Page 62 of His Winter Wonderland

“Put him down? No. I’ve always wanted a guard dog. Or, a guard vampire dragon.”

“Rhen!” Winter bumped him with her shoulder.

He pulled her into his embrace. “Okay. Okay. I’ll make sure he survives. Sin will have her dragon when it’s all said and done. Now, sip your chocolate and eat your brownies.”

They remained that way for a long time until Rhen suggested playing a game. This time, he didn’t want to play cards. He wanted to play something called strip poker. She’d heard of poker. But not strip poker. Apparently, it was a Christmas tradition. Feeling festive, she played the game with him.

As expected, it ended with him going down on her again. Winter didn’t mind. Together, they were making their own Christmas tradition. The snow was raging outside. But they weren’t bothered by it. They were just fine, wrapped up in each other’s embrace. For the rest of the day and into the night, they remained that way.

When Winter started yawning, Rhen took it as a cue that it was time for him to go. He moved to get up out of bed. Winter placed her hand on his back. He froze then slowly turned his head to face her.

“Where are you going?” She asked him.

“Um….” He looked confused.

“You said that it was Christmas tradition for mates to have sex at least three times on Christmas night. We’ve only had sex twice.”

“We did it three times.”

“The living room doesn’t count. We had sex twice in bed.”

He grinned. “Right. Well, we have to follow tradition. What would Christmas be without it?”

“I have no idea.”

That night, they exceeded the recommended number for Christmas sex. She even allowed her mate to take a bath with her. When they returned to bed, he held her close and told her about how he celebrated Christmas in his realm. His stories held her captive as he told her about the lanterns they lit and the different festivals they had.

One day, when they were free of this plane, she hoped to visit his realm with him. She hoped to go to those festivals and experience his culture. He told her about his family. All the while, he had a huge smile on his face. When he mentioned the gift giving, she realized she had nothing to give him.

“This must be the worst Christmas ever,” she told him. “You didn’t get any gifts.”

“Who told you that? I got the gift I’ve always wanted.”

“What?”

“Winter Warren.”

Smiling, she snuggled up close to him. For the first time ever, Winter fell asleep in her mate’s arms. She fell asleep next to the man of her dreams. It was a Merry Christmas indeed. As they slept peacefully, neither of them knew that soon, The Deciders would once again rear their ugly head and ruin everything. Christmas was perfect. But the coming months were going to be hard on them all.

And in the end, none of them would make it to the new year unscathed.

***

Winter

Three months later…

He really did it.

Rhen really killed Kaede. Winter stared down at Kaede’s unconscious form. Rhen had transferred the sleeping dragon here, saying that this was the safest place for him. It wasn’t like Winter could tell him no. This truly was the safest place for him. The Deciders hadn’t been to her cabin in decades.

If he’d remained at the compound the entire compound would’ve had a target on their back. For the past three months, he’d been in Winter’s guest room. And for the past three months, Sinclair had been living with her. During that time, her friend had barely left Kaede’s side. The fire witch was pissed off. And she had every right to be.

Though Rhen explained to Sinclair Kaede’s reason for being turned into a vampire, part of her was still pissed with him for not being strong enough to resist hurting her. Even Winter had tried explaining the curse of the first full moon to Sin. That didn’t lessen her anger. Maybe it was a hormonal thing.

Days after Rhen turned Kaede and Kaede drifted into this state of slumber, Sinclair found out that she was pregnant. Winter wasn’t accustomed to being around pregnant women. But she’d heard that their moods could change in a split second. If that was the catch, then Sin was a normal pregnant woman.

Rhen was the one getting the brunt of the witch’s anger. And Winter didn’t feel a bit sorry for him. Even though Winter had warned Rhen against turning Kaede, the vampire had still done it. Apparently, something had gone wrong. The dragon had been out for three months. If Kaede didn’t awaken soon, Sinclair was going to bury Rhen’s undead ass.