Dragon Star (A Shifter Football League Novel) (6 page)

“For Cass,” he roared, and bit into his shoulder, but Jae at the same time whipped his tail around.

That tail whipping around smacked him alongside his head. They both broke away, fluttering in the air like one-winged moths at night with no lights in sight.

Then the screeching grew too loud to ignore. Jae would be the first to realize this as he looked straight into their oncoming path.

There were plenty of shifter groups on watch to take down rogue shifters. This would be the United States military called in, because these were dragons. Two projectiles exploded near Jae, smoke billowing out from the impact.

No explosion. They must’ve guessed who these dragons were—only the two most famous players in their city—otherwise they would’ve been lethal rounds. Football fans were nuts, they’d do anything to save their chances at a championship. At least Nico could hold onto that fact as he spun around to be met with the next round of projectile fire.

The gas exploded around him and smothered him in a thick cloud. That misguided flying he'd done before because of Jae's tail smack was nothing compared to this. This was a fall, a tumble through the air and then he landed, choking, in a parking lot. Car sirens blared as he came out of it.

Nico transformed back to human. Once transformed, he spit out the acrid fumes, blinked the irritant out, and then held his hands up.

Choppers flew in next after the jets. One hovered near the parking lot as men with guns dropped down.

“Keep your hands up,” they shouted.

Nico nodded with stinging tears flooding down his cheeks.

Enough was enough, if they kept fighting, they would be declaring war on the whole city.

Did he miss his chance? He was sure that Jae wouldn't stop. Only death would stop him. It seemed Nico had made it worse for Cass.

“Do you have any idea how much shit you're in?” one of the men said as he grabbed the back of his head, shoved him to the ground, and pushed his knee into his back.

Nico wasn't making it any easier for himself, either.

T
hey were jailed
in the California Shifter Supermax. Constructed on an artificial island that resembled Alcatraz, it was the biggest and highest security shifter jail in the United States.

They were also let out on the same day.

Nico hobbled into the waiting room. He wore some baggy, ill-fitting jeans, a teal t-shirt advertising Ramon’s Pizza Kitchen, and a pair of Nike’s that looked like they were from the 90s. It was the only clothing they had for him since he'd arrived naked from shifting.

Cass sat, hands clasped and fidgeting, in the waiting room. Probably because Jae would be getting released at the same time as him. A man could hope that a beautiful woman like her would be waiting for him.

His hopes soared. He foolishly thought that he should go over there and kiss her.

She stood with her purse clutched to her side. Defiant. Like she was at the front line. “What you did was nice, but stupid, Seinfeld.”

“Seinfeld?”

Oh, right. He looked down at his jeans and white sneakers.

“You're not here to go home with me then, are you?” he asked. “I should take you back myself.”

“You won't. You're already in enough trouble.”

“My own Helen of Troy. Perhaps you underestimate the ends that I'd go for you.” It hurt when she said nothing. “It's your choice.”

“I can't handle it right now.” She tilted her head, like she couldn't stand to look at him. Like he didn't belong. And that's how he felt right now. Pretty low.

Because he should've killed Jae. Ended him, so that Cass would be safe and in his arms. She would be forced to go with Jae, because she didn't want a battle between two dragons to break out again. Nico blamed Jae for the casualties—twelve injured and one was killed by, he was sure of it, one of Jae's fire blasts. He wasn’t convinced that Jae wouldn’t kill again.

They had the money to get the best lawyers and they had the fame too. Most Americans, also the biggest politicians, loved the game. They didn't want to see their favorite shifter go to jail when they had a chance at the championship. When they had a lot of money to bet.

There still might be criminal charges. Nico wasn't worried about it strangely. If need be, he would cast aside his citizenry and go live in the middle of nowhere, maybe Antarctica, that might suit him better.

“You can't fight him again, and you can't be with me again. Just forget me.”

Nico wasn’t budging. Time spent in jail had only made him want to see her more.

“I'm in love with him, you know?”

