Dragon Star (A Shifter Football League Novel) (4 page)

“
O
h
, you got dressed,” he said. An appreciative smile curved on the edges of his lips. “I hope you enjoy the meal since you're coming dressed in that. I have a lot to live up to, making a meal for such a gorgeous woman.”

“Thank you,” she said with a slight bow.

Hot blood rushed through her, it was like she was walking on air. She reminded herself that Nico might only be a gentleman. Since he was so old, possibly hundreds of years old, he lived in a time when things were different and chivalry wasn't dead.

The aroma of the cooked food overwhelmed her even as they walked down the staircase. She followed him down to the dining room, the plates and silverware all set with the food in the center, a bottle of wine at the ready.

“I hope you like Merlot. If not, I can get you something else.”

“I like it really sweet,” she said. But then waved him back and sat down. “I'm more excited for the food. It smells and looks delicious. I won't drink tonight, but thanks for the offer.”

He smiled and sat down.

It was stuffed chicken valentino with creamy mozzarella, roasted peppers, and a side of light pasta, which certainly sounded fancy, and looked fancy, too. Cass had to admit with her big family her mom usually didn’t have time to make such elaborate meals. Most of the time it was simple and quick. Some sort of pasta usually. Macaroni and cheese at least three times a week.

Cass put the chicken on her plate. Then she passed it Nico. Before she could dig in, he told her, “Wait.”

He lifted up his glass.

“To both of our success.”

Cass agreed, beaming at him, and they cheered. She started to eat the delicious food, good feelings and optimism for the future a tantalizing swirl of positive energy around her.

Once done, she leaned back, completely satisfied.

“I didn't even need to drink. That left me drunk. That was so good.”

“I'm glad you like it. Finally, my cooking skills come in handy. Food tastes worse when you’re the only one eating it.”

“I thought you’d have a private chef.”

“There might be a lot about me that would surprise you.” With a simmering look, he raised his glass. “There will be plenty of time for us to talk, I suppose. And plenty of time for me to hear your story. I'm willing to bet you've got an interesting one.”

She shrugged. “Not really.”

“Oh come on, just being a physical therapist for the Shifter Football League makes you interesting. Even that's a huge deal. But I'm sure I'll find out more about you in time, once I bust my ass enough, right? And stop hobbling around?”

“You did well today.”

Not to make him feel bad, she started to talk about herself, about her family back in Idaho. Her brother and sister and the rest of their big family, all her cousins and their parents and all the big parties, how long she expected to talk the first night after the season ended, how her throat would be sore afterwards.

Her father was number one on their list to get Nico’s autograph.

Nico had laughed. “I’ll need therapy for my hand after signing all those autographs. Your family certainly sounds big.”

She laughed.

“What about your family?” Immediately, her face contorted in horror. She wished she could hide underneath the table.

That was the wrong question to ask. Nico's eyes fell, like heavy weights had been tied to his face and dropped.

“I'm sorry, you don't have to answer if you don't want to,” she said quickly.

Cass knew a few facts about his history from reading. Also, from friends and family gossiping. They were all big LA Oulaw fans back home, if not, huge football fans.

Nico's parents mysteriously died when he was young. Then he'd been taken in by a distant relative.

That man, Alfred Hill, had been his caretaker for years. He must've seen the talent there, or rather, Cass guessed, the money, because he became Nico's manager. The rest was history. They managed to get to the Shifter Football League together, making him one of the top quarterbacks. Two years ago Nico dropped his manager without a word.

And seeing how he didn't have many visitors, that meant his caretaker, his only family, wasn't part of his life anymore.

“It's not a happy story. You might know some of it from the press. I don't have much of a family. There are very few dragons left. We don't trust very well, not even each other. It makes it hard to keep up a family line when you think your wife might want to kill you in your sleep and take your treasure.”

He laughed, a pained laugh.

“Even the press don’t know much about this. Around a hundred years ago, there was a meeting with most of the dragons alive. This was the first time in a very long time that they had agreed to meet together. I was with the children tasked with serving the food. We had not been invited to the dinner, but only were there to host for a short period of time.

Dragons are untrustworthy, so they all drank and ate from the same plates and cups. Usually, they would bring their own. No servants were allowed there, so no taste testers to check for poison would be allowed. This would all be about trust. Forging an alliance together. When they saw the hosts take a sip, they knew it would be okay.

We hadn't heard from the adults in a long while. We were told under no circumstances once the dining room doors were closed were we to enter. Knowing how important this meeting was, we stayed up all night and into the morning waiting.

Soon, it became unbearable. We opened the doors to find nearly every dragon in existence dead at their seats. The cups had been poisoned, and even the hosts—Jae's parents—had been killed.

We flew home, but when we got to our homes, they had been raided. All of our treasure had been taken.”

“I don't know what to say. That's one of the most terrible things I've ever heard. Did they ever find out who did it?”

“No.” He looked down and poured himself more wine. His lips were starting to be colored red, and Cass thought about kissing him, consoling him with her own.

“You didn't deserve that.”

“No one deserves that,” he said. “There's a lot of conspiracy theories about what happened. Some say it was the work of another group of shifters who wanted the gold for themselves, or hated the dragon’s pride and their fearsome power. The remaining dragons distrusted those around them even more, moving further into isolation. Some didn't even take mates so we became even less in number. The only items I have to remember my mother and father are my father's gold pocket watch and my mother's gold tiara, what they wore that night.”

