Bitten by Magic: Agents of SAINT: Book 1 Page 8

  He’d have been an asshole to reciprocate it if it wasn’t what she wanted, but he had a shit ton of regrets for what they could have had.

  Now that he was injured, sitting around at his bungalow playing video games bored him, and he yearned to do something useful. Saving that kid had been like a drug—a shot of heroin for his soul—and all he wanted was another hit. Kicking major ass had been nice, but it was about more than defeating a wizard and his two drooling lackeys. While he wanted to claim it was entirely altruistic, it was also about the way Dylan’s mother had smiled through her tears when hand-delivering him flowers and a get-well card, the way her little boy thanked Javier for rescuing him from the bad guys. And it was about the fucking way his father had looked up to him for once instead of peering down his nose at him.

  He wanted to recreate that over and over again.

  Javier stumbled off the hammock and swiped the phone from the table. Left with no alternative, he dialed the only other childhood friend likely to give him an ounce of sage advice.

  Astrid Drakenstone picked up on the third ring. “Hi, Javier. What’s up?”

  “I need advice about a girl.” There. Better to just get out with it before she could start droning on about her baby boy’s latest milestones. She could go on and on about Arthur, not that he could blame her.

  “Girl or woman? There’s a difference.”

  “Definitely a woman.”

  “Anyone I’d have heard of?”

  He hesitated a brief moment, but if he couldn’t be honest with Astrid then he really had no other options. “Yasmin.”

  Astrid sucked in a sharp breath. “I’ll be right over.”

  When she meant she’d be over, she meant that very moment. A portal opened, though this one was fueled by dragon’s magic and not some human wizard’s arcane design. It shimmered like an oval window into the Drakenstone residence, then his longest childhood buddy stepped through.

  Javier and Astrid’s mothers had both been close friends, and then they’d each met their own dragon shifter and become bonded to him. Though she was several years older than him, Astrid didn’t look it, her features eternally youthful, hair golden blonde and eyes the clearest blue.

  Both their mothers had hoped they’d bond to one another when Javier came of age, but it hadn’t worked out that way. He viewed Astrid more like an older sister than a friend. Besides, she’d fallen head over heels for a dragonslayer, of all people.

  “Uh, hey.” He set the phone down.

  Astrid went to the liquor cabinet and pulled out the tequila. “Start from the beginning and leave out nothing. Except for the really steamy parts because I don’t need to hear about you dicking Yasmin.”

  Javier grunted and told her. When he reached the end of the story, they were three shots in and that still wasn’t enough to soothe the raw knot in his chest.

  “I can’t believe she bit you. I mean, she knew better. We all do.”

  “She got carried away.”

  “Then she lied to you. No one does something like that unless they want to, Javier. It’s instinct. Your soul reacting to what it needs, not what it wants. Let me see it.” Astrid tugged his shirt open and peeked at the once raw mark. He’d looked at it every day since Yasmin’s departure, watching it fade from glossy silver to soft brown. In a week or so, it’d just be another faded scar.

  “It took everything in me to resist biting her.”

  “But you did.”

  Javier dropped his chin and sighed. “So? What should I do about it?”

  “Depends on what you want? Is this all about Yasmin or is there something else driving you?”

  “I—” He stopped and considered her words. Astrid always had a way of making him pause to look at himself. “I want to help more people like Dylan and his mother. It felt good to use all of this power for something worthwhile. It was like… finally knowing what the hell I’m here for.”

  Astrid cocked a brow. “Have you told your dad?”

  “Not yet.”

  “Then maybe you should start there. If you’re serious, learn about law enforcement. Join the military or something.”

  A couple seconds were all Javier needed to decide he wasn’t turned off by her advice. Join the military? Why the hell not. Thousands of shifters enlisted in the armed forces, but that didn’t strike the same chord as the idea of wearing a badge and upholding the law.

  “Sure,” he said slowly, still testing the idea in his thoughts. “I’m not opposed to being a cop, but how’s that gonna help me with Yasmin?”

