Page 8 of Gemini Christmas
That sign is half buried in a huge snowdrift. There is not even a light.
With a curse, I tap the brakes and twist the wheel into the turn. The vehicle fishtails in the snow. Vasili hisses an alarmed breath. Without looking, I sense he is levitating from his seat, as though he will seize the wheel from my hands himself.
Deftly I turn into the skid to stabilize the vehicle. Tires churning in the unplowed snow, we swerve from the road onto a narrow track that burrows into a tangled thicket of spruce.
Before us, a narrow snow-covered lane slants steeply upward.
Cautiously, I steer the SUV into the center of the lane. We have slowed, but I am careful not to stop. Because starting again in this deep snow will not be easy.
“Bozhe moi,”I mutter as we bump along. “This road is not even paved. Is everyone well? Is Zara—?”
“I’m okay, big guy.” Zara pushes up to sit and rubs a mittened hand over her sleep-fuddled face. “We’re all okay. Are we there yet?”
“Not exactly. The chalet’s up at the summit.” Neo twists in his seat to check on our mate. “My dad’s big on privacy. He entertains the royals here—like us now, I guess. So we’re still a few miles out.”
“Got this whole property warded though, hasn’t he? Reckon we all felt that tingle, soon as we left the main road.” Ronin squeezes Zara’s knee to steady her as we sway on the bumpy lane. He swipes a hand over his steamy window to peer into the black night.
In truth, I was too focused on keeping us all out of a ditch to feel the magical charge of the witching wards Theo Mercury has woven around his private retreat. But I am not the strongest warlock in this harem. Just the strongest dragon.
Unsettled in the confines of this swaying vehicle, my dragon stirs and grumbles in my chest.
Zephyr leans into Ash’s protective arm and looks queasy. “How long precisely have we yet to travel?”
“Um, let me look. Oh, crap!” Still twisted to check on Zara, Neo has dropped the smart phone behind his seat.
Before anyone else can react, Neo voices a mouselike squeak of dismay and unbuckles his seatbelt. “Hold still, okay, Lucius? I think it fell between your feet—”
“Look out!” Zara cries suddenly, sharp with fear.
My hands clench around the wheel.
With startling suddenness, a pale belly and flashing hooves appear in our headlights. An impressive rack of antlers rears before the windshield. A jostle of shaggy gray haunches and a thicket of antlers stream across the road.
Saints of the northern steppes.
Can those be… reindeer?
Swearing vigorously in my mother tongue, I pump the brakes and wrench the wheel into a hard twist. Prophetic visions of shattered glass, a crushed grille, and (absurdly) an overturned sleigh flash through my head.
Curse this snow.
I will forever be known as the Gemini king who ran over Santa Claus.
My inner dragon roars in alarm and tries to rise. Grimly I battle down the instinct to shift. Clearly, this is not that time.
Under my determined grip, the SUV swerves, barely avoiding the fleeing bodies of the herd. We fishtail across the road. I steer into the swerves and pump the brakes to bleed speed. Shaggy gray and brown creatures scatter and bound before me.
Somehow, miraculously, I manage to miss them.
Fortunately I was already driving slowly, for safety reasons. The SUV has nearly skidded to a stop when our front wheels slide into a ditch.
The front end pitches forward and the rear end tilts up. I am thrown against the wheel, but the shoulder harness holds my weight. A white wall of snow fills my windshield.
The hiss and pop of an airbag explodes from my steering wheel in my face. The rapidly expanding balloon forces me back in my seat.
Well.
At least we have finally stopped skidding.
