by Sable Sylvan
“The forest is gorgeous,” said Addy. “I’m guessing this wasn’t put in this month.”
“Nope, these trees have been here for eons,” said Sage.
“You haven’t told her about the woods?” asked Mace.
“These trees are special to our Clan,” explained Sage. “Each one is a familietre, a family tree. I don’t know who started the tradition, but every tree is engraved with the names of the people in each family. So, for example…” Sage led Addy through the woods to a certain tree, which was engraved with signs and sigils in runes she recognized as Nordic.
“This is my grandfather’s family tree,” said Sage. “His name is there…and our grandmother, who’s passed on, as you may have gathered. There’s my father’s name, my name…”
“Wow,” said Addy. “Can I touch it?”
“By all means, go ahead,” said Mace. “The cool thing is, the seeds from the tree are planted, and those seeds grow into trees for the children to engrave when they find their fated mates and start a family.”
“No frikkin’ way!” said Addy. “Really?” She ran her hands over the wood and felt the runes under her hand. She looked up and saw what looked like a face, but on closer inspection, it was the face of Morten Scoville as a younger man, around Mace and Sage’s age.
“Am I seeing things or…” started Addy.
“That’s right, that’s my grandpa’s face,” said Mace. “Each of the trees has been carved by artists. The runes are carved by the tree’s owner.”
“Have your trees been carved yet?” asked Addy.
“Nope,” said Sage. “We have to choose our trees after our weddings.”
“That makes sense,” said Addy. “Do you know what trees you want?”
“Of course,” said Sage. “I know these woods like I know the back of my hand. Come on.”
Sage and Mace led the way into a deeper, darker part of the woods, where tall, uncarved trees loomed over them.
“This is the one I like best,” said Sage.
“That one? It’s so thin,” said Mace.
“Sorry, not all of us want a tree that’s built like a boulder,” said Sage. “What do you think of it, my dear?”
Before Addy could answer, a figure stepped out of the shadows.
It was a figure that they recognized from earlier. In an emerald green gown with scale details and a deep jewel green fur cape, with flowing brunette locks, it was Georgina.
“I don’t know, baby, maybe your brother’s right,” purred Georgina, approaching Sage and putting her arm around him.
Sage politely removed her arm.
“Are you lost from your group?” asked Sage.
“I can escort you back to the carriages,” said Mace.
“No, but Addy looks a little cold,” said Georgina, looking over Addy, who still had Sage’s jacket over her shoulders. “Maybe you should take her back, and give Sage and me some…alone time.”
“Georgina, we’re pretty much alone, so I can say this to you firmly but gently,” said Sage. “You and me? That’s never happening. You’ve known since we got our marks that we were never meant for one another. I’m with Addison. She’s my fated mate. You know what that means.”
“Yes, I do,” said Georgina looking over Addy and narrowing her eyes. “It means fate made a mistake…but I can fix that. After all, when your fated mate passes, Fate will match you up with someone else. Let’s hurry that along.”
Before Georgina could move, Mace had shifted into his polar bear form. His pink hair made his shift’s standard white fur hot pink, and Mace stood out against the snow. Addy could see what Sage meant about Mace and things that were built like boulders. While Sage had a tall, long form, Mace had a rock-hard body that was almost round but had a more central center of gravity. Mace didn’t lunge at Georgina. Georgina was being held firmly by Sage. He was holding Georgina by the waist from behind, firmly and hard. Still, Georgina struggled to get out of his firm grip and get to Addy.
Sage’s bear roared. Never in a thousand years would he have suspected Georgina would go nuts. Hopefully, the Rosetti heiress would get her act together before she did something unthinkable. They were in private and right now, if she ended this, it could end privately, too…but if she pushed this any further, well, Sage hated to think what would happen to Addy, to his brother, and even to himself and Georgina.
Mace kept his polar blues on Georgina and growled a low growl. It was a warning growl. Would Georgina back down or take this to the next level?
Georgina managed to turn and look at Sage.
