Falling For Her Guardian (Yuletide Shifters #1)

Chapter 7

They reached the lair and hunkered down behind a snow drift a few yards away. There were guards everywhere, more than they’d expected.

“Frost definitely knows we’re coming for her,” Winter said with a low voice.

“There are ten males,” Sebastian whispered. “Let’s clear the way so Santa can unlock the door, then Storm can find his mate.”

“We have to assume there are more guards inside,” Declan said. “So no one goes anywhere alone.”

Hunter clapped Storm on the back. “I’m with you, brother.”

“Thanks.”

“Take them out, gentlemen,” Santa said, his voice laden with power.

They were still protected by the magic, but once they breached the lair, the magic would be gone, so they used it while they could. The ten of Frost’s followers were taken out swiftly in a nearly silent battle, their bodies left to freeze in the snow. Santa approached the security door and took off his gloves, rubbing his hands together for a few moments.

They began to glow a warm gold, and Storm could feel the magic as it pulsed in the air.

Santa laid his hands over the door lock. The door shuddered and flashed red as the magic Jack had used to keep the door locked was shattered by Santa’s more powerful magic. The door opened with a soft creak and the hallway appeared to be empty.

“I’ll be waiting at our perimeter,” Santa said. “Find her and get home quickly. We’ll speak when things are settled between you two.”

Storm nodded. “Thank you.”

The males quickly divvied up duties, Declan and Sebastian stood guard outside, Gabriel headed back to the territory with Santa, and Storm’s brothers joined him inside.

The roar of the wind quieted once they were inside.

He just didn’t know where the hell to go.

Focusing on the part of him that felt connected to Seren already, he closed his eyes and let his bear out.

“I feel her,” he said. “It’s faint, though. And down.”

“Down? Like below us?” Winter whispered.

“I think so.”

“There are scuff marks, like someone was dragged,” Hunter said.

There were black marks on the floor leading away from the door. Storm bent and pressed his nose to the marks, picking up the faintest whiff of her sweet scent. His bear chuffed in his head.

“It’s her. Let’s go,” he said.

Seren couldn’t keep her eyes open. She kept drifting off and then startling awake with a gasp. Every part of her hurt from the cold, and she didn’t think she was going to last much longer.

She’d called for help a few times, called for Jack Frost, but no one had shown up. The cell seemed to be getting colder by the minute.

Then she felt something.

Tilting her head to rest against the cold stone, she blinked a few times and tried to figure out what she was feeling.

It was a warmth that wasn’t anything like what she’d lost when she’d wandered from the safety of the security building into Jack Frost’s clutches. This warmth felt like…home.

She inhaled shakily and tried to get up from the cot, but everything felt frozen. She tried to take in a deep breath so she could call for help, but her voice was a strangled squeak, the cold sinking deep into her bones.

“Storm,” she whispered, her vision dimming, her teeth clacking together as she shook from the cold. “I’m sorry.”

If she could go back, she would have stayed put in the breakroom and waited for Storm to come back. Then she would have told him everything she was scared of because of her past relationship with a shifter. She’d felt connected to him on a level she hadn’t experienced before, and she’d run instead of exploring it.

She smiled a little, thinking about how fun it would have been to explore him .

If only that would have happened instead of her freezing to death in his hellhole.

Would her family ever know the truth, or would they always wonder what happened to her?

She faintly heard a bear roaring but was too exhausted to move or even open her eyes.

This was how her life ended. Frozen on a cot in an evil man’s underground fortress. Alone.

They found stairs and headed down. On the third flight, he felt his connection to Seren strengthen, and he knew she had to be close.

“This floor,” he whispered.

“Anyone else think it’s bad that we haven’t come across any followers except the guards outside?” Hunter whispered.

Storm did think it was bad, but all he cared about was finding his mate and getting her back to Northernmost.

He pulled the door open, and when he leaned out to look, someone grabbed him by the collar and jerked him out of the stairwell. He let out a shout, but recovered quickly, his brothers joining him to fight a large group of evil followers who’d been waiting for them.

Valeth wasn’t among the males, which was too bad because Storm would like to kick that male’s ass for all the trouble he’d caused over the years. But these males would do.

He and his brothers fought as one, extending their deadly claws and slashing at the elves.

He heard a soft voice, so low he couldn’t make out what was being said. But his heart clenched, and he knew it was Seren.

Letting out a deep, bellowing roar, he slashed his claws through the throat of the nearest elf, then raced toward the voice he’d heard. He was in some kind of prison, with cells on either side of a tile walkway. The cells were all empty, save for one.

Seren was huddled on a cot, not moving.

Her wrapped his hands around the bar. “Seren!”

She didn’t move or answer him.

The door of her cell was locked, the iron bars unmoving as he gripped them. Panic clawed at him. “Hunter! Winter! I need you!”

His brothers’ pounding footsteps echoed around him, and they appeared.

