Chapter Six
Niko jerked his head up from his work. The diamond in his tweezer skittered across the worktable and pinged into the lip of the table as he yanked the jeweler’s loupe from around his head.
He didn’t even care as he vaulted out of the chair and tripped into the wall trying to get out of the office workspace. He righted himself and stumbled into the main show room.
“Frankie, was someone just here?”
Frankie looked up startled. “Uh, no, Mister T. There was a couple peering in, but they walked on. Nothing else.”
Niko stared at the picture windows. She’d been there. He wasn’t crazy. Just a moment ago, his dragon had reared up and screamed at him to go get her. She was there. He trotted to the front door and peeked out to the sidewalk.
A couple turned the corner, but there was no one else out there.
Gods, he was an ass for agreeing to no names. There was nothing about that woman that he didn’t want. Her name, her face, her clothes on his bedroom floor.
Her taste was still on his mind, but he turned back to the store and trudged back to the workshop.
“Um, are you okay, Mister Tavoularis?”
He let out a deep sigh and smiled at the teenagers. “Yeah, yeah. I’m okay. Just a missed connection.”
“Ooh! Could you put that on Craigslist?”
Niko laughed. “Do they have a magical category?”
Frankie shrunk in on herself. “Well, damn. I forgot about that.”
Niko patted her shoulder. “Thanks for the thought, Frankie. I’m going to start closing up though, so why don’t you start locking up out here. Are you going to gathering tonight?”
She smiled shyly. “Yes.”
“You have a boyfriend,” he stated.
“Yes.” Frankie’s cheek flamed red.
“Who’s the lucky guy?”
“Mike Dinardo.”
“Ooh. From the falcons?”
She nodded and slid off the chair.
“That must be amazing, Frankie. Getting to fly with each other? I’m jealous.”
“But you get to swim, whenever you want.”
Niko shook his head. “It’s not all it’s cut out to be, Frankie. I have a bad habit of trying to eat the locals.”
She stood from where she was locking the jewels under the glass cases, gasping. “You really did try to eat Dale?”
“Why do you think I stay out of the Cedar Creek Pond during the summer?”
Frankie laughed. “There are days when Dale should be eaten. He’s a terrible person.”
Niko snorted. “Lock up the cases, Frankie. I’ll be out in a few minutes.”
The diamond that got away from him was sitting right where he left it, skittered to the side. Putting the loupe back on, he retrieved it with the stronger tweezers and finished placing it in the necklace. He secured the setting and carefully started putting all the tools away. Mrs. Johannas would be happy with the final product—he did love designing jewelry and since she had really disliked her mother’s heirloom ring, resetting the flawless diamond was the next best thing.
By the time he secured everything in the office, Frankie had locked up most of displays into the cases and had started turning on the alarms. Niko took care of his safe and office, and was delighted he didn’t have to take the briefcase home. Though, the dragon was quiet.
“All right, Frankie, go ahead. I’ll finish up.”
She sniffled. “Are you bringing anyone tonight, Mister T?”
Niko shook his head. “No, not me. Not really anyone interested in dating someone who might eat them in the bathtub.”
Frankie laughed. “Some women dream of that.”
“Frances Kelly!” Niko knew his own cheeks flared to red, but he still shook his head at the teenager. “If you weren’t in college, I’d tell your father and wash your mouth out with soap.”
“Oh, please, Mister T. You know it’s worse than that on campus.”
“Go home, Frankie.”
“You’re really not bringing anyone?”
Niko cocked his head, narrowing his eyes. “You’re pretty persistent that I should be bringing someone, young lady. I’m not.”
“Huh,” she frumped.
“Why?”
“Well, it’s... nah. Never mind.”
He walked to stand next to her near the door. “What, Frankie?”
“Well, you felt satisfied when you walked in this morning. Not like your usual happy self, which is always nice. There was a level I’ve never seen in you before when you walked in, and that level is comparable to have a great sex romp.”
Niko’s brain hitched, then finally started working again. “Frankie. Sex doesn’t always equal a relationship. Sometimes people just like to have a little fun.”
“Well, I know that,” she huffed. “I just thought that maybe you’d finally catch a break and find someone who liked you enough to stick around despite the scary dragon thing.”
