Halloween Dragon

by Liv Rider

  Nothing happened, and he made himself walk outside. If this guy knew about him, ignoring him wouldn’t make the problem go away. Maybe if he talked to the guy, he could convince him not to mention it to his parents.

  “There you are!” The blond was leaning against the wall next to the door, enjoying the sun. “Great sandwich, by the way.”

  “I’ll pass it on.” Joel stepped back as the guy moved closer. “What did you want to talk about?” He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his jeans, trying not to look as nervous as he felt.

  “Anything,” the guy said, smiling. “But I’ll start with an introduction. Hi, I’m Thomas Rollins.” He held out his hand.

  Joel stared at him. Thomas Rollins. He remembered the name from looking into the local shifter council. This guy was the Keeper of the Peace.

  There hadn’t been any pictures of the council or the Keeper on the website that Joel had found, but he’d assumed that they would all be in their forties or older. This man looked like he was in his late twenties or early thirties.

  He was also still holding out his hand.

  Joel shook it, hoping he didn’t notice Joel’s sweaty palms. “Nice to meet you.”

  It made sense that a Keeper of the Peace was aware of some runaway from Barnhill. His parents or the shifter council from Barnhill had probably sent his name and photo to Keepers of the Peace in the area to keep an eye out for him. Still, even if this guy knew who Joel was, he still wasn’t going to confirm it by giving him his full name.

  Maybe he could play dumb and pretend he wasn’t Joel Davies. He hadn’t worn a name tag on his apron, since Claire had decided it wouldn’t be necessary.

  “Nice to meet you too.” Thomas frowned slightly as he released Joel’s hand.

  “Anything else you wanted to talk about?” Joel put a polite smile on his face and decided he would act like he’d never even heard of Barnhill if Thomas wanted to bring it up. His heart was racing, and part of him wanted to excuse himself and go back inside. But if he did, he’d never know how much Thomas knew.

  “Oh, plenty of things, like what your favorite movie is, or your favorite food, or your favorite, uh, anything really…” Thomas trailed off and Joel was surprised to see his cheeks flush as he coughed. “But I can’t stay here too long, I’ve got to go and mingle soon.”

  His answer only confused Joel more. Why would a Keeper want to know his favorite movie? Was he flirting? Maybe he didn’t know about Barnhill after all. The fist around his stomach started to loosen and it felt easier to breathe. “My boss wants me back soon too.”

  “Of course she does.” Thomas nodded in understanding. “Then I guess what I’d really like to talk about is wolves.”

  Joel stared at him, the fist around his stomach tighter than before. He knew. Thomas knew. “Wolves?” he managed, hoping he sounded surprised or confused. Anything but worried. “Why?”

  “I think you know why.” Thomas raised his eyebrows significantly. He gestured at the hall and the people walking around, chatting to each other. “You know what this event is for, right?”

  He didn’t really. He just knew it had something to do with the local shifter council, but he wasn’t going to tell Thomas that. “Sure, it’s for a charity.” His voice was trembling, dammit. He had to convince Thomas he didn’t know anything about shifters or wolves.

  Thomas was quiet for a moment as he looked at Joel. “How long have you been in Lewiston?”

  “My whole life,” he lied. If Thomas wanted to check if the timelines added up, Joel wasn’t going to help him do that. “Born and raised!”

  “No, you weren’t.” Thomas’ voice was firm.

  How did he know—oh no.

  He should’ve remembered, but he’d been too worried and nervous, and he hadn’t been around shifters in years. Dragon shifters were amazing at reading people, so good that some shifters thought they were telepathic. Of course Thomas knew Joel was lying. Great, his plan to play dumb wouldn’t work. What was he supposed to do now?

  “I’d like you to be honest with me.”

  Thomas sounded so friendly, so kind, but Joel shook his head. He didn’t want to go back to Barnhill. He couldn’t. He had a life here, a job, friends, colleagues… He wasn’t going to let anyone take that away from him, no matter how nice they were being.

  “What’s wrong?” Thomas moved closer, putting a hand on Joel’s arm and sounding genuinely worried.

  Part of him wanted to tell Thomas everything. How his own family had treated him. How he’d been ignored and ostracized in his home town. How no one had cared about him as a teenager. He wanted to tell Thomas things he hadn’t told anyone, absolutely convinced that Thomas would understand, even help him.

  But he wouldn’t. He was a shifter, a Keeper of the Peace. He wouldn’t take Joel’s side.

  Joel stepped back, shrugging the hand off his arm and feeling unsettled. “I’m fine here,” he insisted. That was true, at least.

  “But what’s wrong?” Thomas’ eyes were concerned as he looked at Joel.

  He wished Thomas didn’t sound so worried. If he had sounded angry or demanding, Joel could’ve handled that. He was used to that from shifters. He wasn’t used to someone looking at him like Thomas was, as if nothing else in the world mattered. But Thomas couldn’t care about him, not like that.

  He had to get out of here. He needed a clear mind to think about how he was going to deal with this, and he couldn’t think while Thomas was looking at him like that. “Nothing, leave me alone!”

  Thomas’ mouth fell open, looking shocked as Joel hurried back inside. “I just wanted to—”

  Joel didn’t hear what he wanted, not over the noise of people chatting in the central hall. He headed for the men’s toilets, locking a cubicle behind him and leaning against the wall. If he went back to Claire right now, she would want to know why he was upset, and he wasn’t sure if he could handle her concern without breaking down. He closed his eyes, focusing on breathing in and breathing out.

  Once he had his breathing under control, he replayed the conversation with Thomas in his mind. He hadn’t said his name, and hadn’t said anything to confirm he knew about shifters. Thomas had asked how long he’d lived in Lewiston and when Joel had lied, Thomas had just asked him to be honest with him. He hadn’t thrown the truth in Joel’s face. Maybe Thomas only suspected Joel was the runaway from Barnhill, but wasn’t certain. After all, if he knew for sure who Joel was, why ask what was wrong?

  That still niggled away at Joel. Why had Thomas asked him what was wrong?

  The cynical side of him thought it was a ploy to get him to open up so Thomas could confirm his identity, but another part of him clung to the hope that Thomas’ concern had been genuine.

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