A Dragon for December (Wiccan-Were-Bear Book 11) (7 page)

“Mistress, we’re ready whenever you are,”
Zhen said.

“I’m good to go. I haven’t been to a spa in
ages.”

“Today will be a blessed day for you,
mistress,” Jun said, shyly hiding the scarred part of her face as
she spoke. “When the sun sets, your new life starts.”

Deci said, “It started the moment I met Tosh.
This just makes it official.”

Alli shook her head and made a fake gagging
sound. “Are you going to be mushy the whole time?”

“Probably,” Deci said with a laugh.

The small group followed Zhen out to the
garage. The two dragon females climbed into the third row of the
large, dark green SUV. Deci and Alli sat in the second row, and
Zhen sat in the passenger seat.

“Did you go out dancing the other night?”
Deci asked Alli.

“It ended up not working out. I had called my
friend Cella, who is a vampire, and we were going to meet at Fang,
but she called to say that the coven was having some kind of party,
and it wasn’t a good time to hang out.”

“That stinks. Have you ever dated a vampire?”
Deci asked.

“No, but I do like to stick to immortal
creatures for between-the-sheets-tumbling, and there aren’t a lot
of immortal kinds out there.”

“Who else besides vampires and fallen
angels?”

“There’s a variety of elf that are immortal,
but they’re rare and stick to the Fae Realm. Also Pegasus.”

Deci’s brow quirked. “Pegasus? The horse with
the wings?”

Alli smiled. “Yep. I’ve never actually met
one, but I heard that Pegasus are only born male – the offspring of
a god and a bird shifter.”

“A god? Like Zeus?”

“Sure. Did you think that gods and goddesses
weren’t real?”

“No, I know they are – shifters descended
from gods and goddesses. I just had no clue that gods were still
diddling shifters.”

Alli laughed loudly. “Oh, babe. You’re so
funny. I think some of the old gods are the definition of horny old
men.”

“I know falcons are around. There’s a whole
city of them in Northern Ohio. But what other kinds of bird
shifters are there?”

Jun spoke up. “All sorts, mistress. Eagles,
hawks, and the reclusive owls. I read in our old texts that there
used to be pterodactyl shifters at one time, too. They’ve all but
died out as far as I can tell, but the other bird shifters are
around.”

“Cool. Man, I’d flip out if a god appeared in
my room and wanted to make a baby with me. How does that
conversation even start?” Deci asked.

Alli shook her head. “The immortals can be
very persuasive. I’m not sure a shifter would even know they were
with a god anyway, unless he or she told the truth. Gods and
goddesses can leave their realm and stay on earth, but they lose a
good portion of their power, which makes them vulnerable to being
destroyed. They like to one-up each other, so a vulnerable god or
goddess would have a target on his or her back. Anyway, enough
about immortal creatures. I’m getting bummed out thinking about how
few immortals there are in Ohio right now. I’ll never get laid
again.”

“Maybe you’ll walk into that vamp club next
time and meet your truemate,” Deci said.

“You never know,” Alli said.

The SUV stopped in front of the entrance to
the spa, which was housed in a pretty brick building in a strip
mall, next to a small electronics store, a pharmacy, and a grocery
store. All the stores were owned by the nest, but everything was
closed in preparation for the ceremony that evening. Deci couldn’t
believe how neat it was that the nest was excited for her and Tosh
to join together.

Zhen opened Deci’s door and offered her his
hand. As she exited, Tai said, “I’ll be waiting in the parking lot.
Zhen will accompany you into the spa and wait until you’re
finished.”

“Won’t you guys get bored? You could take off
and I could call you when we’re done.”

Both males looked at Deci as if she’d
sprouted a second head. Zhen shook his head vehemently. “There’s no
way we would leave, mistress. It’s our duty and honor to guard
you.”

Alli stifled a giggle, and Deci said, “Okay.
Thank you for being here for me.”

Zhen bowed his head slightly. Deci, Alli,
Meiling, and Jun strode into the spa. Zhen locked the front door
behind them because the spa was closed for the day to everyone
except their private party. He settled in a chair near the door,
his gaze alert.