  “It’s not. But it gets you off this island. Besides…” An impish smile came to her face. “I think there’s a college in San Antonio with a decent Criminal Justice program.”

  “You don’t think that’s too stalkerish?”

  “You want to show her you’re your own man? Then she needs to be able to see it for herself, not hear about it in a letter or over the phone. Besides, she said you two would always be friends, right?”

  “Right.”

  “So be her friend.”

  Since his mother loved the Surf and Turf more than any other restaurant on the island, Javier invited his parents to join him for dinner. He ate his weight in lamb and swordfish alongside his father, waiting for the ideal moment to spring the news on them without sounding like an ungrateful ass for all they’d given him.

  That moment came over dessert while his parents shared a slice of flan, behaving like an obnoxious couple by feeding each other bites. As a child, their over-the-moon love for each other had always irritated him.

  As an adult, he wanted it for himself.

  “The time in the hospital gave me a chance to think about what I want to do with my life. I’m going to pursue a career in law enforcement.”

  A piece of flan dropped from Marcy’s fork to the dessert plate. “Law enforcement?”

  “I know this is sudden, but saving that kid, Mom… it’s like suddenly everything about me made sense.”

  Teo leaned back in his seat and lowered his utensils to the table. “According to Roberts and a few of the other veterans, you took to authority like a natural in my absence. There’s been nothing but praise. You can start interning in the security office—”

  “No. As generous as the offer is, Dad, I want to get a job on my own merit, with an education to go with it.”

  His father’s lips flattened, and frown lines creased his brow. “But you have an education. You—”

  “Mom homeschooled me, and I had the best tutors, but it isn’t the same. I want the experience of meeting others who are not like me.” He held up a hand the moment Teo narrowed his green eyes and his opened his mouth for the rebuttal. “People who don’t have to kiss up to you. Everywhere I go on this island, I’m surrounded by family. It’s time to go my own way.”

  Teo drew in a deep breath and squared his shoulders. “You’ve given this more thought than I anticipated. You have someplace in mind, son?”

  “Well, I’d considered California since the Drakenstones are there, but… that’s a lot of dragons in one area. So I researched different programs and narrowed my choices down to Texas and New York.”

  His mother brightened. “I have friends in Houston and San Antonio.”

  Teo rubbed his chin. “As do I. Sam Houston State University is near Quickdraw. I believe it is Ian MacArthur’s alma mater and an excellent college.”

  God. The mere mention of Ian MacArthur was enough to spike Javier’s excitement with a sharp dose of hero worship. The guy was a legend in the paranormal community, an American bald eagle shifter and a military veteran who had connections across the world.

  And he’d considered SHSU until he gauged the five-hour distance between Huntsville and San Antonio. Damn.

  “The University of Texas in San Antonio is on my shortlist. If I move fast, I can liquidate some funds from my hoard and get a small apartment or something. I already filled out some applications online.”

  “Nonsense.” When his mother sh
ook her head, anxiety fizzed in his stomach until she turned to Teo and swatted his arm. “Tell him we’ll pay his rent.”

  “Of course we would.”

  Javier blinked. “But—”

  His father held up a hand this time. “I understand you are eager to be on your own, Javier, and I respect that. But please, if we must say goodbye to you for a time, allow us to do what we can to support your future endeavors.”

  “Thank you.”

  “We’d have to hurry to get you enrolled,” his mother said, turning to her husband. “It may be too close to the deadline to get him into UTSA, but I’m sure we could make a few calls. Right? If you’re happy to go there, mijo, you’ll be close to Zacarias and River Silva. They’ll look out for you.”

  Javier hid his enthusiasm behind a modest smile. “Is that where they live? I had no idea.”

  What his parents didn’t know couldn’t hurt them.

  Chapter Nine

  January: 1 Month Later

  Clever arrangements on registration day had produced a two-hour break in Yasmin’s schedule. Eager to stuff her face, she hitched her bag over her shoulder and hurried through the sprawling UTSA campus to John Peace Library.

