Chapter 5

Declan couldn’t believe that his truemate had come through the portal to Northernmost because she couldn’t shift. It didn’t even make sense. The Well was for magical people only. It had zero effect on shifters.

Santa hummed. “Let’s get inside before your mate freezes up here. I’m sure where she’s from is a lot warmer.”

The big male trudged off toward the security building.

Declan said, “Winterlyn, I’m sorry that the witch who brought you here had another plan that involved trying to take out Santa. Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I really didn’t know she was going to do that.”

“I believe you.”

He smiled at her, and she gave him a relieved smile in return.

“We have a lot to talk about, but Santa is going to want you to tell him everything you know about…what was her name?”

“Annette. My parents are alphas of the Arctic Pines Skulk, and the witch coven lives just outside of town.”

“Skulk? So you’re a fox?” he asked as they followed behind Santa, their bodies bumping occasionally as they walked.

“Arctic fox, but not really. I’ve never been able to shift.”

“And someone told you the Well could help?”

“I saw it on an online chat. The head of the coven said it was foolish to come up here because the magic wouldn’t work on me but said I could try if one of her witches would bring me up here. Annette volunteered but said it had to be this morning. She was acting weird when I showed up. Crying and angry.” She shook her head. “Clearly I picked a bad person to bring me here.”

Santa entered the building, holding the door for them, then strode ahead, leaving them alone in the hallway.

“I’m going to take you to the security office, then we can talk privately. If you’d like.”

“I would definitely like that.”

She pulled off her hat and gloves, stuffed them in her pockets, and then shrugged off the heavy coat. She was wearing leggings and a long sweater in a light purple color that had glittery white snowflakes on the hem.

He took her coat and hung it up alongside his in the employee breakroom, then took her to speak with Santa and the others.

“This is the main security office,” he explained to her with a low voice. Then he said, “Everyone, this is Winterlyn Brooks. Winterlyn, you already met Santa and Bart outside. That’s Hunter and Winter, they’re polar bears, and Heath, an elf, like Bart.”

“Tell us everything,” Santa said. “Bart found her location, and we’re sending a team to her home now, but I’m not going to hold out hope that she’s actually there.”

“Sure,” Winterlyn said. Declan pulled a chair out for her, and she sat down. “I wanted to come to Northernmost because I can’t shift.” She told her story, starting with the online chat she’d found, meeting with the head of the coven, Annette finding her, and the way she’d been acting that morning.

“I’m really sorry about all of it,” she said when she’d finished. “I don’t know what possessed her to do something like that. She’s full of good magic. Why would she want to take you out?”

Santa wrapped his hand around his beard with a frown. “I’m not sure, except that my brother put Annette up to it, that much I’m certain of. I don’t hold you responsible at all, Winterlyn, so don’t worry about that. It turned out that fate had a reason for you to come up here, even if you came along with a nutcase.”

The buzz of an alert from a security team member sounded. Hunter pressed the button. “This is Ventura,” came the response.

“You’re on with the team and Santa. What’s the word?” Hunter asked.

“She’s gone. We noticed an older male in the home and broke in to investigate and found him deceased. It doesn’t appear that he’s been dead for very long, though. Do you want us to stake out the house?”

Hunter looked at Santa.

“Yes,” Santa answered. “When she returns, contain her and alert us. I’ll come down there and speak to her myself.”

“You can’t go down to the States right now. It’s not safe,” Declan said.

“It’s not safe anywhere right now,” he pointed out. “However, my brother is recovering from spreading winter around the world and he’s not doing anything right now except recharging himself. I’ll take a security team with me, but I’m not sitting on my ass while Frost is out there telling people to come stick me with knives designed to kill me.” He leveled a long, quiet look at Winterlyn, and she felt like he could read her mind. “Declan, bring your mate to my office for a chat.”

He left the office, and she looked at Declan.

“Come on, sweetheart.” He offered her his hand and pulled her to her feet. When their hands were linked, he felt so connected to her, it was genuinely amazing. They hadn’t done more than cursory chatting and he already felt their connection as mates.

He needed to talk to her. Privately.

He wanted to know everything about her.

Well, what he really wanted to do was toss her over his shoulder like a caveman and run to his place in the barracks so they could really be alone. But Santa wanted to speak to her right now, so that’s what they were going to do.

They left the security office after he asked Hunter to find someone to cover his shift.

“I can’t believe that witch tried to kill him. What do you suppose she did it for?” she asked.

“I’m not sure, but if Frost put her up to it, then you can bet she needed something from him and this was his price for the help.”

They passed through the outer offices, where the elves who worked directly for Santa were settled in cubicles decorated for the holiday with tinsel, ornaments, and twinkle lights.

He paused at the door to Santa’s office.

“I’m sorry if everything feels rushed right now, but because of the witch that brought you here, we’ve got to deal with that situation before you and I can take a step back from the craziness and get to know each other.”

“I understand,” she said. “I’m glad you were at the portal when I came through, though.”

He grinned. She was so beautiful, he felt like he and his wolf had won the lottery. “Me too, sweetheart.”

He pushed open Santa’s door and found the male behind his large desk. Behind him was a picture window which faced the Well and had a great view of the Northern Lights.

