Miss Claus and the Christmas Wedding (A Shifter Christmas Romance Book 3)

by J. L. Hendricks

  “It was Salvador who saved me? I knew it was a dragon, but I don’t know his dragon form very well.” I squinted, trying to remember exactly what happened before I passed out. “Plus, it’s all a bit fuzzy still.”

  Just then, the door to my bedroom flew open, and more people than I could count at the moment barreled their way in. My room was full of my family, including my mom and dad, and outside the door were even more people. All of them were talking and asking questions or just saying how glad they were I was alright. It was kind of overwhelming having so many people watching me in bed.

  “Sweetie, I’m so happy to see you awake. How do you feel? Are you still in pain?” My mother moved my hair out of my face and smiled down at me. Then she began to run her hand down my head.

  “I’m okay. I’m just so glad Salvador was there to help me.”

  “Can you tell us what happened?” Rock was at the foot of my bed and looking down at me with a hard face. If he was Superman, his eyes would have been shooting death rays.

  “Um, didn’t Salvador tell you?” I really wasn’t in the mood to discuss the details of my attack. I squirmed under the covers and winced when the movement caused pain.

  “Not now, Rock. Let her get some more rest and heal. I’ll call you when she’s ready to talk about it.” My mom ushered him and everyone else out of the room.

  I caught sight of Salvador when he looked at me with an expression of concern on his face. I couldn’t let him go without saying something.

  “Wait, Salvador. Can you come in?”

  Surprise lit up his features, and he pointed to himself and asked, “Me?”

  I nodded. My throat was still sore, and I wanted to save my voice for him.

  When he was inside, and the rest had moved along, my mom closed the door. It was just my three sisters, mother, father, and the dragon who saved me.

  “Thank you. I don’t think I would have survived much longer if it wasn’t for you. That wolf had somehow thrown me against the tree trunk and hurt my back. I couldn’t get up in time to move away from them. You saved my life. I’ll never be able to repay you for what you’ve done.” I reached a hand out to him, and he walked forward and took it.

  I had tears pricking at the back of my eyes just dying to come out, but I held them at bay. I didn’t want this ferocious dragon to see me so week. It was bad enough he had to see me all bandaged and lying in bed.

  I squeezed his hand. “If you ever need anything, please don’t hesitate to ask. I owe you my life.”

  Salvador looked down at our joined hands and shook his head. “No, you don’t. I’m just glad I was there when you needed me. When you get better, maybe we can train together, and I can show you a few ways to defend against a bigger opponent.”

  He squeezed my hand and leaned over. When he kissed my forehead, I almost gasped. His lips were warm against my skin, and I felt tingles all the way to my toes. At least, I knew I had feeling along my entire body. Hopefully, that meant I wasn’t too injured.

  I wasn’t prepared for the emotions welling up inside of me. One of the tears I was trying so hard to hold back leaked out of my eye. The tenderness Salvador showed me was something I never knew a dragon possessed.

  “I’ll come back to check on you. For now, please be sure to get plenty of rest. I have a feeling you’re going to need it.” My hero smirked and turned to walk out the door.

  My dad got up and walked him out. “Thank you, again. I don’t know what we would have done if you weren’t there to help our little girl.” Dad put his hand on Salvador’s shoulder as they walked out of my room.

  “Can I get a glass of water?” With all that talking, I was parched.

  “Of course, here.” Lizzie walked over and handed me a glass that had been sitting on my nightstand. I hadn’t even noticed it.

  “Thanks.” I took the offered water and drank the entire glass. “Can I get more?”

  Lizzie left to go fill up my glass, and I turned to my mom. “So, what’s the damage?” Even though I could feel my body and wiggle my toes, I was still worried. The way my body hit the tree and the cracking sound I remember hearing could have been enough to do some major damage.

  “Well, you had multiple broken bones, including some ribs. Lacerations were all over your body, which is why you are wrapped up like you are. And, you lost a lot of blood. There was some internal bleeding, too. The good news is that you won’t need surgery because of how quickly you heal. Your body began healing before you even arrived. The medic did give you some blood because you had lost too much.” My mom couldn’t hold back her tears, which only made mine flow as well.

