The Snow Leopard's Christmas Surprise

by Emilia Hartley

  “What the hell?” he muttered.

  “I was that dragon,” Rhiannon informed him. She desperately wanted to pull this man’s attention from Gareth because the promise of violence in his voice was palpable.

  The man’s lips pulled back from his teeth as his brows lowered over his eyes. He suddenly lunged at her. Her reaction timing was slow, but hands grabbed her. Gareth spun her around and put himself between them. She heard the tearing of cloth and Gareth’s hiss of pain.

  “Would you care to let us explain what happened?” Gareth said through his pain.

  “What I want is for you to stop causing trouble that affects the whole family. What you and your stray did last night put all of us in the way of immediate danger. How dare you bring an agent of GOE into our home, dragon or not. She works for them.”

  Rhiannon spoke from beneath the shelter of Gareth’s body. “I didn’t know that I was a dragon until the other morning. I found a silver implant.”

  Silence filled the room. Rhiannon was acutely aware that Gareth was bleeding. The smell touched her nose and set her beast into a pure panic. Her lips pulled back from her own teeth in a feral gesture. Her beast would not let anyone hurt Gareth again.

  Rhiannon slipped out from beneath Gareth’s body to cover him from the intruder. She’d been trained to fight, to protect. She could take him on if he attacked because she was expecting it now.

  She wasn’t expecting the intruder to be standing with a dumbstruck look on his face. His eyes roved over her, taking her in from a whole new perspective.

  “How old are you?” His voice was barely more than a whisper, but she heard him with her improved hearing.

  “What does that matter?”

  “Just tell me,” he pleaded.

  She studied his face, wondering what was going on behind his cold eyes. He clearly knew something that she didn’t. He knew something about where she might have come from. The urge to know everything was suddenly overwhelming. The world had been ripped out from beneath her like a rug. Here was her chance to rebuild it.

  “I’m thirty-five,” she said.

  The man seemed to do a bit of thinking, possibly a bit of math, before he spoke again. “The timeline almost adds up.”

  Gareth let himself fall to the floor. He sat cross-legged, his head in his hands. Rhiannon startled, sliding to the floor beside him. Her hands touched his face, trying to pull his gaze back up to her. He looked back at her with half-lidded eyes.

  “Fret not, lass. He’s healing. Just remember to get him a snack once the wounds close. Though I doubt he would attack you.”

  Rhiannon stayed where she was beside Gareth, her fingers wrapped around his wrist to keep watch over his pulse. Her stomach swayed, caught between caring for her only ally and learning who she really was.

  “Right then,” the man said before leaving the room. She wanted to call after him, but Gareth collapsed onto her. His head fell onto her shoulder. She wrapped her arm around him protectively.

  Gareth’s heart beat slowed, but remained beneath her fingertips. His breathing deepened into something closer to sleep and her beast’s fierce protectiveness began to fade. Footsteps announced the return of the older man. She looked up as he placed a plate with two thick sandwiches on a table beside her.

  Her stomach grumbled in response. Layered with meat, cheese, and garden vegetables it looked divine in that moment. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d eaten.

  “Take one while I tell you a short story.” The man seated himself on an armchair before looking down at her.

  Eating in front of him felt inappropriate, but her stomach won the battle over manners. She snatched up a sandwich and voraciously bit into it. The spice of mustard greeted her past the smooth dairy of cheese. In moments, she’d inhaled the sandwich and found herself craving more. The change between shapes must have drained her of more energy than she thought.

  “You can feed yourself properly when I am finished,” the man said. “First, hear me out. About thirty-eight years ago a dragon couple left the Snowdonia Territory as emissaries. They worked with Human Dragon Relations in an effort to broaden our rights as Welsh Citizens. It meant a lot to them as they just had their first child. They were supposed to be the poster family for dragon families inside the territory. It was the perfect plan. Their daughter was quiet and had a somber way of looking at the world. People like it when children don’t cry or throw temper tantrums, so, naturally, they loved her.

