by R. E. Butler
She found a message from her dad and opened it. There was a picture of him holding a stuffed polar bear, which was similar to one he’d given her several years earlier.
Hi, sweetie. Found this guy looking all lonely on the shelf, and I promised him he could come with me to visit you on Christmas Eve. You can give him a home, right? He said he doesn’t eat much, but I’m pretty sure he’s a blanket hog. Can’t wait to see you. Love, Dad
She smiled at the picture and forwarded it to her phone so she could set it as her wallpaper. Hitting reply, she wrote: Hi, Dad! I think I’ll call him Lollipop because you’re such a sucker for stuffed animals. My friends are going to the zoo on Christmas Eve night. Maybe we could go for a bit? It sounds like fun. And they have real polar bears, which would be super cool to see. Looking forward to your visit. Love you bunches, Noelle
Her stomach took that moment to remind her that it was definitely dinnertime, so she closed down the email program and headed into the kitchen to find something to eat. After dinner, she needed to finish wrapping her dad’s gift and to start making the homemade caramels, his favorite candy. This year’s batch would be covered in dark chocolate and topped with sea salt, but she’d set aside some plain ones for him to take home. Making candy at Christmas was something she and her mom had done, and the tradition had remained with Noelle even though she was now making it alone.
While looking for something to eat, a thought drifted into her mind, and she couldn’t ignore it. She decided to ask her dad if he would mind if she moved up to Canada. They were each other’s only family, and it seemed silly for them to be so far away that they spent only one day a year together. She enjoyed working at the store, but she could find a similar job in Canada, and although she’d miss her friends, there was no replacement for family.
Chapter 3
The following night, Mire was in the barn, polishing his harness for the Christmas Eve flight, which was his favorite time of year. He enjoyed leaving the confines of NPC and racing all over the world, helping SC deliver toys. He took the Vixen position when he was twenty, five years ago. Before that, he’d been on the security team and hoping a position would open up. Although the positions were ranked – with the Dasher position as the leader – he would have been happy with any. Only quads could be on the sleigh team, because they were the only shifters in NPC able to change into a fourth animal, the all-important reindeer. His favorite animal was the polar bear, though, because he liked lumbering around in the snow.
“Looks good,” Lan said as he stopped in front of Mire’s stall. He was the elf in charge of the sleigh team.
“Thanks.”
Roi, the Cupid position, walked over. “Rhys wants to see us in the security office.”
“Is everything okay?”
“Don’t know.”
Lan held out his hands to take Mire’s harness. “I’ll finish up.”
“Thanks,” Mire said, handing him the harness and polishing cloth.
Mire grabbed his coat and slipped it on as he followed Roi outside. When they reached the security office, they found Rhys and Declan talking in quiet tones.
“We’ve got a problem with Tobias,” Rhys said, turning to face them.
“What’s up?” Mire asked.
“He’s still in the medical center,” Rhys said. “He’s been mostly unconscious, but the few times he’s woken up, he’s been delirious. He hasn’t shifted, so he’s not healing quickly.”
Shifters had the ability to accelerate their healing by shifting. Even severe injuries could be healed quickly by shifting several times.
“The doctors think he’ll be fine eventually,” Declan said, “because his body is healing naturally, it’s just slow going.”
“So what do you need us for?” Roi asked.
“Every time he wakes up, he says noel. SC thinks it’s important, and he wants someone to check out his room and see if he can find clues,” Rhys said.
“That’s where we come in, I assume?” Mire said.
“Exactly,” Rhys said. “Here’s the key to his room. Check it out, talk to his co-workers, and see if you can figure it out.”
Mire accepted the key and said, “We’ll do our best.”
“Good luck,” Declan said.
They left security and headed to the barracks. All the unmated males lived in a large dormitory. The quads all lived on the third floor, with other shifters and elves living on different floors. They walked briskly to the barracks, entered the building, and climbed the stairs to the fourth floor.
“Do you know Tobias?” Mire asked.
“Not really,” Roi said. “He’s part of a group that travels to the states every Christmas Eve morning for building supplies, but that’s about all I know.”
Mire unlocked the door to the male’s bedroom and pushed it open. He flipped on the overhead light and stepped inside. The room was like every other room in the barracks. Big enough for one person – bed in the corner, closet against the wall, and a dresser.
“I don’t see anything on first glance that looks like it relates to Christmas,” Roi said.
“Christmas?”
“What else could noel mean?”
“Good point.”
“I’ll take the dresser,” Roi said.
Mire moved to the bed. There was a small nightstand with a candle sitting in the center. He pulled open the drawer and found a magazine with an image of a naked woman on it. Tossing it to the bed, he pulled the drawer entirely free and dumped out the contents – flashlight, sleeping mask, and a few rolled pieces of paper held tight with rubber bands.
After replacing the drawer and returning its contents, he got on the floor and looked under the bed. A wooden box hidden in the shadows was pushed back against the wall. Mire pressed himself under the bed to reach it and dragged it out.
“What’s that?” Roi asked.
