“Shouldn’t you be practicing your magic instead of playing kitchen elf?” A man’s sharp voice cut through the warmth.
My hand jerked, sending peppermint dust onto the counter. “I… I was helping.”
“You’re getting in the way.”
Heat flashed through my veins, followed instantly by bone-deep cold. My fingers tingled, magic rising beneath my skin. It was too much, too fast.
One of the mugs shuddered, then exploded with a sharp crack, sending scalding cocoa flying right onto Figgy’s arm. His yelp of pain silenced the kitchen instantly.
“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean—” My voice caught as frost crept across the remaining mugs, cracking two more.
The man’s voice cut like ice. “See? You can’t control it. You’ll never?—”
My mug shook violently in my hand as reality crashed back in. The lid popped off as if it were a pot under too much pressure, the cocoa inside surging upward.
It erupted like a chocolate volcano, splashing across Kip’s forearm.
I watched in horror as angry red blotches instantly appeared on his skin. My mind was simultaneously in the present and trapped in that decades-old memory. The energy inside me was spiraling out of control, and I didn’t know how to stop it.
Chapter 13
Sweet Baby Reindeer
Kip jerked back, hot chocolate dripping from his forearm, his face contorted in pain. “Sweet baby reindeer, that’s hot.”
I froze, paralyzed by what had just happened and what I remembered. The mug slipped from my fingers, hitting the edge of the tailgate as it fell to the ground. Wind whipped my hair across my face with sudden fury, and the temperature seemed to plummet in seconds.
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t… I can’t…” My teeth started chattering, not from the cold but from something deeper, more primal. Fear. The same fear I’d felt in that kitchen memory.
Something white drifted past my peripheral vision. A snowflake. Then another. In Palm Springs. In the desert.
Cole moved with surprising speed, positioning himself directly in front of me. His massive frame shielded me from the wind that howled around us.
“Neve. Look at me.” His hands, impossibly warm, cupped my face. “Focus on my voice. You’re safe.”
I tried to look past him at Kip, panic rising. “But he’s?—”
“I’m fine.” Kip appeared at Cole’s shoulder. The angry red mark on his arm was already fading to pink before my eyes. “See? Reindeer healing. Pretty neat party trick.”
My pulse thudded, and my breath came in shallow gasps. “The hot chocolate... I was at the North Pole. I was fourteen, and I lost control and hurt someone and?—”
“Breathe.” Cole’s thumbs traced small circles on my cheekbones. His eyes anchored me, steady as stone. “In through your nose. Out through your mouth.”
I struggled to follow his instructions, but my mind kept flashing back to that kitchen, to the elf’s cry of pain, to the man’s cutting words.You can’t control it.
“You’re spiraling.” Cole’s forehead pressed against mine. “Stay with us.”
A snowflake landed on my eyelash. Another on my nose. The desert sky was spitting snow around us in a circle, as if we were inside a snow globe someone had shaken.
“I can’t make it stop.” My voice cracked with the admission. “I don’t know how.”
Cole’s eyes darkened, determined. “Yes, you do.”
Before I could argue, his mouth descended on mine. His lips were firm but gentle, tasting of chocolate and cinnamon whiskey. The contact sent a jolt through my system, like touching a live wire. He deepened the kiss, his tongue sweeping in with a confidence that made my knees weak.
The wind died down, and the snowflakes hung suspended in the air around us for one impossible moment before dissolving into nothing.
Cole pulled back enough to look into my eyes, his expression intense. “Better?”
