by Sable Sylvan
“And if I don’t?” asked Connor.
“Well, I’ve taken your mark,” said Krampus. “You can’t earn your mark back until you get off The Naughty List and get onto Santana Claus’s Nice List. Without the mark to seal in your bear, your bear will take over, and you’ll succumb to mate madness within a matter of days.”
“Wasn’t the entire point of this to avoid me getting mate madness?” asked Connor.
“Yeah, well, nothing’s free,” said Krampus. “Santana Claus needs reindeer, and I have leverage. So are you gonna swap shifts or what?”
“Hand it over,” said Connor.
Connor reached out, and Krampus placed the snow globe in Connor’s palm. As soon as Connor’s hands touched the crystal glass of the snow globe, the change started. Connor felt like something was being pushed out of him as something else pushed into him. He watched as rivulets of green and red light swam around his fingers and into his body. He took slow breaths in and out, try to ignore the process. He couldn’t ignore the sudden scent of freshly baked sugar cookies and the unexpected sound of falling snow.
“Meet Comet,” said Krampus.
“Where’s my bear?” asked Connor.
“In here,” said Krampus, showing Connor the snow globe again. Inside, his bear was flying through the air, doing barrel rolls and playing in the snow.
“Well, when bears fly,” said Connor. “What’s next?”
“This is the part where I kidnap you,” said Krampus. He grabbed the chain that was wrapped around Connor. The chain shrunk down to its necklace sized form. Krampus threw the chain in the air. The chain expanded to around ten feet in diameter and slowly came down and hit the floor. The inside of the chain filled with green flames.
“Whoa, what’s happening?” asked Connor, getting up from the chair.
“Calm your ass down,” ordered Krampus, taking the chair and moving it out of the circle. “Jasper, this chair’s seen so much shizz I’ve got half a mind to steal it.”
“Connor! Remember this!” Cain called out. “We’re doing this for you because we’re family, and that’s what Christmas is all about – taking care of family!”
Connor tried to avoid the green flames licking at his ankles. They gave off no heat but filled him with a sense of dread. Suddenly, the fire melded together to form a rippling window into a familiar scene. Connor looked down and saw a deep green coniferous forest. The angle was similar to the angle from which Connor had viewed the Nuthusk Forest.
“What is this?” asked Connor.
“Don’t touch –” started Krampus, but it was too late.
Connor had leaned down to touch the surface and been sucked through the portal.
“Shizz,” said Krampus. “Jasper, I might owe you a new bear shifter for Christmas.”
Krampus grabbed his suit jacket from the edge of the portal and jumped in after Jasper, taking the chain edge of the entrance in his other hand. As Krampus he entered the portal, he pulled the chain door shut. The chain disappeared as the portal closed.
“Well, that was quite a show,” said Cain. “Really gave me an appetite. Anyone up for pie?”
Chapter One
December 1st, 2011
Noel Newman finished packing up the large order of pastries. Then, she filled four large carafes with their Christmas blend of tea.
“All done,” said Noel, wiping her hands on her apron.
“Great,” said Avery, Noel’s boss.
“Big order,” said Noel. “Is this for a party?”
“That’s a daily order for…a special client,” said Avery. “Actually, he works for my boss, so he has a running tab with the bakery. Every Christmas season, he comes by, nearly every day until Christmas Day. One of the many jobs I’ll be needing your help with is making sure the order’s ready, first thing in the morning.”
“Does this person run an office or something?” asked Noel. “No, wait – is it an order for the hospital, for the doctors and nurses?’
“It’s for the Christmas tree farm,” said Avery.
“The what now?” asked Noel.
“Come on,” said Avery, beckoning Noel. “Meet me outside with two coffees, and I’ll tell you all about it.”
Noel made Avery’s coffee just the way she liked it – lots of sugar and milk, not a ton of caffeine, not that her hyperactive boss needed more energy. Noel poured her lightly sweetened coffee over on ice and popped a straw in the cup before carrying it outside.
“I can’t believe you drink iced coffee,” said Avery.
