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

by J. L. Hendricks

  We turned down the street we were looking for and noticed a large group of people standing in front of the bunkhouse we were looking for. It was a mix of dragons and wolves. Rock and I took off in a run to see what happened.

  I pushed my way through the crowd, hoping no one was dead.

  When I made it through, I stopped in front of the crowd and gasped at the sight. Clay was tied up in a chair in front of the suspect bunkhouse, and he was unconscious. There were gashes all over his body and blood seeped through his clothes.

  Rock and I both ran forward and began to untie the boy. I only hoped he was still alive, so I could question him. If he was innocent, he didn’t deserve this treatment.

  “Did someone call a medic?” I called out to no one in particular.

  A voice from the crowd hollered, “Yes, they are on their way.”

  I felt the side of the boy’s neck, looking for a pulse. It was light, but he was still alive.

  Rock felt the wolf’s neck and along his spine, checking for major injuries before we laid him down flat on the ground.

  A low moan came from him, and I figured he would be waking up soon.

  Three Enforcers and one of my dragon guards came up behind us.

  “Go inside the bunkhouse and see if you can find any evidence regarding the attacks. This was the bunkhouse where Bella overheard the conversation that night. It could have something to do with her attack,” I ordered. The wolves and the dragon moved without saying a word.

  The door must have been locked because I heard someone kick its door in. Turning my focus back to the injured wolf on the ground, I opened his eyelid to see if he was coming around. His eye was moving, and I could tell he was about ready to come around because his pupil was constricting and dilating, going back and forth.

  Clay’s mouth moved, but no sound came out.

  “Help is on the way. Do you know who did this to you?” I asked.

  Again, he tried to speak, but nothing came out. Instead of trying again, he gave a small nod.

  Rock looked to me and between tight lips he said, “I want to get Lizzie to heal him, so we can question him. If we wait for the natural healing, it could take a day or two. We don’t have time to wait.”

  “I agree. I’ll go and get her, then meet you at the medical facilities.” I stood up, not waiting for Rock’s reply and ran back to Santa’s house.

  Not wanting to take time to knock and wait for someone to answer, I opened the door and called out, “Lizzie!”

  She ran wide-eyed into the front room where I was, “What? What’s happened?”

  “We need you to come to the clinic and heal Clay. He’s badly injured, and we can’t wait for him to heal on his own,” I said as I reached out to take her arm.

  Palo appeared from nowhere and got between us. “What’s this?” He arched an eyebrow.

  “Sorry, Santa. Your wife’s healing abilities are needed so we can question Clay. We found him unconscious in the village, and he’s badly hurt.” I knew I was handling this all wrong, but I was so worried the wolf would die before we could find out who did this to him and Bella that I wasn’t really thinking.

  “Take a deep breath,” Santa commanded.

  I did. In fact, I took a few. My head was a jumble of everything that had happened over the past few days, and I needed to clear it or I wouldn’t be any help.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you, Lizzie. I’m just in such a hurry to make sure this boy doesn’t die before we can get his side of the story. Can you please help him?” Calmly, I put my hands out in front of me in supplication, hoping she would be open to helping the wolf who might, or might not have, been responsible for her little sister almost dying.

  “Of course, I’ll help.” Lizzie looked to her mate. “Come on, Palo. Let’s hurry.” She pulled Santa’s hand and ran in front of me. Behind me trailed six more Enforcers who had been outside of her house. I hoped they left some behind to protect the twins. They were still in danger.

  Lizzie ran through the streets like a woman on a mission, which she was. Everyone moved out of her way without her even having to ask. It was as though they all knew she was barreling through, and no one wanted to be in her way.

  Since arriving here, I had to push many out of my way when trying to hurry through crowded areas. I knew Mrs. Claus had powers besides those of healing, but I never did find out exactly what she could do. One of these days, I was going to have to ask her.

