Miss Claus Under The Mistletoe

by J. L. Hendricks

  Chapter 14

  Mandy

  The ride back to the North Pole was difficult and painful. Palo went as fast as the reindeer would take him which meant Rock and I rolled around a lot in the back. Each time I moved a burning pain shot up my back and I couldn’t hold back my whimpering.

  I had never felt pain like this before. It had to be pretty bad and I was afraid Lizzie wouldn’t be able to heal me.

  Jax sat in the front with Santa and kept a worried eye on me the entire ride.

  No one said a word until we landed.

  “Jax, thank you for finding Mandy and taking care of her. At least one dragon is decent.” Rock stated just before he hauled me out of the sleigh.

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t keep her from getting injured. I really did try.” Jax replied.

  “Mandy!” Lizzie screamed as she ran out of the house.

  “Rock, take her to the dining room and put her on the table. What happened?” Lizzie’s worried face never left mine as we made our way to the dining table.

  “The dragon who took her burned her with his fire. I don’t think he intended to hurt her, he just couldn’t control his rage and the fire came out. Thankfully, Mandy was off to the side and didn’t take the full brunt of the fire.” Rock informed Lizzie of how I was injured and everything that happened before we left.

  When I looked into Rock’s eyes I could see his pain. He was very worried about what might happen to me, as was I. I knew from watching Lizzie heal others this was going hurt…a lot.

  “Hold her down, this is probably going to be almost as bad as the injury itself.” Lizzie said.

  I howled as she used her magic to heal my injuries. She was right, it almost hurt more than being on fire. The sinews of my body were stitching themselves back together and my back itched as it burned. I didn’t know if I wanted to scratch myself or role around in sand to put out the fire I felt creeping along my spine.

  My pack howled in response to my pain. Sounds of support echoed around in my head and I wished I would pass out so I didn’t have to experience this pain.

  What seemed like hours, but was more likely minutes, passed before I began to feel the embers die away and a cool wisp of magic slowly envelope my body. The cool kiss of my sisters healing powers was like a drug and my muscles slowly relaxed.

  I knew I’d be able to shift back into my human form once Lizzie was done. All I wanted was to take a hot shower and go to bed as soon as I shifted.

  “Hey, how are you feeling?” Lizzie leaned over my wolf shape and looked into my eyes.

  I licked her face before I began to shimmer and my human form appeared. Naked as a blue jay. Rock took a blanket from the couch and covered me while Jax turned away. I wasn’t in any mood to care about modesty at the moment.

  “Like I could sleep for a week.” I responded with a raspy voice.

  “After a bath. Mandy, didn’t they let you shower?” Rock was joking with me so he must have been feeling much better.

  “Ha ha, like they have baths or showers in a cave fit for a monster.” Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Jax wince.

  “Hey, thank you for coming to help me. You have no idea how much I appreciate it.” I reached out a hand to Jax and when he grabbed it, I squeezed his in response.

  The doorbell rang and Rock went to answer it.

  “It was the least I could do. I should have insisted my father handle this all differently. When I told him we should introduce ourselves to you and inform you of the agreement ten years ago, he wouldn’t listen. I thought for sure by my not wanting to participate in the games he would come around. But he was too stubborn. I am really sorry it all got so out of hand.” The sorrow in Jax’s eyes was evident.

  “What do you mean? Why would your father have anything to do with the games? Or how I was treated?” I felt as though a huge bomb was going to drop any minute and here I was laying naked on my dining room table stinking to high heaven.

  “It’s because I’m his father.” Some older man who looked to be middle aged walked into our dining room with Rock trailing behind him.

  “Mandy, this is my dad, Erol. King of the dragons.” What Jax said couldn’t be right.

  “What? So, you’re a prince? I didn’t realize the dragons had royalty. I thought it was the same as us, each clan had an alpha.” I couldn’t have heard him properly. Maybe he was just joking with me.

