by Viola Grace
With Sahn-Tah Keelas on his honeymoon, the Christmas Dragon is going to have to deliver all the toys. Too bad he doesn't have the Oldest Elf's stamina. He collapses on Maggie's front lawn and has some severe explaining to do.
Will she believe that the flying lizard means no harm even after he shows her his naked, helpless and hunky human form? Time for strategic application of the Santa hat.
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The Christmas Dragon
Copyright © 2009 Viola Grace
ISBN: 978-1-55487-439-2
Cover art by Martine Jardin
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
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The Christmas Dragon
By
Viola Grace
Dedication
To my Aunty Mary who lost her battle with breast cancer this fall. Her love of life, joy, fun and family will be an example I will try to live up to for the rest of my life.
Merry Christmas, Mary.
Chapter One
Maggie listened to the gentle crackle of her fire and hummed along with the Celtic Christmas Carols that were playing. It was a solitary Christmas for her this year. Her sister had succumbed to breast cancer during the summer and it had been hard for her to keep her mood cheerful during the holidays.
Mandy had been bright, happy and the kind of sister one could only dream of. She had caught the tumour too late and the rounds of chemo had only slowed her inevitable death. Until the end, she had tried to keep Maggie’s spirits up, the sick ministering to the depressed and hopeless. It would have been funny if it hadn’t been so bittersweet.
This Christmas, instead of friends and family, Maggie was at her mountain cabin and watching the wonders of the winter world. Each day of life was a miracle and the constant references to her sister’s demise were a quick way to wrench her out of the holiday spirit. She remembered Mandy with every breath that she took, but wanted to remember her life, not her death. Life in the mountains did just that.
She had decorated the cabin just the way she liked it, with fresh boughs of evergreens and big blue bows. Judicious dashes of red and silver completed her décor and created a beautiful effect. More than one tear fell as she decorated, but she pushed on through until she had a home that felt and smelled like Christmas.
Her last step was to go and find a tree. That would wait for the morning. Only an idiot wandered around the mountainside at night.
It was odd to be woken with a crash, but that was definitely the sound that went on and on through the otherwise silent night. “What the hell?”
She was out of bed and slithering into her jeans and boots in a matter of seconds. Her coat went on over her nightshirt and she pulled her earmuffs on while she made for the door and grabbed the high-powered flashlight. Whatever had made that crash was big and if an aircraft had landed in the area, she wanted to offer what help she could. Outside, she grabbed her toboggan and hauled it behind her. There was the noise of still-falling trees to follow and a bright blue glow that radiated from the crash site.
Something had hit hard. The path she was following was large enough for a commercial aircraft, but when she got within two hundred feet, the glow suddenly winked out. It was obviously not a fire. She moved as quickly as she could with the toboggan banging along behind her.
The snow had been planed flat so she didn’t have to watch her footing as carefully as she otherwise would, but she still stumbled to a halt when the crater appeared in front of her. Inside the vast hole in the snow was a figure. As she stumbled down the slope, it turned into a man. A very naked man.
Well, he wasn’t naked precisely. He was wearing a Santa hat and that was all.
She rolled him over and checked him from head to toe. Part of her would have considered it a fun occupation under other circumstances, but for now, she breathed a sigh of relief at his lack of broken limbs and discoloration.
He should have been blue or white with cold, but he wasn’t. That worried her. His pulse was strong so she took a chance and loaded him on to the toboggan and tucked her jacket around his torso, and with a twist of her lips, she put the Santa hat over his endowments. It would keep her gaze on the path in front of her.
She hauled him back to her cabin, smiling with relief as they regained the warmth provided by the banked fire. With only her pyjama top to heat her torso, she was shivering and sweating at the same time. Not a good combination in cold weather.
Maggie pulled her cargo into the area in front of the fireplace and stoked the blaze. The embers flared to life and she added wood slowly to the fire until it was crackling happily again. With the matter of heat taken care of, she turned back to her guest and removed her jacket to replace it with the blanket she kept on the sofa.
Steeling her nerves, she shucked her gloves and muffs to start checking his limbs for breaks that were not obvious. His muscled limbs felt wonderful and shockingly warm under her hands, but they were intact. His arms and shoulders would have done credit to a Greek statue, but they were whole and very hard.
She tilted her head and assessed his cleanly chiselled jaw line and the light curls of his wavy, black hair. It was so dark as to be blue and it set off the bronze of his complexion perfectly. The wings of his brows arched over his deep set eyes and blade of a nose. It was kind of fun to examine him as he was unaware, but as she touched the locks on the side of his face, the point to his ear stunned her. Her fingers reached out to touch and at that moment, his eyelids flew open.
Her hand was caught in an iron grip and he turned to one side, dropping both the hat and the blanket. “Where am I?”