“Found this,” Hunter said, handing a key to Storm. “One of the elves had it around his neck.”

The key slid into the lock and opened it with a click. Storm shoved the door open and rushed in, pressing his fingers to her throat.

She let out a moan through blue lips. Her pulse was weak, but at least she was alive. Slipping his coat around her, he picked her up and said, “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”

His brothers led the way out of the cell area, past the dead or unconscious bodies of the elves, and back into the stairwell.

While he was skeptical that they hadn’t run into more obstacles than the couple dozen elves who’d tried to stop them, he wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth, even if Jack Frost had underestimated them.

They hit the door leading outside and Storm took off at a run, as fast as he could go. He held Seren against him, aware that the rushing wind would make her even colder, but he had to get her to the security building and back to safety.

Santa was waiting for them at the perimeter as their group made it back safely to Northernmost.

At least he hoped that Seren was safe.

“Take her to the infirmary,” Santa said. “She’ll need help to combat the chill.”

Sebastian grabbed the door and said, “Why does it sound like the chill means something other than cold?”

“Because it does,” Santa said. “Jack controls the winter elements. She’s covered in permafrost, but it’s magic. Jack wanted her close to death but not dead to lure you there.”

Santa followed Storm as he carried Seren to the infirmary, where healer elves were available to help anyone in need.

Shifters didn’t get sick and could heal almost any injury, as could any magical person. But humans? He didn’t know what would happen in the infirmary or what they could do to help.

Winter grabbed the door to the infirmary. “Melody? Trouble? We need you!”

The two female elf healers rushed from one of the back rooms. Melody and Trouble were sisters and had been part of the infirmary care team for several years.

Trouble, the younger sister, said, “Oh my! Is this the human female we heard disappeared into the cold?”

“Yes,” Storm said. “She’s my mate.”

“We can help,” Melody said. “Put her here.”

She patted a medical bed and Storm put her on it.

“Take off her things. Everyone clear out, but Santa and Storm,” Trouble said.

“Keep us posted,” Winter called.

“I will, thanks guys,” Storm said. When it was just the five of them, Storm pulled off Seren’s boots and put them on the floor. “What’s going to happen to her? What’s this magical permafrost thing?”

“It’s something Jack can do,” Santa said. “I’ll use my magic to clear her skin of the permafrost and then the ladies can use their healing knowledge to gently warm her. She should be fine.”

Storm stripped his mate as fast as he could, too anxious for her safety and well-being to ogle her. Her skin was tinted blue with a sparkly sheen to it, and her fingernails and toenails were purple.

Santa stepped up to the foot of the bed and said, “Step back everyone, unless you want to get burned.”

He grasped her ankles and inhaled, bending and blowing across her skin. Storm could feel the heat coming off of Santa’s breath and see the blue tint turn gold and then disappear. Her skin and nails returned to a normal, healthy pink.

Santa was sweating, and he pulled his jacket off and wiped his brow. “Shit, I haven’t done that in a long time. This is why we don’t let humans up here.”

“Thank you,” Storm said.

Santa put his hand on his shoulder. “She’s not out of the woods yet. The sisters still need to do their job. If they’re successful, which I believe they will be, she’ll wake up. Once she does, ask her what she remembers. We need to find out if Jack left a message for us with her.”

Storm stared up at his boss. “Do you think it was all a setup?”

“I don’t know. He could have taken her because he thought she was an elf or another magical person. Once he realized she was human, it would be more like him to just kill her or toss her out into the elements than it would be to waste his magic on freezing her like he did. If the point was to get us there, he didn’t try to attack me or any of the Guardians directly.” He shrugged. “It’s puzzling. But then again, he’s a trickster and likes to fuck with us for the fun of it. Maybe he’s bored.”

Storm didn’t know what to think, he was just thankful that he’d gotten Seren back before he lost her.

Santa left them, and he turned to watch the healers as they worked, hooking Seren up to IVs and placing warming blankets on her.

A monitor beeped out her heartbeat, and he found the sound soothing to his rattled beast.

“What’s going on with her?” he asked.

Trouble squeezed the IV bag gently and then said, “We’ve got warm saline going into her body and the warming blankets will bring her body back up to temperature. She’s eighty-nine degrees, which is quite low of course. She hasn’t lost any of her extremities to the cold, thankfully, but it will take some time for her to wake up.”

“So she’ll be okay?” he asked, holding his breath.

“Yes,” Melody said. She laid another blanket on Seren and said, “Grab a chair and make yourself comfortable. It might be a while.”

“Thank you,” he said, scraping a chair across the floor to bring it next to the bed. He slipped his hand under the warming blanket and linked their fingers.

The sisters promised to return in a few minutes to check on her, and he was finally alone again with his mate.

“Seren,” he said, his voice going gravelly with emotion. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I’m sorry I left you alone and I’m sorry you were taken. Come back to me. Please.”