“Maybe a human is exactly what Beth needs.” Salvador chuckled before looking me over. Which gave me a funny feeling in the pit of my stomach. “I hope you know I’m not here to claim you as my mate. I’m here to protect you and to be your friend. I agree you should finish college before settling down. When college is over, who knows. If we see each other again, we see each other again.” He ran a hand through his hair and left his hand on his neck, flexing the muscles in his arms.
Salvador pursed his lips before looking away. “I don’t want to get in the way of you finishing college, especially since it’s something you feel so strongly about.”
I nodded and smiled, feeling as though the weight of the world had been lifted off my chest. “Thank you. I really do appreciate that.”
We started walking back to my house, and before we turned the corner to the front door, I stopped and looked up at him from the side. “So, where does this leave us?”
Salvador smiled down at me and said, “The best of friends.”
Chapter 22
Salvador
I knew I wanted more than just friendship from Bella, but friendship was all she could offer anyone, wolf or dragon. Now wasn’t the time for her to be thinking romantically anyway, she was in too much danger for me to focus on anything other than her protection.
Maybe, once this was all over I could ask her out just to get to know her a little bit better. If there really was something special between us, I could manage to be here with the prince whenever he visited Santa, and that would put me in the path of my favorite twin. Two years, in the grand scheme of things, wasn’t very long at all, especially for a dragon who lived multiple centuries. I’d bide my time and be her friend until she graduated college.
But, before I could make plans for the future, I was going to have to figure out where the little Swedish pack had gone.
The only reason I came back here was because the trail had gone cold. I wanted to question Clay again and see if I could find out any other places his pack might go to hide. It was possible another pack was giving them refuge. I needed to find out who they trusted, or at least, who they were friendly with.
Bella’s safety, and that of her twin sister, was my number one priority. The rest of the dragon guards were already on the tail of the person who attacked Jax. Another reason I came back was to help with locating the suspects who tried to kill my prince.
It looked like we were going to be able to wrap up all the attackers shortly. At least, I hoped we did. This summer hasn’t been much fun so far, not that I expected to have fun while working. Both the royal family and Santa’s family could really use some fun right about now.
Now, I needed to find Ian and see what he’s learned about Jax’s attacker.
Once I knew that Bella was safely inside of her house, I turned and walked to the shack that we used for the dragon guards. I knew Ian would be there.
I expected to walk in on dragons being bored, or drinking hot chocolate, maybe even playing cards, but what I saw instead surprised me.
The room was utter chaos. There were seven large dragons practically on top of each other, sharing maps and talking on walkie-talkies. I didn’t understand how they could all be in the room at once and get anything done.
The shack couldn’t have been any larger than ten feet by ten feet with one desk across from the door. Usually, it was just two dragons in here at a time since that was all that could realistically fit.
Something was going on, and no one had informed me.
“Ian, what happened? Is the royal family alright?” I knew Bella and her sister were fine. I had just left them, and Santa’s house was quiet. There were plenty of guards around the property so there couldn’t have been an attack there.
“We have him. We finally found the person who attacked Jax, and you aren’t going to believe it.” My partner for the summer shook his head while he smiled and flashed his partially shifted blue and yellow eyes at me.
Something had him very worked up, and if he didn’t get ahold of his emotions, he was going to shift right here in this shack. It would be nothing but splinters when he was done.
“Why don’t a few of you come outside and give the rest some elbow room? Then one of you can update me on what’s going on,” I ordered.
Those closest to the door walked out when I stood aside to give them room.
“Alright, Errol, why don’t you get me caught up. I just returned from Sweden and hadn’t heard anything about this until now.” I directed my gaze at the youngest of the group.
Errol was only eighteen, barely old enough to be part of the guard, but his family had a rich history of serving the crown, and he wanted to continue the family legacy. He always knew exactly what he wanted when he came of age.
His black eyes where shimmering with excitement when he explained, “We had someone looking into Alexandru’s little brother. He wasn’t old enough to leave his clan when Alexandru went rogue four years ago. The brother, Michael, had been visiting Alexandru in prison a lot lately so the warden asked the king to keep an eye on him.”
I had a feeling I knew exactly where this was going and chided myself for not even considering this possibility.
“We sent three guard members to his clan, just to check things out, and one of them overheard Michael saying he almost killed the prince. When the guard went to get his teammates, Michael had already left. Apparently, there was an accomplice in the clan who saw what the guards were up to,” Errol continued.
“Did our guards get the accomplice?” I interrupted.
“Yes, and they questioned him. It seems little Michael was on his way to the prison to tell his big brother exactly what he had planned to do. We warned the guards there, but Michael never showed up. So, we assume he is either on his way here to try and finish the job, or he’s gone into hiding.” The excitement showing through the young dragon’s face was enough to get me excited as well.
“This is great news. Has the prince been informed?” I asked.
“Yes, and that is where this gets even more interesting. The prince thinks he knows where Michael went! Can you believe it? I know I can’t. I just hope this isn’t a trick of some sort.” Errol looked back to the rest of the guards standing outside who were on phones calling in for more reinforcement.
