“Step it up, boys!” Leif yelled. His lungs burned as he ran, but he ignored the pain and ran faster. Leif never let anyone outrun him, especially not his trainees. He glanced over his shoulder and grinned at the red faces of the two dragon shifters far behind him. “Catch me if you can!”
Leif didn’t look back again. He pumped his powerful legs as he sprinted toward the parking lot where his large white truck was parked. He’d offered to hand over the keys of the truck to anyone who could beat him back, but he wasn’t worried. He always outran these guys by a good half minute, at least. Today looked like it would be no different, and Leif grinned despite his screaming muscles. He lived for this kind of pain—the pain that told him that he was alive, that he was strong, and that he was fast.
Normally, Leif didn’t slow down as he approached his truck, preferring instead to blast past it at full speed in a final burst of energy. But today, as he ran closer to his truck, he saw that someone was already there. He slowed slightly, his grin fading from his face as he squinted to make out who was leaning against the vehicle. He knew it wasn’t anyone on his current training team. His two trainees were well behind him, and Clint, Leif’s Assistant Trainer, was jogging along behind them to bring up the rear. Besides, this person looked like a woman in a business suit. The truck partially blocked his view of her, but the closer Leif got, the surer he was that whoever this person was, she wasn’t here by the lake to work out. She was here to see him, and her business suit meant she’d been sent from one of the government agencies downtown.
Leif slowed even more, so that he was almost walking by the time he reached his truck.
“Howdy,” he said, raising an eyebrow in her direction. “You take a wrong turn somewhere? You look more like you’re dressed for a council meeting than a run by the lake.”
“Leif Redding, I presume?” she asked, ignoring his sarcastic question.
Leif sighed. “Yes. I’m Leif. And you are?”
“Sofia Hayes,” she said, just as Leif’s two trainees came whizzing past the truck.
“Nice job, boys,” Leif said. “Make sure you walk a bit to let your muscles cool down. I’ll catch up with you in a minute to do some stretches.”
The two dragon shifters nodded and started to walk off just as Leif’s Assistant Trainer, Clint, jogged up.
“Clint, I just sent Seth and Evan to do a cool down walk. Can you follow them and get them started on some stretches? I’ll be there shortly.”
Clint nodded, and gave Sofia a dark look before ambling off. Leif was trying to be polite, but he would have loved to glare at Sofia just as Clint had done. Jake, the dragon shifter who had been head trainer before Leif, had warned Leif to expect a visit from one of the government’s pawns. An underground plot to bring back dark magic had been uncovered a few months ago, and ever since then the High Council in Torch Lake had been trying to keep close tabs on all of the many government bureaus and departments. The Dragon Utilization Department, where Leif now worked, was no exception. Leif took a deep breath and turned back to face Sofia.
“How can I help you?” He took in her appearance as he waited for her to answer. She looked to be about his age, maybe a few years younger. She stood tall and had a look on her face that was almost too confident. She was trying too hard to appear authoritative, which led Leif to believe she must be new in her position. Good. He could use that little fact to his advantage.
He also couldn’t help but notice how beautiful she was. Leif didn’t make a habit of staring at women’s bodies, especially not in a work setting. But it was impossible to keep his eyes from grazing across the beauty in front of him. Sofia’s dark brown hair hung in wild waves around her shoulders, and her tanned skin seemed to glow against her honey brown eyes. The bright red of her business skirt suit, probably intended to make her appear powerful, only served to accentuate her curves. Her long legs were well-toned, a fact that her high heels only accentuated. Leif forced himself to look away from Sofia’s legs and up to her eyes. No matter how sexy this woman was, he needed to remain professional. And he needed to remember that she was probably here to make his life difficult.
“Well?” he prompted, when she remained silent for several more moments. She tilted her head to the side and waited a few seconds before answering him.
“I’m here on behalf of the High Council. I’ve been sent as their agent to conduct a review of your training procedures.”
She fished in her large tote bag and pulled out a clipboard and a pen. Then she opened her mouth to say something else, but Leif interrupted before she could speak. She’d made him wait for a reply, but he was going to show her that two could play that game. “Well, I’m sorry, but I’m a bit busy at the moment. I just finished a hard workout with my trainees, and I need to go stretch with them. It’s going to be quite a while before I can speak with you.”
Sofia remained unfazed, however. “No problem. I have time. I’ll just observe while you lead them through their paces.”
Leif frowned at her but said nothing else. He turned on his heel and headed over to where Clint was already stretching with Seth and Evan. Sofia followed, removing her heels when they reached the lake’s beach so she could walk steadily across the sandy surface.
“What’s that all about,” Clint whispered, gesturing toward Sofia with his chin as Leif sat down beside him.
“She’s here nosing around for the High Council. We can’t be trusted to do our jobs well on our own. They have to send some little cupcake to make sure we aren’t dabbling in dark magic.”
Clint’s eyes darkened as he glanced back at Sofia once more. Leif refused to look again, though. He wasn’t going to let some pretty little thing with a clipboard intimidate him. He was a dragon, after all. And the Dragon Utilization Department was his territory. She could “observe” all she wanted to, but, at the end of the day, he called the shots around here.
Didn’t he?