Chapter Seven

Wolfe

Noel took a bit longer to go to sleep than he usually did. The winds whipping through the trees created spooky noises around our cabin. Even if his big wolf of a dad couldn't make his fears go away. But, after five books, two more than my usual limit, his eyes refused to stay open.

The sound of the wind outside gave my wolf and me comfort, even though it scared our pup. I listened to them for a few minutes before leaving Noel to his rest. I threw a small log into the fire before shutting the door. His wolf and flannel jammies would keep him warm, but the temperature was quickly dropping outside.

I picked up a laundry basket, intending to do a load before going to bed. The cookies plus the coffee I drank entirely too late in the evening weren't doing me any favors in the sleepy department. I also had to clean up after our cookie mess. Entering the living room, my eyes were immediately drawn to the elf on the mantel; I didn't dare call it the one on the shelf. He had no malleable arms and legs. No positioning him in different ways. He was a statue and yet, there was something about his expression I couldn't decipher. Was it a smile? I mumbled something under my breath about him reminding me of the Mona Lisa.

The statue shook a bit, but there was an earthquake or a terrible storm even though we lived nowhere near a fault line or a place that had earthquakes in general.

What in the hell?

As the statue fell to the floor and shattered, a form grew out of the breakage in a swirl of red and green magic. My defenses rose, while I was also in awe.

What in the candy canes was going on here?

I froze as the form shifted into a man.

Not just any man.

The statue had become a man. An elf man. An elf?

"Who is Mona Lisa? Is she someone you know?" the person asked and even though my wolf had no qualms about the elf now standing naked in my living room, I tossed the basket of clothes at him. I was seconds away from shifting when my wolf spoke into my mind.

Mate. Elf is mate.

Fae and fruitcake. He was right.

"Wolfe, is it? That's what someone called you in the grocery store when Noel held me."

My eyes widened, and I took some steps backward, holding onto the wall with one hand to keep myself steady. "Who are you? What are you doing in my house?"

"Oh. Perhaps that would make you feel better. To know my name. I am Aster of the North Pole."

I let out a maniacal laugh. "Yeah, and I'm Santa's pet wolf. I asked you a question. What are you doing here?"

My wolf fought me as the questions poured out of my mouth. According to him, this elf that just broke free from a statue or who was a statue at some point, was telling me he was from the North Pole.

Aster stepped forward, his hands out. I tried like hell not to let my gaze slip down his nakedness but I couldn't help myself. Who knew elves had so much going on down there. Not this omega. My human defenses took hold and I threw the laundry basket at him, covering him with clothes. "Stay back."

"Yes. Of course. I'm sorry. Wolfe is your name, correct? Such a lovely name for an omega wolf."

I made sure to keep between him and my son sleeping just down the hall. My wolf needed to shut the hell up. Mates didn't come into a person's life via statue and appear naked in the living room. I didn't even know there were elf shifters in this world.

"Wolfe is my name. Explain. Now."

I shivered as he took all of me in. A smile tugged at one side of his mouth. The elf made no move to hide his groin. Didn't seem the least bit embarrassed about being in a stranger's home, naked. Except the damned hat. The hat had made it through his transition but not the pants?

Huh.

"I'm here because I was turned into a statue as a punishment."

"Punishment? So you're some kind of criminal in the North Pole?" I asked. "That is if you're actually from the North Pole. What kind of crime did you commit other than the one you're engaging in right now?"

The elf cocked his head. Some of his blond hair fell along his forehead, revealing his pointy ears. Well, I'll be strung up and hung on a mantel, maybe he was an elf.

Still, there was plenty of explaining to do.

"What crime?" he asked, turning in a circle.

"Trespassing. Coming into my home uninvited. That's the crime."

Aster laughed, but I found nothing remotely funny. "Actually I was invited in by your son—or maybe you. You brought me here."

I groaned. Gods, he was entirely too gorgeous to be a criminal. Let it be a mistake, please.

"I was made a statue as a punishment by Santa. I was the head baker and salt was mixed up with sugar. I didn't taste the batch before feeding them to him."

"You fed Santa cookies with salt instead of sugar, and he made into you a statue as punishment?"

"Yes. Feeding Santa something inedible is one of the rules no one breaks at the North Pole…until me. If I had only tasted the batch…"

"How long were you in that store? Were you waiting for someone to buy you?" I asked, my heart melting a bit at his story. In the human world and anywhere south of the North Pole, accidentally putting salt instead of sugar into cookies would've been something to laugh about—something to chalk up as a silly mistake.

Clearly things weren't the same up there.

"Time is strange as a statue, posing as an inanimate object. I don't really know. What is the date?"

"It's almost Christmas, Aster," I answered. "How long?"

I felt sorry for the male. There was such sadness in his icy-blue eyes when he told the story. I had a feeling there were some details he was leaving out, but the punishment hardly fit the crime.

"Oh. Only a week, then. Maybe a bit less. I'm really not sure."

I pulled a blanket from the back of the couch and draped it over his shoulders. My wolf approved. He found nothing dangerous about the elf in our living room, and the more he spoke, the more comfortable I grew. All of a sudden, I had words, strong, piercing words, for Santa.

Turning someone into a statue. Santa should be on the naughty list, sounded like to me.

"Thank you, Wolfe. That is very kind of you." He pulled the blanket tighter around his body, and I had to refrain from hugging him to me, sharing some of my warmth with him. My animal was howling about him being my mate, but I still had to make sure this man could be around my son.

David definitely would've kicked him out on his ass into the snow by now.

Then again, if David was here, my wolf would never mutter a syllable of the word mate. Because David had been that.

"I don't know what to think. My son is here. You are a stranger to us."

Aster nodded and looked toward the fire. He sidestepped closer to it and sighed. "How do your kind change that?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"How do I become not a stranger?"

"You said it's been over a week. Are you hungry? I have food. We can share some cookies and hot apple cider, and you can tell me more about your life."

"That sounds lovely. Thank you. And maybe you can tell me more about your life? I… Do you have a mate already?"

I heated apple cider with cinnamon sticks floating in it, over the stovetop. I pulled out cookies and watched as he put one in his mouth. They probably weren't good enough for a baker from the North Pole, but my son and I liked them well enough.

"These cookies are fantastic, Wolfe. You would give some of the apprentices a run for their bells."

"Bells?" I asked.

"Oh, yes. It's a bartering system. We don't use money like humans. We use bells."

"Here you go," I said, pushing a cup of steaming cider toward him. "Tell me more about the North Pole."