Free What the Sleigh? by Mina Carter Page B

“I’ve got to be dreaming.”
    “Well, you always did call me a dreamboat.”
    She snorted and opened her eyes. “I so did not. You must be confusing me with someone else. I think you’re an asshole. Always have.”
    The tiny lines around his eyes crinkled. “That’s my girl.”
    He didn’t move, just stood there with her wrapped in his arms, watching her as she watched him. She couldn’t look away. Something was wrong. Very wrong. Then it hit her. It was Christmas Eve and he was a Claus. He shouldn’t be here, and he certainly shouldn’t be in his younger form.
    “You should be out… deliveries.”
    “No. I shouldn’t.”
    The smile that curved his lips this time held a hint of sadness. She frowned. There was something else wrong, something more than the obvious fact he shouldn’t be here. It was almost like there was something…missing.
    “What do you mean, you shouldn’t? They gave you the night off… to come and see me?”
    “Not exactly.” He leaned down and brushed his nose against hers. A sweet, lovers touch which made her heart sing. Still dreaming, apparently…
    “What do you mean ‘not exactly’?”
    They hadn’t given him the time off, which made sense. She’d never heard of the management at the Pole ever giving anyone Christmas Eve night off. Ever. Not unless they were at death’s door. Was that it? She’d almost died— fuck .
    Gaze sharp, she focused on him properly. Looked past the handsome, if a little tired features and beyond. Like most Claus elves, he appeared to be a good-looking, tall and muscled human male in the prime of his youth and… that’s exactly what he was. All he was now. Her eyes filled with tears, her hand lifting to cover her mouth.
    He had no Christmas magic. None of the power of their homeland swirled around him, clinging to him like a fine dust as it usually did. As it should.
    “You were dying, Rudi,” his voice was a rough whisper in the silence of the room, tortured and low. “I couldn’t let you go, so I gave you all I had. All my magic, it was the only thing powerful enough to save you.”
    The tears fell, sliding down her cheeks silently. He’d given up the thing which mattered most to him in the world, being a Claus, to save her life?
    “I love you.” He beat her to it, the words held on the tip of her tongue. “I always have and I’m so, so sorry about what happened with Ginger. I know you won’t believe me, because…shit, I wouldn’t believe me either…but nothing happened that night. She admitted she staged the whole thing.”
    His words rang with truth. Relief hit her in a cold rush which swept from her head to her toes and she closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, she didn’t bother to conceal the emotion, or the love, in her eyes.
    “I love you too. Never stopped,” she admitted. “It nearly killed me to leave the Pole. To leave you.”
    He bent his head to kiss her. A soft whisper of his lips over hers that held a wealth of love and promise. A pledge for the future, their future, together.
    “I guess I don’t need to pack to go back to the Pole then,” she whispered, lifting her hand to caress his cheek. Sadness filled her at the loss of his magic. How would he cope? Claus and Christmas elves were born in magic and thrived on it. Remove it and—
    A sudden wind blew around the room, plucking at their clothing and her hair.
    “What the sleigh?” Nick burst out, holding her close and hunching his shoulders to protect her from whatever it was that swept through the room. Just as soon as it arrived, though, the wind dropped and a faint Ho ho ho! echoed on the air.
    They looked at each other, confusion on both their faces, then around. There, on the bed, was a small, brightly wrapped package.
    “That was unexpected,” Rudi found her voice first. “I wonder which of your cousins that was. Put me down, let’s see what it is.”
    “Asshole didn’t even stop to say hi,” Nick groused and set her gently on her