Falling For Her Guardian (Yuletide Shifters #1)

Chapter 8

Seren felt warm. Like really warm.

Floating, almost.

She opened her eyes and squinted at the bright overhead light.

As her vision adjusted to the brightness in the room, she realized she wasn’t in the rock cell freezing to death anymore. But she didn’t know where she was.

She heard deep breathing and turned her head slowly to the right.

Storm!

His head was on his arm resting on the bed she lay on, his eyes closed and his mouth slightly parted. He looked even better than she remembered, and her whole body immediately ached, including her heart.

Okay, so he’d rescued her? But how? How had he known where she was and how had he found her?

Well, she kind of didn’t care. She was just so damn glad to see him again.

She was incredibly warm, which felt amazing after being so cold. Pulling her hand out from the blanket, she ran her fingers through his soft, dark hair and whispered his name.

He startled awake with a snort, his eyes flashing gold.

His brows rose high as he locked his golden gaze with hers.

“You’re awake!” he said. He bent over her and hugged her with a groan. “Holy shit, I was scared to death.”

“You saved me?”

“Of course,” he said. He straightened. The relief at seeing her was now replaced with fury. “What the hell were you thinking?”

She rose to her elbows and stared at him. “Excuse me?”

He growled. “I told you to stay in the breakroom, Seren. You could have died out there, and not just because Jack Frost took you. And how the hell did that even happen? Did you just go running to him or something?”

“Hey! Stop yelling at me,” she said. “No, I didn’t go running to him. I don’t think so, anyway.” She rubbed her forehead as a headache started to bloom between her eyes. “I didn’t know it was an exterior door. I opened it and realized I’d made a mistake, but something made me go outside. The door shut and I couldn’t get back in, but I kept feeling like I should go somewhere, follow someone.” She shook her head. “I don’t remember anything after that until I woke up in the cell and Jack told me that he was going to use me.”

Storm pressed his fists to the bed and leaned forward. “Tell me exactly what he said.”

“He said that I was useful because I was a human in Northernmost and I smelled like a shifter even though I wasn’t one. He said he was going to keep me alive, but I got the feeling it wasn’t going to be a long time.”

“He could have killed you, Seren.”

His eyes were still gold, and his fangs had elongated a little, peeking from his mouth when he talked.

She did not find that erotic in the least.

Okay, maybe a little.

She tilted her head slightly. “Why do you care so much?”

He opened his mouth, closed it, and then pushed off the bed with a loud grunt. “Because you’re my mate!”

“I’m human.”

“I’m aware,” he said dryly. “I don’t care. I’m trying to keep you safe, and you seem intent on doing everything in your power to go against that.”

“Look,” she said, sitting up and gripping the warm blankets to herself, aware that she was naked. “Thank you for saving me.”

“If you want to thank me, stop trying to get yourself killed.”

“Oh, okay, that’s not necessary,” she said. She swung her legs off the bed and fiddled with the blankets to keep herself covered. “You’re being an ass. I nearly died!”

He stared at her, his brow furrowed, and ground his teeth together. She could see a muscle in his jaw twitch, and she wondered if he was going to crack his teeth the way he was grinding them.

“I’m sorry,” he said, the words edged with anger still.

Hadn’t she wanted to tell him everything, including why she walked away?

But he was being such a dang jerk.

A woman came into the room, which she thought might be a clinic.

“Oh, hi, I’m Trouble.”

“Trouble?” she asked.

“Yes, my mom said she knew I was going to be trouble when I was born, but I promise it’s just a name. I’m a healing elf. My sister Melody and I used magic to help reverse the effects of Jack’s permafrost after Santa took it off your skin. Do you remember Frost touching you?”

“No,” she said.

“Well, he did. He’s a dangerous male, and I’m glad you’re okay. How do you feel?”

She looked at Storm, who was still grinding his teeth.

“Good.”

“That’s wonderful. Let’s get you out of here so you and Storm can talk. There are clean clothes and shoes for you since yours are still being washed. We’ll bring them to the barracks when they’re done.”

“Thank you.”

The IV was removed, and Trouble put a small bandage on the mark on the top of her hand. “Let me know if you have any lasting effects like you can’t get warm or your extremities hurt. We can run another round of warm saline or send over the warming blankets. But having a shifter mate is the best way to stay warm. Or so I’ve heard.”

Trouble smiled at them and left the room.

“Okay, I need you to leave,” Seren said.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“I’m not getting dressed in front of you right now, so you need to leave the room.”

He let out a short growl. “I’m the one that stripped you.”

She pressed her lips together and lifted a hand to point at the door.

He huffed. “I’ll turn my back, but I’m not leaving you. You could still be having effects from the permafrost so I’m not about to leave you alone. If you’d like, I can carry you to the barracks right now, naked.”

“Fine, turn around.” Under her breath, she added, Jackass.

He spun to give her his back. “I heard that.”

“Good.”

