Nick opened the door to see Tyler sitting on the bench, one arm resting against his leg, the other over the edge of the bench. Nick didn’t really feel like sitting down. Instead, he crossed his arms, leaning against the wall. “What?” He didn’t mean for it to come out bitterly, but a lot of the things he said came across that way.

Tyler tore his gaze from the road to study Nick’s face. He tried to soften his glare, but it was impossible. It might be permanently stuck there. Tyler took in his defensive stance before focusing on the road again. “Ezekiel’s preparing himself for a twelve-hour prayer to the Great Lady. No one’s too worried about him on Thursday. Then you’ll have your fall break the next week. I’ll be here in Elmwood for all of it, in case something happens. Milo is working on melting down silver coins into a bar. Ezekiel is certain we need to steal something from Akshi, which gives us a little more than a month to level up before doing a stealth mission for that. If something wrong happens, hopefully no one will die.” Tyler dropped his gaze. “Hopefully.” He rubbed his chin. “Calawit’s been tracking a pack of four saber-tooth tigers coming toward us, which is great. Ezekiel needs to kill one of them by himself, and the rest of the group can handle the other three.”

Tyler fell silent, and Nick kept his arms folded, leaning against the door. “Fine. Great,” Nick said. “I’m still grounded until the middle of October.”

“And after?” Tyler asked, glancing at him.

“I’ll stay here.” There was a hollowing in his chest as he said it. Then the dull anger ignited again. CCNC was his only socialization, and Rafael’s existence took it away from him more than Walt ever did.

Tyler again looked at Nick’s defensive stance. “CCNC is all you’ve got left.” It was like he could read his mind.

His fingers dug into his palm. “I refuse to be around Rafael. It’s better this way. For his sake, more than mine.”

Tyler winced. “I’ve made Evelyn in charge of the attendance of the sessions. She gets to choose when she wants to go, and who will stay there.”

“Good.”

“I’ve also talked to Rafael and made him acutely aware that a looming apocalypse is not going to stop me from making sure Evelyn stays comfortable in the group. He will go home if she is uncomfortable, and he will roll from a distance.”

“That piece of shit needs to stay away from my sister for good.”

Tyler gave him a scrutinized look. “So, I know this may sound ridiculous, but I need to hear it in your own words—”

Nick rolled his eyes. “I won’t slit Rafael’s throat.”

One of Tyler’s eyebrows shot up, and Nick realized he should have waited to hear the rest of it. There was a long pause, in which Nick kept his arms folded, almost glaring at Tyler. Derek had the same disbelief on his face as Tyler did in that moment. It didn’t matter what he said, there was plenty of anger that caused his words to sound threatening.

“You’re… not going to run to Akshi and ask him to hurt Rafael, are you?”

Nick said nothing. He hadn’t thought of it, mainly because he was still imagining all the ways he could hurt Rafael himself. He didn’t think about outside help. Part of him hesitated to open that particular door.

Tyler studied his face, clearly not liking what he saw. “Nick, Rafael does not deserve to be tortured by Akshi.”

“Maybe not Akshi, but that piece of shit deserves every horrible thing coming to him, and so far, not a lot is happening to him,” Nick asked.

Tyler kept his gaze on Nick’s. “You got your punch in. Don’t go searching for more. Rafael isn’t going to do it again, and I’ve seen plenty of reven-”

“He’s not going to do it again, because-” he’ll be dead before he does. Somehow saying that wouldn’t put him in a better light.

“Don’t go to Akshi,” Tyler said again.

“I won’t,” Nick said. Tyler didn’t believe him. But he might as well. Nick wouldn’t go to Akshi, because he didn’t need him. Tyler about said something else, but Nick shook his head. “You’ve given your warning. I’ve given my assurance. You have a long drive ahead of you, and you look exhausted. Go home.”

Tyler frowned, studying Nick. He didn’t believe him, because Nick was in his mood where no one could believe what he was saying. Not even himself. Tyler held in a sigh as he got to his feet. “I am a bit exhausted, yeah. It’s been a rough weekend.” Nick did little more than grunt, keeping his arms tightly folded, fingernails still digging into his palms. “Don’t push us away, Nick. You need us. You’ve got to work through this anger, and I’m terrified you’re not getting the help you need.”

Nick wanted to roll his eyes. That felt like an understatement. “Fine. Then don’t defend Rafael.”

“I’m not.” Tyler stood, stretching a bit. “I talked to him today, and it’s as he said. He’s broken our trust. He fully acknowledges it and knows he’s got a mountain to climb to build it back. He’s got one last chance from me. I’m going to watch and wait. See how the next few months go. Even then it will be a while before I can give him my full trust back. But I don’t hate him. I’m not salivating at the thought of watching him slip up again to kick him out.”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Congratulations. You’re a better man than me,” Nick said.

Tyler studied Nick’s face, taking in the glare. Tyler rubbed his chin, then brought his hand down, resting it on Nick’s tense shoulder. “Do me a favor, then.” Nick said nothing, just waited for the guy to say whatever he needed to. Tyler looked at him right in the eye, his hand heavy on his shoulder. “I need you to remember what it’s like to make a mistake. More than a mistake. Something that is, honestly, a criminal offense. Something that, when the rest of us found out, we felt betrayed and hurt. Left feeling like we could never look at you the same way again. Remember what that regret tasted like, and how much you never wanted to do that criminal act again. To work your ass off to present as the best possible version of yourself to prove you’d changed. And then I need you to remember the personal hell it is for one bitter person to hold it over your head for the rest of your life. One person to wait for you to fall. To go back to how you were. To never give you a chance, and to never escape their constant, critical gaze.” Nick stared at Tyler, feeling the glare he thought was permanent melt off his face. Tyler lifted his hand off his shoulder, placing a finger lightly against it instead. “Rafael hurt your sister. In the process, he hurt you. You have every right to process that hurt to protect yourself and her from it ever happening again. But as a friend I must warn you. Hurt can turn to hate, and hate can become toxic. You always have the choice to be a better person than your father. I suggest you start now.”

