Page 1 of Primal Dragon

1

Fate is Overrated

Quinn fell into step with her best friend, James, as they left George’s Ice Cream and Sweets and headed for Lake Michigan.

“Only a vampire would crave ice cream in the middle of a Chicago winter,” Quinn muttered.

James chuckled. “Then what’s your excuse?”

She shrugged. “I’m weird.”

“That is true. Maybe if you stopped hanging out with a vampire, you’d be less weird.”

“I think I am less weird hanging out with a vampire. You should’ve seen me before you met me. Crazy cat-lady extraordinaire. At least I can cover that with my vocation.”

James licked his chocolate ice cream and then took a bite of the waffle cone. “Gods, that’s good.”

Quinn cocked an eyebrow. “What kind of vampire has to have chocolate ice cream like daily? Are you hormonal or something?”

“Is that your excuse?”

“Chocolate is delicious. Sometimes I’m a walking cliché. The fat girl loves chocolate.”

James shook his head. “I wish you wouldn’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Make fun of yourself.”

“What? It’s true. I own a mirror, you know. And it’s not like I’m the one with lore against my ability to use one.”

“You’re curvy. Yes, I have eyes, but you’re gorgeous and you should know that about yourself. If I wasn’t hundreds of years older than you and already positive that not only are you not my mate, but you’re like the little sister I never wanted, I would take you a manly fashion.”

Quinn rolled her lips into her mouth, her eyes widening, and then she burst out laughing. “I’m trying to eat here, James. Don’t make me sick.”

“All that to say, Q, you need to stop being so hard on yourself. One day the right guy is going to come along, and he won’t be able to take his eyes off you. And those nipple rings you got will come in handy. Drive him mad, no doubt.”

Quinn rolled her eyes. “I don’t care about guys or what they think of me. I’ve got better things to do. I’m trying to save the world, James.”

“You know, you’re lucky that you don’t have to wait lifetimes before you find your mate,” James muttered.

Her brow furrowed. “How do you stand that? Just waiting around for fate to show you your destined mate or whatever?” She studied her friend’s profile. For a four-hundred-year-old vampire, he didn’t look a day over thirty. His black hair curled in waves over his forehead giving him a boyish quality when he was clean shaven. Quinn was no shorty, but she felt small next to his six-foot-five stature with wide shoulders and thick thighs.

James was quiet for a few moments before he answered. “It’s just the way it is. Going out and looking for a mate certainly hasn’t turned her up. I just focus on other things. Like keeping a certain twenty-eight-year-old out of trouble.”

Quinn shot him a glare. “One time that happened. And I do believe I’m the one who saved your ass.”

She still remembered finding him bleeding out one night when she was walking home from a party on fraternity row. He was barely lucid but begged her not to take him to a hospital. He was already fanged out. Quinn didn’t drink much, especially in places where she couldn’t watch her drink properly. She could dance like a fool sober as much as she could with a few beers, and she’d rather remember the whole night than wake up wondering what happened to her.

When he finally confessed that he needed blood, she offered her own vein like a beer tap. She had no reason to trust him, no reason to think he wouldn’t kill her, hurt her, but there was something she took on faith that night, something in her gut. She gave him blood and since that night he’d given his loyalty without question.

Quinn nursed him back to health. He never told her how he ended up in such bad shape, but he’d been around ever since. He cheered her on, hugged her when she had a bad day, and made sure that she was all right most of the time.

He’d disappeared on and off, but he always checked in with text during those times. He’d reaffirmed their friendship a thousand times and she did the same.

“You’re never going to let me forget it either, are you?”

“Nope.”

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