A Dragon for December (Wiccan-Were-Bear Book 11) Read online

  Chapter 9

  Tosh immediately knew something was wrong when they pulled into the parking lot of the spa. The SUV that had carried Deci, her friend, and escorts was sitting in the parking lot, with the driver’s side door opened. Zixin rushed from the SUV, and after a long moment, he appeared from behind the door, carrying Tai.

  Lok rolled down the window and asked, “Is he dead?”

  “Unconscious. He’s covered in a chemical smell. I think he tried to get out of the vehicle but didn’t make it far.”

  Tosh got out of the SUV and said, “Put him on the backseat.”

  Zixin did as instructed, and Tosh followed the other three males to the spa, his worry over his lost connection to Deci making his beast irrational. The front doors were locked, but Wei broke them down easily, the steel and glass doors no match for his beast’s strength. As they raced into the spa, Tosh could scent the metallic tang of blood, and his heart pounded as his beast roared in rage. They turned a corner and found two females on the ground. Io was a nest female and a spa worker, and Meiling had been with Deci when she left the house.

  Dai touched Io’s throat and shook his head. Then he reached for Meiling, and her eyes fluttered open as his fingers grazed her blood-soaked flesh. Her throat had been ravaged as if by claws, blood soaking the floor under her.

  “What happened here?” Tosh demanded.

  Meiling’s eyes were glazed with pain. She wheezed as her mouth opened, but managed to whisper, “Yuon took Deci.”

  Tosh growled angrily. “Search the spa,” he bellowed to Zixin and Wei.

  They split up and moved in opposite directions, opening doors and searching rooms as they went. Dai lifted his cell from his pocket and called 911. Tosh leaned over Meiling and let his beast bleed into him, knowing his fangs were elongated, his eyes had turned bright green, and the hint of scales glistened on his skin.

  “What did you do?”

  Meiling’s eyes widened, and tears rolled down the sides of her face. “I owed a debt to Yuon. He…made me.”

  “Where did he take my mate?”

  Her eyes rolled back in her head, and Tosh slapped her cheeks to rouse her. “Where? Meiling answer me!”

  She slowly lifted her hand, and Tosh saw her blood-covered cell phone. Her thumb pressed the center button, and the screen cleared to show a map with an orange dot on it. Taking the phone from her, he looked at the screen more closely and recognized it as a phone location app.

  “Is this Yuon?” Tosh asked.

  She nodded. “I’m sorry, sire. Tell Deci…” Her eyes rolled back in her head, and Tosh pressed his fingers to her throat and found no pulse.

  He stood and faced the hallway where Zixin carried Deci’s angel friend in his arms. She was wrapped in a blanket and unmoving.

  “Is she alive?” Tosh asked.

  “Unconscious. She smells like Tai. It’s a weird scent, like flowers, but underneath that is something that smells awful, like rotten eggs. There were these machines over the two tables in there, and there was black residue inside them. I think whatever that chemical was, it made Alli, and most likely Deci, unconscious,” he said.

  Tosh held up the phone. “We know where Yuon is.”

  Zixin smiled darkly. “Good.”

  Wei and Dai called from the back of the spa. Tosh and Zixin moved swiftly to the employee lounge and found Zhen, Ehra, and Jun unconscious, bound hands and feet.

  “What the ever loving fuck happened here?” Zixin asked. “They killed the two females in the hallway, and everyone else is unconscious.”

  Tosh had to force down his dragon. The urge to shift and destroy the spa was riding him hard. Shaking his head to clear his murderous thoughts, he said, “Zixin and Wei come with me. Dai, I know you want to stay with your sister. Call the other guards from the nest and have them come and help. When the others awaken, make sure they’re taken care of and get whatever information you can from them on what transpired.”

  Dai nodded, taking Alli from Zixin’s arms and settling her on a small leather couch in the room. Tosh rushed from the spa with his guards and hurried into the SUV. He gave Yuon’s location to Wei, who entered it into the GPS and tore out of the parking lot with squealing tires.