  The moment we stepped into the infirmary, the heads of all those inside bowed to her as though she were a queen. I supposed in some way, she was. We all walked calmly to the back, where not too long ago there was chaos and destruction.

  Surprisingly, the room was all put back together and two medics were working on Clay. A woman, the same one from earlier, had on a surgical mask, gloves, and an apron. The other wolf, a male, was dressed the same, but he was also holding a tray of tools. The female medic had gauze in her hand and was working to clean the worst of the wounds.

  A bag of blood just arrived, and another male medic was working to get it into a vein in Clay’s arm.

  Lizzie walked over without saying a word, and the medic holding the tray moved out of her way. The magical she-wolf put her gloveless hands on Clay’s chest and closed her eyes. I saw an aura of white surrounding her as she kept pressure on the boy’s chest.

  A feeling of warmth and love surrounded me, and I was momentarily blinded by the brightness. A light shot forth from Lizzie’s chest and enveloped the boy on the gurney. In that moment, I wanted nothing more than for the boy to survive. Not because I wanted information from him, but because I wanted to forgive him for what he had done to Bella and possibly Jax.

  I shook my head, wondering why I had such a feeling pass through me and then realized it must have been part of the healing gift Lizzie was using. She wasn’t just healing the wolf, she was healing all of us. Our hearts and minds must have been injured by what has happened here lately.

  Even though a part of me wanted to beat the wolf up, again, I knew it was wrong, and I began to feel guilty for wanting him injured.

  Once Lizzie took her hands off the chest of the injured wolf, she slunk down into a chair that Rock had set behind her. He must have known what this would do to her. Then I began wondering what I had asked of her. I had heard them talking about her gift and how she could heal. Although, she usually did leave some of the damage for natural healing to finish. This must have been why. Healing someone who was badly injured must have taken too much out of her.

  I walked up to Bella’s big sister and asked, “Are you alright? It looks like that took a lot out of you.”

  Her smile belied her weakness, and she replied, “Yes, thank you. I’m fine. I just need a little rest and then I’ll be right as snowflakes.” She patted my hand.

  I arched an eyebrow when I looked to Rock for confirmation, and he nodded once.

  “Thank you, Lizzie. I didn’t realize this took so much out of you. Had I known, I wouldn’t have asked.” Which was true.

  This she-wolf who always seemed to have more energy than she could use, looked to need a very long nap now. Her eyes no longer held a sparkle in them, and she slumped back in her chair. Something I had never noticed her doing before. She always held herself so regally, like a queen. Now, she looked more like an exhausted elf after a long shift in Santa’s Village at the local mall. She even had bags under her eyes.

  “Normally, I would have been fine. But with healing Bella earlier, and my condition, I will just need more rest in between healings. That’s all.” She put her head in her hand, and I watched her close her eyes as her other hand went to her belly.

  Then it hit me. Oh, jingle bells. This momma had another bun in the oven. I didn’t even know. Did anyone else know? Not wanting to call attention to something so personal, I decided to ask Rock about it later when no one else was around. I knew wolves were worse than dragons when it came to gossip, and I didn’t want to be the one who let the cat out of t
he bag, or was it pup out of the bag?

  Chapter 18

  Salvador

  It took Clay only thirty minutes to wake up after Lizzie healed him. She didn’t stick around. Once she was feeling up to it, Rock and his Enforcers walked her home. I was going to have to keep a closer eye on her as well. Now that I suspected she was pregnant, I’d do anything to make sure she stayed safe, including suggesting to Santa he keep his Mrs. Claus in the house as much as possible this summer.

  There was too much going on right now to risk her safety and that of her unborn pup. She was on her way to having her own mini-pack of pups. Even with everything going on, the thought of Lizzie and Mandy both being pregnant at the same time put a smile on my face. Those two would probably try to raise their kids together as much as possible.

  A small part of my heart ached for my own little hatchling, but I doubted that would ever happen. I’d have to be happy with seeing the royal family have multiple dragon babies.

