13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Shimmersnap

I panicked. I had nowhere to go. I lived with Walter. He just didn’t know it. So I did the only thing I could think of and popped back to the only place I knew as home. The North Pole.

Luckily, I had enough wits about me to pop someplace where I could at least get some advice. And where I wouldn’t make a scene. Pretty sure elves that had been fired weren’t allowed to just linger around, especially not this close to the big day.

The North Pole had a jail, and I didn’t want to visit it.

Dancer jumped when I appeared out of thin air, standing next to him in the barn where he was preparing all of his gear. It smelled of hay and shredded carrots with molasses—a staple for all of Santa’s reindeer’s diet.

“Shimmersnap, what are you doing here?” He looked around, making sure no one else had seen me.

“I need advice.” I didn’t even bother trying to be quiet. This couldn’t wait.

“You know this is like our busiest time, right?”

“I know, but—”

He sighed. “I know—if you don’t get Walter to accept you as his, you’re going to be stuck as a figurine. I guess that is pretty important.”

“Thank you,” I said. “I kind of forgot about that detail.”

He raised a brow. “You forgot that you need your mate to fall in love with you or else you’ll turn into a figurine forever?”

“Yeah. I mean, I don’t think it’ll be difficult for him to fall in love with me. I mean,” I gestured to myself, “I’m pretty great. Walter and I get along well. I’ve been working with him for six months. I think we have fun together. Honestly, he’s probably already in love with me.” I was in love with him.

Dancer raised a brow. “So things must be going better than the last time I spoke to you?”

“So much! Things have been amazing! We’ve been doing a lot of Christmas stuff together. Except this morning, when we woke up together—that didn’t go so well,” I said.

He nodded. “Together? Okay, so things are going really well.”

“Yes, but... he noticed that his elf was missing.”

“His elf?”

“Yeah, the one he keeps on his mantle and sometimes watches movies with.”

“I take it you’re the elf.”

I nodded. I was the best elf. And the most sparkly. If there was an award for that, I’d win hands down.

Dancer shrugged and went back to cleaning the leather straps of his harness. “So tell him the truth.”

“I can’t just say to a human that I’m an elf figurine. He’ll think I’m crazy. And how do I even explain about the North Pole and all the Santas and the fact that he is my mate and I was fired for being too glittery?”

“Shimmersnap, you showed up at work with a glittered tie. You leave glitter everywhere you go. He has to have noticed that by now. He’s not going to think you’re crazy. He’s probably going to think that it explains a whole lot about you. And I doubt he’ll be surprised that you got fired for gliterizing toys. I’m surprised you don’t put glitter all over people’s tax paperwork.”

“I compromised and we use glittered paperclips.” That had been a hell of a discussion a few months ago. I considered it a win.

“See? There you go. Your mate will understand.”

I shook my head. “No, Walter’s practical. I’ve been working on getting him to accept the Christmas magic, but he’s not ready.”

“How long have you been together?”

“I’ve been working for him for six months.”

“Right, but how long have you been together in the physical sense?”

Oh. My cherry-red cheeks turned an even darker red. “Um, couple of weeks now.”

“Right. He’s an alpha, you’re an omega.”

I nodded.

“Did they not give you the birds-and-the-bees talk when you were in your elf education classes?”

“No. I mean, yes.” I stomped my foot. “I know where babies come from, Dancer.”

Dancer snorted. “I’m starting to think you don’t.”

“Hey, Shimmersnap, what are you doing here?” one of the other reindeer, not a flyer, just a helper, asked.

“Hi, Ginger. I’m just visiting. I needed some advice from Dancer.”

“Try not to get glitter all over everything, all right? We just cleaned this place, and Santa is doing an inspection in one hour. If he catches you here, well… you might be on the naughty list.” He said that last part in a whispered tone, looking around to make sure no one overheard. The barn was nearly empty.

I winked. “Pretty sure I was already there. I have a permanent spot, inked in sparkles. I’m leaving soon,” I said. I still didn’t know where I was going to go, but now that Walter knew I was missing, it wasn’t like I could just pop back to his mantle.

Ginger walked away, and Dancer gripped my hand. “Come with me.”

“What for?”

“We’re going to the med station.”

“What? I’m fine. Why?”

“You’re not fine, and you’re going to take a pregnancy test.”

That spurred me into action.

It couldn’t be. Could it? I felt fine… But if Walter was truly my mate and the two of us had been together more than once. Even though it had been only a few days ago, when it came to fated mates, these things happened fast.

Inside the medical building, there was a flurry of activity. Dancer somehow weaseled his way into the supply room and grabbed a pregnancy test. Normally, they would have to track and log these sorts of things, but everybody seemed so busy that they just let us go. After all, if I was pregnant, it wasn’t anyone here’s problem. I didn’t work for this Santa.

“Can we do this someplace not here?” The place was so busy. There were elves needing stitches from workplace injuries, fevers and coughs cause it was cold and flu season, people who needed hydration from working too hard.

’Tis the season.

“Can you pop us to my apartment?” Dancer asked.

“Sure,” I said, and I gripped Dancer’s hand. We landed in his living room, and he sat down immediately.

“Geez, can you warn a guy? You know, I still have work to do. I don’t want to end up at the medical building for me. Milton would kill me.”

“Your work can wait,” I said.

“Only because I’m ahead of schedule.”

“I do appreciate it, Dancer. Thank you.”

“Sure, sure.” He waved a hand. “Go take your test.”

I was nervous and excited at the idea of having a child. It would be a dream come true to have Walter’s baby. But how would he feel? And how was I going to explain all of this? I was an elf. The child would likely come out with pointed ears.

I did my business and let the test rest on the counter. Once the two blue lines showed up, indicating what I already knew to be true, I quickly ran to Dancer.

“Positive!” I said. “It’s positive!” Glitter rained down around me, coating my wet eyelashes.

“I take it you’re happy?”

I jumped. “Yes, so happy!”

Dancer winced. That’s when I realized I had coated not just myself, but the whole place in glitter.

“I’ll clean this up,” I said.

“You will clean this up, because my mate and child are going to come visit tomorrow, and he is not going to be happy about all this.”

I grinned. “We should get our two grumps together. I bet they’d be great friends.”

Dancer shook his head. “Clean this up, then get back to your mate. Okay? Tell him the truth. Tell him everything. It will work out.”

I nodded. “Okay, I can do that.”

It sounded so easy when he said it.

All I had to do was say to Walter “I’m an elf.” Simple as that.

What could possibly go wrong?