The scent of eucalyptus and citrus reached
Deci’s nose and she inhaled. “It smells so good in here.”

Two women wearing white smocks and long,
black skirts appeared, bowing their heads. Deci scented discreetly
and found them to be dragons. Meiling introduced them as Io and
Ehra.

“This way, mistress,” Ehra said.

Both females turned on their heels and walked
down a long hallway. Sconces flickered on the walls, casting dim,
relaxing lighting that Deci found wholly enticing. The sound of
soft music echoed around them as they followed the two dragons.

The dragons stopped in front of an open door.
Inside were two massage tables covered with green blankets.
Flickering candles on a shelf unit in one corner were the only
lights in the room.

Ehra motioned to the tables and said,
“Mistress, you and your friend can disrobe here. When you are
ready, we will return.”

When Deci and Alli entered the room, the door
shut behind them. Alli turned to look at the tables. “This is like
one of those rooms where couples get rubbed down together,
right?”

Deci chuckled as she moved to one corner
where two chairs sat with two small baskets tucked under them. She
toed off her shoes and put them in the basket and began to remove
her clothes. “Yeah. Have you ever had a massage before?”

“Not in a place like this,” she said as she
joined Deci and began to undress. “The last time I had a massage
was years ago, before these kinds of places were all the rage. How
about you?”

Deci shrugged. “It’s not really my thing. I
grew up in a frugal house, so this kind of luxury feels strange to
me in a way.”

Alli moved to one of the tables and lifted
the covers. “You’re going to be queen tonight. You should
definitely get used to luxury.”

After Deci stripped down to her panties, she
climbed onto the other table and settled the warm sheet and soft
blanket over herself. “I don’t feel any different.”

“What, being queen?”

“Well, they call me mistress,” she said,
fiddling with the edge of the blanket, “but I don’t feel like I’m
qualified to be queen. Just because Tosh and I are mates, suddenly
I’m the one who is going to be leading the nest with him. I’ve got
zero training. Tosh grew up knowing he would someday be king.”

“Destiny.”

Deci hummed, looking at the ceiling and the
candlelight that flickered across it. “If the school hadn’t flooded
and left me without anything to do for two weeks, I might not have
come to visit you. We’ve been friends for years, but you’ve always
come to see me, and not the other way around.”

“I don’t have to work, so I can come and go
as I please.”

“Lucky.”

“Meh. Good financial planning. When you live
forever, you have to be smart about your money. But anyway, you’re
going to be a great queen. And that Jun is a sweetie and very
knowledgeable. I bet she’d give you queen lessons.”

“I thought of that, too,” Deci said.

The doorknob turned, and Deci and Alli
stopped talking while Meiling and Io walked into the room, pushing
two metal contraptions.

“It’s time to begin, mistress,” Meiling
said.

Chapter 8

Meiling closed the door on the princess and
her angel friend so they could undress. Then she hustled the three
other dragon females into the employee locker room.

“What are we doing back here?” Jun asked. “I
thought we were going to all work together on the princess?”

Meiling glanced at Io and nodded slightly,
and the two females lunged at Jun and Ehra, claws drawn. As Meiling
sank her claws into Jun’s shoulder, she looked into the frightened
eyes of the young female as the drug she’d soaked her claws in took
hold.

“I’m sorry to stick you with another scar,
but there is something bigger going on here than you can imagine.
You are so devoted to the usurper, you would never stand idly by
while I help Yuon prevent the coronation ceremony tonight. Once the
sun has set, the usurper will be removed from his station, and the
rightful king will take his place. Then the princess will be set
free.”

“Why?” Jun squeaked out as she fought against
closing her eyes.

Meiling released her claws from Jun’s
shoulder and lowered her gently to the ground. “Debts must be
paid.”

Glancing at Io, she saw that Ehra was also
unconscious. The two women walked out of the employee locker room
and bolted the door behind them.

“Yuon will take care of the guards. Let’s
go.”

Meiling and Io moved to two steam machines,
tugging the bulky metal contraptions behind them as they walked to
the room where Deci and Alli were waiting. Stopping at the door,
Meiling knocked softly and then opened the door.

