessed it must have taken someone a year to make this—or more.
Her nose was only a few inches away from the door when it suddenly swung open. Startled, she jumped back and stood up straight, trying to put a professional smile on her face. She hadn’t heard the man’s footsteps as he walked toward the door, which was surprising since, when she looked up, she saw that he was one of the largest men she’d ever seen. He towered over her, and the muscles in his biceps stretched against the fabric of his t-shirt.
“Um, hi,” Krystal squeaked out. She was at a loss for words. Suddenly, she’d forgotten the speech she’d prepared, even though she’d already recited it about thirty times today. The man seemed amused by her flustered demeanor, and he leaned against his doorframe.
“Hi,” he said with a twinkle in his eye. “Can I help you?”
Krystal stared at his deep blue eyes for several more moments before realizing she needed to respond. “Oh, yes. Right. I’m Krystal. I’m here on behalf of the Torch Lake Concerned Citizens War Council.”
This seemed to amuse him even more. “Really?” he asked with a slight chuckle. “And are you a concerned citizen?”
Krystal took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. She wasn’t sure why this man was making her feel so nervous. He was handsome, yes. And obviously rich, since he lived in this house at the top of the hill in one of the most prestigious Torch Lake neighborhoods. But she’d met plenty of handsome, rich men before. Several today, in fact. Why was this guy any different?
“Krystal, was it?” he prompted. He was looking more amused by the second, and she didn’t want him making jokes at her expense, so she forced herself to start talking.
“Yes, as a matter of fact, I am a concerned citizen. As I’m sure you know, Torch Lake has declared war on the Dark Warriors, and the army is preparing to launch offensive strikes as we speak.”
“I am well aware of that, yes.”
Krystal wondered for a brief moment if this man was in the army. He looked burly enough to take down several enemy soldiers at once. He was a shifter, although Krystal wasn’t sure what kind. A grizzly, perhaps? Or even a dragon? Krystal squinted at him, trying to see if he had any dragon-like qualities. His human physique didn’t give much away, though, and she decided it was extremely unlikely that he was a dragon. There were less than fifteen of them in the whole city, after all.
“Well,” Krystal said, smiling brightly. Now that she had started talking, it was easier to get back into the rhythm of her prepared speech. “At the War Council, we believe that the Torch Lake High Council has not done enough to prepare for battle. Our military here is only a few years old, and it’s small. We would benefit from bringing in outside armies as well. We have several allies who would no doubt be willing to help us. The Falcon Cross Clan or the Redwood Dragons Clan, for example. But there are many more armies even beyond that which we could join forces with. Strengthening our numbers can only help us.”
The man laughed. “You think so, huh? Look Krystal, I don’t mean to be rude, but you people from the Concerned War Council or whatever you call yourselves keep coming by and telling me how the war should be run. But I’m working directly with the military and the High Council, and I understand what we need much better than you and any of your other activist friends.”
Krystal gulped. This was not going well, and she had a feeling it would only get worse the more she tried to push this guy. She had a list of points to overcome objections people made, but she didn’t want to waste her breath on someone who wasn’t going to listen, anyway. And she had a feeling that this guy was not going to listen. Besides, she didn’t like being called an activist. People always said the word with such negative connotations, and Krystal thought she deserved more respect than that. After all, she was out spending her Sunday trying to get signatures on a petition to get more help for Torch Lake. What was this guy doing, other than sitting at home and watching television? Krystal could hear his TV set blaring in the background.
But she found she couldn’t tear herself away. For some strange reason, it mattered to her what he thought. She decided to try one more time.
“I’m sure if you work with the military than you’ve seen that there are some areas for improvement. If we just got more soldiers from more established armies to fight alongside us then—”
“More soldiers from other armies means more outsiders,” he interrupted. “And outsiders won’t care about Torch Lake the way its own concerned citizens do. Bringing in other armies is just asking for trouble. Careless soldiers who don’t care deeply about our city might accidentally leak sensitive information. The Dark Warriors will be able to find out our secrets and prepare for our attacks. It’s a bad idea all around.”
Krystal glanced down at the clipboard that she’d pulled out of her messenger bag. She already had several signatures. It wasn’t going to hurt her to miss out on this one guy’s signature, and so she shrugged and started to put her clipboard away again. The man seemed surprised by this.
“That’s it? You’re giving up already? You haven’t even asked for my name and you’re throwing in the towel!”
Krystal frowned at him. “You’re clearly not interested in my petition. I know a lost cause when I see one.”
He grinned, still leaning against the doorframe. “I’m a lost cause, eh? That’s too bad. I was hoping you’d go out on a date with me.”
