“Stay away from her.”
“Oh, but I’ve already met her. Charming creature. So dedicated to her work, so stressed about family obligations. I gave her a little something to help her relax.” Her smile turned positively predatory. “My special holiday recipe.”
The words hit me like a winter storm. I could smell it now, underneath the general scents of the market—ancient magic, and not the good kind.
“What did you give her?” I demanded.
“Nothing harmful, I assure you. Just a little…enhancement. To help her see things more clearly.” Mrs. Claus’ laugh was liketinkling bells, sweet and cold. “You might want to check on her, though. The effects can be quite…intense.”
I was already moving before she finished speaking, roughly pushing through the crowd. Behind me, her laughter followed like frost on the wind.
I found Sylvie behind her stand, swaying slightly on her feet. Her face was flushed, breathing quick and shallow, and the scent that hit me when I got closer made my vision blur with sudden, overwhelming need.
The warm cinnamon and vanilla I’d smelled before had exploded—now it blocked out everything else. The mark on the back of my neck tingled like it had been kissed by an ice-cold breeze. And the part of me that was alpha knew the truth. Omega.Mine.But that was impossible. She was human.
“Kenai.” She looked at me, pupils blown wide. Her hands gripped my coat before I could stop her. “I like your costume.”
“My costume?” My confusion cut through the haze of her intoxicating scent.
“The antlers. You didn’t have them before. They look so real.”
She reached up and gently brushed her fingers along one.
This was not good. She could see through my glamour, and from her scent alone, she was going into heat. Full, supernatural, shifter-compatible heat.
And every unmated male within a fifty-mile radius was about to know it.
Fuck.
Chapter Five
Sylvie
Acold breeze whipped around my overheated neck, and I opened my eyes to see Kenai looking at me with such intensity that I gasped. His whole body was poised over me, like he was ready to run at any moment.
Kenai was here, and everything was going to be alright. Every single part of me hurt, and I was so, so hot, but I knew I was going to be okay.
Somehow, my hands were already on him.
“You shouldn’t be able to see them,” he murmured, his eyes filled with a mixture of wonder and alarm. “Humans can’t see through our glamour.”
“Humans? Glamour?”
He leaned in, and I caught his scent—like a forest after the first snow, something wild masked beneath a calm, wintery exterior. Something shifted in his expression; his pupils dilated, and I could’ve sworn I heard him inhale sharply.
“What are you?” he asked, voice rough.
“I’m…” I started to saya lawyer, but the words got lost somewhere between my brain and my mouth. Everything felt soft and distant—except for him. He was in sharp focus, this strange, beautiful man with silver eyes and impossible antlers.
He shook his head. “This is bad. This is very bad.”
“Bad how?” I asked, though I was having trouble focusing on the conversation. I ran my hands under his coat, tugging at the hem of his shirt until my fingers found the warm, smooth skin of his abdomen. He let out a low grunt.
“I need to go,” he said abruptly, but he didn’t move. If anything, he seemed to be leaning closer, as if pulled by some invisible force. He buried his face in the crook of my neck, inhaling deeply.
“Don’t,” I whispered, my fingers hooking over the waistband of his pants. “Stay.”
His eyes closed briefly, and when he opened them again, there was something almost pained in his expression. “You don’t understand. I can’t…you’re…”