  “We have both. While I am an alpha of my own clan, I’m also the king of all dragon clans. It’s not too different from Santa. In a way, you are princess.” King Erol stated as he put a hand on his son’s shoulder.

  “Jax, I should have listened to you. I’m proud of you for doing what you knew to be right, and for protecting Mandy.”

  “Mandy, I hope you can forgive me for following the old ways instead of realizing today’s females have much more independence and deserve respect. Jax wanted me to let you make the choice. He also thought it would be easier if we introduced ourselves while you were still young. That just wasn’t how things were done before. I’m an old dragon and change isn’t something we do very well.” Erol seemed repentant, but that didn’t mean I trusted him.

  “I forgive you, but I’m not mating with any of you. Right now, I just want to go shower and sleep.” I stood up and wrapped the blanker tighter around me and made my way to my room.

  The hot water penetrated my muscles and relaxed me so well, I almost fell asleep standing in the shower.

  When I made my way to my bed, I could have sworn I heard Rock telling the dragons to leave. He really did seem to care for me. I wondered if he would ever love me and if I even still loved him.

  A lot had happened over the past week, but it gave me some time to think about everything. I don’t know when it happened, but I had fallen out of love with Rock. Sure, he was still just as handsome as ever, but my feelings were very different now.

  I knew we needed to discuss the situation with the dragons and the promise the original Santa made with them, but I was too tired to think of it anymore.

  Instead of visions of sugar plums dancing in my head, I had intense silver eyes mixing with sweet turquoise eyes. I should have slept hard, but my dreams wouldn’t let me. Scenes with a certain dragon continued to hound my sleep. Then Rock would make an appearance and he would take me for a run through the forest around our village and by Maker’s Rock.

  My dreamscapes continued to show me images of the two males all night long, going back and forth.

  Chapter 15

  When I woke up I was confused. I didn’t understand why I continued to dream about Jax. Sure, he’s cute, but he’s a dragon. In all of my dreams it started out with Rock and then Jax morphed into Rock’s image.

  The final dream, which caused me to wake with a start, was of me and Rock and our pups. When Jax took Rock’s place in the dream, our pups turned into dragonets. It freaked me out. There was no way I was giving birth to demons with talons!

  I quickly got dressed and went to find Lizzie. Hopefully, there was still some breakfast left as well.

  Sure enough, my sister was in the kitchen cleaning up breakfast. I looked to the clock on the wall and realized I had slept in to almost ten o’clock. I never slept that late before.

  “Anything left for me?” I asked as I jumped up on the counter next to my sister.

  “Yes, I saved you a plate of pancakes and bacon. It’s in the microwave. Mikey Jr came by looking for food so I had to hide it.” She smirked as she put the last dish in the dishwasher.

  “Thanks, sis!” I went and heated up the plate before sitting down and stuffing my face.

  “Oh, this is so much better than what those demons fed me!” I moaned as I enjoyed a syrupy coated piece of bacon.

  “We aren’t actually demons. Although most of humanity has always felt that way about us.” In walked Jax with his father, the king.

  Great, I just insulted a king.

  “Well, Alexandru and his friends are demons. You won’t be able to convince
me otherwise.” I retorted.

  “Erol and Jax, nice to see you today. Would you like some coffee?” Lizzie the hostess with the mostess was nothing but politeness.

  “Thank you Mrs. Claus, yes, I would.” Erol said before sitting at the table.

  “Please, call me Lizzie.”

  Erol inclined his head in her direction as a sign of respect and gratitude when she gave him his coffee.

  He seemed very comfortable in my house. I wondered how much time he spent here while I was in the prison cave.

  “Mandy, would you like to take a walk with me? I hear you have a cave nearby where your pack loves to hang out. Can we check it out?” Jax quietly asked.

  “Um, sure. It’s a bit of a hike. We can take snowmobiles if you know how to ride?”

  “Sure, sounds like fun.” He smiled and followed me outside.