“Is it far from here? Maybe we could get the wolves to help us if it isn’t too far.” I looked back at Errol and waited for him to answer.
“That’s the best part. It’s only fifty miles or so from here. Which is why they think he might be planning to try again. Prince Jax wants to lure him out, but Ian said no way. Not on his watch. Instead, he wants to take an extremely large group and attack.” The young dragon was almost giddy with the thought of participating in an attack on one dragon.
Well, there was most likely a small group of dragons hiding him. I knew there were others who felt as Alexandru did about taking the Kringle girls against their will, but they had all kept to themselves once we captured Alexandru and Jax mated with Mandy. Once that happened, everyone seemed to calm down and were happy to wait and see what happened with our magic.
Dragons have very long lives, usually several centuries, so they have learned patience. Waiting twenty years or so to feel the influx of the new magic in our society wouldn’t be any big deal. I always assumed those who felt like Alexandru, but never acted on those emotions, weren’t a threat. However, if they were harboring the prince’s attacker, then they deserved what was coming.
Ian stepped outside and smiled when he clapped me on the shoulder. “My old friend, it looks like we are going hunting today.”
I returned his warm greeting. “It’s good to see you’ve finally found the prince’s attacker. It’s about time you took your pretty face away from all the fawning she-wolves and did something,” I joked.
Ian chuckled. “At least I have taken my eyes off the she-wolves. Someone else I know needs to take his own advice.” He arched a brow, and I knew who he was talking about.
>
“We can talk about that later. For now, what’s the plan? I assume you have a role for me to play in this take down?” Normally, I would have been the one to make the plan and lead everyone into battle, but since I’d been gone for a week and Ian was the one who found him, I would gladly take a backseat and do whatever my friend said.
“You mean to tell me you aren’t going to insist on staying here to protect a certain she-wolf?” The teasing tone of his voice almost had me laughing.
I put a finger to my chin and looked up. “Hmm, I think the princess will have plenty of guards here. I assume you have already chosen who’s going to stay behind and protect the royal family?”
“Don’t worry, my old friend, there is always room for you on my team.” This time, Ian’s joking tone did coax a laugh out of me.
“Just tell me what I’m doing and point me in the right direction. I’m ready for a fight.” Even though Bella and I had talked it all out, I still had a lot of pent-up frustration over how it all went down. This battle was exactly what I needed in order to get my head screwed on straight and be prepared to finish the search for Clay’s pack.
Ian filled me in on the details, and to my surprise, he did include a contingent of wolves in the attack. I was very impressed. When this was all over, I was seriously going to have to find a way to lure him to my business. He was a dragon worth having on the payroll.
It took less than an hour and everyone was ready to head out. The wolves all knew exactly where we were headed, and we all agreed to meet up about a mile away from the small cave. To my knowledge, there weren’t any dragons living within two hundred miles of Santa, so this must have been a place some dragons used for shelter when traveling or hunting.
I had flown over the area when we first arrived and noticed the cave. I didn’t think too much of it, so it was just on the weekly check list of places to scout. Ian said it had been scouted only three days ago, so I’m guessing Michael somehow knew this and was planning on attacking in the next few days, or he was just using it as a stop-over to wherever his final destination was. Either way, if he was there, we would have him.
I flew in the back of the formation and tried very hard to keep my thoughts off Bella and Beth. I knew they were safe at home. Ian said Santa planned to keep the entire family indoors until we came back. Most of the Enforcers who stayed behind would be protecting the Claus house and yard. They had also enlisted some help from the Barrow Pack, who were probably the closest friends and allies of Santa, since they were related.
I wasn’t sure what I expected when I arrived, but what was waiting for us, was not something that had ever crossed my mind.
We arrived at the meeting spot before Santa’s pack and were waiting patiently for them when I heard howling coming from the wrong direction. It was coming from where we knew Michael had been holed up. Ian and I locked gazes, and he nodded. It sounded like two wolves who were in pain and calling for help.
“Alright, we can’t wait for the wolves,” Ian said in his deep, baritone, dragon voice. We were all still in dragon form. We wouldn’t transform back to our human forms until we were back at Santa’s Village unless it was necessary.
“It looks like we may have come upon an attack on local wolves or some who might be here for the Round Up. I need two volunteers to stay here and wait for the pack, to let them know what’s going on. You can join the fight when they arrive.” Ian looked to the thirty dragons gathered. None of them were too keen on holding back.
If it had been up to me, I would have had our two youngest stay back, but I also knew they needed to join the fight. This was experience they would never get outside of a real battle, and neither of them had ever seen battle before.
I think Ian was thinking the same thing I was because his gaze landed on Errol. But, before Ian could tell Errol to stay behind, two older dragons spoke up and offered to hold back. I knew it took a lot for them to miss out on the battle. Most likely, it would all be over by the time the wolves arrived.
