“Why, do you want to sit on my lap?” Nick leered. Damon never won these types of games. The alpha in the mirror blushed, and Nick grinned. He’d forgotten how much he loved flustering his old alpha friend.
“I don’t think I’m on your nice list,” Damon said, winking. Nick shook his head and smiled.
Did he even have a nice list? He’d have to check.
“I’m actually calling because I need your help,” he said, watching as Damon’s eyes widened at the admission. They both knew how much asking for help sucked.”
“Shit, man. Whatever you need. Us Christmas dudes need to stick together.” Damon winked at him, and Nick rolled his eyes. If he never heard the term Christmas-dudes again it would be too soon.
“The magic in the castle is contaminated and I need to drain it. Do you have time to come down and give me a hand? I could do it myself, but you know how long that would take,” Nick said, neglecting to mention why the magic was contaminated.
“No problem! I can be there in a few hours. I bet your elves are freaking out!” Damon smiled like the idea of Santa’s elves in a panic was hilarious. Before he was made Santa, Nick would have agreed with him.
“They’re pretty stressed, yeah. I’ll see you in a few hours. Thanks again.”
“Like I said, it’s no problem.”
Nick broke the connection and breathed a sigh of relief. If he and Damon could drain the castle by dinner, he should be able to have the magic up and running in time for the elves to pull and evening shift.
Feeling like he had the situation under control, Nick went to find Pat and tell him the good news.
“Everyone! Everyone! Listen up!”
Billy and Tulip looked across the room to see Pat standing on one of the worktables with his chest puffed out and an exuberant look on his face.
“Oh thank Santa,” Tulip said, breathing out a sigh of relief. Billy knew exactly how she felt. Pat would only look this happy if the problem with the castle magic was under control. They almost didn’t need to listen to what he said next.
The room broke out into relieved chatter, leaving Pat standing there with an outraged scowl on his face.
“I said listen up!” he bellowed. The room went quiet, and Pat composed himself, adjusting his shirt collar while he smiled. “Now, I have good news. The problem with the castle magic has been identified, and everything should be back to normal by the end of dinner.”
Cheers broke out, and Pat let it go on for all of three seconds before impatiently waving his arms for everyone to be quiet. “I know, I know. It’s wonderful. Now here’s the plan: Our new Santa has decided that everyone gets before dinner off to relax, and then we’ll all pull an evening after dinner lasting until midnight. If everyone works hard, we should be back on track by morning.”
Cheers broke out at the news that Christmas was saved. Pat jumped off the table and made his way over to Grumpus and a gaggle of senior elves, shooting Tulip and Billy a wave on the way.
“A day off? In December?” Tulip said, shaking her head. “That’s certainly different. What do you think the problem is?”
“I don’t know,” Billy said. “And it’s not a day off. We’re just… pushing our shift back a little.”
“I’m not complaining!” Tulip jumped up and sat on Billy’sworktable. “I’m just curious. It has to be something the new Santa did.”
Billy felt a flare of indignation on Nick’s behalf. “We don’t know that,” he said. Tulip shot him a flat look.
“I’m not just saying that because we’re… you know. We have no way of knowing what happened.”
“Fine,” Tulip said, jumping off the table again. “What are you going to do with your time off?”
“I don’t know. You?”
“Stress relief,” Tulip said with grin, scanning the room like an apex predator. “Johnny over there’s been looking a little tense, lately… don’t you think?”
Billy snorted. Johnny was always tense, but letting his eyes flit over to the elf on the far side of the room, he had to admit the man was hot.
“Have fun,” he said, watching as the smile on Tulip’s face grew into something that would look more at home on the Grinch.
“Oh, I will. I’ll see you at dinner.”
“See you…” Billy said, but Tulip was already walking away. He watched as Johnny became aware that Tulip was heading right toward him. The look on the handsome elf’s face was priceless.
