A Dragon for December (Wiccan-Were-Bear Book 11) (2 page)

“I will be doing no such thing. I will find
my mate when it is the right time, and I would never consider
forcing the issue by going to the Wiccans. You’ll do well to put
the thought far from your mind, uncle.” Tosh stood and addressed
the group. “We’re adjourned until next month.”

The males left quickly, his uncle among the
first out the door. Tosh moved to the windows and stared out at the
woods that surrounded his hometown. His dragon growled softly as
Tosh considered that his uncle might have more sinister motives in
mind. Tugging his phone from his back pocket, he called his guards
into the room. They joined him quickly.

He explained what had occurred during the
meeting, and the four males growled.

“It makes no sense,” Zixin, one of his oldest
friends, said. “It has never made sense that your uncle thought he
should become king. He was a blood relation to your mother, not
your father, and our ruling line passes from father to son, not
brother-in-law to brother-in-law.”

“Maybe he thought I was too young.”

Wei scoffed. “You were technically
eighty-five years old. Humans retire from work before that age. You
were hardly a spring chicken.”

Tosh looked at his most trusted friends and
guards. “We need to be vigilant. It wouldn’t surprise me if my
uncle made a bid for the throne under an obscure law about me not
having my mate. He mentioned specifically that I’m technically one
hundred years old.”

“I’ll ask my sister to look in the archives,”
Dai said. “She loves those old books.”

“We’ll increase security around the house as
well,” Lok said. “We would respectfully request that you don’t go
anywhere without one of us.”

Tosh knew that the constant guards would be a
hassle, even if they were people he’d known his entire life and
trusted.

Zixin smiled. “We could always just kill him.
That would solve a lot of problems.”

Tosh shook his head. “You’re always full of
such wonderful ideas.”

“I’m just saying,” Zixin said. “Sometimes
easiest is best.”

Lok sobered. “We won’t let you down, Tosh. If
he thinks he can worm his way onto the throne because you’re not
mated, he’s got another thing coming.”

Tosh shook all of their hands. “I trust
you.”

When his guards were gone, Tosh left the
conference room and headed into the kitchen. He lived in the home
he’d grown up in, which was impeccably maintained. The ten-bedroom
house was stately and reminded him of the kind of manor that could
be found in historical films based in the Old South. It was
tradition for the king and his family to live in the center of the
town, and Tosh hadn’t wanted to be the first one to break it. The
house had been torn down and rebuilt every few hundred years. He’d
read old records that described the different homes throughout the
generations, some of them modest and some of them grand.

In the kitchen, his assistant, Gen, looked up
from where he laid slices of green apples artfully on a plate. The
four-hundred-year-old male had also been Tosh’s father’s assistant
and was an invaluable male. “I was just fixing you a snack,
sire.”

“You’ve got good timing.” Tosh sat down at
the kitchen table, and Gen brought the plate to him, along with a
glass of lemonade.

“Is everything all right, sire?” Gen asked
with his hands folded neatly in front of him and his head bowed
respectfully.

“Nothing that can’t be handled.” He took a
bite of apple and looked at the male. “How old were you when you
mated?”

He lifted his head slowly, a smile gracing
his features. “Liu and I were childhood sweethearts. When I shifted
into my dragon form, I knew immediately that we were truemates. I
think I had known before that, though. We’d been very drawn to each
other. We mated officially when she was eighteen and I was eighteen
plus one.”

Liu was one of the housekeepers that Tosh
employed in the house. He liked to use members of the nest to care
for the large home. He knew if he left it up to himself, that the
house would fall into disrepair. He wasn’t much for cooking and
cleaning, and the nest business kept him busy.

Gen said, “You’ll find your mate when the
time is right. The fates are never wrong.”

“I know. It’s been a long time, though. My
parents mated when they were eighteen plus two.”

“There’s nothing in the laws that says a male
must find his truemate in a certain amount of time. When the stars
align, things will happen.”

“You’re pretty sure of yourself,” Tosh
said.

Gen shrugged. “It’s the way of our people to
find our truemates. Yours will seek you out or you will find her
yourself, of that I have no doubt.”

