A Very Alpha Christmas

by Anthology

  But there was freedom coming his way. There was nothing but expectation and legacy.

  And, he smiled, if he was lucky, there was also Blix.

  Inside Wishes Bakery, a line of formed, starting at the register. A fresh batch of cookies must’ve come out. Rand took a spot behind a group of elves who, once they saw him, turned away and started to whisper and giggle. That wasn’t a new thing. His role on the sleigh team this year was a well known fact and he was some sort of star. He grinned down at one of the elves when she glanced over her shoulder at him. When her eyes widened, he winked. She nearly fainted.

  He didn’t mind his celebrity. He minded that he could never get near the one elf he wanted most. The one coming from the kitchen carrying a large stack of gift boxes. The one who just tripped and started falling forward, disaster written all over her surprised face.

  Rand jumped out of line and stretched his arms out, reaching as the boxes began tumbling. He caught all of them and put his body directly in front of her. She fell right into him.

  Beneath the sparkle of her eyes lurked embarrassment accompanied by a blush staining her already rosy cheeks. “Rand,” she said, breathless and hushed.

  “Hey, Blix. You okay?”

  She righted herself quickly and let go of where she’d grabbed onto his shirt. She was barely five feet, and the small heels on her shoes helped minimally, but her soft curves and plush weight was felt in every region of his body. He’d been the buffer between her and the floor and if he let his mind wander, it’s wander straight to wanting to take her to the floor, a bakery full of curious eyes or not. He didn’t care. He wanted to kiss her. He wanted to hold her. He wanted to make love to her.

  He simply wanted her. There was no way around it and there was no way to fight it.

  “Yeah, Rand. I’m okay.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder and straightened her dress. Red and silver, a scoop neckline and a skirt that swished around her knees when she walked. “Thank you for catching the cookies for me.”

  “You’re welcome. Where were you headed with them?”

  “Oh, the display table behind you and the front window. They’re the first chocolate sugar cookies of the season and I wanted to make sure there were plenty ready. I got a little over excited.”

  “I see.” He’d like to see her a lot excited, but right then and there wasn’t the time or the place for it. “Let me help you set things up.”

  “T-that’s not necessary. Really. I can do it.”

  “It might not be, but I’d like to help.”

  She nodded after a brief hesitation. “Sure.” She took three boxes from the stack he held. “I’ll take these to the window, if you’ll put yours on the table.”

  “Any particular way?”

  “A pyramid is fine. It’s what I was planning to do until I brought out some other things.”

  Rand smiled. “A pyramid it is.” He was aware of the stares from the now very slow moving line, but he didn’t give anyone the satisfaction of looking at them. They were curious and he’d let them be. Blix had disappeared into the opening of the display window where she painstakingly arranged and rearranged her three boxes.

  Was she avoiding him? Was she trying to take as long as possible so she wouldn’t have to talk to him again? Was she still embarrassed about having almost fallen? Whatever it was, Rand wasn’t going to let her get away with it. She was going to have to face him, talk to him just a little bit more before he went away.

  At the window, he positioned himself so that when she turned around, she’d come face to face with him. She’d be the perfect height for a kiss. A kiss he couldn’t give her in such a public place, but a kiss he’d love to give her nonetheless.

  She stepped once, twice, and her heel caught on the edge of the display platform. Rand’s arms shot out again, but instead of catching boxes of cookies, he caught Blix as she grasped for purchase where there was none.

  “How have you survived without me?” he asked, lightly, a chuckle at the end of his question.

  “I’m kind of wondering the same thing, right now.”

  Rand eased her down the front of his body and held onto her a little longer than he should have. When he finally let go, she spun to face him. “You okay?” He brushed her hair from her face, behind her delicately pointed ear. Rubies hung from her earlobes.

  “I am. I’m not usually this clumsy. I am so sorry.”

  “I don’t mind at all. I’m glad I was here to catch you.”

