5. Sparkle

FIVE

SPARKLE

One rule about Christmas Village and the North Pole was we never discussed either with people who didn't work and live there.

I flapped my hands, and my head bobbed. Every time the bell tinkled, I expected one of the Santas to wander in, because I sensed when the Santas were near and my head nodded automatically.

"Sheesh. Not my whole life. Just a part of it." I plastered on a smile, hoping Dan wouldn't pester me with questions about where I'd worked. "But I know how to make toys."

It was a huge ask expecting the wolf shifter to put in a good word for me at the company. But when I thought about filling in paperwork, I had no fixed address. Heck, I had no address at all. No phone number, no references. I had a big fat lot of nothing except my experience. My nimble fingers could create beautiful toys, and none of that machine-made crap.

Not that it was all garbage, but the toys we made lasted for years, decades. Unless a family's dog got them. I eyed Sushi, but all her toys were intact. Good girl.

Some elves, like my friends in Christmas Village, could make magic, as in cast spells. But I didn't possess any magic. Santa #1 used to say the magic was in my fingers, as I was his best sewer.

Growing up, I was the elf my school friends picked on because I didn't have a special skill. As kids, being able to create miracles out of fabric didn't count. It wasn't until I was older and applied for a job with Santa #1 that my ability was appreciated.

I jumped up and grabbed the dirty dishes. Once I'd washed them, I'd have to say goodbye. Dan had showered me with kindness and hospitality, but while he was my mate, I wasn't his.

If I could get in touch with the Merry Elf Toys' operations manager, he'd give me a job… maybe. He and only a handful of others at the company were aware the toys' destination was Christmas Village.

"Don't worry about the dishes." Dan waved me away from the sink. But standing side by side, my head barely reaching his shoulder, I inhaled his delicious aroma and took a peek at his butt. Nice.

"Thank you for lunch. I should be going."

Dan's hands were immersed in warm soapy water, and he stared at them, almost as if he wasn't sure they were his.

"Where will you go?"

I shrugged. "Elves are resourceful. I'll find something." I wasn't hopeful, especially in this weather, but if I could find the toy factory, I could sneak in and sleep in the warehouse amongst the toys.

I held out my hand, and Dan pulled his out of the water and shook it.

"Sorry," he snorted. "Wet hand." He grabbed a dishcloth and tossed it at me.

A branch brushed against the kitchen window, and our heads swiveled.

"The wind is picking up. You need warm clothes." He charged off into another room, but I stayed where I was. I was a guest in his house. Maybe not even that. I was an elf who was a statue but was now alive and had been provided with a meal.

"These might do." Dan appeared in the doorway holding pants, a shirt, sweater, and outdoor gear. "You could roll up the sleeves and the jeans' legs."

"Thanks."

He went back into what I assumed was a bedroom, and I followed. He handed me the clothes and waited. Ummm, was he going to watch me undress? I was fine with that, even though it was a little odd, but on a scale of 1-100, the whole day had been 100+, whereas this was only a 5.

"Sorry." His face reddened. "I'll leave. Shifters have a different attitude to nudity than humans."

He paused, and I counted the seconds, watching his face until his expression changed. "Oh, sorry, I mean… you're not human. Which is fine, great. Ummm… good things come wrapped in small packages." He slapped a hand over his mouth as his eyes widened. "That wasn't… no… I'm a shifter, as you've probably gathered."

"Mmmm, I used to work with a lot of shifters. Deer mostly. I picked up your scent straight away."

Dan mumbled something that sounded like, "I wish I could do that."

"Right. There are shifters and non-shifters and we..." he pointed at himself. "We aren't weirded out when someone shows us their cock." His shoulders heaved as though he's just run a marathon. "Not that I'm thinking about your cock. Nope. No, that would be wrong."

Dan was babbling, and every time he said cock, blood surged into my length, swelling it. My elf uniform was tight-fitting, and there was little space or none at all for arousal.

"I'm going now." He tore out the door and slammed it, leaving Sushi in the room with me.

I bent down, and she trotted over. "Should we tell your dad where you are?" She lay down on the mat after I'd patted her, and I stripped off my clothes. But as I pulled off my tunic, a piece of paper fell out of the pocket.

