Chapter 8
Pixie stood at the edge of the roof, her hands on the wide stone wall that surrounded the garden. She watched the Portal as it was engaged and glowing, the old bones bright white in the darkness.
She saw Hunter race from the building, flanked by other security team members.
It didn’t take long before she saw a single female standing in the center of the Portal. Her head was tilted to the side, and her long hair blew in the wind. Pixie squinted, wondering why the female looked so strange.
As Hunter and the security team rushed toward the Portal, that’s when Pixie saw shadows appear behind the female.
Frost’s evil followers!
Half a dozen males dressed all in black rushed through the Portal and into Northernmost, shoving the female aside. She flopped to the ground like a rag doll, unmoving.
Pixie’s wings unfurled from her back. She hopped up onto the wall and crouched, watching as the Guardians and the security team battled with the evil followers. As she watched the battle, she saw Azure.
He didn’t move through the Portal like the others, he stood just outside. She couldn’t see anything behind him and suspected that they’d used dark magic to obscure where they’d come from.
Her gaze darted to the female on the ground.
Something was definitely wrong with her.
She couldn’t have used magic to open the Portal if she were evil, so how had they gotten her to help them?
Looking back at Azure, she saw him watching, covered in shadows.
So he wasn’t there to fight. Was he just watching? Just waiting for Frost’s followers to do the damage. That was even more unsettling than the attack itself.
Pushing away Azure’s sinister behavior, she focused on her mate, finding Hunter in the middle of the chaos.
She could see him fighting off two of the followers with Winter.
More followers flowed through the Portal, and the security team began to get stretched thin as they were slowly outnumbered.
She saw a tall male in all black stalking toward Hunter and Winter.
Something shiny glinted in his hand and she thought it was a blade, and her heart twisted in worry as the danger grew too close.
She didn’t hesitate.
Covering herself in shadows, she grabbed a sharp metal stake from the nearby garden bed and leaped into the air. The cold air caught her wings, and she pushed herself downward, cutting through the air to stop the male heading toward Hunter and Winter.
With a roar worthy of any shifter, she soared downward, and the moment she was close enough to the follower heading to harm her mate, she swung the metal stake with all her might, catching the evil follower square in the head.
The impact made a sickening thud, and the follower crumpled to the ground with a groan.
She landed, the snow fluffing up around her boots, and Hunter turned in surprise.
His gaze snapped from Pixie to the male on the ground.
She grinned. “Hey, baby.”
“Thanks, sweetheart.”
“Someone needs to close that damn Portal!” Winter yelled.
“I’m on it,” Pixie said.
Hunter and Winter flanked her and they fought their way through the throng of evil followers to the Portal.
Azure growled as they raced to the Portal, and she called out the spell to close it down.
His eyes flashed purple, and he disappeared through another portal, leaving the evil followers to fend for themselves.
The Portal closed with her magic, and the trio turned to see how the battle was going.
“Stay with me, Pixie,” Hunter said. “We’re going to push the males out of the perimeter so they won’t be able to get back inside the safety of Northernmost.”
“Lead the way!”
They joined the battle, Hunter and Winter fighting with their claws and fangs as Pixie used her wings to soar above the fray and then knock the evil followers off their feet.
Hunter’s movements were powerful and precise, his polar bear strength undeniable. The whole security team pushed the evil followers out of the magical perimeter. They had to choose: freeze where they stood or make their way back to Frost.
Some of the injured stayed where they landed, but most fled, heading into the darkness in search of safety.
She hoped they didn’t find any.
She looked at Hunter, who was scanning the area.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yeah. You?”
“Not a scratch.” He looked at the security team and Guardians, then said, “I don’t think we had any injuries.”
“Did you see Azure?” she asked.
“Yeah. It was weird, right? He was just watching.”
“I agree,” she said. “It was almost like he didn’t care what happened, just wanted to cause chaos.”
Hunter took her hand and gave it a squeeze. “You’re fearless, sweetheart.”
She grinned. “You are too.”
They met up with the other Guardians and checked in with the security office.
“Santa wants to see us,” Winter said. “For a debrief in the main conference room.”
“You too, Pixie,” Hunter said.
“Yeah?”
“Of course,” Winter said. “You kicked ass. Plus, you closed the Portal and kept more followers from getting through.”
Hunter took her hand, and they followed the group into the building, where they met with Santa in a large conference room. She and Hunter took a seat with the Guardians.
Santa’s expression was grave. “First, I want to say how thankful I am that Hunter and Pixie saw the Portal open. Your quick thinking and call to the security office stopped what could have been a serious breach.”
Pixie raised her hand. “Do you know what was wrong with the female who opened the Portal? She looked weird.”
Santa nodded. “She’d been infected with enchanted coal dust. It hypnotized her and allowed Frost to force her to open a portal here.
Then they used something akin to your shadow magic to obscure their evil nature from the Portal, basically coming in on the female’s good magic coattails, so to speak.
She’s with the healers, who are trying to detox her from it, and Sebastian’s mate Emberlin is using her healing magic. Hopefully we’ll be able to save her.”
“Will the Portal stay closed?” Gabriel asked.
“Yes, until after Christmas Day,” Santa said.