He smirked confidently. “You're a terrible liar.”

“I know,” she said, kicking her feet, “but you still can't, not after what happened. Now go. Please.”

“I'll leave, but don't beg me not to care about you. Never do that.”

“Go, Nico, and don’t try to contact me for a long time.”

She straightened, bringing her chin up high. “Actually, don’t contact me. I’ll contact you. And I’m not sure when that’ll be. So just go now, just go.”

So that was it? That was goodbye?

Her coldness trailed after him. Once he was outside, he shifted into his dragon and took off for the distant mountains where he would be alone, away from that ice queen.

After a long flight back, he wasn't in a better mood. The isolated mansion called to him. Now it looked different when her positive energy was gone. It was just him again.

This was all that he had, so he'd have to make it work. These were the treasures that he'd collected over his life—not very big by dragon standards, but he had plenty more years to live. Maybe one day he would have a hoard that would make the dragons of old jealous.

He stumbled toward his gold room on his crutches. There were bandages, sore wounds that were slow to heal all over his body from the fight. His damned ankle acted up again. Every time he put pressure on it, a sharp pain would drive through him like a stake.

Once inside the gold room, he shut the door. Iron locks slammed into place.

“Home, sweet home,” he said. The treasures were all still there as far as he could tell. A massive undertaking of counting every piece would have to be done that night.

In light of the brilliant radiance around him, he dropped his crutches.

One step, good. The second, also good. But then he realized what he was doing and the ankle simply didn't work. Pain dragged him down next as Nico crashed into the sea of coins. A few gold bars crashed down around him too.

There he remained for a minute to catch his breath. His progress was lost. It was all lost now. He pushed himself up and jumped on one foot, then put the other foot down, only to be rewarded with the same bursting pain riding his spinal column to his brain, knocking him on his ass.

Wincing, sucking in air through his teeth, he pushed himself back and leaned against the pile of gold bars.

He shouted out his rage, the room shaking, gold spilling before him as outside the mountain quaked.

Nico shut his eyes. He went to sleep there that night. This was all he had. He should've known it from the beginning, should've known it would be foolish to try to assimilate with the others. They only brought pain, and more pain.

Had he learned nothing from those murdered? At least he of all people should listen to the ghosts of his parents and their friends—the older dragons, hunted down and ostracized.

The next day he went outside in the early morning. The open skies, the panoramic view in the back of his home of the rushing lake with the surrounding wilderness simply wouldn't do.

Eventually, they would all come to get him. They wouldn't leave him alone; the fans, the stalkers, the agents, and then the others who would want to take what he had, or kill him because they were jealous. His dragon told him they would all be upon him soon.

He could usually control his dragon fairly well. Ever since Cass entered his life that had all been flipped upside down.

In the early morning he set upon his task, constructing a wall that would rival Jae's. As his dragon, he flew around the area, picking up the biggest stones and dropping them nearby. The more precise tasks he transformed back to human in order to complete.

Heat from his dragon breath solidified the construction.

His days went like this. He would create his wall in the morning, and then in the evening, he would return to his gold room where he would sit and think and shine and count and marvel at all that was around him. When he stayed in there, he felt better. When he was outside and constructing the wall, his dragon warned him not to stay out too late.

Days all rolled into one. Soon, he lost track of time. His hoard didn’t grow by much, but he still counted it daily.

Would the season be starting soon? Nico hadn't looked at a calendar, didn't think he wanted to. His heart still ached for Cass. That was something that couldn't be fixed. She'd asked him to stay out of her life—that's what he intended to do.

After all, she was right. His showing up had only caused her more pain. If he showed up again, there was no telling how angry he would get at Jae. Or how much more destruction they would cause. Best if he was alone like dragons were meant to be.

* * *

O
ne day
, he ran his fingers across his beard. It had grown to a ridiculous size. If the reporters could see him, they would think he'd gone mad.

They could be right.

Coach Howard called him on his landline one day, which drew no response from Nico, instead he unplugged the phone from the wall, which didn't satisfy him enough, so he smashed the phone to pieces as well.

