Focusing on the protected town ahead, she winced as the relentless snow stung her face like tiny needles.The cold was worse than anything she’d ever experienced.
Everything hurt.Her joints felt like they were filled with ice, her bones frozen solid.She screamed her sister’s name once more and then collapsed to her knees as the sound was lost in the howling wind.
She couldn’t get up.
It was too cold.She, the daughter of a powerful healing witch and a fire-breathing dragon shifter, was going to die in the snow, frozen to death and unable to help the most important person in her life.
In the distance, the lights of Northernmost beckoned, taunted.A place that had symbolized hope and renewal now seemed like a lighthouse on the shore, too far to be of any good to her.
Her vision blurred at the edges and cold feathered its way through her body.
She tried to get back up, but the cold had a hold of her now, and she was trapped, helpless, and without enough magic to save herself or her sister.
I’m sorry, Talia.
Sebastian stared up at the sky.It was really ridiculously beautiful in Northernmost with the stars and the Northern Lights in the vast darkness.Before he came to work at the Well of Magic, he’d seen pictures of the Northern Lights, but they didn’t do them justice.They were just as magical and awe-inspiring as the Well itself.
He pressed his fingers over his heart and let out a low growl.His wolf was agitated and had been for the last few minutes.For no reason that he could figure out.
Lowering his head, he closed his eyes and touched his wolf, trying to decipher the snarls and grunts from his beast.
He felt something faint, some kind of connection that his wolf was feeling.Tilting his head, he listened intently, and then he heard it.A scream for help.
At least he thought that’s what he heard.
Somewhere out there in the darkness.
Turning on the walkie, he reached out to the three elves with him.“Can you guys meet me at my location?I’m at the perimeter, across from the Well.”
“Everything okay?”Royce asked.
“I’m not sure,” he said.
“On the way,” Willow said.
Sebastian stared into the darkness, watching and listening.There were scuffles, like something hitting the snow, and he swore he saw beams of light, but it was so fleeting he wasn’t sure his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him.And his damn heart was being squeezed so hard he felt like it was going to pop like a balloon.
As the others joined him, he inhaled deeply and blinked several times, then told them what was going on.When he finished speaking, the elves were quiet, staring out into the darkness and listening.
“I don’t…wait, hold on.It sounds like running,” Royce said.
Sebastian moved forward, just to the edge of the perimeter.
There was a flash that looked like fire, but it was dull.
“I’m going out there,” Sebastian said.
Finn grabbed his arm.“Let’s call for backup so we don’t leave the town vulnerable.”
Sebastian paced, listening to what he was certain were cries for help for a few minutes as his wolf paced, anxious as hell and determined to run into the night.
As more of the security team rushed out of the building, Sebastian raced through the perimeter, following his wolf’s instincts.
He was used to navigating through the snowdrifts after so many years in Northernmost, and his wolf gave him the strength and stamina to keep going.He knew where he was headed—in the direction of Frost’s lair.There was a flash of light in the direction he and the elves were moving, and he looked over his shoulder for a heartbeat and saw Santa inside the perimeter, lifting his hands in the air.
Bright light illuminated the ground, thanks to the spell Santa had cast.
That’s when Sebastian saw her: a female, curled up in the snow, motionless.He raced for her and crashed to the ground on his knees next to her.The smell of sulfur told him Frost’s evil followers had been near her.He lifted her into his arms and rose to his feet, letting out a sharp howl from his wolf.
