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

and he’ll have your mate killed as a usurper.
I’m sure, though, that before he ends his life, Yuon will tell him
what’s to become of you.”
    Fear slithered over Deci, but she pushed it
away. She was a polar bear and not used to being afraid of
anything. “What would that be?” She looked at the two males
warily.
    “I already told you,” he said with an
exaggerated sigh. “You’re going to help test a new batch of
breeding drugs. It’ll be interesting to see what happens when a
polar bear goes into heat artificially.”
    Tugging harder on the chains, she winced as
the cuffs bit into her wrists, but she continued to pull. The bolt
in the floor didn’t budge. “I won’t touch any male but my
mate.”
    “I think you’ll do whatever I want.”
    The speaker crackled again as it turned off.
She looked at the males who stared at her as if she was a steak and
they hadn’t eaten in weeks. Her mouth watered as she looked at
their naked bodies, their cocks hard and ready, their muscles taut.
Licking her lips, she looked down at herself and caught sight of
the mating tattoo. She brushed her fingers over it and felt a
tingling connection to her mate. It was too brief, but it blasted
through the turned-on feelings she had toward the strangers.
    “This says I’m a dragon’s mate,” she said,
running her fingertip over the green, white, and black tattoo. Her
beast roared in her mind, a muffled, anguished sound, and tears
sprang to her eyes. “Please don’t touch me.”
    The dark-haired male snarled. “You’ll never
be found. We’ve been here for months. Our mates must have given up
the search for us by now, and yours surely will too. That mark
means nothing here in this hell.”
    Tears rolled down Deci’s cheeks. “It means
something to me. I’ll fight with every last ounce of strength I
have to stop you from touching me. I’d rather die than betray my
mate.”
    The harsh sound of the mist coming from the
tubes sounded. Deci shuddered as what felt like a thicker mist
collected on her skin and absorbed into her body. Heat spiked
within her, and the brief connection she’d felt to Tosh slipped
away. Slapping her hand on her tattoo, she screamed, a sound that
twisted into a bellow of rage and sorrow as she found the last
shred of connection to her bear and her mate, grasping hold of it
before it disappeared altogether.
     

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