Chapter 1

Five days.

There were only five days until Christmas, when Santa’s magic was at its absolute lowest, depleted from his travels around the world delivering toys.

It was also the most likely day that his brother, Jack Frost, formerly known as Angel Nicholas, would attack sometime around dawn as Santa made his way back to Northernmost to replenish his magic at the Well.

There was a time when Angel and Saint, Santa’s given name, had been as close as two siblings could be. Then Angel had decided he should take on the role of Santa and control the Well of Magic, a right that he was not due as the youngest sibling. Saint took the mantle of Santa from their father and Angel took on the mantle of Jack Frost.

The two should have worked in harmony, supporting each other as the bringers of winter and Christmas. Instead, they were locked in a battle for control of the Well that had raged for years.

Jack Frost had chosen the path of dark magic. He abducted magical people—mostly the elves who called Northernmost home—but also warlocks, witches, fairies, with the occasional dream walker and reaper. Jack replenished his magic by stealing the magic of those who followed the good path. He could then turn the magical person evil or refuse to turn them evil, leaving them magicless forever.

He could, and had, killed those whose magic he’d stolen in the past.

There was no end to his treachery.

Recently, Frost had snagged two of Santa’s elves—Ivy and Bruce. Ivy had been retrieved by her mate and saved from turning evil by Santa’s magic and the Well, but they hadn’t known Bruce was taken until it was too late. He was now evil, his skin gray and his eyes black, lost to goodness forever.

Santa rubbed his eyes and turned from the window of his office. He could see the Northern Lights and the glow of the Well, but that was it. Just darkness and stars, and somewhere in the distance, Frost and his followers were making plans.

Tomorrow was the winter solstice. It was tempting to follow his brother as he roamed the world and attack him at his lowest, pulling the dark magic from him and binding him to serve out the remainder of his life in a cell somewhere he couldn’t hurt anyone. But in order to take out Frost, he had to replace him with a member of the Nicholas family, and the same went for himself. If he and Frost both died, heirs had to take their place.

As far as anyone knew, he and Frost were the last of the line, but that wasn’t true. There were rumors of other family members, but while some of his closest staff knew there was truth to the rumors, no one knew for certain that there were others in the Nicholas family line.

They were hidden from Frost, even hidden from knowing the truth about themselves.

It was time he made contact and began training in secret. Just in case.

Someone knocked on the door and he called to enter.

“Hi, Santa,” Ivy, his assistant, said. “I’ve got the Nice List for you to look over.”

He smiled at her. She was now mated to a snow leopard, and after the holidays, they were moving to his leap in Northern Kentucky.

“Thanks, Ivy. How’s packing going?”

“Good,” she said. “I’m a pack rat. Alder complains a lot.”

He chuckled. “Brothers can be like that.”

“I’m going to close up for the night. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Of course.”

She paused, then said, “You look worried.”

“I am. But I’m always worried this time of year.”

“Me too.” She shivered involuntarily, and he suspected she was remembering what it felt like to be captured by Frost and nearly turned evil. Then she smiled at him. “Goodnight, Santa.”

“Goodnight, Ivy.”

When the door shut, he turned back to the scenery outside the window. If he could get through this holiday alive and well, and still in control of the Well of Magic, he’d ready the heirs for their eventual takeover of the positions. For now, he’d focus on Christmas and keeping himself alive until he could replenish his magic at the Well after the holiday toy run.

Turning to the Nice List, he smiled. It was good to see a long list.

Some years were worse than others.

Sitting at the desk, he put his reading glasses on and picked up the list.

“Abigail…Nice. Adam…Nice.”

Declan Knight had been a Guardian of the Well of Magic for almost a decade, ever since he’d followed his older brother, Derek, to the North Pole to train. His brother had left the Guardians a few years later after taking a mate and moving to her wolf pack on the west side of the country, but Declan had stayed.

He liked it.

His wolf liked it.

It was cold as ice in Northernmost, a city protected by a magical perimeter that allowed only people with good magic to pass through. But he didn’t mind the cold, even on a night like tonight, when the enemy of all good magic—Jack Frost—was at his most powerful and brought winter to the world on the twenty-first.