  She smiled up at him and Rand’s heart stopped in his chest. The little elf had no idea what she did to him. “Admit it. You’re even more glad you saved the cookies from crashing to the ground.”

  “That’s a definite perk. I mean, I can eat cracked and even crumbled cookies, but I’d rather eat whole ones. Even better if I could share a box with someone.”

  “Oh. Of course. Why wouldn’t you want to? I’m sure she, ah… What I meant… Your, ah…” Blix tightened her lips shut and blushed scarlet. He’d never heard her stammer like that. She stepped around Rand, grabbing the box from the top of his pyramid. “Take these. On the house. For helping save them. I’m sure your date will love them.”

  “Blix, I don’t —”

  But she didn’t give him a chance to finish his sentence. She scurried back into the kitchen and out of sight, leaving him staring after her, with a box of chocolate cookies in his hands. He shook his head, certain that confusion was written all over his face. “Elves.”

  * * *

  Rand bolted upright. “What the…?” He usually woke slowly, lounged in bed for a while before shoving himself out of bed, but that was when he was home. This. Wasn’t. Home. “Where in the hell am I? And how in the hell did I get here?”

  “I brought you here.”

  Rand whipped his head around at the voice coming from behind him. Tomas sat in an armchair in the corner of a large room in a… “Who’s cabin are we in?” he asked, swinging his feet to the floor. It was cold, but nothing that he wasn’t used to. At least, he thought he was used to it. This cold on the floor and the chill in the room was different than what he usually felt in his own place. “What's going on, Tomas?”

  “We’re at your new…” His friend’s words trailed off.

  “My new what?” Rand looked around again. They weren’t in the North Pole anymore. “You’ve cast me out, haven’t you? I’ve been banished.”

  “Yes,” Tomas confirmed.

  “You told me I had twenty-four hours to decide.”

  “That’s the problem. You shouldn’t have needed twenty-four hours. You shouldn’t have needed twenty-four seconds, Rand.”

  “So you cast me out? In the middle of the night? Did you use elf magic to do it? Don’t bother answering. Of course you did. You wouldn’t have been able to get me out otherwise.” Rand stood. “You’re a son of a bitch, Tomas.”

  “And you’re a hot head. An ungrateful, unappreciative one, too. You have the world at your feet and you thumb your nose at it.”

  Rand snorted. “Leave it to you to use the good words, even here when no one’s listening. I can’t believe after all these years, you’re still towing the company line. You never question or doubt. If not what we do, then people we do it all for. Why not? Why don’t you ever challenge the status quo?”

  “Someone is always listening. Someone always knows the desires of your heart.”

  “That’s never been comforting.”

  “Well, no one’s listening then. I just… You know what I mean.”

  Rand did know. He’d always known. He sighed, ran a hand over his face and through his shaggy, dirty blond hair.

  Tomas looked uncomfortable and Rand wanted to feel bad about it. He wanted to feel bad that Tomas had to be in the middle of it all, but he didn’t. If Tomas felt it was the right decision, he’d have been in Rand’s face just like he had been yesterday. But right now, he just looked uncomfortable.

  “Did you even try to stand up for me when they made your decision for you?
”

  “That’s not fair.”

  “And this is?” Rand shouted. “Get out, Tomas,” he said, his voice softer this time. “Just get out.”

  “You don’t understand. Everything is bigger than just you.”

  “I understand perfectly. I’ve got this. Get out.”

  At the door, Tomas turned back. “There’s a basket of food stuff and essentials on the kitchen counter. Blix wouldn’t let me leave without promising I’d bring it with me.”

  And then Tomas was gone. Out the door and into thin air, leaving Rand alone. Exactly as Rand wanted.

  “Keep telling yourself that and maybe you’ll start believing it,” he muttered.

  It was time to check out the rest of the cabin, which from the looks of things, there wasn’t much more to check out, and after, he’d start figuring out what the hell he was going to do with the rest of his life.

