“I can’t imagineyoubeing arrogant,”Thystle remarked.
I let out a dry chuckle. “I’m glad you didn’t know me back then. I was... a mess. Behind the scenes, we drank and partied too hard. You know, typical dumb stuff you do as a young celebrity.”
Thystle tilted his head. “I never thought about that. I always assumed you guys had the coolest lives.”
“That depends on your definition of cool,” I mused. “It was fun for a while, sure, but I got sick of it.”
“You got sick of making music?” Thystle asked. He sounded heartbroken.
I shook my head. “No. Never. My art was my passion. But I got sick of the drama, the paparazzi, the gossip, the marketing, the endless pushing from agents...” A haggard sigh escaped me as I leaned further into Thystle’s side. “It got to me.”
Thystle let out a sympathetic growl as he nuzzled my cheek. “I’m sorry, Matteo. I had no idea the lifestyle was so hard on you.”
I gave him a half-smile. “It wouldn’t have been so bad if I had a support system. But the people who were supposed to be there for me... weren’t. Vani and Keaux felt differently about the lifestyle. They loved it.”
“So, what happened?” Thystle asked.
“One night, I decided to tell them the truth. I never wanted to quit TalonStorm, or stop making music. I just wanted to slow down, to put the brakes on the hard-and-fast shit. I didn’t want us to crash and burn.” My gaze fell to the sand as the memories came back to me. I found myself stroking Thystle’s scales like I was petting a therapy dog. “And... there was something else. I wanted to find my fated mate.”
His amethyst gaze flashed. “You say that like it was a problem.”
“It was,” I explained. “They didn’t want to hear anything about finding a partner, or settling down. They thought it’d take away from our non-stop party lifestyle.”
A puzzled growl rumbled in Thystle’s throat. “But why? Doesn’t every shifter want to find their fated mate? It’s instinct.”
There it was. The big lie.
I turned to face him. “Vani and Keaux aren’t shifters. They’re humans. Out of the three members of TalonStorm, I was the only shifter. The odd one out.”
Thystle stared at me wide-eyed, like I’d tilted his entire world on its axis. He groaned and put a paw to his forehead.
“But TalonStorm was supposed to be a shifter band,” he said. “What about the animal masks, the costumes?”
“That’s all they were. Masks. An act. Vani and Keaux just pretended to be shifters. It was part of the marketing. After all, who’d ever know, right? It’s not like society encourages us to shift into our animal forms. Not even celebrities.” I sighed, rubbing my arm. “I can’t really blame them for lying, though. It was our agent who suggested it as a way to stand out from other bands at the time. It’s hard to say no when someone in the business tells you to do something.”
Thystle’s forked tongue stuck out as he hissed. “I can’t believe this. No wonder they didn’t understand your instincts.”
I nodded sadly. “The night I told them, they both lost it. They accused me of being arrogant, because I was the lead singer and face of the band.” I stared up at the star-speckled sky. “Maybe it was my fault for telling them that night. We’d all had too much to drink, and I was really in my feelings.”
“It isnotyour fault that they freaked out,” Thystle assured me. “They were your friends. They should’ve made the effort to understand you.”
A lump formed in my throat. This whole conversation felt like ripping open an unhealed wound, yet Thystle’s support made it easier. I wouldn’t have been able to discuss this with anyone else. That was why I kept it to myself for so long.
But baring my heart to a dragon? Totally doable.
“What happened next?” Thystle urged.
“We all blew up. There was an explosive argument that night.” I grimaced at the memory. “I figured we could sleep it off and regroup to talk the next morning, but that didn’t happen. Instead, Vani and Keaux kicked me out of TalonStorm. They didn’t want me in the band anymore, so they dissolved it instead.”
All of Thystle’s spines flared. “Are you serious? That’s total bullshit!”
“I thought so, too. But they were too angry to listen. They’d made up their minds.”
“Did you fight back?” Thystle demanded.
“How could I? It was two humans against one shifter.” I drew up my knees to my chest. “It was a big, ugly misunderstanding I wished never happened.”
A sympathetic growl reverberated in Thystle’s throat as he rubbed his snout against my cheek. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea. When TalonStorm broke up, I was too devastated to find out why. I hate knowing it caused you so much pain.”
