Renegade Dragons

Chapter One “You sure you want to do this?” the gritty man asked, his tattoo needle hovering above my collarbone. “Fire away,” I replied, closing my eyes before I lost my nerve. Covering up my birth tattoo and my mating mark was probably not the smartest thing to do, but I hated the constant reminder every time I looked in the mirror. I didn’t want to meet my harem, I wasn’t planning on looking for it, I had every intention of staying single. So why wouldn’t I cover it up? Turn it into something pretty instead of one fourth of a completed mark. “This dragon, right?” he asked, showing me a dingy drawing. He didn’t even have draw-on templates, but that was to be expected of an unlicensed tattoo guy in a dragon bar. It was a pleasant surprise he had clean needles. “That dragon is perfect.” I balled my hands into fists and bit away the sting of the needle. The machine buzzed as it jabbed red ink deep into my skin, drawing the symbol of a fiery dragon into my flesh. Was this really a good idea? Covering up my mating mark so I’d never know for sure if I found my three? What if they were looking for me? What if they wanted to love me? What if… No. I drew images of my best friend to the surface of my consciousness and bit through the pain. The moment our community realised she was a white dragon with no clear heritage, she was shunned from all ceremonies and rituals. Without the blessing of fire burning inside of her, she was cursed to a life without mates. And I swore I’d stick by her side, unmated as a protest towards the three-mate system the fire community swore by. “You’re a gutsy gal,” the tattooer grinned, exposing two rows of golden teeth. “Thanks…” I muttered, hoping he wouldn’t try anything funny on me. He’d certainly regret that. “There, all done. Just a little bandaid on it and off you go.” He smacked a cotton patch on the freshly bruised skin and held out his grubby hand. I pressed surprisingly few bills in his hand. There was a reason why he was this cheap and the lack of hygiene and after care was definitely one of them. But I was a big girl, I’d be fine. Besides, I didn’t need my collarbone to game. And that was why I was in Dragon Soul after all. To compete in the Realms&Rebels tournament, to slay everyone I came across, and to win the whole damn thing. Why they invited everyone personally for the final round wasn’t entirely clear, but I had no trouble traveling for this contest. They promised a lot of money as the first prize and since I wouldn’t be relying on three dragons to take care of me, I needed it. “I’ll have another energy drink,” I told the female bartender, making sure not to let my racist upbringing get the best of me. She was definitely a water dragon and while I had nothing against the other elements, it was still bizarre to be so close to one. Apart from my gamer friends, I had no real contact with any of the other dragon races. But now that I was in the city, maybe I could finally meet up with Tate, my closest gaming partner. Maybe Dragon Soul was the perfect place to arrange such a meeting. Water, Earth, Fire, everyone played nicely with each other here so we wouldn’t get stared at for associating with one another. But wow, it was weird being in a mixed community. Fire dragons didn’t usually socialise with their distant cousins, but if I wasn’t going to play by the rules, I needed to get used to the other world that was out there. A more modern form of cohabitation where dragons lived together in peace and harmony, instead of constant rivalry and detest. I snorted to myself. What planet was I on? Dragons cohabiting was nothing more than a pipe dream of the crazy. We didn’t get on at all. Mostly because it would mess with our many ceremonies. From what I’d heard, the water dragons were just as bad as fire ones. And the earth dragons were far far worse. Apparently, they had arranged marriages, which was most definitely a step too far for me. Not that I could really talk. As a fire dragon, I was supposed to go through the most stupid mating ceremony of them all. One that would result in three mates for me, which was three too many if anyone asked me. Though of course they didn’t. I shook my head and cleared it of my errant thoughts. I was in the elusive Dragon Soul bar. A place so secret, you only found out about it if you were a rogue dragon. I hadn’t even technically got the invite myself. My phone pinged and I pulled it out of the pocket. A smile jumped to my face when I saw my best friend’s name on the screen. Rachel: How you getting on? Me: One tattoo down! Rachel: You didn’t?! Me: Yep! I waited for her reply, already dreading the talking to I was going to get. Sure enough, my phone began to ring. “Hello?” I said despite knowing who it was on the other end. “Lola! Please tell me you’re joking?” she half-shouted, though the impact was lost by the fact she was also trying to muffle her voice. Apparently, that was what she had to do when she was at work. “Why would I be joking?” I asked earnestly, c*****g my head to the side and drawing a funny look from the spaced out dragon at the end of the bar. I couldn’t get a vibe on the woman, she just felt…blank. Huh. Odd. “Because you covered your mating mark?!” Rachel hissed. “What if you changed your mind about finding them?” “I’m not going to change my mind.” I was a lot calmer than Rachel, but I could understand where she was coming from. In her eyes, I was throwing away something she could never have. Which might have been a little cruel of me but the alternative was me with too many mates to ever pay any attention to my