Page 2 of Witch's Bells and Mistletoe

This is quite sad. How hard can it possibly be to simply relax and enjoy it?

I frown down at my mug contemplatively. I’ve always laughed off Fran’s insistence that I’m incapable of relaxing. This is always followed by pointing out that I am hopelessly involved in everything and simply can’t help having my finger on the pulse of every little thing ongoing with the coven. Surely that’s ridiculous. I know that I’m perfectly capable of relaxing and enjoying myself—it is why I agreed to go on this vacation. I want to prove that I am able to enjoy myself without being in charge of some project or “meddling,” as she calls it.

This is not a good start if I’m already feeling restless and bored when I just arrived last evening.

I groan quietly and settle back into my comfortable chair. I’m going to master this relaxation thing in the same way I have determinedly mastered every spell and work that has been set before me—I work at it even if it kills me. I have a picture-perfect view of the snow, a warm fire, holiday decorations to lift the heart—even if they aren’t quite the same as the ones at home—and my coffee. Everything is as perfect as it could possibly be. I even have a paperback novel that I’ve been trying to read for months sitting on the couch beside me that is waiting to be cracked open.

I am ridiculously grateful for the distraction when I hear the soft, melodious sound of bells as the door opens, and I turn in my chair just in time to see a large figure enter with a blast of cold air and a flurry of snow. I can’t see much of him at my angle except the broad back beneath the parka and a pair of muscular thighs and deliciously rounded ass encased in jeans. The new arrival kicks the snow from his boots and brushes off his arms at the entrance before proceeding further inside to the reception desk. My eyes follow him, a tingle of excitement stirring in my belly as I turn more fully in my chair to watch him.

By the gods, he is built.

My gaze tracks his progress across the lobby as he comes to a stop at the desk and begins to quietly speak to the receptionist. It’s a shame that the lobby is at the far end, but it still provides me with a far more interesting view than the landscape outside the window. I am practically titillated as I wait for him to turn. Now if only he is a mature gentleman of taste looking for a distinguished companion for the holiday, then I may just have found the perfect distraction.

My breath catches with excitement as he turns and then draws in with a sharp gasp of shock. Red beard neatly trimmed, and long red hair intersected with several artistic little braids, Adeon turns toward me and meets my gaze across the floor. A broad, wicked grin splits his face, and I swear that I see his green eyes gleam despite the distance separating us. For a moment I’m completely dumbfounded as he heads toward me. I believe I’m still in shock when he finally stands before me, the spicy scent of him washing over me. The dragon always smells of cinnamon and clove, leather and fire. My nipples tighten in reaction to it as I blink up at him as he grins down at me.

“Katherine, what a pleasure to see you here.”

I blink and time seems to rush back all at once and heat fills my cheeks with an indignant blush. The words that fall from my lips aren’t the most graceful, but I mean every one of them.

“Adeon, what the hell are you doing here?”

Chapter 2

ADEON

I chuckle as Katherine scrambles to her feet. Her color is high, making her appear all the more fetching as she stands in front of me in her lovely green sweater and sleek brown skirt. I did not know she was here but was meeting a relative to discuss my progress on recovering the treasure. I am hoping that he will have some information to pass along since, truth be told, I do not really know what I am looking for. Everyone I asked had conflicting descriptions of the treasure that varies from a brooch to a jewel. I pray that he has some success in finding more reliable information.

Although I had no idea she would be here—and in fact have admittedly been sulking since she departed the coven house on her vacation—it appears that she believes otherwise. She is right too, since I would have abandoned my hunt, which had become more halfhearted in recent months, to follow after her and protect her. That I can do so and serve my clan’s needs fills me with an indescribable pleasure.

My cousin will not be thrilled as he is understandably not very fond of humans, but he will simply have to accept Katherine’s presence. Now that I know that she is here, I do not plan to let her out of my sight if I can help it.

Of course, that could be difficult if she decides to hide in her room, but I cannot see my Katherine as the hiding sort. My lips twitch as I attempt to picture her stubbornly sitting in her room. No, she will likely go mad if she is contained within a single room for any length of time. In all my life, I have never seen anyone so determined to move all the time when they do not have to. As the head of the coven, she could enjoy more leisure and luxury as is the habit of her species, but instead the female is always on the move—almost infuriatingly so at times when it is not downright adorable.

She stares up at me impatiently, and I realize that she is waiting on me to answer still so I shrug affably.

“Visiting kin,” I reply honestly. “I’ve a meeting with a cousin, and he suggested this place.”

Her expression turns skeptical, and I bite back a laugh at her suspicion. Perhaps I have been a little tucked in close as of late if she thinks I have the patience for any kind of subterfuge just to be near her.

“And it just happens to be at this hotel?” She huffs in exasperation. “That hardly seems likely.

I peer down at her, and my grin widens at the blatant disbelief in her voice. My witch is a mite testy with me. “Think of it this way, sweet Katherine. If I knew where you were going and had the time available without my cousin pecking at me for it, I wouldn’t try to make any excuses for my presence here. For as long as you are the unwitting guardian of my treasure—until I relieve it from the coven house, that is—I will protect you and have no qualms at all about telling you to deal with my presence.”

I honestly do not think I could even remove it if I could locate it without her permission or unless something happened to her that her life were snuffed out without an immediate successor at her side. That is off the table, of course. I have no taste for killing females. So I must abide by the rules of whomever holds it in their keeping. Magic treasures tend to be peculiar like that.

Her lips purse, and I know that I have gotten through to her by the annoyed look she gives me. Something within me—a monster perhaps that has been wound tight since she left—settles contently at that familiar expression. The one that says I’m interfering, but I cast a quick glance around and find nothing more than a closed book, a rapidly cooling cup of coffee… and snow. A whole lot of snow.

I raise a polite eyebrow at her. “Am I interrupting something?”

If possible she gives the room an even more disgruntled look before pinning me with a hard glower. “Not particularly. I was just relaxing and enjoying the view.”

I turn a bland glance back toward the window that she gestures at and clear my throat. “It’s a fine view,” I agree, though I cannot imagine how it would be the least bit entertaining as a way to occupy one’s time. It hardly seems like anything that I would call an enjoyable way to relax, but then little would these days unless it were Katherine under me. The endless white reminds me a little too much of the long stretch of winters outside of my cavern before human technology surpassed the gifts of magic and filled the long, silent hours. “And how long are you planning on doing that?”

Katherine startles, and her brows knit as her eyes dart to me. “How long? Is there a time limit for relaxation?”

“No,” I agree slowly. “But I can’t see how staring out a window can be interesting for long.”

“I do have a book.” She gives me a triumphant little smirk, and I fight back the urge to laugh.

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