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.