Chapter Fourteen

Aster

When Noel woke up the next morning, nerves filled my belly. As much as he liked me, I was afraid he'd be unimpressed or, worse, upset that his father and I had mated. I wasn't his papa, and I never would be. No one could take the place of the man who helped give him life and loved him so completely. I'd never begin to try.

But I was his father's mate, and he was mine, and together, we were going to raise the family he had, including little Snowball.

I shouldn't have been worried. Noel was nothing if not one of the most impressively astute children on this planet. I had been in the kitchen putting a loaf of bread in the oven when he woke up and came running in.

"Is it true?" He was bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Is it true? Is it true?"

"Is what true?" I turned to face him and his face lit up.

"It's true! You came to make Daddy less lonely for Christmas. You're Santa's present!" He threw his arms around me. "I knew it! I knew it! I knew it!"

I wasn't so sure Santa sent me here in the form of a statue intentionally to help me find my mate. But also, it sort of sounded right. Why hadn't I focused better when I was being told all the rules? Oh yeah, because I was frozen as a little statue. That's why.

"Well, if that's the case, I'm the one who got the present." I twirled him around. "Because I get to have you in my life."

We ate breakfast as a family, and then made Christmas decorations with far too much glitter. Not really, there could never be enough glitter in my opinion. My mate would disagree.

When Noel asked to go to the library, his father reminded him that they were closed for the holidays. He asked me to read him a story.

"I'd love nothing more." I looked on his shelf to find the perfect book when my fingers started tingling again. I reached for a book and suddenly, it was the exact one I had been wanting but one I didn't see on his shelf. I had brought my copy from home via my magic. It was far stronger than the other day, that was for sure.

"What story is it?" Noel plopped on his bean bag chair.

"It's the story of someone who stole a cookie."

It had been heavily tweaked but was based on my friend Ernie and his friend Krampus. Only in this story, Krampus was not at all scary, and he found new friends. The real story was more that he found his happy ever after, but this book was adorable—and one that Ernie had written. I loved it.

As I was reading it, a lot of what Ernie had done to me made even more sense. I wasn't the first person he played matchmaker only to have things go wrong. But just like with last time, his heart was in the right place. I half wondered if there were others out there.

Though, did it really go wrong for Krampus? I wasn't so sure because his mate had been born in a different time. They'd have missed each other completely. And by that standard, had he really messed up with me?

In either case, Ernie did it for me because he cared, and he probably sensed that Wolfe was my mate that day when he disappeared from the store. It was impossible to be mad at Ernie.

"The end."

"That was the best story ever. Is Krampus real?"

I nodded.

"Can I meet him?"

"Maybe one day, but let's not have your meeting because you don't know how to behave, okay?" I stood up and went to replace the book on the shelf.

Noel opted to stay in his room and color and I went to find his father.

Snowball was waiting at the door and I cracked the door open a little and let him go in. If Snowball wanted to chill with Noel, then who was I to get in the way.

My tingling started getting more like a current, and I wondered if I had my magic back fully. It felt like it. But last time, when I used a little bit of magic, that was all I had left, and I was back to nothing again.

"Aster, what's wrong?" Wolfe asked.

"I think I need to go." I didn't want to, but I needed answers and this might be my only opportunity.

"What do you mean, you have to go?" He stood up and crossed to me.

"Not forever, but I think I need to go back home for a few hours." At least I hoped that would be all the time I needed.

"You can do that now?" He took my hand in his, probably trying to feel the magic I had told him felt tingly. He wouldn't be able to. Not to my knowledge anyway.

"I can, and I need to find out why a lot of things are happening. But I'll be back. You can't keep me away."

"What if you don't have magic when you get there?" He expressed my biggest worry.

"Then I'm hitching a ride with Santa on Christmas Eve. Don't worry, I'll be back." I'd do it too. I had no shame when it came to love.

I gave him a kiss and hugged him. I made a promise to assure Noel that I was definitely coming back before Christmas if by some reason I wasn't back before dinner. I hoped it would be this afternoon or tonight at the latest, but we would see. I stepped into the other room, called forth my magic, and ended up back at the North Pole in a wink.

I needed to find out how much of what I could do that my mate was allowed to see and how much I could use outside of the North Pole without it depleting. There was a lot to talk about.

When I got there, Santa was right where I landed, in front of my house.

"You gave me my magic so I'd come back here?" I asked.

"Ho ho ho, of course I did. I figured you needed to talk. Take me inside. I brought cookies, but they're not as good as yours. They're not as bad as the ones you made, but you really are the best."

He didn't sound mad. That was a good sign.

We went into my place, and I put on a pot of cocoa. He set down the cookies. He was right; they weren't as good as mine, nor were they as good as Noel's, but they were decent. We sat down, and I asked him if my magic was back and why. Santa assured me it was back because I found my true mate and was accepted by my true family.

"I don't know what to do," I told him honestly. "I love Wolfe. I love Noel. I love Snowball. But their life is there, and my life is here. How do we make it work?"

He set down his mug. "Aster, listen to me. Your home isn't there, and their home isn't there. Your homes are together. Wherever you are, when you're together, you're home."

Santa stirred his cocoa with his peppermint stick. "Now, where the physical location of your abode will be, I don't know. And the thing is, it doesn't matter. If he wants to live there, and you want to live there, do it. If you all want to live here, do it. If you want to go back and forth, I'll make it happen. But don't let location get in the way of your happiness. I didn't go through all the trouble to turn you into that figurine for nothing."

"I thought it was the law."

"The law—my interpretation of it, to get you where you needed to go. Potato—potahto."

"Did you tell Ernie to switch the sugar with the salt?"

"No, but I had plans." He tapped the side of his nose. "I always have plans."

We ate the rest of the cookies and drank our cocoa. He told me about the elves who'd been working in the bake shop, and about Ernie, and how badly my friend felt about the situation. I promised him that I'd stop by on my way out to let Ernie know that everything was great.

After talking to Ernie and eating far too many gumdrops, I went back to my place one last time to grab a couple of things to bring with me for decorating the Christmas tree. That's when I found that Santa had left a bunch of presents for me to bring back. Because, of course, he did.

I pulled forth my magic and ended up back in the living room.

"When you said you were going to leave, I guess I thought—I don't know, not that." Wolfe indicated my magic with a swirl of his hand.

"I'll have to show you how I do it one day." Santa assured me my family could know everything, much to my relief. "But first, I have to put these presents under the tree—from Santa."

I pulled a box of ornaments out of what he probably thought was nowhere but was my pocket, fitting in there only by magic.

"I brought some of my favorite Christmas ornaments. I thought we could put them on the tree together tomorrow."

"I'd love that." Wolfe crossed over to me for a kiss. "And I love you."

"I love you too, Wolfe. I love you, too."