  I shook my head to clear it of the happier thoughts and to get my head back to the issues at hand. It was time to question Clay.

  The young wolf looked like he was going to cry. His eyes were hooded, and he kept wringing his hands on top of the sheet covering him. He also refused to look anyone in the eyes. His gaze was focused on his hands or, on occasion, drifted to my feet.

  Sometimes, it paid off to stay quiet during an interrogation. The guilty would end up confessing without much effort on my part. However, that only happened when a suspect wasn’t used to being guilty. Something told me this guy was generally good. I could smell fear coming off him in waves, and it actually amped me up. I loved knowing I was going to get a suspect to tell me everything. And this guy was going to talk.

  “How’s Bella?” was the first thing that came out of Clay’s mouth after sweating it out for only five minutes.

  I arched a brow and thought about what I was going to say. But before I could answer, Rock came back inside and said, “She’s going to live, no thanks to you.”

  The young man on the bed took in a deep breath, and the tension on his face eased up a little. “Thank the Magic! I was so afraid they were going to do something awful to her.”

  “They did. She almost didn’t make it. If it weren’t for the dragon, she would have died.” Rock put his hands around the wolf’s neck and squeezed. “Now tell me, why would you turn on Bella like that?”

  Clay’s eyes shot open wide, and he opened his mouth to speak but couldn’t.

  “Let the boy speak,” I suggested.

  Rock snorted and released his grip. “What do you have to say?”

  “I didn’t turn on her. I wouldn’t have ever done anything to hurt her. It …” The boy sighed and sat up. Leaning against the bed frame, he continued, “It was my pack. They almost killed me for trying to stop them.” His mouth hung open, and his hands were limp in his lap.

  “I tried to stop them. I even suggested that if I mate with Bella, then she wouldn’t be available for a dragon to mate with her.” The boy shook his head and sniffed.

  Was he crying?

  I sliced my hand through the air. “Wait, you tried to mate with Bella? When? Why? Was she open to this?”

  He shook his head. “No, I hadn’t said anything to her yet. I was going to ask her while we were enjoying the run. I tried talking my parents out of this, even appealed to my big brother, but he wouldn’t hear of having a Kringle in the pack. None of them wanted to be tied to Santa in any way.”

  Rock ran a hand down his weary face. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days. The bags under his eyes had bags of their own. “Why are your parents so worried about a Kringle mating with a dragon? If they aren’t tied to Santa and his pack at all, and don’t want anything to do with us, why do they even care about the twins?”

  Clay shrugged. “I’m not really sure. I think it has to do with a land dispute. There are a few dragons near us who have decided to lay claim to parts of our territory. I guess my alpha doesn’t want to do anything to make the dragons even stronger than they already are. You’d have to ask him for sure. I tried to find out, but he told me not to worry about it. He would take care of everything.”

  “How long have you known your alpha’s plans?” I asked.

  The boy looked up at me with glassy eyes. “Only since yesterday. I overheard my dad and brother talking about their plans. That’s when I asked them to spare her and let me mate with her, but they wouldn’t hear of it.”

  Rock bellowed, “Then why didn’t you tell any of us? When you met with Bella earlier, you could have just told her guards and none of this would have happened.” He started pacing, and if he had been a dragon, he most definitely would have been spewing smoke from his nostrils.

  It was taking all my fortitude to keep from shifting and tearing this stupid wolf to pieces. He could have stopped it all before it even began.

  Then I thought about Jax. “Is your pack responsible for attacking Prince Jax earlier this week?”

  Confusion covered his face. “No, I don’t think so. None of us where even here when that happened. I thought that was another pack. My father wouldn’t have had the jingle bells to attack a dragon.” Clay chuffed. “He’s not stupid, but he is weak, which is why he went after a girl who only had two guards. It took our entire pack, except for me, to go after her.”

  “Where is your pack now?” Rock asked.

