Snowflake Unbound

  She’s raised a child to near adulthood and found him a mentor to help him out. She has one thing left on her to-do list, and that is to find the moron who knocked her up and kick that scaly idiot in the jaws.

  Luna has gone through the last seventeen years keeping herself and her son alive and cared for. She has needed dragon fire and used all means to get it. Her history is now something that she would have been mortified to hear about from another source, but she has survived, and that is what matters.

  With Erik learning how to be a dragon alpha from another dragon alpha, she is free to help friends and finally start enjoying her life a little while she looks for the dragon who has locked her body so it can’t support itself. It has made for a challenging few years.

  To compound complexity, Erik’s father looked a little different from the standard driver’s license photo. It was a man-sized dragon who loved her that night and left her on her own... and she has to find him to get control of her life again.

  The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Snowflake Unbound

  Copyright © 2022 by Viola Grace

  ISBN: 978-1-990635-05-2

  ©Cover art by Angela Waters

  All rights reserved. With the exception of review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the express permission of the publisher.

  Published by Viola Grace

  Look for me online at violagrace.com.

  Snowflake Unbound

  Betas in Waiting, Book 2

  By

  Viola Grace

  Chapter One

  Lips moved across the nape of her neck and down her back. Luna groaned and twisted. She had one lover under her, one at her side, and the third was moving his lips down her spine. He loved the tingle that he got when the power fought him.

  Fenris murmured against her back, “Did you get enough from us, Snowflake?”

  She purred, “Yes, thank you.”

  Loki shifted his hips under her. “You can take more.”

  Fenris chuckled. “She can always take more, but she can’t contain anymore.”

  Tim murmured, “Why do you always try Loki to lie on?”

  Luna looked into his pansy-coloured eyes. “I don’t. I pick Fenris because he is warmest, but he hates being on his back, so Loki is second warmest. Sorry.”

  Loki’s eyes were lime sherbet and amused. “Yeah, so either keep working out and bulk up, or stop whining that she likes me best because I like the feeling of her plastered all over me.”

  “Oh, stop bragging, you pointy-eared bastard.” She tempered her words by stroking her tongue along his chest.

  Loki gripped her hips and thrust upward. She whined, and her head drooped. Fenris gripped her shoulders and arched her back. Tim moved between her and Loki, his mouth frenzied. Fenris slid into her, and she got the final instalment of masculine energy that she needed to live. The elite were the most efficient way to top up because she got three at once.

  An hour later, she was exhausted but satisfied, and her body was no longer threatening to collapse. She had waited too long to call them.

  After her shower, she looked at the pale and tempting collection of muscle and virility on the bed. Their ears were pointy, their eyes were the colour of flowers, and they terrified young omegas who knew what they were. She probably would have been terrified, too, if she hadn’t been so desperate that first time.

  She picked up her overnight bag, and it was heavy. She put it down and opened it.

  Loki lifted his head and grinned. “Just a few small tokens of appreciation.”

  She opened one of the boxes and paled. “I was at this auction. There is no reason for you to give this to me.”

  Fenris got up and walked over, gloriously naked and up for a tenth round. “There is every reason. You save us returning to the stronghold for a consort. As long as we don’t need to breed, we don’t need to return. You also allow us an entry into society that we don’t often get. I have learned to dance, and I have learned to share. These things are worth rewarding. Also, it irritates that dragon you hang with when you wear jewels from us and not him.”

  She snorted. “Rickart paid for this suite to be available for me when I have a need. He’s a good friend.”

  Tim sat up. “Does he still make you call him Daddy?”

  She blushed. “It was not the worst thing that I have had to do in the last few years, and playing with him kept me thinking that sex could be fun, even with you lot. He’s opened my eyes to a lot of possibilities and reminded me that, though my life is at stake, there is no reason not to enjoy myself.”

  Loki leaned up and said, “Until next time, dearest Snowflake.”

  Fenris kissed her savagely and held her to his naked chest until she moaned and cuddled against him.

  He smacked her on the ass and said, “Go now before we try and keep you again.”

  She grinned and got out of the room, heading to the elevator with her overnight bag making her nervous. There were close to half a million dollars in there if they had given her everything they had bid on that day. Of course, they could have spaced it out, but she had the feeling that they were generous with their funds.

  She got out on the main floor and nodded to the front desk. Charlotte was on duty, and she gave an answering nod. She was a member of the book club.

  Luna had sent the text to the valet, and her pickup was waiting for her at the entrance. She climbed into the silvery grey truck, tossed her overnight bag in the passenger seat, and texted Erik before starting the drive to what she was privately calling Omega Lane.

  The call came through the truck, and Erik was excited. “Mom, I didn’t think you were coming back until next week.”

  “It didn’t take as long as I thought, and I don’t want to be too far when Alita goes off.”

  “I’m making pot roast if you want to come. Niko and Alexi say it’s cool.”

  “What does Alita say?”

  “‘When is dinner?’” He laughed. “So, here in an hour?”

