Miss Claus Under The Mistletoe

by J. L. Hendricks

  “Don’t worry, we won’t let him take you or your sisters,” Palo replied.

  “Please hurry!”

  “They are on their way. It’ll just be a few more hours. We should wait for them before we try to break out of here.” I whispered to Jax.

  “Agreed. We’ll wait for back-up. Until then, you should probably get some sleep. We have to act like everything is normal, or they might get suspicious.”

  He had a point.

  I nodded my head and lay down on the bed. Pretending to go to sleep, I waited to hear something, anything, from my pack.

  Chapter 13

  Mandy

  I had fallen asleep at some point while waiting for my pack to rescue me and Jax. I was woken with a start when the door slammed open, and in stepped four guards.

  “Get up! You’re leaving now, Mandy.” The lead guard ordered.

  “She’s not going anywhere with you! You had better leave now before this gets out of hand. What would your alpha think if he knew you were taking his mate somewhere?” Jax jumped up from the rug in the corner and ran to stand in front of me.

  “Jax, give it up. You aren’t getting her. You didn’t even qualify for a mate. Why are you trying so hard to protect her?” Another guard asked.

  “Because, it’s the right thing to do. You wouldn’t know about that, would you?” Jax sneered at the males trying to make their way toward me.

  “Right for who? You? What about your own clan? Do you want to be the one responsible for the Dragons going extinct?” Boltair, the lead guard asked.

  “There has to be another way. We have time. Let the Kringles get to know us and let them choose. Don’t force this on them, they will only hate us all.” Jax must have really thought long and hard about this.

  I wondered how old he was if they lived long lives. When did he know about the decree from centuries ago? Did they pass down the story from generation to generation?

  “Move, Jax. I don’t want to hurt you but I will. We are leaving, now. Alexandru is waiting for his mate.” Boltair moved closer to me and Jax.

  “Wait. Are we leaving the caves? What’s going on?” I could only hope my pack was close by.

  “Santa’s coming, isn’t he? Mandy is going to be rescued if you don’t leave with her now. I suggest you save yourselves and run! Her pack will have brought their enforcers. You’ve heard the stories, no one survives an attack on the Kringle family.” Jax was right. If my pack was near, they had enforcers who would deal with my kidnappers.

  Didn’t matter how big the dragons were, they would be no match for my pack. No one has ever gone up against our enforcers and won.

  “Stay behind me, Mandy. It’s the safest place, just watch out for my tail.” Jax said before he began to shimmer and a large gray cloud enveloped him and pushed me away.

  “He’s shifting!” One of the other guards bellowed.

  “Get out! Mandy get out before he crushes you! It’s too tight in there.” Boltair yelled as the other guards pulled him out.

  “Jax, we were going to leave a note telling them where you were. No need to do this!” Another guard yelled as he ran down the corridor after exiting the room.

  They weren’t kidding. Jax’s dragon form was ginormous! His head hit the ceiling and he huffed and a few puffs of smoke and fire escaped his reptilian face. The wooden wall was already ablaze. His body took up almost all of the free space in the cave. The rest was occupied by his folded wings.

  I was getting squished against the back wall by his body. I didn’t know where his tail was. All I knew was it wasn’t near me. The furniture in the room cracked and broke from the weight of his body pushing against anything in its way. If I didn’t move, I’d be splintered just like the bed.

  If I couldn’t find a small spot to curl up in and wait while he broke the wall down, I would die here. Thankfully, the guards left the door open so most of the smoke was billowing out of the room. Still, I was inhaling too much smoke for my small body to process.

  “Jax, break the wall down, now! I can’t find a safe spot. Your back is pushed up against the ceiling. There’s nowhere safe for me in here.” I huffed out as loudly as I could, hoping he heard me.

  I used up most of the air stored in my lungs asking him to move. I could feel my lungs burning and my body began to convulse. If I didn’t get a gulp of air within the next few seconds, this would be it. I could feel my head getting woozy and my eyes were bulging with the realization I was suffocating.

