“Of course! Knowing Kris, he is ten miles away from here. I don’t know why he always runs far like this whenever Mom wants me to go after him. But I guess tonight it might be good to run off some excess steam.” Christian started to undress along with the other boys.
“Yeah, it’s too bad her dad had to come and interrupt, she might have gone on a run with you.” Mikey dashed away from Christian’s fist as he attempted to shut his big-mouthed friend up.
“Guys, she is a nice girl. Leave her alone.” Christian put his pack on and shifted to a very large arctic white wolf. Since he was descended from a Santa, he was larger in wolf form than almost any other wolf out there. In shifted form, he was almost seven feet long. He was more than a head taller than his friends. Only a few Alphas came close to his length. His brother, Kris, was even longer. Santa was almost eight feet long.
The four boys enjoyed the freedom they felt when running together through the forest. They liked to race and see who could keep up with Christian. In all their years, never had anyone beat Christian in a race. Well, besides Kris. He could run a little bit faster than Christian, but not by much.
Christian reached out to them through their link, “Come on slow pokes! At least try to keep up.”
“Christian, you are going faster than normal. Slow down a bit for us.” Mikey was the closest to him but was still several hundred feet back. Then Nolan was behind him and Masha brought up the rear.
The boys could hear growling not too far away. Christian knew it was his brother, but he didn’t know who else was there. It wasn’t anyone in their pack or even a pack who had sworn loyalty. All of the Kringles could telepathically connect, or at least, sense the minds of those who swore allegiance to Santa’s family.
“Christian, who is with Kris? I can hear several distinct voices. However, I don’t recognize them.” Nolan caught up to Christian as he slowed to figure out which direction the noise was coming from.
“I don’t know. They aren’t loyal to us, that much I can tell you. To the left, hurry up!” Christian turned to his left and ran at full steam toward his brother. “Kris, what’s going on? Are you ok?”
“I’m fine, it is just some singles who want to try their hand at a Kringle. Bunch of idiots, that’s for sure. If you want to watch me shove their tails up their sphincter, you better hurry up.”
“Sphincter? Who uses that word?” Christian chuffed as he spoke to his brother.
“Someone who is going to literally shove their tails up it. That’s who. These guys don’t deserve mercy! Who tries to attack an heir the night before their ceremony starts?” Christian could pick up the anger in his brother’s thoughts and he pushed even harder to get to him. He didn’t even feel the cold air he was moving so quickly. All he felt was the adrenaline pumping in his veins to push him faster and faster to help protect his brother, his future Alpha.
By the time he reached his brother, there were already two wolves down and bleeding. Four more were circling Kris and preparing to attack. Christian’s blood was boiling; no one attacked his brother and got away with it. Six on one was unheard of! What a group of wimps. He would have told them as much, if he could have communicated with them. Only the reigning Santa could communicate with all wolves, not just the Arctic’s either.
Christian came up behind one wolf and quickly grabbed ahold of its throat. He chomped so hard that he tore a chunk of the wolf’s neck out in one bite. That wolf was on the ground, bleeding out onto the pristine white snow before he even knew what was happening. Christian could taste the coppery blood in his mouth as he spit out the remains of the idiot’s neck.
Kris attacked the wolf to his left, surprising him. Most wolves didn’t attack to the left, it was a very rare move. The Kringles had perfected that move over centuries. Only those in the immediate family trained for it. He jumped to his left and fell under that wolf’s neck. Then he chomped on the underside of its throat. The single wolf fell on Kris and he rolled them over so that the enemy was on the ground beneath him. The wolf got one good swipe in and drew blood on the heir. Kris was growling as he ripped the throat out of the dirty wolf.
Christian quickly ran to the wolf that had been directly in front of Kris just as he moved to his left. This too was a move they had practiced. It caused confusion in the wolf who had been expecting to attack Kris while he was in the center of their ring.
As the wolf in front leapt to attack where he expected Kris to be, Christian jumped in and landed on top of the yellowish wolf. He clawed the wolf’s face deeply, gouging out an eye in the process. The wolf howled and dropped to the snow. Christian was going to rip its throat out, but stopped. He realized they needed one alive to question later.
As he was turning to engage with the final wolf, he felt something land on his back. Stupid wolf, thought Christian. This was his best move. He stood up on his haunches and backwards body slammed the stupid wolf on its back. Christian’s body was much firmer and heavier than the other wolf and he cracked the wolf’s muzzle as he fell back onto the attacker. Then he quickly turned over and took a chunk out of that wolf’s neck.
Around Christian were five dead wolves, bleeding out red onto the pure, white snow. The one in the center was whimpering and had shifted back to his human form. His hand was covering his empty eye socket while his severed eye stared at him from the pool of blood on the ground.
The wolves that attacked were Arctic, but they weren’t pure. They had yellow fur mixed with their white fur, which meant that they were most likely Omegas who left their packs and now just caused trouble wherever they went. Most Omegas weren’t treated fairly, but if Santa ever found a pack mistreating their Omega’s, he put a stop to it. He usually accepted displaced Omega’s into his pack. Almost everyone knew that as well. So this attack was a surprise. If they were displaced, they should have come to the Alpha and asked for sanctuary. They would have received it if they truly wanted to be a part of a pack.
