A Dragon for December (Wiccan-Were-Bear Book 11) by R. E. Butler Page A

canopy of trees and headed for
the center of the woods to the sacred grove. Behind him, Gen and
Liu followed closely.
    Tosh landed in the clearing that was
illuminated with torches. The dirt was covered with flower petals
in preparation for the mating and crowning ceremony, but that
wasn’t why he was there now. Tied up to trees at the edge of the
clearing were Tosh’s uncle, three dragon males, and three humans in
lab coats. His guards stood near them, faces stony as they waited
for Tosh’s instructions.
    Deci eased from his grasp and Tosh returned
to his human form.
    Dai brought a pair of trousers to Tosh and
said with a low voice, “We found two of the dragon males outside of
the warehouse in a van. We’d scented them inside the spa, so we
know they were part of the kidnapping. Yuon, Ge, and the four
humans were in the room where you locked them up. One of the humans
tried to escape and was killed in the process. There were two wolf
shifters who were heavily drugged. They were from Virginia and
didn’t know how long they’d been in the warehouse.” He looked at
Deci. “They were pretty much out of their minds. We dropped them
off at the supernatural hospital on the way back here so they could
be helped.”
    “I know they couldn’t really help themselves.
It doesn’t make what happened any easier to deal with, though. My
mate saved the day, riding in like a knight in shining armor to
rescue me,” Deci said.
    Tosh dismissed Dai and turned Deci to face
him. Behind him, he heard Gen and Liu shift into their human forms.
“I want you to go back to the house and rest.”
    “What? Why are you sending me home?”
    “Because you don’t need to see what happens
next.”
    She wrapped her hands around his forearms.
“As the future queen, I should be part of this.”
    He opened his mouth to tell her that it was
his job to protect and shield her, but he realized that she was
right. She was the future queen, and more than that, she
deserved to see what happened to those who had harmed her.
    “As you wish,” he said, kissing her gently.
“Stay with Gen and Liu.”
    “Wait, are my guards okay? Where’s Alli?”
    “I’m right here, babe,” the angel said,
striding into the clearing with a red-headed female and a vampire.
Tosh knew immediately that it was Brone and his beloved mate
Arissa.
    “Your guards were drugged and are with Donal.
They’ll recover,” Gen said.
    “Who are your friends?” Deci asked as she
hugged Alli tightly.
    “This is the amazing Arissa and her kickass
mate, Brone,” Alli said, beaming with pride.
    Tosh joined Deci and shook Brone’s hand. “Why
did Alli bring you?” Tosh asked.
    Arissa cleared her throat. “When Alli woke up
from being drugged in the spa and told me what had happened to
Deci, I asked your dragons to send whatever intel they found at the
warehouse to the coven because we’ve got some really amazing
computer geniuses. It turns out that those assholes over there have
been kidnapping shifters and experimenting on them for a while, but
no one ever knew where their location was.”
    Brone said, “We will take the humans with us.
They’ll tell all they know, or they will suffer
greatly.”
    Tosh heard the grumble from his people, who
wanted to hold the humans accountable for what had been done to
Deci. But he knew that if he just killed the humans, there might be
other labs with other shifters held captive and drugged, and they
would never find them.
    “I understand. Do you need assistance?”
    Brone shook his head as a handful of males
who scented of vampire strode by. One of the vampires stared into
each human’s eyes, causing the humans to slip into a catatonic
state. The humans were untied and carried away by the vampires.
    “That was freaking amazing,” Deci
murmured.
    Alli grinned. “Some of the vamps have the
power of suggestion. He put them to sleep so they’d be easier to
handle.”
    “We’ll take care of them and share whatever
we find out with you.