Part IV - Happy Endings
Part IV
Happy Endings
Nick welcomed Damon into the castle, Pat and the other elves making themselves scarce, the two of them embracing heartily before stepping back and observing each other.
The years had been kind to Damon. When Nick knew him he’d been barely out of his teens, his frame lanky and sinuous, with a face that was more pretty than rugged.
Now he looked hot as hell. He’d filled out, packing on almost as much muscle as Nick, and he carried the extra weight with the swagger of an alpha.
His wide chin and tall cheekbones now made him look rugged rather than pretty, and where before he’d struggled to grow a beard, he now had a thick growth of stubble covering the lower half of his face.
The Krampus uniform only added to his appeal. It consisted of a supple leather suit, the shiny leather molding to his body; knee high boots, gleaming like they’d just been polished; and gloves lined with blunt metal studs over the knuckles.
“Looking good.” Nick reached out and put his hand on Damon’s bicep, squeezing down as he gave the other alpha a lecherous look. Between the two of them, Nick had always been the most dominant, though he’d never pushed for Damon to submit sexually.
It was fun to tease him, though.
Damon responded just like he had when they were young. He pulled away with a nervous chuckle, puffing up his chest and widening his stance as he looked Nick up and down.
“You too,” he said, pointedly eyeing Nick’s outfit. “Though I don’t remember the old Santa wearing his suit quite so... tight.”
Nick laughed, hooking his thumbs in his belt and squaring his shoulders. Damon wasn’t the only one who felt the need to posture. Nick was bigger than Damon, and he’d be damned if he didn’t make sure the other alpha knew it.
“It’s completely by the book,” he said, bouncing his pecs when he noticed Damon staring. Damon blushed and looked away, and Nick laughed.
“I bet the elves love it,” Damon said. Nick snorted.
“They do. They fucking wet their pants at the sight of me. Well, some of them. Some have been a lot more… receptive than I’d expected. I’m finding the castle much more to my liking than I’d anticipated when the council forced me to take the job.”
“Really?” Damon didn’t quite look like he believed him. Nick nodded. He gestured for Damon to join him and walk into the castle.
“You’d be surprised.” Nick thought of Billy and couldn’t help but smile.
They reached the stairs leading up to the channeling chamber, and Nick led Damon right to the top. They talked about their days in school as they climbed, recalling all the guys they’d fucked and the ones they’d convinced to submit to them, arguing over who’d been the most successful hunter.
When they reached the top though, it was time to get down to business.
“So we’re draining all the magic?” Damon asked, looking around the chamber and up at the exposed sky. He looked grudgingly impressed. Nick nodded.
Damon rounded on him. “Okay, you want to channel and I’ll pull?”
Nick shrugged. “Sounds good,” he said, getting ready to act as a bridge between Damon and the castle magic. It was the less taxing job, but since he was going to have to channel magic into the castle afterward, it made sense.
Not wasting any time, Nick reached for the castle magic and grabbed a firm hold of it, channeling it toward Damon. The other alpha started pulling, forcing the magic out of the castle and into the sky.
The sheer amount of magic they were dealing with was staggering, and Nick knew that if he’d been working alone he’d already be exhausted.
“Is this good?” Nick asked, holding the connection steady between them, letting Damon pull the magic out without having to focus on where he was pulling it from.
“It’s fine,” Damon grunted, strained but confident. The minutes passed with nothing but their heavy breathing interrupting the silence. The summoning stone glowed red, the light blinking as though in alarm, before gradually turning pink.
“I think we’re getting there,” Damon said. He was sweating, his hands stretched out in front of him, his feet planted wide apart as he forced more and more magic up into the sky.
Watching the grimace of concentration on the other alpha’s face, Nick felt his cock harden. Damon was powerful—an alpha in his prime—and the idea of making him yield had Nick’s balls pulled up tight.
But Damon was Nick’s guest, and forcing him to submit would be the worst sort of hospitality.
The calibration stone went from pink to white, Damon grunting with effort, until the light blinked out and Nick felt the connection to the castle magic snap shut.
The castle was empty of magic. It felt wrong, the silence in the stones unnatural and cold, and Nick shuddered.
Grabbing the channeling rod, Nick rushed up onto the platform and yanked on the wild magic overhead, pulling it down and sending it into the castle.
Even he knew that having no magic in the castle for any length of time was a bad idea. The enchantments holding it all together might last for days even without any magic in the walls, but that was not something Nick wanted to test.
