The Snow Leopard's Christmas Surprise

by Emilia Hartley

  “Once this is over,” Maggie said, her voice bearing a center of stone. “I’m going to reopen this embassy that Malcom just wrecked. I’m going to make it work.”

  “That’s a nice idea,” Gwen said, her voice somber and reserved. After this, the city might be terrified of dragons for another handful of centuries. The red dragons might be contained to this mountain or forced to find another home altogether if they survived the war Malcom wanted to start.

  The dragons continued to argue amongst themselves on which move they should make next. The younger dragon that looked much like Drystan gripped the edge of the table and the wood groaned beneath the sound of demanding voices. The dragon mates stared at the television, watching the lives they dreamed for be wrecked. A female dragon stood with her arms crossed over her chest, neither part of the war talk nor the grieving mates.

  Gwen approached the stoic dragon female and gripped her arm hard enough to grab the woman’s attention. Eyes that flashed with gold met hers with ire. Gwen said nothing. Instead, she jerked her eyes toward the hall. Everyone else was too busy to see the two women casually walk out of the great room.

  Behind her, Cameron tried to craft a plan that would not involve his mate. She would not stand by and watch as they threw their lives away. If she could buy them time, if she could do what Malcom did to GOE and destroy them from the inside out, then she would do just that. Even if it cost her the life she’d tried so hard to preserve.

  A century and a half was a long enough life, she decided.

  “What do you want?” the female dragon snapped. There was a streak of violet in her nearly brown hair. Her shoulders slumped once she realized the attitude she held.

  “Take me to the city. I can cover us with a See Me Not spell until we get there. It is on you to get back unnoticed, but if you do this then I can put an end to this.”

  The female dragon’s spine straightened. “I’m quick. There’s no way they will catch me.”

  “Does that mean you will do it?”

  The female dragon glanced back at her family, arguing over this desperate situation. As they spoke, the white dragons were most likely claiming Snowdonia for themselves. The female dragon turned back and nodded.

  “Where do you think he’ll be?”

  “I know exactly where Malcom will be.”

  The two women slipped out, completely unnoticed. Gwen would play the part of the martyr if that meant she could protect the man who brought sunshine back into her life. It took Cameron an hour, as Drystan threw his desperate attempts at new attacks in his face, to realize that his mate was not among those present.

  ***

  Liana’s dragon was a lithe beauty that shot through the air. A purple streak ran up her forehead and between the two small horns on the top of her head. The small talons that wrapped around Gwen made her feel as though she might fall at any moment, but the sheer speed at which they flew replaced fear with astonishment. This time, the See Me Not spell did not falter. She wrapped her green and thriving magic around them, saving the well of darker magic for when they arrived.

  The ruins of Dinas Emrys came into view. The shape of a massive white dragon lorded over it. Liana, as the female dragon introduced herself before becoming the beast that now held her, landed about half a kilometer away from the ruins. The beast’s eyes flicked in the direction that the great, white beast sat.

  “Go,” Gwen told her. “Once I have his attention, he will be so wrapped up in me that he won’t notice you leaving.”

  The lithe, almost lizard-like, beast glanced down at Gwen before nodding. Deftly, she spun around and her wings propelled her into the air. The See Me Not spell was no longer in effect. All Gwen could do was run in the direction of Malcom and his cruel beast to buy the helpful female time.

  It had been a long time since she last ran through a forest. Gwen had become too accustomed to city living. Small vines and fallen trees caught her toes and made her stumble. Her run turned into an obstacle course that she was forced to falter through. The dragon had to hear her clumsy entrance. He had to know that she was coming, even if he couldn’t smell her.

  A familiar cold wrapped around her body. It made her shake, but not from the temperature. Memories came surging back only for her to slap up a clumsy wall against them. This was not the time for fear. Even though her knees shook, she pressed forward.

  “Malcom Whittaker!” she screamed into Snowdonia. The crumbling stones of a castle that the white dragons had once fought for came into view.

