What the Sleigh? (8 page)

“Baby?” she asked, her voice shrill. “Are you going to let him talk to the next Mrs. Christmas that way?”

Nick sighed. This again. She was fucking delusional and it was time to put an end to it. Grabbing her arm, he swung her around to face where the newly arrived EMT’s were crowded around Rudi. She was still in deer form and they were obviously struggling with what to do. A male broke from the crowd of parents and approached them, hands moving in earnest conversation with the lead paramedic.

“
THAT,”
he growled, pointing at Rudi. “Is the next Mrs. Christmas, if I can convince her to have me, not you. Now get lost before I let the pixie make good on his threat.”

He shoved her away and stepped forward, jostling for space with Darrick. Humans knelt by Rudi’s side, holding dressings against her wounds. They were already stained red.

“More pressure…we’re going to need more dressings to stop this bleeding,” the man near Rudi’s head rapped out orders, not one of the EMT’s but some kind of medical professional by the way he was checking her over.

He looked up, gaze catching on Darrick. “I’m assuming she’s one of yours?”

Darrick nodded sharply, already shrugging out of his jacket and shirt to give them to the women trying to stop the bleeding. “Yeah, deer shifter.”

The doctor nodded. “Thought she was moving with too much focus for a natural animal.”

“You know about shifters?” Nick demanded.

“Yeah, something. Chief veterinarian for City Animal Control. We don’t get many weres but I’m familiar enough with them to know she should have shifted by now to heal some of this damage.”

“She should. Let me look at her.”

He took a half step forward, stripping like Darrick to drop his own shirt and undershirt on the pile. The magic had sloughed away, leaving him in his younger form. He slid to his knees next to the doctor, who looked at him and nodded. “Figured a Santa would know about reindeer.”

Nick spared him the tiniest smile, his attention on Rudi as he leaned forward, stroking the fur over her neck gently. She huffed as though sensing his presence but didn’t open her eyes. Anguish speared his heart. She was almost gone. The magic of her shift had leaked away, leaving a small bubble rising toward him.

Curious, he reached out to touch it only to have it burst open. A cacophony of emotions hit him. Rudi’s emotions.

There was pride she’d saved the child. Nick swiveled around to find the little girl watching him, her eyes wide with unshed tears as she watched the fallen form of the reindeer.

There was sorrow she had to leave. To leave him. She was sorry she had to leave him and there was something else wrapped around it. It was regret.

Regret she’d never told him she loved him. The emotion hit and burst through him. Filled his heart and radiated through his body and he couldn’t help the smile that flowed over his lips.

Rudi loved him. She always had.

The harsh voice of the EMT broke through his daze. “We’re losing her. Can we use the defib on a deer?”

He opened his eyes and smiled. He knew exactly what he had to do.

“No need. Everyone move back.”

As he spoke, his voice swelled with the power of Christmas, with the power of Santa, and he leaned forward to place his hands gently on Rudi’s side. Over her heart.

“Come back to me, my love,” he whispered.

Closing his eyes, he gathered all the Christmas magic within him, every last drop, and shoved it all into her. Drained himself entirely of the power and energy that made him what he was. Everything which made him a Claus elf and a Santa he gave to her. Willingly. With love and no regret until there was nothing left within him. Depleted, his hands slipped off her fur and he sat back on his heels, swaying as he opened his eyes.

“Oh my god, she’s breathing.” The EMT’s swarmed around her as she shifted back to human form, her terrible wounds down to merely nasty, non-fatal ones. “Right, let’s get her out of here.”

Nick watched, unable to move as they loaded her onto a trolley and wheeled it away. He should go with her, but he had nothing. No energy. He’d given it all to her. He wasn’t even sure his body worked anymore.

A large, scarred hand appeared in front of his face. Surprised, he looked up. Darrick stood in front of him, a new respect in the Pixie's eyes.

“I saw what you did. Come on, bud, let’s get you checked out so you can be there when she wakes up.”

***

Rudi opened her eyes with the sure and certain knowledge of two things:

It was Christmas morning.

And she should be dead.

In an instant everything, the mission in the mall, the armed gang…getting shot…all flooded back to her and her body replied with a mass of aches. She groaned. So that was what getting shot and killed felt like. Like she’d been run over by a truck. No, a fleet of them.

Blinking, she turned her head to find herself in a hospital room and frowned. If she was dead, this was a pretty shitty heaven. Shouldn’t there be way more clouds and harps and less a room which looked suspiciously like the hospital wing of the PPA building?