  I got the impression he wanted to talk to me about something and he didn’t want anyone else around to listen.

  Jax was fidgeting with his hands and not looking at me. Whatever he wanted to talk about he didn’t seem too happy about it.

  I really didn’t need more bad news. All I wanted was a nice day to relax and enjoy my family. I hadn’t even seen my parents or the twins yet.

  We both stayed quiet while we geared up for the ride and didn’t say a word until we reached Maker’s Rock.

  “Okay, I know you have something on your mind, spit it out.” I wasn’t going to beat around the bush or play any games.

  Even though I was in bed for close to twelve hours, I was still tired. My dreams caused me to toss and turn all night so my sleep wasn’t restful.

  “You’re right. My father wanted me to talk to you about the agreement. We still need your families help.” He pursed his lips and sat down on the old beat-up couch inside the cave.

  I went over to check on the wood supply and see if I could get a small fire going.

  “I know. How much longer can your species wait? I don’t know if I’m the one for this. My younger sisters are too young right now and after all of this they may not be interested either.” Part of me felt bad for them.

  I didn’t want their entire species to die out just because of a few bad males.

  “Hey, does your species have females? I haven’t seen any yet.” It was something I had thought about before; how did they reproduce without women?

  “We do. Not many. Our females are fiercely protected. They rarely leave our clan caves to ensure their safety. Most of us are encouraged to find mates from other shifter clans.”

  “How…Um…How do you, you know?” This was so embarrassing. I wanted to know how they reproduce if they don’t mate with a dragon.

  “Who’s DNA is dominant?”

  Jax chuckled, “If one partner is a dragon then all offspring are dragons. No matter what.”

  “Do the other female shifters lay eggs? Or is it a normal pregnancy?” I couldn’t believe how bold I was being.

  I was always a curious creature. This was actually fascinating since we were told while pups we could only mate with other wolves. It didn’t have to be an arctic wolf, which was why some of our packs had wolves with yellow coats. Most of them were a mix of arctic wolf with another type. They also tended to be the Omegas so it wasn’t exactly something done often.

  No one wanted their pups to automatically become the bottom of the barrel in social standing.

  “No, only female dragons lay eggs. If a female isn’t a dragon, then she has a very short pregnancy, only three months. When she gives birth, the dragonet is cocooned in a sack which protects the womb from their tiny talons. We have to cut the sack as soon as the baby is born. The mother stays in her human form for the duration of the pregnancy. If she shifts, the baby could be in distress.” At least Jax knew exactly what to expect should he mate with another type of shifter.

  “Interesting. It’s amazing what the magic will do to ensure the survival of your species. It’s too bad you have to mate with a Kringle to get your mojo going again. You should consider making sure to be friends with Santa and his family going forward. Maybe if you mated with my line naturally your species would heal.” I had spent a lot of time while locked up thinking about this.

  There had to be a reason why Christmas Magic was the only thing keeping their species alive. Only intermingling every thousand years was a long time to go.

  “I have spoken to my father regarding your idea. Dragons aren’t very social, but if we want to keep our ability to shift we have to change our philosophies. We must amend our ways; it’s imperative we acclimate to the twenty-first century. I understand this as do a number of the younger generations. The problem is that we have such long lives it could be another hundred years before I take over.”

  “What? How old are you? How long do you live?” I figured they lived well over a hundred years, maybe closer to a hundred and fifty.

  “We can live up to five hundred years. With the magic waning, our life expectancy drops with each generation after the initial infusion. Whoever mates with someone from your line will live longer, but their offspring will be the ones who live at least five hundred years. The more hatchlings they have the better for our species. Each would be expected to mate with another clan’s alpha or his heir. If there are enough female dragonets then my clan would be lucky enough to have two lines with the long life of a Kringle descendant.”

  “That is very complicated…and strange. Does this mean you really can’t afford to wait for me or my sisters to have female pups and integrate them with your clans?” I had hoped they could wait another generation.