  She heard male voices in the background. “Is someone there?”

  “Just a visitor.”

  “Fine. There in an hour.”

  She disconnected the call. She didn’t reek like the ozone musk of the elite anymore, but she still carried a bit of it. Mind you, she could smell scents. She knew she didn’t have one anymore. She hadn’t had a scent in eighteen years. Not unless it was someone else’s sweat.

  Luna stopped and got some flowers for Alita, chocolate, and her favourite tortilla chips. She got some Powerade for herself and some breakfast bars for Alita.

  She got Alexi a photography magazine and Nikolai one that focused on building hobby helicopters. She always tried to bring a present when she visited. Moving back in with Nora and Sabin might not be ideal if Gwen was comfortable.

  Luna got her gifts and drove to Alita’s house, pulling into the circular drive and hopping out. Erik came out to greet her, and she got out of the truck and ran to him. “How much Mom can I be today?”

  He grinned. “Full Mom.”

  She squealed, “My baby boy! Look at you! Are they feeding you? Are you doing your homework? Is that a smudge on your face?” She wiped at the smudge with her thumb.

  He laughed and hugged her, already over six inches taller than she was. He picked her up and spun her around. He set her down so that her back was to the house, and she didn’t think it was weird until he said, “Mom, I have someone I want you to meet. We ran a test, and he’s my father
.”

  Her eyes went wide, and the breath went out of her lungs.

  She heard a familiar voice behind her. “I remember the figure, but I haven’t seen the face.”

  She turned her head, and he was standing there. Her mind whirled as she remembered the entire scenario, and she swallowed.

  Erik smiled. “His name is Jack, and he said that he can probably remove that block if he was the one who put it on.”

  She flinched at that. “Right.”

  She turned to the man who got her pregnant eighteen years earlier and extended her hand. “Luna Tesso, but back then, I was known as the drummer’s a girl.”

  His mouth dropped open, and he took her hand. White flames shot out of their contact point, and Erik said, “You may want to take that inside or, at least, to the back yard.”

  Jack pulled her in, and his eyes changed. She recognized the icy blue. It was what his eyes had looked like when he kissed her.

  She gasped as he pulled her in tight and slammed his mouth down on hers. She was caught in his arms, and fire was pouring into her. She heard Erik shouting, and then, Nikolai joined the chorus. She hung in Jack’s grip for long minutes when the seal on her shattered. She felt the fire and elite energy swirling around inside her.

  She used the elite energy to push him back, and she staggered away. Erik caught her.

  The eerie cold eyes were looking at her. “Come back to me, princess. I will give you a mark worthy of you. Another strong son. You did so well with the last.”

  She stood with her son and looked at his father, the dragon wearing the alpha to get his princess.

  The alpha took over, and his eyes were wide. “I... I am so sorry. I didn’t remember. He didn’t tell me what he did. I didn’t know about you. I thought you were dead. The rest of your band died.”

  She shuddered and hung onto Erik. She murmured, “He took the block off.” She started laughing, a hopeless and unhinged laugh.

  Nikolai looked at her and stroked her hair. “It’s okay now. You are free of it. He won’t put it back on.”

  She nodded and wiped the tears from her cheeks. “Right. I guess he is staying here?”

  Nikolai murmured, “We will put you at opposite ends of the house.”

  She swallowed. “I can go to Nora’s.”

  “Alita could go into labour at any moment. I would prefer you close.”

  Luna looked into the eyes of a concerned father-to-be, and she nodded. “Fine. But when Alita and the baby are stable, I will go.”

  He sighed. “Deal. I understand. He’s staying to get to know Erik but not interfering with his schooling.”

  She swallowed. “I have to get some stuff from my truck.”

  Nikolai nodded, and she started to walk toward the truck. She was only a few feet from the door when it iced over.

  Jack was standing there with his dark blue eyes, and he said, “Please, don’t go.”

  “I am just getting my overnight bag and some groceries.”

  He paused. “Oh. Allow me to help.”

  She tensed and then said, “Thank you.” She went around the passenger side door and pulled it open, getting the bags of groceries and her overnight bag.

  He picked the bag up and sniffed, frowning. “Alphas?”

  “Yeah. After dinner, I will tell you the tale of what that mark did to me, and I want the asshole behind your eyes to be paying close fucking attention.”

  “You carry a lot of dragon fire inside you.”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “And other energies.”

  “Yes to that, too. Dragons are not always available, and they try to keep me.”

  “You have been to other dragons?” He seemed outraged as they headed for the house.

  “Well, I like being alive... so yeah. After dinner, you will hear the highlights of the last nearly two decades.”

  Jack nodded. “I am not going to like it, am I?”

  “How possessive is your dragon?”

  “Of most women, not very. Of you? He is seething right now. He can smell the alphas on the bag, and he wants to kill them.”

  They headed into the house, and she set out her offerings when they got to the kitchen. Alita waddled toward her with a huge grin. “Luna! You made it before the baby.”

  “I was never too far to come to you.” She hugged her friend.

