Dragon Proposing (Torch Lake Shifters Book 2) Read online

  She looked at him doubtfully. “I only have thirty days.”

  “I know. So do I. But I’m not going down without a fight. Look, Miss…sorry, I didn’t catch your name?”

  “Rachel. Rachel Bennett.”

  “Look, Miss Bennett—”

  “Please, call me Rachel.”

  “Look, Rachel. Pardon my French here, but I’m going to organize the biggest fucking protest this High Council has ever seen. If you want in on it, give me a call. I’m Jake by the way. Jake Palmer.”

  Jake pulled a business card out of his wallet and handed it to Rachel. She turned it over in her hands a few times and then looked back up at him. She didn’t look any more hopeful than she had a few minutes ago, but she smiled politely at him.

  “Alright. I’ll give you a call later. Not to be rude, but I really need to get going. I’m horribly late for work, and it looks like I’m going to need my job if I want to eat, since I’m not going to get any of my family’s money.”

  Jake nodded and watched her as she turned to leave. Her hips swayed ever so slightly as she walked, as though she’d been born with a certain amount of sass that couldn’t help but show up in every step she took. He cracked another smile thinking of her joking marriage proposal. She seemed a tad bit spoiled and naïve, claiming that she’d need a job if she didn’t get her family’s fortune. She must have come from one of those old wizard families with mountains of money. Those wizards were all a bit snooty, and out of touch with reality. Jake had been working since he was old enough to man the cash register at the corner store his dad used to own.

  The thought made Jake sad, and he felt a fresh rush of guilt for being so dismissive of Rachel. She might be spoiled, but she had lost her family, too. She didn’t deserve to lose their fortune as well, all because of these old stupid rules that no one had ever bothered to challenge until now.

  Rachel had turned the corner out of sight now, and Jake turned to make his way out of the Advocacy Bureau’s main building. Spoiled or not, he needed Rachel’s help. He needed the help of every wizard and shifter who had been affected by the marriage laws. If Jake Palmer had anything to say about it, there was going to be a protest that the High Council would be forced to pay attention to.

  Chapter Three

  Rachel hadn’t seen a crowd like this outside of a High Council building since the bicentennial Summer Pine Festival her old clan had held when she was a teenager. That had been a happy crowd, though. The crowd in front of Torch Lake’s High Council building today was anything but happy. Angry, screaming protestors filled the front steps, the front lawn, and the streets beyond. From her spot at the top of the front steps, Rachel had a clear view of the crowd. She hadn’t known that there were even this many people living in Torch Lake, let alone that there were this many people here who were angry enough about the ancient marriage requirement laws to come out and protest. She supposed, though, that there hadn’t been many people untouched by the laws. Most of the people here were protesting inheritances they were about to lose. With so many wizards dying in the Dark War, more family fortunes than ever before were being passed on. True, most were smaller than the one Rachel stood to inherit, but still. People didn’t want to lose what should have rightfully been theirs on account of a marriage technicality.

  Rachel had initially been surprised by the number of shifters here. The shifters followed different inheritance rules than the wizards, so she wouldn’t have expected them to care that much about the old marriage laws. But apparently, a lot of shifters were quite worked up about social justice issues after the Dark War, and saw it as a personal insult that such backwards laws were left on the books in their new hometown of Torch Lake. That, and the wizard law requiring a People’s Governor to be married was affecting the shifters, because it meant their own beloved dragon shifter, Jake Palmer, could not be elected. The shifters had come out in droves to support Jake. They wanted a shifter in the role of People’s Governor.

  Rachel glanced over at Jake now. He was holding a poster board sign that said “Abolish Marriage (requirements)!” in bright orange letters. Rachel was surprised that he cared so much about the People’s Governor position, actually. He had a good job already at the Dragon Utilization Department, but he wanted more. She barely knew him, but she could already tell he was the ambitious type, and he wasn’t going to let some old wizard laws get in the way of his dreams.

  The combination of laws from dozens of different wizard and shifter clans had been no easy task. The High Council insisted they were doing the best they could, and Rachel supposed that was true. Most wizard-specific or shifter-specific laws had been left unchanged. Only laws absolutely necessary for the survival of Torch Lake as a wizard-shifter town had been changed or added. The High Council promised to revise the old laws as soon as possible, which was code for “a long, long time from now.” Rachel didn’t have a long, long time to wait. She had about twenty-two days.

  “Abolish marriage requirements! Take action now!” Jake’s voice rose high and loud next to Rachel, bringing her back to the present moment. She raised her own sign above her head and joined in the chorus. Her arms ached from being held up high for so long, and her throat had grown hoarse from yelling, but she forced herself to push through. This protest was her last chance. She refused to even consider the possibility of failure.

  She saw Jake look over at her out of the corner of his eye, and she turned her head to meet his gaze. He flashed her a brilliant smile, and she smiled back as her heart skipped a beat. She could hardly believe that Jake Palmer now not only knew who she was, but considered her a friend. It had been sheer luck that she had been the first person he’d run into right after he’d learned that he didn’t have a shot at the People’s Governor position unless he was married, but somehow the fact that Rachel had been right there had made him see her as his closest ally in this fight.

