Wicked Winters: A Collection of Winter Tales

by Lucy Smoke

  I sounded like a young child about to see the jolly bearded man while standing in line at the local shopping mall.

  Tatum laughed and ran the back of his gloved knuckles across my cheek gently. “It’s finally sunk in, eh? And did you see what type of tree we’re next to? Birches! We can grab samples while we’re rescuing the sleigh.”

  “All right then,” Jax said, drawing my attention. “Most of the branches overhead are broken, meaning we can get a clear takeoff, but I need to check the mechanics. So who’s up for pulling the sleigh?”

  “Mechanics?” I asked, confused. “When you said you were a mechanic, I just assumed it meant fixing engines.”

  “There’s no motor, sweetheart,” Jax explained, bouncing his toes. “Reindeer are the muscle. Mechanics are for navigation like the weather radar display, a GPS, the heater to keep Santa warm, and an electronic flight bag. All the comforts of home. Also comes with a hot chocolate maker.”

  I shook my head. “So if the carriage crashed, it means the reindeer must have been hurt, but not the sled? Could Krampus have killed them? But then why take their bodies away?”

  Jax shrugged. “Could be, but we won’t know until I get up there.” He smirked so wildly and leaned over, cupping my face with both hands and kissing me. It was quick, yet it still left me shaken and breathless. All the while Leven’s hands gripped my hips, not minding in the slightest that his friend had just kissed me on the lips.

  “We might be able to track down Krampus and find where he’s hiding Santa!” Jax winked and turned toward the tree. He jumped up to reach the lowest branch and threw his legs up, then started his climb.

  Leven followed suit, both of them swinging from branch to branch, as if this were an everyday occurrence.

  “Those two are really taken with you,” Tatum said, looking my way.

  “And you?” I asked, unable to believe I was flirting, but Jax’s energy bubbled across my skin. If the sled helped us find my sister, this was a huge discovery and I wanted to cheer. Yep, I was becoming soppy and didn’t care.

  Tatum closed the distance between us, and I stepped backward.

  “Why do you back away from me?”

  “Instinct?” I shrugged, realizing it was an unconscious reaction.

  “I’d love to cross paths with whoever hurt you.” The cords in his neck flexed.

  And I had no doubt he meant every word. “Good luck. They’re in prison.”

  His eyes narrowed, and I shook my head, hating that I’d brought up my past when we were celebrating finding the sleigh. “Anyway, you were telling me what you thought of me.”

  “My mind is constantly foggy when I’m near you,” he said.

  “So you need to see a doctor?” I laughed, adoring the way he stared at me with such admiration. All of them did, and I couldn’t help but feel special.

  “It means that if you’re not careful, I might take what I want.” His gloved thumb caressed the back of my gloved hand, and the touch softened me as sparks of energy jolted through me.

  I’d never met such men before. They resembled gods, stared at me as if I were candy, and their caring nature gave me hope that maybe we’d get out of this unscathed. I considered letting myself fall for their charms, but the idea of them walking away from me terrified me. Was I setting myself up for heartbreak?

  Yet Tatum reminded me of myself in the way he put on a strong façade, led the pack, and wore a brave face, but I’d seen the slight cracks in his demeanor. Like back in the distillery when Leven hadn’t agreed with his plan, and even now, when he seemed to be holding back. Never able to give in completely to what he desired in case he needed to leap back into the leader role. To take charge of the moment, to protect us, to make the hard calls. Exactly how I felt with Britta. I adored my sister, loved her to bits, but I could never let my guard down around her. If something went wrong, I was the adult, the responsible one who had to sort everything out. I had no one to turn to, and I’d accepted that long ago. But now seeing those same emotions reflected back at me on Tatum’s face made me sympathize. He cared so much that it made him vulnerable.

  “If we get out of this in one piece,” I said, “I think we should go out bowling or something laidback. Just the two of us.”

  He studied me, his eyes narrowing. “Are you asking me out on a date? I’ll warn you, we have a bowling alley back at the Workshop, and I’ve won a few championships.”

  “Not a date.” I shook my head, realizing how easily my question could be misconstrued when I’d meant something different. Now a fire scaled my neck. “Just two people enjoying time away from responsibilities, from always looking after others. That sort of thing.”

  “Sounds like a date to me.” His devilish smirk had me wavering on my feet, but I shook myself back to reality.

  “Honestly, I wasn’t asking you out.” God, were my cheeks burning up? Because they felt like an inferno. What was he thinking? That I’d just kissed his friend, then turned around and asked him out? I didn’t date. That personal motto had ensured I hadn’t been hurt. Then why was I insanely attracted to these men?

  I’d always believed attraction came in many forms, and who said there was only one perfect soulmate for everyone? Maybe my skewed view on relationships had come from one of my foster parents, who’d been happily married to her husband and also loved her secret boyfriend, who visited often. And the hubby had accepted the love triangle. To me, it’d seemed natural. Unfortunately, someone from the foster system had found out, so Britta and I were whisked away to another home. They had been one of the families where I’d felt safest.

  Tatum took two steps and stood inches from me, laughing and taking my elbow before guiding me toward the tree with the sleigh. “Let’s worry about that type of thing once we get out of this.” He glanced up to where Jax sat in the driver’s seat on the sleigh, hunched over the controls, while Leven climbed off a branch, his arms filled with branches, and climbed into the rear compartment. The thing looked big enough to fit at least five people sitting comfortably.

  Yet my thoughts revolved around Tatum thinking I’d asked him out, and how he’d never actually accepted.

  “What’s the verdict?” Tatum called out, his voice growing stern.