“Are you ready, mistress?” she asked,
grimacing as her voice trembled slightly. She was nervous, worried
that her plan would be foiled and she’d be punished.

“You bet,” Deci said.

Meiling and Io moved the machines next to the
tables and turned them on. “The steam will help relax you,” Meiling
said. She moved the arm of the steam machine so it was directed
over Deci’s face.

Deci reached up and wrapped her hand around
Meiling’s arm. For a moment, Meiling worried she’d been discovered,
but then Deci said, “I just wanted to thank you. You’ve made me
feel very welcome.”

Meiling’s dragon roared in protest as she
stared at who was supposed to be her queen. Shoving the beast’s
angry thoughts aside, she gently extracted her wrist and laid
Deci’s hand on the table. “It’s my honor, mistress.”

She turned on the steam machine and glanced
over her shoulder at Io. Taking a deep breath of fresh air, the
females lifted vials from their pockets and emptied them into the
water reservoirs of the steam machines. Immediately, the water
turned black, and the steam directed over Deci’s and Alli’s faces
became a dark, smoky gray.

Meiling stepped back as her lungs began to
protest, but she had to wait to make sure that the females slipped
into the deep sleep that the potion would ensure. Alli and Deci
both seemed to struggle at first, and then they relaxed.

Meiling and Io hurried from the room to let
the rest of the drug-filled steam do its job. As she took in a deep
breath of fresh air in the hallway, she gasped in surprise to see
Yuon and two of his henchmen waiting.

“You did your job?”

“Yes, sire.”

He looked over her head toward the closed
door and then spoke to the males behind him. “Get the
princess
and get her ready for transport.”

Meiling looked at Yuon in confusion. “You
said we were only keeping her here until sunset and then releasing
her.”

Yuon’s hand moved so fast that she didn’t see
it, but she felt it as it slapped her hard across the face. He
grabbed a fistful of her hair and wrenched her head sharply to the
side until she cried out. “Don’t question me again.”

Shoving her to the ground, he moved out of
the hallway and turned toward the back of the building. The two
males put on masks and entered the room, and in a few moments, they
walked out with Deci slung over the shoulder of one of the males.
Her half-naked body hung limply, moving with the motion of the
male’s gait.

Horror swept through her as she realized that
she’d been lied to. Yuon hadn’t planned to just prevent Deci and
Tosh from completing the ceremony; he had worse intentions. What
his intentions were, she couldn’t fathom, and she didn’t have time
to as the other dragon male’s shadow passed over her right before
everything went dark.

* * *

Tosh stood in front of a long mirror in one
of the spare bedrooms, wearing his ceremonial clothing. The stiff
silk tunic was painstakingly embroidered with a floral pattern made
up of swirls and points. He looked at the photo of his parents from
their mating day and was pleased that his tunic matched his dad’s
almost perfectly. The green color closely matched Tosh’s scales and
was the same color of fabric that Deci had chosen for her gown.

Gen tugged on the hem of the trousers and
straightened, looking at Tosh critically.

“You look just like your father,” Gen said,
smiling. “He and your mother would be proud of the male you’ve
become.”

Tosh nodded. “I wish they were alive so they
could meet Deci.”

Gen smiled sadly. “She’s a special female and
will serve the nest well as queen.”

With one final look in the mirror, Tosh
declared the outfit complete and perfect. He removed the tunic and
handed it to Gen, who hung it over his arm along with the pants
after he’d removed them. As he dressed in his regular clothes, he
suddenly felt like he was being choked. His vision dimmed, and he
fell to one knee, his hand grasping his throat to find that there
wasn’t anything harming him physically. His vision swirled, edged
with black, and his lungs burned. Gen shouted for help, but Tosh
could barely hear him over his dragon’s roaring in his mind.

As quickly as the symptoms had come, they
disappeared, and he could breathe and see normally. The only thing
that was different was that he couldn’t feel his connection to Deci
as strongly as he had moments earlier. His dragon cried mournfully
as worry over her well-being filled him.

Zixin and Lok rushed into the room, weapons
drawn.

“Deci’s in trouble,” Tosh said as he rose to
his feet and dialed her number on his cell.