Nice and Naughty (3 page)

“I think I need some more rest.” Kresida smiled and pushed aside her empty plate. “I appear to have died and you are my angel.”

Ru blinked. “What is an angel?”

Odin’s voice sounded from the doorway. “An emissary of god. She thinks she has died and this is the afterlife.”

Kresida looked at Odin wearing his tight leather tunic and trousers, and a blush formed on her cheeks.

Ru looked between them and frowned. There was a chemistry in the air that she usually sensed when beasts were ready to mate. She was still too young for that sort of thing. She wouldn’t be physically mature for four hundred years.

“Odin, this is Kresida. Kresida, this is Odin.” Ru made the introductions.

“My dear saint. Thank you for my rescue.”

Odin came forward and kissed Kresida’s hand. “It was not me who rescued you, but Rudolph in all her glory. She led me to you and insisted that I bring you here.”

Kresida smiled. “But it was you who lifted me from the snow. I remember that much.”

Ru snorted. They were lost in each other’s eyes. This is what her instinct had tried to show her. Kresida belonged to Odin.

* * * *

Ru sipped at her tea. “You were her saint.”

“Yes, though you saved her. I can never thank you enough for that. The time we shared taught me so much about humanity and how it changed. They were more than simple energy sources for us. They needed to believe as much as we needed them to believe it.” Santa smiled and sipped at his own tea.

She nodded. “It seems like only yesterday. I wish that time didn’t speed by. It feels like she was just with us, but I know it was a long time ago.”

“I am not sorry that I moved you through time. It was necessary to get us to this point where the world needs us the most. If I had not come to you then, we would not be here now.”

She nodded. “I understand the logic. So, do you have any questions for me?”

He sighed. “Yes, why now?”

She smiled. “Because they are all adults, and a life alone, even an eternal one, is a gloomy prospect. They were not made reindeer by their choice but by mine. The least I could assure them was a mate that would live as long as they did.”

“So, this wasn’t just about sex?” He smirked.

“Nope. This was about companionship, about finding partners for them. I didn’t have one, and I know how much that hurts, so I wanted to make sure that they all had someone they could depend on.”

Santa froze. “You are breaking my heart.”

She sipped at her tea. “You already broke mine; I just didn’t know it at the time.”

He sighed. “You brought her into my life.”

Ru shook her head and chuckled. “Not Kresida. After she passed on. You treated me like a beast, a means to an end. We were no longer partners. I was your creature, and since I am bound to you, there was not much I could do.”

“I never... I didn’t mean... I just had to deal with losing someone again.” He ran his hand over his face.

“I know that you had just worked through losing the other gods when we first met. You made a plan, and you took action. You were alone, and you found a companion. That was the man I was waiting to see when Kres died. Instead, she faded and you went with her, remaining in limbo while the world turned around you. Yes, you attended to the humans, but you left me behind.”

He got to his feet and left her alone. She sighed and rubbed her forehead before drinking more tea.

When she had gotten her despair under control, she walked to the window and let the winter in once again.

Below her, she could see the elf village, the goblin towers, the dwarf warrens glowing under the snow. They had rescued as many as they could from the encroachment of the humans. The ones who lived close by had committed to helping Santa in his rounds.

Kresida had acted as advisor to the elves and had helped select the presents that they were to give to those who deserved and needed.

* * * *

“Ru, you need to get out. You need to find a man and enjoy life.” Kresida grinned, her dark hair already silver at the temples.

“That isn’t really in the cards for me. I suppose I am destined to work.” Ru smiled and looked over the detailed map of human habitation.

“Well, then, you need some more reindeer. I don’t know where you came from, but I am pretty sure that there are more like you somewhere.” Kres chuckled.

Ru blinked and looked at the map. The human species was only going to keep increasing. A few more bodies pulling the sleigh wouldn’t hurt.

“I need to speak about that with Odin—uh, Santa.” She smiled and used the new name that Kres had saddled her husband with.

Of course, there were no others like her, not yet. She hadn’t come into being yet. Time travel was tricky.

Ru paced while Santa sat behind his desk. “Kres has a point. It is tiring getting you everywhere you need to go. I need some backup. I have an idea, but it will require the use of some of that Christmas magic you have been hoarding.”

He frowned. “I haven’t been hoarding it.”

“You have, but I need it. I need eight snowflakes and your power to throw them across time. I have very specific folks in mind, but I can’t open the gateway on my own.” She tapped the ruby collar she still wore.

He nodded. “When did you want to do this?”

“I already know where the girls are. We can do it now and collect them in a few years.”

He sighed and went to the wall, pulling out the box that had melded into wood. “If you and Kres think it is a good idea.”

Ru smiled, and together, they went to the top of her tower to throw the power of Christmas through time and space to create her team.

Eight baby girls were chosen, each one on the brink of death. A snowflake touched their skin, and each began to thrive and grow.

Ru knew where each and every one of her team were growing up and maturing. She would have to build a home for them before they were brought to the workshop.

* * * *

Ru walked to the top of the tower and stared at the sky and the portals that opened to thousands of points in time. Somewhere, she was waking and walking for the first time two hundred years in the past. She remembered the woods greeting her and the creatures within it coming to pay her homage. She was a tiny bit of the spirit of the earth itself, and now, she was helping to keep that spirit flourishing in other beings.

“I thought I would find you up here.” Santa’s voice sounded behind her.

“I thought you had run away to try and ignore me again.” She turned and stopped still. He was holding an armload of roses that had a familiar gleam.

“I have brought you a peace offering. These are flowers crafted by the dwarves. They can withstand any temperature as they are made of ruby and emerald.” He offered them to her.

She chuckled and took them. They even smelled like roses somehow. “Thank you. I suppose I don’t have to put them in water.”