  2

  Blix rushed Tomas the second he appeared outside the apartment building that housed all the reindeer shifters. Only, the one reindeer shifter she cared about most, no longer lived there. “How is he?”

  “Angry.”

  “I know that. I mean, how is he? Did you get him there safely? Where is he exactly? What —”

  “Blix, you know I can’t tell you where he is.”

  Blix sighed and nodded. “I know.”

  “He is safe and he’s going to be fine.”

  “Do you really believe that?”

  “Yes. He’s smart, resourceful. He’ll get it all in order before his memory of this life fades.”

  Along with, all his memories of her. She didn’t say it out loud, but she didn’t have to, either. Tomas knew how she felt about Rand.

  She swallowed past the lump in her throat and blinked back the tears. “He’s also used to having magic.”

  “I’m sorry. I know how you felt about him.”

  Again, Blix nodded. Everyone knew. Except Rand. It barely registered with him that she even existed as a female, let alone had the hots for him. Oh, they were friends, sure. She had lots of friends. With lifetimes that lasted into the thousands of years, everyone had a lot of friends. Rand was different for Blix. A different kind of friend.

  Now, she’d never see him again.

  “Chin up, Blix. There’ll be someone else. Someday.”

  “Someday? It took me almost five hundred years to find him. Someday? When is someday, Tomas?” She shook her head. “You know there’s no someone else. Not for me.” And if Rand had ever gotten his head out of his ass and really looked at her, he’d have realized there would never be a someone else for him either. She didn’t bother telling Tomas any of that. What was the point now?

  “Blix… He’ll be all right. I promise you he will.”

  “I hope you’re right. I’ve got to get to work. Thank you for taking the basket.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  Blix smiled at Tomas once more, then dashed across the snow laden street and in through the back entrance to Wishes Bakery.

  There was always activity in the kitchens, but this time of year, double shifts were the norm until the twenty-sixth.

  The trees on her apron blinked with multi-colored lights as she tied it around her waist. She needed to put a smile on her face because what she didn’t need, was anyone asking questions. And if she wasn’t humming a carol with her usual smile plastered on her lips? Well, it wouldn’t be a quiet day, that’s for sure. Too many would ask what was wrong and quite frankly, it was no one’s business.

  On the other hand, she didn’t feel like putting in the effort to fake it, either.

  She’d rather go home and sulk. She’d rather nurse her broken heart with a pint of Vanilla Peppermint Chip ice cream. Her favorite. Rand’s favorite.

  But that wouldn’t help things either.

  Nothing would help. He was gone. Several thousand miles to the south. She could get there using magic, the same way Tomas transported Rand to the Yukon Territory. She’d never be able to return to the North Pole if she did, though.

  Elves, polar bears, and reindeers, were only allowed to leave one of three ways: banishment, on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day for holiday reasons and missions only, or death. That was it. Well, special circumstances, like transporting someone who’d been banished, would qualify for temporary departure status, but those were rare decisions and she could never get clearance to go.

  She grabbed two bowls of cookie dough from the refrigerator. Both needed to be rolled out, cut, baked, and decorated. Some elves were born with special talents. Good with their hands, or good with accounts and mathematics. Some good with organizational skills. She was good with baking, her specialty being cookie dough.

  She had a gift for spices and flavorings. She had a way with rolling and decorating.

  If it was cookie related, or baking in general related, she was the elf to see.

  It might not seem all that important to humans, though, she really didn’t know. But she always knew the magical blend of spices and wishes dust, that her cookies were special. Her cookies made a difference.

  Baking. The physical work of using the rolling pin and working the dough would help her get Rand off her mind. There really wasn’t anything more she could do.

  “Blix? Oh Blix, are you all right?”

  Blix smiled at Tomas’ wife, Maria, who enveloped her in a hug. “Hi, Maria. I'm fine.”

  “Are you sure? Tomas told me all about what happened. He wasn’t allowed to tell me about it until he returned home this morning. You poor, girl. What can I do to help? You know you’re welcome at our home anytime you want, yes?”