  Rachel had called him up after work that day, and the two of them had immediately started planning the protest. Rachel’s crush on Jake had only grown the more she saw him. He was undeniably handsome, and he was friendly and funny to boot. Rachel loved the way his eye crinkled up when he laughed. Still, it wasn’t as though she was interested in any sort of romance with him. This was strictly a crush on the way he looked and laughed. Nothing more. Spending a lot of time with him had shown Rachel that he was definitely not the type of man she would ever want to seriously pursue.

  For one thing, he was too goddamn serious all the time. She’d never heard him talk about anything except his work, or this protest. To be fair, she hadn’t spent much time with him one on one. Most of her experiences with him had been viewing him from afar during business functions. But still, she would have thought he could occasionally take a breather and relax.

  He looked relaxed now. He was laughing again, leaning over to say something in the ear of his friend Leif. Leif, another dragon shifter, stood directly on the other side of Jake. Beyond Leif stood two more dragon shifters, Clint and Russ. These were the only young dragon shifters in Torch Lake, and suddenly Rachel had become friends with them all. She knew this fact made a lot of other people in Torch Lake jealous—everyone wanted to be friends with the dragons, but most people were too much in awe of them to get close. Now that Rachel knew the guys a bit better, she found it funny that so many people treated them like untouchable celebrities. They were each about as down to earth as a person could be. She wasn’t telling anyone else that, though. Rachel had a natural love for the spotlight, and she couldn’t help but feel elated that fate had thrust her right into the spotlight through a sudden friendship with Jake Palmer.

  She glanced back at Jake, who was once again looking forward and holding his sign up high. He looked much happier than he had last night, when he’d called a last minute meeting with her and the other dragons to iron out the details of the protest. He’d been so stressed that Rachel thought he might literally explode. She understood feeling stressed, of course. She was about to lose her family fortune, afte
r all. She felt the strain of this situation as much as anyone. But Jake had approached the protest with the same intensity he approached all of his work, and Rachel thought he would do better to dial it back a few notches.

  She had to hand it to him, though, as she looked around at the crowd. He’d organized the biggest protest she’d ever seen, and he’d done it all in a matter of days. That was the thing about a man like Jake Palmer. He had a way of inspiring people to follow him. He had been born a leader, and he would make a perfect People’s Governor. If only he could convince the Head Council to change the laws in time.

  Jake looked back at her and smiled again, and Rachel smiled back but then quickly looked away. He was going to think she wasn’t taking this protest seriously, if she was just staring at him all googly-eyed every time he glanced back at her. She faced forward again and joined her voice with the hundreds of others who were pleading with the High Council to make a change, and to do it quickly. Her heart beat nervously in her chest. There were so many voices here today, but would those voices be enough? Rachel yelled louder. She hoped so. Life as she had always known it depended on it.

  The minutes dragged by, turning into hours, but still the protest continued. Rachel supposed that some people must have left to get food or to rest, but the crowd didn’t seem to shrink. There were still people filling the streets as far as her eyes could see. None of the dragon shifters left, and Rachel told herself that she would stay strong and continue standing with them as long as they remained here. Her legs ached and her throat felt parched, but she didn’t let her discomfort show. She wanted to do her part to bring change to Torch Lake. She didn’t want future generations to have to worry about outdated marriage laws.

  At some point in the afternoon, the Head Wizard of the High Council, Blaise Morgan, emerged from the High Council building. The roars from the crowd grew louder at the sight of him, but he raised his hands for quiet. It took a few minutes for him to manage to quiet the crowd, but finally he had everyone’s attention. He spoke using an amplifying spell so that his voice would carry far enough for everyone to hear, even the wizards in the back.

  “My fellow citizens, I want you to know that the High Council has heard your voices today. Peaceful protests are always welcome in Torch Lake, and we want each of you to know that your opinion matters to us. I apologize that it has taken us so long to come out and respond. We have been in High Council chambers, discussing what the best course of action is in regards to the marriage requirement laws.”

  “Abolish them!” someone shouted. Within moments, the crowd had taken up the chant. “Abolish them! Abolish them! Abolish them!”

  It took several minutes for Councilor Morgan to quiet the crowd enough to speak once again.

  “We are looking into the possibilities of changing or repealing the laws. However, the process to change laws is not an easy one, and will require some time and a lot of advice and help from lawyers experienced in these matters.”

  Rachel cringed at the mention of lawyers. Her last experience with a lawyer had not left her with much faith in the ability of lawyers to fix this situation, but she told herself that not all lawyers were as insensitive and uncaring as the one she had hired.

  “We ask for your patience as we work on these matters,” Councilor Morgan said. “We want to assure you that we are giving the issue top priority. We realize that many of Torch Lake’s citizens consider this a matter of utmost importance, and we will work diligently to bring you an answer soon. Your voices have been heard. We promise.”

  With that, the Head Wizard waved at the crowd, and then turned to walk back into the building. A roar went up from the crowd, but Rachel couldn’t tell whether it was one of approval or anger. Probably a mix of both. She looked at Jake, wondering what to do next. He was smiling broadly, and once again talking to Leif. Leif nodded vigorously at whatever Jake said to him, then clapped his friend on the shoulders. Rachel glanced over the crowd, noticing that its numbers were thinning now. It appeared the protest was over. But had it accomplished what they needed it to accomplish?

