“Good work today, Russ,” one of them said. “Let’s get back to headquarters and do a quick debrief so you can get out of here and enjoy your Friday night.”
Russ didn’t think he was going to enjoy his Friday night all that much. He didn’t know anyone here except Mandy, and he wasn’t going to call her for a night out on the town. But he let the trainer’s comment slide, and dutifully made his way back to headquarters. He sat through the debriefing without hearing a word of what the trainers were saying. He was preoccupied with thinking about what Jake had said.
Jake must be mistaken about what methods the High Council would or would not use. Why else would Mandy have confessed that she had only been at the bar on official orders? He’d seen her face when she apologized, and she had looked genuinely sorry. He was still angry at her, but he knew she had, at least, realized that tricking a dragon into falling in love wasn’t a good idea.
Perhaps the High Council here wasn’t as perfect as everyone seemed to think it was. They might say they would never use coercive methods, but Russ had firsthand proof that they had, and the thought sobered him. The descent into evil was a slippery slope. Once you started making tiny exceptions to your principles, it became easier and easier to make larger exceptions. Things might start out small and innocent enough, but eventually you found yourself committing evil deeds that would have appalled your former self. And the High Council here held a great deal of power. Torch Lake was a large, well-connected town. If the High Council here started leading its people toward darkness, things would get out of hand quickly. Russ shuddered to think of another war. Everyone said it was impossible, and that safeguards had been put in place to prevent evil from rising again. But those safeguards didn’t seem to be holding as well as everyone thought.
Russ let out an audible sigh of relief when the trainers finally dismissed him. He saw Jake trying to catch his eye, but he ignored him. He liked Jake well enough, but Russ wasn’t in the mood to continue his discussion about dragon recovery or what Mandy may or may not have been told to do by the High Council. Russ slipped into the locker room and grabbed his duffel, then left without showering. He would shower at home, where he could stand under the steaming water for as long as he wanted without being bothered. If only the hot water could wash away all his worries as well.
But Russ had barely sat down in the driver’s seat of his loaner car when his cell phone buzzed. He swiped to open the text from an unknown number, and was quite surprised at what he saw.
Hey, it’s Jake. Since you’re new in town and spend all your time at the training facility, I’m guessing you haven’t had a chance to get out and make any friends yet. Want to come out with me and some of my buddies? We meet up almost every Friday night at the Winking Wizard Tavern for burgers and beer. It’s far away from the city center so it’s not pretentious like a lot of the fancy downtown bars. Totally laidback and casual. We’ll be there all night, so come by anytime.
Russ frowned down at his phone. He’d been all set to enjoy a quiet evening by himself, but somehow, the invitation appealed to him. He was already missing his nights at the Token Tap back in Chicago. Shouldn’t he at least check out this new place and see how it measured up? If he was going to be in Torch Lake for a few months, he should find a new watering hole. And Jake probably wouldn’t push too hard to talk about the High Council in the middle of a busy bar. He wouldn’t want it to get around that he was jabbering about town leadership with the new trainee. Besides, if Russ was honest with himself, he knew that a quiet night at home was going to turn into a night of constantly thinking about Mandy. As angry as he was at her, and as much as he knew that they would never be together, he couldn’t stop replaying their kiss outside the bar. If it had been fake, Mandy was a damn good actress. That kiss had awoken feelings in Russ that he hadn’t known he was capable of feeling, and it was pure torture knowing he would never be able to act on those impulses. His body lusted after Mandy, and his heart pined for her, but his head knew she was a bad idea. He had to forget about her. Maybe going out to a bar with some new friends was a good start.
Before he could change his mind, Russ sent a text back to Jake.
Sounds good, thanks for the invite. I’ll be there in about an hour.
Then he fired up the engine to head home, his mouth already watering at the thought of a cold beer and a juicy burger.