“Previously I put out word that the Portal was closed until after the holidays except for emergencies, but now, with what Frost did, I’ll close it, and no one will be able to use it.
” Before she could ask about her own portal, Santa explained that hers wasn’t included in the closure, and she could come and go as needed since it was protected.
She listened to the group of Guardians and elf security team members discuss the situation with Santa. Things were tense, and she suspected it was like this every year the closer it got to Christmas Day.
Santa was most vulnerable when he came back into Northernmost at the end of his sleigh run delivering toys, when his magic was nearly depleted. It wasn’t until he got to the Well of Magic to replenish it that he wouldn’t be vulnerable any longer. Something Frost knew.
“I saw something with Azure,” she said when there was a lull as everyone contemplated what might happen next in Frost’s bid to take over the Well.
Santa’s brows rose. “Azure? He came into Northernmost?”
She shook her head. “No, he didn’t. He stayed wherever the Portal had opened. He just…stood watching. He could have come in, he could have hurt any of us, but he didn’t.”
“Why wouldn’t he come in?” Maverick, one of the snow leopards, asked.
Santa hummed. “I don’t know.”
Hunter cleared his throat, his fingers drumming on the tabletop. “I think it’s just a distraction.”
“Which part?” Santa asked.
“Frost used his magic on Solstice to freeze the Portal. It was a mess and a pain in the ass, but it didn’t really do anything.
The Portal wasn’t damaged and we were able to use the fairies to fix it.
And then this thing with his followers. It was almost like they were cannon fodder.
Azure didn’t take any with him when he fled and who knows how many of them made it back to Frost’s lair after we pushed them out of the perimeter. ”
“Remember when he abducted all those witches and warlocks?” Heath, one of the elves, asked.
“What about it?” Santa asked. “He’s always abducting so he can steal power.”
“Yeah, but it was more than usual. What if he abducted so he could amass an army to come after us, but for no other reason than to just screw with us?”
“Damn, that makes sense,” Santa said. “He wouldn’t keep a huge number of followers around because they’d just deplete his magic, and we know he’s not loyal to them. He’s only loyal to himself.” Resting his hands on the table, he blew out a breath. “Thoughts?”
Everyone looked around, the room quiet as they all considered what had just happened.
There was a knock on the door, and Emberlin, the phoenix witch, walked in.
“I have some news about the witch.” She moved to her mate and rested her hand on his shoulder.
“I was able to remove the enchanted coal dust from her skin thanks to the help of the healers and some crystals in the rooftop garden. When she woke, she told us her name is Anna, and she’s from a coven in Australia.
She was working outside in her night-blooming garden when a male approached and threw something at her.
She didn’t remember anything until she woke up in the infirmary. ”
“She’s okay?” Pixie asked.
Emberlin nodded. “Now that she’s out from under the coal, yes. She’s going to stay here until Christmas Day, and then we’ll have someone take her home through the Portal.”
“That’s good news,” Santa said. “But it’s also distressing. He used dark magic to coerce a good magic user to open the Portal so they could get inside Northernmost. He’s getting more clever, more destructive.”
“What more can we do than hasn’t already been done?” Declan asked. “We increased patrols and added extra magic to the perimeter, and now we’ve closed the Portal.”
“Last year, Frost’s old second-in-command, Valeth, tried to attack from outside the magical perimeter,” Winter said. “What if we station some of our security team outside during the toy run?”
“Frost doesn’t usually repeat himself when it comes to his tricks,” Santa said, “but it’s not a bad idea. We could also utilize the Guardians in their shifts outside the perimeter. The evil followers would be no match for any of you.”
Pixie sat back in the chair and listened as everyone discussed changing the patrol schedule and keeping Santa and the Well safe.
She didn’t really have anything to add since she wasn’t part of the security team and while she could handle herself if she needed to, and she’d proven that by swooping in and helping out during the battle, she wasn’t keen to fight all the time.
And Frost was scary.
He wanted control of the Well at any cost.
He had no moral compass, he was like a shark with one objective and only one natural predator: his brother. If it weren’t for Santa, Frost would have turned the Well to darkness ages ago.
When the meeting was over, she and Hunter headed to the apartment.
“Well,” he said, “how was that for a first date?”
She laughed. “You know, up until the battle, it was spectacular, and then it turned out to be really epically memorable. What did you think?”
“Well, I’m really thankful you saved my life, even though I’m pretty sure I asked you to stay on the roof where it was safe.” He opened the door to the apartment and smirked.
“I’ve tangled with some crazy scenarios as a tooth fairy, but I’ve never had to fight to save someone before.”
He shut the door and stared down at her for a moment, and then he rested his hands on her waist and squeezed gently.
“I would do anything to keep you safe, Pixie. It bugs the hell out of my beast that I can’t be with you when you’re collecting teeth, but I know you’ve got your shadow magic, and you can keep yourself safe. ”
“I worry about you too.”
“We’ve only got a couple days before Frost will lose his opportunity. December is the worst month for magical people.”
“It turned out to be a pretty dang good month for me though,” she said, going onto her toes.
He lowered his head and kissed her, his bear rumbling in his chest.
As the kiss deepened and things got decidedly hotter between them, she knew she was falling for him. And why wouldn’t she? He wasn’t just sexy and protective and sweet, he was her truemate.
The one guy on the planet for her.