Page 4 of Overbooked at Dragon's Landing

I looked at my calendar, trying to find a slow point at work in the next few weeks. It was the perfect time of year to take an impromptu vacation. Although thinking of it as the perfect time of year for anything when I was planning to take care of someone’s estate felt yucky.

Once I had some dates to work with, I pulled up the area to look for a place to stay until things were figured out with the lawyers. The house wasn’t mine, and, even if it was, I wasn’t sure I could handle staying there. It was bound to rip open some wounds, and having a neutral place to stay was ideal.

I found a B&B—one that hadn’t been there when my grandmother moved—and looked at the available dates. They had one room left. Only one. Whoever opened this place had hit a gold mine from the look of things. I booked it without thinking twice.

Maybe this was good. Maybe it would… I don’t know, make me feel closer to her, remind me about where I came from.

Only time would tell.

One thing was for sure, my dragon would be able to spread his wings and burn some shit. He’d been cooped up for far too long. The city life really wasn’t for him. The older I got, the more evident that became.

Chapter Four

Ralph

The internet may have been lacking in information about this event, at least until you knew where to look for it, but that did not mean there was any lack of people showing up for the Dragon Festival.

“That was a lot of traffic from the highway to here,” Craig said as we parked in the small lot near the Dragon’s Landing B&B. “Almost felt like the city.”

“I guess nobody wants to miss the opening first thing tomorrow.” I got out and went around the back to open the hatch. “And I am guessing you don’t either.”

“No.” He bumped shoulders with me. “Not one minute of anything. Do you think there are real dragons here?”

“I think they exist, but I have never met one, so I’m not sure.” I handed him his duffel and backpack before extracting my things. “Need help with any of that?”

“Nope.” He slung the backpack strap onto his shoulder and hefted the other bag. “How about you?”

I shook my head and closed the hatch. “I got this. Let’s go see if our room is ready. It should be since check-in started a couple of hours ago.”

“We could have come sooner?” Outrage colored his tone, despite the fact he knew why we came when we did—and it wasn’t my fault. He’d asked for the whole week off but had to go in for a while this morning. Still, this was his birthday trip, and the idea of meeting real dragons or even just being surrounded by fellow dragon fans had him beyond excited. He’d been watching the GPS to see how close we were since we left the house.

I sure hoped there were some real dragons here.

“We did the best we could.” I held the door open for him and a few others who followed him into the crowded lobby area. “Wow, busy.” Taking our place in line, we prepared to wait while the man behind the counter checked in the guests ahead of us. Various parties headed up the stairs within a few minutes before a pair of women right in front of us stalled everything.

“But we asked for a room with a walk-in closet,” demanded the middle-aged blonde, pounding the counter with a fist for emphasis.

“And we informed you via email that same day that none of our available rooms has one of those. You could have canceled at that time.” He studied her closely, faint orange flames in his eyes offering a warning she either didn’t notice or didn’t care about. Not a true dragon fan or she’d never have missed them. “Or now, if you like.”

“Sure, you’d like that, wouldn’t you?” her friend, whose hair was all the colors of dragon flame—but far more garish—snapped. “You already have our deposit and your policy won’t give it back to us.”

Another man appeared behind him and asked, “Everything okay, mate?” Interesting. This was a human and he was mated to the dragon. Since I’d been crushing on Craig for so long, human/shifter matings always caught my attention. This one wore a dragon scale on a necklace. A truly precious gift, if the lore was correct.

“Fine.” The dragon’s gaze softened as it landed on the man. “I hope the girls aren’t disturbed by all the noise out here.”

“No, they are banging on pots and pans in the kitchen.” The human’s grin was affectionate and wry at the same time. “I was hoping we weren’t bothering the guests.”

The dragon kissed his mate on the cheek. “No worries. I was just offering these ladies a full refund because we cannot meet the amenities they want.”

“We can’t?”

“No!” the blonde cut in. “And we want our deposit back plus 20 percent for our trouble.”

The human whispered something to the dragon who disappeared through the door the human had come in by, maybe leading to their private quarters or at least the kitchen where shifter hearing did allow me to hear the concert “the girls” were performing. I thought it was adorable, and since we were the last in line at the moment, nobody else was there to hear it at all. “Now,” the man behind the counter said, tapping away on the keyboard, “if you want to leave, we will issue a refund to the card used to book your reservation. It will show up on the account in three to six days, entirely depending upon your bank.”

“And our extra money?”

“There will be no extra money. We are breaking our policy by refunding the deposit in the interests of our other guests having a peaceful stay. Are you staying or leaving?”

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