Chapter Eight
When Russ stepped into the Winking Wizard, he knew he’d found his home away from home. The place was a good deal larger than the Token Tap, but it had the exact same vibe. It was packed, but it was packed with the right kind of people. T-shirts and jeans were the uniform of choice here, and loud laughter almost drowned out the tunes coming from the jukebox in the far corner. To the left stood two pool tables, already being used for a rowdy tournament. Past the pool table were a couple of dartboards, also being put to good use. And to the right was another game Russ had never seen before, but it seemed to be a favorite with the wizards. Magic rings constantly glinted as the wizards who were crowded around the mystery game waved their hands back and forth excitedly. The game seemed to involve several small balls, but Russ had a hard time seeing what was going on with such a large crowd blocking his view. He made a mental note to ask Jake about the game later.
Russ walked further into the bar, looking around for any sign of Jake. He scanned the faces sitting around the numerous wooden tables, but didn’t see any familiar ones. He did see several more magic rings, and he had to remind himself that the wizards here were all good wizards. The majority of Russ’s experience with wizards had come from the dark wizards in Saul’s army, and the sight of magic rings still made him cringe involuntarily. He had been glad that Mandy took care to hide her magic ring for most of the trip from Chicago to Torch Lake. He knew she hadn’t been doing so for his benefit—she’d been keeping it out of view any time they were in an area where full humans were around, because the wizards had strict rules about hiding magic and magical tools from humans. Still, it had been nice to not have to face the reality that he was traveling around with a wizard. Here in Torch Lake, there was no ignoring the presence of wizards. Russ was gradually adjusting to the sight of wizard rings, and to the knowledge that the wizards here were all friendly, good people.
Less jarring to Russ, but still strange, was the phenomenon of being constantly surrounded by shifters. Like all shifters, Russ possessed a keen sense of smell, and was able to tell by scent whenever another shifter was nearby. He knew there were other shifters in Chicago, but in all his years of living there, he could count on one hand the number of times he’d smelled another shifter. The city was overwhelmingly human. Here in Torch Lake, however, he was constantly bombarded with the smell of shifters of all types. Bears and wolves seemed to be the most common, but there were also panthers, lions, and, of course, a few dragons.
Russ breathed in deeply now, trying to catch the scent of dragon. It would probably be easier to find Jake by smell than by sight. Russ peered across the crowded bar top as he sniffed the air, but he couldn’t catch any whiff of dragon. Perhaps Jake hadn’t made it out yet. In that case, he’d just find himself a spot at the bar and grab a beer. It looked like the options on tap were plentiful, and Russ was eager to try out some local brews.
As Russ made his way to the bar, though, he felt a hand on his shoulder, stopping him from behind. He turned around to find Jake, who pulled him into an unexpected bear hug.
“Come on, Russ. We’ve got our usual corner table.”
Russ smiled and followed Jake. The thought of getting to sit at a “usual” table made him happy, even if he wasn’t a regular. He felt a little less out of place as he walked toward the table, which was actually fairly close to the front door, but difficult to see because it was behind the strange bar game the wizards were playing. Russ must have missed the table when he walked through because he’d been too focused on the game.
At the table, two other men were already sitting with giant mugs of beer.
Russ knew by their smell that they were dragons, and he raised an eyebrow as he sat down.
“Fresh meat, eh Jake?” one of the men said, then reached across the table to shake Russ’s hand. “I’m Leif.”
“Clint,” the other man said, shaking Russ’s hand as well.
“I thought there was a shortage of dragons in Torch Lake,” Russ said as he sat down.
“A shortage of young dragons,” Jake said as he sat down. “These guys are it for the dragons in Torch Lake, unless you want to count the old dragons that sit on the High Council. The old dragons don’t go out dark monster hunting, or even out for beers on Friday night. It’s easy to forget they’re even here sometimes.”
Jake signaled over a waitress and ordered two “Dragon’s Breath” lagers, one for him and one for Russ. “Trust me, you’ll love this beer,” he said. Russ nodded. He’d caught a brief glimpse of the beers on offer, and almost none of them looked familiar, so he was happy to take a recommendation.
“So how did you two end up in Torch Lake,” Russ asked, motioning toward Leif and Clint.