  “How long before I’m back to normal?” I was worried I’d be cooped up in bed for a week or more.

  “The medic thinks you will be back to normal in about five or six days. She doesn’t want you to shift for at least the next two days. By tomorrow, she wants you up and walking around the house. Then, the next day you can shift and go for a light jog if you are feeling up to it.” Beth’s hand squeezed mine, and I knew she was having a tough time with this. Neither of us had ever been seriously injured before.

  “That’s better than I had hoped. I don’t like being cooped up, but I thought it would be much worse. I can deal with this.” I nodded and knew I could handle the long recovery time. Most wolves were never down for more than a day, two tops.

  Lizzie walked back into the room and put a pitcher of water down on the nightstand along with a full glass of water. “I was able to heal most of your internal injuries and some of the bones, but the rest will need to heal on their own. You were hurt pretty badly. I don’t even know if you could have survived waiting for me to reach you. It was a good thing Salvador flew you home right away.”

  All the women in the room had tears in their eyes. I couldn’t stop mine from starting again when I realized how close to death I had come.

  “What happened to the wolves who attacked me? And why did they attack me?” I never did understand what they were after.

  “Why don’t we talk about this later? Honey, you need to get more sleep. I’ll bring you dinner in a little while and maybe we can talk about what happened then?” My mom patted my hand before she made for the door. Lizzie and Mandy both followed.

  “I’m going to stay here with her. I’ll keep an eye on her and make sure she gets some sleep,” Beth volunteered.

  The moment the door closed, Beth scooted her chair closer to my bed. “Bella, I’m so grateful you’re going to be okay. But, I gotta know, what’s going on with you and Salvador?”

  I furrowed my brows in confusion. “What do you mean?”

  My sister huffed, “I mean, why is Salvador hovering over you? He was out flying and found you, then he rescued you, then flew you back here with Rock on his back. Since you arrived, he hasn’t left the house. He’s been in a very grumpy mood and barely talked to anyone outside of telling them what happened.”

  A glimmer entered my sister’s eyes, and I knew she was up to something no good. “I think a certain dragon has a thing for you. I mean, come on. He kissed you in front of everyone!” Beth whisper-shrieked and covered her mouth.

  “Shh, don’t say things like that. He didn’t kiss me, not in that kind of way. It was more like a big brother kissing his baby sister on the head. I’m sure he was just happy to see I’d make it. He is Mandy’s guard, after all. He probably feels like he’s our protector, too, since were family.” I didn’t get a vibe that Salvador was interested in me, not in that way. He was too old anyway. Wasn’t he?

  “Me thinks thou dost protest too much.” The smirk on my sister’s face was very annoying.

  “Whatever, don’t I need to get some sleep? Be quiet before Lizzie makes you leave.” I closed my eyes and tried to go back to sleep.

  “Wait, do you even remember what it felt like to fly on a dragon? Please tell me you remember.” Beth whined.

  I sighed. “No, I actually don’t remember anything after getting knocked out. Now, please, let me get som
e sleep. I really want to heal up as fast as I can, so I can get outside again and find that nutcracker of a wolf who set me up.”

  When my sister quieted, I was finally able to fall back to sleep.

  Chapter 17

  Salvador

  I was pacing the living room when Rock came in. “Have you been able to find the son of a nutcracker who was supposed to be her … date?” I practically spat the last word. It didn’t feel right.

  Bella wouldn’t have agreed to go on a date with someone who would set her up, would she? She was smarter than that, right? I couldn’t help my negative thoughts about the other wolf. He may not have been part of the group who attacked her, but he was supposed to be with her.

