The Old Dragon of the Mountain's Christmas (Dragon Lords of Valdier #9) (10 page)

Edna rolled over beneath the covers and stared at Christoff’s relaxed face. It had been almost a week since he came unexpectedly into her life and yet, it felt like forever. Lifting her hand, she touched his jaw.

“If you insist on touching me, I might have to sic my dragon on you,” he murmured without opening his eyes.

“Not in the house,” Edna admonished affectionately. “He almost caught his tail on fire last night,” she reminded him.

Christoff’s eyelashes slowly lifted and he smiled at her. She knew he was remembering their unexpected session on the rug in front of the fire. All the living room furniture ended up in the dining room. Poor Bo had finally given up on having any peace and gone into the guest bedroom.

“I need to get up and take Bo out and check on Gloria,” Edna said with a sigh.

“I will do it,” Christoff replied, rolling out of the bed. “You sleep in. It is your Christmas Eve, is it not?”

“Yes,” Edna chuckled. “I need to get up. I’ll take a shower while you take care of the animals.”

Christoff’s eyes darkened and he glanced at the bathroom. That was another place they had made love in. He had been thinking…

“No!” Edna interrupted his thought when she recognized the look that came into his eyes. She laughed and shook her head. “If you join me, I’ll never get Christmas Eve dinner ready in time. We still need to move the furniture back as well.”

She grinned at the scowl on Christoff’s face. He hadn’t been lying when he said he had a century’s worth of lovemaking to catch up on. She just didn’t know if she would survive it. She wouldn’t have been able to move if not for his symbiot’s skill in healing her soreness.

A gasp escaped her when his arms swept around her and he pressed a hot kiss to her shoulder. Damn, but he was incredibly sexy for an old man. The silver in his hair and the lines around his eyes and mouth just sent her body into overload.

He got good butt, too,
her dragon whispered.

Shut up or we’ll never get anything done. You, young lady, need to be grounded,
Edna said as she pulled away with a look of warning.

Edna ignored the snort of her dragon as she stepped into the bathroom. She had a lot to do before Jack, Shelly, and Crystal came over this afternoon. Spending it in bed was not part of the well-ordered plan that she had written in her head.

She gave the image in the mirror a critical look as she released the braid in her long hair. Wiggling her nose, she decided that she looked and felt younger. Impulsively, her fingers lifted to touch the mark on her neck. If she wasn’t careful, she would forget her resolve and say to hell with Christmas Eve dinner. She had some TV dinners in the freezer. Frozen turkey and dressing might be needed in an emergency.

*.*.*

Christoff patted Gloria as he entered her stall. He quickly set to work cleaning it and giving her fresh straw, water, and feed. It was supposed to snow again today, so she would have to stay inside where it was warmer. He was just hanging up the tools he used when he felt the strange sensation that he wasn’t alone.

Danger?
He asked his dragon, trying to sense where the feeling was coming from.

I no smell another. Only beast,
his dragon replied.

Turning, he gazed around the small barn. Reaching out, he grabbed the pitchfork and held it tightly in his right hand. With a word of warning to his dragon, he walked along the three stalls. He had just peered into the last one when he felt the presence behind him and turned.

The pitchfork in his hand vanished and he stared in shock at the elegant, golden figure of a woman. She smiled serenely at him as she glided across the floor. He swallowed when she stopped a few feet from him and studied him in silence.

“You!” He choked out. “It was you. I remember now. You were in the cave – right before the mountain erupted. You spoke to me.”

“Yes,” Aikaterina murmured.

“Why?”

“The younglings,” she whispered, looking around her. “They wished to give you the gift of Christmas. They were willing to risk their lives to give it to you.”

“They gave me gifts,” Christoff replied in a soft voice.

“They gave you love, friendship, and acceptance,” Aikaterina agreed with a smile. “I wished to give you a gift of my own. I see that it was the right one, Old Dragon of the Mountain.”