Tyler dropped his hand as he headed toward the stairs, pulling out some keys. He moved down the stairs, got in his car, and drove off as Nick continued to stare at the bench Tyler once occupied.

***

Alejandra didn’t realize how dead asleep she was until she heard Hraktar’s footsteps in her room. Not even the door opening woke her. Simply his footsteps, then the way they pulled to a stop. There was a good three seconds where she wondered why Hraktar had stopped so suddenly before she remembered.

She gasped, sitting up, looking for the creature. The baby drake had curled up next to her, as asleep as she was. The baby didn’t react as Alejandra sat up, staring at her fighter, who stared right at the drake.

Alejandra was exhausted. More than exhausted. She had spent all night figuring out what this creature ate. The warm milk wasn’t a huge hit. Apples were a bust. She tried feeding the creature a bit of a hotdog, and he gagged it back up. After doing all that, she sat down exhausted when the drake happily lapped up some of the cooled milk. So milk wasn’t totally out of the equation. She tried researching the diet of a baby drake in CCNC, but she kept getting conflicting ideas from different books and video games. There was far more detailed information about dragon diets than there were about drakes.

At five in the morning, Alejandra was too exhausted. She collapsed on the bed, wanting to sleep. She watched the baby drake, about the size of a small lizard, circling around her bed before giving a tiny growl. The drake was silent as it crept up on something before giving a small shake of its midsection. Then it pounced on some sort of bug, tearing it in half before licking it up. It didn’t take long before the drake had run up to her and curled into a ball, falling fast asleep. It didn’t take long for Alejandra to do the same.

But now she was here, grabbing her glasses off her nightstand and putting them on to stare at her fighter staring at the drake. They had been silent for a long time.

“I can explain,” Alejandra said.

“No need. I often got the impression you like to tame monsters.”

Alejandra wasn’t sure what he meant by that. “You’re not a monster.”

Hraktar looked at her, raising an eyebrow. “I’m talking about that boy.”

“Boy? What boy?”

“Nick. Grizzizzik’s creator.”

Her cheeks flushed a deep scarlet, and she didn’t even know why. “He’s not… Nick’s not a monster either. Don’t call him that.”

Hraktar nodded. “Right.”

Alejandra placed a hand on the sleeping drake. “Please don’t kill him.”

He finally tore his gaze from the drake to look at her. “Who else knows?”

“Um… you.” Hraktar’s massive shoulders fell. “I’ll admit I didn’t think this through.”

The baby drake stirred, then uncurled his body, stretching. He gave a yawn. She shouldn’t, but it was incredibly adorable, and she was resisting the urge to snap a picture. It was incredible what a good night’s sleep did. Or, good morning’s sleep.

Wait, what time was it?

She grabbed her phone, seeing it was two in the afternoon. She didn’t have work today, thankfully, but she realized how many other responsibilities she had.

“Tyler. Tyler was supposed to be here and talk to us,” Alejandra said.

“Rafael tried knocking on your door to wake you, but you were dead to the world,” Hraktar said. “It doesn’t matter. We will fill you in on the details.”

Alejandra looked down at the baby drake. Just the thought of what she was going to do with this drake while she was at school made her stomach drop.

“Hraktar, I… I need…”

“You need your friends. Your brother. Tell them what happened and what you did.”

His suggestion left her cold. “No. I… can’t. I can’t possibly let anyone else know.”

“And you expect me to keep your secret, too? Babysit your new pet while you are at school and keep it from Ezekiel?”

Alejandra winced, then touched her hair, feeling the absolute mess it was before letting out a Spanish word Mariana used under the darkest of circumstances. “Give me un momento.” She ran her fingers through her hair, trying to calm her bed head. The baby drake arched his back as he continued to stretch, then noticed Hraktar for the first time. The creature’s entire body jumped, then froze, staring at the fighter. Hraktar unfolded his arms, doing his best to not look as threatening, but Alejandra didn’t have the heart to tell him he always looked threatening. The drake moved forward, sniffing. The fighter went down on one knee, extending his hand to the creature. He scuttled up Hraktar’s arm and rested on his shoulder, brushing his head against the half-orc’s cheek as it started purring. It actually purred. Alejandra didn’t realize a drake was capable of such a noise.

Hraktar closed his eyes, his lips tight. “Damn you, you little thing.” He reached over with a finger, petting the top of his head. “You had to be the first baby that didn’t scream the first time you saw me, didn’t you?”

Alejandra didn’t bother hiding her smile. Hraktar had a huge, tender heart. He knew what it was like to be feared because of his looks, which meant he would be the first to love this baby drake. She had a protector for her little pet. “We’ve got to think of a name for the guy.”

“Names are important,” Hraktar said, as the drake ran to the top of his head. “But I need your assurance that I don’t have to hide him from Ezekiel.”

“Hide what from me?” Ezekiel asked, appearing by the door.