“Old habits die hard,” said Noel. “It’s probably around eighty degrees in Miami right now. What did you want to show me?”
“Look out onto The Wreath,” ordered Avery. “Now, you probably realized by now that our town, The Wreath, is named for the lake, or vice-versa, or maybe, they’re meant to be a bundle – I don’t know. Well, the thing that makes it a wreath and not a frikkin’ ornament ball is the fact that it’s got something in the center of the water. That big island there is Camp Kringle.”
“Oh, funny,” said Noel. “I get it – like ‘Kris Kringle.’ That’s good marketing. We had to take some basic marketing courses back in business school.”
“It’s not marketing,” said Avery. “Noel…I need to let you in on a little secret.”
“Yeah?” asked Noel.
“Kris Kringle…is my boss,” said Avery. Avery took in a deep breath. Santana had finally changed the rules and given Avery and Krampus permission to fill people in on the secret of Christmas magic. He’d been annoyed when Avery had revealed the secret to her temp during the year before…but Krampus had argued that obviously, Avery was fated to reveal the secret, and therefore, Santana was the one with a policy interfering with Fate. Of course, Krampus hadn’t shut up about how he’d outwitted Santana.
“What?” asked Noel, quirking a brow.
“He’s known by many names, but his real name is Santana Claus,” explained Avery. “His best friend, the Christmas demon ‘Krampus,’ runs that Christmas tree farm.”
Noel looked at Avery. Avery read Noel’s stoic face, looking for any sign that Noel had just heard what Avery’d said.
Then, Noel started to burst out laughing.
“You really had me going for a second there,” said Noel. “Avery, you’re a fun boss. Business school didn’t prepare me for all the shenanigans of The Wreath and Bear Claw Bakery. This would make one heck of a case study. At least I’ll have a bunch of stories to tell at the club, back in Miami. People might just think that I’m telling fairy tales. I think we’re going to have a lot of fun this Christmas.”
Avery was about to prove to Noel that, without a doubt, everything Avery was saying was true, but then, she spotted a familiar silver boat rowing across the lake.
“Well, well,” said Avery. “There’s the special client now.”
“I can’t promise I won’t tell him that you called him a demon,” said Noel.
“Trust me, he’d take it as a compliment,” replied Avery, rolling her eyes. “Now, sometimes, Krampus and I have to work on special projects for our boss. That means that his ‘intern’ of sorts will be the one taking the pastries and the coffee from you. Think you can handle it?”
“How hard could it be?” asked Noel, looking at the boat. Seated in the boat were two figures – one reading a book, the other, rowing. It wasn’t hard to tell who was the boss and who was the intern.
“Speaking of ‘hard,’ I’m seriously going to be working you really hard this Christmas season,” said Avery. “I wasn’t kidding when I said I needed someone who would be on-call twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. That includes nights.”
“Sounds easy enough,” said Noel.
“One other thing,” said Avery. “I’m going to need you to help me deliver packages, on the twenty-third, the night before the night before Christmas. My boss wants us to go and deliver packages of cookies to families in rural areas who might not have the time or money to come into town for the hol
idays.”
“Again, doesn’t sound hard,” said Noel. “We’ll just have a ton of baking to do that week.”
“That’s taken care of,” said Avery. “I already talked to the regular workers, the ones on vacation, and they’re going to help us with the baking, for overtime pay. They just can’t work here every dang day, you know?”
The boat drew nearer. Noel saw there was some sort of bundle in the boat. Both of the men in the boat were handsome. The one that was reading had dark hair that hung down to his shoulder in rivulets. The rowing man had cropped brown hair that reminded Noel of the outside of a coconut. Both men were tall and muscular.
When the men docked, Noel immediately picked a favorite – the rowing man. He had a chiseled jawline and a cocky grin, while the other man was scowling – not a cute look.
That didn’t matter to Noel. After all, if she was riding his face, who cared what kind of look he had on it? She’d had great sex from men with uglier faces than his. Well, that wasn’t entirely true – she’d imagined having great sex with men much uglier than the handsome scowling stranger. Noel was sure that she could ride that man’s ‘sleigh’ so well, that she’d force a smile on that goofy face of his.