  “I don’t know. I didn’t even know they were planning to attack today. I thought we had time. All I know is that they are good at hiding, so I doubt you’ll find them.”

  I chuckled. “I’ll find them. I already killed three of them, and one is badly injured. How many more in your pack were in on this?”

  Clay’s eyebrows shot up, and he licked his lips. “Did you get my alpha?”

  I shrugged. “Not really sure who the three dead wolves are. I doubt the injured one is your alpha. He’s probably your brother or one of the others.”

  “My brother’s name is Coleman. Is that who you have?” Clay asked.

  “He hasn’t said his name, yet. But I’ll be asking him again when we’re done here.” Rock stood at the bottom of the hospital bed glaring at Clay.

  “When can I get out of here?” the wolf in the bed inquired.

  I chuckled. “Ready to get of here so quickly? What? Do you think you’re going to be free to move about?”

  “You are not going anywhere. Once the medics release you, you’ll be spending time in our jail until Santa decides your fate.” Rock wasn’t going to let this guy get away with staying quiet.

  “What? Why?” Clay sat up, and his innocent appearance changed. His real demeanor began to crack through the sweet façade he had painted. His face took on a harder look, and his eyes narrowed.

  I decided now was a good time to interject, “Because, you kept quiet when you knew there was a plan to attack Santa’s family. By not coming forward and just sitting by, you made yourself an accomplice.”

  “I say he did more than just sit by and watch.” Rock looked from me to Clay. “You told your pack what your plans for the day were, didn’t you?”

  “Of course not! I wouldn’t have given them that information. They must have followed me. You have to believe me. I really do care for Bella. I would never do anything to hurt her.” Clay slouched back in his bed, and I was starting to believe him.

  I couldn’t sense any hint of deception from him, and I could always tell when someone was lying. There may have been more to his story, but he really did care for Bella and wouldn’t have hurt her. I was pretty sure about that, but his silence over what he heard his brother and alpha discussing did make him guilty of not protecting her like he should have.

  In the dragon world, if you hear of a threat against the crown and keep quiet, you are charged as an accomplice. I wasn’t sure how it went in this world, but I doubted Clay would get off easy. Bella almost died, and the threat is still active.

  “You never did tell us how many from your pack were involved.”
I wasn’t sure, but I would bet all the pack members who were here were involved.

  “I’m not really sure. I only heard my older brother, alpha, and one of the omegas talking. But, if I had to guess, all nine who are here were involved in some way or another.” The eyes of a boy who swore he cared for Bella turned hard, and I had a feeling he was being honest, in this bit of information at least.

  I could see in his eyes he was calculating something. Either he was thinking of how he could get out of this, or he was planning a way to get back at his pack for almost killing him.

  “Did you know whoever beat you almost killed you? If Mrs. Claus hadn’t healed you, you’d still be lying there unconscious and may not have survived.” I wondered if telling him the truth about what his pack did to him would open him up to us even more.

  He lowered his head and sighed. “I’m not surprised. Anyone who openly goes against my alpha dies. I guess I’m lucky Mrs. Claus decided to help me. After what happened to her sister, I wouldn’t have blamed her if she decided to leave me be.” He looked up at Rock. “Please tell her thank you. I’m more grateful than I can ever say.”

  Rock walked to the side of the bed and pinned the boy with his gaze. “Where are your pack members? If you had to guess, where would they be right now?”

  Clay’s forehead narrowed, and he screwed up his lips in concentration. “I really don’t know where they are, but my best guess is that they are headed home. They would have to assume you know who they are by now. There are a few places back in Sweden they have set up as a hidey hole in case of trouble. My guess is that the pack members who remained behind have already set up there, and what’s left of those here will be there by tomorrow.”

  I knew the dragons in the area, and I also knew they would be happy to help search for the missing pack. “Tell me where your hidey holes are located, and I will tell Santa you helped as much as you can. Hopefully, he’ll take that into consideration when he decides your punishment.”