“You are in my cabin in the mountains. I found you in a crater.”
“A crater? Really? I must have been hauling.” He blinked his deep blue eyes and his thick lashes caressed his cheeks. His gaze raked over her from head to toe and he quirked his mouth. “Interesting fashion choice.”
Blushing, she followed his gaze to the almost transparent top, well-worn and well-loved with a kitten on it. His focus seemed fixed on her visible nipples so she crossed her arms. “I was asleep and I heard this crash. I went to see if I could help.”
“And you found me and dragged me back here on this conveyance? You are a brave woman to be running out into the dark and cold to offer help to strangers.” He shifted toward her and freed himself from the wooden bars of the toboggan. His obvious erection was now within touching distance.
With her face flaming from his proximity, she grabbed for the hat and flipped it onto his stiff cock. “Put that away. It’s a little early in the morning for me.”
He reared back and then laughed loud and long.
Maggie started out enjoying his laugh and then got a little creeped out when she saw the canines that her boy was sporting. Fangs and pointed ears? This was a little intense fo
r her. She must have frostbitten her brain. “What’s your name?”
“Syrus. What is your name, my lovely rescuer?” He knelt in front of her and, though she was on her own knees, he towered above her.
She had known that he overlapped the toboggan, but anyone who wasn’t a toddler would have. He was huge and that damned hat was pointing straight at her. “Maggie. Maggie Konrad. Are you sure that you are alright? You were probably exposed to whatever crashed there. Maybe a meteor or something.”
He chuckled, a deep rich sound. “I am afraid that I was the cause of that crash. The explanation will have to wait until I get something to eat. I don’t suppose you could accommodate me?”
“Of course. I will warm up some cinnamon buns and then make you a proper breakfast. Is bacon and eggs okay with you?” She scrambled to her feet and grabbed the buns she mentioned, popping them into the microwave for a few seconds. The generator and power supply had been one of her favourite renovations. It made coming to the cabin so much more comfortable.
“Anything relating to pigs and chickens is fine. Thank you.”
Blinking at the mental image that he brought out of a barnyard breakfast, she set the buns on a plate and handed it to him, then scampered back to her bedroom to pull on a bra and shirt.
“Aw. Did you have to?” His mouth was crammed with pastry, but he spoke perfectly clearly.
“Have to what?”
“Cover your breasts. I think they are lovely and they certainly increased my appetite.”
In a move that she could not have predicted, he licked a crumb off his cheekbone. There was no way that a human tongue could have reached that spot. She picked up knife from her block and stood with her back to the counter. He was looking at her curiously when she blurted, “What are you?”
Chapter Two
“Please calm down, Maggie. The knife wouldn’t hurt me anyway.” He sat and kept munching on the cinnamon buns. “Did you really not see me?”
The knife stayed pointed at him. “See you? Sure I saw you. I saw you naked in a crater.”
“Ah. Well, I am a dragon. I was practicing for Christmas when I ran out of energy and fell asleep.” He shook his head dramatically. “I swear I don’t know how Sahn does it.”
“What?”
“Sahn-Tah Kelas. Your Santa Claus. He has requested this year off his regular duties so that he and his wife can have a belated honeymoon. I was doing a dry run of the route last night when I crashed.” His grin could have melted concrete. “Fortunately, you found me and are taking wonderful care of this poor, scaly creature.”
He was nuts. That had to be it. “You don’t seem to have scales.”
“You are not seeing me in my proper form. This one is easier to get assistance in. Part of me must have been able to sense you coming.”
His tongue did that flick again and although she was frightened, part of her was fascinated. With a body that buff and a tongue with that dexterity, he could keep a woman warm in cold weather for hours or possibly days. Shaking her head violently, she put the knife down carefully, glaring at him. “You are a nut and I need you to return to the naked snow commune where you came from or get out of my imagination.”
He laughed. “If that is your wish I will be on my way. Thank you for the food. Next time, I look forward to a proper breakfast.”
“There will be no next time. You will disappear and I will be able to get on with my Christmas. I have planned to be alone this holiday and once you go, I will have everything that I want. So go. Poof. Turn into ether.” She flapped her hand at him and waited.
Syrus crossed the distance between them and took his hand in hers. “I thank you for your kind heart and your hospitality. Be well and Merry Christmas.” He brought her hand to his lips.
The warm kiss and flick of his tongue sent heat flaring through her that rivalled the flames in the fireplace. He gave her a jaunty salute, put the red hat on his head and splendidly naked, he walked to the door. One more wave and he was gone.
She blinked furiously, then moved to the window. His nude highness stood in her front yard in the light of false dawn and changed into a blue dragon larger than a greyhound bus. Maggie’s knees buckled as he took off and headed north. His great wings scooped pillars of air that made the snow dance and cover his tracks. Soon all traces of him were gone.