“Don’t know.” Mire lifted the box’s lid and found a badly knitted scarf and a framed photo of a woman with a baby. Underneath the photo was a laptop.
Mire hummed, pulling out the laptop and setting it on the bed. It was turned off, so he pushed the power button.
“Why would he be hiding a laptop in his room?” Roi asked.
“That’s a good question.”
The password screen appeared.
“Try noel,” Roi said.
Mire typed the word and hit enter. “Nope.” He lifted the framed photo. “Do you recognize them?” He showed the photograph to Roi.
“No.”
Mire turned it over and twisted the tabs that held the back in place. Lifting the back away, he saw handwriting, scribbled in black ink. Noelle and Lisa missing Daddy.
He put down the photo and entered the word Noelle as the password. This time it worked, and the computer booted up. An email icon flashed, indicating there was new mail, and he clicked it.
After he and Roi read the email, Mire stood up and closed the laptop. He slipped the computer and photograph under his arm and said, “We know why he’s saying Noelle when he’s conscious.”
Roi shook his head. “Where the hell is the woman and the kid? They’re not in NPC. Could he have a daughter that no one knows about?”
“That’s the million-dollar question. Let’s show SC.”
* * *
SC paced by the fireplace in his home, the crackling of the fire interspersed with the heaviness of his boots making contact with the polished wood floor. Mire hadn’t ever seen him so angry.
After presenting SC with the laptop and photo, he’d called in the rest of the quads, who were the highest ranked members of the security team. Once Jack, the Donner position and the team’s resident computer guru, had found every piece of email that Tobias had exchanged with Noelle, it had become very clear that she was his daughter.
SC stopped pacing and ran his hands through his hair. “How in a snowflake’s chance in hell was Tobias able to keep a child secret for twenty-three years?”
“He covered his tracks expertly,”
Jack said. “There’s literally no trace of him sending or receiving emails or phone calls anywhere in our system.”
“He must have used the supplies’ pickup on Christmas Eve as a way to visit her,” Mire said. “From what I read of her emails, it seems she’s used to seeing him once a year, and they have a good relationship.”
Rhys shook his head. “He must have thought he was going to die when he was injured in the barn and wanted us to contact her.”
SC grunted. “I want to know how a half-shifter lived in the human world entirely under our radar.”
“Until Tobias wakes up, we won’t know how she came to be or how much she knows about us,” Rhys said.
SC blew out a growling breath. “I want a team to go pick her up.”
Every male looked at him in shock.
“Why would we do that?” Declan asked.
His brow arched. “First, because I said so, and second, because if she truly is his child, then we need to find out how much she knows.”
“If she’s his child, then she’s an elf,” Arian said. “She belongs here anyway. Why wouldn’t Tobias explain about her birth and have her brought here? I’d never live apart from my children.”
“Until he wakes, we won’t know,” SC said.
“All right,” Rhys said. “Who wants to go to wherever Noelle lives and bring her here?”
“I’ll go,” Mire said. He wasn’t sure why he needed to go, but he felt as if it was important.
Jack and Vaughn chimed in that they’d go.
Mrs. C came out of the kitchen carrying a glass tube with a cork stopper in one hand. She handed the tube to Mire and said, “Pour this into your palm, and blow it in her face. It will make her fall asleep so she won’t remember the transportation here. It won’t affect you, only her.”
“Thanks,” Mire said.
He, Jack, and Vaughn agreed to meet thirty minutes before dawn the next morning.
“Do you think SC will punish Tobias?” Jack asked.
“Maybe,” Vaughn said. “He was pretty pissed.”
“I’m kind of surprised this sort of thing hasn’t happened before,” Mire said. When they looked at him in confusion, he clarified. “I mean, shifters and elves travel to the human cities once a year. We’ve all heard the chatter in the tavern, the ones who find humans to spend time with.”
“Having a one-time thing isn’t exactly what Tobias did, though,” Jack said. “He carried on a relationship, if not with the mother, at least with the child. That’s definitely going to get him in trouble with SC.”
“We’ll let him worry about that,” Mire said. “See you before dawn.”
He entered his room, yawning as he closed the door. As he stripped and climbed into bed, setting the alarm so he didn’t oversleep, his last thoughts were of Noelle and the world she was about to be introduced to.
* * *
Noelle woke up at five a.m., her alarm blaring out a pop tune and jolting her from a sound sleep. Flopping her hand on the nightstand, she found her phone and cursed herself for not lowering the volume before she set the alarm. The night before, she’d been cleaning while the music blasted. Setting down the phone, she rolled over and waited for her heart to stop pounding.
Nothing like getting startled awake.
“Yay!” she said out loud. “Dad’s on his way.”
Humming “Frosty the Snowman,” she got out of bed, stretched, and walked to the bathroom. Her one-bedroom apartment, with a cozy family room off the kitchen and a laundry room that doubled as a second closet, was just big enough for her. According to their plans, her dad would show up close to seven a.m. She hadn’t gotten a reply from her email, but that didn’t surprise her. Sometimes he didn’t answer for a few days because he got busy with work. She had a blissful two days off, and she was going to enjoy Christmas Eve with her dad and then Christmas Day…well, she wouldn’t enjoy being alone, but she promised herself a date with her couch and a sci-fi movie marathon.