He nodded. “You are correct. So, would you care to adjourn to your rooms where I can be more comfortable?”

She laughed. He was resistant to the cold as well. “Fine. I need to change clothing anyway.”

“It was a bad habit that she got you in to.”

Ru grinned. “It is the only fun one.”

She led the way down the stairs, cradling her precious flowers.

In her quarters, she summoned a vase and set the flowers in it.

“I still don’t know how you do that.”

“Well, I don’t do it around my team. It would freak them out, but since I am bonded to this pocket dimension, it does what I ask.”

Santa asked softly, “Is that why she was alive so long?”

Ru glanced at him. “I asked it to give her what it could. Three hundred years was all that could be managed.”

“I am thankful for every moment. I now have a question for you.”

She settled at the table and folded her hands. “What would you like to know?”

“Do you hate me for my relationship?”

Ru shook her head. “Of course not. I am a little irritated by your mourning. I had always assumed that she would live and love you as long as she could, but by the time I became a woman, you would be ready to move on. That happened a few decades ago, and I can tell you that frustration builds up very quickly when you are going into heat once a year.”

He dropped into his chair. “You want me?”

“I have always known that you are the most suitable mate I would come across. I also knew that I needed a lot more time to get to this point in my life cycle than originally guessed. This dimension does not let me change myself, so reaching maturity at all was an act of will.”

“I had no idea.”

“You never asked. Now, I am going to change clothing, so as I know you are a little squeamish about these things, you can either turn your back or leave.”

She got up and went to her wardrobe, pulling out a gown with flames in the pattern. It was daringly cut and left her neck and collar completely exposed.

She tossed it onto her bed and stripped off her clothing. Santa watched with interest, and he jolted in surprise when she turned toward him, her hands on her hips wearing only her collar. “Are you taking inventory?”

He blinked. “I hadn’t realized you were really...”

“An adult? I was just a little forest force when you first met me. I have absorbed more magic in the last thousand years than most gods see in five thousand. My forest may be long gone, but I am still standing.” She stalked up to him and poked him in the chest.

He caught her hand and pressed it flat against him. “I was going to say I hadn’t realized that you were made entirely of curves. The clothing you wear hides it.”

“I did that for Kres. She thought of me as an eternal teenager, and I didn’t want to disabuse her of that notion. As you know, there was much we did not tell her.”

He nodded. “I know. Does the collar hurt?”

“It is simply like wearing a belt. Well, wearing a belt at all times, even while bathing.”

“I am sorry. You know why it was necessary.”

She chuckled, turned and went to pull on her gown. “Of course. You don’t trust me to stay otherwise. You chose to lock me in place rather than trust that I would keep to my promise. It is a sad state for Santa.”

“You were a forest spirit, notoriously free. I did not know how long it would take to implement my plans, and I could not chance you returning to your forest before things were settled.”

“What about now?”

He blinked and sat up. “You still want it off? You are known for the red glow.”

Ru nodded. “Of course I would choose freedom. I would choose to walk the paths where my trees were.”

“The trees are still there.”

Shock ripped through her. “What?”

“The trees are still there. They are a protected forest. No one can touch a trunk or a branch. Families camp and animals are safe in the two hundred acres where your forest began.”

Tears formed in her eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why did you say that it was gone?”

“I needed you to stay with me.”

Ru brushed the folds of her dress into straight lines. “I need some time on my own now.”

He left, and she nodded to herself, removing the dress she had just put on and running to the roof again. She found the contemporary portal, and she shifted into her reindeer form, running to see the place that had been hers and hers alone.

* * * *

Santa felt the moment that Rudolph left him. It hurt more than anything he had ever felt before, and he deserved it.

He had kept her from her forest, kept her from a mate and, instead, flaunted his relationship in front of her. Now, she had told him that he was her best chance at a mate, and he had commented on her taste in clothing.

He was an idiot.

Even before he met her, Ru had acted in the best interests of those around her. When he had captured her, she had still moved to make the lives of those around her richer and more fulfilling.

His focus had been on ingraining himself into the rituals of humanity. She had helped him achieve his goals, but he had still never given her freedom.

It was time to rectify that detail. If it was all she wanted for Christmas, he would give her her freedom. Once they were on equal standing, he could address the letters of the other reindeer.

If she was amenable, he and Ru would become lovers, and together, they would soar forward, bringing as much comfort and joy to the world as they were able. He just had to convince her not to spit in his face first.

* * * *

Ru’s hooves stepped carefully through the snow; the trees whispered to her in welcome, excited by her return. She listened and heard the brook tapping under the ice.

She walked to the centre of a clearing, and she knelt, lying down in the snow while the world moved around her and her forest welcomed her home.

A familiar presence interrupted her all too soon.

Santa appeared in the centre of the clearing, and he walked over to her in silence, kneeling at her side and stroking her muzzle before he reached around her neck and unbuckled her collar.

He was freeing her.

She sat for a moment as air rushed around her neck, and then, she carefully took on her wolf form.

The first few steps were cautious, and then, she frolicked in the snow, enjoying her favourite form for the first time in a thousand years or more.

Santa knelt in the snow with the collar in his hands. He watched her with a smile on his lips and a gleam in his eyes.

She walked up to him and growled happily, rolling to her back and wiggling in the snow.

He laughed and stroked her fur. “You look happy.”

She shifted to her human form and grinned. “I am happy. Thank you.”

She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. His mouth was firm under hers and soon began to kiss her back.

When he wrapped his hands around her and she felt the collar, she paused and pulled back. “Are you going to put that collar back on me?”

“No. I will never sneak it onto you again. If you want to wear the ruby, we will come up with something else.”

She grinned. “Good. In that case, would you care to return home? The magic you expended to get here is making you look a little tired.”