Page 33 of Rescued By Her Guardian

“What the hell!” he yelled. He cradled Ivy in his arms and struggled to his feet.

“Dark magic can’t pass,” Santa said.

Shit.

He laid his precious mate on the ground and brushed her hair from her face. The purple glow hadn’t moved any farther down her chest, but she looked drawn, her cheeks sunken and a strange ashy color seeping through the purple.

“She’s not evil,” he said. “She’s still there, I can feel it. Help her, damn it!”

He pressed his fingers to her neck, to the place where he’d bit her. Her pulse beat against his fingers, strong and steady.

Santa moved past the magical perimeter and put his hand on Knox’s shoulder. “Son.”

“No. Fucking no!” he yelled, tears blurring his vision. “You have to save her.”

“Give me room and watch my back.”

Santa laid his hands on top of Ivy’s head and inhaled slowly. At first, nothing happened.

Knox silently pleaded for his mate to come back. He linked his fingers with hers and pressed the top of her hand to his lips.

“Ivy, please don’t leave me.”

A golden glow emanated from Santa’s hands. Above them, the Northern Lights swirled and danced in the sky, seeming even brighter with Santa accessing his magic. The golden glow grew so bright that Knox had to turn his head and shield his eyes.

The glow ended abruptly, and Santa grunted.

Knox blinked the brightness from his eyes and looked at his mate.

She was no longer covered with purple or smelling of sulfur and burning wood. Santa was on his butt next to them, his eyes dull and his cheeks hollow.

“Is she?” Knox asked, scrubbing at his cheeks.

“Get her to the Well,” Santa croaked, his voice sounding like he’d been downing whiskey by the barrel for decades. “She’s free of the dark magic, but she’s not going to make it without being replenished.”

Knox didn’t waste a moment and hauled Ivy up from the ground and raced through the perimeter to the Well. He’d seen magical people replenish themselves at the Well a thousand times over the years, but he’d never had to do it himself. Dropping to his knees, he grasped her wrists and pushed her hands over the edge of the well and into the swirling magic.

Golden magic moved up her fingers and sank into her skin, lighting a path he could see through her clothes all the way to her heart, up her neck and down her chest, spreading through all the parts of her body.

She let out a deep sigh and collapsed against him as her whole body glowed bright gold and then faded.

He sank down onto the cold ground and held her close, pressing a kiss to her lips.

“Ivy?”

She blinked, her eyes bright gold for a moment before turning to brilliant blue. “Knox?”

Then she closed her eyes and relaxed once more, a soft snore escaping her lips.

He stared at her.

She was asleep?

And snoring.

Holy crap.

But she was alive and safe.

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