“Avery,” said the man with dark hair, coming up the patio.
“Krampus,” said Avery, looking up and down the man who was wearing black jeans and a black and green button-up shirt. “You’re soaking wet.”
“The new one’s stronger than I expected,” said Krampus. “So sue me.”
“Well, wipe your feet off,” said Avery. “I don’t want you dripping all over my bakery.”
“Damn it, woman, I just got here, and you’re ordering me around?” asked Krampus. “I supposed you don’t want what I brought you, then?”
Avery looked past Krampus, at the man who was still at the dock, fiddling with the bundle.
“Hey!” shouted Avery. “Sometime today!”
“Don’t order my ward about,” said Krampus. “You don’t have that right.”
“Oh, I absolutely do, given the huge messes they always make that –” started Avery. Krampus gave Avery a look, and Avery shut up.
“No, this sounds good, I want to hear all the drama,” said Noel.
“All I’ll say is this – this one’s wilder than I expected,” said Krampus. “Don’t let his act fool you. He’s a bad boy, through and through.”
“I didn’t know Montana had bad boys,” said Noel, crossing her arms over her big, beautiful body. “It’s just like being home in Miami.”
“You like the bad boy type?” asked Avery.
“Well, I have seven older brothers who try to keep me away from them, so of course they’re my type,” said Noel. “Trust me, Avery. I’m a good baker, but I’m a bad, bad girl.”
“TMI,” said Krampus.
“TMI yourself,” said Avery. “Boy!”
“Woman, what did I just say?” asked Krampus as the ‘boy’ descended the stairs.
This was no ‘boy,’ no bad ‘boy.’
This guy was all man. The guys she ended up with back in Miami were well-groomed, with muscles built in the gym, and fancy clothes. She’d even seen some in lip gloss. It was a cute look, but not the kind of thing that got her engine running.
This man, he was different. His hair looked like it hadn’t seen a barber in a year. His beard was thick, real thick, and it looked real rough, not conditioned with fancy-schmancy lavender scented beard oil. If this man smelled of anything, it was of freshly cut pine, the real thing, not an imitation found on a tree-shaped car air freshener tag. Noel smelled something else too, something salty, animalistic, and she wasn’t sure if it was the man’s natural musk or the scent of her own primal arousal – which she could feel spreading down her thighs as her unopened petals quivered.
The alpha male lumberjack had broad shoulders leading to thick, strapping arms. Of course, his arms were thick – he was a frikkin’ lumberjack, as evidenced by the thick ax in a holster attached to his thick leather belt. That belt looked good on his waist, but Noel was sure it would look better wrapped around her wrists and tied to her bed frame, while her panties, stuffed into her own mouth, muffled her moans.
Noel felt her mouth open. Living in Miami, she was used to seeing hot guys on a daily basis. They’d flirt with her while she prepared their Cuban coffees – a Bear Claw Bakery Miami specialty – and invite her clubbing. Even though this was the first Christmas Noel would be spending outside a nightclub in nearly a decade, she knew she was going to be spending that night with the hottie in front of her. She just knew it.
Noel always got her guy – each and every time. There was a trail of broken hearts left in her wake, but that was on them – Noel had never told the guys to fall in love with her. She had wild curves and a more feral spirit, a spirit that couldn’t be tamed, and her heart? Well, that was kept away, under lock and key.
“Well, hello honey,” said Noel, looking over the hunk in front of her, who was carrying a giant bundle that hid his chest but not his thick arms and muscular shoulders. “And what’s your name?”
Connor read the woman in front of him, top to bottom. He skimmed the pages of her curves because he knew that if he got into this book, he’d have more than just his reading comprehension tested. This woman was dangerous, and that meant she was some sort of a trap, set up by Krampus. Heck, Connor wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d been hired by Krampus, although the woman seemed to be too bold, too sassy to be reined in by anyone – even his demon of a boss.
