Page 14 of Saved By Her Guardian (Yuletide Shifters #4)

Aralyn stood in front of the long mirror in the master bathroom and adjusted the pink scarf underneath the collar of the long, dark coat that had become part of her routine as she prepared to answer ferrying calls during her shift.

Around her neck was the talisman Grim had given her, and along with the protection it offered was the knowledge that her uncle had faith in her to do her job.

The job, which had seemed like a burden at first, was now something she was embracing.

At least as much as she could. She still struggled with sadness, but Maverick was with her at the end of each shift, and she could reach out to him whenever she needed to.

He was truly the best male on the planet.

The familiar sensation of an alert pinging in her chest happened and she smiled at her reflection. The call to duty, silent yet unmistakable, was followed by the whisper in her mind of the name of the soul she was to ferry.

Michael Callon.

She never got details in the whisper and didn’t know what she would be walking into, but it didn’t matter.

This young person needed to be ferried, and she was the reaper for the job.

And though it hadn’t necessarily gotten easier stepping into someone’s final moments, she wasn’t afraid of it anymore.

She buttoned up her coat and headed to the front door as a soft knock sounded.

Winterlyn, a non-shifting arctic fox, stood on the other side.

“Oh, are you heading out to work?”

“Yeah, I just got the call.”

Winterlyn let out a hum and gave Aralyn a small smile. “I imagine your job isn’t easy.”

“No, but I know I’m meant to do it.”

The female’s expression softened. “I’d imagine that for someone passing over to the afterlife, young or old, having a reaper who’s kind and compassionate would make all the difference.”

The kind words settled in Aralyn’s chest and she thought back to her conversation with Grim, when he’d told her he’d chosen her especially for this assignment, and how Maverick had believed she could handle it even when they’d just met.

She exhaled and smiled. “Thanks for saying that.”

“Of course. I know I can’t really understand what you do, but if you ever need a listening ear, I have two of them.”

She gave her a hug. Winterlyn was mated to Declan, one of the Guardians and a friend of Maverick’s.

“I came by to invite you and Maverick to a shift and run. The Guardians are going to shift tonight and run around like idiots outside, and I wanted to see if you would like to hang out. When is your shift over?”

Aralyn glanced at her watch. “I usually work in four-hour shifts, so after dinner.”

“That will be perfect. They said six-thirty, but I wanted to check with you.”

“I’m looking forward to it. I haven’t seen Maverick shift yet.”

“It’s awesome. Makes me jealous but I love seeing Declan in his wolf form. Have a good shift, honey. See you later.”

“Thanks, Winterlyn.”

Aralyn closed her apartment door and headed toward the surface. When she stepped out into the cold, she opened a portal with her reaper power, which took her right to the soul she was going to ferry, and then she stepped into Michael Callon’s final moments.

* * *

On her way back to Northernmost several hours later, Aralyn stopped at the ancient church in Eldermoor to see Church. Although she’d only spent a little while with him, she missed him.

He couldn’t leave the Church, a forever guardian of the grounds.

When she walked through the gate, he was sitting on the cobblestones, his eyes glowing faintly.

“Hey, big guy,” she said, dropping to her knees in front of him and giving him a hug. His fur was soft and warm, and he smelled faintly of sulfur and earth.

“I missed you. It’s been a little crazy, but I wanted to stop in and say hi after my shift tonight.”

She leaned back and he let out a contented rumble. She told him about her assignment, falling in love with Maverick and how different life was up in Northernmost.

Rising to her feet, she scratched behind his ears and leaned over to press a kiss to the top of his head. “I’ll stop by when I can. Take care of yourself.”

He gave a soft bark and followed her to the gate.

She closed the gate behind her and opened a portal. As she stepped through, her heart a little lighter after visiting with Church, she heard three sharp howls and she waved at him as the portal closed.

With a sigh, she exited the portal back in Northernmost, and the familiar cold of the top of the world hit her like a snowy brick. She’d had a busy night moving from one ferrying job to the next, but taking a little while to visit Church had been time well spent.

Now, she was looking forward to a little downtime and hanging out with Winterlyn.

Maverick was waiting for her as he always was, his face lighting up when his gaze landed on her.

“Hey, baby,” he said when she stepped into his arms and kissed him. “How was your shift?”

“Good. I was busy so the time went by fast, and I stopped to see Church before I came here.”

“Oh yeah? How’s he doing?”

“He’s fine, I just wanted to say hi.”

“I’m glad you’re able to do that. Do you think he’s lonely?”

“No. But he did seem happy to see me.”

“I’m sure he was. So, do you want to eat first?’

“No, I’m good. I can’t wait to see you in your shift!”

“I have to be in my shift for a few hours, remember.”

“I remember.” She smiled at him. They walked through the security building and out to the barn where the reindeer were being tended to by elves. The other Guardians had gathered and Aralyn waved at Winterlyn, who was standing with Declan.

“I don’t suppose there’s anything for you guys to hunt up here?” she asked as they all moved into one of the storage barns so they could strip and shift before heading out into the cold. There were three polar bears, three wolves, and three snow leopards.

“Nah,” he said. “We just chase each other and run around. If we don’t shift regularly we can get testy.”

“I’m glad I finally get to see it.”

He pulled her away from the others and they talked while he stripped. It was hard not to get turned on by the whole thing. Maverick was one sexy male, but she really did want to see him turn into his snow leopard.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Show me,” she whispered.

He shifted in front of her and she didn’t think she blinked once as he transformed from a big, sexy male to a sleek snow leopard. He stretched, his tail whipping back and forth, and then he stalked to her with a purr and butted her knees with his head.

