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“It’s over,” I said, praying that was the case. I couldn’t take any more.
“I want to go home,” she said.
Tatum approached us and knelt near before handing me the Santa hat. “This belongs to you.” The fabric was soft in my hand, and I remembered the first time I’d found it in the snow. How warm it had kept me, and how moments later I’d been attacked by Krampus. Since then, my life had spun out of control. My sister had been endangered.
“No thanks.” I pushed it back into Tatum’s hand. “I accidentally found it in the woods. Maybe you should become Santa.”
He shook his head, staring at me with sympathy, not anger. “You have no choice. The hat chose you. And to become Santa, you must complete the ritual.” He glanced over his shoulder. “He won’t stop hunting you until you accept your fate.”
Fate.I hated that word, because if it were real, it meant my destiny had been to be beaten and hated by my parents. What sort of fate would allow that to happen to a child?
Jax entered the room alongside an older man with silvery hair and a matching beard that hung halfway down to his chest. His belly was as round as a beach ball, and he wore stretched jeans and a zipped-up blue windbreaker. His nose was cherry red, matching his cheeks.
“Santa,” Britta whispered. And yes, that was the epitome of what he ought to look like, not me. I’d be a laughing stock in the Workshop.
“The rest of the elite and guard teams are all tied up and half drugged out in several other rooms, but they’re alive,” Jax said, his eyes lighting up at having found his friends.
“That’s fantastic news,” I said, my chest light from the news.
“Nicholas.” Krampus gargled out of the blue, his eyes half-asleep, and he lay on his side on the ground. “Why did you leave me all alone in this wretched world?” His voice danced with sorrow, with a loneliness I understood too well.
“My name is Charlie,” the man said with a British accent, and that threw me off. Maybe he wasn’ttheepitome of Santa Claus. “And you’ve been a very naughty boy, haven’t you, Krampus?”
Krampus’s eyes glistened as he stared up at Charlie, and if he weren’t a monster who’d tried to kill me, his plea might have broken my heart.
“We can come to an arrangement,” I said, standing, meeting Krampus’s gaze. “Vow to never harm another living being, and you can come to the Workshop.”
“No!” all the men growled in unison.
“He’s clearly got issues from being excommunicated from his home and losing a brother,” I said.
Krampus suddenly broke out into a chuckle, maniacal and covering me in shivers. The beast was back. “I’ll skin you alive,” he snarled.
The three men stepped in front of me, Jax approaching the fiend. “Nickie will have the power from now on, and you can’t touch her.”
Charlie strolled toward me, a pleasant smile spreading his mouth, as if this were an everyday occurrence.
“Dear, I do believe you owe me a kiss to close the deal.” He stretched out a hand.
Britta tugged on my jacket. “Why do you have kiss Santa?”
Charlie bent over toward Britta. “Because I’m retiring and going to Hawaii. Your sister will take my place as Santa.”
Britta squealed and bounced on her toes. “Is that true?” And it surprised me as I always thought she didn’t believe in Santa.
Excitement bubbled in my chest, unable to believe we’d survived. That Britta had comfortably talked to strangers, and instead of becoming scared, she’d grown stronger. I was so proud of her.
I nodded and stared across to my three men, who smiled and nodded, encouraging me to accept my future. Maybe sometimes fate had roundabout ways of working. If it hadn’t been for this incident, I wouldn’t have met my guys and seen that there was still a lot more beauty in the world to discover. That it didn’t have to be just Britta and me anymore, that I could learn to accept others into my life.
I took Charlie’s hand, and he drew me closer. He collected the hat from my grip and placed it onto my head. At once, warmth glided over my body, melting away the cold, from my numb toes to my icicle ears. Charlie wrapped an arm across my waist and drew me against him, his belly hitting me first, and before I could protest, our lips joined.
An explosion of energy burst from our mouths, zigzagging through me so fast, I lost myself. And a great wave of power crashed through me. Luckily, Charlie held me up as my legs gave way. Soon, my tired limbs faded, the earlier hatred I’d felt vanished, and it felt as if the sun itself radiated from inside my chest. Warmth. Joy. Love.
We broke away, and I stood in front of Charlie, feeling like a new woman and slightly awkward that we’d just shared a kiss. “Well, that was different.” I smiled, tucking my hands into my pockets.
“You should have seen when I had to kiss the last Santa that way.” He chuckled jollily, his belly wobbling. His laugh was contagious.
“Are you really Santa now?” Britta asked, staring up at me. “You don’t look any different.”