The woman was just his type – curvy, with hair that hit her shoulders in thick waves he wanted to hold up to his mouth and taste, strand by strand, to suck in the woman’s very scent with his tongue. They were thick curls he wanted to see bouncing up and down as the BBW – the big, beautiful, curvalicious woman – rode up and down on his cock and helped him have a very Merry Christmas. She had a hand on her hip, but he wanted it on his chest instead.
She wasn’t shy either – she was looking him right in the eye. It felt as if they were at eye-level, even though she was much shorter than him, given she was presumably a human. She was direct too. That either meant she hated playing games – a quality he claimed to have, or that she loved winning mind games – a quality he would never admit he shared. She’d gotten in his head in the most dangerous way possible – by getting in his ‘pants.’ Well, not quite, but the very sight of this woman had sent Connor’s shaft twitching. He was experiencing insta-lust for the first time in years.
It didn’t hurt that she was obviously aroused by him. He could scent out her natural wetness. It was hidden behind a veil of bakery smells – of freshly baked cinnamon rolls, of sugary eggnog lattes, of sugar cookies, presumably shaped like Christmas trees and jingling bells – but it was there nonetheless.
He knew she wanted him.
That’s part of what made rejecting her so damn hard.
“That’s on a need to know basis, sugar, and I don’t think you need to know,” said Connor.
Rejecting her? Are you frikkin’ nuts? Comet asked.
She’s a trap, answered Connor.
A what now? Comet asked.
“Ooh, a daddy with an attitude,” said Noel. “Spicy. But I’ll get you, papi.”
“Stop, before I barf,” said Krampus. “Connor. Take the tree inside. There should be a tree stand in the corner, right, Avery?”
“Yeah,” said Avery. “Noel, would you show him in?”
“With pleasure,” said Noel. She got up from the table, opened the door to the back of the bakery, and let Connor in.
“Do you think – “ started Avery.
“Yes,” said Krampus.
“I tried to tell her about it, about Christmas magic,” said Avery, crossing her arm. “She just doesn’t believe.”
“Not our problem,” said Krampus. “She’s cocky. Confident. Reminds me of someone else I know.”
“I can’t help it that us curvy gals are blessed and know it,” said Avery, nose in
the air.
“Blessed, cursed, tomato, tomat-oh,” said Krampus with a shrug.
“Well, speaking of magic – you gonna get that magic frikkin’ stain out of my floor or what?” asked Avery.
“What stain?” joked Krampus.
“The burn mark you left in my floor the first time you visited the bakery with Santana, that’s what!” hissed Avery. “It’s an eyesore! The only time the floor looks half decent is when I’ve got a Christmas tree to cover it.”
“So I guess you could say, I did get rid of the spot after all, by giving you a tree to put on top of it,” said Krampus. “You’re welcome, Avery, truly, you’re welcome.”
“What was that?” said Avery, cupping her ear. “Was that the sound of…me giving away your tea and pastries to someone else?”
“You’re a good girl, Avery,” said Krampus. “You’d never risk doing anything to get yourself on The Naughty List. It’s…”
“Endearing?” asked Avery.
“It’s very uncool,” said Krampus with a smirk.
“I think the Christmas tree stand is –” started Noel.
“I see it,” said Connor gruffly.
“Whoa, you called me sugar, and now, you come at me with this? Chill with the attitude,” said Noel, putting her hands up. “I get it. You’re this big alpha male type. Good thing for you, I got the kind of curves that can handle it.”
“Not interested,” said Connor.
“Playing hard to get? I like it,” said Noel.
“I’m not looking for you,” said Connor, carrying furniture away from the tree stand.
That’s when Noel spotted what was written across Connor’s chest – one word, in a green as intense as the green of the needles on the tree Connor was setting up.
‘Naughty.’
“You’re a shifter – so you must be looking for your fated mate,” said Noel. “‘Naughty,’ interesting, because, funny enough – I know a naughty girl, a real bad one, and I think she’d like to get to know you.”