“Yes. Edna… She is my true mate,” Christoff replied in a thick voice.

“She will be a good companion for you back on your world,” Aikaterina said with a smile.

“But, I cannot leave,” Christoff said with a frown. “Edna has a child and grandchild here. She will not want to leave them.”

Aikaterina gazed at him with a sad smile and shook her head. “You cannot stay on this world, Christoff. It is not safe for you, your dragon, or your symbiot. They will die if you try to stay here and so will you,” she whispered sadly. “I can give you until midnight tomorrow night, but then I must return you and your mate to Valdier.”

“No,” Christoff protested, watching as the Goddess started to fade. “Please.”

“Midnight Christmas, Old Dragon, then you must return,” her voice echoed.

Christoff stood in the middle of the barn, his eyes burning with anger and defeat. He knew there was no way he could fight her. Clenching his fists, he stared down at the ground until he felt a measure of calm. He would tell Edna, tonight after her family left. She would have one more day with them before she would have to say goodbye to them forever. He just hoped that she didn’t hate him for it.

*.*.*

“Are you alright?” Edna asked for the hundredth time that day.

Christoff looked up from where he was placing the cookies on the round tray. They had moved the furniture back into place and finished wrapping the last of the presents that Edna had hidden throughout the year. She had laughed and shared stories of Christmas’ past with him throughout the day. Now, they were waiting for Jack, Shelly and Crystal to arrive.

“I’m fine,” he said with a smile. “This is a lot of food.”

“Part of the tradition is eating leftovers for a week, so you don’t want any more for another year,” Edna laughed as she pulled yet another dish out of the oven.

Christoff’s head turned and he listened. “They are here,” he said, popping the last cookie that wouldn’t fit onto the platter into his mouth.

“You aren’t going to eat any dinner if you keep doing that,” Edna teased as she hurried to the door. “Come on, Bo. Come on, Spark. Go welcome them.”

Christoff watched as Edna hurried to the door. Love and fear battled inside him. A part of him wanted to roar at the Goddess for her interference. How dare she give him his every hope and desire only to threaten it now? He pushed the feeling away. He would not dampen the time Edna had left with her child. As he had told Crystal, life came with no guarantees. He would do everything he could to make Edna happy back on his world. He only hoped that she would give him and his world a chance.

*.*.*

“Grandma, this one is for you,” Crystal said a couple of hours later.

The house had been filled with laughter as Shelly, Jack, and Crystal brought in colorful wrapped gifts to go under the tree. Shortly after that, they had eaten. Eventually, the kitchen was cleaned and everyone was groaning about having eaten too much.

The festivities back into the living room so everyone could stretch out in comfort. Now, they were doing a Christmas Eve exchange as Jack and Shelly would be going to a party tomorrow with friends of theirs.

“This one is for you, Christoff,” the young girl added with a smile.

Christoff looked up in surprise. He had nothing for any of the others. Reaching out, he took the red and green box from her.

“I have nothing for you,” he replied quietly, feeling bad.

Crystal shook her head. “I was thinking about what you said the other day. Mom and I talked as well. I’m going to start school in January and see how it goes. Baby steps. I want to see my friends again and maybe, hopefully, make new ones,” she whispered, glancing at where her parents and grandmother were talking and laughing. “I’ve got something else for you, as well.”

Christoff frowned when Crystal stood up and waved for him to follow her. His gaze swept to Edna for a moment. She was looking back at him while listening to Jack.

“Come on,” Crystal urged in excitement. “Spark, I need you to come with us, too.”

His symbiot shimmered with color and rose up. Christoff could feel its excitement. He stepped over to the door and helped Crystal with her coat before grabbing his own off the peg. A moment later, they were outside in the yard.

The sky was a brilliant blue and the sun shone down. It was still too cold for the snow to melt, but it was the perfect day for being outside. He would need to let Gloria out for a while. His dragon could clear the snow and dry the ground in just a few minutes.