Before he’d come to Northernmost, Declan hadn’t given two shits about the winter solstice, or magic for that matter. But now that he was part of the team of nine males who were entrusted to guard the Well year-round, along with the elves who were part of the security team? He cared a hell of a lot.

Even though shifters weren’t magical, if Frost took control of the Well, then the world itself would plunge into darkness because the good magic users would either have to take dark magic or lose their good magic entirely. Even the most powerful good magic users—Santa, Mother Nature, and Sandman—would be helpless without a way to replenish their good magic if Frost was in charge.

So Declan patrolled the frosty landscape, looking for Frost or one of his evil followers in case tonight they chose to attack.

He doubted it. Frost had been trying a few new things this month—putting a tracker on a human female who was mated to one of the polar bear Guardians and putting a magical tracking powder on the Entrance that people used to come into Northernmost to replenish their magic once a year. They’d recently lost one elf to Frost’s dark magic, which was sad as hell.

He heard the crunch of snow under someone’s foot and turned to find his cousin Sebastian as he rounded the corner of the elves’ living quarters—also known as the barracks.

“Hey,” Sebastian said. “All clear my way. You?”

“Yep. All quiet.” He ran his gaze across the darkness, seeing the glowing Northern Lights above, mixed up with the stars and inky sky. “I imagine he’s busy prepping for solstice.”

It was December twentieth. Frost would leave at midnight on the solstice and use his magic to move around the world. As far as Declan knew, Frost had never attacked Northernmost the night before solstice, but the male was unhinged so there was no telling what he might try.

“I’m sure,” Sebastian said. He rolled his neck and yawned. “I think Gabriel got the good job sitting in the security office and watching the cameras and motion detectors instead of stomping around out here.”

“Yeah, he sure did,” Sebastian said. “I’d say he cheated at odds, but I’m not sure how one could do that.”

“Because he knows us really well. We’ve been shooting odds to pick duties on our shifts for a long time, and he is almost always inside.”

“Bastard,” Declan said with a laugh. In truth he loved his cousin, even if he was cheating. The three males were related through their parents—Declan’s father, Sebastian’s father, and Gabriel’s mother were siblings. They’d grown up as close as brothers in the Southern Ohio town of Howling Creek.

Declan’s walkie beeped. “Get to patrolling, you lazy bums,” Gabriel said, his voice tinny over the speaker.

Declan rolled his eyes.

“Speak of the devil,” Sebastian said.

Pressing the button to speak, Declan said, “We were just talking about how you’re always inside while we’re out here freezing on patrol.”

“I’m just lucky.”

Sebastian shook his head.

“Are you bothering us for a reason?” Declan asked.

“Yeah, Mom called and wanted to know if you guys were going to come to our place on Christmas Day. It’s her year to host, and she wants numbers. And, oh yeah, did you hear that Bryan found his mate?”

“Bryan, our second cousin?” Declan asked. “He’s seventeen.”

“Yep,” Gabriel said. “Mom pointed out that none of us are getting younger and she wants grandkids and nieces and nephews to spoil.”

“First, we have to find our mates,” Sebastian said.

Declan nodded. He didn’t think he’d be pushing thirty and unmated. He supposed that part of it was because he was up at the North Pole year-round. Maybe he should spend more time with the pack, and maybe he’d run into his mate somewhere.

She sure as hell hadn’t shown up at the North Pole in the last decade.

“We’re hitting the patrol path,” Declan said. “And next shift, you’re out here instead of one of us.”

“Damn it.”

Sebastian said, “I’ll call dibs.”

“You can’t call dibs,” Declan protested.

“Can and did. Suck it.” Before Declan could react—including the passing thought that he could punch Sebastian for calling dibs before he could—his cousin was gone, his laugh echoing in the darkness.

Turning his attention back to the job at hand, he walked toward the edge of Northernmost, where the magical barrier kept them all safe, and began his trek around the town. He’d think about finding his mate later when he didn’t have to be paying attention to the darkness and looking for Frost and his followers.

Someday he’d find his mate.

Someday soon, he hoped.