Chapter 6
After three days in Northernmost with her sexy mate, Ana was falling hard for Gabriel. He was so sweet and funny, knew just how to touch her to drive her wild, and had a protective streak a mile long.
But despite the fun dates, walks through the buildings, and meals with his cousins, their mates, and the other Guardians, they had to get back to their lives at some point.
“Ugh, I’d like to stay in bed,” Gabriel said as he shoved his feet into his boots. “I’m not ready to go back to reality yet.”
“Me either,” she said. She was thankful Aralyn had brought the large suitcase Ana’s mother had packed for her, which included her favorite fur-lined parka.
She dressed in layers and added the necklace Gabriel had given her the night before after their date, which he’d bought from a shop in the main building.
The silver snowflake had been etched with their names in delicate script.
“So I really won’t be able to see you?” he asked as they left the apartment and walked to the security office.
“I think you’ll be able to feel me because of our connection as mates, but no, you won’t be able to see me. Slumber magic is designed to protect the dream walkers so people won’t interfere with our work.”
He gave a disgruntled grumble. “As long as you’re safe in Northernmost, I’ll get over not being able to see your beautiful face whenever I want. It’s been great having these last few days together.”
“I agree. I’ve loved every second.”
“Oh?” he asked, glancing at her. “Even when we went ice skating on the pond, and you realized you couldn’t do it?”
She’d fallen so many times, but she’d never laughed so much in her life.
Bumping his arm, she grinned. “I loved that too.”
They paused outside the security office, and he smiled down at her, his eyes simmering with the amber of his wolf. “You’re precious to me, Ana. I’m crazy about you.”
The words were there, on the tip of her tongue, but she held them back. For now. Because saying the three most important words wasn’t something you did for the first time before you went to work. “I’m crazy about you too.”
Time froze for a moment as they stared at each other, neither saying the words that clearly hung in the air between them. Then they both chuckled, and he opened the door to the office.
While Gabriel donned his security parka, Ana took a walkie from Willow, one of the security team members.
Willow smiled and pointed to the side button. “Press and hold this while you’re talking. Anyone with a walkie will hear what you’re saying.”
“So no sexy chatter,” Alder, another security member, said with a laugh.
“Got it,” Ana said.
“And this is the panic button,” Willow said, pointing to the red button at the top. “Press that and it sends an alarm to every walkie, the security office, and Santa’s office.”
“Hopefully I won’t have to press it,” Ana said. She put the walkie in her parka pocket and turned to find Gabriel in his thick parka, smiling at her.
“Ready, sweets?” he asked, holding out a gloved hand.
“You bet.”
“Be safe out there,” Willow said. “Griffin and Hawthorne are already on patrol, and they know Ana will be around but not visible because of her magic.”
They said goodbye and left the office, heading toward the security door that would lead them outside.
“Ready?” Gabriel asked, looking down at her.
“Ready.” He gave her a kiss and she immediately wished they hadn’t left the apartment. He hummed in a wolfy way, and she smiled. “I always thought I’d live with the other dream walkers and my family, but now I can’t imagine being anywhere but here with you.”
“This wasn’t really home for me until you came into my life. I feel the same way.”
They kissed again, then braced for the cold and walked outside.
Was there anywhere on earth colder than the North Pole?
If there was, she sure didn’t want to visit there.
She shivered despite her layers of warm clothes and fur-lined parka as she made her way to one of the barracks where elves and their families lived.
She was on the other side of the main building, on a walkway regularly shoveled clear of blowing snow.
As she drew closer to the single-story building, she pulled her slumber magic around herself and focused on the apartments and those sleeping inside.
One by one, she saw their dreams appear and moved slowly down the walkway, adding sweet dreams to their subconscious.
A playful puppy for a young boy. A picnic with her favorite stuffed teddy bear for a young girl. A big fish caught by an older male.
Although there weren’t as many people to help during her shift as when she’d been in more populated areas, the work was still fulfilling, and she enjoyed it immensely.
Especially when she was able to see her sexy mate as he patrolled the perimeter.
When their shift ended, they met at the door and walked in together, hand in hand, cheeks pink from the cold and bodies tuned to each other. After dropping off their gear in the office, they headed to the cafeteria for a meal.
“Technically it would be our dinner,” Gabriel said, “although it’s closer to morning here.”