“What is it you wish to show me?” Christoff asked, watching in amusement as his symbiot pressed against the little girl and nodded at something she was showing it.

Crystal limped over to him. Holding out the paper in her hand, she motioned for Christoff to take it. He carefully pulled the heavy paper toward him. Blinking in surprise, he saw that it was a picture of a dragon. It didn’t take long to see that it was a picture of him, only….

“The wings,” he murmured, touching the gold colored wings on his dragon’s back.

Crystal smiled. “I thought about it over the last few days. If they could make me a fake leg that worked, why couldn’t we make you wings? Spark can change into anything. You said he was smaller than the other ones of his kind, but he is plenty big enough to make you a set of wings to fit over yours. I… Do the dragons in your world fly?” She asked in a tentative voice.

Christoff fingered the drawing. “Yes, they fly but I have never been able to,” he murmured, looking back at her with burning eyes. “This is what you were doing earlier. I saw you with my symbiot.”

Crystal nodded shyly. “I was showing him how my leg worked,” she replied in a soft voice. “I thought it was worth a try.”

Christoff suddenly laughed. “Yes, it is worth a try. I honestly never thought of it before,” he admitted, handing her back the drawing. Turning to look at his symbiot, he grinned. “Are you willing to try it, my friend?”

Familiar warmth filled him as it responded. Focusing, he called eagerly to his dragon. Within seconds, he had shifted. Crystal’s delighted giggle told her that she enjoyed watching him in his dragon form.

“I really hope this works,” Crystal clapped in excitement. “I’d love to see a dragon fly.”

Christoff heard Crystal’s heartfelt wish. Something deep down inside told him that this was very important not just for him, but for her as well. She needed to know that one day she could fly as well and that her leg would not hold her back from achieving her dreams.

A shiver ran through Christoff’s dragon when he felt the symbiot form wings over his small, deform ones. His dragon shook, not use to the unfamiliar weight on his back. Focusing, Christoff sucked in a breath when he felt the wings spread out. He turned his head to stare at the golden extensions to his body.

He spent several minutes experimenting with the weight, feel, and movement of them. His dragon was impatient to lift off, but Christoff understood the overall importance of this being successful.

We need to make sure this will work,
Christoff explained to his impatient dragon.
This is about more than us, it is also about Crystal.

I know. I ready,
his dragon insisted.
Spark ready. We work as one. It is way we are made.

If you are sure….

Christoff never got to finish his thought. The moment his dragon felt him concede, he pushed up off the ground. The instinctive knowledge of how to fly filled the creature. It was the same knowledge on how to breathe dragon fire and to shift from one form to the other without thought that had been passed down through generation after generation of dragons. A wave of awe washed through him as he lifted off the ground. His golden wings moved in powerful strokes up and down and pushing him higher.

“Go, Christoff! Go!” Crystal yelled, laughing and trying to follow him. “Fly to the moon and back!”

The dragon released a low rumble of laughter that echoed through the crisp mountain air. For the first time in his life, he was flying! Really flying!

I free,
his dragon whispered to him in awe.
I like other dragons now. I not weak, unworthy.

You have never been weak or unworthy, my friend. You have always been perfect to me,
he replied in a somber voice.

I wish my mate to see me,
his dragon sighed.

She does,
Christoff chuckled.
Look to your right side.

Christoff felt his dragon’s love for its mate explode through him. He knew what it was feeling. He felt the same way whenever he looked at Edna. Slowing his speed to match his mate, the large male waited for the small green female to catch up with him. Together, they flew over the trees and up to the high meadow. Christoff circled around before gliding in for a landing along the powdered snow. He turned as his mate came in behind him, her soft rumble of happiness washing over him as he folded his make-shift wings against his side.

You fly,
his mate breathed out in wonder.

Yes, I fly,
he laughed.
I fly!

