“This is all hers?” I gaped at the pile of boxes. They reached toward the ceiling and tottered precariously. 

“Well, that’s most of it, anyway,” Rosemary said. “You should know all about dragons. They hoard.” She shrugged and gave me a good natured smile. 

“Yeah,” I breathed, looking around. It was going to take forever to go through everything. 

“I’ll give you some time alone. But if you need anything, or have any questions, please let me know. I’ll be down at Town Hall for the rest of the day.”

“Thanks.”

“Oh, and Sebastian?” She called from the door frame, throwing her head over her shoulder. 

“Yeah?”

“Welcome home.” Rosemary smiled sweetly, her eyes flashed, and then she was gone.

I stood there in the foyer, looking at the remnants of the life I’d left behind. I didn’t know anything about running a Bed and Breakfast, despite having grown up in one. I didn’t know anything about settling affairs of the dead, either, but here I was. 

My dragon coiled inside me, squeezing at my heart. He’d been increasingly insistent ever since returning to the Valley. Probably felt the presence of so much magical energy around us. Probably wanted to come out and play.

I pressed my lips into a line and ran a hand through my hair, sighing. I found an empty chair and sunk into it. My eyes stared off into the cold, bare room.

That was two things the Dozing Dragon never was: cold, or empty. There were people passing through at all times of the year, shifters and vampires and witches and fairies and even more I didn’t know how to name. The Dozing Dragon, my mother’s bed and breakfast, served as a quaint little respite from the stresses of the outside world. It wasn’t as glamorous as the Vale Valley Inn and Restaurant, but it had the kind of character you can only find in small towns like these. 

A warm meal, good company, and a fireplace that never went out, even on the coldest nights of winter.

But now? The fireplace was bare. Darkened. A shell of what once was. 

That was her secret, after all. My mother kept the fires burning by lighting them herself with dragonfire. It burned cleaner, hotter, and longer. But now even it had fizzled out, just like her life.

I raked my eyes across the piles of boxes and the grand staircase leading up to the guest rooms. Nostalgia flowed in hot and heavy now, wrapping around me like the tides. I still couldn’t believe she was gone.

Papers rustled in my lap, fluttering from a slight draft under the door. I grabbed them before they flew away. I shivered. That would be first on the list to fix. 

“You have a choice,” Rosemary had told me when she led me up the hill to the B&B. “Nellie’s left you the Dozing Dragon. I remember when her parents owned it, and her parents before that. It would be a shame to see such a family institution die, but...,” she’d paused, eyeing me, “I know you have your own life out there in the big city. It’s your decision.”

A decision I wasn’t ready to make. I balled my hands into fists, creasing the forms in my lap. My mother’s will stared up at me, sterile and legal and black and white. Not at all like my memory of her.

If I’d had once more chance... I wondered, then shook my head.

I needed to deal with the now. I stood up, paced to the other side of the room, and started moving boxes. 

The hands-on work was good for me. It was something I hadn’t had much chance to do after starting the firm in New York, but it soothed me as I moved things from the house into my truck. It kept me busy. It gave me a purpose. And most of all, it kept the grief just barely at bay. 

I was heading out the door with a particularly large box when I took a misstep and ran into something. Or someone.

A little squeak erupted from in front of me and I stumbled, nearly dropping the box. I managed to catch it just in time. 

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” The voice gasped. 

I tried to peer over the box, but it was too large to see much of anything. With a huff, I propped it on the outstretched windowsill and got a good look at who I’d just run into.

Well, steal my scales. that was Will Sterling.

“Sebastian?” Will asked, his eyes wide. “When did you...” He stumbled over his words, face turning red. “I was just coming up here to see if...”

He looked past me and his face fell. “She’s really gone.” 

I nodded my head slowly, fighting the lump in my throat. “Yeah. So sudden, too. They say she went peacefully, though. No pain.”

“God...” Will breathed. “She was one of my best customers. I just made a delivery up here not three days ago. If I would have known...”

“None of us could have known,” I said, but it came out a little harsher than I intended. My shoulders drooped. 

I remembered Will from growing up here. He’d come to town only a couple years before I left, but something about him always managed to catch my eye. I knew he was an omega, could smell it all over him, but besides that? I knew nearly nothing. He’d always been so shy. Didn’t let anyone in. 

And now he was standing in front of me, older and stronger and, well, irritatingly adorable, if I had to admit it. Sparks burned in my chest as my dragon woke, circling my heart. 

There was something about him, all right. Even if I couldn’t put my finger on it yet, I wanted to know more.

After I dealt with my mom’s affairs, of course. I sighed and looked back to the pile of boxes still in the living room. Gods, when did she get so much stuff? 

“I can help,” Will offered, sidestepping me to enter the house. “It’s the least I could do.” 

I started to protest. “I appreciate it, but—“ 

“No buts. I’m helping. Now where do these boxes go?”

I had to admit, the job got done twice as fast with an extra set of hands. But the longer I stayed around this omega, the more my body and soul started to react to him. Not to mention my dragon. It paced anxiously in my chest, nagging me to make a move. I didn’t dare. 

This was probably the worst time ever to try dating someone. With business matters in the air back in New York and the fresh loss of my mother? I had my mental and emotional hands full. Adding the complexity of a relationship was not in the cards.

No matter how good he smelled, or how I glanced at his tight little ass when he bent over...

I shook my head. I had a job to do here, and that job wasn’t mooning over this random omega. I needed to clean up the old house, move mom’s stuff into storage, and figure out the fate of the B&B. Selling it seemed like the obvious choice. More money for me, and less ties to the place I’d left behind. 

I left Vale Valley for a reason, I reminded myself. And no matter how charming it was, I’d made a name for myself elsewhere. It would be foolish to give all that up now. 

“I think that’s everything,” Will said from behind me, startling me out of my thoughts. His cheeks were rosy with exertion and cold, his breath coming out in little puffs of mist. I resisted the urge to wrap my arms around him and chase the cold away.

After all, I could. I was a dragon.