After showering, she grabbed a cup of coffee, dried her hair, and then changed into jeans and a navy sweater that was decorated with a row of polar bears along the hem. Just as she finished applying her makeup, there was a knock at the front door. She glanced at her phone and saw it was a few minutes past six. Her dad didn’t usually arrive so early, but she couldn’t stop the excited giggle as she ran to the front door.
“Got in early, huh?” she asked as she opened the door.
But instead of her father, she saw three strangers. No one said anything for a long moment, and in that time, she quickly cataloged the men. They were all tall and visibly muscular, even under the thick coats they wore. One had blond hair, one had light brown hair, and the one in the front, whose hand was still raised as if he were going to knock again, had dark hair and dark eyes.
And holy crap was he hot!
Flushing at the train of dirty thoughts racing through her mind, she cleared her throat and said, “Sorry, I was expecting someone else. Can I help you?”
“Are you Noelle?” the blond asked.
“Yes.”
The one with dark hair dropped his hand, and she swore she heard a soft growl coming from him. “Your father’s been hurt, and we’ve been sent to bring you to him.”
“What?” she nearly shouted.
“I’m Jack,” the one with light brown hair said. He showed her the screen of a cell phone; and she saw the sleeping form of her dad lying in a hospital bed with a bandage covering half his face.
“What happened?”
“May we come in?” the blond asked.
She blinked at the tears that stung her eyes. For a heartbeat, she worried about letting three strangers into her home, but she couldn’t explain why she felt like she could trust them. “Sorry, of course.”
Stepping back, she pulled open the door, and the three men walked in. She caught the scent of something amazing, like sugar cookies warm from the oven. Leaning out into the hallway, she wondered if one of her neighbors were making some treats, but the smell wasn’t strong out there.
Closing the door, she turned to face them. “So what happened? Is he okay?”
“I’m Vaughn, and this is Mire,” the blond said. “Your dad was working in a barn, and part of the roof collapsed. He has a head injury and is unconscious. He’s woken up a few times and said your name, but otherwise he’s been out of it.”
She frowned. “Why would he be working in a barn? He’s a toy maker.”
The males looked at one another.
Mire turned his dark gaze to her, and she swore his eyes flashed from brown to gold.
“He’s a builder, not a toy maker. But that doesn’t matter. What does matter is that we can take you to him. How fast can you pack a bag?”
“How long will I be gone? I only have two days off work. I’d need to call in and let them know I won’t be in if it’s going to be longer than that.”
Jack said, “It would probably be best to ask for more time off. I don’t know when your father will regain consciousness.”
She wiped a few stray tears from her cheeks and hurried from the room. She grabbed her cell from the bathroom counter as she rushed to her bedroom to pack a bag. She didn’t want to call her boss at home that early, so she left a message on her voice mail and sent texts to her friends to wish them a Merry Christmas and to say she’d be gone for a few extra days because her dad was in the hospital.
After stuffing a carry-on with a few days’ worth of clothing and toiletries, she joined the men in the family room. Mire had grabbed her coat from where she’d left it over the chair, and she smiled at him, setting down her bag and allowing him to help her on with her coat. She once more smelled sugar cookies, and she inhaled deeply. She heard a soft growl, and Mire turned her to face him. He took her hand, and she looked down at their linked fingers. She had the sudden urge to kiss him. To wrap her arms around him and never, ever let go.
“I hope you guys have a plane ticket for me. Fortunately, I renewed my passport last year be
fore I went to Mexico on vacation with some friends.”
“No passport needed, Noelle,” Mire said.
She looked up at Mire. Sparkling powder filled his palm. The last thing she saw was him pursing his lips and blowing the powder at her. And then everything went dark.
Chapter 4
Mire caught Noelle as she passed out, lifting her into his arms and cradling her close. All of his beasts rose to the surface, jockeying in his subconscious for a chance to touch her. He couldn’t believe what it meant – that he was in the presence of his fated mate.
“What’s going on?” Vaughn asked.
Mire couldn’t stop looking at Noelle. She was beautiful. Long, dark hair the color of melted chocolate with golden highlights buried in the strands. Her eyes, now closed, were a perfect emerald green. He wanted to kiss her, to wake her up from her drug-induced slumber like a fairy tale Prince Charming.
“She’s mine.”
“Your what?” Jack asked.
“My fated mate.”
Neither male said anything, and Mire forced himself to look up from his mate and found his friends staring at him in slack-jawed surprise.
“Seriously?” Jack said. “How the… what?”
He shrugged. “I started to feel something once I found out about her. I thought it was just curiosity, but when we transported here, my beasts went crazy and only got worse as we got closer to her home. I barely stopped from shifting into one of them by a thin margin. They’re really banging in my head to get close to her.”
Jack grinned. “That’s fantastic!”
“Yeah,” Vaughn said, “but what if she doesn’t know anything about us or what her father is? SC could wipe her memories and send her back to her own world. He’s super pissed.”
