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Chapter Ten
When Jax fired up the sleigh, a whirring sound reverberated around us and the floor of the sled hummed. I sat on the tiny bench next to Leven in the back, then lifted myself to glance over my shoulder toward the front, curious how this whole thing worked. The dashboard in front of Jax lit up from Christmas lights with so many gadgets, including a navigational tracker I’d only see used in movies on submarines. Farther ahead, Tatum was in reindeer form, his white and gray pelt blending in with the snow coating the landscape. Harnessed, he faced away from us, wisps of hot hair floating from his nostrils as he swung his head up and down.
My stomach did somersaults. I was inside a sleigh about to fly! If Britta were here, she’d have been squealing with joy, and I wasn’t far from that reaction myself. My chest bubbled with adrenaline, and every inch of me buzzed.
“Hold on,” Jax said. “Let me put on the heat on in the back.” He pressed a few buttons when Tatum grunted and lifted his head high, his front legs following. An explosion of fairy dust sparkled and fizzled out from his antlers. The next thing I knew, he’d lifted off the ground with such swiftness, the whole carriage lurched after him, the nose of the unit going up first.
“Whoa.” Jax fell back into his seat, his hand flying across the dashboard, hitting a bunch of buttons in unison. I stumbled backward out of my seat, my heart soaring to my throat. Leven’s steady arm snapped around my waist, drawing me toward him, the other holding on to the frame.
“I got you.”
A bang sounded, followed by a tiny panel to our right opening up. An explosion of glitter shot out right in our direction.
I shrieked, looking away, but it hit me everywhere, and it smelled like popcorn.
“What the hell, Jax?!” Leven snarled.
When I glanced over, he had a rainbow of shine on his cheek and brow, smatterings in his honey-blond hair, and more over his coat. I exploded with laughter to see such a strong man sparkling. I wiped my face and my hand came back covered in tiny shimmering speckles.
“Ah, shit,” Jax mumbled while I remained held tight in Leven’s arms, pressed against him with the whole sleigh ascending. If he let me go, I’d slide to the bottom of the compartment.
“Sorry, guys,” Jax called out over a shoulder. “I hit theGood Stuffbutton by accident.”
The higher we climbed, the more my stomach dropped, and if Leven hadn’t been holding me in place, I might have tumbled out of the carriage, making me feel I was going backward on a roller coaster.
Exhilaration flooded me. It was as if nothing in the world could trouble me, and I just yearned to giggle, sitting here in Leven’s arms. Or maybe get into his lap. I shook myself, convinced I was losing my mind in the moment.
We’d left behind the treetops, and beneath us the landscape spread out in an endless ocean of crystalline snow, sweeping up onto the surrounding mountains. They shadowed the location like giants. Everything seemed silent, pristine and clean, and we were oddly juxtaposed to the settings. A golden unit drawn by a magical reindeer and effortlessly gliding over nature.
The sky was mostly cloudy with steel-blue grays overhead, casting the ground in a muted shade, as if someone had cast the place in a black-and-white photo.
I gripped Leven’s arm, staring at the world below us. A fluttering of warm air folded around us from the carriage walls, and despite being outside, I hardly felt the cold.
“You’re so beautiful when you smile,” he said, and I glanced over at him, at the glitter on his chin. I reached over and wiped some of the sparkles away. I couldn’t stop smirking as the carriage started to level out and soon enough we no longer climbed, but rather flew through the skies right way up.
“This is incredible.” I pulled free from his arm and twisted in my seat, sitting on my calves to look out front. I tingled from my head to toes and loved how overwhelmingly calm I felt.
Tatum in reindeer form was running in the air as if we were on the ground, hauling us through the sky. Yet we weren’t moving super-fast.
“What do you think?” Jax twisted around to face me, holding on to the reins to guide Tatum. He sat so close, I could see the light flecks in his blue eyes, and the kind of long lashes I’d love to have without the use of mascara. Maybe it was the whole magical sensation I was experiencing, but I had the wildest urge, and with no doubts catapulting forward to stop me, I leaned closer.
Jax’s eyes widened slightly, but he moved toward me until our mouths met. As before, an electric surge zipped through me. He tasted of spiced chocolate, and I adored how he and Leven tasted like delicious treats. He licked my lips when the whole sleigh took a sudden dipped.
“Whoa!” My stomach fell through me.
Jax snatched the reins as Tatum glanced back our way, grunting, his eyes narrowing. I’d never seen a reindeer give us the evil glare, but Tatum managed it.
“Better sit down,” Jax said. “Try to focus. We’re on the lookout for Krampus.”
I stiffened. “I can focus.”
“Good. But you’ve just had a big dose of the Good Stuff, which was partly my mistake, so you’re not thinking straight.”
I scrunched up my nose and stuck my tongue out at him. “I feel amazing and could calculate a whole mathematical equation if needed.”
Jax chortled and kept staring down across the landscape.
I twisted and slid back down next to Leven, who stared at me with that look that screamed he wanted to devour me. I squeezed my thighs together, loving the tingles he caused.
