A Winter Moon

by S. J. Smith

  *****

  Luke

  I woke up alone in bed with Emily. Rune wasn’t in the room and it was nice to be alone with her, not that I minded Rune or our situation at all. Emily was still fast asleep and from the lighting in the room I knew it was still pretty early. I gingerly got up, stretched, and went to find Rune. I felt we needed to have an actual talk about things.

  I found him in the kitchen, searching the refrigerator and the pantry door was wide open as well.

  “What’s up Rune?” I asked him and he glanced back at me.

  “Oh good morning. I was just looking for something to eat that was…well bacon or perhaps something other than non-perishables,” he glanced back at me and chuckled a little bit.

  “Right. We ate up all the food last night. You want to go out and grab something?”

  He nodded and then shut the fridge door.

  “I was hoping we could speak about…this,” Rune said and I smirked.

  “Yeah, how do you feel about it? Not having Emily to yourself?”

  “I feel much for Emily and I know she would not be happy with simply either one of us, but both. I think we are both tempered similarly and share the same disposition,” I nodded and then gestured upstairs to where Emily slept.

  “Yeah, it’s all about her for me. As long as we’re cool I don’t mind having her be with us both,” Rune nodded his head and smiled.

  “Good then, we’re in agreement.” Rune came over and we shook hands.

  “But bacon sounds great right now, I can make a quick run to the store,” I offered and Rune laughed.

  “Sure, I will also go and get some breakfast pastries, hopefully we are back before she wakes.”

  I nodded and then we both found our shirts and such then headed out.

  I shifted and flew to the nearest market to pick up eggs and bacon, getting back took longer. Shifting often didn’t compromise clothing, but carrying stuff was tricky. Rune and I got back at the same time and as soon as we stepped onto the cabin’s porch we knew something was wrong. Without any preamble we both ran inside and found the house in disarray.

  “Emily!” I shouted and sprinted upstairs, she was nowhere to be found. The entire house had been ransacked, though the bed where we slept was surprisingly left alone. Where Emily had laid was still warm and the blankets looked as if she had been picked up without any struggle.

  “Was she still asleep when they took her?” Rune’s voice mirrored how I felt inside. My heart was pounding and my chest way too tight.

  “She was probably drugged to keep her asleep…but why ransack the house after that?”

  “The scents…I don’t recognize…no dragon took her.”

  I scented the air and nodded.

  “You’re right. But whoever it was couldn’t have gotten that far…”

  “If we try to track them from the air we could lose the scent,” Rune observed.

  “We’ll fly low to the ground then.”

  “It’s broad daylight and the sky is clear today, we could be spotted by humans,” Rune was being more rational than I was and though it was needed, I just wanted to hurry and find Emily. Who knows what could be happening to her as the seconds ticked passed.

  “I’ll call some of the guard over here,” I said and Rune nodded, he was mulling something over in his head. If he had a plan, I wanted to know what it was. I pulled out my phone and made the necessary calls. Half the royal guard as well as the special guard was at the cabin in less than five minutes.

  “We have to lead a hunt for her, the trail of her scent will be stronger if we are in our dragon forms and I’m not waiting until nightfall to look for her,” I spoke to the warriors who were all nodding in agreement.

  “I want to find her just as much as you do Luke, but the shifters that took her have the time of day in their advantage. We have to do this mostly on foot,” Rune spoke up finally and I took a deep breath to settle my anxiety.

  “So we’ll have two of our quickest in the air instead of all of us, you have to agree that waiting until nightfall is not an option.”

  He nodded and then held my gaze and it was weird that almost instantly I realized what he wanted to do.

  “You think that will work?” I asked him and he shrugged one shoulder.

  “What else have we got?”

  “Can you two please speak out loud for the rest of us?” one of the warriors spoke up and I turned to them.

  “I think Rune wants to hunt on the ground. It will be slow, but whoever has Emily won’t expect it.”

  “Who’s heard of a dragon hunting on the ground?” the warriors were definitely skeptical of the mission. We had to resort to being lizard like which was distasteful, but necessity required it.

  “I have to ask you all to put away your pride for one moment so that we can find the future queen of our clan,” I said sternly and the warriors shut up their complaining and we made plans to follow Emily’s scent through the woods.

  In minutes we were outside and moving with surprising swiftness on our feet in dragon form. It was strange that I felt a connection to both Emily and Rune when in my dragon form. I sensed that she was unconscious, it was an odd muted feeling, as if a part of me were still asleep. Meanwhile I felt Rune’s emotions echoing mine. We were both anxious as all hell and feeling guilty for having left Emily alone.

  We followed her scent deep into the woods and I could tell she was close when I started to pick up a very obvious canine scent. The group became more alert as the dog scent started to mask Emily’s. Then the attack came out of nowhere. Growling and snapping wolves leapt out of the trees and I narrowly ducked under one huge grey wolf who was aiming his fangs at my neck. I beat my wings against the air and lifted up into the air a fraction, the warriors were trained and knew the strategy for fighting animals restrained to the ground. I was surprised when Rune was the first to spew out fire at the rabid wolves. Only warriors were bred to breathe fire and Rune was a simple member of the court, outside of his father being second to the king.