  “A few years after their campaign began, it was said that they attacked agents of GOE. The agents said they used deadly force to protect the civilians on the premises and, in the process, the young girl died with her parents.

  “For the longest time, I couldn’t fathom why Jacob would attack anyone. He was a quiet dragon with a long history of honor. His wife was human. I told myself that if anyone harassed his mate, it might explain why he would attack. I wouldn’t put it past GOE agents to harass a woman. I served in the military and I know how it can be in those kinds of environments.”

  Rhiannon snorted. She’d been a woman in that environment. She’d seen the looks thrown in her direction during office hours or during PT. For years, she assumed the only reason they didn’t act on those looks was because they didn’t want to offend Wilson. How many of those gawkers had known exactly what she was?

  “The timeline adds up and the more that I think about Jacob and Annie, the more that I can see them in your face. GOE must have kept you after they killed your parents. They implanted you with silver to keep your beast under control as you grew older. It makes sense for a toddler who never experienced a change to forget that she was more than human.”

  Jacob.

  Annie.

  Chapter Eight

  Gareth sucked in a ragged breath. His beast shoved him into consciousness, raging and upset. They’d left Rhiannon alone with Drystan. While Gareth knew that Drystan would not try to hurt his mate, his beast didn’t want to leave that up to chance. Drystan had been furious when he arrived. That kind of anger didn’t vanish into thin air.

  The beast forced him to surge to his feet. Wide eyed, he scanned the room, his body poised to defend.

  Two pairs of eyes looked up at him, one with confusion and the other with laughter. Nothing was broken. Even the air seemed calm and reserved. Gareth sank back down beside his mate, putting a protective hand around her shoulder. She shot him a look of annoyance, but he couldn’t help himself.

  Rhiannon leaned away from him and it took all of his control not to yank her back into the shelter of his body. A second later she leaned back into his form and presented a plate of food. His heart warmed even though he was fairly certain that she did not put together the sandwich on the plate. It wasn’t something he’d ever felt before.

  “Drystan said you would need to eat.” Her voice was flat, but he saw the concern flicker through her eyes. He didn’t know what she’d gone through while he was healing. It made him angry to think that Drystan had forced the situation. He was a ferocious leader that was forced to keep a handful of young dragons in line, but he hadn’t bothered to wait for questions to be answered this time.

  His leader was teetering on the edge of balance. With GOE directed not only at his Territory, but his family, the leader’s beast must be in an uproar all the time. Gareth tried his hardest to understand where his leader was coming from. Sometimes force got things done, but not all of the time. Gareth couldn’t help himself when he lifted dark eyes toward Drystan.

  Drystan held his hands up, palms facing out. “I did not harm your…” his eyes fell on Rhiannon and Gareth could see the snap decision being made. “I did not harm your friend.”

  Gareth was grateful that Drystan chose to leave the word mate unsaid. Rhiannon’s life was upside down at the moment, with the discovery of the beast inside of her and the betrayal of her co-workers. She didn’t need the word mate thrust upon her like a binding. She was too wild for that. Gareth wanted to win her over, to earn her trust
and love so that their bond meant something.

  “I would like to see photos of the people you speak of,” Rhiannon said.

  Gareth looked between her and his leader, not following the conversation. What had he missed while he was healing? Apparently, food had been prepared, but that wasn’t all that happened.

  Drystan nodded. “I’m sure that with some time I could dig up something. At the very least, Maggie could do it. She’s the one that knows where everything is in the house.”

  “Thank you,” Rhiannon said, her voice little more than a whisper.

  Gareth turned to search her face for answers. Perhaps she would tell him later what happened. If not, he would leave the subject alone. It was her decision. He only wished, at that moment, that he could lean in and nuzzle her cheek or bury his face in her neck to breathe in her scent. She was his mate and she was here with him.

  “Until then,” Drystan added. “I would advise teaching your friend here a bit more about being a dragon. Given what has happened to her, she is woefully unprepared for the times to come.”