  Tosh silently vowed to kill anyone involved in Deci’s abduction.

  “You know this is because Yuon wants to be king,” Zixin said.

  Tosh rubbed at his temples, watching the blinking dot on the screen. “I know. He must have believed that keeping us from joining tonight would allow him to take over the nest.”

  “If you follow the old laws, it does,” Wei pointed out. “But you’re also the rightful heir of the nest, and not mating with her or making her queen because she was abducted by a usurper wouldn’t really change anything about your place as the future king. No one in the nest would stand in your way of being king and making Deci your queen. Yuon is a lunatic, grasping at straws.”

  “I have known Meiling all my life. I would never have guessed she was the sort of female who would betray her future queen,” Tosh said.

  “Because it’s unheard of. She said that a debt had to be paid to Yuon. Whatever it was, it was serious enough that she risked death to betray the queen. She must have known that she would be killed if the plan didn’t work,” Zixin said.

  “I think Yuon took care of that risk for her,” Tosh said. He mentally scrubbed the image of the female’s torn throat out of his mind. She may have felt as if she had no choice but to betray Deci to satisfy some debt to his uncle, but she should have made the right choice and come to Tosh instead. Tosh would have ensured that Meiling was safe from harm. He would have done anything to protect Deci.

  “We’ll find her,” Wei said.

  Tosh let out a growl of agreement. He glanced at the GPS screen. They had to leave Ohio in order to reach his uncle. He wasn’t one hundred percent certain that Deci was with his uncle, but his gut told him that she was.

  He reached out for his connection to his mate and felt nothing. He yanked off his jacket, ripping off his shirt sleeve to bare his tattoo. Touching it, he closed his eyes and sought their connection again, letting his dragon loose further to enhance his abilities. Dragons and their truemates were connected on a level that was different from regular shifters. Even though Deci was a polar bear, their connection was stronger because of his dragon nature and the fact that he was a powerful male.

  He felt a tiny spark of their connection, a last little thread that he clung to. Growling, he vowed to find her and set their world right once more.

  * * *

  The mist soaked Deci’s skin a third time. Her body felt like it was on fire. The males were crowding close to her, their eyes bright with their beasts. Their fangs and claws elongated. She didn’t understand why the drug kept her from feeling her beast, but the males still had access to theirs. She moved away from them as far as the chain would allow, but they always advanced. Keeping her hand on her tattoo and the barest of connection that she felt to her mate, she shoved away the arousal and growled, snapping her teeth at the males.

  “Stay back,” she warned with a whisper. Her voice was all but gone.

  The light-haired male had been the voice of reason for the two, but now that he’d been dosed a second time, he had joined in with the dark-haired male, trying to get to her. She had hit them with the chains, shouting at them to stay away from her, but they didn’t stay back for long. She knew her body was giving off strong arousal vibes, and she was having a hard time thinking about anything but having sex. She wanted her mate, but her body was willing to settle for anyone.

  “Give up, she-bear,” the scientist taunted from the speaker. “The longer you fight, the more fucking you’ll need to feel normal again. The breeding drug forces a female into her heat cycle. The only thing that will make the pain go away is male climaxes.” He chuckled, and it made Deci’s skin crawl. “Imagine how much money I’ll make on this drug. Males all over the world will pay for a drug powerful enough to turn even the mo
st frigid female into a sex-addled nympho.”

  A wave of arousal stabbed through Deci, and she curled onto her side, gripping her knees and screaming until her voice gave out. She wanted the pain to go away.

  “Make it stop,” she cried out, tears streaming down her cheeks as her womb tightened.

  A warm hand touched her calf, and for a brief moment the pain ebbed. Deci breathed out a sigh of relief, opening her eyes and seeing the light-haired male loom over her.

  “Give in and set us all free,” he begged, his fangs glistening as his eyes darkened with arousal.

  It would have been so easy to roll over. Part of her knew that the pain would cease with sex. She kicked both feet as hard as she could, planting them right into his stomach and knocking him away. Rolling to her knees, she rose to her feet, her skin prickling painfully and her heart pounding in her chest.