“You’re a sweet girl.” Niko cuffed her on the shoulder. “Go get ready for Miiiiikey. And I’ll see you tonight.”
She burst into a grin, hiked up her purse, and pulled the door open. “Fair warning, if you call him anything but Mike, he’ll fly by and shit in your morning coffee.”
She slipped out the door and Niko grabbed it after her. “Is that how you met?”
She tossed him a middle finger as she ran to her car in the back of the lot. Niko laughed and locked the door, flipping the sign to closed. It would be totally like Frankie to have called her crush a nickname he hated, and typical for Pine Valley that said crush would use their shifter shape to seek revenge. This time, hilariously. Frankie treasured her coffee.
It took him ten minutes to go through the whole locking up routine and appeasing the dragon with his precautions. This time, though, it was more a routine to protect his store, his heritage, and his livelihood, because the dragon was... quiet.
How strange. He was used to the creature roaring inside him, double-checking each move he made. A primitive drive to protect his hoard, his goods.
It was a fight each time a customer came in and bought one of his original pieces. The dragon would rail and thrash against him—until the cash was on the counter, or the credit card payment appeared in the bank. There was some relief in that: at least the dragon understood modern banking. Niko couldn’t imagine having to demand gold from his non-shifter customers. The magical ones, sure. They’d get it. But the non-magical, like Carol Johannes, would be completely confounded.
Walking to the car, Niko looked around the little town of Pine Valley. He adored living here, but it wasn’t easy. It was nice to be surrounded by the magical community that hid here. They could at least understand he didn’t mean to eat the Plotski kid. It was a reaction, not a malicious intent. Plus, Dale was a selkie and darted off like a bat out of hell as soon as he realized what was going on.
Of course, explaining to Miss Rider why her student suddenly turned into a harbor seal and darted off like that had been… not nearly as pleasant. Pine Valley’s unspoken rule was that if you weren’t magic or married to magic, you didn’t know about magic.
Their own personal Fight Club.
Becky Rider took it well. She was kind of giddy that she was in on the secret, and she was definitely an ally in the school. The magical kids knew they could trust her and she was relieved she hadn’t slowly been going insane while living in the Valley. She really thought the place was haunted.
Dale Plotski was still afraid of him.
Of all the dragons.
There were very few dragon shifters in the world, and shockingly, four lived right in the Valley. It made sense, though, that the four were one of each element: water, fire, earth, and air.
It was also not shocking that all four of them were single. None of them had ever really had control of their beasts and frightened away their prospects pretty quickly. Even when he and Raissa had tried dating, they’d scared each other away. Max and Henry had the same experience—they just scared Raissa and themselves.
There were fated mates, but… living in Small Town, USA, wasn’t ever going to give them a chance to find them.
Niko couldn’t find it in himself to move, though. He liked Pine Valley. He liked the magical community. He liked that his neighbors knew to give him time in the water. It was just nice. What he needed.
Because even though he didn’t have a wife or mate, he did have a great sense of community, of friendship. Which was absolutely demonstrated tonight.
The Gathering.
Once a year, the magical community held a meeting on the ley lines. Long ago, Niko had realized that the whole reason Pine Valley existed where it did was because of those ley lines. They were a magnet for the magical community.
And the community celebrated that. Every Halloween there was a gathering and everyone in the magical Community was invited. The earlier celebrations were sober and serious, mostly led by witches and sorcerers. It was a way for them to reconnect to their power.
Once they were done with their sober rituals and reconnections, the celebrations turned into a party. When Niko was younger he remembered a few of his friends had actually brought a kegger. The Elders of the magical community also enjoyed the keg.
However, the next morning, or rather afternoon, they decided it was probably wiser to not have such large quantities of ready alcohol.
Every year, Niko looked forward to the Gathering. It was one of the times where he didn’t have to really hide his shifter side.
While his dragon did make demands, there were also a lot of perks to Being a shifter. Better hearing, better eyesight, sharper smell, and his strength… even relative to other shifters in the town, his strength was considerable. It was almost ironic that he worked with such delicate instruments and such fine precision. He had gone to the gym for a few months but quickly ran out of weights. He had barely started to bulk up.
Instead, he quit the gym and started running with the wolves. Literally. He asked Alpha Boyd if he could join them on some of their runs. Boyd agreed, but warned him they wouldn’t wait for him when they were running.