Krystal’s mouth dropped in shock. That was not at all what she’d expected to hear. She’d been knocking on doors for the last several weekends, and she’d dealt with some pretty strange stuff—but nothing as strange as a complete stranger asking her out. And asking her out right after he refused to sign her petition, no less. “I…I…don’t be ridiculous,” she said. “I don’t even know your name.”
“My name’s Hugh. Hugh Searle. There, now that you know it, will you go out with me?”
Krystal’s face burned, and she knew there was no use hiding how flustered she was. She’d thought there was something strange about Hugh since the moment he’d opened his door. He’d seemed too handsome, too confident, too…mischievous. There was a definite mischievous look in his eyes, even now.
“I can’t. I’m busy working. Despite your teasing, I am a concerned citizen, and there’s a war going on. I don’t have time
to waste on dating, especially not with a man who doesn’t take our need for more armies seriously!”
Without giving Hugh a chance to reply, Krystal swung on her heel and stormed away from him and his fancy front door. She heard him chuckling behind her, but she didn’t turn around. Who did he think he was? Was he asking her out just to tease her? What a jerk.
And yet, Krystal couldn’t help but feel a little bit flattered. He had been quite handsome, and if he worked with the High Council he must be someone relatively important. As soon as Krystal had disappeared out of sight around the corner, she pulled out of her phone and did a quick internet search for Hugh Searle. When the results popped up, her jaw dropped. He was, indeed, a dragon. She hadn’t dared to believe it, but she should have known.
“Well,” she said aloud, with a huff in her voice. “He’s just as arrogant as those dragons always are. Thinking they run this place just because they can breathe fire. I’ll show him.”
Krystal stuffed her phone back into her bag and marched up to the next door. She determined to get at least fifty more signatures today. That would teach Hugh how the people of Torch Lake really felt. More than that, though, Krystal was determined to nail her presentation to the High Council tomorrow.
The Concerned Citizens War Council had been offered the chance to come speak to the High Council tomorrow, to present their case for bringing more allies into the war. Krystal had been chosen to speak, although she suspected she’d been chosen because the War Council’s leadership thought that putting a pretty face in front of the High Council would make them more likely to agree to their proposal.
Whatever the reason, Krystal had a chance to talk to the High Council tomorrow, and she intended to show this Hugh character that dragons weren’t the only ones who could influence the Council. He had no idea how determined she could be when something was important to her.
Chapter Two
Hugh Searle groaned when he looked at the agenda for today’s High Council meeting. These meetings were always full of boring crap, but today looked like it was going to be especially bad. On Mondays, the High Council invited Torch Lake Citizens to come in and present to the Council ideas for improvement in a wide variety of areas. Hugh and all of the other dragons were required to attend these meetings as part of their work with the High Council, but if there had been any way to get out of them, Hugh would have gladly taken it.
Today’s list of speakers stretched on for two pages, and Hugh had to stifle back another groan as he looked at the topics. Most of the presentations had to do with the war. Everyone and their mother seemed to have an idea of how to best solve the problems caused by being at war. Most of the speakers who had tried to give the High Council suggestions had no idea how anything regarding war or the military worked. Hugh knew he’d have to bite his tongue during today’s meeting. The High Council wanted the dragons to act professional, so he did. But it was so hard sometimes not to make snarky comments to the “experts” who tried to school the High Council on the art of war. Hugh had lived through enough battles to know a thing or two, but most of the presenters lately seemed like they’d never been in a single battle. Luckily, the High Council was also savvy about the ways of war, and they politely dismissed most of the suggestions that were made to them. They did think it was important that the people of Torch Lake felt their concerns were heard, though, so these pointless Monday meetings continued.
Hugh’s eyes continued to scan the list, barely taking in the presentation topics and names. He was already counting down the minutes until this meeting would be done. Nothing looked all that exciting until suddenly a familiar name caught his eye.
“Krystal?” he said under his breath. The name Krystal Roth was printed beside the organization name “Concerned Citizens War Council.” Hugh sat back in his chair, somewhat amused. He couldn’t remember if the Krystal he’d spoken to yesterday had said her last name, but he had no doubt that this was the same Krystal. He was interested to see how her presentation went. If she acted as flustered in front of the High Council as she had in front of him yesterday, then this was going to be interesting. Hugh almost felt sorry for the girl. She was probably going to make a fool of herself.
The Head Councilor brought the meeting to order, and Hugh leaned back in his chair to suffer through the presentations. Krystal’s name was near the bottom of the list, so it would be a few hours before the High Council got to her. In the meantime, Hugh half listened to a bunch of other speeches on what the High Council could do better during this new war. Almost every suggestion made was ridiculous, but the High Councilors were kind to the presenters nonetheless. Hugh had often thought that he could never do the job of High Councilor. As a dragon, he might be asked to serve on the High Council when he was older, but he already planned to say no. He didn’t think his snarky comments would be appreciated by most of the population.