best friend. And that was even less fair. “I know you think that now, but in a couple of years…” “Rachel, I’m not going to change my mind. I have you, I don’t need anyone else.” My words trailed off as I spotted someone across the bar. Damn, that was one sexy man. Annoyingly, he also looked like he was well aware of his appearance. I hated being attracted to him. His picture-perfect looks and pressed shirt just screamed well behaved dragon. Which did raise the question of why he was in a place like this. “Hello? Fire to Lola?” Rachel’s exasperated voice came down the line. “Huh, sorry. What did you say?” “I asked what time your tournament started tonight.” “Oh, seven I think.” That was a lie. I was well aware of what time the tournament started. I’d studied everything about it from start to finish in the hope it’d give me an advantage. Maybe it would, maybe it wouldn’t. Only time would tell on that front. “Okay, I’ll be there just after half past.” “You don’t have to come,” I assured her. I knew she wasn’t a fan of gaming. She’d tried once and sworn never again. If we hadn’t been friends since we were small, I’d really question why, considering how different we were. “I know, but I want to.” We stayed silent for a couple of moments, each lost in our own thoughts. “Okay, I’ll see you then. Have fun at work.” “See you later. And Lola?” “Hmm?” “Don’t do anything else stupid.” “Me? Do stupid stuff? Never?” I grinned with fake innocence. We both knew I had a knack for attracting trouble. “See you soon, troublemaker,” Rachel smiled, without a doubt, shaking her head like she always did. She found it uncanny how I managed to get myself into the messes I did, but it wasn’t my fault. Usually. With Rachel stuck at work for another couple of hours, I had the chance to explore all the corners of this rather eclectic bar. Getting a tattoo straight off the bat was probably not the smartest idea but when I got here, it just felt right. What to do with my time… What to do… My eye fell on the gaming station and my heart sped up. I did come here for one thing and one thing only. I strutted to the bar, catching fancy-shirt guy’s eyes. That was one well fitting shirt. I wondered if he did that himself or his mum did it for him. Why was such a clean cut guy working the bar? “Hello, what can I get you?” he asked, smiling politely. His warm brown eyes flickered lightly as he greeted me. “Umm… Just a red coloured soda, please. Whatever you have.” I really didn’t go out enough to have a preferred drink. I preferred to stay inside with my trusted keyboard, but after passing the first five levels of the Realms&Rebels tournament, I really couldn’t pass up the opportunity to compete in the final. Even if it meant a trip to the other side of the city. Fancy-shirt stepped aside, revealing a row of coolers. “We’ve got about every red drink there is,” he smiled, his lips curling up in an amused smile. “Your coolers are also colour-coded,” I noted dryly, wondering what kind of bar arranged their drinks by colour instead of category. “What?” He turned around and snorted. “Oh yes, we do. You’re not the only dragon that only likes to drink one colour.” My cheeks heated up. I hadn’t realised that was a common thing. At least now I could tell Rachel I wasn’t weird for only liking red drinks. “I’ll have the raspberry one.” “Excellent choice.” The drink hissed as he popped the cap and pushed it towards me. “You’re new here.” I pulled an eyebrow and tried to contain my glare. “Really? Is that supposed to be a pick-up line?” Fancy-shirt chuckled as he ran his hand through his brown hair. “No, it’s not. It was just an observation. You’re new.” “Riiiight… How would you know? Maybe I’ve been squatting in the corner for weeks,” I replied sarcastically. “I doubt it, that’s Angry Arnold’s spot,” he smiled, clacking his tongue as he gestured to the dishevelled man lurking at the small table. “Angry Arnold?” “Yup. And that on the other end is Tango Tim, he’ll snatch you up for a dance if you pass him so beware. Hanging by the jukebox is our youngest customer, Talia. She’s a compulsive liar and a little thief.” Instinctively, I reached to check my purse but he caught my arm. “Don’t touch your wallet, she’ll know where it is.” I stared at his hand curled around my wrist. His palm was soft and surprisingly nice. The spot on my collarbone heated up. Startled, I yanked my hand back. I rubbed the recently-tattooed spot and decided that the stinging came from that. Just that. This was nothing else, definitely not the mating bond. No, no, no, no, no. If I said no enough, it would be true. No. Fancy-shirt guy gave me an intense stare, but I wanted none of that. Pretending like I hadn’t felt anything, I shrugged uncomfortably and pointed at the gaming corner. “Can I use one of the computers? I’d like to warm up for my game,” I asked, hoping that’d get rid of him. “Sure, let me show you how it works.” “No, thanks. I got it,” I cut him off, grabbing my soda and moving over to the quiet corner. I dumped my backpack down and wiggled my ass into the chair. This was my chair now. The familiar screen booted up and as I reached for my headset, I caught fancy-shirt staring at me. Damn it, I didn’t want any of that. Especially not when Rachel got here. She was always super excited when a guy looked at me but I knew it reminded her of her mateless existence. I didn’t need a man. No, I was perfectly fine with staying single and taking care of my best friend. We could get houses next to each other and race in wheelchairs when we were old. No man needed, and certainly not this shirt dude.