All except his half-eaten cinnamon bun.
* * * *
“Syrus, what the hell took you so long?” Walther was the soul of courtesy, normally. This close to Christmas, he got a little testy. With Sahn-Tah away from the Pole, nothing was running as smoothly as it should.
Shifting from his dragon to human form was difficult when he was this exhausted, but the bit of warmth and sustenance he had received from Maggie had gone a long way to helping recharge him. “I collapsed after the trial run. Making it to all the drop points is a tricky proposition and I may have to do the run once or twice more to make sure I can do it on the day.” He stretched and tossed the hat over to the butler. “The stealth charm on this thing needs to be turned up if it is to hide me.”
“I will get the elves on it.” The butler flipped a velvet wrap to Syrus.
Smiling slightly, he wrapped it around his hips. Walther was a bit of a prude, but no sense antagonizing him. With Sahn gone, the staid elf was in charge.
“Were there any additional difficulties?”
“No. Well. I was seen by a very attractive human. She thinks I am a figment of her imagination, but she did feed me.” He was still intrigued by Maggie and it was showing. The wrap around his hips was rapidly becoming a tent.
“You were seen by a human? You will need to take her memory.” They were walking through the halls, dodging the frenetic delivery elves and passing the Nice and Naughty room.
“How do I go about that?” He knew the answer, but wanted to play a little before he agreed to go back to Maggie.
Walther sighed heavily. “You take some of the crystal snowflakes and put them under her pillow. She will sleep and when she wakes, she won’t remember you. Wear the hat while you plant them and you won’t have a problem.”
Ahead of them was the Wish Room. Westa the spirit of Luck, was already inside with her husband, Henry, the dragon, Kevik, and his wife, Holly, working on bringing the wishes of children into the real world with touches of Christmas Magic. Holly was the spirit of Judgement and as such, was ideally suited for the job of granting wishes from children who needed more than a simple present during the holidays. Sometimes life was not as simple as adults liked to think and children could not be pacified with a simple toy.
It was something that Syrus was glad he didn’t have to deal with. This was a one time trip for him. He had crossed over from the magic world of Underhill for the purpose of helping out an old friend. Once that was done, he would return through the portal and have this as a memory of a good deed. A good deed and the memory of Maggie.
That one human woman kept teasing at his senses. Her taste was incredible, fresh and magical. If he didn’t know better, he would think that she was something more than human. Her body was perfectly suited to his hands and that was just judging by eye. If he actually got his hands on her, he would be able to confirm it in a most pleasurable manner. He looked forward to being proven right.
“What are you thinking about? You are pitching so much wood I am going to fetch an axe.”
Walther’s irritated voice came to him and Syrus stilled the churning maelstrom of his thoughts. Time to create a plan of attack that would allow him access to his human while he went through the motions of executing the Christmas deliveries. “I was thinking about human women and their curves. It is a topic that springs to mind from time to time.” He grinned. “And so other things spring up. Dragons have needs, you know.”
“As do elves, but we engage in a courtship before surrendering to rampaging lusts.” The sneer was unmistakable.
“I am not surrendering to lust. I am merely becoming intimately acquainted before I go any
further.” Chuckling at the knowledge that he had to see Maggie at least one more time to wipe her mind, he embraced the possibilities. It was truly a magical time of the year.
Chapter Three
Her preparations for the day were almost complete. Maggie only needed one more thing before sundown to gear up for the holiday and then it would be all warm cider and a night by the fire. It was time to get her tree.
Maggie pulled on her boots, parka and gloves with a jaunty toss to her scarf. She was on her way to kill a tree. She had her toboggan and her with her, nothing else was really needed for her procedure. Time to choose the best pine for her purpose.
The red glow of the sun threw marks in the snow into sharp relief. Upon further inspection, the snow had formed large Godzilla style footprints. They were mostly filled in and were probably the reason for her weird dream that morning. Dragons. Yeah right. It was about as likely as having her garden gnomes come to life and doing her yard work.
Shaking her head at the fanciful turn her thoughts had taken, she moved away from the dragon prints and off to the stand of trees. The first tree was too tall. The second was too lopsided. The third reminded her of her fourth grade teacher. The fourth tree was just right. Six feet tall with a big bushy base. She started hacking at the base and it shook snow on her with every stroke. When it dumped down the back of her shirt, she squealed and jumped back. Dropping her axe, she shook it out as best she could with her parka in the way.
“What is it? What is wrong?” The deep baritone hummed out of the darkness.
Maggie shrieked and looked down for the axe. It was deep in the snow and she couldn’t get it out in a hurry. “Who is there?”
“Syrus. We met this morning.” He came out of the shadows to meet her wide-eyed gaze with his own.
