Midfield Academy: Book 3

Chapter 85: Tension (16 years, 8 months)

Liam hated him. Cyrus didn't know how to respond. The sub hated him. He cursed under his breath a draped an arm over his eyes. Now what? He rolled onto his side and ran his finger along the smooth surface one of the many crystals in his dad's collection. Turning to his stomach, he gazed off into different shades of pink in a large geode in front of him.

"Cyrus?"

The young dominant didn't move as his tail flicked back and forth in annoyance.

River shuffled inside, picking at the fur on his arm. "Is something wrong?"

"Nope..." He traced the different cracks inside the rock.

The sub knelt down beside his son. "You did great tonight. Your father and Trevor were talking about it downstairs."

"Hmm..."

"You'll get to play more next time." River ran his fingers through his son's head fur. "You keep improving with every game."

"I don't care about that," Cyrus muttered.

River leaned down with a smile. "Liam was there."

The dominant groaned and pulled at his ears.

"What?" The sub perked up. "I thought you wanted him there."

"He hates me." He wrapped his arms around his head. "I messed up again."

"What do you mean? What happened?"

"I was doing what father said and trying to act all cool. I stopped some of the other team's members from harassing him. They wouldn't go away, so I told them we were engaged to get them to back off. Liam flipped. He chewed me out and now he hates me."

River moved around and lifted his son's head into his lap. He stroked the boy's cheek. "It's hard for subs, and Liam, well he's an independent boy."

"I want him to like me too." Cyrus pouted at the wall as his ears splayed out. "It's all ruined. I never would have even started basketball if I would've known he'd come to hate me." He breathed out through his nose. "I should have tried some other sport. I think Liam like football better."

River kept playing with the boy's fur to help Cyrus calm down. "Have you been feeling alright?"

"I'm fine, dad. I came in here for a reason. I got it under control." He glanced around at the crystals. They had a soothing presence about them which helped with his temper.

"If something's wrong, you can tell me? It's nothing to be ashamed of. Just like with Jesse. You can't control it."

Cyrus sat up and frowned. "Jesse throws up on people. I send people to the hospital for no other reason than they looked at me wrong. It's a little different."

River placed his hand over his son's which was clenched. He rubbed it until Cyrus's relaxed. Little trails of blood surrounded the puncture holes in Cyrus's palm made from his claws.

"Your dad went through it, so did Trevor," said River. "We're going to keep working at it and sooner or later, you'll get it under control just like them."

The dominant's shoulders rolled forward. He moved over and laid his head on his dad's shoulder. "I don't even know what I'm so worked up about. If Liam doesn't want to be with me, then I should just move on."

"We could tell Jesse?"

"No!" Cyrus shot upright. "You promised. You promised you'd never tell. Father thinks it's some girl. If he found out it was Liam, I'd never hear the end of it." He flopped onto the ground.