  Jax stared down from inside the sled, his long, dark hair fluttering in the breeze. “She’s in working order. I can’t see anything broken. Let’s give it a whirl. Both of you, come on up, as there’s no place to land if we do take off.” He winked and waved at me to join him.

  At first, I simply shook my head. How in the world would this unit fly? It’s Santa’s. It has magic. I kept repeating that to myself, as insane as it sounded. But a damn carriage sat up in a tree and it had gotten there somehow, right?

  Tatum threaded his fingers together, lowering them, and glanced my way. “Ready?”

  “You sure about this?” I asked.

  “Trust me.” Staring into his deep eyes, I had no reason to disbelieve him, so with a deep breath, I looked up. I held on to the bumpy trunk slick with snow and stepped one foot onto his cradled hands. He elevated me so fast, my stomach lurched, and I grappled to hold on to the nearest branch, then pulled myself up the rest of the way. Tatum jumped up to grab another bough and hauled himself up with no problem, so I kept going up, grasping every available branch, ducking and stepping upward in a seemingly circular motion across the multitude of branches until I reached the base of the sleigh’s runners.

  “Take my hand.” Leven was half-hanging out of the back, his arm stretched down to me. I reached up, and he gripped my forearm, then hauled me up as if weighed no more than a sack of rice. I grappled with the edge of the carriage as I staggered inside. The floor and walls were covered in red, plush velvet. Add a pillow and blanket, and I’d sleep here comfortably.

  There was a small bench attached to the wall behind the driver’s seat, but anyone sitting there would have to travel backward as they faced the rear of the sleigh.

  “This is fancy,” I said, unable to belie
ve I stood in a golden sled.

  “Only the best for Santa.” Jax straightened and glanced over his shoulder at me from the driver’s seat. The spot was large enough for one person only.

  Leven’s arm curled around my lower back and he drew me to the tiny seat that must have been installed for small elves to accompany Santa on his toy delivery run. “You’ll stay back here.”

  “Leven and I’ll get harnessed,” Tatum announced from somewhere in front of the carriage. I twisted my head to find him balancing on the thick borough in front of us.

  “Not going to work,” Jax added. “All the cords have been cut, meaning Krampus took the elite team. Only one set of cords are intact, so we’ll have to do with one guide only. We’ll just move at a slower pace.”

  Tatum nodded and already approached the front of us. “I’ll do it. Jax, get her ready to go, and Leven, keep Nickie safe in the back. We’re going to fly.”

  Jax hooted, while Leven smirked and nodded to himself. He glanced down at me and offered me the sexiest grin. “Want me to show you how to put the lay in sleigh?”

  I burst out laughing at his dorky joke while Jax turned toward us. “Lamest pickup line ever!”

  10

  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 coated 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 was 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 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 the Good Stuff button 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 like 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.

  “What’s the Good Stuff?” I asked, slouching against him.

  “Something Santa added to the sleigh in case he carried anyone in the back and they freaked out. Mostly elves, as they hate heights. It calms them and puts them into a kind of high.” He tapped my nose. “A side effect is that it brings out someone’s desires. Recently, an elf traveling with Santa ended up leaping off the sleigh midflight, as he’d always wanted to fly, so now Santa wants the feature removed.”

  “Well, no one told that to the mechanic of this sleigh.” I giggled and glanced over in Jax’s direction, eliciting a laugh from Leven, who collected me into his arms.

  I straddled Leven’s lap and lifted myself up onto my calves, both of us facing each other. At this height, I could also easily see over the sides of the carriage and I scanned the landscape for anything that might resemble a blimp in the white. Something to help spot Krampus. My head told me this was my chance to focus and find my sister, yet I couldn’t stop the fuzziness in my brain, especially when Leven cupped my ass. I chewed on my cheek, loving how large his palms felt.

  I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts, and started to climb off Leven, but he held me in place. “Where are you going?”

  “I want to get closer to the edge so I can search for Krampus.”

  Le
ven embraced me and stood, my bent legs hugging his hips. Then he walked us over to the side of the seat.

  “Thanks,” I said, then kissed his cheek, but he turned his head at the same time and our mouths clashed. He didn’t waste a moment and kissed me again as he’d done near the distillery, his hand moving to the back of my head, locking me in place. I floated on clouds, his mouth devouring mine, his tongue finding mine in a tangled match. I’d never wanted someone as much as I desired these men.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he mumbled.

  “Why do you taste like candy canes and Jax tastes like hot chocolate?” I giggled, unable to stop.

  “All beings under Santa’s magic carry different flavors. It’s like the scent, and it’s everywhere!” Leven nodded and glanced down between us and back with a knowing look.

  “Even down there?” I teased, blushing like mad.

  His breath hitched and he shifted beneath me as I sat on his lap, positioning his growing hardness between the apex of my thighs.

  Despite us flying over the snowy Austrian Alps, I was burning up from my head to toes and everywhere in between. What was I doing? Despite my speeding breaths, I leaned over the edge of the sleigh, letting the cooler air splash against my cheeks. Maybe it would help clear my thoughts.

  A white blanket lay across the woodland, and we flew much lower for an easier look. Tatum careened to the left, and Leven’s hold tightened around my hips as we swayed with the movement.

  So where exactly would Krampus hide Britta, Santa, and all those elite guards? A cave? Though below were only trees. It was as if they’d vanished into thin air, which got me thinking.

  “Can Krampus use an invisibility cloak?” I asked, and Leven shook his head. Okay, that theory was out the window.

  Up ahead, Jax was scanning the grounds as well, but when Leven’s fingers inched under my coat and layers of clothes, finding my lower back, a kindling of excitement awakened in the pit of my stomach.

  “I know we’re being affected by the Good Stuff,” he began, “but I’ve wanted you since I first saw you fighting back against Krampus.”