Page 1 of The Dragon's Mate

Chapter One

“I knew it. You’re fucking faggots.”

Tyler’s stomach dropped and he pulled hismouth away from Corey’s. He looked behind him and fear slipped into his gut.Jeff Howell, along with three of his football teammates, were standing behindthem.

Corey’s cold and shaking hand slipped intohis, and Tyler squeezed it tightly.

“Get lost, Jeff,” he said with a bravery hedidn’t feel. He glanced at Corey. The smaller boy’s face was pale and pinchedwith worry, and Tyler’s fear heightened.

“It’ll be okay, honey,” he said under hisbreath.

“It’ll be okay, honey,” Jeff mimicked in ahigh-pitched voice. He shook his head with disgust. “Jesus, you two aregross.”

Tyler didn’t reply. He’d been schoolmateswith Jeff since kindergarten and he knew from experience the best way to handlehim was to ignore his taunts. Although Tyler had never publicly announced hewas gay and had done his best to quietly blend in, he’d been targeted by Jeffand his oafish friends for most of his life.

“Tyler, let’s go.” Corey tugged on Tyler’shand, and Jeff glanced at his friends. They spread out in a loose circlearound them and Corey made a quiet moan of fear.

They were too far into the woods for anyoneto help them. They’d ridden their bikes to the edge of the woods and he andCorey had walked for nearly an hour through the trees to the long, wide riverthat wound its way through the woods. Tyler had grown up on the outskirts ofthe city and spent many happy hours playing in the woods. Now, he lived withhis father in an apartment in the heart of the city.

Adrenaline was lighting sparks through hisveins. Corey had moved to the city two years ago, and although Tyler was awareof him, had admired the way his lean, lithe body moved when he played soccer,it wasn’t until this final year of high school that he and Corey starteddating. Corey, the captain of the school’s soccer team, was failing Spanish,and Tyler was assigned to tutor him. It hadn’t taken long for them to fall inlove.

Tyler squeezed Corey’s hand again. Theyhad kept it quiet, in fact many of the girls in their grade regularly swoonedover Corey, and Tyler had no idea how Jeff had figured it out.

“Why the fuck you’d want to stick your dickup his ass instead of some girl’s pussy, I’ll never fucking know.” Jeff shookhis head again. “Or are you the bottom? You strike me as the kind of guy wholikes to take it up the ass.”

“You seem to know a lot about thelifestyle, Jeff,” Tyler said. “Are you and your friends a little closer thanyou want people to know?”

Corey moaned again as Jeff’s face turnedbright red. “You’ll pay for that, you fucking faggot.”

“Original. Of course, I can’t reallyexpect someone with your IQ to come up with better insults, can I?”

“Tyler, shut up,” Corey whispered.

Tyler shook his head. The fear on Corey’sface, the way his body trembled, had buried Tyler’s own fear under a sudden hotand throbbing pulse of anger, and he embraced the unfamiliar feeling.

“You and your idiot friends should leave,Jeff,” Tyler said.

“Oh, we’re not leaving until we teach you whathappens to queers like you. What you’re doing is sick.” Jeff and his friendsclosed in on them. “We’ll see how you feel about your little boyfriend whenyou’re in the hospital with a broken -”

He took a step back when Tyler suddenlythrew himself at him. He rammed his shoulder into Jeff’s stomach, knocking thebigger boy backwards, as he shouted, “Corey! Run!”

He dropped on Jeff and swung his fist. Hishand screamed in agony when it connected with Jeff’s broad jaw, but Tylerignored it grimly and raised his hand again, smashing his fist into Jeff’snose.

Jeff howled with anger and threw Tyler tothe ground. He pounced on him, wrapping his large arm around his neck andhauling him into a sitting position as his nose gushed blood down Tyler’sshoulder and arm.

He squeezed tightly as Tyler choked andclawed frantically at his arm. He released it enough for Tyler to drag in awhooping gasp of air.

“You and your boyfriend are going to burnin hell,” Jeff whispered.

Eyes bulging, Tyler watched as Jeff’s friendsknocked Corey to the ground and kicked him in the ribs and back.

“Corey!” Tyler tried to scream as one ofthe boys delivered a brutal kick to Corey’s face and his eyes rolled up in hishead.

“What the fuck?” Jeff’s hot breath puffedin his ear and his arm relaxed around his neck.

“Corey?” Tyler whispered. Corey’s limpbody was rippling and changing, and the boys watched in fascination as heshifted to a small, orange fox. Blood trickled steadily from the fox’snostrils as one of the boys reached down and prodded at it with the toe of hissneaker.

“Holy fuck.” He turned to Jeff. “He’s aparanormal.”

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