Page 20 of Falling for her Guardian

Shifters didn’t get sick and could heal almost any injury, as could any magical person. But humans? He didn’t know what would happen in the infirmary or what they could do to help.

Winter grabbed the door to the infirmary. “Melody? Trouble? We need you!”

The two female elf healers rushed from one of the back rooms. Melody and Trouble were sisters and had been part of the infirmary care team for several years.

Trouble, the younger sister, said, “Oh my! Is this the human female we heard disappeared into the cold?”

“Yes,” Storm said. “She’s my mate.”

“We can help,” Melody said. “Put her here.”

She patted a medical bed and Storm put her on it.

“Take off her things. Everyone clear out, but Santa and Storm,” Trouble said.

“Keep us posted,” Winter called.

“I will, thanks guys,” Storm said. When it was just the five of them, Storm pulled off Seren’s boots and put them on the floor. “What’s going to happen to her? What’s this magical permafrost thing?”

“It’s something Jack can do,” Santa said. “I’ll use my magic to clear her skin of the permafrost and then the ladies can use their healing knowledge to gently warm her. She should be fine.”

Storm stripped his mate as fast as he could, too anxious for her safety and well-being to ogle her. Her skin was tinted blue with a sparkly sheen to it, and her fingernails and toenails were purple.

Santa stepped up to the foot of the bed and said, “Step back everyone, unless you want to get burned.”

He grasped her ankles and inhaled, bending and blowing across her skin. Storm could feel the heat coming off of Santa’sbreath and see the blue tint turn gold and then disappear. Her skin and nails returned to a normal, healthy pink.

Santa was sweating, and he pulled his jacket off and wiped his brow. “Shit, I haven’t done that in a long time. This is why we don’t let humans up here.”

“Thank you,” Storm said.

Santa put his hand on his shoulder. “She’s not out of the woods yet. The sisters still need to do their job. If they’re successful, which I believe they will be, she’ll wake up. Once she does, ask her what she remembers. We need to find out if Jack left a message for us with her.”

Storm stared up at his boss. “Do you think it was all a setup?”

“I don’t know. He could have taken her because he thought she was an elf or another magical person. Once he realized she was human, it would be more like him to just kill her or toss her out into the elements than it would be to waste his magic on freezing her like he did. If the point was to get us there, he didn’t try to attack me or any of the Guardians directly.” He shrugged. “It’s puzzling. But then again, he’s a trickster and likes to fuck with us for the fun of it. Maybe he’s bored.”

Storm didn’t know what to think, he was just thankful that he’d gotten Seren back before he lost her.

Santa left them, and he turned to watch the healers as they worked, hooking Seren up to IVs and placing warming blankets on her.

A monitor beeped out her heartbeat, and he found the sound soothing to his rattled beast.

“What’s going on with her?” he asked.

Trouble squeezed the IV bag gently and then said, “We’ve got warm saline going into her body and the warming blankets will bring her body back up to temperature. She’s eighty-nine degrees, which is quite low of course. She hasn’t lost any of herextremities to the cold, thankfully, but it will take some time for her to wake up.”

“So she’ll be okay?” he asked, holding his breath.

“Yes,” Melody said. She laid another blanket on Seren and said, “Grab a chair and make yourself comfortable. It might be a while.”

“Thank you,” he said, scraping a chair across the floor to bring it next to the bed. He slipped his hand under the warming blanket and linked their fingers.

The sisters promised to return in a few minutes to check on her, and he was finally alone again with his mate.

“Seren,” he said, his voice going gravelly with emotion. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I’m sorry I left you alone and I’m sorry you were taken. Come back to me. Please.”

Seren felt warm. Like really warm.

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