Tosh liked his enthusiasm. He dismissed Gen
and went back to his snack, opening the browser on his phone to
read the news. Someday he would be sitting at the table with his
mate and their kids, and that was a future that he greatly wished
would start soon.

* * *

Tosh rolled over with a groan and stared at
the ceiling. His dragon stretched and rolled under his skin, and he
had the urge to shift and go hunting. His dreams had been strange
and unsettling. He’d been wandering in the dark and searching for
someone or something, and there had been a sense of urgency that
had woken him up more than once. Glancing at the clock on the
nightstand, he saw that it was near dawn. His body ached, and he
felt as though he hadn’t rested at all because he’d woken up so
frequently.

Sitting up, he cracked his neck and groaned.
He could shift and go hunting, which his dragon urged, but he
really didn’t have the time. He had meetings all day, along with a
dinner at the home of a newly mated couple. Promising his snarling
dragon that they would make time to go hunting soon, he rose and
trudged to the bathroom to get ready for the day. He couldn’t
recall having such a bad night in a long time. It reminded him of
when he’d been ready to shift for the first time at four, when his
aching bones and the prowling dragon in his mind had kept him from
resting well. This was different, though. He was anxious in a way
he couldn’t explain.

Shoving his wayward thoughts to the back of
his mind, he prepared for the day. He was the prince of his nest,
and he couldn’t put his people on hold because his dragon was being
pissy and he hadn’t gotten a good night’s rest. There was no
“clocking out” for him like humans who worked regular jobs. He was
the leader of his people, and that was an around-the-clock job. He
wouldn’t trade it for anything, but right now he’d give his right
fang for a nap.

His dragon growled in agreement.

Chapter 3

Deci blinked at the bright light as she
trudged into the kitchen.

“Morning, sleepy head,” Alli said, humming
happily as she made breakfast.

Deci murmured a response, entirely
uninterested in having a conversation before the sun completely
rose for the day. “Not a morning person” didn’t even begin to
describe her.

Alli set a plate of eggs and bacon in front
of Deci and then a cup of coffee. Deci inhaled the scent of the
brew, her bear rumbling in agreement that coffee was just what they
needed.

“You okay, hon?” Alli asked as she sat at the
small table.

Deci yawned as she fixed her coffee with milk
and sugar. “I didn’t sleep well.”

“Did the bed bother you? The mattress is
pretty firm.”

“I don’t think it was the bed. I kept waking
up and feeling like I should be out searching for something. It was
weird.”

Alli hummed. “That’s strange. The new moon is
tonight. Is that important to your kind?”

“You’re thinking of wolves and the full
moon.”

“I know it’s not the full moon and that
you’re not a wolf, but some of the shifter groups have different
rituals during the month.”

“We don’t have to shift and hunt at any
particular time.” After taking a slow sip of her coffee, she put
down the mug and rubbed her temple.

Alli frowned. “Can I do anything to
help?”

“I’m sure it’ll be better tonight.”

“Good.” She smiled and turned her attention
to her plate.

While Deci ate, Alli talked about her plans
for the day and their joint plans for the evening.

“I wanted my friend Arissa to come over
tonight to meet you, but she’s busy with her mate. They’re looking
for a place away from the club, like a vacation home. Since he
doesn’t go out in the daytime, they have to do their house hunting
at night.”

“That would suck.”

“I don’t know. She gets to live forever. Not
being able to get a tan seems like a good trade-off for eternity
with a sexy guy.”

Deci snorted. “You’re already immortal.”

Fallen angels kept their immortality even
when they chose to lose their wings.

“I know, but I’m single. Unlike vampires, I
can’t turn my mate immortal like myself, so I’d outlive even a
shifter’s long life.”

“You’d still get a lot of good years with
him, though. There’s a mated couple in my sister’s den who’ve been
together for more than a thousand years.”

Alli made a face. “I hope he cleans up after
himself. Can you imagine picking up some guy’s dirty shorts for a
thousand years?”

“Maybe you don’t mind when he’s your
truemate.”

“I think I’d
always
mind.”

After breakfast, Deci helped Alli clean the
apartment, and then they went to see a movie.

