Chapter 2
Wolf shifter Sebastian strode through the underground halls at the top of the world as he made his way to the dining hall before his evening shift.
His cousin Gabriel was already there, having just finished his shift as one of nine Yuletide Guardians who helped Santa keep the world’s magic safe.
The Well of Magic was inside a protected magical perimeter and the inhabitants of the town of Northernmost were nearly entirely elf, save for Santa, who was the most powerful warlock in the world, and the Guardians, who were all shifters.
He and his two cousins—including Declan, who was mated to Winterlyn, a non-shifting arctic fox—were the only wolves in the Guardians.
There were three polar bears and three snow leopards as well.
Their groups had their own living quarters underground, apartments that were connected with a shared living area, where Sebastian and his cousins watched football in the fall and the occasional movie.
When he reached the dining hall, Gabriel waved at him from a table and he nodded at him, picking up a tray and heading for the food line where elves provided three meals a day for the workers in Northernmost.
“Well, hi there,” a feminine voice said.
He smiled at Bethany, one of the cafeteria workers. She was sweet and always flirted with him, but he knew she wasn’t his truemate and he wasn’t interested in starting something just for fun when his truemate was out there somewhere.
“Hi yourself,” he said. “How’ve you been?”
“Can’t complain,” she said. He stopped in front of her and looked at the main meat options, asking for a helping of brown sugar ham and one of pot roast.
After getting his food, he could feel that she was waiting for him to ask her something, maybe to go on a date, but he wasn’t interested in leading her on. “Thanks, see ya.”
He hustled off, his wolf snorting in his head.
He was only twenty-four. It wasn’t like he was that old in the whole scheme of life, but he was ready to settle down and find his truemate. Since Declan and Winterlyn had met the year before and were starting a family, it had made his wolf long for that even more.
After getting a big pile of mashed potatoes and gravy and a side of roasted carrots, he grabbed a drink, some cornbread, and a piece of chocolate pie for dessert.
“Shit, you skip lunch or something?” Gabriel asked as he looked over his tray.
“In case you didn’t notice, it’s cold as hell outside and I burn calories fast. For your shift, you got to sit in the comfy office and watch the monitors.”
“Hey,” Gabriel said. “That’s hard on the eyes, man.”
Sebastian shook his head. “We need to switch, dude. You should be out freezing your ass off.”
Although being shifters meant they didn’t get as cold as humans did, it was powerfully frigid at the North Pole this time of year, and no amount of shifter genetics could fix that.
While they ate dinner, they talked about their respective days, Gabriel just coming off shift and Sebastian about to go on, and the danger that Jack Frost presented to the Well and the town, not to mention Santa himself.
Santa and Jack Frost were brothers—Saint and Angel Nicholas—and Santa, a.k.a.
Saint, was the eldest. He took on the mantle of Santa and was the most powerful warlock in the world.
Jack didn’t like that and turned evil, and now he spent his days plotting to kill his brother and turn the magic of the Well evil.
If that happened, eventually all magic users would have to choose between losing their magic forever or turning evil.
And if the world’s magic went evil? Everyone lost, even humans and shifters.
He’d come to Northernmost at eighteen to become a Guardian and he loved it.
He missed his family and pack back in Southern Ohio, but he liked his job.
Eventually Declan and his mate would leave Northernmost and move to the pack permanently so they could raise their family around the other wolves.
Sebastian thought he’d probably do that as well, assuming his mate was magical or a shifter.
Humans weren’t allowed to live in Northernmost.
Last year a human and one of the polar bears found each other to be truemates and they moved to live with his people, and another polar bear had taken his place. The Guardians were all friends and kept each other safe, and the world’s magic too.
Conversation shifted to their families and the pack.
Because of a recent issue with Jack Frost attacking near the Portal, the only way in and out of Northernmost, Santa had asked the shifters to stay in Northernmost through Christmas unless it was important.
Normally, they’d head to Ohio to hang out for the full moon, but because of the veritable lockdown, they’d opted to shift and run around in the snow with their friends and not go home.
