Nix (PAHL #2)

Chapter One

Nix

Circling the goal, Phoenix eyed his goalie. Well not his goalie. The goalie for his new team. The very attractive and bendy goalie. Okay, Nix was mentally claiming the goalie as his. They should totally be friends!

“What are you doing?” Evan Mueller, Mules to the team, because hockey players did love giving each other nicknames, asked him.

“Distracting you,” Nix replied as he made another circle. He didn’t see the point of lying. Not when they would soon be the very best of friends!

Mules kicked away a puck that had been heading straight for the goal. “Distracting me?”

“The guys promised to take me to Dairy Queen for a blizzard if they get five goals during practice,” Nix replied. And it was kind of fun playing ring-around-the-goalie.

“Blizzard?” Mules repeated. “The ice cream thing?”

The distraction nearly worked but at the last-minute Mules got his blocker up to avoid the goal.

Dang it! Nix really wanted his treat. “Ice cream is awesome. Pumpkin is the best flavor ever! It’s seasonal.

And it’s not in season, not for another couple of weeks, so I’ll have to settle for something else.

That’s okay though. Ice cream is ice cream.

I’m thinking of maybe the brownie bites one today. ”

“Okay, cool,” Mules replied, sounding unimpressed.

“So,” Nix drawled. Mules was talking to him, which was great.

Since he’d joined the team, all the other guys had been friendly, but Mules was the quiet one.

Usually on every team there were many personalities and Nix loved that.

Honestly, he just loved people. Fun, loud, or quiet, Nix loved everyone.

Now that he finally had Mules talking to him, there was one burning question that Nix just had to ask.

“The guys say you’re a dragon shifter. Is that true?

Or are they just fucking with me?” Nix really thought his teammates were messing with him.

Dragons? He wasn’t that gullible. Next, they’d say that they saw a unicorn.

“Not a shifter,” Mules said, blocking two more shots. “Dragon.”

Nix came to such an abrupt stop that he almost fell on his face. “What?”

Mules batted another two pucks away with quick movements. “I’m a dragon. Not a shifter. Not like you.”

Now Nix knew that his leg was being pulled.

“That’s funny. You're teasing me. I guess I deserve it. It was a silly question.” Nix would get back at his teammates.

Maybe he’d put slugs in their skates or something ridiculous.

“Now, seriously, what kind of shifter are you?” He didn’t know enough scents to be able to tell.

He’d played with mostly humans in the lower hockey leagues and there hadn’t been many shifters where he came from.

Mules didn’t even look his way. The goalie was focused on stopping the pucks, which would ruin Nix’s treat and was kind of mean.

“I’m completely serious.”

Nix huffed. Mules sounded serious. Being a dragon.

That seemed unbelievable. And Nix was quite fond of make-believe.

Fantasy worlds. Many of his online games and favorite movies featured them.

But his goalie being a dragon? Yeah, that he wasn’t falling for.

If someone was a dragon, then why would they play hockey.

Nix would just fly around, using his fire to make s’mores.

S’mores were awesome! Wait! Nix eyed the goalie again.

If Mules was a dragon, could he breathe fire?

The coach blew the whistle, waving them over to the bench. No goals during practice. Did that mean that Nix didn’t get his treat? And he never got a real answer from Mules…had he? So dragon or not…that was the question.

Skating over, Nix kept one eye on his goalie.

Mules had removed his helmet to shake his head, sending sweat flying.

Nix kept the number 1 on the back of Mules’ jersey in sight.

He’d get to the bottom of this. There was a draw to Mules.

The goalie wasn’t the biggest guy on the team although he wasn’t as small as Nix.

Mules was muscular, toned, handsome, and so freaking bendy. Nix could stare at Mules for hours.

Oh wait! Nix was supposed to be paying attention to his coach. He didn’t want to get yelled at in front of entire team…again. That had been embarrassing. It wasn’t like Nix meant to forget what he was doing. Sometimes he just lost track of everything going on around him.

He listened to the coach even if it was hard when Nix wanted to finish talking to Mules. Luckily the coach wasn’t big on speeches or anything like that. They were dismissed to the locker rooms.

“So!” Nix popped up beside Mules. “Tell me more about this whole dragon thing. Like, if it was real, could you show me?”

Walking down the hall to the locker room, Mules glanced over his shoulder. “Seriously?”

