Chapter 11
Monday night, as their shift plodded along, Sebastian and Emberlin circuited the perimeter for the umpteenth time. He was thankful they weren’t seeing anything out of the ordinary and was glad to be spending time with Emberlin, although neither of them talked much during their rounds.
They were both too focused on the darkness outside of Northernmost.
The Solstice, when Frost would leave his lair and spread winter around the world, was just a handful of days away.
When he returned, he’d be at his weakest level of the year, which was why he always had a cadre of magical people stashed in his cells to take their magic.
He’d been known to replenish his magic on the fly as he moved around the world too.
Abducting magical people and siphoning their magic to fuel his own, often killing them but sometimes leaving them human, like he’d done with Talia.
Of course that had all been part of a master plan that no one had seen coming.
He’d kept her human so she could go back to the coven, and then he’d used her to try to alter the protective magic around Northernmost.
Frost was a master at the long game.
Sebastian realized that Emberlin had stopped as they’d been walking, and he turned and joined her.
“That was where you found me?” she asked. “Out there?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Why?”
“I don’t know. I was just thinking about how close I came to dying that night. Every time I pass by this section of the perimeter, I think about it.”
“You didn’t die though.”
“I know.”
“Because your mate is awesome.”
She grinned. “Yeah, he sure is. And sexy too.”
“Second in comparison to you, sweetheart. I’m glad you’re with me, even though it was a fucking dangerous way to have a meet-cute.”
She chuckled and leaned against him with a sigh. They stood in the silence for a little while, and then they started walking again, the snow crunching under their boots.
Suddenly, his wolf started to prowl under his skin, restless.
“Wait, do you see that?” Emberlin asked with a low voice.
She pointed out into the distance where a faint, flickering glow pulsed weakly against the darkness.
He stared intently, thinking it might be a reflection on some ice from the Northern Lights, but the longer he looked, the more it became clear it was a small figure curled up in the snow.
The lights shimmered overhead, growing a little brighter and illuminating the area in muted yellows and greens, and that’s when he saw the wings: translucent, delicate, and twitching in the wind.
“A fairy?” he asked. He looked around for danger. How the hell had a fairy wound up outside Northernmost? They used portals to come into Northernmost and replenish their magic at the Well, just like any other magical creature.
“It’s like me,” she said. “Her magic is almost gone.” Her voice was filled with doubt and Sebastian agreed.
Using the walkie, he called for backup. Within minutes, the Guardians and security team arrived and they filled them in.
The fairy shivered violently in the cold, and his protective instincts were screaming, but not as loudly as the part of him that wondered if it was a trap.
“We’ve got your back,” Declan said and the other Guardians nodded. They left the elves inside the perimeter to keep guard, and the five available Guardians walked with him and Emberlin through the perimeter and toward the figure in the snow.
The closer they got, the more suspicious he grew. But he didn’t sense anyone around them, just this small fairy.
He crouched next to the shivering fairy and reached for her.
Emberlin’s magic flared bright red, and she said, “Wait!”
The fairy’s body shimmered and exploded in a blast of icy wind, revealing one of Frost’s evil followers, grinning with black eyes and sharp teeth. The male lunged for Sebastian, and he shoved Emberlin back as he throttled the male, trading punches with him in the snow.
A crackle echoed, and Frost and his followers appeared. They’d hidden behind some kind of magical wall.
“About time you left the safety of Northernmost, little phoenix,” he drawled. His gaze was locked onto Emberlin like a predator. “This was too easy. You Guardians always want to help others. To your own detriment.”
Sebastian tossed the follower to the side and stepped in front of his mate, letting out his claws and fangs.
The fight erupted around them as the followers attacked the Guardians. Frost lifted his hands and sent razor-sharp ice shards flying toward them. Keeping Emberlin behind him, he dodged the ice, shielding her from the worst of the assault.
But he could feel Frost getting closer, the ice nearly blinding him in its intensity.
“Emberlin! Run!” he yelled.
* * *
Emberlin barely had time to react to Sebastian’s call for her to run to safety before Frost was nearly on top of her. His magic swirled like a snowstorm, freezing the ground beneath her feet and forcing her away from the safety of Northernmost.
No! He would not get her magic.
Summoning her fire magic, she thrust her hands forward and blasted the snow under Frost with molten energy.
The ground hissed as the ice melted, and then—before he could leap away—she clenched her fists and sent her healing magic into the ground, solidifying the water instantly and trapping his feet in place.