  We had the wolves scrambling for a moment before they started to shift into their human forms and produced weapons that were buried in the ground. A warrior to my left took a shot to the underbelly and he went down hard. I watched in horror as he shifted back to his human form, leaving him completely vulnerable. A shifter could only shift at his own will. I couldn’t begin to think of the implications of what I saw. The wolves were proving to be more dangerous than any of us could have anticipated.

  I gathered the burning fire from my lungs and torched the shifter who had shot one of our own. I became preoccupied with dodging bullets and burning the mongrels below us. Soon I noticed Rune had shifted back and was on foot sprinting towards a bunker entrance that had been uncovered from a bunch of leaves and moss. More of us were shifting back to human form to more easily fight the wolves hand to hand. We had most of them weakened by burns. About an hour later, our party of twelve had defeated the ten wolves who tried to ambush us.

  Once the last wolf was silenced I sprinted towards the bunker and heard the sounds of fighting. I shouted for backup and we ran in. There was one long tunnel and we quietly made our way down to a circular vestibule leading to two branching tunnels. I sent half of the men down one side and led the other half down the right tunnel. The sounds of struggle got louder and I found Rune fighting two wolves all on his own. The guy was holding up, but it was dumb of him to go into the bunker by himself. We helped him out and quickly took care of the two wolves.

  “She’s down here somewhere,” Rune said as he tried to catch his breath and I nodded.

  “Let’s keep going, stay quiet,” I said and he nodded to me once, I saw trust and respect in his eyes and I conveyed the same. Rune had definitely surprised me. He wasn’t just some proper speaking advisor that’s for sure.

  Eventually we met up with the other half of our party as the two tunnels met once more at a heavy stone door. It took four of us to get the thing open, but we found Emily with an
oversized shirt on and her hands bound. She was still unconscious and had something like an IV in her arm.

  “Shit.”

  There were three wolves guarding her and they all pretty much surrendered as soon as they saw us. Rune and I rushed in to Emily while the three wolves were seized by our men and questioned.

  “What did you give her?” I barked at one of them and let Rune see to Emily for the moment. Seeing her so helpless made me see red. He carefully took the IV from her arm and pressed his fingers to her neck.

  “It was just something to keep her from shifting, and something to knock her out.”

  I realized that the wolves were American and wondered how it was possible our people didn’t know we were close to another shifter clan. We thought we had left them all behind across the Atlantic. Helena and Fredrik weren’t kidding in what they said the other day, it was all important that we unite the dragons.

  *****

  Rune

  Luke was as angry as I’d ever seen him. Even when he was battling against the wolves outside I hadn’t seen or felt this level of fury from him. He was nose to nose with one of the wolves and the dragon holding the dog had stepped away, ready to let Luke have at it. I also felt Luke’s frustration. We should have known a wolf clan or colony was so close to us.

  I picked up Emily from the table she was laid out on after I untied her, and her head fell limp on my shoulder.

  “Luke let’s go, we have to get her out of here,” I said and he took two heaving breaths before he ordered the warriors to take the three wolves as prisoners.

  By the time we emerged from the bunker we saw that the injured dragon outside had made a call to the castle and trucks had been sent to pick us up. Getting to the castle was a blur, I was focused on Emily and hardly even wanted to lay her down in one of the SUV’s.

  Luke and I stayed by Emily’s side until we got to the castle, where she was taken to her bedroom to be looked over by a physician. King Lucas, my father, as well as Fredrik called a meeting in the council room.

  “We want report of what happened,” King Lucas said without any preamble, he was pissed and he had every right to be.

  “Emily was actually kidnapped from the cabin. We made a search party and tracked her on foot. It turned out that she was taken by shifters…wolves,” I said and the news took a moment to settle in the room.

  “You brought prisoners with you correct?” King Lucas asked and we nodded.

  The three wolves were brought forth and forced to kneel in front of Lucas.

  “Will you cooperate in being questioned?” my father asked them and the three shifter males actually nodded.

  “Look we’re just a colony of canine shifters, we came over from Europe a few generations ago and were content in living amongst the humans mostly. Then we heard the rest of our race were organizing attacks against the dragons and our king wanted us to join in and help weaken your race. We found out about the cabin because we saw some of your kind go there a few times. We only wanted to ransack it, but then we found the woman there and we took her as bait. We knew someone would come after her. We just didn’t know how important she was or how many would come for her. You guys took out most of our colony.” Surprisingly the wolf was very forthcoming and told us everything we needed to know.

  “What you gave her, is it harmful?”

  “No, it’s just a solution they came up with back home, it stops shifting and if given in large enough doses can keep a shifter unconscious. What’s in her system should wear off in a few days. She’ll be fine.”

  “Why are you being so forthcoming?” Fredrik asked the wolf and he shrugged.

  “Self-preservation, we haven’t got much else right now. The king only reached out to us for a chance to be officially recognized as a wolf shifter colony. Since most of us are dead now we’ll mean nothing to him when word gets back,” he answered honestly and Fredrik snorted.