Kris raised his snout to the sky and howled. Christian joined him as did his friends before they even made it to the clearing. Neither wolf enjoyed killing. Fighting was an exhilarating feeling, but the killing was never something they enjoyed doing. It was very rare a Kringle had to kill. Almost no one attacked the Kringle family. Plenty would attack others in their pack, but none were stupid enough to attack a Kringle. Once a century there were a few who tried. If you could beat the reigning Santa, you became Santa. No one ever came close to winning.
Mikey, Nolan, and Masha joined Christian and Kris, howling until Santa arrived. Through their bond, Kris notified Santa of what happened. “Father, we had to kill five wolves tonight. One is severely injured, but he should survive long enough for you to question him.”
3
“Are you or the boys injured? Should I bring your mother?” Santa telepathically asked his oldest son.
“No, we are fine. Mom doesn’t need to join us. It is a pretty brutal scene here. I have a gash on my side, but it should be healed by the time I get home. We will wait here for you.” Kris paced in a circle around the bodies, being careful not to step in any of the red snow.
When Santa arrived, he came with plenty of back-up. He was worried there might be more coming to challenge his son. “Kris, what happened? Why did you feel the need to kill them?” Santa was saddened by the loss of life. His head was lowered as he walked through the area with the bodies. His normally pure white paws were red with the blood of the dead.
“Father, they attacked me out of nowhere. I was running and clearing my head when the six of them showed up and just attacked. They knew exactly who I was. One even called me by name as he ran to me. The first two were bait. While I was fighting them, the other four set up around me in a circle. Christian showed up before they could attack. It was quick and easy once he was here.” Kris nodded to his brother, thankful that he came when he did.
Santa looked at Christian and huffed, “You should have been here sooner. They would not have attacked if Kris was home like he should have
been.”
“Forgive me, father, we went to meet some of the girls here and I got distracted by one.” Christian lowered his head in reverence to his father. He felt the full weight of his decision. He had been chastising himself the entire time he waited for his father. The last thing he wanted was for his brother to die. Not only did he love him dearly, he had no desire to become Santa. If something happened to his brother, the mantle would have fallen to him. “I promise to stay near him for the entirety of the ceremony this month. There is no way I am going to let you down. I will protect him to my dying breath, father.” And he knew he would.
“Very well, I want all five of you to head home and clean up. Your mother is worried sick about you both. We will take care of the clean-up and questioning.” Santa dismissed the boys while three of his wolves changed back to human form.
The boys got in a line and followed Kris back to the North Pole house just outside of Polaris. It was a town that no map had listed. Magic covered it so that no plane or satellite could find it either. Many governments had scanned the entirety of the North Pole region many times over, but could never find Santa’s workshop. Polaris only looked like an Inuit village from the air. As long as Santa, or an heir lived, the magic covered their region from prying eyes.
Santa padded over to the attacker who was still alive. He shifted to his human form and dressed before addressing the dying man. “Why did you attack my son on the eve of his ceremony? No wolf in history has ever done that. They all know better than to do that. Who do you think you are to try something so outrageous and evil?” The air was thick with the anger and the injustice that Santa felt. Even his own wolves whimpered while going about their work.
“Are you going to kill me, Santa?” The attacker asked.
“Do you want me to?”
“Yes, I can’t stand this feeling. I will never see out of my eye again. All wolves will know who I am and what I did. As soon as you leave me, I will be brutally attacked. No one will spare me. Please end my life quickly and I will tell you everything I know.” The injured wolf didn’t just feel what was coming off of Santa, he felt the full displeasure of the Christmas Magic on his shoulders. The man couldn’t lift his head. There was a pressure on his entire being that kept him in place. He felt like a two-ton boulder was holding him down. The pain in his heart from what he’d done was unbearable. He wondered how he could have agreed to do such a thing.
Santa walked around the man while he lay in his own pool of blood, naked and injured. “I could heal your wounds. The eye will never work again, but you could live despite your injuries, if you want to.”
“No, I don’t deserve to live. Your youngest should have killed me in battle. Leaving me alive like this is worse than death.”
“I see. Alright. Answer my questions and you will die a swift death.”
“Thank you, Santa!” He had a deep raspy cough. It sounded like his lungs were filling with liquid. “We were hired by another Alpha. He wanted your heir dead. Once that happened we were supposed to kill your other son as well.” He started wheezing at that point. “There is a theory that if you don’t have any sons to take over, the spot of Santa will be up for grabs. Any wolf could try to take the role. Your magic will leave you eventually and you will be defeated.” He clutched his chest as he continued to cough, then he began to cough up blood.
“Who is this Alpha that wanted my sons murdered?” Santa was a peaceful man, but this plan hit him in a place he never knew existed. All he wanted was to destroy the wolf who thought he could kill two of the most wonderful men his family had ever produced. The wolves who hadn’t shifted yet, began to howl their anger and growled so loudly at the man, that he screamed in fright.
