Page 4 of Awakened By Her Guardian

It didn’t mean he wouldn’t find them, though.

Sandman gestured to a bench. “Tell me everything, Ana.”

They sat in a park near a small lake, and Ana sighed deeply, her shoulders drooping as she shared what had happened when Nightmare appeared, including the vision of Northernmost in ruins and the Well of Magic corrupted by darkness.

Sandman was opposite Nightmare in every way, from his blond hair to his gold eyes with blue striations. He wore light clothes – linen blends in white and tan – where Nightmare always wore dark clothes.

Sandman rubbed his chin. “It does seem like he’s teaming up with Frost, but to what end?”

“Turning the magic of the world to evil?” she suggested. After all, it was Jack Frost’s sole purpose in life. That and killing his brother.

“Yes, but why Nightmare? Frost tried that with Grim, probably with the intention of utilizing his army of reapers, but Nightmare is an odd choice.”

“But he can kill people in their sleep,” she pointed out. “Nightmares can be so bad that they cause people to die of fright. And he has his own army. Plus,” she said, thinking out loud, “he can get to the people of Northernmost. The magical perimeter that keeps out evil magic users isn’t designed to stop dreams – good or bad. That’s why we have dream walkers who take shifts working good magic up North.”

Sandman straightened, his gold eyes blazing.

“I think you might have figured something out. At least why Frost and Nightmare are teaming up.” He rose to his feet and pulled out his cell.

She stared up at him. “Who are you calling? You know Nightmare threatened my family if I didn’t join up with him, so I need to warn them.”

“I’ll send word to them. Hold on. Yes,” he said into his phone. “I need you to let me and Ana come into Northernmost immediately. Your brother is up to something, and it involves the nightmares we were discussing.”

There was a brief pause and then Sandman said, “Good, see you in a moment.”

Putting his phone into the pocket of his tan jacket, he said, “Let’s go, Ana.”

“To Northernmost?”

She stood, and he nodded, first using his slumber magic to obscure them from everyone but dream walkers, then opening a portal to Northernmost. The moment the portal opened, she could see Santa’s home base, the Well of Magic glowing gold with goodness. The sky was dark and dotted with stars, and the Northern Lights waved above them.

She hadn’t been to Northernmost since she’d come into her dream walker powers as a teen. Before that, she’d had to visit annually to replenish her magic at the Well. Once she came into her power, she essentially replenished it herself through the emotions of good dreams.

She stepped onto the frozen ground with Sandman. The portal closed with a whoosh, sealing them inside Northernmost.

At that exact moment, something came alive inside her.

A tether to this place that hadn’t been there before.

Holy crap, her truemate was here. In Northernmost.

But who was it?

Wolf shifter Gabriel stared at the closet in his bedroom as the video call connected to his parents. He wasn’t sure where he’d left his favorite work boots, and he really didn’t want to wear his backup pair. They were heavier and made it more difficult to navigate the snowy terrain outside the buildings in Northernmost.

“Hello, honey,” his mom, Natalia, said when the call connected. “I can’t believe it’s December first! Can you believe how fast this year went?”

“You say that every December,” he said with a smile as he glanced at his parents on his phone screen. “Hey, Pop.”

“Hey, kid. How’s tricks?”

“Cold.”

His family lived in Howling Creek in Southern Ohio. Winters there were hit or miss with how much snow they got, but it also wasn’t Winter Solstice yet, when Jack Frost was a total asshole and tended to attack the groups who sent shifters to help Santa in Northernmost. Wolves, polar bears, and snow leopards were hit the hardest during Frost’s most powerful period, along with those who opposed him like the good magic users – witches, warlocks, fairies, and dream walkers.

“We might have snow at Christmas,” his mom said. “Last year Frost made it terribly cold here but gave us no snow. I think he did that on purpose to mess with the kids having snow days.”

Gabriel chuckled and shut his closet door, holding his least favorite pair of boots. Picking up his phone, he said, “He goes out of his way to target our people this time of year for sure, but it’s still warmer there than here. How are you two?”