Page 4 of Rescued By Her Guardian

“Hi, Matthias,” she said as she reached the long buffet of prepared food. Matthias was an elf who was a talented cook. She’d even considered dating him because he was cute and sweet, but she wanted to wait for her truemate. Her parents had been truemates and had loved each other dearly.

“Hi, Ivy,” he said. “Do you need food for the boss?”

“Yep, a double portion of pot roast, extra carrots, potatoes, and cheesecake, but only if it’s the non-cookie dough kind.”

“I made strawberry swirl cheesecake for tomorrow. I’ll cut a big slice for him.”

“Thanks, I’ll pick up his tray when Alder and I are done eating.”

“Do you have an escort for the Christmas Day ball?” he asked as he ladled brown gravy over her pot roast and mashed potatoes.

The Christmas Day ball happened the evening of Christmas Day and kicked off the week-long vacation for every single magical person in Northernmost. Only the Guardians continued to patrol to keep everyone safe, but the rest of the elves were off until New Year’s Day.

It was a fancy ball and a guaranteed fun time.

“I haven’t thought about it, actually,” she said.

Which was only a half-lie. Shehadthought about it, but she’d thought about what it would be like to finally find her truemate and have an actual date to the ball. How fun would that be? And magical. So very dang magical.

Rubbing her pointed ear, she decided it was better to say no than string him along. Because she liked him and he was cute, she just didn’t like him enough for it to become anything else.

Cute was fine, but it didn’t rev her engine.

“I think I’ll probably go alone,” she said. “But maybe we can find each other for a dance.”

“Sounds good,” he said. He gave her a half-smile, and she wondered what it would be like to fall in love.

Not with him, but with whoever her truemate was.

Probably like getting hit by lightning, but directly in the heart.

She moved on down the buffet line, greeting her friends as they passed, and settled on a plate of two chocolate chip cookies for dessert.

She and Alder found seats at a table with some of the security team.

After grabbing iced tea, she put butter on her roll and said, “You going to take someone to the ball?”

“Nah. I like to keep my options open.”

She rolled her eyes. “Typical male.”

“Hey, you just told that moony-eyed male that you’d save him a dance when what he clearly wants to do is actually take you as his date.”

She stopped buttering the roll and stared at him. “What does you being a player have to do with me not wanting to make Matthias feel bad?”

It was his turn to roll his eyes. “Typical female. You put him in the friend zone and now he can’t get out.”

She laughed. “Anyway, I’m waiting for my truemate.”

“What, do you think he’s going to fall out of the sky or something?”

She shrugged. “It’s December.”

His brows drew down as he frowned. “What does that mean?”

“It means it’s a magical month, and anything is possible, even my truemate falling from the sky.”

He poked his fork in her direction. “You’re as nutty as a fruitcake.”

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