Page 6 of Naughty Elf: Wink
“Hey, this is pretty,” Leander said, drawing my attention. “Is it new?” He was holding the snow globe, watching the glittery snow billow around inside of it. I tried not to let it irritate me that he was handling it. He was being careful, he wouldn’t break it.
“Uh, yeah, it was a Christmas gift,” I said, clenching my hands to keep from snatching it out of his grasp.
“From who?” he asked, setting it down on the coffee table.
“Santa,” I said, half in a daze, my eyes focused on the tiny workshop encased in glass.
“What, you mean like a Secret Santa?”
“I guess,” I replied, my eyes straying back to the elf ornament, a strange tingling sensation creeping up my spine.
Leander gave a loud huff. “Okay, seriously, you’re being weird. You’re going to see a doctor.”
That snapped me out of it, and I did my best to focus. “I can’t, I have to work at noon.” Leander and I both worked at The Pie Bar & Distillery in town, mild-mannered bakery and café during the day, local drinking establishment by night. After dark, you could order all your favorite pie flavors as cocktails.
He waved a hand. “Don’t worry, I’ll cover your shift for you. Consider it your Christmas present.”
I sighed deeply, pinching the bridge of my nose. I’d been putting this off, trying to convince myself that it wasn’t anything serious, but it was only getting worse the longer I ignored it. “Okay, fine, but you can’t have the novelty shot glass back.”
“I would never dream of it.”
Leander dove into a story about his trip with Victor, about their luggage being overweight, so they’d had to wear four sweaters each on the plane home, but I wasn’t really listening. My mind was elsewhere, lingering on a certain elf.
Without intending to do it, I reached for the ornament and tugged it off the tree, holding it gently in the palm of my hand. It was far more detailed than any ornament I’d ever seen, right down to the stitchesin his clothes, the whiskers on his cheeks, and if I didn’t know any better… I’d swear it was warm.
I’d had most of these Christmas ornaments since I was a child. My parents had gifted me one or two a year since they’d adopted me, so there weren’t that many, but I had no recollection of where I got this one from. I would’ve remembered something this beautiful. Maybe whoever left the gift under the tree had also left the elf?
Either that, or maybe memory loss was another symptom of whatever was wrong with me.
5
Wink
Something had changed. No, not something.Everything.
When Derek had held me in his hands, it was like my entire world had been shattered, then remade in a whole new shape I didn’t recognize. Jagged edges were worn smooth. The North Pole didn’t matter anymore, my tenuous future as an ornament was nothing but a sidenote.
Derek was my mate, and I was well and truly obsessed, plain and simple.
Now, instead of being bored out of my skull, I was counting down the minutes until Derek would come home, nothing as important as that moment when he would walk through the door. He’d gone to the doctor and hadn’t come back, and now it was getting dark. I didn’t know much about humans and their ailments, but I suspected Derek’s had more to do with his raccoon’s late-night snacking than it did from any real health concerns. But would his doctor come to the same conclusion? Doubtful.
Chewy’s ears perked up, and he hopped off the couch and ran to the door, even before I heard the key in the lock. My heart fluttered inside my porcelain chest, impossible but true, and tiny cracks formed in the glass of my fists as I ached to hold him.
When the door opened and Derek walked through, I felt relief at the sight of him, while also a different kind of tension taking root. It was a delicious torture, to be so close to him and yet still immeasurably far, knowing what he could be to me. What we could be to each other.
“Hi, sweetheart,” he cooed, and for the barest of seconds, I thought he meant me, but of course, he didn’t. He bent and picked up his cat, cradling him against his chest and stroking down his back. “How was your day?” He waited for a beat, presumably allowing his feline companion a chance to answer, before he said, “My day was absolute shit, thanks for asking.”
Carrying Chewy into the kitchen, he grabbed an old-fashioned stovetop kettle and filled it with water. “I don’t know what I expected the doctor to say,” he went on. “He did blood work and gave me a whole physical, but he couldn’t find anything wrong. But I mean, not to be morbid, but if it was something really serious like cancer, I probably would’ve been dead by now.” He sighed, setting the kettle on the stove and turning it on, the element turning red.
He paused at the island, his eyes drifting my way, until he was looking right at me. “I lied to Leander,” he confessed, his voice barely a whisper. “It’s been going on a lot longer than a year.”
My heart broke for my mate. Why didn’t he understand what was going on with him? Hadn’t anyone ever told him that he was a shifter? Why wasn’t his animal talking to him? The kettle whistled, and when he turned away to make himself a cup of tea, he missed the crack that sliced through my glass chest, right where my heart should’ve been.
It was early, not even 9pm, but I watched with longing as Derek carried his cup of tea down the hall. “Night, Chewy,” he said with a yawn, his slippers shuffling.
I wanted nothing more than to be able to go with him. I almost felt like I could… Ever since he held me, there’d been this loosening deep inside me, like I was fraying at the seams, and it felt like if I could just find the end of the thread and tug, I would come tumbling out as my usual elf self.
All I had to do was give in.