She leaned over with an effort to look at the floor by the bed. Yeah, there was straw there and by the looks of it, she’d shifted form a couple of times to heal. Straw in a hospital… A snort escaped her. She could imagine the human doctors totally freaking out.

It was why the PPA had its own medical facilities. Normal hospitals weren’t equipped to deal with paranormal injuries. Not when the patients wore hooves half the time, or in the case of dragons, toasted everything in sight when in pain.

Her gaze swept over the medical equipment and get well cards on the nearby cabinet. Was there? She squinted. Yeah, there was even a bunch of grapes in the middle there. She fucking hated grapes.

How long had she been here? Leaning her head back against the soft pillow, she counted back to the day of the mission. Five days? Had to be if it was Christmas Eve now, and she never doubted her internal clock on that score.

It was the same every year, her deer stomping and yodeling at her they should be out delivering presents, not understanding why she’d locked them up in the bedroom and hidden under the duvet when it wanted to be out flying.

Christmas Eve and she wasn’t dead. Why wasn’t she dead?

She closed her eyes and sought the answer within herself. She might have been out for the count, but her deer hadn’t been. She filtered through its memories as it happily stomped and called, telling her all about the Christmas magic which had brought them back from the brink.

She opened her eyes in shock.

Christmas magic?

Nick.

It had to be.

He’d saved her life with Christmas magic.

A bittersweet smile crossed her face as she looked out of the window into the night sky beyond. He’d saved her life and had no doubt gone back to the pole with Ginger. Even now he was probably out there delivering presents. She listened, extending her senses… and caught a faint
ho ho ho!
on the air. Yeah, the Claus' were out already.

A slight sigh escaped her. Maybe next year she’d go home for Christmas, find another Santa to work with. She couldn’t live there full time, but there had to be a way to combine the two. She was Rudolph’s grand-daughter…it was her birthright to fly.

Her gaze fixed on the jug of water on the counter by the window and thirst filled her. Fly later. First, she needed to walk. Gathering herself, she sat up and swung her legs off the end of the bed. Her head swam, dizziness assaulting her, but she ignored it. She needed a drink and she’d be damned if she’d call a nurse. She wasn’t some helpless invalid. She was one of Santa’s reindeer and she could do this.

Slowly she eased herself forward until her feet were on the ground, then just as carefully, transferred her weight from her hands to her feet. So far so good. It all went well, right up to the point she tried to take a step.

Her legs went from rock solid to limp noodles in less time than it took her to take a breath. With a cry, she found herself falling with no way to halt her downward progress…

But strong arms wrapped around her before she could hit the floor and she was hauled up against a broad, muscled chest.

“What’s a good looking girl like you doing in a place like this?”

She hardly dare look up, even at the deep, familiar voice. Instead, she closed her eyes as love and heartache swirled through her. It was Nick. It couldn’t be Nick. He’d gone back to the Pole with Ginger. So…

“I’m dreaming,” she whispered softly. “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 feet next to the bed. Tentatively, she reached out and picked the present up. It was a small box and heavy for its size. She turned the tag to read it, then handed it to him.

“It has your name on it.”

“Really?” Pleasure lit Nick’s features as he tore the paper off. Inside there was a leather-bound box with the initials ‘NC’ on the top. Rudi caught her breath.

“Is that…?”

He flipped the box open to reveal a wide, black leather belt. The belt of a Claus. Nick had never had to wear one because his magic was so strong, but most of the other Claus elves did.

“There’s a note.” His voice choked, Nick plucked the folded piece of paper from where it nestled between the leather and the side of the box. “Here…you read it, I daren’t.”

“Okay…” She took the note from him and opened it. It was written in beautifully inked cursive and she started to read…

Nicholas,

For most of your adult life I have despaired over your attitude. While, of course, you make an excellent Santa (which being my grandson, I wouldn’t expect otherwise), your dealings in your personal life have almost driven me to drink all of your late grandmother's (Pole rest her soul) secret stash of special brandy.

However, your actions recently have made me revise my opinion of you. I have never been, and could never be prouder, of a grandson of mine who would give up that most precious of things — his magic — to save another.

That being said, without your magic, it would be a little difficult for you to fulfill the role set out for you each Christmas. Although I cannot replace your magic, this belt will perform exactly the same function as it does for the rest of your cousins.