  “My Enforcers are looking for the wolf named Clay from the small Swedish pack, but so far, no one has seen him since he left with Bella for a run.” Rock fisted his hands at his sides. “I guess we’re lucky the enforcers who were with them are just banged up. They should be up and running again tomorrow. Did you want to come with me to question them? Or were you planning on staying by Bella’s side?” A small smile started at the corners of the Head Enforcer’s mouth, and I wondered what he was thinking.

  “Yes, I want to understand how one wolf could have gotten the best of two of your highly trained Enforcers. Something isn’t adding up.” I also wanted to learn more about the one wolf who survived my rage in the forest. I knew letting him live was the best way to get more information, but it still had my scales standing on end.

  “Alright, let’s head over to the infirmary now. I don’t like what you told me about that wolf who attacked Bella. Between Jax’s attack the other day and now Bella, I think we might have a full-scale war brewing. I never thought anyone would have an issue with the Kringle girls mating with a dragon. It’s not like it really affects the rest of the packs. It only touches Santa’s family, and not even all the time.” The wolf ran a weary hand through his hair and blew out a breath.

  I had a feeling this summer’s games were going to prove to be too much, too soon. I hoped the wolves who attacked Jax were from the same pack, making it look like an isolated issue. If there were multiple packs looking to end our alliance, there would be a war. I really didn’t want to see that happen. So far, most of the wolves I had met were actually decent.

  The acts of a few bad apples had better not ruin the spirit of this Round Up. I knew Palo, Santa, had worked really hard on putting this together over the past six months. It looked like every pack in the world was represented this summer. Since our royal family was here along with a representative from all the dragon clans, I had hoped it would be the start of a great friendship between our two species.

  I continued to think about what all this might mean for both the wolves and the dragons as we made our way to the infirmary. This would be my chance to ask Bella’s guards what happened, and hopefully, to help plan a better way to protect the twins and the rest of Santa’s family.

  We were very lucky Beth had stayed home earlier today to help Lizzie. When I questioned the attacking wolf, he had said both twins were targets. I was going to have to make sure all our guards kept an eye out for the girls as well as for our own dragons.

  When we entered the infirmary, I heard a commotion in the back and was ready to jump into action.

  Rock put his hand out in front of me. “Hold on, that’s just my wolves throwing a fit. The Enforcers don’t like to stay down for long.” Rock chuckled and began walking to the back.

  What I saw would have had me shifting if I didn’t know what was going on. The room had been trashed. Several of the beds were thrown against the back wall, the sheets ripped and laying on the ground in piles of white cotton. A few of the side tables were nothing but broken bits of wood strewn around.

  But the scene that had me trying to stifle a laugh was the best. The two injured wolves were being held down by four healthy wolves each.

  I could hear the medic talking to them in soothing tones. “She’s alright. Don’t worry about Miss Kringle. The Clauses are taking care of her now. I believe Lizzie healed most of her injuries, so you have nothing to stress over. Please, calm down before I have to give you a sedative.”

  Both wolves were on the ground where beds would have been had they not attacked the room.

  I watched Rock to see what he was going to do about this mess. The lead Enforcer walked two more steps into the room and stood tall with his fists on his hips. In a loud booming voice, he demanded, “What’s going on here? Why is the medic bay in shambles?”

  All ten wolves looked at the ground, and I felt the tension dissipate as the severity of what they had done seemed to finally sink in.

  Mark spoke up first, “Rock, I’m sorry. I had no idea it was an ambush. I actually thought that boy liked Bella. He acted like he did. The way he gazed at her when we were walking away had me thinking he would be good to her.”

  “So, it was this Clay boy who set this up?” I asked, venom dripping from my voice. It was all I could do to keep my dragon at bay.

  Ash responded, “I’m not sure, exactly. He was getting beat up just like us, but instead of leaving him in the snow next to us, they took him. That’s what makes me think he was part of it.”

  “Did you recognize the wolves?” Rock inquired.

  Ash and Mark both pushed the wolves off them and sat up.

  Mark looked to Ash and shook his head.