  The campus library provided a decent selection of chain restaurants, the hot food choices preferred over ready-to-go meals in the P.O.D. Market’s refrigerated shelves. She meandered past a Pizza Hut and a Subway, stopping in line at Steak ’n Shake since her stomach was rumbling for a juicy burger, greasy fries, and an enormous peanut butter cup shake.

  After swiping her meal plan card, Yasmin collected her order and crossed the room to an empty table. A tingle danced down her spine and flutters went off in her stomach, a feeling she hadn’t experienced since she left the island. Not since she’d seen…

  Slowly and warily, she glanced left and made eye contact with Javier.

  The intensity of his gaze tightened her chest. Her breath caught in her throat and her mouth became sandy dry. How long had it been? Almost a month? It seemed like more time had passed since she left the island, angry and hurt that he’d blown her off and reneged on his promise to say goodbye.

  Of course, since then she’d learned a little more about what had happened—that Javier had been involved in recovering a lost child. That didn’t change how much she resented the month of silence that followed.

  He could have called. Her number wasn’t difficult to get.

  The memory snapped her out of the shock, and she crossed the distance between them in five quick steps. What the hell was he doing here? He looked the same, but different at the same time. He wore his hair as long as ever, combed out to a glossy sheen instead of beach wavy and wind tossed. In place of his usual board shorts and an open shirt, he wore jeans and a blue polo.

  Too bad she already knew about the fantastic body beneath his clothes, the chiseled muscles and the perfect chest, kissable shoulders and those lean indents carved across his hips.

  The beautiful midnight scales that shone like an oil slick beneath the silver moonlight. Black wings and silky flight feathers speckled with cobalt, green, gold, and amber down.

  No one realized a dragon was sitting among them, though a few girls admired him from random places around the food court.

  “A little far from Mexico, aren’t you?” she asked, fingers white-knuckled around the edge of her tray. It wouldn’t be appropriate to throw herself onto Javier’s lap, no matter how much her jaguar half urged her to mark him as hers. Again. Been there and done that, girl.

  “Technically, we’re only three hours away from Mexico,” he replied, smiling.

  Smartass. Yasmin grunted and helped herself to the seat across from him. While she sorted out her tray, she eyed his pitiful deli sandwich that looked as though it had been sitting in the chillbox a few days too long. Sometimes she wondered if the staff peeled off a sticker and slapped a new one on instead of rotating out the old snacks.

  “Never get the sandwiches from the coolers. They’re crap. Subway is the way to go, you can get extra meat and choose your toppings. I never buy from the on-demand chiller if I’m not running late to a class.”

  “It’s not… awful,” he said carefully, raising the sandwich to his mouth. Either he had an amazing poker face or an iron stomach, because he managed to swallow a bite without turning green. It had to be his draconic constitution. “Once you’ve eaten my dad’s French toast, you can eat anything.”

  “Uh-huh. So, what are you doing here, Javier? Is your dad giving a lecture or something?”

  “Nope. Dad’s on the island right now doing whatever he does in his office. Raising hell or something. As for me, I’m enjoying lunch with a friend.”

  “Really? Who?”

  His smile faded. “Aw, c’mon, don’t be like that. I really did mean to see you off, but I was stuck at work. You heard about the missing kid, right?”

  “Not until afterward. They wouldn’t tell us why the ferry was delayed, so we assumed it was water conditions or maintenance or something.”

  “Yeah. Dad was off the island, so I was kinda in charge of the whole thing.”

  “You were in charge?”

  When Yasmin jerked her attention from her fries to his face, Javier gave her a small smile and took another bite of his soggy sandwich, clearly too stubborn to toss it in the trash. Men. “All me.”

  “Ugh, well, since you’re even more of a hero than I thought, take this,” she said, passing over half her burger. “I can’t stomach watching you hork that thing down.”

  His brows raised. “You sure?”

  “Yeah.” The meal had been oversized anyway, and she could endure half a lunch if it prevented the starvation of a poor dragon and eased his suffering.

