Falling For Her Guardian (Yuletide Shifters #1)

Chapter 3

“What do you mean someone just came through the Entrance who’s not supposed to be here?” Storm asked, his words echoing in the darkness. His bear rolled under his skin with a curious grumble.

“We got a request for a witch to come replenish her magic today,” Maverick, one of the snow leopards, said. “A few minutes ago, she sent a message saying something had come up and she was postponing until tomorrow. Then someone came through the Entrance.”

Storm frowned. He turned and jogged toward the Well. He was nearly on the other side of Northernmost, the magic from the Well sparkling green and yellow against the black of the night sky.

“Where was the witch from?” he asked.

“The Columbus, Ohio coven,” Maverick’s voice crackled as Storm leaped over a pile of snow.

Pressing his thumb to the button, he said, “I’m on my way. I’ll let you know what I find.”

“It’s a female,” Maverick said. “But she’s not moving, so beware. It could be a trap.”

Fucking Jack Frost.

It would be just like him to use a female to infiltrate the town. It was hard to believe that Santa and Jack were brothers and had been friends and allies at one time.

Hunger for power did strange things to people.

“Chase is on the way, and so is Gabriel.”

Chase was a snow leopard, and Gabriel was a wolf. Gabriel and Chase had been Guardians nearly as long as Storm.

“Got it. I’ll let you know what I find.”

Storm’s bear was prowling in his mind, claws pressing at his fingertips and gums aching as he came up on the Entrance, the bones still glowing and humming after it had been opened. In front of the portal, lying face up on the ground, was a figure in a dark coat with a stocking cap that looked like cat ears on her head, the soft points visible against the white snow.

“Uh, crap.”

The soft and feminine voice made his bear let out a happy chuff.

She rose onto her elbows, rubbed her nose with her gloved hand, and then sneezed.

“Frick on a stick.”

Storm chuckled.

She went still and turned her head to the side, then let it fall back until she was looking at him upside.

“Crap.”

He met her gaze and his whole body jolted with awareness.

Holy shit, she was his truemate.

He inhaled as he approached and picked up only a sweet scent like honeysuckle and not the scent of any shifter he knew of. She didn’t smell like sweet magic as the witches did or like sugar as the fairies did. She just smelled…like home.

His walkie squawked and he twisted the knob to silence it. Walking slowly around to her side, he squatted down, the snow fluffing up around him.

Her head dipped back in his direction and her mouth fell open. Her eyes were wide, and in the darkness—even with his excellent eyesight—he couldn’t tell if they were blue or green. He pretty much didn’t care.

The Entrance hummed and pulsed with golden light and then dimmed fully until they were bathed in darkness save for the Northern Lights that lent a blueish-green glow to the snow.

“Who are you?” she asked.

He arched a brow. “I’m a Guardian of the Well of Magic. I belong here. The better question is who are you and what are you doing here? Humans aren’t allowed in Northernmost.”

His voice was gruff because his beast was pushing at him, but all he really wanted to do was scoop her up in his arms and carry her off to his room in the barracks.

“Dang it, I knew I was in Northernmost. I can’t see the Northern Lights from Columbus.” She pushed herself to a seated position with a grunt, then gave him a curious look. “Would you believe me if I said that my car broke down and I followed a light in the woods and then found a portal that I slipped through thanks to some ice I didn’t see?”

He heard the pounding footsteps of Chase and Gabriel, and his bear went into hyper-protective mode. He spun, his fangs and claws springing free as the males rushed toward them.

Gabriel stopped first and Chase nearly crashed into him.

The leopard’s dark gaze pinged between Storm and the female and back to Storm before he raised his brows.

“Everything okay here?” Chase asked, folding his arms.

“Yep,” Storm said, shaking his head and trying to push his bear back so he didn’t scare the female with his fangs and claws. “I’ll bring her to the security office in a few.”

Gabriel frowned. “You can just call for—oof,” he grunted as Chase elbowed him in the stomach and cut off his sentence.

Storm was well aware that he could call an elf to take the female right back through the Entrance to where she’d come from, but he wasn’t about to do that. Not until he figured out everything about her and was sure she understood that they were truemates.

Humans didn’t have truemates. They had…what was the word? Soulmates? Or love at first sight, maybe. Whatever she wanted to call it, he was going to call it destiny or fate.

“We’ll keep patrolling,” Chase said after clearing his throat. “Holler when you make a decision about the rest of your shift.”

“Got it.”

The two walked off, talking quietly, Gabriel glancing at him over his shoulder like Storm had suddenly grown two heads.

With the unmated males gone, his fangs and claws receded, and he felt halfway normal. Turning back to the female, he said, “I’m Storm.”

“Seren.”

He rose to his feet and offered her his hand. When she clasped his, another jolt of awareness snapped through him.

Truemate.

She let out an eep and fell against him, one hand gripping his and the other fisting his jacket. He grabbed her around the waist with his free hand to keep her from falling and drew her close.

He thought he was going to combust. She fit against him perfectly, even though they both wore thick coats. She was shorter than him by nearly a foot, petite but curved. She let go of his jacket and adjusted the hat on her head.

“You can just take me back to the woods and I’ll get back to my car and figure something out.”

“Hold on, what are you talking about?”

She was still leaning against him, still staring up at him like she thought she was dreaming.

He wished he could see her better.

So he was going to do just that and take her inside the security building where it was warm and she’d be protected from the elements better.

“My car broke down. I was about fifteen minutes from my parents’ house by car, and I’m not the most athletic person, so it probably would have taken me a half hour or more to walk. It’s winter, you know? So I was worried about being stranded in my car and freezing to death, then I saw a flickering light in the woods and thought it was someone’s house or campsite. I was very wrong.”

“You want me to just take you back to the woods and leave you stranded? What kind of male would do that?”

She opened her mouth but then closed it, shrugging and letting out a hum that sounded like I don’t know .

“Come with me to the security building.” He held tight to her hand, even when she gave a little tug like she could get out of his grip. His eyes narrowed. “Where do you think you’re going to go, Seren? You can’t go through the Entrance without a magical escort, and you’re at the North Pole so you can’t go traipsing around in the elements or you’re going to get hurt.”

“Just open the portal back up and let me go.”

He stared at her. She didn’t realize he was a shifter.

It made sense, though. Humans tended to not know much about shifters and magical beings unless they were around them.

“I can’t. I’m a shifter.”

Her nostrils flared and something like anger flashed in her eyes.

This time when she pulled on her hand he let her go.

“Fine. But you’ll find someone who can get me back to Ohio, right?”

She started stomping through the snow, her arms folded and her shoulders hunched.

“Where are you going, Seren?”

“To the security building.”

“Wrong way.”

She huffed and swiveled. “Then let’s go! It’s cold.”

He shook his head and joined her, pointing toward a shadow in the distance.

He wanted to ask her if she had a problem with him being a shifter, but he was a little concerned about what her answer would be. She’d been fine until she realized he wasn’t magical, and then everything about her screamed let-me-out-of-here .

What if his truemate didn’t want anything to do with him because he was a shifter?

What the hell was he going to do?