What shocked both of them was that he was able to keep up with wolves when he was in human form. It made him wonder, again, what he could do if his dragon would listen to him.
Taking his time at home, handing out candy to kids trick-or-treating through the old town, Niko found himself sitting on the front porch. The Dellandros, the fae across the street, had enchanted the lawn with fairy lights. They would be at the Gathering, but after midnight. Tonight was the one night they could have family over for dinner without a major spell or twisting the universe.
The Longs were gleefully scaring children who wandered into the maze around their house. They adored the spooky side of Halloween, the wife being a ghoul herself. The Esterhauses next door were already at the Gathering—being a family of sorcerers.
The magical and non-magical wandered through, the only night the Council allowed the town to carefully use magic unbridled.
It was fun to see.
Finally, at nearly midnight, his phone chimed with a text. The sacred rites were done and the celebration was open. Niko headed out to the party.
The Gathering was held out in the forest, beyond the observatory. Some residents wouldn’t come for various reasons—young children, anti-social, on-going feuds, bad food—but the vast majority would show.
The best thing about the Gathering was that it let everyone know who was in the know. Pine Valley had a huge secret to keep, and this was the one time the newbies got to know everyone.
Arriving just after midnight, Niko mingled, quietly moving through the crowd to say hello to people. He finally settled on a log next to Dracen Miller. Dracen handed him a beer, like he was expecting him.
“Of course I was expecting you,” Dracen said.
Niko would have been shocked, but he and Dracen had been friends since kindergarten, when Dracen accidentally set Niko’s lunch on fire with a bad spell. They were inseparable after that.
He followed Dracen’s gaze through the crowd, and it landed on Thomas O’Malley and the now recovering Summer.
“You here to keep an eye on her?”
Darden snapped his head around. “Ha. No. I’m fascinated by her. She was a child, three weeks ago, and now she’s slowly turning into a teenager. Or, quickly.”
“What age level?”
“She’s about eleven, twelve now. It’s impressive. She has a lot of learning to do, but her maturity is rapidly returning.”
Niko nodded. “O’Malley is thrilled.”
“Of course.” Darden laughed and took a swig on the beer. “Everything seems to be rolling along well. They’re relieved to have her back, and the curse is lifted.”
“Are we all as relieved as I am that Philip and Frankie found them?” Niko nodded toward the figures of two friends nearby.
“Huge relief. Something happened in those woods...” He squinted at the three people standing there. “That’s not right. Why is Frankie with Mike?”
“Apparently, she’s had a crush on him for years, and she pissed him off enough that he shit in her coffee, in bird form, and they were a couple.”
“Not right. Mike is using her. Philip…”
“Don’t play matchmaker to high school kids, Dray. Let them figure it out.”
Dracen turned to him. “Speaking of matchmaking... you seem relaxed. Your dragon is quiet and pleased. You seeing someone?”
Niko took a hard pull off the bottle this time. “Sometimes, I really hate being around all these magical people. I’m not seeing anyone.”
“But you got some, man. I can see it in your aura.”
Niko looked up at the moon and shrugged. “Okay, so I got laid. Doesn’t mean I’m seeing her.”
Dracen leveled his gaze at him. “Uh. She’s it, man. I’ve seen it. You need to make it a thing.”
“Dray—”
Dracen clucked at him. “No. First time, the perfect one. Remember?”
Niko stared at him hard, then leaned in. “First time, totally random. I don’t even know her name.”
“There are only so many people in this town.”
“And I didn’t really see her face. It was after midnight and I was doing some swimming. She was there, I was there, bing bam boom.”
Dracen’s jaw fell open. “Nikomedes Tavoularis, you fucked and fled?”
“We both did. She was running just as fast as I was.” He sniffled a bit. “We agreed to meet there again next week.”
“Oh, my sweet God.” He put a hand to his head. “I hope you didn’t screw someone’s wife.”
“Yeah, me too,” Niko agreed. “I don’t think I did. I think she was just scared. She wasn’t a shifter, but she wasn’t really a human either. Somewhere in between.”
“What are you going to do?”
Niko turned and stared at him. The answer was obvious.
“Go back next week and fuck her again.”