We all took to the sky and headed in the direction of the fight. As we neared, I could pick up sounds of at least a dozen wolves growling, and I saw several trees on fire. There was definitely a fight between wolves and dragons happening. Turns out, we arrived just in the nick of time.
Ian led the way down to the clearing where the majority of the fighting was taking place. I picked up the coppery scent of blood mixed with ash and pine. Both sides were bleeding.
As I scanned the area, I noticed there were six dragons trying to take on the dozen wolves. Three wolves were seriously injured on the edge of the clearing and one dragon was down as well.
Blood carpeted the once white, pristine snow which blanketed the battlefield. I wasn’t sure who the wolves were, but one scent rang familiar. I inhaled a few more times as I headed to the middle of the fight and realized I knew this pack of wolves.
In fact, I had been hunting this very pack myself for the past week. Turns out, I was in the wrong place, the wrong side of the world even. They hadn’t gone past Santa’s area. Which told me they weren’t done with their plans to hurt the Kringle girls.
My blood began to boil, and smoke poured from my nostrils as a churning feeling in my stomach grew. My dragon was ready to blow his lid. Here we had two different enemies of ours, fighting each other. I wasn’t sure I wanted to stop them.
Not only was the wolf pack I had been hunting here, but the dragons we came to question were the very ones fighting the Swedish pack. It was like Christmas had come early for me. I almost felt giddy at the prospect of taking down my two enemies at once.
Ian, these are the wolves who attacked Bella. You are leading this battle, but I want what’s left of those wolves when the dust settles, I mind spoke to my friend.
Are you serious? I don’t know if I should be jumping for joy that all our problems are here in one place, or if I should be cussing out the universe for putting them all here together. This is going to get sticky when Santa’s pack arrives. They’ll be out for blood if they figure this out, he responded via our mind link.
I heard Ian order all our teams to hold back. He did inform them that the wolves were an enemy pack. I knew he was thinking like I was and wondering if we should wait out the fight. All we had to do was contain the battle here and all our problems would be solved soon. Then I thought about what Santa would do and realized we couldn’t let them kill each other.
Ian, are you catching my thoughts? I had sent him the latest thought about Santa, and I heard his sigh.
I know. You’re right. It just goes against my dragon’s nature to save my enemy.
In the next two seconds, all of us where basically dive bombing the remaining fighters to catch them and hold them down. We were in Santa’s territory, and the decision of how to handle these wolves and dragons was up to Rock, Santa’s lead Enforcer. Who, from what I could hear, was almost to the fight.
When I made it down on the ground, I landed on one of the enemy dragons. He had been holding a wolf in his jaw. The wolf got away from the dragon I was standing on, but another one of my teammates grabbed ahold of the escaping wolf and held him down.
It was a circus. Dragons catching wolves in their claws or in their jaws. Then other dragons pinning down one dragon. We had almost all of the fighters pinned down or held in our claws.
Our two dragons who stayed back flew in and joined Ian. They were holding down two of the dragons. Since these dragons had helped Michael, all of them would be treated as accomplices to Jax’s attack, after the fact.
I could hear the pounding of paws on the hard-packed snow and watched as forty-five huge, white, Arctic Wolf Shifters came in from the tree line and fanned out around the battlefield.
Rock was easy to pick out. He was a head taller than all his Enforcers. He snarled, and his canines dripped with saliva. He had missed the fight, but I could tell he was itching for a battle. His front right leg was lifting and pawing at the ground, almost like a bull getting ready to gore his enemy.
One of the other Enforcers joined Rock, and he spat the wolf out of his mouth like he was bad food. The other Enforcer, I couldn’t tell who he was in his wolf form, took the wolf and pinned him to the ground.
I handed the dragon in my arms to one of my guards standing next to me. Errol was next to him. “Hold this dragon, and don’t let him get away,” I commanded to both Errol and Nick. I trusted Nick to hold onto the prisoner, but I wanted Errol to help. It would be good for him to get some experience in something today.
I padded over to where Rock was and told him what I found. “I’m certain this is the pack responsible for almost killing Bella. The two groups were fighting each other, but I’m not sure why yet. At first, we were going to let them fight it out and then sort the bodies after the battle, but I knew it wasn’t my call. So, we stopped them from fighting and are going to give the wolves to you. The dragons are the ones responsible for attacking our prince, so we will be handling them ourselves.”
Rock shifted into his human form faster than I’ve seen any wolf shift before. While wolves could mind speak to each other, their telepathy didn’t work with dragons. Only dragons had the ability to speak out loud while in their shifted form.
“Thank you, Salvador. I appreciate you recognizing what my Alpha would want. Of course, the dragons are yours to deal with. But I must admit, I’m with you. I would have preferred to let them fight it out first. Less for us to deal with. However, we do need to interrogate the wolves and make sure there aren’t any more working with them to attack our pack.” Rock bowed his head, which was a sign of respect for wolves.
Miss Claus and the Christmas Wedding (A Shifter Christmas Romance Book 3) Page 15