Page 37 of Rescued By Her Guardian

Knox hugged Ivy a little closer. “We need to shut down the Entrance.”

Santa looked at him. “What?”

“Just until we figure out how they knew where the portal was in the States. I mean, of all the places they could be when a portal opened, they picked Kentucky where Ivy and I had just gone through hours earlier. I mean, it’s weird, right?”

“Indeed.”

Santa hummed and stroked his beard, his brow furrowed. “I need to look at the Entrance.”

Knox left Ivy with her dad and brother in the security office and headed out to the portal with Santa and several otherGuardians. He scanned the snowy landscape as they made their way to the portal.

The Entrance was made from the bones of some ancient creature. It was twelve feet in diameter and glowed brightly when someone was using it, either to leave Northernmost or arrive. Now, it was a dusky gray, illuminated partly by the security lights around the perimeter of the town, the glowing Northern Lights in the sky, and the Well of Magic.

For Frost to take control of the Well, he had to kill Santa. When Santa died, his magical protections that prevented anyone with dark magic from coming across the perimeter of Northernmost would disappear and anyone—dark or light—could approach the Well.

Santa did occasionally leave Northernmost, as he’d done recently when he helped Storm get his mate Seren back from Frost. Generally, though, he stayed where it was safest.

Except, of course, for Christmas Eve.

Frost had never attacked Santa while he was delivering gifts. He always waited until dawn on Christmas Day, when his magic was most depleted just before he returned to Northernmost.

That didn’t stop the fucker from constantly attacking during the month, attempting to lure Santa from the safety of Northernmost and also gathering elves and other magical people to steal their magic and turn them evil.

Like he’d almost done with Ivy.

On a whim, Knox took the flashlight from Maverick and strode around the back of the Entrance. He swept the high beam around the ground, not really sure what he was looking for. And then he saw something: footprints.

They didn’t look like the boots the Guardians and security team wore, which had a particular kind of tread. He knelt down and peered at the prints that were just outside of the perimeter,which was marked with security cameras and motion detectors every few feet.

The footprints were angled toward the Entrance.

He spun and aimed the beam at the structure, the light illuminating…something.

“What are you doing back there?” Hunter asked, shielding his eyes when the beam strayed off the Entrance for a moment.

“Sorry. There are footprints outside of the magical perimeter. And there’s something on the Entrance. I don’t know what it is, though.”

The group, including Santa, came around the back of it. When it wasn’t activated, it looked like a big bone arch.

Gabriel reached up to touch the portal, and Santa grabbed his hand. “Don’t touch that, it’s dark magic.”

Santa explained that the powdery residue was a dark magic element that tracked whoever used the item the powder was on. It essentially covered anyone who used the Entrance like an invisible tracker.

“So that’s how Azure knew where Ivy was when she tried to come back to Northernmost,” Knox said. “She was being magically tracked. Me too?”

“Only magical people,” Santa said. “I’m going to bet that Azure is the one who planted the powder. He probably stopped right there at the edge of the perimeter and tossed it over. It was too fine to trigger the motion detector.”

“Is it still on Ivy?” Knox asked.

“I’m sure it is, I’ll remove it,” Santa said, “after I remove it from the Entrance.”

“Do we need to shut the Entrance down and not let anyone come through?” Maverick asked.

“No, it will be safe once I remove the tracking powder.” Santa turned and stared toward Frost’s lair. It wasn’t visible in the darkness.

“Could we go after him on the solstice?” Declan asked. “When he’s weakest?”

“Not until I bring family here to take his place. And to be clear, I won’t kill my brother. But I can strip him of the Jack Frost mantle and counteract his dark magic in some way, prevent him from harming anyone else.” He made a grumbling sound, like he was fighting an internal battle. “I need time to think. From now on, Guardians patrolaroundthe Entrance too, not just looking to see if it’s fine, but checking the back of it.”

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