CHAPTER ONE
“Merry Christmas!”
Isaac blinked in surprise, accepting the box from Avery as he sat down across from him in the cafe. They’d said they would meet up for lunch, but never said anything about exchanging gifts.
“What’s this?” he queried, looking over the red and green plaid paper with the big bow on top.
Avery was busy unlooping an incredibly long scarf from his neck that Isaac eyed with some jealousy. It looked warm, and it was freezing outside today. He folded it as he explained, “It’s a human custom for this time of year. We give gifts to the people we care about.”
“Aw, Avery. You shouldn’t have,” Isaac cooed, then glanced at the box again, an eager grin spreading across his face. “Can I open it?”
Avery waved him toward the box with a laugh. “Go ahead! I hope you’ll like it.”
He tore open the box with gusto, gasping at the set of books inside. “They’re so pretty! What are these?”
“Special editions of my book,” he replied sheepishly. “You’ve always been a big supporter of mine, and I thought you might like them.” He shrugged awkwardly, a flush overtaking his cheeks.
Isaac wasn’t sure why he was embarrassed. They were amazing gifts. Both books were hardcovers, with new covers and gold foil lettering. And when he turned it over, he squealed. “They’ve got sprayed edges!”
The more excited he got, the more Avery relaxed, snickering as Isaac hugged them to his chest. “Yeah, that had been a fun surprise for me, too. My agent mentioned it, and I said I liked the idea, but I hadn’t realized she took that as consent and ran with it. They’re kind of pretty, though.”
Pretty was an understatement. The edges matched the original color covers, with silhouettes of the characters in gold.
“Avery, this is amazing. Thank you so much.” He glanced down at the books, then back at his friend, frowning. “Now I feel bad. I didn’t bring you anything.” He winced at the reminder. “I haven’t done my gift making yet.”
Cocking his head, Avery asked, “Gift making?”
As he carefully set the books back in the box to keep them safe, he explained, “I don’t celebrate Christmas.
That’s a human thing. But there is a gift exchange for the Yule holiday my family always celebrates.
It has to be hand-made, or with your magic, and nature-based.
I usually make spell bags, but I just realized I haven’t even started yet. I’ve been busy…”
Graduating from his law program and passing the bar had only been part of it. Once he started working with Maverick as a junior partner, he hit the ground running with his career. He understood better why Maverick was such a grouch all the time. He was busy!
“That’s okay,” Avery shrugged, unconcerned. “I didn’t really expect you to get me anything anyway. Ozen suggested celebrating the holidays this year the way my family would have, and gift-giving was part of that. I just wanted to get things for my friends.”
Well, that wouldn’t do. Avery was a sweetheart and a great friend. He deserved gifts, too. In all honesty, Isaac had forgotten entirely that the holiday was even approaching. He glanced at his phone for the date and blanched.“Oh, gods.”
“What? Do you need to head back?”
Isaac shook his head, still staring at the screen. “I just realized what today is. I haven’t even started on my gift making, and I’m expected to visit Maverick’s family at the end of the week.” He looked up at Avery, wide-eyed. “I don’t even know what to make for them!”
For a long moment, it looked like Avery didn’t understand the issue. Then his eyes widened. “Oh… Can dragons even use spell bags?”
He shook his head slowly. “No, I don’t think so. The spell bags I make are usually ingredients for convenient spells. They still need magic to finish them off. Avery… what do I do?”
Avery reached across the table, putting his hand on Isaac’s shoulder with a determined look on his face. “Don’t worry. We’ll figure this out. We’ve got three days. How many people do we need to make gifts for?”
It took time and way too many practice rounds for Isaac to make the gifts he felt were appropriate for his in-laws.
Thankfully, Avery kept his phone on him and replied to each picture Isaac sent, giving constructive criticism and praise with each failed attempt.
He appreciated that he could rely on his friend to be honest with him and not just send him along to Maverick’s family home with half-assed work.
The precise use of his magic was a lot more exhausting than he expected, so when Avery showed up on Friday evening to help him wrap everything, he was grateful.
“Oh, wow! You made a lot!” Avery exclaimed, sitting across from him. He didn’t hesitate to pick up the wrapping paper and scissors, grabbing the nearest gift and setting it in front of himself. “And they’re really intricate, too! These are amazing, Isaac!”
“Thanks. You should see the stack of rejects. We’ve got firewood for several seasons.”
They chatted about mundane things while wrapping; Avery’s next book and the research he had to do because humans didn’t get a lot of education on supernaturals and their lifestyles, Isaac’s crazy work schedule and having to balance it with keeping Maverick from flipping his shit at his coworkers.
Daily life that normally Isaac loved to chat about because for a few minutes, everything was easy, but this time, he found himself struggling to keep up.
He kept blinking a lot and his movements slowed with every blink.
“Isaac?” Avery queried, but his voice was soft and not enough to rouse him fully. Isaac tried to open his eyes, but they were so heavy…
The familiar scent of a roaring campfire combined with sexy cologne wrapped around him, and Isaac finally forced his eyes open when Maverick scooped him off the floor and into his arms.
“‘m not done,” he slurred in protest, but his body felt too heavy to actually fight him.
“You are for tonight,” Maverick replied, striding out of the room Isaac had commandeered for his magic workshop.
It was directly off the conservatory, which made it convenient when he needed herbs for a spell.
Even as busy as he was, he still needed to exercise his magical muscles at least a few times a week.
He didn’t want to become a grouch like his mate.
“You know I can hear you, right?”