“Same as you, I suspect,” Clint said. “We were both hiding out in different human towns after the war, trying to recover from the trauma of being captured by Saul. Dragon recovery experts from Torch Lake came and offered us about a million reasons to come learn to hunt dark monsters.”
“How long have you been here?” Russ asked, just as his Dragon’s Breath lager arrived. He took a long sip of it right away, and smiled. Jake had been right. This stuff was good.
“I’ve been here about nine months, and Leif’s been here slightly longer, I think,” Clint said, looking at Leif for confirmation.
Leif nodded. “I’m coming up on a year and half of dark monster hunting. Cheers to that.” He raised his glass, and all four men clinked their mugs together. Russ was surprised that the men had been around so long. He knew Jake had been here since the inception of Torch Lake after the Dark War, but he’d thought that all the other dragons would have left after their initial job terms were done. He didn’t want to admit to anyone that he was planning to leave just as soon as he could, but he was also curious why these men had remained in Torch Lake. He tried to ask them nonchalantly, after a long sip of beer.
“So, how long are you boys planning on staying in Torch Lake?”
The way they all narrowed their eyes at him told him they knew he was planning to take his money and run the day his job was done. He shifted in his seat and took another long sip of beer to hide his discomfort.
“Look, Russ,” Jake said. “We know you’re only planning to stay until your initial term is done. Pretty much everyone starts out that way. You’re the fifth dragon I’ve trained now. Two of the first four left as soon as they could, and the other two are sitting right in front of you. It’s no secret to us that all of the dragons who come here through the recovery program have plans to leave as soon as possible. We’re not going to pressure you into staying, although if you decide not to, I think you’re missing out. Torch Lake is a pretty great place.”
Russ couldn’t keep himself from snorting at Jake’s last sentence.
“It’s true, man,” Leif said. “Look around at this bar. You’ve got wizards, dragons, bears, wolves…all kinds of different people with all kinds of different secrets. And they all get along great. They can all come together on a Friday night and have a good time. This right here is how evil is held back. When you have a lot of good people who know each other and live close together, those people watch out for each other. They’re ready to fight for and defend each other, and that’s what makes this community strong.”
Russ thought Leif’s words were a bit exaggerated. Just hanging out at a bar didn’t mean people stood ready to go to war together if necessary. But he looked around the room anyway, to humor the man. He had to admit that it was impressive to see so many wizards and shifters in one place. And there was something freeing about not having to constantly worry that someone was going to discover that you were a shifter. Still, Russ didn’t want to live in this world. He had spent most of his life around humans, and he could handle hiding his dragon side. Wizards and shifters liked to talk about how they lived in peace and cared about their clans, but wars of some sort or another were always breaking out in the wizard-shifter world. Russ’s brief brush with war during the Great Dark Magic War had been enough for him. He wanted no part with any of this. No offense to the guys sitting around the table with him—they seemed like great dragons—but Russ didn’t see things their way. He was going to leave as soon as he could.
As Russ swept his eyes across the room, he saw the heavy front door swinging open, and a familiar face drew his attention. His stomach twisted into a nervous knot when he saw Mandy walking into the room, surrounded by a small group of about six men who must have been her coworkers. All of them were wearing the official uniforms from the Dragon Recovery Division. No matter how many times Russ had told himself that he and Mandy were completely finished, he couldn’t change the way his body reacted to her presence. His heart rate sped up, and his breathing grew rapid. He clenched his fist around the handle of his beer mug, telling himself to look away but unable to do so. No matter how angry he was at her for trying to trick him into falling for her, he couldn’t seem to keep his heart from yearning for her whenever she was standing in the same room as him.
Apparently, Jake noticed where his eyes had gone, because he let out a long chuckle.
“Ah, the infamous Mandy.”
Everyone at the table looked at Jake.
“What do you mean?” Leif asked. “Who’s Mandy?”
“No one,” Russ said sharply, but Jake ignored him.