The clothes consisted of leggings and a thick sweater, but no panties or bra. There were socks stuffed inside wool-lined suede slippers, so she put the socks on first and then dressed in the clothes, finishing with the slippers.

“I’m ready,” she said.

He appeared at her side and helped her off the bed.

He held her close and she stared up at him. He was definitely sexier than she remembered, and it wasn’t just that he’d clearly saved her life, but she was also having big-time regrets for foolishly trying to get herself home on her own.

“I’m sorry I left,” she said. “I thought I could find someone to take me home.”

His brows drew down. “Why are you so intent on leaving? Am I so bad?”

She sighed. “It’s not that, Storm. I just… I had a really bad experience dating a shifter and I swore off of them. I didn’t want to get tangled up with you because I was sure you’d hurt me in the end. I thought it was best to just get home and not see you.”

“Even if you’d managed to safely make it back to your home, I would have found you again. You’re my mate, Seren. And I know you’re human and you might not fully understand what that means, but I’m not about to let you go. I’ve been waiting my whole life for you.”

She wasn’t sure what to say about that, because part of her really liked it a lot. A small part of her thought it was too good to be true, that he was just telling her what he thought she wanted to hear so he could get what he wanted from her before dropping her like yesterday’s leftovers.

But something in her heart assured her that he was telling the truth.

That they were mates, meant to be together.

“Jack said nothing happens by accident in Northernmost,” she said. “I told him I came here accidentally, and he didn’t believe me.”

“Magical people believe a lot in destiny and fate, and so do shifters. I think you came here when you did so we could meet, so I’d say it wasn’t an accident either. It might feel like something that just happened , but to me, it was fate.”

She hummed and let that roll around in her head while she thought about it.

“We’re going to the barracks. There’s an underground passageway to get to them so we don’t have to go out into the elements. Santa wants to meet with you, but you and I have some things to discuss first.”

“I need to call my parents,” she said.

“Oh, right. Hold on.” He moved to the wall by the door and opened a yellow box attached to the wall, removing what looked like a bulky cell phone. He flipped a button and it whirred to life. “It will show up as a private number.”

“I don’t even know what time it is,” she said.

“It’s after midnight.”

“Oh crap, really? How long was I out for?”

“Four hours.”

“Shit, they must be worried. I wonder where my phone is.”

“It wasn’t in your pockets. You might have dropped it outside.”

She entered her mom’s number. It went to voicemail, so she tried her dad’s, and that went to voicemail.

“They’re either asleep or suspicious of a private number,” she said. Then she tried her sister, who picked up on the first ring. “Hey, Noelle.”

“Oh my gosh, are you okay? Mom! Dad! It’s Seren. I told you to answer the phone. We’ve been worried sick, holy crap! Are you okay?”

Seren’s eyes stung with tears. “I am, I promise. It’s been a crazy night.” She quickly relayed how she got to the North Pole and skipped the part about being abducted by Jack Frost, instead explaining that she’d tried to leave the security building to get to the portal and got caught up in the cold, and it took a few hours for her to regain consciousness.

“You could have died!” her mom screeched, listening on speaker.

“I know, I’m sorry I scared you guys and made some bad choices,” she said, glancing at Storm, who made an agreeing grunt. “But I’ll be back sometime tomorrow. Did you call the police?”

“Yes,” her dad answered. “They found your car but didn’t find you. It was towed to our house.”

“Okay, you can let them know I’m safe.”

“We will,” her dad said. “You’re sure you’re okay?”

“Yes, I promise.”

“Good.”

After exchanging I love yous, she ended the call and handed the phone to Storm.

He returned the phone to the box and then wrapped his hand around her upper arm. “Let’s go, sweetheart. We’ve got a lot to discuss.”

“Could it wait until after dawn? I’m kind of tired.”

“No.”

She snorted. “You always this bossy?”

“When it comes to you and your safety? Yes.”

“This isn’t about safety, this is about you wanting to talk to me. What do we even need to talk about?”

“The fact that you think I’m like any other shifter out there who would use you and discard you. I’m nothing like those sorts of shifters. You’re mine,” he said, glowering at her, “and I want to make sure you understand what that means.”

He didn’t wait for her to answer, simply shoved the door open and led her down the hall with his large hand on her upper arm. It didn’t quite feel like he was pulling her along with him, but she definitely had the feeling that if she tried to stop walking or pull back, he’d make sure she kept up with him.

Okay, so she did like that he was bossy. It was sexy as hell. She wasn’t sure what was going to happen when they got to the barracks or what the barracks even were.

Could it be where he lived and he was taking her to his place?

What was going to happen between them when they got there?

Just how much talking was involved in talking , anyway?

Her wayward libido sped up at the thought of finding out what Storm looked like out of his clothes, and she tried to push the sexy thoughts away but failed.

She’d been wishing she could see him again when she’d been in the cell, wishing that she could go back in time and stay with him instead of running.

Well, she wasn’t going to run again.

Her ex had never called her his mate, but Storm did.

Did humans even have mates?

Maybe just one.

Her.