  A long, white scaled tail came into view, lazily slapping the earth like an irritated cat. When she stopped before him, the tail stilled. Two icy eyes looked down at her. They gleamed like the brightest light she’d ever seen.

  “Hello, Mal. I see you’ve been up to no good again.” Her voice was deceptively even. Even she could believe that there wasn’t a chill core of fear gnawing at her from the inside out.

  The dragon’s giant head lowered to the ground, stopping right before her. It would only take a snap of his jaws to devour her whole. His lips pulled back in a sneer, one that exposed sharp fangs. Gwen steeled herself. She waited for him to level her with the ice in his breath or devour her in one bite.

  She was only a little surprised when his dragon form peeled back and the man she once thought she could love stood before her. He smiled, not the charismatic smile that he’d fed GOE and the city, but one that promised pain before pleasure. His hands snapped out and latched onto her arms.

  Quick as a viper, she reached down for that dark magic that churned inside of her.

  But, Malcom was quicker.

  “Hello, my love. I command you, Gwynefar, to not use your magic.”

  The power that filled her disappeared. She felt empty handed as she stared up at Malcom with wide eyes. Why had she forgotten? No wonder her death was written on the cards. She was an idiot. He knew her true name and through that, he owned her.

  In the distance behind her, the screams of a female dragon pierced the air. Her heart felt like it snapped inside her chest. The pain that filled her was immediate and soul shattering. This was her fault. She’d handed herself over as a weapon, the weapon that the red dragons should have had.

  Her eyes filled with tears as the screams faded.

  Malcom spun her around so that she faced the source of those screams. His hands gripped her shoulders, fingers digging in, as he whispered in her ear.

  “You will help me raise Dinas Emrys from the rubble and we will rule over Wales like we were destined to.”

  She knew the we did not include her. The we he mentioned was his family of white dragons. Several of them began to emerge from the forest around them. One had a sick smile plastered across his face as he jauntily crossed the ruin. He stopped before her. Malcom’s grip tightened on her. The young, white dragon reached out and flicked her nipple.

  No one saw Malcom move. His snarl filled the clearing and then the young white dragon was on the ground. A hand was held up to his face, a weak attempt at staunching the blood that now poured from the claw wounds that ran across his face.

  “She is mine,” Malcom growled at his family. “Touch her and you shall see your due punishment. This is what will win us our home. This is what will make me a King.”

  All around her, voices rose in cheers. She reached inside of herself, but her magic felt too far away. Neither the green magic nor the writhing dark power inside of her wanted to play. She couldn’t help it when small whimper escaped her.

  “Sit, Gwynefar.” Malcom whispered into her ear so that no one could hear her true name.

  She fell to the ground with such force that she knew her rear would bruise. The young dragon that bled from the claw marks on his face scrambled away from her now sitting form. All the while, she replayed her sins over and over again in her head. What choice did she have left?

  ***

  The rage that passed over Cameron’s eyes when he realized Liana and Gwen were gone was all consuming. A red haze passed over
Cameron’s eyes. The roar that boiled through him made the mountain shake around them.

  Drystan grabbed his arm, fingers digging into flesh. “Calm down,” he commanded. Drystan’s voice boomed through the hall. Other dragons seemed to shrink in response, but Cameron only turned gold eyes upon his leader.

  “Where did they go?” Cameron growled. The beast pushed to the front. Cameron was in such a rage that he did not care. His mate was not here. She’d foreseen her own death.

  His mate was not there.

  She was going to die.

  Those were the only thoughts going through his head. He was not going to settle for the short time they had together. He was going to hurt someone. He was going to kill before anyone could lay a hand on her.

  Cameron ripped his arm from Drystan’s grip, not caring when he heard flesh tear. The beast paced. It needed out. It needed to go find her. He knew where she went. Of course the witch went straight into the belly of the beast. She might have been terrified, but the resolve that filled her was commendable. He would yell at her for it later.