“Sorry it had to come to this,” hissed Georgina. “Oh, wait, I’m not.” Georgina slipped out and under Sage and started to run. Mace chased after her, but Georgina was shifting mid-run.
Addy thought what she was seeing was a scrap of fabric from Georgina’s green gown, but it wasn’t fabric. It was a tail, long and scaled, emerging from under the dress. Mace pounced to try and stop Georgina, but he couldn’t keep a hold on the tail, which smacked him in the face, hard. Georgina kept running and transforming. Her arms transformed, becoming scaled, with claws where her fingernails used to be. Two giant wings burst out of her back and she took flight, up and into the trees, before she roared.
Georgina had gone from a tall, stick-thin waif to a tall, slender dragon, its wings batting against the night sky.
Mace didn’t bother trying to climb the tree. He frikkin’ ran.
“Mace!” called out Addison.
“Let him go,” said Sage. “I trust my brother. Whatever he’s doing, he’s doing for a reason. Whatever you do, Addison, don’t freak out. I’m just a polar, but I can protect you. I need to shift into my form. I can’t talk to you in it, but I can protect you. Let me protect you, okay?”
“Okay,” said Addison, as she started to cry stress tears.
“No tears,” said Sage softly, kissing Addison’s tears away and giving her a quick kiss before he got on all fours and shifted into his polar form, scraps of fabric from his suit joining the scraps of fabric left from Mace and Georgina’s transformations.
Georgina brought her head back and roared. A flame escaped her mouth, and Addison’s eyes widened. Dragons were real, and could breathe fire? How the heck would Sage be able to compete with that?
Georgina turned. Her emerald green eyes glinted in the darkness and Addison gulped. Georgina was going to attack her, she just knew it, but she had to do what Sage said and stay still.
Georgina roared again and flew done from her perch, her head like the head of an arrow, aimed straight toward Addison.
As Georgina flew at Addison, Addison looked around. Where the heck had Sage gone? Had he abandoned her, the prince letting the princess get frikkin’ eaten by the dragon?
Georgina was a few yards from Addison but then, out of seemingly nowhere, Sage came flying out and hit Georgina on the face. The dragon crashed down and Sage swiped its face. The dragon hissed, and Sage turned to Addison, motioning with his face to the place where the light was coming from, the clearing in the center of the woods, which was surrounded by rune stones.
Addison took her shoes off and grabbed them before running toward where she had been dropped off by the carriage.
“Dragon!” shouted Addison. “Help! Dragon!”
Addison ran into the circle, and people turned to look at her as she huffed and puffed.
A woman with olive skin and white hair came up to her. The woman was wearing a pearlescent white silk dress with a pink and red blossom pattern.
“Miss Addison, whatever is the matter?” asked the woman.
Addison looked up. It was Maggy from the mail room!
“Maggy, a dragon attacked Sage and me,” said Addison. “This girl, Georgina—”
“Georgina?” asked Maggy, as her male companion approached the pair. It was none other than Professor Bingley.
“Yes, Georgina Rosetti,” said Addison. “We need to get help.”
“You already have,” said Professor Bingley. Before
he had even finished his sentence, Maggy was running into the woods along the same path Addison had taken.
“I have?” asked Addison. “Maggy’s going to get hurt, isn’t she?”
“You don’t know much about dragons, do you?” asked Prof. Bingley. “Dragons get stronger as they get older, not weaker. I’ll grab some blankets to cover them up when they go back into human form. I saw a polar bear, I assumed Mace, run off earlier. He probably went to get help. You go make sure Sage is okay.”
“All right,” said Addison, nodding before she ran back along her path through the woods toward where the fight was going on.
Addison made her way through the winding woods and got back to the clearing. In the air, a fight of epic proportions had started.
It was dragon versus dragon, with the green emerald dragon challenged by the pearlescent pinkish-white dragon. The big pearlescent dragon made the emerald dragon look like a lizard. The white dragon was big, with thicker, stronger features than the emerald dragon. It let out a roar that echoed through the woods.
