Page 23 of Saved By Her Guardian
Shuddering, she took a step back from the bars and he chuckled.
He took another drag on his cigarette and blew the smoke in her direction.She waved it away from her face as it seemed to cloud around her, coughing and trying not to choke on the thick smoke.
When she’d managed to get out from under the strange tobacco-scented cloud, she found herself alone, Frost gone.She cautiously moved to the bars and touched them so she could lean as close to them as possible and see down the hall.Her fingers froze against the cold iron, and she pulled them away.The cell door creaked.
She touched it again, pushing at it with her knuckles, and it swung open with another loud creak.
Holy crap, they hadn’t locked her in.
She didn’t stop to wonder why it was unlocked because she didn’t want to waste an opportunity.She stepped free of the cell, then closed the door behind her, listening intently to hear if someone might come for her.
When there was only silence, she crept down the hall toward a set of stone stairs.On either side of the hall were empty cells.As she reached the stairs, she hurried up them and followed the part of her that was connected to Maverick to get out of Frost’s lair.
She knew he was near Northernmost but outside the magical perimeter; she didn’t know how far away it was.And she wasn’t wearing very warm clothes.
There was a single door at the end of the hall, and she opened it slowly, peering out.
She saw only darkness.
But she could feel that someone was nearby, maybe several someones.
Taking in a deep breath, she could feel the connection to Maverick in her heart, promising herself that she’d tell him how sorry she was that she got herself in trouble with Frost trying to change her reaper destiny, and then she stepped into the cold.
She heard the crunch of boots on the ice and snow and knew it was now or never.
There were lights in the distance, the Well glowing in the darkness, and she knew she just had to get to the Well and she could get to Maverick.As the steps drew closer, she ran as fast as she could, aware that a lot of things were against her at the moment, particularly the cold that bit at her exposed skin and made her regret not dressing warmer.
As the cold surrounded her and sank into her skin, she ran for the lights of Northernmost, determined to get to her mate.
* * *
Maverick roared again, his snow leopard furious that Azure had taken Aralyn from him.He’d been a heartbeat too late to save her, and now she was in Frost’s control.
“Hey, it’ll be okay.Santa’s on the way,” Heath said.“He’ll fix it.We’ll get her back.”
The other Guardians and security team elves gathered around him as he stared at the Portal.He held up the stone that Aralyn had been about to shove into the Portal to get a better look at it and realized it had runes carved into it.
“What the hell do these mean?”he asked.
Marcus, one of the elves and his alpha female’s father, took it from him and said, “I don’t know exactly, but this feels like dark magic.If Azure is who grabbed her, you can bet that she was given this by Jack Frost.”
The question was, what was she doing talking to Jack Frost or coming to Northernmost to put something into the Portal for him?She knew he was evil.
What the hell had his mate been up to while they’d been apart?
Santa strode toward them and Marcus handed over the piece of stone.
He let out a low growl and his eyes flashed purple for a moment.The stone shattered and turned to dust, and with a swipe of his hand, Santa sent the dust up into the air and away from Northernmost.
“Those were dark magic runes,” Santa said.After learning what had transpired, Santa stroked his beard.“The stone was carved with runes meant to alter the Portal to allow people with dark magic to come in.Right now, the Portal is only for good magic users, or neutral ones like your mate.But if she’d put the stone into the Portal, it would have had dire consequences.”
“I don’t know how this happened,” Maverick said.He was entirely at a loss, and he didn’t know what to do.He looked toward Frost’s lair, and although he only saw darkness, he was sure his mate was there, somewhere in the cold, alone and scared.
He rubbed the space over his heart and growled.
“I need to get her.”
“Of course,” Santa said.He put his hand on Maverick’s shoulder.“He obviously duped her.You said she didn’t want her assignment, so maybe it’s related to that.But either way, I can get you past his magical defenses so you can find her, I’m certain he would have put her in the cells.And if not, once you’re close, you should be able to find her.”
