The Snow Leopard's Christmas Surprise

by Emilia Hartley

  Gareth swallowed the ball of fire that was lodged in his throat. Scorching air seeped from his nostrils, but he nodded. There was a reason that Drystan was his leader, but Gareth was a part of this family. He had every right to put his life on the line in an effort to protect them. He wished that his leader could only see that. Instead, he thought of how he looked to the world.

  He was concerned with his honor.

  Gareth ducked out of his leader’s grip, unable to form words. Instead, he walked away. His efforts weren’t appreciated. He was just Drystan’s silly nephew. As much as he wanted to punch something in that moment, he pulled it back and told himself he would do better. He would stop GOE from implementing their attack.

  It didn’t matter if it cost him his life.

  Chapter Five

  Day and night, Rhiannon waited for the call that would spur her into action, but nothing came. She sat in the hearings like a good little soldier and went to the grocers like she was supposed to, but the anxiety of not knowing what to do was building inside of her. Things were not looking good for Wilson in the hearings. No one truly believed the story that she and Everett were weaving. Perhaps they knew Wilson all too well.

  Perhaps this was the end of her career.

  It meant that she was getting out of bed later and later in the day. That morning she’d gotten up after eleven and barely dragged herself to the shower.

  She sighed and turned off the water. Steam filled the room as she stepped out of the shower. She wiped the mirror and looked at the woman in front of her. She had dark, mysterious eyes. Tendrils of almost black hair snaked over her pale skin. The stark contrast made her look almost alien. She wondered what her parents looked like. Wilson hadn’t been able to give her any family photos when she was old enough to wonder what they’d been like.

  He simply told her to look toward the future. Not the past.

  She looked to the small scar in the soft skin of the inside of her arm. Wilson told her that it was from a surgery she needed after her parents died. He didn’t go on to explain what it had been for, holding onto his forward-looking motto. Rhiannon had never wondered about it before, but these days she had too much time on her hands.

  She often found a slight discomfort in the scar. Almost a burning sensation, but she never payed any attention to it. Without anything to occupy her mind she seemed to notice it increasingly more nowadays. Had it always burned this much? She couldn’t remember. She reached with her opposite hand and touched a fingertip to the small, white scar. She ran her finger up and down the scar, trying to summon memories. What happened to her? What happened to her parents?

  Her heart skipped a beat when she pressed into the scar. There was something hard beneath the press of her finger. It was tiny, almost imperceptible. Her throat became tight when she realized what that meant. There was something inside of the small scar. How had she not noticed it before? She’d always thought that the surgery had been to fix something. Maybe she’d broken a bone or suffered a deep cut when her parents tried to protect her from the dragons that killed them.

  Swallowing hard, she wrapped a towel around her body and went in search of something sharp. She was sick of her questions remaining unanswered as she blindly followed orders. She needed things to be out in the open if she was going to keep going forward with everything Wilson asked of her. That meant she needed to know what was in her arm.

  It had been there for over thirty years. Her stomach turned when she thought about what it was going to take to get it out of her. It was still close to the skin, she thought, since she could feel it with the tip of her finger. It would only take a small incision from a sharp knife.

  After claiming a tactical knife from her bedroom, she returned to sit on the edge of the bathtub. She held the tip of the knife to her skin and waited for her heart beat to calm before pressing it in. The pain was sharp and hot. It was nothing compared to what the woman she shot must have felt, she told herself. Pain is nothing.

  The sharp knife slid across her skin. The skin parted and welled with red blood. It was nothing new to her. She’d seen her fair share of cuts and bruises and broken bones in the line of duty. Sucking in a shaky breath, she reached for the tweezers next to the sink. Dipping them in rubbing alcohol just to be safe, she paused, knowing how much this was going to hurt.

  The thing that she pulled from her shaking arm made her heart stop. It clattered to the floor, leaving a trail of blood as it skittered across the white floor. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She didn’t want to admit what it meant.

  Her stomach rolled and she stumbled toward the toilet before she dry heaved. There was nothing inside of her stomach to throw up, but that didn’t stop her fear from causing contractions in her diaphragm. Tears slipped down her cheek.

  No.

  Rhiannon felt something inside of her stretch and fill imaginary space in her mind. She caught flashes of scales and dark, gold eyes.

  This wasn’t right.

  She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and turned toward the implant laying on the floor. With a shaking hand, she reached for it. The tiny strip of silver was engraved with delicate knot work. The other side had the name of a medical company on it.

  Silver. There had been a silver implant in her skin.

  A voice growled in her head as she looked at the implant. Rhiannon scrambled to her feet. She ran from the room, but the growl followed her. It was inside of her.

  This could not mean what she thought it meant. There was no way.

  She was a dragon.

  ***

  Gareth sank into the folding lawn chair on Rhiannon’s back porch. There was nowhere else he could go that would get him closer to the problem at hand. If she hadn’t already enacted their foolish attack, then if he stayed close by he would know when it did happen. At the very least, he would keep her out of it altogether.