The emerald dragon let out a squirt of fire, singing the top of the trees, but the pearl dragon froze the tree leaves without even needing to open its mouth. It cast a layer of frost, stopping the fire in its tracks.
The green dragon was small but fast. The white dragon lunged to grab the green dragon, but the emerald dragon moved its neck so it was hooked around the white dragon and started to squeeze. The white dragon started to struggle and fall to the ground.
The dragon hit the ground, and Addison moved out of the way just in time to only get hit by some of the snow that had fallen from the branches that the dragons had crashed through. Addison turned and watched as the pearl dragon struggled against the emerald dragon’s grip.
Then, seemingly out of nowhere, came three bears. One was hot pink, one had a streak of black running through its fur, and the other was big, grizzled, and roaring. The bears tore the emerald dragon off the white dragon. The three giant white bears subdued the emerald dragon, using the weight of their bodies to keep its wings and tail down on the ground as the pearl dragon got up. The pearl dragon flapped its wings and let out a roar. Pure ice escaped its mouth and hit the emerald dragon, freezing the emerald dragon’s legs and arms in place. The pale dragon kept freezing the emerald dragon’s legs as some figures came into the clearing.
There were at least a dozen older people, ranging from their late thirties to what looked like their late eighties, walking toward the emerald dragon. They were wearing couture ball gowns and tailored suits and looked pissed. Of course, Professor Bingley was there, too. He was carrying a thick stack of blankets so everyone could cover themselves up.
“Georgina!” yelled one of the women, a short brunette who was curvy and had thick eyebrows that were furrowed at the center. “Get out of your shift this instant. Don’t make your father and I let our dragons out.” She was followed by a tall, thin blond man who was carrying some blankets. They walked toward the green dragon, which was slowly turning back into a woman.
As Georgina transformed, the polars got off of her and back into the snow. They walked up to Prof. Bingley, each took a blanket or two in their mouths and retreated to the shadows to shift into human forms. Addison followed them. Prof. Bingley was the only person in human form she recognized.
Prof. Bingley carried the last blanket to Maggy, who was still in her dragon form. She shifted out of her form, and her husband wrapped the blanket around her. She tied it into a sort of a wrap. Luckily, the blankets were big enough for shifters and BBWs alike.
The polars came out, back in their human forms. Sage had his blanket wrapped around his waist while his brother and his grandfather had one each around their waist and their shoulders, hiding their mate marks.
Georgina was wrapped up in a blanket by her parents who were giving her a scolding.
“You come to these nice peoples’ party, and you shift? What were you thinking?” asked Georgina’s mom.
“But mammina…” whined Georgina.
“Don’t mammina me!” said Georgina’s mom. “You seriously thought that it was appropriate to shift just because you didn’t get what you want? I know we’re a naturally greedy species, us dragons, but this is why I haven’t let you start your horde. You haven’t learned to reel the greed in and use it in a healthy way. What, you don’t get the man you want, and you threaten his fated mate? You’ve brought shame upon the Rosetti name. You’re lucky your grandmother stayed home tonight. You’d have given her a heart attack!”
“I’m sorry, madre,” said Georgina.
“Sorry? Sorry?” asked Georgina’s mom. “You need to be pentiti, on your hands and knees begging for forgiveness from the Scovilles. Our families go back, back before your namesake warrior had even slain one of us. Why do you think the Vikings and the Chinese both have dragon boats? It’s your ancestors’ whose likenesses are carved on the bows and sterns of their boats, our women who were modeling to be the curvy figureheads of the boats. That is your legacy. You know that. Centuries of a partnership, built on their bravery, their acumen and our connections and protection, that is your legacy, your inheritance, our family’s horde. In a fit of jealousy, you think to throw that away? You didn’t think. That’s what’s wrong. So, apologize to the Scovilles, and to…I’m sorry, dear, I didn’t get your name.” Georgina’s mom turned to Addison, and in a mere second, the angry mother’s face went from scowling to sweet as cannoli. This was not a woman to mess with.