Nix blinked back at him. “Or…you could tell me what you really are. You already said that you knew I was a shifter. I’m a fruit bat shifter! It is totally awesome. I’m one of a set of triplets and my mom is a fruit bat shifter too.”

“I know you’re a triplet.” Mules turned to once again head to the locker room. “The entire league is aware of you three.”

They were famous! Or infamous maybe. Nix wasn’t quite sure what that even meant.

But Mules knew about them so Nix was totally counting that as a win.

Nix bounced beside Mules. Even with his skates on, he barely came to Mules’ shoulder.

Of course, Mules also wore skates, but Nix was just a little guy!

He was super fast though so that helped with hockey.

“Have you met Aries or Gem? Aries is playing in Vegas and Gem is in Boston. I’m glad that I got drafted here.

Florida is nice and Boston would be way too cold. ”

Mules grunted as several of their teammates passed by, grinning at them.

Nix nodded to them but he didn’t want to stop talking to Mules.

Being enamored with the goalie shouldn’t get him in too much trouble.

Nix had vowed to be good this season. No petting the handsome goalie. That would be…maybe not so good.

“Once it gets warmer, I’m excited to surf.

” How cool would it be to take Mules to the beach?

Maybe even see Mules in a speedo. Oh! Such a great idea.

That needed to happen! “I learned how to surf in Hawaii over summer break. The plan was for all of us to learn even though I was the only one heading somewhere near an ocean.” Poor Aries and Gem totally lucked out.

“Although, Aries never got to take lessons with me because he sort of fell off a cliff. And no matter what anyone says, it is not my fault he fell. And it wasn’t really a cliff.

Just a rather bumpy hill. Gem exaggerates and can’t be trusted to tell the full story. ”

Reaching the locker room door, Mules turned to him with his palm pressed in the middle but not opening it. “Do you ever stop talking?”

Nix shrugged. “Not really. Gem complains that I talk in my sleep. Aries even recorded me one time. It was so funny.”

Mules stared at him for a long minute before shaking his head.

Nix beamed at his new friend. Sometimes he did make others speechless. That was okay, Nix could talk enough for both of them!

Instead of saying anything, Mules pushed the locker room door open and strode in, leaving Nix standing there alone.

Nix shrugged as he followed behind. He veered off to his locker, which was across the room from Mules.

If he was very sneaky, Nix could watch Evan from the corner of his eye.

Not in a creepy way! Just like he didn’t want Mules to sneak away before they finished talking.

See! That was totally innocent. All innocent.

“Hey, buddy!” Nix greeted as he dropped down to the bench where his captain sat. “Can I still have an ice cream? I tried really hard to distract Mules. He’s just the best goalie ever so I don’t think he is distractable!”

Carter Lane, Laney to the team, grinned at him. “We saw. It was very amusing. I’m surprised he didn’t knock you over the head with his stick.”

“He wouldn’t do that,” Nix told him. “We’re going to the best of friends.”

The look he received from Laney was comical. Like, how did his eyes get that big? “He agreed to that?”

“Why wouldn’t he?” Nix began to undress. The locker room was filling with the sounds of his teammates doing the same. The showers were already running with steam escaping, making the room grow humid.

Laney sighed. “Did he actually agree or is this something that you came up with?”

“I thought it would be a nice surprise,” Nix replied.

“I…” Laney started. “Nix, Mules is a quiet guy. He might not appreciate your…uniqueness.”

Nix wasn’t an idiot. His new teammates were older than him.

There had been a few transfers, but Nix was the only rookie on the team that year.

He might be young and small but Nix was aware that he was extra in a way not even his brothers always appreciated.

“It’s all good.” Nix waved his hand and Laney finally backed off, giving Nix a tight nod.

Nix concentrated on preparing to shower now that his mood plummeted.

Nix’s mom had always embraced his quirks.

She’d told him to never change for anyone, and Nix had taken that to heart.

However, now that he was playing professionally for the PAHL, maybe it was time for Nix to take things more seriously.

Or at least stop trying to make sure that everyone was happy and smiling.

It was kind of his thing. If someone was having a bad day, game, or needed cheering up, they called on Nix.

Nix loved being that person for so many.

Playing professional hockey could very well change what Nix liked most about himself.

Nix loved hockey.