His eyes widened in surprise and then narrowed in fury. “You bitch!”
“Takes one to know one!” she taunted.
She didn’t wait a second longer. Lifting her hands outward, her magic surged as she called on her power to cast the binding spell.
“By the power of the fire that burns in my soul, I bind you, Angel Nicholas, from doing harm to yourself or others.”
Golden fire shot from her fingertips and wrapped around his body, holding him in place. His expression twisted into something primal as he fought against the bonds.
She was going to do it! She was going to bind Frost and keep him from harming anyone else ever again!
Joy surged through her as she began to speak the spell for the second time.
It was only when she’d said it three times that he’d be fully bound, and she could call for Santa to help her.
A sharp hiss of pain made her heart clench.
Sebastian!
She saw him on the ground, blood seeping from a deep wound in his chest where Frost had thrown a large ice shard at him. She’d been so caught up in her binding spell that she hadn’t defended her mate.
Without thinking, she released the spell and threw herself at Sebastian.
Fire burst from her palms and melted the ice shard in his chest, steam frothing from the wound.
Dark magic that looked like frostbite was leaking into his body, so she used her fire to turn it to ash, and as his body convulsed with the pain of the heat, she sent her healing magic to cleanse and heal him.
Someone stood over her with a growl, and she saw it was his cousin Declan.
“He okay?”
“He will be,” she said.
Sebastian gasped, his eyes flashing amber, and then his wolf surged forward as her healing magic forced him to rapidly heal the deadly wound. As his strength returned, he shifted fully, and she had to help him quickly get free of his clothes.
Heart pounding, she hugged her furry mate.
And then she rose to her feet, fury lashing at her like a whip.
“Where is Frost!”
“He’s gone,” Santa called from inside the perimeter of Northernmost. “Him and his followers.”
“Frost, you asshole! Stay away from me and my family!” she shouted into the darkness.
She was pretty sure he heard her, but even if he didn’t, she felt better just yelling at him.
“Let’s get back inside the safety of Northernmost,” Declan urged.
Resting her hand on top of Sebastian’s head as they walked, she hung her head. She’d lost her chance to bind Frost.
When everyone was safe and accounted for, she stopped in front of Santa. “I’m sorry. I had to save Sebastian.”
“Of course you did,” Santa said as Sebastian sat on his haunches next to her, his wolfy purr rumbling in his chest. “No one else has ever gotten so close to my brother like that. He clearly misjudged your power.”
“And I misjudged his intention to take out anyone in his path,” she said.
“We all do that,” he said. “Every time he comes against me in some new, horrible way, I’m surprised at the depths of his evilness.
You saved your mate, and we didn’t lose anyone in the battle.
Those are the wins that matter. Frost will not get to the Well, and now that he knows how powerful you are, it’s one more layer of deterrent in our fight to keep Northernmost safe. ”
He stared at her for a moment, then turned on his heel and walked inside.
She dropped to her knees next to Sebastian and hugged him.
“Do you want to go back to the apartment? I can take over your shift for you,” said Declan.
“Isn’t he stuck for a while in his shift?”
“Yeah, a few hours.”
“Then we’ll stay on patrol. I’m too keyed up to do anything but be active, so walking around will be helpful.”
“Sure thing, Emberlin. I’m glad you’re both safe.”
“Thanks for having our backs.”
“That’s what family and packs are for.”
After Gabriel stopped to check on them and the rest of the security team and Guardians returned to whatever they were doing before Frost set them up for failure, she and Sebastian picked up their trek around the perimeter where they’d left off.
“I think Frost knew that a Guardian would go out there,” she said.
“Someone was in distress, or at least that’s what it looked like with that glamour magic he had them covered in.
He may have targeted you and me, but I think he would have been happy with any of the Guardians.
That follower wanted to gut you like a fish. ”
Sebastian let out a grumbling growl.
“I know, I wish we’d killed all of them too. Which I realize makes me sound very bloodthirsty, but I can’t believe we fell for it!”
They continued their circuits around town until he could shift, and then they called for another security team member to take their place so they could take a break. It was well after midnight, and she was starving, but she also needed to tell Sebastian a few things.
When they were down in the apartment, Sebastian shifted into his human form and hugged her immediately.
Tears stung her eyes, and she sniffled, hugging him tightly.
“I know the sacrifice you made to save me, sweetheart,” he said.
“I had to choose you,” she said. “You’re my truemate. And I love you.”
His eyes simmered with the amber of his beast. “I love you too.”