“Addison Quincy,” said Addison.
“Addison Quincy?” asked Georgina’s mom. “Georgina, you mess with not only a Quincy but with Addison frikkin’ Quincy, Sage’s mate?”
“How does she know I’m your mate?” Addison asked in a whisper to Sage.
“Dragons,” said Sage. “They just know things.”
“I’m sorry for trying to kill you,” said Georgina, rolling her eyes, her arms crossed over her chest.
Her mother was furious.
“That’s it,” said Georgina’s mother. “Your father and I have tried so hard and given you everything. We buy you your dresses, let you go to your modeling gigs, sent you to Bonimolean. I’m withdrawing you after the quarter is over. The Council will figure out what to do with you…that is if the Scovilles will allow the council to handle you. I wouldn’t wish you to be any more trouble to them.”
Georgina’s mother turned and made eye contact with Morten, who said, “Whatever her mother thinks is best.”
“Thank you, Morten, as always, a class act,” said Georgina’s mom. “The Council is going to deal with you. I wash my hands of this. You will always be my daughter, Georgina, but you need to learn to control your powers. Let’s go, before you cause the Rossetti Clan any further embarrassment. Thank you, Margherita, for all your help.”
“But of course,” said Maggy, who was wrapped in a blanket and looked every bit as elegant as she had in a ball gown.
“Haul ass,” said Georgina’s mom, turning back to her daughter. “We’re leaving tonight. You have embarrassed me, you have embarrassed your father…” As Georgina’s mom walked Georgina out of the woods, she continued to berate her all the way.
“Margherita?” Addison asked Margaret.
“I’ve had many names in my time,” said Margaret cryptically. “It’s a story that can wait for another…another story, one that isn’t so cold.”
“Huh?” asked Addison.
“She’s saying we should get out of the snow,” said Mace. “Come on, Addy. We’ll go back in one of the carriages.”
“Thank you for getting help,” said Addison. “If you and Morten hadn’t shown up in time…”
“There’s no need to worry about that,” said Morten. “Let’s all go back to the manor. Luckily, I have another outfit for the party. Sage, Mace, Addy, I think you three have more than earned an early retirement tonight.”
“Thank you, sir…I mean, Grandpa Morten,” said Addison.
The three shifters and the BBW made thei
r way through the woods, back into the clearing, where they could take a carriage back to the manor. Of course, they grabbed four cups of piping hot apple cider first. Even though Georgina had shifted and attacked, she hadn’t managed to ruin the Scoville Ball, and the night was still young.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Mace retired for the night, but Sage and Addy were still full of energy. They had both gotten an adrenaline rush from what had happened out in the woods. They went to their separate bedrooms and got changed into pajamas and met in Addy’s room.
Addy opened the door when she heard a knock. Of course, it was Sage. Sage was wearing gray pajamas while Addy was wearing an herbal green set of pajamas.
“Hey, you’re wearing me,” said Sage.
“Huh?” asked Addy.
“Sage, sage green,” said Sage, pointing to her pajamas. “Never mind. Bad joke.”
“What do you wanna do tonight?” asked Addy. “Make popcorn, watch a movie?”
“I thought I could show you around the manor,” said Sage. “Come on.”
Sage took Addy by the hand and led her down the stairs, not toward the ball, which was still going on, but down another set of stairs, into the servant’s quarters and kitchens. They went past the facilities and then down another set of stairs, past the supply pantries and closets and storage to yet another layer, a layer with stone walls that were mossy.
“Where are we going?” asked Addy.
“Trust me,” said Sage. “You’re going to like this.”
Sage unlocked an old oak door with metal hinges. There was a refurbished dungeon cell with restored old stone floors and walls. Inside, there was a cross on its side in the shape of an ‘x’ rather than a ‘t,’ a wooden chest with metal hinges, a black leather bench, and a rack of what looked like scraps of leather and metal. There was a wall with leather padding on the sides. Along that wall was a large metal bed with leather handcuffs and ankle restraints.