When they returned home, Alli said, “Are you
ready to go dancing?”

“I think I need to rest. My bear is acting up
and has been since last night,” Deci said, rolling her neck. “You
should go out and have fun. I don’t want you to stay home because
of me. It’s not like I’m leaving tomorrow. I’m here for two
weeks.”

“If you’re sure?” Alli asked, her brows drawn
together in concern.

“I am. I’m just going to crash and hope that
whatever is bugging my bear calms down overnight. I probably just
need a good night’s sleep.”

“Or to get laid.”

“Sex doesn’t solve everything.”

“It doesn’t hurt either. Unless you’re doing
it wrong.”

“Go. Have fun. Be safe.” Deci kissed Alli on
the cheek and went into the spare bedroom. She flopped down on the
bed and ordered her bear to let her rest. She was sure that sleep
was what she needed, no matter how enticing the idea of tumbling on
the sheets with a male was to her bear.

* * *

Deci woke with a start, her claws extended
and her fangs sliding from her gums. Her body was on fire, her skin
tingling and damp with perspiration. The comforter shredded as she
rolled to her knees, and her claws dug into the fabric for
purchase. Her bear rolled under her skin, and she cried out,
holding onto her humanity by a thread. The need to be in her bear
form consumed her.

Her hands trembled as she lifted her tablet
from the nightstand, and using her knuckles since her claws
wouldn’t recede, she opened an app with a local map. She hastily
located a wooded area and calculated the distance. It was too far
for her to walk, and she knew she wouldn’t last in her human form
if she tried. The last thing she wanted to do was freak out anyone
in her bear shift. Not bothering to dress, she grabbed her car keys
from her purse and raced out of Alli’s apartment to her car.
Remembering the directions she’d seen on the app, she tried her
best to calm herself and her bear as she drove as swiftly as she
could, mindful of her claws as she curled her hands around the
steering wheel. Her vision was hazy, and her head throbbed as her
body flamed with sensation. The closer she got to the woods, the
more anxious her bear grew.

She pulled her car onto a grassy area next to
the edge of the woods and turned off the engine. Placing the keys
underneath the seat, she climbed from the car and inhaled deeply.
She thought her bear might be placated being so close to the woods,
but instead her bear pushed harder, and Deci lost the ability to
hold onto her human body. Her shift exploded within her, and she
shouted in pain as her bear forced her to shift far faster than she
ever had before.

Her mind went blank, and her vision darkened
as she fell to the ground, panting for breath. The coldness helped
to cool her down, and she rubbed her snout in the snow as she
closed her eyes, letting the cold seep into her flesh. She was more
at home in the woods than anywhere else.

Giving herself a few moments to recuperate
from her fast shift, she lumbered to her feet and lifted her head.
Inhaling deeply, she sorted through the scents and couldn’t smell
any other predators. She wished she’d asked Alli if there were any
territorial shifters in the area who wouldn’t want her hunting in
their woods, but she hadn’t expected to need to shift. She didn’t
scent wolves, who could be real dicks about their territories, and
she was aware that the bear den in the area was quite far from
where she was. Deciding she would just remain vigilant, she entered
the woods, scenting for prey and wondering why her beast was acting
so nuts.

She hadn’t ever had her shift forced on her
since she was too young to control it. Polar bears shifted at age
fourteen, and it was hard for them to control their beasts at that
age. Several times in her youth she had unexpectedly shifted,
usually because she was overly emotional.

Scenting deer, she turned in the direction
and moved swiftly and quietly through the woods until she found the
trail they’d left behind. She followed the small herd to a stream
and watched through the trees as a large buck bent its head to
drink from the water while does followed his example. Deci eased
forward, her bear excited about the prospect of having fresh
deer.

Drawing as close as she could and still
remain covered, Deci tensed and then rushed from the woods,
barreling into the herd and swiping at the buck. The buck bellowed
in alarm, skidding on the snowy bank as her claws sank into his
flank. He jerked his head toward her, and a sharply pointed antler
nearly took her eye. The buck escaped, bleeding from the claw marks
on his side as he raced into the woods.