  Jax roared and shoved his head against the wooden wall of flames and pushed it down. I took in racking sobs of air as his body moved forward and finally stopped forcing me against the uneven stone walls. I knew I would have some injuries but didn’t realize most would come from Jax squishing me.

  I put my hand behind me and felt wetness over the scrapes along my shirt. He jacked stone must have cut up my back. It wasn’t serious and would heal soon. I needed to focus on getting out of here.

  Once Jax had made it through the wall, he looked both ways and turned his head toward me and motioned for me to get on his back.

  I complied and jumped upon him. The second I was seated with my legs squeezing his neck, hands holding his scales for dear life, he ran.

  For about two seconds I had hope we would make it out of there without any more problems. My hope shattered when Alexandru showed up in his dragon form, blocking the tunnel.

  “Should I get off while you fight him?” I whispered into his dragon ear.

  Since Jax couldn’t talk to me, he nodded his head up and down.

  I slid off and backed away from the two dragons who seemed intent on fighting over possession of me. At least Jax wanted to help me to get free of Alexandru and his stupid claim on me.

  While in the cell, I was unable to see how large Jax was or what his wings looked like unfurled. The pathway we stood on had to be at least forty feet high and thirty feet wide. When Jax spread his black wings they almost touched each side of the corridor.

  I only had a moment to take in Jax’s dragon form. His black scales shimmered with silver accents. The wings looked thick and shiny like new leather. I caught sign of a nick in his left wing and figured it was a sign of his fighting when we were in Seattle. The taloned feet must have been as long as my body.

  If he hadn’t already proved to be on my side, I would have shivered in horror from the sight. As it was, just looking at Alexandru’s dragon form had me backing away even further in fear. Not too many things scared me. Alexandru in his current state was enough to cause anyone to run away screaming. The black tendrils of smoke curling around his nostrils showed he was readying to explode.

  I didn’t want to be anywhere near them when they jumped on each other.

  In horror I watched as they blew fire at each other and then attacked with their huge maws. Alexandru attempted to chomp at Jax’s neck, but he moved out of the way and wacked Alexandru with his leathery wings.

  Their fire was the most intense known to this world. When they attacked each other, the mountain shook and the intense heat from their fire felt like I was going to burn alive. My skin was tight from the heat and it felt like I was going to have a third degree burn even though not one strand singed me.

  While they continued their attack and I heard teeth chomping, I tried to sneak out what I assumed was the entrance.

  Jax and Alexandru continued to roar at one another and blow fire, I could feel the heat each time they did it. It made me long for the cool snow outside. Not only would it bring me freedom, but it would also bring me a reprieve from the stifling heat.

  Wrong move, I should have waited for Jax.

  Boltair was guarding the path to my freedom along with the same three males who tried to take me away.

  I realized the rules didn’t apply here.

  Fighting four dragon shifters in a cave without any weapons was not something I could do alone. I’m a great fighter, but I knew these dragons were just as good. The math didn’t add up here.

&nbs
p; I shifted to my Arctic Wolf form and howled a war cry. My only chance was to barrel through the guards before they shifted to dragons.

  “We are fighting in the mouth of the cave. You should be able to tell by the rumblings. Jax is in dragon form and I just shifted myself. Hurry!” Telepathically contacting Santa was much easier, which meant he had to be close.

  “We are almost there, hang in a little longer.” Was his reply.

  Baring my teeth and growling, I feigned right before turning left and attempting to go through what I assumed was their weakest side. Boltair was standing on the right and I expected him to be their most powerful fighter, whether in dragon or human form.

  The two guards on the left reached out to grab me as I attempted to race by them. One tried to put his hands around my neck and I bit his arm. The other one grabbed my body and pulled me back against his chest. I weighed over two hundred pounds in my wolf form. The dragons must be exceptionally strong in their human form to pick me up and hold me tight.