She squatted down to stroke his soft fur, marveling at how amazing it was that she was actually touching a snow leopard and it was also her mate!

“You’re gorgeous,” she said. “But I think you’re pretty studly in your human form too.”

Maverick yowled like he was agreeing with her and she laughed.

When the others had shifted, they headed outside. She got to see the polar bears and wolves up close and laughed with Winterlyn as the guys chased each other, snow fluffing up as they skidded around and played like little kids after a big snowfall.

She and Winterlyn sat on a fallen log and talked while the guys ran around, nine shifters who worked for Santa to keep the world’s magic safe.

For the first time in a very long time, she felt at peace.

She had some regrets about her rebellion against her uncle, but if she hadn’t said no to her original assignment, she might never have met Maverick, and that was a hell she didn’t want to contemplate. She had her mate by her side, and that was all that really mattered.

When it was time for them to return to their human form, they went back into the barn and she watched him turn back into a man. He hugged her and said, “What did you think?”

“Amazing! It would be so cool to be able to shift.”

“I enjoy it, for sure. But you have magic and can open a portal anywhere. That’s pretty damn cool too.”

She smiled at him. “I love you, Maverick.”

“I love you too, Aralyn.”

“This is the most magical place in the world, and not just because of the Well. Because I get to be with you.”

He smiled and then pressed his lips to hers.

She had peace in her heart and her mate by her side.

It had been a hell of a December so far.

* * *

Jack Frost was pissed, which was generally nothing new.

He’d been pissed for years, mainly at his brother, of course, but anyone was fair game for his anger.

He’d invested a good bit of magic in that damn reaper, and somehow, it had all fallen apart.

Not only did he lose his leverage of a Guardian’s truemate, but letting her escape so he could lure Guardians and elves out of the perimeter so his followers could capture them had failed spectacularly.

And he’d lost the stone shard he’d imbued with runes to destroy the Portal and let him into Northernmost.

It had been so easy to manipulate that reaper. She’d fallen for him as an ancient reaper hook, line, and sinker.

Ah, well.

He stared at the map of Northernmost, where the Well was just waiting for him to take over and turn it to evil. Once he got rid of his brother, of course.

He felt a disturbance in the air behind him and he turned to see a portal open with a furious Grim standing in his office. The fist flew at him so fast that Jack didn’t have a chance to dodge or throw up a magical shield.

Pain exploded in his face as his head rocked back and his brain rattled a bit in his skull.

“That was my fucking niece, you pretentious asshole!” Grim shouted, his eyes blazing red like the fires of hell and smoke rising from his skin as he growled.

Oh-kay.

Frost took a step back and pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, pressing it to his nose. He’d heal it with magic once his friend was gone.

He gave Grim an equally annoyed look and said, “You get one of those in a lifetime.” As he blinked through the pain of his most definitely busted nose, he continued, “She’s your niece, you say?”

“Aralyn. Yes. She’s my only living relative and you put her in mortal danger. What the ever-loving hell were you thinking?”

“First of all, that was like a week ago. Why are you just coming here now?”

Grim snarled and the smoke surrounding him turned red. That was one pissed reaper. He rolled his shoulders and said, “I was working.”

“Fair enough,” Jack said, moving away from his map and heading toward the console table to put some ice in the handkerchief and get a stiff drink.

“I didn’t know she was a relative. You know that I’m trying to take over the Well, and I’ll use whatever and whoever I need to.

I only knew that she was mated to one of the Guardians. ”

And it almost worked.

Grim crossed his arms and shook his head when Jack offered him a drink. After downing the scotch, Jack put a few ice cubes in the handkerchief and put it gently on his nose. “I’m sorry. I wouldn’t have used her if I’d known.”

“I don’t believe you.”

Jack shrugged. Grim’s disbelief was not his problem.

“I want your word you’ll leave her alone. Her and her mate.”

Sitting behind his desk, Jack looked at Grim in all his reaper fury. Imagine getting ferried to the afterlife by that guy? Shit.

“Fine, I promise. Aralyn and her mate are off-limits. You have my word.”

“We’re even now,” Grim said. “I don’t want to take part in anything you’re doing. I’m skewing more evil hanging around you, and I’m supposed to be neutral.”

“That’s fine.” Jack was planning to use Grim and his army of reapers to do some damage to the elves and shifters in Northernmost to get to his brother, but if Grim wanted to pull the rug out from under him, he would make do.

He had a lot of new followers anyway, thanks to his abductions of witches and warlocks over the last few months.

“If there’s nothing else?” Jack asked.

Grim seemed to lower his level of anger and the smoke stopped coming out of his pores, which was something that Jack had never known about the most powerful reaper in the world.

But message received: Don’t fuck with Grim’s family.

Grim strode back through the portal without a word and disappeared.

Azure knocked on the door and Jack called for him to enter.

“Everything okay? I smelled smoke. Oh shit, your face!”

Jack leaned back in the chair and focused his magic on his nose, healing it instantly. He rubbed at the blood under his nose with the edge of the handkerchief and dropped the ice cubes into the trash.

“Just a run-in with an old friend.”

He stared at his second-in-command and his eyes with their purple irises that denoted his warlock heritage, and his next plan formed, the pieces swirling in his mind.

He would be attacking Northernmost again, and he would triumph this year.

By Christmas Day, the Well would be in his control, and the magic of the world would be evil.

Those with good magic would have to join with Frost and partake of the evil magic, or they’d eventually become human again.

Either way, Frost was going to win.

Period.

“What do you know about Mother Nature and her coven, Azure?”

* * *

Thank You for Reading Saved By Her Guardian

I hope you loved following Maverick and Aralyn in the Yuletide Guardians world!