  Jake turned then to look back at Rachel, that broad smile of his still stretching across his face.

  “I think this is about as good of an outcome as we could hope for,” he said. “The Head Wizard would not publicly state that they were fast-tracking the issue if the High Council wasn’t planning to do something soon.”

  “I’ll say!” Leif chimed in. “I think this calls for a celebration. Who’s down for some pints at the Winking Wizard?”

  Rachel smiled and nodded her head, then followed her new dragon crew as they made their way down the long set of steps and away from the town center. She’d never been to the Winking Wizard, and she wasn’t sure she felt like celebrating just yet—a lot still seemed so uncertain. But she wanted to hear what Jake and the others would say in their debrief of the protest, and she had nothing better to do. So she went along with the others, listening to them laughing and cheering, and wondering why her own heart still felt so heavy despite their joy.

  Chapter Four

  If Rachel had been by herself when she first walked into the Winking Wizard, she would have turned around and walked out. This place was definitely not her type of bar. She liked the downtown cocktail lounges, with their sprawling couches and fruity liquor creations. There was liquor here, displayed proudly on gleaming shelves behind the bar. But Rachel didn’t see a single person drinking anything other than a beer. She wrinkled her nose. Was she going to have to suck it up and have a beer, too? Would everyone laugh at her if she ordered a pineapple vodka?

  And the noise! Good god, it was so loud. There were several games of darts going at once, and there were even a bunch of wizards playing magic swivel ball. Rachel hadn’t played magic swivel ball since her college days! Rachel smoothed back her long red hair, feeling suddenly conspicuous in her designer jeans and diamond stud earrings. At least she was wearing a plain gray t-shirt. Still, she felt like her expensive outfit screamed out “I don’t belong here.” She wanted to stop and explain to everyone in the room that she wasn’t actually rich. In fact, she was about to lose her entire fortune if things didn’t change quickly. But of course, Rachel didn’t say anything to anyone as she followed Jake and his friends through the thick crowd. It looked like everyone in the room had come straight from the protest. Many people still had their posters with them, and the mood was high. Beer mugs clinked all over the place, as people roared out “Cheers!” and “To victory!”

  Rachel had already resigned herself to the fact that they would have to stand, when an empty table suddenly appeared right in front of Jake. She looked around in confusion. How was this one table still empty, when all the others were full and so many people were standing?

  Jake must have noticed her confusion, because he laughed as he held a chair out for her.

  “Welcome to my table,” he said.

  “Your table?”

  Leif laughed too, as he sat down between Clint and Russ. “Everyone at the Winking Wizard knows this is Jake’s spot. No one would dare take it from him.”

  Rachel shook her head slowly, amazed. She’d never had a spot anywhere, and the fact that she not only knew someone who had a spot, but was also being invited to sit at that spot, made her feel strangely happy.

  “First round’s on me,” Jake was saying. “I’m assuming Dragon’s Breath Lagers for all you boys?” Leif, Clint, and Russ all nodded. “And for the lady?”

  Rachel realized that Jake was talking about her. He looked expectantly over at her, and she faltered. The thought of ordering a pineapple vodka in front of all these men who had just ordered what sounded like a very strong beer made her uncomfortable. She racked her brain, trying to think of the name of a lighter beer that she might have tried and found tolerable during her college days. In her panic, though, her memory failed her, and she had to fess up to not knowing what the hell one ordered at the Winking Wizard when one did not normally drink anything other than expensive cocktails.


  “I, uh…I don’t usually drink beer. I don’t know much about it.”

  For a split second, all four dragon shifters stared at her in shock, as though she’d just announced that she thought the world was indeed still flat. But they recovered quickly, and Rachel watched a wide smile spread across Jake’s face. Damn, he was showing that smile an awful lot today, and it was making her heart do crazy flip-flops.

  “Well, you’re in for a treat!” he exclaimed. “The beer here is the best in Torch Lake. The best in any wizard or shifter town, I’d wager.”

  “I don’t know what to order, though.” Rachel felt her cheeks burning, like she was being exposed as a giant fraud. She told herself that it was ridiculous to feel that way. After all, she’d never held herself out as a beer lover to these guys. And there was no reason to feel ashamed of the fact that she was dressed differently from the majority of the crowd in here. Still, she felt like a fish out of water, and she was realizing that, for some strange reason, it mattered a lot to her what Jake thought of her. Jeez, I’m letting my little crush on that man get a bit too serious.

  Rachel forced herself to smile confidently. She would not be intimidated by a bunch of guys just because they knew more about beer than her. She was a smart girl with plenty of talents. Choosing beer just wasn’t one of those talents. “Do you have a recommendation?” she asked, smiling up at Jake with what she hoped was a supremely confident expression.

  Before Jake could answer, though, Russ spoke up. “My girlfriend really likes the Charmed Star Ale. Orders it every time.”

  Rachel grasped at the recommendation like it was a lifeline. “I’ll take one of those, then.”