Chapter One #3
It hadn’t taken long for the human teammates he’d thought were his friends to start looking at him and the other paranormal players differently. They’d started to see them differently. Since it was mandatory for every paranormal to register, there had been no hiding.
His partner had known. Even as they kept their relationship secret from most of the world, some of their teammates had known. Until Ken had walked away like the rest of them.
A group of humans against paranormals had formed and they’d gotten hold of the registry. Evan and every other NHL player’s name was released in one massive swoop on the same day and they were suspended from the league.
Men he’d believed were his friends turned their backs on him. Stopped answering his calls. And Ken…he blamed Evan for all the bad press they’d gotten. Evan had been discarded like he’d never even mattered.
After already losing his entire clan, his family, his people, Evan had been devastated by the loss of his friends and the boy he’d loved.
It had been a bad few years after that.
Evan hated the paranormal government that had helped strip away his life. Taken everything from him. When he’d first heard about a new paranormal hockey league being formed, he hadn’t been interested. The betrayal ran too deep.
A few of his old paranormal friends, ones he’d played hockey with and who had also been disregarded, had tracked Evan down to his private home up in the Colorado mountains.
Vin, Laney, and Luka Kotov had refused to let Evan hide himself away from the world.
It had been four years since he’d been thrown out of the NHL for being paranormal.
Eventually Evan gave in and signed with the new PAHL.
This was his sixth season in Florida playing for the Paranormal American Hockey League.
There was no question that Evan had missed the ice, the game, the adrenaline dumps from being in front of the net.
He was still wary that it could all be taken away.
He wasn’t a fool. Evan trusted no one and nothing.
The little rookie was testing Evan’s resolve.
Nix was everything that Evan wished he could be.
Fun, interesting, and liked by everyone.
Even though their team was solid, many of them playing together for years since they’d first joined the league, there had been a few positions that had opened up.
Nix might be young, but he already fit in with the team.
And he was drawing Evan in with each little smile and invitation to join the team.
The rest of his teammates had stopped inviting him after years of rejection.
Had it been Nix’s idea to start the invitation again?
Watching the young shifter, Evan was sure it was all Nix.
For some reason Nix was determined to be friends with him.
There was a commotion, and Evan yanked the AirPods from his ears.
Nix stared up at one of the defensemen, Cody Marlin, who hovered over him. His ever-present bag of roasted pumpkin seeds had spilled over the floor. That annoyed Evan. Nix loved those seeds and offered them to anyone who would want some. Slowly, Evan rose to his feet.
“You need to watch where you’re going, rookie.” Cody sneered down at Nix.
“I was watching where I was going!” Nix exclaimed. “You ran into me!”
Marlin crouched down. “Oh, did the little batty get hurt? And did all your little snacks spill? So sad.”
What was this bullshit? Evan stalked forward as pure fury consumed him and their captain, Laney, entered the locker room.
“What the hell is going on?” Laney yelled.
Marlin straightened. “Nothing, Cap!”
Evan pushed Marlin away from Nix. Marlin grumbled and walked away, luckily for him. Evan wasn’t messing around when it came to Nix. He offered the rookie his hand.
Nix’s frown immediately dropped as he stared up at Evan with those unique orange eyes. “Bestie!”
It was hard not to roll his eyes. The boy…no, fuck no. Evan was not letting his mind ever going there. Nix was light as a feather as Evan lifted him to his feet.
Laney joined them. “Are you okay, Nix?”
“Fine! Fine. Just a little…bump. Nothing to be concerned about,” Nix assured them. He even brushed the front of his naked chest, causing some of the pumpkin seeds to fall to the floor. “I have another bag of seeds if you want some.”
Evan set his jaw. Marlin was a bit of an asshole.
They all put up with him because he was one of the best defensemen in the league.
That did not mean that Evan would allow their own teammate to be bullied in their locker room.
And here Nix was concerned that they might want some of his snack? Was the kid for real?
“Stay away from Marlin,” Evan ordered.
Nix grinned. “He’s coming around. I just know it! We’ll be friends in no time.”
“Phoenix,” Laney growled out. “You’re a good kid but not everyone appreciates your…cheeriness.”
Nix’s face fell. His disappointment evident. “I know.”
Evan found himself rubbing his chest. He didn’t like to see Nix upset. “Has he been giving you a hard time?”
“Oh! I take some getting used to. It’s fine.”
It was not fine. Evan wouldn’t stand for it.
“Get ready for the game,” Laney ordered Nix.
“You got it, Cap!” Nix gave a thumbs-up before dancing toward his locker.
Mules turned toward the other side of the room.
Laney caught his shoulder. “Leave it,” he said quietly.
“I won’t have my own teammate bullied,” Evan replied as he tried to tug himself free.
Laney tightened his grip. “Not now. We have a game to play. Go back to getting ready.”
Evan turned his face so he could speak directly in his captain’s ear and no one else would hear. “If he lays one hand on Nix, I will end him.”
Laney’s fingers spasmed. “Mules—”
“I mean it,” Evan said firmly. “One finger and Marlin will never play hockey again.” He strode off but made sure that Marlin could feel his heated gaze.
Evan didn’t blame people for forgetting what he was capable of.
They joked and teased about him being a dragon.
If they only knew how powerful he truly was.
Before modern times his kind had been worshipped.
Evan’s line was one of the last surviving. While other dragons had died out from a mysterious plague, Evan and his family had left their clan behind. They hid out in the mountains, the same house that Evan had disappeared to after leaving the NHL, until only they remained.
That was decades ago.
At last count there were twelve dragons left.
Evan walked to his locker to pick up his discarded AirPods. He popped them back in his ears and let the sound of old eighties rock draw him where he needed to be. Keeping his back to the room, Evan closed his eyes and started his countdown.
It was going to be one hell of a game.
Evan could feel it in his bones.
He shut off all his emotions.
He joined the team on the ice for warmups. Evan stood in place during the singing of the American and Canadian anthems. They returned to the locker room until it was time for the spectacle of an entrance.
Evan loved it all!
Nothing compared to being in front of his net.
It was Evan’s job to protect the net. Between the bars he was at home. Nothing was going to get past him.
The horn blared and chaos ensued.
The crowd chanted his name when Mules made a spectacular save that would have put the Canadian team up by one. They finished the first period with a score of zero to zero.
In the locker room between periods there wasn’t much laughter or jokes. The entire team was locked down and ready to get a goal.
They went back out there and within the first two minutes Laney scored.
Mules tapped his stick on the ice as his own celebration for his captain and team. As soon as they reset, the game was on again with the Canadian team trying to get the score tied.
Not on Mules’ watch.
He rubbed the posts, his bars, before squatting as the team played on the other end of the ice. The fourth line was out now. Nix was out there.
They made it through the second period up by that one goal.
Back to the locker room. This time the atmosphere was electrified. Even Mules was smiling as they rested for one more go at this game. Just one more period. Fifteen minutes on the ice.
Both teams went into the third period with determination. The pucks came at him hard and fast. With six minutes left on the clock the fourth line was out once again. Mules tracked Nix as he skated forward on the left wing, passing the puck to the forward.
At the last minute the puck was returned to Nix. Nix made an amazing move, lifting his stick from the ice and putting the puck over the goalie’s left shoulder.
“Yes!” Mules threw his arms up as the rookie got his first goal in a regular season game.
Nix jumped and shouted, his happiness so contagious that Mules could almost feel it from across the arena.
It was going to be a fantastic year! This was the Orlando Oracles Year. Mules would help his team bring home the Iron Cup.