He hummed a sleepy sound, sliding his arms around Maverick’s neck. “Punish me later.”
Maverick’s warm chuckle was the last thing he heard before he fell asleep.
When he woke the following morning, it took him a long moment to figure out what had happened. He didn’t remember heading to bed or even saying goodbye to Avery. What time had he left? Did they get the wrapping done? How much time did he have to finish if they hadn’t?
He moved to grab his phone, only to find himself mostly pinned by Maverick, who, despite being a grump, was an absolute cuddle slut in bed.
His thickly muscled arms were wrapped tightly around Isaac, keeping him pressed against the warmth of his body and comfortable.
The heat made him want to go back to sleep, but he seriously needed to figure out if he needed to finish wrapping.
He wouldn’t have a lot of time before they had to leave.
The flight to the Saltoria Mountains took time, and they’d promised to arrive at Maverick’s family home by noon.
It took some wriggling, once Maverick had him in his arms while asleep, he didn’t like to let go, but eventually, he slid out of bed and snagged Maverick’s robe from the foot of it, bundling himself up as he crept out of the room.
He headed for his workshop, holding his breath as he pushed the door open. Please let him have at least gotten a good chunk of the wrapping done before he fell asleep. He’d barely started when Avery had arrived. Half-asleep wrapping was better than no wrapping at all, right?
His breath left him in a rush, and he hurried over to the table with the neatly stacked presents on top.
All were fully wrapped with pretty gold ribbons and sticky notes on top denoting what designs were inside.
He hadn’t told Avery who the presents were for, so the little author had made life easy for him by finishing the wrapping and marking them so Isaac knew which was which when he woke up.
He seriously needed to buy Avery something nice for all his help.
A stack of gift tags sat next to the pile, all ready to go.
All Isaac had to do was sign who the gift was for and attach it to the ribbon on top.
He set to work doing so, laughing when he realized Avery had wrapped the gift he’d made for him.
It didn’t feel like enough anymore, not after all Avery had done to help him, but he knew Avery was fascinated by the Saltoria Mountains.
He’d get him a souvenir from there as well.
He was tying the last gift tag when Maverick found him, making a disgruntled grumbly sound as he wrapped himself around Isaac. “You know I don’t like waking up without you.”
“Sorry. Had to finish this. We need to pick up something nice for Avery before we head home from your parents’ place. He went through a lot of trouble doing all of this.”
Maverick grunted in agreement, pressing a kiss against Isaac’s neck. Isaac just barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Caveman.
Of course, once Maverick started touching him, he was loath to stop. Isaac found himself melting into it, suddenly even more grateful that Avery finished all this for him. It meant he had time for a quickie before they had to go.
“Shower?” he breathed, tipping his head to give Maverick more room.
Maverick replied by spinning him around and picking him up, his hands on Isaac’s ass as he marched them back to their room. Isaac grinned against his lips, tangling their tongues, because he couldn’t resist when Maverick’s mouth was on his.
He wiggled to get down once they were in the bathroom, using a little magic to start the water while he stripped out of his clothes. His sexy dragon almost never wore more than drool-worthy grey sweatpants to bed, so he was naked before Isaac could blink, and Isaac’s movements slowed at the sight.
Maverick flashed him a wicked grin, jerking him closer by the belt of the robe and yanking it off with just enough force to make Isaac moan.
Gods, he loved it when his dragon got rough.
The rest of his clothes followed in quick succession, just forceful enough to give him goosebumps.
The room filled with steam from the shower as they plastered themselves against each other again, and Isaac dragged his mate down for another filthy kiss as Maverick walked him backward until they were under the spray.
A wet Maverick was his favorite sight, and Isaac refused to miss it, so before Maverick could spin him around, he sank to his knees, wrapping his fingers around Maverick’s thick cock.
He laved the head, admiring the way the rivulets of water slid down the dragon’s torso and around the six-pack that made Isaac drool most days.
There wasn’t a single thing on his mate that he didn’t find hot.
Even that scowl that graced his face most days was sexy to him.
“Uhn, Isaac,” Maverick growled, baring his teeth in warning. He wasn’t patient enough to let Isaac tease him today.
Since he never actually looked at a clock to see how much time they had, Isaac decided to move things along, drawing the massive cock into his mouth and humming in pleasure.
The sound made Maverick grunt, and his hips jerked in an abortive thrust, the fire in his eyes telling him his mate was keyed up this morning and probably wouldn’t last long.
Well, that was always a fun surprise.
Relaxing his throat, Isaac gave his dragon what he needed, bobbing his head and sucking as much as he was able. His jaw was stretched to the limit, taking the beast into his mouth, but from the sounds Maverick was making, he appreciated it.
“Ungh, Isaac… Keep going… Ah!”
He surprised his mate with a little teeth scraping action, and to his delight and surprise, it set Maverick off. He came with a shout, fingers tight in Isaac’s hair as he took over and thrust through his release.
Isaac barely sucked in a breath when Maverick pulled out before he was lifted off the ground and pressed against the wall high enough that Maverick’s mouth could reach his cock, his legs tossed over Maverick’s shoulders. He cried out in surprise, gripping Maverick’s hair tightly.
“Maverick!”
The deep growl of approval made Isaac arch and moan, his toes curling in surprise. He came embarrassingly fast with Maverick growling like that, and Maverick didn’t stop sucking until the aftershocks had passed and oversensitivity kicked in.
Slowly, Maverick set him back on his feet, brushing a kiss against Isaac’s forehead. He sighed happily. If this was how the day was starting, he had high hopes for how things would go from here.