  “Alright, send them to holding, we’ll question them further later,” Marx ordered, and then all eyes were on Luke and I.

  “So who did Emily choose for a mate?” King Lucas asked.

  Luke and I glanced at each other and hesitated.

  “We are both bonded with Emily,” I answered eventually and the king was taken aback.

  “Truly? How extraordinary, it’s so rare you will find a triangular bond. Not only are they bonded each with the princess, but they share what we call a brother bond,” Fredrik spoke up and I remembered something like that in our histories. It was good that the dragons would be coming together soon, there was so much of our history and culture that needed to be mended.

  “So she would have a husband and lifelong consort…” King Lucas mused and Fredrik chuckled.

  “It must have been an interesting night then,” he said and King Lucas gave him a bland look.

  “Depending on Emily’s condition, we will ensue with a ceremony. Soon after she’ll be crowned. I hadn’t realized that she was ready to rule until we had that meeting with Helena the other day,” the king ended the meeting and we all, went to see what the physician had to say about Emily. He had just stepped out of her room and stopped short when he saw us.

  “How is she?” Luke asked and the physicians disposition was positive.

  “She is fine, sleeping at the moment, her mother is there with her. I recommend that she simply sleep off the serum that was administered. There have been no adverse effects that I have observed thus far, but once she wakes I will return to assess her.”

  As soon as he stopped speaking Luke and I entered Emily’s room and found her tucked into bed, her mother sitting next to her.

  “You both are idiots,” Queen Elise said when we saw her. “But you found her before they could do anything more damaging…so I have to thank you.”

  “Queen Elise, we should have never left her and you’re right. But believe me, it won’t happen again,” Luke said and she sighed.

  “I certainly hope so, considering what is ahead of her during her reign.”

  We went to stand by Emily’s bed, Luke and I barely left the room until Emily woke up two days later. Her eyes were bright and alert and she looked at us both as if we were her favorite people in the world. Then her eyes swept the room and her expression became confused.

  *****

  Emily

  “What happened?” I was completely turned around and not to mention dizzy as I tried to sit up. Both Luke and Rune reached out to steady me and I looked to either one for an answer. “Guys what happened?”

  “You don’t…remember anything?” Luke asked me and I shook my head.

  “How long have I been asleep?” I asked and Rune sighed deeply.

  “You were…wolf shifters ransacked the cabin. They drugged you to keep you asleep and you were basically knocked out while being kidnapped, and while we raided where they were keeping you, and while we brought you back…” they both seemed ashamed and I blinked at them in shock.

  “We had left you alone in the cabin to go pick up some food and that’s when they came…”

  “I can’t believe this,” I was just in pure shock. “There are other shifters in our area? And we hadn’t known?”

  “They mingled with the humans mostly and must not have shifted often or else we would have surely known of their presence. Plus, their bunker was out of the way from the castle and the cabin even.” Rune sounded like his father, giving a report.

  “We killed most of them while getting you back. Four or five survived. We have three in holding here,” Luke said and my eyes widened. “It was a small colony if that, they didn’t know who you were when they took you and hadn’t truly anticipated how fiercely we’d come after you.”

  “I don’t…I can’t believe any of this. I slept through all of it?”

  “It was early when they came and drugging you must have been one of the first things they did before they left the cabin in disarray.” Rune added and I sighed deeply and held my head in my hands. Then I looked up at both of them again. />
  “Have you seen my parents? Of course you’ve seen my parents, have they said anything to the both of you?”

  “Frederik pointed out the fact that we’ve all bonded, Luke and I share what he called a ‘brother bond.’ It’s when two males bond with the same female and therefore form a connection as well. Your father is willing to have a ceremony making one of us your husband and the other your lifelong consort.”

  “So who’s who?” Luke asked after Rune fell silent and I smirked then glanced between the both of us.

  “I want you to be my consort Luke…and I want you to be my husband and help rule Rune,” I said and they both grinned at me as if I made the right choice.

  “Are you mad with us? For leaving you alone in the cabin?” Rune asked, his smile had fallen and Luke sobered as well.

  “Honestly guys…you handled everything and I wasn’t injured…and I can’t remember anything so…I forgive your lapse in judgment. Why’d you both leave anyway?”

  “We were going to get you breakfast,” Luke said sheepishly and I burst into laughter. They were surprised at my reaction of course, but then they saw the humor in the situation and were laughing along with me.

  “So you still want us after this?” Rune really wanted to make sure we were all okay and I nodded then reached out to pat both their cheeks.

  “Don’t worry we’re all still getting married,” I said and they chuckled. “Really…I love you both,” I was serious and tried to convey how much I felt for them in my gaze.

  “I know…” Luke said, though there was so much not said, but conveyed by his gaze. Rune simply leaned forward and kissed me softly on the lips.

  “Good, now my mother can get the ceremony planned,” I said.

  Luke laughed and Rune smiled at me lopsidedly.

  “She already has pretty much, ever since we got back and it became evident that you’ve bonded with both of us,” Rune said and I smiled, it was just like her.