“NO! I promised him a quick death after he told me everything. You will NOT maul him to death.” Santa looked at all of his wolves and they slowly backed away from the man with their heads bent low.
One of them replied mentally, “Sir, he tried to kill your sons, your heir on the eve of his ascension. He deserves to die.”
“And he will, but he is giving us information we need to find out who is behind this. He deserves a quick death for that. Show him some mercy.” Santa nodded to the wolf who spoke to him. That wolf nodded back.
“I swear. I don’t know who he is. Only that he is from one of the European packs.” The injured wolf started speaking slower and softer as his condition worsened. “After we killed your boys, he was going to welcome us into his pack. He promised we would be treated well and everyone would be happy to have us join them. We haven’t been welcomed in a pack since we were pups. All we wanted was a place to belong.”
“If you didn’t know who, how were you going to join his pack?” Santa raised one eyebrow.
The one-eyed man pointed to one of the dead men. They had all reverted back to their human forms once they died. “Nicky, he knew the Alpha. I think when he was a pup, someone from his old pack married into the Alpha’s pack, the one who was going to take us in. Nicky talked like he knew the guy since he was young.”
“What pack was Nicky born into?” Santa rubbed his chin as he thought about the various Arctic packs in Northern Europe. There weren’t many.
They spent another thirty minutes discussing what that Omega knew. When Santa turned his back on the man, he nodded to his Beta who quickly stabbed the man in the heart. All of the dead bodies were collected and burned before everyone returned home. “Men, I want you to keep this as quiet as possible. When my sons make their entrance tomorrow I want everyone watching the faces of any European Alphas present. If anyone looks anxious or surprised, let me know. Don’t make any moves without me.” All of the men responded in the affirmative as they shifted back to wolves and ran home.
Christian beat Kris home for the first time since they both graduated from Kindergarten. “Hey bro, what’s going on? Are you alright? I never beat you.” Christian looked his brother over before he dressed and noticed that the gash on his side was almost healed. He thought there should be no physical reason for his brother’s slowness.
“I’m fine. I think I was just too lost in my thoughts during the run home. Take the win and enjoy it, little brother.” Kris patted Christian on the back and walked inside after he dressed. “Mom, we’re home.”
“Finally! I can’t believe you didn’t come home sooner! What were you thinking running off alone like that with all of these strangers in town?” Mrs. Claus drew her son into a bear hug. Her head only came up to his chest, but she could still hug him something fierce. She had been so worried, even before she heard about the fight.
“Sorry, Mom. I needed some time to myself. This is my last night before the circus begins. The next time I’m alone, I won’t really be alone, will I? I will be mated. There will be no more chances to run off by myself after tonight.” He shrugged his shoulders as he walked to the kitchen. “I’m starved. Did you save me any stew?”
“No, your brother finished it off before I sent him out to find you. I should have had your dad call out to you instead. That fight never would have happened. Did they hurt you?” She put a hand over her mouth and raised her eyebrows. “Please tell me you are already healed?”
“I’m fine. Only one of them got in a good hit. The rest never even scratched me.” Kris rubbed his ribs.
“Christian, how about you? Are you alright?” His mother came to him and looked him up and down.
“Mom, we are both fine. No need to worry. But, Kris probably could use some food. He exerted a lot of energy tonight on an empty stomach.” Christian rubbed his stomach. “I could probably use a sandwich too.”
“Yes, of course. Come on boys, I’ll make you both something to eat. Then it’s off to bed for you two.” Mrs. Claus led them into the kitchen where she made each of them three-foot long sandwiches.
4
The next morning came really early and neither boy wanted to get up. “Mom, just a few more minutes. Nothing is going to start without us.” Kris moaned from under his pillow.
She walked to the room next door and had the same exact issue with her youngest. She thought it felt like deja vu. They always did this to her. She resigned herself to using water to get them out of bed if they pulled this stunt again.
Both boys were five minutes late, as usual. Little did they know she always planned on them being ten minutes late, so they were actually running a few minutes early. She smirked at them when they yawned in unison.
“Alright boys, you are to be on your best behavior. Kris, the women seated next to you for breakfast have already been chosen for you. After breakfast there will be a time to mingle and see who you want to sit by for the rest of the meals today. But you must choose different girls, in case one of them might be “The One.” Do you understand?”
“Yes, Mom. I have known the process for years. We have done nothing but review the procedures for the past six months. I swear you’re more excited about this than I am.” Kris ran his hand over his face and headed to the door.
“Of course I am! One more Christmas and you take over for your father while your mate takes over for me. I am looking forward to just enjoying the spirit of Christmas again.” She smoothed the front of her dress down and put her hand on the doorknob. “Remember, you are happy to be here and meet all of these she-wolves.”
She opened the door and walked out to her husband who was waiting on the snow-covered lawn. “Ahh, Mrs. Claus. One more year and we can start planning vacations.” He leaned down and kissed his wife’s cheek. The Kringle men generally stood well over six feet tall, some even close to seven. Most of the wives didn’t get past five feet ten inches.
Magic & Mistletoe: 15 Paranormal Stories for the Holidays Page 9