  “One looked familiar, but I couldn’t place him. Clay seemed to know them. Since the boy is supposed to be from a tiny pack in Sweden, it makes me think he either knew this was coming, or he was in on it. Either way, we have to find him and question him.” Ash huffed and ran a hand through his hair, dislodging a few feathers in the process.

  “Why did you guys destroy the med-bay? I don’t get it?” I did have more questions but found it difficult to focus due to the disaster in front of me.

  Once all the wolves stood, I noticed there were gauze bandages on the ground beneath them as well as a few needles. I really hoped they didn’t get stabbed by those.

  When Mikey Jr. walked away from Mark, I noticed something silver hanging out of his forearm.

  “Mikey, what’s up with your arm?” I pointed to his left forearm where the silver object was.

  When he brought up his arm, I got a better look and noticed it was a scalpel that was stuck in his muscle. I raised an eyebrow.

  Mikey Jr. chuckled. “Huh, what do you know? I guess Ash got one in on me.” He pulled the surgical tool from his arm and threw it to the ground.

  The medic came over right away and pulled him to a counter with more supplies before she cleaned and dressed his wound.

  Rock stood there shaking his head and sighed. “Alright, I need you all to write up your reports. The second you are done, you are to come back here and clean this place up.” He pointed to the two inured wolves. “I don’t want there to be any indication that a hissy fit was ever thrown in here, you got me?”

  “Yeah, boss,” Mark and Ash piped up in synchrony.

  “The rest of you, I need you out and looking for Clay and his pack. I don’t know that his pack is involved, but they need to be questioned. Bring them all in as you find them, and I’ll question them.” Rock looked to me. “I suppose you’re going to want to question them about the attack on Jax as well?”

  “Of course.” I nodded and crossed my arms over my chest.

  I wasn’t going to leave this investigation up to anyone. I would be fully involved the entire way. Even if they weren’t responsible for the attack on my prince, they are still dangerous and have threatened the lives of the twins. Magic forgive me if I let them get away with anything else.

  “I want to go by that bunkhouse from the other night and see who’s staying there. Maybe we’ll get lucky and the perps will go back there.” I headed out of the medical facility and felt Rock’s presence right behind me.

  “What do you know about this Clay guy?” I growled.

  “Not much. He’s from a small pack in
Sweden that was started by a few displaced wolves over fifty years ago. His father is the pack alpha, and from what little we do know, they pretty much stick to themselves or humans. Clay has two older brothers. They have all created a life in the human world. This is the first large gathering they’ve attended since forming their pack.”

  “They didn’t even send a representative for Lizzie’s wedding to Palo?” I thought all packs had to send at least one wolf for a Santa wedding, but maybe it only applied if a pack was large enough to matter.

  “No, they had sent in a nice letter congratulating the couple and stating how they supported the new Santa being from somewhere besides North America, but no one came. The letter and a gift were mailed. We didn’t think anything of it when we looked them up and realized they operated human businesses and were such a small pack. There are less than twenty wolves in their pack as of the last count.” The lead Enforcer kept pace with me, and I noticed his eyes continued to scan the crowds as we walked and talked.

  Childbirth or severe illness would have been the only thing keeping a dragon from attending Jax’s wedding. When a royal mated, it was a wondrous thing. But when a royal mated a Kringle girl, it was a miracle. All dragons wanted to attend and see who the wolf was that would be responsible for saving the magic in our race. We partied for a month after the mating/wedding ceremony. It didn’t matter how far the dragon had to travel, they came.

  It’s hard to imagine a pack not wanting to be a part of Santa’s ceremony, especially since Palo came from Greenland. I would have thought the European packs, especially, would have wanted to be in attendance for such an epic match. This fact alone made me very suspicious of Clay’s pack.

  “Are there other packs who didn’t attend?” I wondered aloud.

  Rock pursed his lips and nodded. “Yes, there were three other packs. One of them no longer survives, the other two are here this summer. I will add them to the watch list. I agree, anyone who couldn’t make time to attend Lizzie and Palo’s ceremony are suspect.” His hands fisted at his sides as he continued to stalk toward the bunkhouse.