Page 11 of Cherished By Her Guardian

“My brother. He sent that female to kill me. This is a blood dagger, and it would have done the job. But not today.”

“Why not today?” the elf asked.

“Because it only works when a warlock’s magic is used up. She would have needed to stab me on Christmas Day before I replenished my magic at the Well, not on the solstice. Weird.”

“That’s what’s weird?” the male in front of Winterlyn asked.

“Yeah, if Frost gave her the blade, then he would have told herwhento use it, which means something happened, and she came here early. It’s weird.”

The elf shook his head. “Your brother sends a witch to stab you and the date is what’s weird?”

Santa grinned. “Hey, if you can’t laugh when your brother is trying to kill you, when can you? Get to the security office and find out where that witch came from so we can track her. I’ll have words with the head of her coven.”

“On it,” the elf said, hurrying away.

Santa looked at them. “Now, come along, let’s get inside and find out what your mate knows.”

“Mate?” Winterlyn squeaked out the word.

Santa’s brow lifted. “You know, yes? That you and Declan are mates?”

“It might have been nice if you’d left that for us to discuss,” the male—Declan—said. He turned to face Winterlyn and smiled at her. “Hi, beautiful. I’m Declan Knight. I’m a wolf shifter and one of the Guardians. Your friend is in big trouble.”

“I’m Winterlyn Brooks,” she said. “And she’s not my friend. I just met her yesterday when she agreed to bring me here.”

“Whydidyou want to come here?”

“I can’t shift.” She glanced at the Well of Magic and suddenly felt like a fool. “I thought the Well might be able to help me.”

Declan couldn’t believe that his truemate had come through the portal to Northernmost because she couldn’t shift. It didn’t even make sense. The Well was for magical people only. It had zero effect on shifters.

Santa hummed. “Let’s get inside before your mate freezes up here. I’m sure where she’s from is a lot warmer.”

The big male trudged off toward the security building.

Declan said, “Winterlyn, I’m sorry that the witch who brought you here had another plan that involved trying to take out Santa. Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I really didn’t know she was going to do that.”

“I believe you.”

He smiled at her, and she gave him a relieved smile in return.

“We have a lot to talk about, but Santa is going to want you to tell him everything you know about…what was her name?”

“Annette. My parents are alphas of the Arctic Pines Skulk, and the witch coven lives just outside of town.”

“Skulk? So you’re a fox?” he asked as they followed behind Santa, their bodies bumping occasionally as they walked.

“Arctic fox, but not really. I’ve never been able to shift.”

“And someone told you the Well could help?”

“I saw it on an online chat. The head of the coven said it was foolish to come up here because the magic wouldn’t work on me but said I could try if one of her witches would bring me up here. Annette volunteered but said it had to be this morning. She was acting weird when I showed up. Crying and angry.” She shook her head. “Clearly I picked a bad person to bring me here.”

Santa entered the building, holding the door for them, then strode ahead, leaving them alone in the hallway.

“I’m going to take you to the security office, then we can talk privately. If you’d like.”

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