  The snacks were well received, as were the magazines.

  Erik was cooking, so Alita grabbed Luna’s hand and hauled her outside.

  They sat, and Erik brought them lemonade. Alita sighed. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, a bit dizzy, but I feel like I can breathe deep for the first time in nearly twenty years.”

  “He removed the block?”

  “It did. Yes. The dragon was my lover, not the alpha. The alpha had no clue.”

  A voice said tensely, “The alpha wasn’t going to cheat on his girlfriend at the time. The dragon had no such compunction. What are these?”

  He dropped the jewel cases on the low table next to the settee where Luna and Alita were sitting.

  “Oh, those are jewels from the elite that I just spent the last four days screwing so I would have enough energy to drive across town. I had wanted to wait, but I am guessing you want to know what kind of a slut his dragon picked.”

  Jack tensed but didn’t deny it.

  Luna turned to Alita. “Jack and I are going to go for a walk.” She drank her lemonade and then smiled. “One of us at least will come back alive.”

  Alita snorted, but she looked worried.

  Luna gestured for Jack to walk with her. They were about forty feet from the house when she said, “Has he provided memories yet?”

  “Yes, but I don’t really understand what happened. I don’t remember any of it.”

  “Well, let’s see. For me, I was at the party with my band. It was a masquerade, and there were supposed to be agents and that kind of thing at the party. We were mainly there as eye candy, and we knew it. Our little clump of betas were brown wrens among all the alphas.”

  “Wait. You are a beta?”

  “Oh, yeah. You are getting ahead of the story. I found the interior of the party noisy and creepy, so I snuck out onto one of the balconies and hid in the shadows. A man with silvery-white hair and ice-blue eyes came out and looked right at me. He complimented me, slowly got close as we chatted, and then, he kissed me, dumping dragon fire down my throat for a solid five minutes. He stepped away, his eyes went dark blue, and he excused himself. I was doubled over coughing, so you probably thought I had had too much to drink. Funny thing is, I don’t drink. Never did.”

  He said with horrified wonder, “I remember that. Your hair was dark brown.”

  “Yup. Anyway, I tried to leave the party, but when I was on the way to the street, arms grabbed me, and I was flying. I held onto the creature who had me, and he flew me to a suite somewhere. That is when your dragon had sex with me. It was pleasurable enough, but between the constant fire, the disturbing feel of him so deep inside me, and the fact that it was my first time, I was a wreck. I woke alone a few hours later, feeling weirdly tight in the chest. That was the block, but I didn’t know about it yet. I went back to the mansion to find my band, but you must have as well. Your dragon kissed me, stroked my body familiarly, then walked inside, and that is when I met your girlfriend. She and her two thugs beat me, kicked me, and threw me down the steps. I was then taken in a luxury vehicle to the hospital, put in a wheelchair with ten thousand dollars in my lap, and that is where I spent the next two weeks.”

  She exhaled deeply. “When I got out, my friends had been killed in a drunk driving incident. No bodies, so it was assumed I was dead as well, and since I didn’t have a name on the album, I didn’t exist.”

  “The dragon was going insane about then. He was full of furious regret. He tried to tell me about you then, but I didn’t want to listen.” His voice was grim. “I had broken up with my girlfriend
.”

  She snorted. “He wouldn’t give her the fire, and you couldn’t fit.”

  He was rueful. “That’s it.”

  “Right. Well, I had used up the dragon fire that he had given me for internal renovations and then healing the breaks and bruises from the beating and kicking. That is when the pregnancy kicked in, and Erik took the last of the fire to get growing.”

  Jack paused, and she looked at him. “You didn’t have a mate to supply you with fire.”

  “No.”

  “So, the child was consuming you.”

  “Yes.”

  He rubbed his forehead. “I begin to see the problem to my conclusion.”

  “How small is the dragon right now?”

  He chuckled. “About this big.” He measured four inches with his fingers.

  “Right. So Rickart Tesso was visiting a friend in the hospital, and he smelled the dragon contact on me, so he offered to provide me with fire and income to become his lover until I became unwieldy.” She snorted, “So, I agreed, and that is when we found out about the block on me. I could take in a finite amount of power at any given time, and sex could provide me with more, but I was always bleeding power. I needed to constantly fill myself with a steady supply of dragon fire, and Rickart was occasionally busy, so he took me on tour looking for a dragon to break the block. I went through a total of seven dragons, and four tried to keep me, but I needed constant attention, and my pregnancy was now unhideable, so Rickart legally adopted me as his daughter, bought me a place in the hills, and set me up with a home and some businesses.”

  She dragged in a huge breath. “Erik arrived in a snowstorm. I used every bit of energy that I had, and then, I started to pull it in from elsewhere. Every animal within a two-mile radius died that night. I nearly bled to death, and Rickart found me on the floor with Erik to my breast two days after he was born. I required four pints for a transfusion, and Rickart stayed at my side to provide me with as much fire as I could hold. That is when I knew what I had been turned into.”