  He was oddly concerned with her safety, no matter how much she brushed him off. She was a tough and faultlessly loyal woman, but he didn’t know if anyone had ever looked out for her before. He felt as though her boss led her into hell simply because she would follow blindly.

  His head shot up when he heard the sliding door open. Standing in the doorway, white as a sheet and smeared with blood, was a haggard looking Rhiannon. He lurched to his feet, sending the folding chair tumbling backward. He raced to her, hands already searching for the source of the blood.

  She fought his hands back, holding them tight with both of her shaking hands. Her dark eyes rose to meet his.

  “Tell me it isn’t true,” she whispered before placing something small into the palm of his hand.

  He opened his fingers and felt the world tilt sideways. Many confusing things clicked into place for the first time. He breathed in deep, looking past the smell of blood and fear in the air. It was much stronger this time, the scent of the female dragon. He watched as the beast pushed forward into Rhiannon’s eyes. The darkness swirled into a deep gold color and revealed slit-like pupils.

  A smile curved her lips upward, unlike the woman he had come to know. He stepped back, but the beast that took possession of Rhiannon stepped forward. Her bloody hands rose to his chest. He had to grip her wrists to keep her hands from travelling south.

  “Give me the girl back,” he growled.

  The beast in her couldn’t use words the way that his could. He doubted, from the silver in his hand, that the beast ever had a chance to learn. She pulled her lips back from her teeth and sank her nails into his shirt to jerk him closer to him. The beast took a deep breath of his scent and Gareth’s chest tightened.

  “I recognize you beast,” he whispered. “Now give me the girl back so that I can comfort her.”

  The beast cocked her head and seemed to think over his request before conceding. The gold pulled back from her eyes and darkness returned. Her eyes widened with more fear than before. He let go of her wrists and pulled her into the comfort of his arms, nuzzling her hair with his chin. How was he g
oing to tell the agent of GOE that she was not only a dragon, but his mate, too.

  Gareth didn’t have the words to use just then, so he scooped the trembling woman into his arms and carried her to the bathroom. It, too, was caked in blood. He could see where she dropped the implant and how it bounced across the floor. He set her on the edge of the tub, with her feet inside. The room smelled of bile beneath all the blood.

  “Where are your towels?” he asked.

  Rhiannon didn’t respond. She stared at the wall. Glancing back, Gareth could see where blood was slowly soaking through her thin bathrobe. He saw the knife in the sink and realized that she carved herself to get the implant out. It must have come as a shock to find a silver implant in her skin. He had heard of some dragons using them to blend into society, but had never seen anyone use them. From the looks of Rhiannon, she hadn’t chosen it for herself.

  Someone had made that decision for her.

  His shoulders tightened with anger. Who would do that to a young woman? To a child? She claimed that dragons had killed her parents, but Gareth wondered how true that was. More likely, GOE had killed her parents and taken pity on the defenseless child. Instead of killing her, they chose to make her one of them.

  Gareth finally found the small towels in a cupboard over the toilet. He grabbed the bottle of rubbing alcohol and turned the hot water on in the tub. With a hot towel, he knelt beside the tub and began to gently wipe the blood from her skin. He wiped it from her cheek where she must have accidentally smeared it.

  Once she was clean of her own blood, he dug through the cabinet beneath her sink and came up with a heavily packed first aid kit. He was all at once grateful and wondered what happened in her job to make her so prepared. There was nothing to stitch the self-inflicted wound closed, so Gareth had to settle for a few butterfly strips to pull it closed.

  When all was done, he looked into her face. He could see how this epiphany had drawn her down, how she was struggling internally with a beast that might never have seen the light of day. The beast recognized him and what he was to her immediately. He didn’t think that Rhiannon needed that kind of news in her life just yet. One life altering event at a time, he thought to himself.

  Gently, he touched her chin to raise her gaze to meet his. The darkness in her eyes swirled back and forth with the gold that was struggling to push forward. She pressed her eyes closed and regained control for the time being. When she could look him in the eye with her dark gaze, he spoke.

  “Do not forget that the woman you are has not changed. You are still the fierce and irritating woman that I met days ago.”

  “How can you say that?” she whispered. “I am not at all who I thought I was. Everything I’ve ever been taught is turned upside down right here and now. I don’t know what to think. I don’t know myself at all.”

  Gareth shook his head. “So, you’re a dragon after all.”

  Her face visibly paled. She jerked to her feet, but Gareth’s hand snaked out to grasp her own. He didn’t hold her, but pulled her attention back to him. He was surprisingly calm through all of this. She needed him to be or else he would be flying into a rage over what someone did to his mate. His fingers pressed into her hand and he had to pull himself back.

  “I can’t say that I’m all that surprised, to tell you the truth. You’re a stubbornly loyal and dangerous woman. Why is it so impossible that you’re one of my kind?”

  “I am not a dragon,” Rhiannon shouted. The mirror behind her cracked. She startled and looked over her shoulder.

  Gareth chuckled. “That can happen from time to time. Control will come through years of practice and Zen like focus. Though, I can’t say I’ve had much practice with either of those myself. Think of it like the echo of your dragon form surrounding you. When you get upset, the dragon form can move around and break things around you.”