  “Thanks. So, what are you up to?”

  She dipped a fry in ketchup and studied him across the table, still wondering how he’d even found her. “I’d planned to eat and read before my last two classes. I have this set up as my long day so the rest of the week isn’t so hectic.”

  “That’s cool.”

  A silent lull fell over them as Javier dug into his meal. Yasmin couldn’t help but chuckle at the enormity of his appetite and wonder if her few bites of cheesy beef would tide him over until dinner. Probably not.

  Despite their agreement to let the mark fade, her attention drifted to his shoulder. It had been instinctive and completely impulsive.

  So why did she want to see it there again? She sighed and grabbed another fry, munching thoughtfully. No, she reminded herself. They’d adapted to different lifestyles, and it was never going to work.

  “So,” she said to break the silence, “you’re lookin’ good. I don’t think I've seen you in anything but beachwear. Even when we visited Astrid’s place as kids.”

  “Not much of a reason to dress in anything else on an island in a state of perpetual summer if I’m not at the administrative office.” He shrugged and stole a glance at her. “You’re not with your friends. Don’t they go here, too?”

  “Amaya gets out in twenty more minutes, and Gillian goes to the gym during her lunch break. Now that brings us back to my original question. What are you doing here—besides having a crappy lunch?”

  He cocked a brow. “Getting ready to go to class.”

  “Huh?”

  “Class. You know, where you go to learn things. I have a full schedule.” He leaned back and drew a folded sheet of paper from his pocket. He snapped it open then slid it across the table to her.

  Yasmin skimmed it over. He had more than a full class load, the sort of thing overachievers did if they didn’t plan to have much of a life. Almost every hour, Monday through Friday, was filled with a class.

  “The American Criminal Justice System,” she read from the schedule, noticing the class in his schedule for the next afternoon. You picked CJ for your major?”

  Javier nodded and twisted the top off his drink. “Something wrong with that?”

  “No, I just wish I’d known is all.”

  His dar
k brows drew close. “If I said I was coming, you would have met me?"

  “Well, yeah. We’re still friends, right? I mean, all that stuff…” She waved her hand, at a loss for words, then sighed and handed back his schedule.

  “I hope so.”

  “We are, and this is all great. Not what I expected, but great. Just don’t crack under the pressure, yeah? I mean, this is a lot of classes—shit, twenty-seven credit hours. Are you a masochist or something? I didn’t even know this was permitted.”

  “I had to receive written permission. I told them I’m a dragon, and I don’t need to sleep.”

  “Even dragons need to sleep.”

  “Eventually. I’ll hibernate during the summer. Part of the summer, anyway.”

  “Oh. Well… In that case, I’m happy for you, Javier. Are you sure you’ll be okay, though?”

  Visible tension lifted from the dragon across from her and his broad shoulders loosened. He folded the schedule again and returned it to his pocket. “I’ll make it. Besides, I didn't come for free time, and I’ve had enough partying. Finding that kid made me realize what I’m missing out on, so I’m playing catch up.” His smile thawed the remaining ice around her heart until Yasmin battled shifter instincts to stay in her seat. With every breath, the smell of him filled her nostrils, like rain in a misty rainforest.

  Then she reminded herself Javier wasn’t at UTSA for her. Though his parents had the money to send him anywhere in the world and to the best schools, he’d probably picked San Antonio because it was closest to home. Definitely not for her.

  Or maybe it was for her.

  Yasmin dismissed that arrogant thought. A man with his pick of all the beauties on the islands wouldn’t cross hundreds of miles from his own country for her.

  Javier’s green eyes smoldered, one glance holding her transfixed. Then his smile broadened. “I did hope to cross paths with you though. I’m sorry I missed saying goodbye, Yasmin. I really am.”

  Her throat tightened. He didn’t really owe her an apology—saving a kid was absolutely a justifiable reason for missing her departure, even if it didn’t explain the month of silence that followed. “It’s in the past. Like I said, I’m happy for you—proud even. You got a kid back to his mom and you figured out what to do with your life.”