*.*.*

Crystal turned to look at her parents. Tears burned her eyes, but she quickly blinked them back. It was true. If Christoff could fly, so could she. Walking slowly toward her parents, she didn’t think about the slight limp caused by her prosthetic. It was her symbiot. Her way of being able to fly.

“It worked,” she said with a smile. “Just like with me, his wings worked.”

“Yes,” Shelly whispered, brushing at the tears streaming down her cheeks. “Oh, Crystal.”

Crystal moved up the steps and into her mom and dad’s arms. She buried her face against her mom and sobbed. It took several minutes to finally calm herself to realize that they were all getting cold.

“I’m going to be okay now,” she said, wiping at the tears on her face. “I know I can fly, just like Christoff.”

“Yes, you can,” her dad murmured. “You always could.”

Crystal gave her dad a shaky laugh. “That’s pretty much what Christoff told me. Isn’t it cool that grandma is a dragon?” She added with a grin.

Shelly looked up into the sky and shook her head in wonder. Her mom! A dragon. How cool would that have been during some of the mother-daughter events when she was growing up, she thought in disbelief before a wave of sadness washed through her. Her mom had told her that she would be leaving soon, that she and Christoff couldn’t stay here.

“A woman came to me,” her mom had told them while they were inside after Christoff and Crystal went outside.

“A woman? What kind of woman?” Shelly asked, puzzled.

Edna looked down at her hands. She grasped them together when she saw they were shaking. A single tear ran down her cheek and dropped on it, but she knew what she had to do. In life, a child could accept that their parents would go first. It was time for Edna to go, but not in the way most parents do.

“She was like Spark, only more powerful I suspect. She explained that she sent Christoff here, but that he could not stay. It is too dangerous for him… and for me now,” Edna explained. “I belong with him, Shelly. I love him so much. I love you and Jack and Crystal, but this is different. It is more than about me. He is a good man.”

“I know he is, mom, but why do you have to leave?” Shelly insisted, rising from her chair and pacing.

“Shelly,” Jack murmured, standing as well and holding her. “He’s an alien. It would only be a matter of time before someone discovered him. You know what would happen to him, and your mom, if they did. We talked about this over the last few days.”

“I know, but why does she have to leave,” she insisted. “I need you!”

“No, you don’t,” Edna replied, standing. “And that is the way it is supposed to be. You have Jack and Crystal. You’ll always have me inside your heart. I won’t be truly gone as long as you remember that, just as your dad has never been gone for me. I can feel him in my heart. Just because I can’t see or touch him anymore doesn’t mean he isn’t there. I need to be with Christoff, Shelly. He makes me feel young and alive. He fills the emptiness left by your dad.”

“You love him, don’t you?” Shelly asked in a husky voice.

“Yes, very much,” Edna replied, walking around to hold her daughter’s hands. “Just as you love Jack and I loved your father.”

They all turned to look when they heard Crystal shouting out in the front yard. Striding to the door, they quickly grabbed their coats and slid them on before stepping outside. Edna was the first down the steps. She could feel her mate’s excitement and joy. Staring up at the beautiful sight of the male dragon in flight, she called to her own dragon.

Can we join him?
She breathed out, staring in awe as the male flew higher.

Yes,
her dragon whispered as she took over.

In the background, Edna heard Crystal’s excited laugh that she had the coolest grandmother ever at the same time as she heard Shelly’s gasp of disbelief. She ignored them all, focusing instead on her mate.

Lifting off the ground, she felt an intense wave of joy and happiness fill her as she raced to catch up with him. Her gaze ran over the golden wings encasing his shorter ones. The membrane of them was so sheer that she could see through them. His warm rumble of pleasure washed over her and she angled her small body up beside him.

My mate,
she breathed.

Christoff turned and slowed so she could catch up with him. Together, they soared over the tops of the snow covered trees and up the mountain. From this height, Edna could see for miles. Now, she truly understood what the golden woman was saying. This is what her and Christoff’s dragons needed. Shelly and Crystal would be alright. It was time for her to move on to her next life.