  When he brought her home. When she was safe.

  “Calm down,” another voice roared at him. Owain closed the space between them. His meaty hands fell upon Cameron’s shoulders. “Let’s go find your mate.”

  “No one leaves until we formulate our plan of attack,” Drystan said as he stepped between them and the exit.

  “Look at him!” Owain yelled at his son. “Do you recognize that look? I think you do. I think you know that we could not stop him from finding his mate even if we threw Gareth at him.”

  Drystan took in the state of Cameron, the sheer, violent panic that had engulfed his young red dragon.

  “Where is your honor?” Drystan said between clenched teeth, trying to hit Cameron where it hurt. Yet, honor was the last thing on Cameron’s mind. She needed him. What was honor when the life of his beloved was at stake? What was honor at all? It was the standard by which all dragons lived. It was what created their ranks, what put Cameron so high in rank.

  “Honor means doing the right thing,” Owain said quietly. “When the Occurrence happened, I did not do the right thing. I will not make the same mistake twice, son. Cameron is engulfed by his beast and can only think of his mate. Do you know what Malcom Whittaker did to the Witch of Caernarfon? Because I do.

  “Malcom tried to win her over with the promise that she was his mate. When he had her trust, the witch gave him her true name. The stories you heard of her, the leveling of entire towns? That was Malcom’s work. When she fought back, he carved into her. He thought there was something he could pull out of her that would give him power.”

  Cameron hadn’t known. He’d assumed that Malcom had hit her. He hadn’t known that her ex-lover had tied her down and cut into her. He didn’t know that Malcom knew her true name.

  “I’m going to take our young dragon and I’m going to get the witch that you dragged into this mess.” Owain spun on his heels, seeming decades younger in that moment. His hand gripped Cameron and jerked him along. “Are you lucid enough to give me your brother’s number? Wesley and Drystan will do what they need to. I’m sure Maggie is enough to help them. We will need your brother if we are going to get the witch back.”

  The beast that now piloted Cameron had enough presence of mind to grumble Gareth’s phone number while the old man’s thumb hovered over the touch screen. Number entered, he held the phone to his ear. When Gareth picked up, Cameron could hear the sound of shouts outside Gareth’s home.

  “What do you want, you old fart,” Gareth snapped.

  “That’s no way to greet an elder, cretin. Your brother has found himself a mate in the Witch of Caernarfon.”

  The voice on the other end swore loudly. Gareth’s mate asked if he was okay and he shot back a quick explanation before turning his attention back to Owain.

  “This involves me how? I’m damn near surrounded by angry villagers and have a pregnant mate on my hands.”

  In the background, Rhiannon screamed that she was more than capable of taking care of herself. She might have also thrown something at him from the crashing sound that made Owain pull the phone from his ear.

  “The witch went to Malcom to either buy us time or betray us. Considering what I know, she thought her death would buy us time, but we now have an Elgar problem on our hands. Cameron has lost it. The beast is completely in control.”

  “Cam? Not my brother. He’s too damn calm for that.”

  This was taking too long, the beast thought. They should have left by now. They should be on their way to Gwen. She was going to die if they did not hurry. He couldn’t lose his mate. He couldn’t. The white dragons would pay if they hurt her. He would destroy them. One by one.

  Owain caught the look on Cameron’s face, the progression of impatience. “Meet us at Dinas Emrys, damn it. Send your mate to the mountain to help from there. She will be safe if we get Malcom’s attention.”

  Gareth didn’t have a chance to respond because Owain hung up on him. The old dragon tucked his phone away and Cameron noticed for the first time that they were standing before a mountain side opening. The world loomed before him. Somewhere out there, Malcom had his mate.

  The sound that he made while the dragon unfolded into existence shook the forest below. He jumped and his wings snapped out to catch the air. Behind him, a wine-colored dragon with white around his muzzle followed. Ten minutes later, the deep roar of their brother greeted them.