Then another day, he miscounted his gold by one piece. Hours went by when he swooped along the forests to check for an intruder. His mind went frantic with nervous thoughts. What if someone had broken in?

He returned to his gold pile to count, only then did he realize that it was his own error.

His nerves were shot when someone drove up the winding hill to his compound. The wall blocked off the gorgeous view of the surrounding mountains and the valley below now, but that was for the best, after all, they would all soon come for him. His wall was taller than his house, taller than Jae's had been as well.

The man parked outside of his gate. Once he got to the gate, it swung open, and Nico as his dragon stuck his head through.

He growled, a low growl, and sniffed the air. The man fell over. He was holding a small package.

Nico let him get to his feet.

“They paid me a lot to do this, but not enough,” the man said. Nico watched him carefully as he set the package down.

“Here you go, big doggy, now I'll be on my way.” The man held his arms up as he slowly backed up to his car. It peeled out before he rushed back down the mountain. Good.

Nico transformed, took the package, and then headed inside. Ripping it open, inside there was an envelope which he promptly opened.

He immediately noticed Cassandra's swirling signature at the bottom. His chest pounded and his eyes raced ahead as he started to read. He slowed himself down in order to understand, because he knew this would be important.

“It pains me to know that I left when you couldn’t trust anyone. I hope you can at least trust me when I say that you need to get better. You need to get better. For yourself, if not for the team and the fans, then do it for yourself. I know you love the game, and I know you can change their minds. But please, don’t contact me again. Everything is fine here. Jae and I are okay.”

At first, he'd been excited, even hopeful when reading. By the end, a monstrous rage boiled from deep within him. It was a slap across the face. The rage boiled over and he gripped the fancy card stock letter. He ripped it down the middle.

No, what was he doing? He forced his fiery dragon back in its place. But then he read the words over again. “Jae and I are okay,” and he couldn't stop himself. Less dramatic than cutting it in two, he still crumbled it in the trash where he figured it would ultimately go anyway.

The letter meant nothing.

She didn't care about him, not really, the letter was sent only to make her feel less guilty. In order to blow off some steam, he went to the gym, sat on the bench, and started to push himself by stacking the barbell with higher weights each time.

It kept bothering him, more than any heavy weight would. The barbell was slammed down as he got up and hurried over to the trash. Nico pulled a piece out, the first being Cass' name. Then he pulled out, another, and another, until he had enough to complete the puzzle.

After some tape, he laid it out on his dinner table. Truer words hadn’t been spoken to him in a while.

He could do without the words about her and Jae being okay—not that Nico believed that at all.

Those were only written so she wouldn't be in trouble with him again. Just what was she so afraid of, when she already proved she wasn't afraid of one dragon?

Something wasn't right.

He couldn't disobey her orders, since he'd already done that by getting the whole military involved. Also, almost going to prison for a very long time. The second time wouldn't be so easy to get out of.

Nico didn't touch the letter again. It would be framed in his gym to remind him of who he was fighting for, as he trained harder than he ever did in his life.

* * *

H
is workouts were intense
, pushing himself hard until exhaustion each day, and then rehabbing his tendon with a multitude of stretches. It would be stronger than ever.
He
would be stronger than ever.

He'd be a living fucking legend, which meant he'd be fighting for every win with all his heart and soul. No excuses.

The next month, he kept returning to Cass’ letter. A few times he almost transformed into his dragon so that he could put an end to Jae. The only thing keeping him back was her words to him.

She had reached out to him. That was a start. If she saw him back in fighting form, she might understand that it was okay to leave Jae, for Nico to take care of things.

And he could take care of things. He could handle himself well. Cass, he was sure, would be handled nicely. Before he’d become such a recluse, Nico had been sort of a playboy for a while. Times change, but what women want mostly stay the same. Once you learn what turns a woman on in bed, it doesn’t change much every decade, although he’d had to learn a few new tricks along the way.