Page 5 of Saved By Her Guardian (Yuletide Shifters #4)

Jack Frost looked up from his map of the North Pole when there was a sharp knock on the door. “Enter.”

Rolling his cigarette on the edge of the ashtray made from the skull of an elf, he lifted it to his lips for a drag when Azure walked in, his purple-rimmed black eyes alight with excitement.

For the strangest, briefest moment, Jack wondered when was the last time he’d been excited about something.

Maybe last Christmas when he’d had his best shot at taking out his brother as he returned to Northernmost on Christmas Day morning. That had been short-lived, however. His brother was still alive and Jack was still here, trying to figure out how to take him out.

“What did you find?” he asked his second-in-command. Azure was the only warlock who’d ever turned himself over to Jack to become one of his evil followers. He’d played second fiddle to Jack’s previous number two, who’d bitten the big one last Christmas, dead at the hands of a Guardian and his mate.

Those damn shifters.

“Well, we followed a few of the snow leopards who went to their hometown in Kentucky. You remember that elf we kidnapped last year? She had a baby.”

Jack stared at Azure, who looked at him blankly. “And?” Jack prompted, irritated.

“Oh, right. Anyway, we hung out to see if we could grab one of them and bring them back here like you suggested, but it wasn’t until late when one of them wandered away.”

“So there’s a snow leopard in the cells?”

“No, I wanted to come talk to you first. Because things got weird real fast.”

As Jack listened to Azure talk about following the leopard to an old church and cemetery with a black dog and a female wearing an apron, who spent the evening together and then parted ways with a kiss, he knew exactly where he was talking about.

Because Jack had met his old friend Grim there not too long ago.

“So they’re mates, then,” Jack said. He stubbed the cigarette out and moved back to his desk, taking a seat.

“Sure seems like it. But get this, she told him she was stuck there and couldn’t leave, so he went back to Northernmost with the other two Guardians and left her behind. I thought those shifters never left their truemates once they found them?”

“She’s a reaper,” Jack said. “She’s been assigned to that location and has to be there. She can probably leave for certain time periods, but she can’t just walk away.” This was quite interesting and gave him a fabulous idea.

He might be pissing off his friend Grim, but he was sure the male would forgive him. He’d only be using the reaper for a little while anyway. The more important thing was getting a Guardian to Jack’s lair so he could lure Santa out into the open.

Leaning back in the chair, he pulled out the bottom drawer of his desk and took out an old spell book.

He started collecting them when he was a young male and they were stashed all over his office.

They contained basic spells and were not much use to a powerful warlock such as himself, but to a reaper?

One who wasn’t happy with her lot in life?

Well, a spell book was just the cure for her problem.

Calling on his magic, Jack laid his hands on the book and imbued it with his dark essence. The cover and pages changed, filling with lures to bring her to him.

He had just the place to put her too.

One of the few empty cells in the levels below, where he’d been stashing warlocks and witches to siphon their good magic.

Some of them he turned evil to add to his army of followers, some he killed for the hell of it, and some he simply turned human and set free to live their lives, knowing they’d helped him take over the good magic of the world.

When he’d changed the book, he lifted it and motioned to Azure. “Leave this somewhere the reaper will find it.”

He looked at the book, turning it over in his hands. “For what?”

Jack arched a brow and said nothing. It took the male only a moment to move on.

“I’ll get right on it. Should we keep watching the Portal?”

“Of course. After you deliver the book.”

He nodded and turned on his heels.

“Azure?”

“Yeah, boss?”

“Don’t fuck up.”

“I won’t.”

Jack settled back in his chair as the door closed and smiled to himself. He wondered how long it would be before his guest showed up. Hopefully not too long. The days of December would pass quickly, and he needed to be able to take out his brother so he could assume control of the world’s magic.

This reaper didn’t know it, but she was going to help Jack Frost become Santa and turn the world to darkness.

* * *

Maverick felt positively shitty by the time he got back to the leap’s territory.

He hated leaving Aralyn, but she couldn’t come with him to Northernmost, and he couldn’t stay in Eldermoor.

She was right that they both had duties to attend to and even though they were truemates, they’d only just met.

He could walk away from his responsibilities at the North Pole, but to what end?

And what would happen when she got a different assignment?

He was part of the leap in Wildwood Crossing, and he had a boss too.

Two of them, actually—Knox and Ivy. Knox would skin him alive if he tried to just walk away from his responsibilities at the Well without making proper arrangements.

“Hey! Where the hell have you been?” Chase demanded. “Your grandma woke me up at dawn asking about you. She said you didn’t come back last night.”

Maverick stopped at the clearing. “It’s a long story. Do you know if Knox is awake yet?”

“Yeah, I think so. We have to leave soon though.”

“I know.”

They walked to the alphas’ house and Maverick found himself spilling his proverbial guts to his alpha about his reaper truemate, her assignment to the ancient church, and the fact she had to reap to replenish her magic and would eventually become human if she didn’t get an appropriate assignment.

Knox’s brows were high on his forehead as Maverick finished word-vomiting the last eight hours of his life to his alpha. He stopped pacing and sat heavily in a chair across from Knox’s desk and ran a hand through his hair.

“Well, hell.”

Maverick snorted. “I know. I don’t know what to do.

I want to help her, but I have no way to do that.

And I need to be in Northernmost because that’s my job until after Santa gets home safely on Christmas Day.

No one in security would be okay with me running back here through a portal every night to spend time with her.

Hell, they asked us all to only take time off early this month and to skip our usual family gatherings closer to the holidays because of how Frost is abducting warlocks and witches. ”

“Right,” Knox said. “You have her number though. It sucks, but you can at least be in touch with her. And it’s already the fourth, so there are only twenty-one more days to go until you’ll have free time. Then you can figure things out.”

“What does that even look like? She’s a reaper, and she’s Grim’s niece. Imagine pissing off that guy.”

Knox hummed. “Good point. Listen, I don’t know what’s going to happen with her situation, but reapers aren’t evil.

They tend to be more neutral than anything when it comes to the scales of magic.

It’s why Frost doesn’t abduct them. Their counterparts are witches and warlocks who have good magic—you know, the balance of life and death.

So at least you don’t have to worry about her getting abducted. ”

“That’s true.”

“And hey, if what needs to happen is that you leave your post at the Well after Christmas and go wherever she gets assigned when her uncle changes his mind, then that’s what you’ll do.

We go where our soulmates need us to be because that’s what it means to care about someone.

I wouldn’t exile you from the leap unless you wanted to join with another leap. ”

“You wouldn’t?”

“Hell no. Your grandma would come after me with a rolling pin.”

Maverick grinned. “Yeah, she would.”

Knox stood, and so did Maverick. The two walked out of the office and onto the front porch.

It was a chilly morning, but for damn sure it was colder at the Well.

“Listen, you go do your job and stay in touch with your mate. While you two figure things out, keep me posted. If I can do anything for you as a couple or you personally, let me know.”

“Thanks, Knox.”

“Sure. Now go talk to your grandma before she sends out the security team to find your ass and drag you home before you go back to the Well.”

“I will.”

He walked down the steps and out into the yard, turning to the left to head to his grandma’s house.

He’d tell her about his truemate and the problems they were facing before they really even got to know each other.

He couldn’t believe he’d met his mate, and he was leaving her behind to go to Northernmost for the next few weeks.

Be safe, Aralyn.