  “Times to come?” Gareth asked, finally turning his attention away from Rhiannon and toward his leader.

  Drystan turned toward Gareth, eyes narrowed. He could see the tic in Drystan’s jaw. “Because of the events that passed last night, GOE has convinced the local government to launch an attack on the Territory. The government’s goal is to shut down the Territory, but everyone in this room knows that GOE’s goal is to see us eradicated.”

  “Fucking Elgar,” Gareth muttered. It was that ancient ass’s fault that any of this was happening. If his mate hadn’t been an attention whore she might have lived. If Elgar had loved her better, she wouldn’t have been killed.

  The events of the Occurrence had nearly been repeated last month. Gareth doubted that his cousin would have gone off the deep end the same way that Elgar had, but no one knew how someone would react until the worst actually happened.

  “What’s done is done,” Drystan announced. “We cannot go back and undo the past. Elgar is paying for his wrong doings the only way that he can. That leaves us to deal with what is happening now.”

  Elgar’s penance was that he was slowly going mad. Little by little, chalice by chalice, the geezer of a dragon had convinced himself that he could find the holy grail to revive his lost mate. The two of them barely had a month together. It was long enough for Elgar to have a taste of happiness before GOE destroyed it.

  Gareth looked toward his mate again. She was nothing like Elgar’s mate, the woman he met so long ago. Whereas Elgar’s mate was frivolous and needy, Rhiannon was a warrior that surpassed him. She would not be brought down by anyone or anything. Fear roiled inside of him, tossing and turning. There was always the chance he could lose her. He almost had last night. Gareth shoved down the fear. He had to trust that she would survive.

  “What are you looking at?” She snapped at him.

  He smiled. He couldn’t help it. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Drystan’s surprise at seeing an expression of happiness on Gareth’s face.

  “I’m looking at a baby dragon,” he informed her. “We should pack some food and head into the forest so that you can get to know your beast a little better.”

  Her brows knit together. “Are you suggesting a picnic?”

  He thought about her words. “I guess that I am. Sounds weird coming from a male, right?”

  She nodded before pushing herself off the floor. “It certainly isn’t something I would have suggested, but I’m not against the idea of it.”

  Gareth still wondered what the two of them spoke about while he was unconscious. Clearly it was not the mate bond that was still unspoken between them. He remembered that she asked for photos of people that Drystan must have been familiar with. Had they uncovered her true past? Her parentage?

  Drystan pulled Gareth aside while Rhiannon gathered food for their so-called picnic. Gareth felt his jaw clench as he awaited the coming conversation. They stepped outside, putting a solid door between them and Rhiannon. Gareth didn’t like letting her out of his sight, but at least she was inside his home. If anywhere, she was safe there. He turned toward his leader, waiting to hear what he expected.

  “Just because she is a dragon, does not mean that she can be trusted.”

  “Be careful of what you say about my mate,” Gareth growled from between clenched teeth.

  Drystan laid a heavy hand on Gareth’s shoulder, fingers sinking into muscle. “She was raised by GOE, trained to hate and kill us. She could still bear loyalty to them, no matter what she is on the inside. The trap she supposedly escaped last night could very well be a set up for us. If we trust her and let her in, then she could destroy us from the inside. You and I both know that it isn’t the first time that GOE has worked with a dragon.”

  Gareth remembered the white dragon that attacked Wesley. They both knew what that was about. They knew that the time would come when the white dragon family would return to reclaim the land they lost centuries ago. Gareth had paid attention when his grandfather spoke, absorbing his stories as portents.

  “She isn’t a white dragon,” Gareth reminded Drystan.

  “The color of a dragon’s scales doesn’t determine who they are,” Drystan said. “It is how you act that makes you who you are. And, we have seen her on the side of GOE too often to trust her implicitly, mate or not. Perhaps you would do well to share the bond with her to win her loyalty.”