He missed his parents and other family members, but he’d get to go home for a few days on Christmas Day once Santa was back safely from his toy delivery run and had replenished his magic.
“My mom wants to fix me up with someone she works with,” Gabriel said.
Sebastian realized he’d drifted off thinking about magic and the battle of good and evil that ramped up every December.
“No kidding? Is she cute?”
“Hell if I know,” he said, his upper lip curling. “I don’t want to be fixed up.”
“Why not? What if she’s your truemate?”
“Oh yeah, what are the odds of my mom working with a female who just happens to be my truemate? A million to one?”
Sebastian grinned. “Probably the same odds as randomly meeting your truemate when you’re at the top of the world for most of the year.”
“Good point.”
“So you told her no?”
“I told her that I would stop by her work after Christmas to say hi and meet the girl, but if she’s not my truemate, I won’t take her out. It’s like you and that Bethany elf chick.”
“Right, not worth playing around.”
“Yep. My mom wants me mated so she can have grandkids to spoil.”
“Same.”
“Maybe this is our year,” Gabriel said.
“The year’s almost over.”
“Ah, right. Crap.”
“It’ll happen when it happens, I have faith in that.”
“Me too.” They bumped fists across the table.
After their meals were finished, they parted ways, Gabriel heading to his apartment and Sebastian to the security office to check in for his shift.
He walked into the large room with banks of security monitors and found polar bear Winter behind the main desk.
“You’re on for the night shift?” Sebastian asked, greeting the big male.
“Yep. Anything I need to know about?”
He opened a closet door and pulled out his winter coat and dressed for the long shift out in the elements with a stocking cap, heated gloves, and hiking boots. His favorite accessory—a battery-powered travel mug filled with hot cocoa—was waiting for him to grab on the way out.
“Nothing danger-wise. Frost hasn’t shown his face since last week. I’ve got you on patrol with Royce, Willow, and Finn. Your first break is at nine. Oh, and it’s snowing with a brisk wind, so visibility is going to be an issue.”
“Got it.”
He grabbed a walkie and hooked it to his belt, picked up his hot cocoa, and left the room, heading toward the main exit.
He clicked the walkie button as he stepped out into the cold. “It’s Sebastian. I’m starting my rounds.”
“Visibility sucks,” Willow said.
“I heard,” he said. “See you guys around.”
“Have fun,” Finn said.
He put the walkie back, took a drink of cocoa, and set his mug down on a small bench for when he made a circuit around the perimeter.
The magical perimeter was put into place by Santa and kept anyone with dark magic—such as Frost and his evil followers—from entering the town or accessing the Portal.
Because Frost couldn’t replenish his magic from the Well, he stole magic from others—witches, warlocks, fairies, and elves—and replenished his magic and that of his followers.
When he stole magic, he could turn the person evil, kill them with the force of the removal, or turn them essentially human without a trace of magic.
He used the turned-evil magic users to form his army, and they were easy to pick out: gray skin and black eyes and existing only to do his bidding.
He had a number two named Azure, who was the only warlock to ever voluntarily hand himself over to Frost to be turned. Sebastian thought a person had to be seriously warped in the head to want to be evil on purpose.
He made his way to the edge of town, where the magical perimeter made the world beyond it look a little hazy. Above, the Northern Lights danced their yellows and greens across the dark sky, and below, the whole area was blanketed in fresh snow.
He inhaled, using his wolf senses to sort through the scents in the dry, cold air and picked up nothing out of the ordinary.
While he always hoped it was an easy and safe shift with no evil magic fuckery, he would be prepared for whatever might happen.
While he walked along the paths shoveled free of snow before his shift but already filling with the fast-falling snow, his mind wandered to his conversation with Gabriel.
He couldn’t deny that his life was missing something, someone.
He enjoyed his family and pack, but he really couldn’t wait to find his truemate.
And he wondered if he needed to start leaving Northernmost more frequently in the off-season. How the hell was he going to meet his forever girl if he never went anywhere?
But there wasn’t anything he could do tonight about the loneliness that had been his companion for a long time. That was a problem for another night.