When Krystal’s turn finally came, Hugh leaned forward with interest. She stood stiffly when her name was called, smoothing the black skirt of her suit before picking up a small leather folder and walking toward the podium. Her chestnut brown hair had been in a ponytail yesterday, but today it was pulled back into a sleek bun. She was wearing makeup, too, unlike yesterday. Hugh liked the effect of the makeup, except for her bright red lipstick.
She’s trying too hard, he thought. She’s so naturally beautiful that she doesn’t need all of that gunk on her face.
Krystal paused for a moment to gather her thoughts, looking over the crowd as she did. Hugh waited for her eyes to land on him, but they never did. He was a bit disappointed by that. He wanted to know if she would recognize him, and if she’d flinch if she did.
He wasn’t sure what had come over him yesterday to make him ask her out. He hadn’t really expected her to say yes, although he would have gladly taken her out if she had. No one could deny that she was drop dead gorgeous. Really, what he’d wanted when he asked her out was to see her blush.
And, oh, how she had blushed. She seemed easily flustered, and he couldn’t wait to see her blush again up at the podium today. Perhaps it was mean of him to wish for that, but he couldn’t help it. She was so adorable when her cheeks turned bright pink. Right now, though, her cheeks were not turning pink. In fact, she looked much more confident than she had yesterday. When she opened her mouth to speak, her words came out clear and confident. She had practiced this speech.
Hugh listened in awe as she gave her presentation. He didn’t even listen that closely to what she was saying. He was more in awe of the fact that this was the same timid woman who had been on his porch yesterday. Where had she suddenly found all this confidence? It was damn sexy. She’d been attractive yesterday, but seeing a woman boldly standing up for herself and what she believed in drove Hugh wild.
Her presentation went by in a blink, and before he knew it, she was stepping down. There were two presentations after her, but Hugh didn’t hear a word they said. He was too busy gawking at the back of Krystal’s head.
He was more determined than ever now to get her to go out with him. The fact that she’d soundly rejected him yesterday didn’t even make him flinch. He was a dragon, and used to getting what he wanted.
When the meeting was adjourned, Hugh rushed over to her before anyone else could get to her.
“Nice work,” he said. “What happened to the nervous girl from yesterday?”
Krystal’s eyes widened as she looked over at him. “You! I should have known you’d be here.”
Hugh grinned. “You don’t sound so happy to see me.”
She faltered for a moment, but not for long. A smile played at her lips for just a second, and then it was gone. “I’m not particularly happy to see anyone who doesn’t support expanding our armies. The future of Torch Lake depends on it.”
Hugh shrugged. “I disagree, as you know. But why don’t you let me take you to lunch. You can try to change my mind over burgers.”
She rolled her eyes. “That’s alright. I’m going to have lunch wi
th my team, and we’re going to debrief how the presentation went. Why don’t you go eat with some of your dragon buddies? You guys can all talk about how awesome you are.”
“Hey, that’s not nice! Why does everyone think we’re just a bunch of stuck up shifters? I’m nice to everyone and I still get accused of being prideful all the time.”
Krystal rolled her eyes. “If you get accused of it all the time, maybe there’s a reason for that. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go.”
Before Hugh could protest, Krystal darted across the room. Hugh let her go, for the moment. But he wasn’t going to give up so easily. Krystal was cute, and he liked a challenge. She was determined not to date him, and he was determined to make her cave. This was going to be fun.
“Were you talking to her about her presentation?” a familiar voice asked, cutting into Hugh’s thoughts. Hugh looked up to see Jake, another dragon shifter and one of his best friends, standing beside him and nodding in Krystal’s direction.
“Nope, just asking her on a date,” Hugh said with a wink. “She’s too cute not to try. But she refused me—at least for the moment.”
Jake rolled his eyes. “You bachelors. Always turning everything into the dating scene, even a Monday morning High Council meeting.”
Hugh shrugged. “What can I say? I don’t want to let a good girl pass me by. You don’t understand because you’ve been settled down with your lifemate for too long.”
“Whatever. You’re girl crazy.”
“Guilty as charged,” Hugh said with a grin.
“Anyway, on a more serious note, what did you think of her presentation? I was surprised at how many good points she actually made. The High Councilors looked like they were, too. I never thought I’d see the day, but it looks like they might actually invite other armies to join up with us. So much for being completely self-sufficient.”
Hugh frowned. He wished more than ever now that he’d actually paid attention to the presentation. “Honestly, Jake, I didn’t listen that closely. But you know how I feel about bringing in outside armies. It’s too risky.”
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