  Wiggling and snapping my jaws, I tried to get out of my captor’s arms to no avail.

  “Knock it off! I’m not letting you down. If you don’t stop, I’ll squeeze harder. I’m not sure Alexandru will mind if I hurt you now.” The guard holding me squeezed harder and I felt a rib crack.

  I growled when I felt the pain in my side. Boltair stalked toward me and smacked me across my snout as though I was a naughty dog. My teeth snapped at him and he took a step back.

  “Shift back to human form, now! I won’t allow you to hurt any of my guards.” Boltair demanded.

  I had no clothes to put on should I shift back to human form. There was no way I was giving them a peep show. I seriously doubted they would be gentlemen and turn away, or even bring me clothes.

  Narrowing my eyes I snarled letting him know I would not be following his orders.

  Rock was going to kill me when he found out I let them take me again. The past four years I trained, but not like I did at home. I never realized until this moment how badly my training had suffered when I decided to go to college.

  “Fine, it’s better this way. You can’t talk back now.” Boltair huffed.

  I couldn’t speak, but I could howl and growl. Which I did as much and as loud as possible.

  Boltair came up to us and tried to grab my paws. Instead, I kicked at him like a wild horse. I did get in a good kick to his eye. He would most likely have a nice shiner soon, which he deserved.

  The guards tried to move me further back inside the cave. I continued to struggle with them and howled more.

  Jax finally noticed me and turned toward the guards surrounding me. They were all still in their human form. Jax swished his tail and all of us were knocked over like bowling pins.

  I used the opportunity to scuttle out of the guard’s grip and hoofed it further into the cave. I skirted the edge where Jax had caught Alexandru by his neck, only to run into more guards. The rest of this pack was on the other side of the tunnel waiting for me. There was nowhere for me to go.

  It was probably stupid, but I ran into the dragon fight and latched my teeth onto Alexandru’s leg. I bit down as hard as I could. Jax had the dragon by his throat, literally. I had his leg. I wasn’t sure how much I could injure him, but it kept the rest of his pack away from me.

  “We’re here. Are you alright? Where are you?” Rock was now communicating with me.

  They must have been in the mouth of the cave.

  “I’m not really sure if I’m alright. I have a dragon ankle in my teeth while Jax has his neck. Just follow the sounds and you’ll find us.” The relief was so great, I almost let go of the dragon’s leg so I could howl.

  “Is that some sort of good luck charm, like a rabbit’s foot?” I could hear Rock chuckling through our connection.

  “Pig.” I shot back.

  If he was making jokes, this was either really bad, or he was extremely confident in our forces.

  I could feel his presence before I could see him. He was tailed by twenty growling and ferocious Arctic Wolves.

  Jax and Alexandru continued to fight.

  I let go of the scaly dragon leg in my mouth. It wasn’t doing anything anyway. I doubt Alexandru even knew I was there.

  “Jax, let him go. I want all of the dragons back in their human form.” Santa ordered.

  I could feel the magic coming off of him like a spring snow storm. Tendrils of magic surrounded me and I wanted to shift. Thankfully, Palo only ordered the dragons to shift back.

  Jax let go of Alexandru’s neck and stepped back two paces. Alexandru snarled and smoke curled up out of his nose before he opened his giant maw and released a torrent of fire upon Jax and anyone else nearby.

  I was close enough my fur was scorched and I felt like I was on fire, literally.

  I must have been as the guard closest to me took his jacket off and tried to wrestle me to the ground and wrap me up.

  Pain raced up my back and I couldn’t fight back. It was stronger than anything I had ever felt before. I thought I would explode from it all. My howl was returned by my pack who then growled and stalked toward Alexandru.

  Jax looked at me with pain filled black eyes and growled louder than I had heard him do before. It was such a powerful roar he brought down a few pieces of the cave ceiling. It felt like an earthquake in there.

  All of the enforcers jumped onto Alexandru and began tearing at his scales. Alexandru was so much larger than my kind, the enforcers were no bigger than little dogs on the dragon.