Cass got to her feet. She hugged Nico. Even if he resisted, she couldn't help but show him some affection.

“I'm so sorry.”

He grinned up at her. “Thank you. I’m sorry I have a habit of spoiling things, it seems. I hope I didn’t ruin dinner.”

She pulled away.

“You'd have to try harder than that.”

Dinner ended there. They both went their separate ways. Cass headed to her room. Nico headed to his. He said he had work to finish.

His bedroom door closed, she returned to the room that was off limits.

There was no way after he’d been so mysterious about it that she wouldn’t check it out. She’d made up her mind a long time ago.

She’d been kept to one room for so long. She needed to explore. And she needed to know if she could trust this dragon.

The door was strangely open a crack.

She pushed it open, needing to use a lot of strength to do so. It creaked open with an alarming sound as she slipped inside.

The inside of the room glowed with a golden hue, which Cass understood once her brain caught up and processed the images before her, was because the room was filled with golden artifacts. At the end of the hall, there was a pyramid of golden bars sunken into coins. It seemed so deep that she could dive and swim in it. A song from a TV show played in her head Duck Tales,
Woo hoo
, as she thought about Scrooge taking a dive into his sea of coins, and she would’ve laughed, and almost did at the absurdity of the wealth, but she didn’t dare flinch when Nico turned around.

He was bathed in golden light. She didn’t see him at first as he blended right in with his treasure.

A rattling hiss emerged from him. His pupils were no longer human and round, but reptilian slits floating in a sea of burning gold and crimson. Scales broke over his neck, down his shoulders, onto his bulging triceps and forearms. His fists clenched and the hissing grew louder, growing into one epic roar.

He tore from his position as Cass faltered. She reached for the door but couldn't find it, instead her flailing hand was snatched by Nico, or what used to be Nico.

His rage crashed into her in strong waves, almost taking her to her knees.

“I told you never to come in here!”

His teeth were sharp now too, razor sharp, capable of shearing right through her flesh. Spots peppered her vision as she wondered how many seconds she had left.

He’s like Jae. And he’s going to kill me.

He let go of her wrist. Cass whirled back, striking the wall and then sliding down as she threw her hands up.

“Stop, please,” she pleaded with him.

He roared again. The dragon towered over her with claws at the ready. “Why did you enter this room? I should kill you for this.”

Would he? It sure looked like it.

Cass continued to shield herself with her hands, which might as well be paper when defending from the dragon's deadly claws. Then again, being minced meat from those claws might be a better fate than being burned alive.

“I'm sorry. I saw the door was unlocked. I wanted to make sure everything was all right.”

Her excuse sounded silly.

Cass, instead, decided to tell the full truth.

“Okay, I was curious. I wanted to see what was in here, because you were suspicious about it.”

“Why should I believe you?” he shouted, the roar shaking the walls. Gold pieces fell and scattered from the pile. One rolled across the floor, hit his heel, and then flipped haphazardly onto its back.

“Why else would I come in here?”

The dragon's pupils were like chunks of black rock floating in lava. “To steal. To take what's mine. Because you want it all.”

She had to try to talk sense into him. Before all of this, he'd been such a gentleman, a gentleman with a naughty streak, yes, but not a man that would be so controlling and possessive.

The worst of his dragon side was coming out. Unless she could get him to trust her, her ass would be roasted. Literally.

“You're just like the others...the others who hate and covet what isn't there's. You want it all to yourself!”

“No,” she repeated, unable to shake her head enough. Her feet began to kick, to slide her away, but she was backed up into the wall. There was nowhere to go.

If he wasn't going to trust her, she would have to try a different plea. A plea to reason.

“How would I even take all of the gold out of here?”

He looked around, his heavy breathing slowing. “It's all mine. Every single piece,” he said, but it wasn't a roar this time. “Who sent you to finish the job? To take what little I have left?”

This was what he called little? It was a money pit, there was more gold in here than Fort Knox.

“And where would I go? I'm only human. You probably count all the pieces. I'm not stupid, and I know you're not. If I tried to leave, you would catch me.”

His pupils flickered. His muscles unclenched. Instead of waving her hands, she kept one hand outstretched for him to take. Nico turned his back, unwilling to accept it.

“I'm here to help you, remember. That's my job. That's why I'm here. To help.”

His back fully to her, his scales faded from his exposed skin, the waves of energy crashing into her subsiding.

When Nico turned around, he was fully human again, with pieces of his clothes torn.

Even as a human he could roar. “Go to your room and don't come out until I let you out.”

Once again, it sounded like she was being put in time out. It would be laughable if she wasn’t so afraid and hurt. Cass scrambled for the door. Her body wasn't moving very agilely and she almost slipped and fell, not the first time today. She wasn't going to leave without saying anything, though.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“Go,” he roared before she slipped out of the room, rushing back to her own.

When she got there, she closed the door and locked it.

Staying there, not being let out, didn't seem like all that bad of a punishment. It meant staying away from Nico.

Her white knight come to save her was her captor again.

* * *

T
hat night
she received a phone call.

It wasn't a happy call from her family this time. They had no idea where she was. If she told them she was staying at Nico's house, they would probably lose their minds.

The number was blocked. She picked it up anyway, only to hear Jae's voice come over the other end.

“You pulled strings to get away from me.”

One angry dragon a night was enough, thank you very much. You’d think they’d be a little less…growly, with all the stuff they have.