  Blix smiled. Maria wouldn’t let her get a word in, so she simply had to wait Maria out. Wait until Maria took a breath.

  For such a short elf, Maria was larger than life. What she lacked in stature, she more than made up for in personality and attitude.

  “What? Why are you smiling? Did Tomas not tell me everything? He sometimes leaves things out if he thinks I’ll be upset. I love that reindeer, but he forgets who’s boss too often.”

  Blix laughed. “No. He didn’t forget to tell you anything. If he did, he forgot to tell me too.”

  Maria smiled and Blix handed over a rolling pin. “Do you think he knows more?” Maria asked, taking the pin. “I can see about clobbering him over the head to see what else there is.”

  “Goodness, you’re blood thirsty. Not very becoming for an elf at Christmas.”

  “This time of year makes me crazy. And now with Rand…” Maria shook her head. “This was going to be Tomas’ first year here at home for Christmas. The days we prepare for all year long and the one he’s been working every year, and he was finally going to spend it with us. I’m just a little frustrated.” Maria smacked a clump of cookie dough with the rolling pin. “That’s all. Just a little frustrated.” She smacked at the dough several more times before stopping and rolling her shoulders back and rotating her neck from side to side.

  “I’m so sorry, Maria. I didn’t know.” Blix knew she should have, though. Rand was supposed to lead this year. It was what his purpose had been since he was born.

  “It’s not your fault. It’s not even Rand’s fault. He simply had a momentary lapse under huge responsibility.”

  “It doesn’t seem so simple,” Blix said. “He won’t be coming back.”

  “Maybe. Maybe not.”

  “The choices are absolute.”

  “For most, yes. But given who his parents are, there might be room to wiggle.”

  “True, but I doubt they’ll show favorites.” Blix understood what Maria was saying. She didn’t have any explanations for anything either.

  The two elves worked together, rolling out cookie dough. Maria had regular sugar cookie dough and Blix had chocolate sugar cookie dough.

  They would be baked, decorated, packaged, and shipped out. This batch would go to the inner cities in large metropolitan areas.

  It had been a happy accident when Blix had stumbled upon the spe
cial mixture of elf magic and spices that led to wishes being granted and views being changed.

  It only took a small dose to make those changes in someone’s outlook happen.

  She doubled it in Rand’s cookies.

  She wasn’t going to tell anyone that. Mainly because she wasn’t sure what kind of effect it was going to have on him.

  “Are you going to be okay, Blix?” Maria paused in the rolling out of cookie dough to pin Blix with a look.

  “Would you believe me if I said I just want him to find his happiness?”

  “Yes, but is that all?”

  “Well, no. I mean, I’d like him to come back. I’d like to have a chance to tell him how I feel.”

  “Did he have any idea?”

  “No, I don’t think so. I don’t think he really ever saw me as more than a friend.”

  “Well, you know what they say… It’s the season of miracles.”

  3

  Rand stepped out onto the small front porch of the cabin. Snow had been falling all night and was still falling steadily. It was easily four inches in some places, ten or more inches in other, more exposed areas.

  Rand didn’t care. It was cold, wet, and he was bored out of his skull. He’d spent hours pacing the cabin like a caged animal. There was nothing to keep his mind occupied, nothing to pass the hours. There were four walls. He was going stir crazy and it hadn’t even been twenty-four hours.

  With shaking fingers, he unzipped his hoodie and shrugged it off. He needed to run. He needed the freedom.

  His sweatpants were next and he tried to ignore the shivers that were trying to overtake him.

  Two steps off the porch and he was running, picking up speed with each stride. His blood pumped hard and his ears started ringing. A light sheen of sweat covered his body by the time he found what he’d been searching for.

  A fallen tree.

  A little more speed and he leapt into the air. When he came down on the other side of the tree trunk, he was a full blown animal, a reindeer. Technically, adult humans called creatures like him Caribou, but he was a reindeer. A North Pole reindeer.