  ***

  Her body hurt. It was as though her body was reliving everything Malcom put it through, all the pain and the long years of healing. The sky rang out with the cries of dragons. She did not know if they were victory cries of Malcom’s white dragons or if they were the hunting cries of red dragons that had come to save her life. She hoped it was not the latter. She did not want to be used against the new family she’d found.

  When she told Cameron not to get his hopes up she only said it to prepare him for the death she surely faced. In the time they had, she learned to love him. She loved the safety he promised, for the vision of a future they could have had. But, she knew her fate was decided.

  Malcom turned to her and smiled. It was vicious, reaching his eyes to reveal the sadistic spark that burned inside of him. “What made you want to work for the traitors? Did one of them show you his cock? Did you worship it the way you worshiped mine, hoping that once and for all you would become the mate of a long-lived dragon? You’re alone, Gwynefar. You always were.”

  He was wrong. The truth made her strong, made her sit up straighter. He couldn’t lie to her anymore. Cameron was her mate. He was tied to her by the threads of fate itself. She only hoped that those threads did not pull him into death with her.

  The smile on his face faltered when she didn’t break. She’d been out of his grasp for a long time. He must have expected her to fold the same way she did when they were together. Knowing one was about to die did strange things to you, she guessed. It made you a tad bit fearless. There was little he could do to her beside cause her pain. Even that would end.

  She only had to make sure that Cameron stayed far away from Dinas Emrys. If she was lucky, he would travel to Bangor where the white dragons had been causing such chaos. That was where the white dragons were last seen.

  But, something in the sky caught her attention. Three forms flew toward the castle ruins. Two from the west and one from the north. Her heart gave one hard thump inside her chest before it felt like it stopped altogether.

  Cameron.

  “It seems that the dragon that seduced you very much liked the feel of your body. Good thing for me he won’t last long.” Malcom turned away from the dragons in the sky. His eyes flashed with something devious. “Which one did you lay with? Point him out and I promise I will spare him until last.”

  Her hands fisted at her side. It was impossible to tell what Malcom was thinking. He could very well do as he promised and leave Cameron to watch as he killed her. Or, Malcom could
use her weakness to cut him down first. She narrowed her eyes at her old lover and kept still.

  His lip twitched, the hint of a snarl at her defiance. “You cannot ignore me. Gwynefar, tell me which dragon brought you here.”

  She smiled. The compulsion to answer was overwhelming, but she did as he asked. “Liana brought me to Dinas Emrys.” She could dance around his question and buy Cameron time as long as Malcom kept asking the wrong questions.

  “That is not what I meant!” He roared. His fist collided with the crumbling stone pillar nearby. The stone exploded in every direction. Small chunks hit her arm. She didn’t flinch. The pain was nothing. “Last I knew you didn’t like females. Now, tell me which one touched you!”

  She let out a breath. “Could you be any dumber? Any number of dragons could have touched me. They put their hands on my shoulders. They carried me through the skies. Learn to word your questions correctly, you daft moron.”

  Malcom’s face was turning purple. She’d never defied him like this before. He was so used to people winding themselves around his fingers. He’d never had to do much work to get what he wanted. Even his dragons bowed before his vicious smile.

  Gwen was no longer the simpering fool that she’d been. She no longer feared what he could do. Her eyes flicked to the sky, trying to find Cameron. White dragons erupted from the forest canopy. The white and pale blue bodies darted for the red dragons that were coming to her rescue.

  One roar filled the air. It almost felt like all of Snowdonia trembled at his arrival. The dragon was smaller than the ones that flanked him, but there was a power wrapping around him that threatened to cut down anything in its path. Cameron lifted his head into the sky and let out a burst of fire, pushing back the white dragons that closed in on them.

  The two with him were bigger. They turned their bodies as the white dragons crashed into them. They sank their claws into their white scales and held them. Dragons began to plummet through the air until great, red wings beat back. The red dragon with the white muzzle twisted his body and threw a white dragon into the forest below.