Out of the corner of his eyes, Nick saw Damon move to the side of the room and lean against the wall. He shifted his gaze to the calibration stone, happy to see that the white light already had a pinkish tint.
As Nick pulled more and more magic into the castle, the energy making his whole body tingle and shudder with pleasure, he couldn’t help but feel Damon’s eyes on him.
It wasn’t a sexual look, but an assessing one. Like Damon was sizing him up to see if he was still a threat.
Nick yanked a huge gust of magic down and into his channeling rod, the ground under his feet shuddering at the massive influx, and forced it into the castle. Damon raised his eyebrow, the gesture both mocking and impressed.
When Nick looked over at the calibration stone, it was a deep, rich pink. He broke the connection and let the channeling rod fall to the floor.
“That’s it?” Damon asked, looking less than impressed. Nick huffed and shook his head.
“Any more and the elves can’t work with it.” He jumped off the platform and walked to the door, gesturing for Damon to follow. He knew that the total amount of magic channeled wasn’t impressive, but what did Damon expect? This was a job normally reserved for a beta, after all.
And Nick’s final show of strength there had been fucking impressive.
Damon nodded thoughtfully. “I guess making toys requires finer control than digging for coal,” he conceded. Nick huffed again and punched him on the arm, making him laugh and speed up down the stairs, taking them two at a time. Nick grinned and followed.
They reached the bottom of the stairs, laughing and out of breath, and for a second Nick was sure that Damon was going to start something—what he wasn’t sure—but Damon didn’t. He pulled away, brushing a nonexistent speck of dirt off his shoulder, and gave Nick a serious sort of look.
“So that’s it? You don’t need any more help?”
Nick bristled at the reminder that Damon was there to help him.
That he’d had to ask for help. Still, he had to concede that Damon’s assistance had been invaluable.
The two of them working together had managed to drain the castle in under an hour, and refilling it had taken even less time.
If everything was back to normal, the elves should be able to get in a few hours of work before dinner, which Nick was sure they’d be ecstatic about.
“No, that was it. Thanks.”
Nick turned away from Damon’s smug face, only to see Pat dithering at the end of the hall looking like he wanted to approach but was too nervous to do so. Nick impatiently waved him over. He liked the elves being nervous because of him, but fuck it if he’d let them be cowed by another alpha.
Pat rushed over.
“Sir! The magic is working again!” Pat sounded excited even as his eyes shifted nervously over to Damon.
Nick stepped forward so that he was between Damon and the elf, and Pat visibly relaxed.
Nick liked that Pat saw him as a protector—his inner alpha preening—but he hated the implication that he wasn’t perfectly capable of protecting everyone and everything in his territory.
He clapped a hand down on Pat’s shoulder, making the little elf’s eyes go wide.
“Good. I was just about to call you, actually,” he said. He squeezed Pat’s shoulder. “Do you think you could get everyone back to work before dinner? I know that I said everyone could have the day off, but…” Nick trailed off at the guilty look on Pat’s face.
“What?” he asked, frowning.
“Oh, well… It’s just that everyone is already back to work,” Pat said. “We felt it when the magic came back into the castle, and with the rush to get done before Christmas… Everyone just started working right away. I hope it’s okay.”
Nick grinned and released Pat’s shoulder. “It’s good. I like hard workers who show initiative. I’m very pleased.”
Pat sagged in relief. “Thank you, sir,” he said. He then took a cautious step back—like he was worried Nick would grab him again.
“Was there anything else?” Nick asked. Pat shook his head and looked back the way he came.
“No, sir. I’ll get back to the workshop, unless you need anything else?”
Nick shook his head and shooed Pat off. The little elf practically ran back the way he came, and Nick had to resist the urge to chase and pounce. A glance at Damon showed that he was fighting the exact same impulse.
“Eager little thing,” Damon said, watching Pat run. He turned to Nick. “Are they all that twitchy?”
Nick grinned, flashing his teeth at just how not like Pat some of his little elves were—one in particular.
“Not all of them. There’s one I’ve been playing with since the day I got here. He’s a newbie, but the way he responds to domination is beautiful. I’ve got him locked up in my playroom at the moment. Do you want to see?”
Damon licked his lips and mirrored Nick’s grin. “A kinky elf? In Santa’s castle? Now that I’ve got to see.”