  She shoved at the dark-haired male, pushing him away. “I won’t betray my mate! Tosh!” She screamed his name, a mixture of a plea and a prayer.

  The mist flooded over her again, and she dropped to her knees. Her mind muddled as her vision tunneled.

  “Please, Tosh,” she begged, letting the tears fall onto the concrete as the mist soaked into her skin and spiked her arousal higher.

  If only Tosh could get to her in time.

  * * *

  Tosh felt something tear inside him, and realized the connection to Deci had severed completely. There had been a faint connection that he had held fast to, and then, suddenly, there was nothing. His beast roared in worry.

  “Stop!’ Tosh ordered.

  Wei jerked the SUV over to the side of the road and Tosh rushed out.

  “I’ll meet you there!”

  He took one last look at the GPS screen, memorizing the route, and then shifted into his dragon form. Taking to the sky, he hovered for a brief moment over the street, got his bearings, and headed in the direction of where his uncle’s cell phone was transmitting. His wings beat furiously as he flew, anxiety and anger twining inside him. He didn’t want to believe that Deci had been killed, but he didn’t understand why their connection had been severed. Holding onto hope, he moved forward as quickly as possible, cutting through the air and watching the scenery blur underneath him. He’d spent a lot of time in his youth honing his flying skills. Dragons were one of the few types of shifters who could shift as children. Now, as he maneuvered through the air easily, he was grateful for the skills he’d learned from flying for such a long time.

  His gaze narrowed as he reached the area where the cell phone had pinpointed its location. Below him what looked like a warehouse district stretched on both sides of several city blocks. The parking lots behind the warehouses were mostly full, as if the warehouses were in use. He scented the air, but could only smell harsh industrial scents.

  His gaze returned to the warehouse with a parking lot that was entirely empty. It looked to be in good condition, as if it were in use, but the empty lot suggested that it wasn’t being used. His dragon urged him to investigate, and he heeded the call. Swooping down with a flap of his mighty wings, he landed in the parking lot, his claws scraping on the concrete.

  Very faintly he heard a click and looked up to see a male dressed all in black in a window on the second floor of the warehouse, aiming a gun in his direction. Snarling, with smoke billowing from his nostrils, Tosh lunged into the air, his clawed fists breaking through the glass as bullets whizzed by him. He grabbed the male by his shirt and drew him from the building. The male smelled human, and he screamed, beating the butt of the gun again Tosh’s nose. Ignoring the insignificant blows, Tosh pressed his nose to the man. A chemical smell was mixed with a floral scent, and it tickled Tosh’s nose. Moving his nose across one sleeve, he caught a very faint scent of sugar and snow. Shaking his head and drawing in a breath of fresh air, he scented the shirt sleeve again, and once more he smelled Deci.

  Dropping to the ground, he released the male and knocked the gun from his hand. As he shifted into his human form, he grabbed the male who was too stunned to run away and shoved him against the wall with as much force as he could muster.

  “Where is my mate?”

  The male’s eyes rolled back in his head as the scent of urine filled the air. Slapping him hard across the cheek, Tosh snorted in disgust.

  “Tell me where she is or I’ll skin you alive!”

  Rousing from his near-faint, the male struggled to get away. Tosh let his beast out enough so that his teeth elongated and his eyes changed color. Roaring in his face and snapping his fangs an inch from the man’s nose, Tosh demanded once more, “Tell me where December is or suffer!”

  With a whimper, the male hung his head. “She’s in the basement of the warehouse.”

  Tosh noticed he had a keycard hanging around his neck. “Take me to her.”

  “They’ll kill me.”

  “I’ll kill you, and I won’t be quick.”

  Swallowing audibly, the male nodded. Tosh released his hold long enough for the male to turn, and then he grabbed his collar and walked with him to the front door. Aware he was naked, but not caring at all, Tosh watched as the male used the keycard to unlock the security door on the first floor.