“When the sun doesn’t come up for six months out of the year, I’m sure it’s disorienting, plus being on the overnight shift. Are you sure you don’t mind?” she asked.
“I absolutely don’t.”
“As long as we get to fall asleep together, I don’t care if it’s day or night,” she said.
When they got back to the apartment, she discovered that Gabriel had asked his cousins to help set up a date after their shift.
The community space looked like a movie theater, with a big screen and projector on one wall, TV trays with dome-covered plates, a basket with bags of popcorn and snacks, and a small cooler of drinks.
“Oh! How fun!” Ana said.
“The guys really came through for us,” Gabriel said. “You said you wanted to see the new dinosaur movie, and I bought it on a streaming service.”
She hugged him and kissed him. “You’re so sweet!”
“There’s a little theater near the pack’s territory with great popcorn. I’ll take you there after Christmas.”
She grinned. They changed into comfortable clothes and settled on the couch to eat pot roast and mashed potatoes with fresh rolls from the cafeteria, snack on popcorn and candy, and watch dinosaurs try to take over the world.
“You never cease to surprise me,” she said, snuggling against him under the covers after the movie was over and they’d tumbled into bed to drive each other wild.
“In what way?” he asked.
“You always know how to make me feel special. We can’t leave town to go on dates, so you bring the dates to us. I love that.”
“I want you to know how special you are to me,” he said. “I want to tell you every day how much I care about you, and show you too.”
“I can feel it,” she said, pressing her hand to his chest. “Because we’re mates, I can tell you care for me. I care about you too.”
She saw his wolf’s eyes flash in the darkness and smiled.
Sexy male.
All hers.
With a last kiss and a couple of yawns, they said goodnight, and she drifted off to sleep thinking about how lucky she was that her mate was such a good male.
But there, in the recesses of her mind, a shadow lurked.
“Hello, Ana.”
His voice felt like sticky syrup on her skin and made her shudder.
Nightmare.
How had she found him seductive in any way?
His magic flared, lighting the area with a purple glow and revealing his angular face and glowing eyes.
She was outside Northernmost, but not cold.
She knew she was dreaming and tried to wake herself up, but she couldn’t.
She was trapped by his dread magic, helpless to get free.
“Leave me alone.”
“Not until you join me,” he said. “I’ve been waiting.”
“You’ll be waiting forever. I’m not joining you for whatever twisted evil you’re trying to drag me into.”
“You’re so powerful,” he said, his voice humming with curiosity. “How is it that your family doesn’t possess what you do?” He wiggled his fingers, dread magic dancing over his fingertips.
“Stay away from my family.”
She struggled against his magic, wishing she could wake Gabriel to help her.
“I told you if you didn’t join me, I’d make the people you love suffer.”
She glared at him. “I’ll never join you. I’m not evil.”
“Then what happens next is on you, my dear.”
Something cracked loudly behind her, and she spun, watching in horror as the magical perimeter around Northernmost shattered like glass, big shards hitting the ground and the earth quaking with each strike.
She heard voices crying in the darkness, screams of distress carried on the blowing wind, and she was certain she heard Jack Frost whisper her name.
She spun to face Nightmare and use her magic to free herself, when she found herself standing on the street where her family lived, nightmares from every person in her family turning the air purple with the power he wielded.
There were so many they clouded the sky and covered the moon, plunging the street into darkness as Nightmare’s laugh crackled and echoed.
She heard her mom scream in fear, heard the wail of her young cousins, and she reached for the only person in the world she knew could help her.
With as much force as she could muster, she screamed Gabriel’s name.
Her vision cleared, and she saw Gabriel hovering over her, eyes bright amber and fangs peeking from his lips.
“You were thrashing in your sleep and screaming,” he said hoarsely. “Are you okay?”
She sat up and hugged him, tears leaking from her eyes. “I am now! How did you get me out of the nightmare?”
“I bit you.”
She leaned back and stared with a frown. “What?”
He touched her neck just below where he’d marked her that first night, and she felt a tenderness that hadn’t been there before. “I could feel you were trapped somehow and having a nightmare, and the only thing I could think of was to bite you, to signal your body to come back to me.”
She blew out a breath and shivered. Then she remembered what she’d seen.
“My family! I think they’re in danger!”