Impulsive Implications: Jake's Mission to Unite Petra's Family

Jake sat in the back of the lecture hall, his gaze drawn again to Petra. She stood at the front of the room, her hair pulled up into a bun, strands escaping and framing her face. He stared at her neck; he imagined kissing it, then nipping at it with his teeth. She was so beautiful.

The lecture droned on. Ever since he'd started college, Jake had fallen into a routine: wake up at 8:30am to go for a run, shower and get ready for class, go to class, study for four hours after classes were over, take a nap before dinner and another one before bed. He barely made any friends because he wasn't willing to break from this routine. He felt like he deserved that much - even though his friends back home told him he was turning into a drone.

He didn't care about them or their opinions. They wouldn't be able to understand what he was going through because they weren't in love with a dragon woman.

A few months ago, while studying in the library late at night, Jake had wandered past the anthropology section and found himself looking at books about dragons. He didn't think much of it until he read an excerpt from "Dragons of the North," a book by the famous explorer Dagny Vallejo:

"I have grown fond of my time here among these people who believe they are descended from dragons. They are fiercely independent and courageous, but also generous and kindhearted."

He looked closer at Petra's profile as she wrote on the chalkboard. Those words sounded just like her. He couldn't believe how well she fit that description! So many times he had tried to ask her about her family or where she came from, but she always said something vague like "Oh I'm from around here." It wasn't that she was lying - Jake knew that now - but she was just being kind. She didn't want to say anything negative about her family out loud because she was still mad at them for leaving her behind when she was young. At first, Jake had been shocked when she told him this - it hadn't been long after they'd met - but he knew now that if there was anyone who could understand what it felt like to be abandoned by your family against your will, it was him and Petra.

But where did they come from? That question gnawed away at him every day as he would lie awake in bed staring up at the ceiling or sitting alone in class listening to Petra talk about things that made no sense to him because he hadn't studied yet today or last night. He would see Petra walking down the hall or smiling at him across the table in the dining hall and feel all warm inside, but then reality would smack him again as he remembered that despite knowing who his soul mate really was and loving her more than anything else in the world...he didn't know shit about her race other than they were magical dragons living on Mars who could suddenly appear anywhere without warning if they wanted to. And they could move faster than light speed when they wanted to too! How cool was that? That meant Petra could be anywhere right now! His heart ached thinking about it - she could be anywhere on earth! But she wasn't here with him right now...she hadn't been here for months! Why did she stay away? There must be some reason why - something dark and painful...if only he knew what it was so he could help her! If only there were some way for them to communicate...or maybe meet somewhere else...but there wasn't because whenever Jake tried to find out where Petra lived so he could go see her and bring her back...she just smiled politely and said "I don't live anywhere." What did that mean? And why did Jake always end up asking silly questions instead of trying something practical? Had Petra put some sort of spell on him? No...because then surely he would stop being such an idiot around her! Ugh! He just wished someone else could fix this problem for him!