  Rhiannon pressed her eyes shut, a sweat breaking out on her forehead. “Make the voice in my head go away.”

  Gareth shook his head. “Only silver can do that and I have no plans to let you have any more silver. You need to come to terms with what is happening to you. If you don’t, you’ll be a danger to those around you or slowly destroy yourself.”

  Her eyes slowly opened. Her voice was small and defeated when she spoke. “GOE is going to kill me when they find out.”

  Gareth launched himself from where he’d been sitting. His arms wrapped around her like a shield against the world. His face close to hers, he whispered. “I will not let that happen.”

  She placed her hands on his chest like she would push away, but didn’t make any effort to break free of his arms. He pulled her closer until the length of her body lined up with his. He would not let her own people hurt her again. He was her people now. He and his family on the Territory. They would stop at nothing to keep her safe.

  Her head fell back and she looked into his eyes, flicking to his lips every few seconds. His heart thumped in his chest.

  Chapter Six

  Life didn’t make sense anymore. So many people lied to her. All she knew in that moment was that she was pulled to the man beside her like a magnet. He was her due north in that moment. She had put her hands on his chest to fight her way out of his embrace, but it backfired.

  She looked up at him and found herself drawn to his lips. It didn’t help that his full bottom lip begged to be bitten.

  Where had that thought come from?

  She questioned herself for a second before it vanished once more. Her hand slipped behind his head, fingers tangling in his red tresses. A growl filled her chest and her hand fisted in his hair. She heard his sharp breath before she pulled his lips down to meet hers. She pulled his lower lip into her mouth, gently nipping before she let it go to press her tongue between his lips. She needed to taste him, to know his taste intimately.

  As though he’d been trying not to move before, his hands tightened on her and he kissed her in return. He deepened the kiss, accepting her demanding tongue. Through her thin bathrobe, she could feel just how much he wanted her. He walked her backwards until he could press her up against a wall. His body flattened against hers and his tongue pressed into her mouth. She bit it hard and he let a lusty laugh fill her.

  The tie to her robe fell away and his hands snuck beneath the fabric. Rough skin passed over her hip, up her stomach, and beneath her breast. His thumb flicked her nipple and she felt a jolt of pleasure settle in her core.

  He pulled away, breathing hard. “You are no different than you once were.”

  His words brought her back to reality. Panic shot through her, alarming and polarizing. Her eyes widened and she shoved him off her. Confusion and hurt flashed across his face. She could not be kissing the enemy. He was a dragon.

  “Get out of my house.” She pointed her finger toward the door. He knew the way out from there.

  “What the fuck are you talking about?” His voice was deep with anger, but he didn’t move.

  “You heard me,” she said, fighting the tremble in her own body.

  “I came in here and picked you up when you were falling apart and this is how you treat me? You cut yourself open, bled all over yourself, and nearly broke down when you realized that you’re a dragon…”

  “Do not say that,” she hissed.

  “Are you going to deny it now? Are you going to try to live your life lying to yourself? Because it isn’t going to end well if you do. I’m not mad about the kiss or how you pushed me away. That is your choice and always will be, but do not think to lie to yourself after today.”

  Without another word, he stalked out of the bathroom. Rhiannon didn’t have to follow him to know where he went. She could hear his every footstep though her creaky house. Never before did she realize how much the floorboards creaked. She even heard him throw his body into the lawn chair on her back porch.

  She sighed, angry that he didn’t go as far as she hoped. Her control around him was little to none and that scared her. She prided herself on her self-cont
rol, on her ability to look trouble in the eye and tell it to fuck off. Today was the complete opposite of that.

  Inside her head, she felt a giant creature writhe. It circled through her head, brushing her insides in a feeling that was largely unsettling. She knew that if she turned her attention inside of herself she would be greeted by a pair of gold eyes and charcoal colored scales.

  But, she didn’t. Instead, she set about getting ready for the day like it was any other day of the week. She tugged on a pair of skin tight black jeans and a black V-neck top. She was reaching for her gold necklace when her phone vibrated on the nightstand. A single message flashed on the screen.

  Tonight. Sundown. You know where.

  Her heart sank. Inside her head, her alien beast growled. It was awful at using words. Instead, it settled for grunts and growls as though Rhiannon could understand what it was trying to express. It made her head throb. She yanked open the top drawer of her nightstand to retrieve the drug store pain killers. After popping two and swallowing them dry, she deleted the message Everett sent her.

  She would sneak away from the dragon man on her back porch and meet Everett tonight. Her stomach rolled. Was she willing to go through with this now that she knew what was really going on? That she was a dragon shifter after all? No matter how much she wanted to deny it, the truth of it was there and she couldn’t ignore it.

  But, she owed Wilson her life. She tried to tell herself that he did it so that he could better take care of her, so that he could raise her like a normal girl. This was Wilson. She could lie to herself as long as it made her feel better about her discovery. She would be there for him tonight.