“And if I refuse?” Santa asked, but his voice lacked its earlier conviction.
“Then it looks like Christmas is canceled.”
He blinked. “You wouldn’t—the children?—”
“The children of the world would survive a Christmas without you. Because despite the propaganda you’ve sown, it’s not presents that make Christmas, or some jolly old man delivering them. It’s family—and the joy of being with those you love as the world breaks out of the darkness of winter.” I paused. Sometimes, you needed a little drama. “Holiday magic can survive without you. But can you survive without it?”
You always had to hit these executives where it hurt most: their bottom line.
“Of course,” I continued, “we’re reasonable beings. We’re not interested in destroying Christmas—we want to make it better. For everyone. Workers and children alike.”
“You can’t do this. Every reindeer who strikes will be fired. We will move forward without them?—”
“Not this time.” It was Aleksi who spoke now. “We stand in this, united. One clan, one people. No one will work until our demands are met.
Jólnir’s advisors were sweating bullets, and the jolly old elf himself was furious, his jaw clenched.
“You will all pay for this.”
Kenai and Taimyr stepped up beside us, hands on Aleksi’s shoulders. “Then we go down together. But I don’t think you’ll find it easy to replace your entire workforce on Christmas Eve. As we speak, sleighs are missing their launch times.” Kenai could barely hold back his grin as he swiped his hand, and snowflakes swirled, revealing a screen.
Dots all over the east coast of Asia flashed red as deliveries were already being missed. I didn’t understand magic, but I saw what looked very much like a stock ticker plummeting downward.
I slid our drafted agreement toward Jólnir. “Ready to play ball, Yule Father?”
The negotiation that followed was swift and decisive. Within hours, we’d hammered out an agreement that would revolutionize working conditions in the North Pole. Jólnir had agreed to almost everything—because, in the end, he knew the truth. He was nothing without the people on whose backs he’d built his empire.
As we walked out of the corporate boardroom, Kenai’s hand found mine.
“You magnificent, terrifying woman,” Taimyr said, sweeping me into a kiss that tasted like victory. “You did it!”
“We did it,” I corrected as Kenai and Aleksi crowded in, their joy flooding our bond like sunshine. “All of us.”
“The union vote was unanimous,” Aleksi murmured against my hair, his voice thick with emotion. “Clans that have feuded for centuries voted together. You united us, Sylvie.”
“No,” I countered, pulling back to look at all three of them. “You united yourselves. You just needed someone to show you it was possible. Now, just wait until you see what I can do with the healthcare package negotiations.”
My mates laughed—a sound of pure joy that echoed through the glass-lined hallway.
We took the high-speed elevator down one hundred and eight floors, where my mother and grandmother were waiting in the lobby.
Mom was bouncing on her toes. Grandma looked impeccable as always, but I saw a slight smirk twitch at the corner of her mouth when she saw our ecstatic faces. Then that smile dropped, and I heard the sharp clack of expensive heels behind me.
“Well done, Sylvie.”
I turned as my three mates instinctively surrounded me. Before us stood Mrs. Patterson—but not the Mrs. Patterson I knew. She was as tall as Kenai now, and instead of a cozy Christmas sweater, she wore an impeccable red pantsuit. Her white hair was swept up in a crown of braids. Her face was smoother, almost timeless, but something in her eyes still revealed her age—the wisdom and depth behind that glacial blue. She was the most terrifying thing I’d ever seen.
My grandmother stepped between me and the ethereal woman. “Stay away from my granddaughter, you old hag.”
Mrs. Claus laughed. “Bold words from one who knows the cost of breaking a fae bargain.” Her grin was pure malice—worse than anything I’d felt in the boardroom. But then she sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. “Stow your claws, Rose. Sylvie was never in any danger.”
“You drugged her and placed her in a highly compromised state?—”
Mrs. Claus rolled her eyes. “Do you think it was a coincidence I did that when one of her fated mates was nearby, ready to defend her with his very life?”
I straightened. “How did you know Kenai was my fated mate?”
She picked an invisible piece of lint off her flawless suit. “Darling, when you’re as old as I am, very little escapes you.”
