Nox wanted to stay quiet so badly. He wanted to just get through the burn in silence, but in a blur, Vyr slammed the arrow back into Nox’s arm, into the hole that hadn’t even healed yet.
Clenching his teeth, Nox grunted at the new wave of pain. “Because you’ve been sentenced to shifter prison.”
Sweat dripped in Nox’s eyes as he looked up at the Red Dragon’s furious face. “You’re going to the cage for burning that town, asshole. And I’m here to put you in it.”
“Hmm,” Vyr said nonchalantly. Pretend he didn’t care all he wanted, but his eyes narrowed to dangerous little slits and red crept up his neck. “And my father only sent you. To die alone. Why?”
That part had bothered Nox, too. Because he was expendable, that’s why. He wouldn’t ever say that out loud to the Red Dragon though, so he ripped his gaze away and focused on that stupid swan in the pond. God, he wished Vyr would pull the arrow from him or kill him now. Dragons liked to play with their food.
Torren returned with Nox’s Glock, smoothly aimed it down at Nox’s face, and gritted his teeth. Blood streamed down his tattooed chest from where Nox had shredded his shoulder. Sweat dripped down his face, and his black hair was sticking up everywhere. Nox laughed. “You look so fucked up right now.”
“Yet you’re the one about to die!” Torren yelled, steadying the gun and resting his finger on the trigger.
“No,” Vyr said in a bored voice.
“But he shot me! Twice!”
“You shot me first!” Nox yelled.
“Oh, my God,” Vyr muttered, yanking the arrow from Nox’s arm.
“Fuck,” Nox uttered, gripping his arm to staunch the pain and the bleeding. “I hate you both so much. Like…I hate everyone, but I hate you two the very most.”
“Ooooh my God, how will I ever get over this,” Torren said in a stupid, mimicking voice, as he waved the Glock around.
“Give me my gun back.”
“Or what?” Torren asked. “Look around, you sniveling drop of chode sweat. You’re on the ground, Vyr could literally snap your neck and eat your carcass, and in under thirty seconds, there would be no proof you’ve even been here. Even if he wasn’t here? I have a mostly full clip and, again, you’re on the fuckin’ ground.” Torren winced and gripped his bleeding shoulder, jumped up and down a few times, and yelled, “Shit!” to the woods. “Do you have to fight to kill every time, Nox? Really?”
“Again! You shot me with a bow and arrow, you stupid dick archer.”
Vyr snorted. “Dick archer sounds funny. Torren, that’s your new nickname.”
“Fuck you, Vyr.”
A deep rumble sounded from the Red Dragon, and he flicked his silver-eyed attention to Torren. “Careful, Monkey.”
Torren’s jet-black eyebrows shot to his hairline. “Monkey? You be careful, Lizard. I’m here risking shifter prison, helping your fire-breathin’ ass hide from your fate. You think Damon’s gonna stop with Nox? No! This is the first wave. I mean, sure, he sent in the fuckin’ D-Team—”
“Hey,” Nox complained, sitting up. He was at least C-Team.
“But next time it’ll be more. Maybe he’ll send Beaston to track us. Maybe he’ll send a whole goddamn crew! Maybe he’ll come himself, and then what are we gonna do? You’ll go to war with your dad in the sky, and what can I do to protect you? Not a thing. Eat Nox, and let’s get onto the next war. Drag out our freedom as long as we can.”
“I would taste horrible, just so you know,” Nox said. “I’m all gristle, and plus you would choke on my big dick.”
“God,” Vyr muttered, looking nauseous. But fuck him and fuck Torren, too.
“You gonna run forever? Because Torren’s right, you cigar-smoking, wine-drinking, money-monger mother fucker. You aren’t any different from anybody else. Money won’t get you out of paying for what you did in Covington! You nearly burned that place to the ground, and the humans need to make an example of you. Should’ve been more careful, Red. Now you have to pay the consequences, same as every other tom, dick, and harry nutsack who screws up an entire town.”
“To save the Red Havoc Crew and to save Torren’s sister,” Vyr said in a calm tone. His snake eyes looked crazy right now, though.
“Oh, please. You pulled out your fire and ate all those gorillas and lions because you don’t have any control. You like war too much. One year in shifter prison and then start over.” Nox struggled to his feet, not even bothering to cover his dick, because why would he? It was huge and he was proud. He should show it to Nevada. She would fall in love with him and have like a dozen little fox babies that looked like him.
Vyr narrowed his eyes and looked slightly terrifying. “What was that?”
“What was what, you weirdo?”
A slow, feral smile curved Vyr’s lips, and he ran a hand through his red hair. “You gotta girl, Ob-Nox-ious?”
“Don’t call me that,” he muttered. “And no.”
Vyr canted his head and leveled Nox with those mercury-colored reptile eyes. “Fox.”
Nox’s heart hammered against his sternum. He hadn’t mentioned Nevada. Not out loud, and now there was a headache building right behind his eyes. Something was happening. His skull felt like it was burning with that same awful sensation from earlier when Vyr had forced his Change.
“What are you?” Nox asked, leaning back on his folded legs, as far away from Vyr as possible.
Vyr’s smile dipped from his face, and his voice went hard as a stone. “I’m a lot of things.”
Nox flicked his gaze to Torren, but the silverback shifter didn’t look surprised at all by Vyr’s terrifying admission. Okay, Clara, Vyr’s mother, was a witch. Or something. She could read tarot cards and see things she shouldn’t see. Apparently, Clara and Damon had made an out-of-control dragon son who had at least some of Clara’s power. Everyone had always been afraid of the quiet Red Dragon because he was a monster when he shifted, but this new information made the blood drain from Nox’s face. Everyone thought Dark Kane, the Black Dragon, was the End of Days. Nope. The fuckin’ apocalypse was kneeling in front of Nox.
“You’ve always been a thorn, Nox,” Vyr said. “Since we were kids, you picked at people. You acted out. You were a carbon copy of your fucked-up father.” Vyr smiled brightly. “I got fun genetics, too. I’m gonna let you live for a while. I’m not even going to threaten to char you to a crisp and eat you if you betray me and turn me into my father, or human law enforcement. No. If you tell a soul where I am, I’m gonna go after…Texas…” He frowned at Nox, and the burning ramped up behind his eyes. The dragon was digging in his head.
Nox squeezed his eyes closed. Don’t think about Nevada.
“Nevada,” Vyr murmured in a silky, rumbling tone.
“She isn’t my girl. I barely know her.”
“Okay,” Vyr said with a shrug and an empty smile. “Out me then, and don’t worry about what I do to her.”
“I really hate you,” Nox murmured with venom in his voice.
“Flattery will get you nowhere with me.” Vyr stood and tossed the bloody arrow onto the grass in front of Nox’s knees. “A souvenir.”
“You mean a reminder?”
“Yep. You want a beer before you leave my mountains?”