“Welcome,” Santa said. “Have a seat. Can I get you anything? Hot cocoa, water, tea?”

“I’m good, thanks,” Winterlyn said as she settled into one of two chairs across from the desk.

Declan took the other.

Santa stared at them for a moment, then folded his hands on the desk and said, “I just wanted to take a moment in private with you two and go over a few things. First, Winterlyn, I’m sorry that you’re not able to shift, but whatever you read online was wrong. The Well only works on magical people. I wish that it could heal whatever it is that’s not working with your shift, but it would do nothing at all to you.”

“I understand,” she said. “I knew it was a long shot, but I just felt like I needed to come up here.”

“Clearly because your mate is here,” Santa said.

Winterlyn glanced at Declan with a soft smile. “Definitely.”

“Does your family know where you are?” Santa asked.

“No, I didn’t tell anyone I was coming because I didn’t want them to try to talk me out of it. Every shifter knows that we’re not magic, and they would have encouraged me to just accept myself as I am, even though it kind of kills me all the time in the skulk.”

“What do you mean?” Declan asked.

“With my parents as the alphas and me being their only child, it always burns when I’m kept out of the loop of the skulk stuff. I used to go to the monthly gatherings when everyone shifts and hunts, but eventually my parents told me not to bother because it just made people uncomfortable that there was a shifter who couldn’t shift hanging around. And I think it made my parents uncomfortable too, as if people were questioning whether they were good alphas because I couldn’t shift.”

“That’s not got anything to do with them,” Declan said, his ire rising. “It’s the luck of the genetic draw and not your fault or anyone else’s. My pack doesn’t care if someone can shift or not, and I certainly don’t care. As my mate, you’d be welcomed as a member of the pack and could hang out with us whenever you wanted.”

“It sounds like your parents don’t know how to deal with your lack of shifting,” Santa mused. “But that’s on them, not on you. I do wish that I could be of help to you. If it were in my power to make you shift, I would.”

“So no asking for it for Christmas?” she asked with a chuckle.

Santa laughed. “Nope, sorry. I could get you the dollhouse you always asked for, though.”

Winterlyn’s mouth fell open. “What?”

Santa leaned back in the chair, and his eyes got a little lighter blue as he brought forth his magic. “Yep, a two-story dollhouse with furniture and a family of dolls. Two parents and two kids because you didn’t want the dolls to be only children.”

She let out a little squeak and then cleared her throat. “I…how did you remember that? I haven’t thought about that dollhouse in forever. My mom said I was getting too old, that I’d only play with it for a while, and it would take up space when I didn’t want it anymore. I kept asking for it, but I never got it.”

“I have to listen to parents in that situation,” Santa mused. “Otherwise the gift becomes a burden and causes strife.”

“I really don’t need anything,” Winterlyn said, looking at Declan with a smile. She took his hand and said, “I might not have gotten my fox, but I did get something even better.”

“When you two make a decision, let me know.”

Santa picked up a quill pen and lifted what Declan knew to be the Nice List. “That’s our cue,” Declan whispered.

Winterlyn nodded and said, “Thanks, Santa.”

“Anytime,” he said.

They left the office and walked to the employee breakroom, which had a few tables, refrigerator, and microwave for anyone who didn’t want to head to the main cafeteria. They grabbed their coats, carrying them with them as they walked through the underground passageway to the barracks.

She was quiet while they walked, and he let her have the silence.

He wondered if she believed that he didn’t care she couldn’t shift. Because he really didn’t. He was just so damn happy to have found his mate that he didn’t care if she’d been human or magical. He only cared that she was there with him.

“I have a question,” Winterlyn said when they reached his apartment. He hung her coat up in the closet and walked with her into the great room. He hit the switch to turn on the electric fireplace to take the chill out of the room and joined her on the couch.

“Ask away.”

“What did Santa mean when he said we had a decision to make? Did he mean about us being mates? Because I do know what we are, even though I’d really like it if you asked me to be your mate.”

“I promise I will,” he said. He took her hand and linked their fingers. “We have to decide if we’re going to stay here in Northernmost or go to the States with my pack or your skulk. I must stay here through Christmas Day, until Santa’s magic is replenished and the threat from Jack Frost is over for a while. Then we can do whatever we’d like.”

She hummed and looked toward the fireplace, with the faux flames flickering against the glass.

“What do you want to do, Declan?” She turned and faced him, resting her head on the pillows and giving him a curious look.

The easier question would be to ask what he didn’t want to do. Because he wanted to do everything with her, for her, to her.

He scrubbed a hand over his face and said, “Honestly? I want to take you to bed right now and make you my mate in truth. But I said we’d talk, and I meant it. So I want to know who you are and tell you who I am, and then I want to see where the day takes us.”

“Okay, that was awesome,” she said. “But I meant, do you want to stay here in Northernmost or go back to your pack after the holidays? We can’t go to my skulk, only foxes are allowed as members.” She leaned forward and cupped his face. “But we can talk about all that other stuff.”

Her words whispered across his lips and his wolf snarled in his head. Before he knew what he was doing, he’d hauled her into his lap and kissed her like he was starving and she was an all-you-can-eat buffet.

So much for talking.

They could talk later.

Much later.