A note in scrawling cursive writing read, You have until Christmas to mate. If not you will revert to being a figurine or disappear elsewhere .

What? I slumped onto the bed, tears spilling over my cheeks. This wasn't Santa's work. None of the Santas were cruel. One was a terrible dancer, one enjoyed too much wine in the evenings, one had a terrible sense of direction, and one was grouchy when he didn't get his morning coffee. But even when he was disappointed, as Santa #1 was with me, he would never impose these restrictions. Also, I didn't think he had that ability. Did he?

My mind zipped back to that old legend. Damn, it was a curse, and I was the butt of the joke.

I fingered the note and stuck it in the jeans. I vowed to think of it later, much later, once I'd secured a job and a place to live. Besides, Christmas was ages away.

The shirt reached my knees, and the pants could have fit another elf inside. I was an expert sewer, and if I had a sewing kit, I could alter both. But for now, the pants and sleeves had to be rolled up, and I tied the shirt in a knot around my waist.

Strolling out with Sushi at my heels, I did a 360. "Ta-da. What do you think?"

"Amazing." Dan's eyes scanned my body, and I twirled around again, making sure to wriggle my butt. But as much as he enjoyed my little show, he and his wolf weren't flinging themselves at me, saying we had to mark one another.

Even if the guy didn't possess the mating instinct, his wolf would sense the relationship. And neither of them did.

I was destined to be a figurine forever come Christmas, or I'd be sent somewhere else, hoping another guy would mate me. Unless Dan and I pretended we were mated, if that was possible. There was no handbook to tell me what to do.

" Cute, definitely cute," Dan said under his breath, and I perked up. "Wait, you can't go."

My heart jolted, thinking his brain had relayed the message: Sparkle is your mate! Yippee! I had a lifetime of happiness ahead of me, despite losing everything that was familiar to me.

"Okay. I won't. I'll stay here with you and Sushi and your wolf, and we'll live…"

Dan appeared holding a coffee pot. "You haven't had coffee. Silly me. I forgot."

My chest deflated, as though I were shrinking while the enthusiasm drained out of me.

"Right." I couldn't go out into a snowstorm with no money and nowhere to go unless I had caffeine surging through my veins. "Most important to drink cups of the stuff." More than one cup of coffee made me pee a lot. I'd have to pee in the snow. Gross.

"I'm a terrible host." Dan's hand shook as he poured out the dark aromatic brew. I put my hands around the mug, enjoying the warmth seeping through the porcelain. It was weird having the hard material beneath my hands, thinking I'd been made of the same stuff only hours earlier.

Dan sipped his coffee, looking over the mug at me. Every time our eyes met, I expected a zinging and fireworks and him declaring I was his mate. And I was disappointed which was why I had to leave. I had to keep telling myself that as hope flickered and burned and then was doused.

"You should stay!"

My resolution was tossed out the window and trampled underfoot as Dan issued the invitation.

"At least until the storm passes." He checked his phone. "It'll rage all night according to my weather app."

I slapped on a smile and thanked him. I could have been a serial killer, not that I'd ever heard of any elves who fit that description. There was always a first, I supposed.

I eyed the Christmas tree. "Is it your tradition to have your Christmas tree up at the end of January?"

He opened his mouth and closed it again. After picking up a tablet, he showed me the calendar, and today was not January but November 16.

"I always put my tree up in November because I love Christmas."

I'd lost ten months. Unless… unless I'd gone back in time. But then the Sparkle at Christmas Village hadn't done the thing I'd been thrown out for. Oh, my head hurt. Best to concentrate on what I did know.

The tree was a sad affair, and it needed some sparkle.

"Of course it's November. I'm a little discombobulated. Do you have any remaining Christmas decorations?"

He grabbed a huge box from behind the sofa. "These bits and bobs. Some are broken and torn, and there's some scraps of fabric. Not sure you can use anything."

I felt sorry for the baubles and decorations that had once held so much promise—just like me. And now they sat dejected and misshapen in an old box.

"I'm sure I can do something with them." I asked him for string and glue and a sewing kit if he had one.

The three of us sat on the carpet, Dan, me, and Sushi, while I twisted and pasted, plaited and sewed. I could pretend just for a moment that we were a family.

But we weren't.