Chapter 28 #2
Tears pricked at my eyes again. Happy tears this time. “I love you,” I whispered. The words came out so easily, so naturally, as if they had been there all along, just waiting to be said.
“I love you too, little light,” he murmured against my hair. “More than I knew it was possible to love anything.”
I turned in his arms, burying my face in the soft fur of his chest. “Good,” I mumbled. “Because that was a binding vow. There’s no undoing it now.”
I felt him smile against my hair. “I have no desire to undo it.”
For a long while, we lay there in a comfortable silence, listening to the wind outside, a lonely whine against the glass. I could feel the steady rhythm of his heart, a grounding, reassuring beat that was the only thing that mattered.
“Do you think it worked?” I asked, my voice soft. “The town. Do you think the greyness is really gone?”
“I think,” he said, choosing his words carefully, “that you gave them a memory of joy so potent that it will take more than one greedy developer to extinguish it. You reminded them what they were fighting for. The town feels… balanced.”
“Christmas morning,” I said, the thought sparking with sudden excitement. “We should have a town-wide pancake breakfast. On the square. Everyone brings something to share.”
“A Community Carol of Carbohydrates,” he suggested, and I burst out laughing.
“Exactly!”
“My little light,” he said, his voice filled with a warmth that had nothing to do with temperature. “You cannot help yourself, can you?”
“Someone has to organize the joy,” I retorted, feeling a sleepy, contented smile spread across my face.
“And you are the perfect being for the job.” He leaned down and kissed the top of my head. “Now sleep. Christmas morning will be here before we know it, and if I know you, you will already have a three-page list of things to do.”
I snuggled deeper into the covers, into his embrace, my body heavy and sated and utterly content. The last thing I heard before I drifted off was the soft jingle of a cat’s bell and the deep, steady beat of a Krampus’s heart.
Christmas morning dawned, crisp and clear and perfect.
A soft, heavy snow had fallen overnight, blanketing the town in a layer of pristine white that muffled the world in a hushed, peaceful silence.
The sun was a brilliant, pale gold disc in a pale blue sky, its light glinting off the snowdrifts like a million tiny diamonds.
I woke up slowly, a delicious, languid warmth spreading through me.
I wasn’t alone. A heavy arm was draped over my waist, a long, powerful leg was tangled with mine, and I could feel the soft fur of Bastian’s chest against my back.
His breathing was slow and even, a deep, rhythmic presence that was more comforting than any blanket.
I lay there for a long moment, just listening, just feeling, a profound sense of rightness settling over me.
He was here. He was real. He was staying.
Jingle Bells, ever the harbinger of dawn, hopped onto the bed and began patting my face with a soft, determined paw. I giggled and scooped him up, burying my face in his soft fur.
“Merry Christmas, you little menace,” I whispered.
The movement roused Bastian. He stirred, his arm tightening around me, a low, contented growl rumbling in his chest. “Merry Christmas, little light,” he murmured, his voice still rough with sleep.
He nuzzled the back of my neck, the gesture so simple and intimate it sent a fresh wave of warmth through me.
“Did you sleep?” I asked, rolling over to face him.
“I did.” He looked different, rested. The weary edges were gone, replaced by a quiet, solid strength. “The last few days have been… taxing. It is good to simply be.”
“Be what? An annoyingly handsome furry creature in my bed?”
A slow, lazy smile spread across his face. “Precisely.”
He leaned in and kissed me, a slow, deep, thoroughly unhurried kiss that tasted of sleep and snow and forever. When we finally broke apart, I was breathless.
“As much as I could happily spend the entire day right here,” I said, my fingers tracing the line of his jaw, “I have accounting to do. I need to be ready to meet with the bank.”
Sales had been good enough that I was hopeful for a reprieve, but I hadn’t had time to focus on anything other than saving Bastian for the past few days.
I scrambled out of bed and pulled on a pair of fuzzy red leggings and a ridiculously oversized green sweater with a giant sequined snowman on the front. He watched me, his amber eyes full of a warm, appreciative light. “You are a force of nature, Noelle Green.”
“I prefer ‘conductor of joy’.”
“Then the conductor of joy should go see what’s under the tree,” he said, gesturing with one elegant claw.
There was a small package under the tree that hadn’t been there the night before.
Wrapped in the dark wood and fur I had come to associate with Bastian.
I picked it up and carefully untied the leather thong.
Inside was a single, perfect crystal, intricately faceted and hanging from a delicate chain.
“It’s beautiful,” I breathed.
“It’s a piece of the frost I used to destroy the darkness,” he said, his tone uncharacteristically soft. “I infused it with warmth. As a reminder that even the coldest winter can contain a spark of heat.”
I looked up at him, my vision blurry with tears. “It’s the most beautiful thing anyone has ever given me. Put it on me?”
He lifted the necklace and my hair away from my neck, his claws carefully avoiding my skin. As he fastened the clasp, the crystal touched my skin and a wave of warmth spread through me. Not a burning heat, but a gentle, constant glow of contentment.
“You will always carry a piece of me with you,” he murmured, his lips brushing against the nape of my neck. I shivered as he kissed the sensitive skin.
“You make it very hard to focus on accounting,” I whispered as he gently bit the curve of my shoulder, and he turned me around to face him, his expression serious. “This is not the only gift, little light.”
“There’s more?”
“The Good Deeds Extravaganza didn’t just save me,” he said, a slow, smile spreading across his face. “It saved your shop. Your bills are paid.”
“What?” I stared at him, certain I hadn’t heard him correctly.
“All of them. The mortgage. The past due bills. Everything. The town’s collective joy, when channeled through your… enthusiastic marketing… manifested as something more than just a magical transference. It manifested as prosperity.”
I just stared at him, my mind trying to process the magnitude of what he was saying. I wasn’t just getting a reprieve. I was free.
“So I don’t have to go to the bank?”
“No. You can take that ridiculously festive outfit and go start your pancake breakfast.”
Tears of pure joy streamed down my face. I launched myself at him, wrapping my arms around his neck and burying my face in the warm fur of his chest. “I love you,” I whispered, the words muffled against him.
“I love you too,” he rumbled, his arms tightening around me. “Now, let’s go feed your town. I believe there’s a Community Carol of Carbohydrates that needs organizing.”