  “STOP! All of you stop at this moment!” Santa called out in his controlling Alpha voice. No matter what shifter group someone belonged to, they couldn’t ignore that voice. He was no longer just my alpha, Palo was the Great Alpha. The one all shifter creatures would listen to.

  “I said for the dragons to shift! You will obey me, and NOW! No more fighting! Enforcers, come back here.” Santa was angry. I had never seen this side of him before. His nostrils were flared and his hands were fisted at his side.

  I knew what he did. Santa used a power he had never used before. My father had used this only a handful of times and he hated making shifters bow to him against their free will.

  Palo said he would never use it. I can finally see why it’s the type of power only a Santa can wield. Everyone else would use it to take over the world. But not a Santa.

  “I want all to shift back to human form, wolves included.” Santa threw a back pack to me.

  The guard had still been holding me on the ground, trying to keep the flames from sparking back up again. All of my wolf fur had acted as kindling for the fire to start and keep going. His quick thinking saved my life.

  I didn’t know if I had it in me to shift back to my human form. Now that Santa was in control, my muscles were tightening and my body had drained itself of adrenaline. I was so weak, I doubted I could shift back.

  All of the males around me, dragon and wolf alike, had shifted back and were getting dressed. I laid on the ground whimpering from pain and my inability to shift.

  Rock ran to me, “Mandy! Are you alright?” He knelt down next to me and pulled the burned coat off of me and his eyes turned to molten lava.

  “What? What is it, Rock?” I sent through our connection.

  “Santa, we have to get her back right away! I wish we could have brought Lizzie with us. Mandy needs her healing.” Rock called out.

  The dragons had all knelt on the ground and were waiting for Santa to tell them what to do next. Even Jax and Alexandru shifted back to their human form and were kneeling for their ultimate alpha.

  The power Santa used, causes those in his grip to bow down and worship him. While they know what they are doing and may even be silently screaming, they have no choice but to worship Santa. This was why no Santa wanted this power. Taking away a being’s right to choose his loyalties was something no good wolf ever wanted to do. Sadly, times like these, it was needed.

  As far as our records state, no Santa has ever abused this power. I k
new Palo would never abuse it either.

  Rock picked me up and carried me to the sleigh sitting in the mouth of the cave. Santa had used his sleigh to get here. I had never been so happy to see the thing in my life!

  I never wanted to ride in it before.

  Lizzie used to tease me as a little girl and say I would fall out because I was too small to ride in it. So, I always stayed clear of it, even once I was big enough to safely ride in it.

  Today, I was glad Rock was sitting next to me and holding me close while we waited for Santa to finish up.

  My view was obstructed but I could hear him. “Now, you all are very lucky I stopped my enforcers from killing you! What you have done is reprehensible! Never kidnap anyone! Especially someone from my family. You all deserve death.”

  “Because of you, Mandy is gravely injured. You better hope my mate can heal her. Jax, your father wants you back immediately. You will accompany us. The rest of you will wait here for the Dragon Council. I agreed to let them handle your punishment.”

  Santa turned and looked to his warriors. “Mikey, Jr. I want you to stay here and guard the prisoners. You have full authority to keep them in line. I will come back for you all once I have delivered Mandy home. I expect the Council to arrive within the hour, if not sooner.”

  “Santa, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry Mandy is hurt. It was never my intention to hurt her. At least not physically.” Boltair said from his prone position.

  “But you did hurt her when you assisted Alexandru in taking her against her will. One of your pack went to so far as to attack her in an alley in Seattle. She had to fight him to keep from getting taken. You all should have followed the regulations set forth by your own alphas. Taking a mate against her will is never acceptable, no matter the reason. You never even gave Mandy a chance to accept this. Instead, you just took her like she was some piece of property owed to you. For your sake, I hope we never cross paths again.” Palo ran to his sleigh where I was panting from the pain and waiting for him to take me home.