“That girl over there,” Jake said, pointing. “She’s one of the dragon recovery specialists. I don’t know her well, but I see her around sometimes when I have meetings. Apparently she gave Russ the impression that the High Council ordered her to flirt with him and bring him in by tricking him into falling in love with her.”
There was a moment of stunned silence at the table, followed by an outburst of loud laughter. Russ wasn’t laughing, though.
“I don’t think she was making things up,” Russ said. He was angry that they seemed to think he’d been duped, and he also felt strangely defensive of Mandy. “After the first night we met, when she did flirt quite a bit with me, she apologized for trying to do things that way. She seemed really upset that she’d had to work that way, and I don’t think she would have gone to all the trouble to admit her flirting wasn’t real if the whole thing hadn’t actually been ordered by the High Council.” Russ left out the part about kissing Mandy. He didn’t want to give his new friends more fuel with which to make fun of him.
Leif stopped laughing long enough to shake his head, frowning. “Russ, our High Council takes a strong stance against trickery or coercion of any type. There’s no way they would have ordered someone to use a pretend romance as a way to bring a dragon back to Torch Lake.”
Russ was growing angry. Why didn’t anyone believe him? “Dude, I’m telling you. The High Council gave her orders. She was really torn up about it. I don’t think it was fake.”
Leif shrugged and took another sip of his beer, a signal that he still didn’t believe Russ but was willing to let the matter drop. Clint followed suit, but Jake now had a frown on his face.
“Huh,” Jake said, looking over in Mandy’s direction. But then he too took a sip of his beer and seemed ready to let the matter drop. Frustrated, Russ turned his attention to the bar game the wizards were playing, and tried to get his thoughts off of Mandy and the High Council.
His plan to stop thinking about Mandy proved wildly unsuccessful, however, because moments later, she and her friends approached the wizards who were playing. They seemed to have issued a challenge of some sort, because all of a sudden the whole group burst out laughing and then a new game began. The game was played on a long flat table that looked similar to a pool table, except smaller. And, instead of balls, the table was
filled with an assortment of small figures, each about half the size of Russ’s fist. The figures were of wizards of many different shapes, wearing robes of all different styles that had been painted in every color imaginable. There was one ball on the table, and it had been painted to resemble a magic ball. It was a round purple sphere with yellow “stars” glowing on it. The wooden wizards and ball moved wildly around the table. But Russ couldn’t see from his vantage point how they were being moved. There were no “pool sticks” of any kind. The wizards were all gesturing wildly, their hands moving so quickly that Russ could hardly see what they were doing. He could see, however, that they did not appear to be touching the figures. Were they using magic to move things around? Russ admittedly didn’t know much about how magic worked, but it seemed feasible that spells would exist that could move small wooden figures across a pool table. However the game was played, and whatever its object, Mandy seemed to be doing better than anyone else. She frequently threw her head back laughing in triumph, while the other wizards around her groaned in defeated tones.
Russ couldn’t stand to watch, and yet he couldn’t tear his eyes away. Mandy didn’t notice him, which was unsurprising since she was engrossed in the game, and the corner table where he sat was inconspicuous. He hadn’t had a chance to observe her without her noticing since that first night at the bar, and, although he hated to admit to himself that he cared enough to want to watch her, his eyes tracked her every move.
Her uniform accentuated her curves better than even the skimpy dress she’d worn at the Token Tap in Chicago. He could see the complete outline of her body against the backdrop of the bar lights, and every time she moved his heart flip-flopped. The way her body twisted and turned, giving him a fresh view of her from every angle imaginable, was causing a faint stiffening to begin between his legs. He knew he shouldn’t let himself continue to watch, but how could he look away from such beauty, such perfection? Her brown hair had been in a tight, professional bun when she first walked in, but now she had loosened it and let it fall around her shoulders. The soft waves shone in the bar lights, and the desire to run up and run his fingers through that gorgeous hair nearly overcame Russ. He coughed a few times, trying to cover the surge of emotions that rushed through him. Jake, who was jabbering with Leif and Clint about some town gossip, turned to look at Russ.
Dragon Returning (Torch Lake Shifters Book 1) Page 6