  “I’m sorry, but even waiting for your sisters to mature might be too long. Our elders have stopped shifting many years before is natural. One is stuck in his dragon form, the rest are stuck in their human form and their years are very limited.”

  “Ahh, jingleberries! This is too much pressure. Who does your father want me to mate with?” I hadn’t met anyone else from their clans that could tempt me. I hoped they didn’t expect me to move with them so I could meet other dragons and see which one I could stand for the rest of my long life.

  An arctic wolf could live for up to one hundred and twenty years easily. Well, as long as they didn’t die in battle. But a Kringle? We normally live more than one hundred and fifty years.

  Jax was right about one thing, the Christmas Magic had blessed the Kringles with extra magic. All of us, even if we were never meant to be Santa or Mrs. Claus, were gifted somehow. The twins and I will probably live to be closer to two hundred than one fifty.

  My great, great grandfather only passed while I was an infant. I still see my great grandfather in the spring every year. Our family has a reunion around Easter.

  “Me. My dad wants you to choose me since you feel comfortable with me.”

  “Is it really my choice?”

  “Yes, if you want to come to our clan and meet other potential mates you can. The choice will be all yours.”

  “Jax, what do you want?” I wasn’t interested in mating with someone who was doing it just because he was expected to.

  I might as well stick with Rock if that was the case. At least I have a history with Rock. The dreams came back to haunt me while we talked about this.

  Were the dreams meant to guide me to make this choice? Could I make this choice?

  “If you had asked me this a month ago, I would have not been able to claim you were what I wanted. Now, I want to get to know you better.” Jax stood up and walked to the couch I was sitting on and he sat next to me.

  Taking my hands in his he proceeded, “Mandy, you are gorgeous and smart. Not to mention fierce. I have never seen anyone willing to take on dragons before. We are pretty much at the top of the food chain, shifter or human. To have a non-dragon mate who’s able to stand up to my kind, that would be a gift.”

  “But you don’t know me well enough to love me. I don’t know you well enough, either. I do know you are a gentleman and your moral compass points north. I have a lot of r
espect for you, and you are cute. I could probably get lost in your silver-blue eyes. I just don’t know if I could love you.” I had always wanted to mate for love.

  Growing up I never had the responsibility or pressure Lizzie did. My dreams to marry for love weren’t just mine. Lizzie wanted it for me as well. Since she doubted she would get to marry for love, she joined me in my dreams.

  “Let’s spend some time together. Maybe even away from here. Would you like to see where I live? Or we could go somewhere else?” Jax’s hopeful expression was enough to melt my icy heart.

  “I can’t leave this close to Christmas. With Lizzie being pregnant, she needs my help. You should stay here with us and help prepare for the greatest holiday on Earth. It will give us time to see if there is a possibility.” I couldn’t believe what I was offering.

  With Jax being so sweet and looking so good in his heather gray and light blue fair aisle pull over sweater, I was finding myself growing more and more attracted to him.

  Was it because of the dreams? Or would it have happened naturally if we met like normal shifters?

  It was too late to know. All I had to go on was the feelings I knew were just waiting for me to let go of and accept. I did find him very attractive the first night I met him.

  “I’ll do it. Do you have somewhere I can stay? I’ll need to go home and grab a few things. My father should be quite happy to let me stay here until Christmas. Did you know dragons don’t really celebrate Christmas? Well, outside of the gifts Santa brings our young.”

  Jax had to be joking. How could they not celebrate?

  “I’m sorry, there’s no way I can even consider mating with someone who doesn’t celebrate Christmas.” I jumped up off the couch signaling our discussion was over and I made my way to the snowmobiles to head back home.

  Jax jumped up and followed behind me. “Wait, what just happened? Do you want me to stay through Christmas?”

  I didn’t know what I was thinking. There was no way I could even consider mating with a dragon. Erol was right about one thing, I was comfortable with Jax.