  “There aren’t any alarms,” Tosh said as he walked through the door and into a sterile looking hallway. It was entirely white, from the ceiling to the tile floor, and scented heavily of cleaning products.

  “Only down below.”

  Tosh grunted. Whoever took Deci was either very confident of never being found or had excellent security in the basement, negating the need for more than one security person above ground.

  They stopped at an elevator door at the end of the hallway. The male swiped his badge over the panel, and it made a piercing beep as it glowed red. His voice was shaky as he spoke. “They know someone is here. They’ve already locked me out.” He looked over his shoulder at Tosh. “You’re too late.”

  Tosh grabbed the male by the back of the neck and threw him back down the hallway. There was no such thing as too late.

  Letting his beast free, Tosh shifted into his dragon form and filled up the hallway. Pressing his wings close to his back, he sank his claws into the elevator doors and tugged, his muscles bunching as he ripped off the doors. Taking a deep breath, he focused his power and blew a stream of concentrated fire at the floor of the elevator. Fire alarms blared loudly, and sprinklers went off in the hallway, but nothing could stop the intense heat of his fire. The floor melted, and Tosh shifted into his human form and leaped through the gaping hole. As he fell, he drew upon a little-known power, one that was linked to his family line. He could partially shift. Wings burst from his back, and his skin prickled with shiny scales as thick claws formed on his fingers and toes. Easing the descent with his wings, Tosh landed on the floor of the elevator shaft and gripped the door. Pulling with all his might, he slowly separated the heavy doors.

  He could hear the sound of booted footsteps running toward him and knew he had little time to get free of the elevator bay so he could shift into his full dragon form. With a roar, Tosh wedged himself between the doors and pushed, forcing them open enough for him to escape, and then he shifted, his beast springing forward. Deci’s life was at stake; he could feel it in his bones.

  Bullets began to fly, but Tosh ignored the sting of them as they struck but were unable to penetrate his scales. With an earth-shattering roar, he let loose with another stream of fire. Pained screams and the scent of burning flesh filled the air as Tosh moved forward, searching for his mate.

  Chapter 10

  Deci’s skin was on fire. Her body felt twisted from the inside out as painful tremors wracked her. The two males in the room with her had long since given up trying to convince her to mate with them. She’d made it clear she would fight to the death before she let them take her. Their suffering mattered little to her, and even her own pain was not enough for her to betray her mate. She and Tosh had only been together a short while, but he was the most important person
in the world to her.

  Rubbing at her tear-streaked cheeks with her palms, she tried to stand but found herself unable to. After the last batch of breeding drugs had misted over them, the males had scurried to separate corners, leaving her alone in the center of the room. Her wrists were bloody from the cuffs, and her fingers were cut and bruised from the many times she’d tried to break the cuffs and the chain that bolted her to the floor.

  Slipping back to the floor with a groan, she reached into herself for what felt like the millionth time, searching for her connection to her beast and to Tosh. She felt entirely empty inside, as if the essence of what she was had been erased. She had no idea what the breeding drugs were doing to her aside from the way they pushed her into a painful breeding heat, but she suspected that the drugs were also suppressing her natural abilities and any ties she had to anyone else.

  Looking up, she heard what had become an all-too-familiar sound of the breeding drug as it pushed through the tubes. Each time it seemed stronger, as if those behind her kidnapping were increasing the strength of the drug.

  The males groaned, and Deci’s pain-filled cry joined theirs. She wasn’t sure if it were possible to die from going into heat, but she was beginning to think that death was a more favorable option than the continued abuse of her body.

  The males growled. She lifted her head and blinked through watery eyes as they rolled to their knees and cracked their necks in unison.

  “No more,” the dark-haired one said. “No. More.”

  “Don’t do this,” Deci pleaded, covering her bare breasts with one arm and holding out her other hand. She didn’t have the luxury of claws to fend off the males. She only had her wits, and with her mind muddled from the drug, she barely even had that. Her body tightened as the mist settled into her skin, and her arousal spiked.