  Gareth knew it wouldn’t work like that with Rhiannon. If anything she would scoff or, worse, downright deny his claim.

  “You want me to take her out for training to see if she’s lying. Don’t you?”

  Drystan’s eyes sparkled, but he didn’t reply. He turned away, leaving Gareth alone at his door. Gareth turned to open his front door and found Rhiannon standing in the doorway. A basket hung between her hands, making her seem innocent and young for a split second. It reminded him of a child he knew years ago.

  His stomach hit the floor when he realized what Drystan and Rhiannon spoke about earlier. He’d met her before. She had only been a child then. Now, the tiny, intense child had grown into an intense woman.

  “Holy shit,” he whispered.

  Her brows fell together and her eyes narrowed. The fire inside of her burst to life. He could see the tendrils of black smoke rising from her hands. He yanked the basket from her hands before she burned through the handles, chuckling to himself.

  “What are you laughing about?” She demanded to know.

  He shook his head. “I’m just thinking that teaching you to fly is going to be fun. I can’t wait to watch you get stuck in the trees.”

  Which, she did. Once they reached a clearing large enough for two dragons to occupy, Gareth threw down the basket and let loose his beast. The giant scaled body burst into being and turned gold eyes down to their mate. She looked up, unimpressed.

  Gareth felt his beast grow angry. Smoke hissed from his nostrils before the beast threw its head back and roared into the forest. His scales were a brilliant, fiery red that ended in darkness near his talons and the tip of his tail. He was easily the largest of the dragons in Snowdonia. On second thought, he’d never seen Elgar’s dragon before.

  Still, his beast raised his head above the trees and scanned the top of the forest while they waited for Rhiannon to pull forth her beast. Long moments passed and nothing happened. He looked down to find the tiny woman scowling at the forest floor.

  What is wrong with her? She changed last night.

  When her life was threatened, Gareth thought. Now, that was not the case. She had little connection to the beast inside of her and a heavy connection to her human form. It was probably difficult to give in to the beast’s form.

  Gareth lowered his head to the ground so that he could look mockingly up at Rhiannon. She huffed and kicked him in the nose.

  “This isn’t funny,” she hissed. Her face was red from the effort of forcing the change.

  It wasn’t
funny. She could be pretending to have a problem changing shape, Drystan’s voice whispered through his mind. Gareth shoved the thought to the back. No, she was not pretending.

  He had an idea.

  Gareth ambled past her. He circled the grove, his head low like a cat stalking prey. As he entered her field of vision, he knew he caught her attention. She froze. He let wisps of smoke rise from his nostrils and the corners of his mouth. If her body reacted to the need to survive, he would give her something to run from.

  Carefully, of course.

  The ground shook as he burst into a run toward her. The trees shook. Her scream filled the clearing. His mate took off running, making a break for the tree line. He was too large to fit between the thick trunks of the trees. She was too smart for his scare tactics.

  His beast huffed.

  “Are you mad?” she screamed from within the woods.

  The beast grumbled a response. He laid down on the grass, letting his head touch the ground. Like a cat, his attention never left her. Gold eyes followed her movement as she entered the clearing once more. She turned angry eyes up to him and he laughed.

  “Don’t be a cock.” She kicked his nose. It stung just a little. She was strong and she was pissed off.

  He needed her to be scared.

  His clawed hand swept out and wrapped around her. Her feet left the ground, kicking beneath her. He spread his wings wide and beat them against the air. It was hard to believe a dragon his size could lift off the ground the way he did. His body lifted into the air and Rhiannon started to truly struggle in his hand.

  He wanted to tell her to change, to escape his grasp. Words were hard in his dragon form. She punched his clawed hand and turned her eyes up to glare at him. Below them, the gap between them and the ground was lengthening. He wouldn’t drop her, not on his life. But, she didn’t know that.

  He hated having to do this to her, but she couldn’t remain in one form forever. She needed to learn to control her shapes before she lost control of it. If she were outside the Territory again and lost control, she could cause a riot.