Page 72 of The Krampus's First Christmas Gift

Chapter

Thirty-Eight

Kraghol took a step to follow Jasper. But Kali growled at him, baring her sharp teeth.

He froze, shocked that the little fox he’d taken in would turn on him. But Kraghol had hurt Jasper. And Kali was now Jasper’s familiar. And also, it seemed, his protector.

“I’m sorry,” Kraghol said to her. “I’m sorry for hurting him.”

Then Kali turned and dashed after Jasper.

But Kraghol couldn’t leave it like that between them. He had to make Jasper understand. And they still had to break the bond, so Jasper would be well again. He took a step.

“You love him!” Freya’s voice sliced like a knife through the air.

Kraghol froze. For a moment, he’d forgotten about his sister. How could he think of anything else when faced with Jasper hurting and clearly unwell? But he couldn’t deny her words. “I do.”

She snarled. She held a small clay bowl in her hands. Her pouch of supplies that she used for healing lay open on the ground. He had no idea what she had been doing. And right now he didn’t care.

“I have to go after him.” He took a step.

“You want to help him?” She called out. “You want to save him?Iam the one who can do that.”

He turned towards her. She walked towards him. A strange dark-red substance coated the sides of the bowl she held. Had she been mixing something whilst he argued with Jasper?

“What is that?”

“This is how you break the partial bond. Your human is very mate sick.” She sneered. She glanced in the direction Jasper had disappeared. “That is why the conflict between the two of you harmed him so much. A threat to an incomplete mate bond will exacerbate the illness.”

“How do I help him?”

She reached her fingers into the bowl. She collected the red substance. She rolled it between her fingers, forming it into a ball. “Consume this. It will break the bond instantaneously.”

She held out the ball. It looked almost like one of the chocolate truffles Jasper would make him.

He took the ball. He hesitated. “I have to speak to him first.” Kraghol lowered his hand. He knew he should eat it. That would be best for Jasper. It would heal him and put an end to his suffering immediately.

But he could not break the partial mate bond until he tried to make Jasper understand.I have to at least try.

“You really love him, don’t you?” Freya asked, voice hoarse.

Before he could answer, a noise of disgust escaped her. She turned her back on him and strode away. She grabbed her pouch from the ground and shoved her bowl inside. She hefted the pouch onto her shoulder but did not leave as he thought she would.

For several moments, she stared ahead as if locked in place. Then she turned and faced him. “There is a way to complete a mate bond between a krampus and a non-krampus.”

“What? But I have always been told?—”

“I know what you have been told. That is what everyone is told. But a krampus can mate a non-krampus.” She walked towards him. “It was just decided that it was best if that knowledge was kept a secret.”

“Why?”

She pressed her lips together. “Our histories are not so separated, krampuses and others. There was a time we lived amongst them, in villages and even cities. Our own ancestors lived in Anorra many years ago. But we have always been treated like monsters. Our kind faced constant persecution and prejudice.”

She scowled. “So we left that way of living and those who treated us with disdain. We began something else. We became something else. We turned into the monsters they said we were.”

She smiled, baring her fangs. “And we gave them something to truly dread. Now every year we descend on the city, reminding them to fear and respect us.” She stopped right in front of him. “Over time, it was forgotten that we once lived amongst them.”

Kraghol couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “So is everything I was taught a lie?”