Blitzen's Savior

By Danica Avet

Masquerading as a young male and keeping to herself, is how Alera Darktear has been able to survive in the Outer Plains—the wasteland between North Pole City and the Drow stronghold . But when Blitzen Hightower literally falls out of the sky, everything changes. This dangerously sexy shifter makes her want more than the barren cold and loneliness she's grown accustomed to. He teaches her about desire, need and what it means to be owned by a male, but their time together is finite. Isn't it?

The female who saves him isn't what Blitz expects to find in the frozen Outer Plains. Alera defies all stereotypes he and his fellow Tactical Force members believe about their enemies. Her kindness and generosity—with her home and her body—weaken his resolve to keep their interaction strictly about sex. Not even warnings from his brooding brother can tame the feelings he develops him. Danger stalks them at every turn and it'll take an act of betrayal before Blitz realizes he'll risk everything for this amber-eyed beauty.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Evernight Publishing
• Release date: Dec 17, 2015
• ISBN: 9781772336344

Danica Avet

Danica was born and raised in the wilds of South Louisiana where mosquitoes are big enough to carry off small children and there are only two seasons: hot and hotter. With a BA in History, she figured there were enough fry cooks in the world and decided to try her hand at writing. When she isn't writing, working, or contemplating the complexities of the universe, she spends time gathering inspiration from her insane family, reads far more than any sane person would want to, and watches hot burly men chase an oblong ball all over a field.

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Published by Evernight Publishing ® at Smashwords

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright© 2015 Danica Avet

ISBN: 978-1-77233-634-4

Cover Artist: Sour Cherry Designs

Editor: Melissa Hosack

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

DEDICATION

There are always so many people to thank when a book finally sees the light of day. I'll just sum it up by thanking all the staff at Evernight for giving this world a home. I came up with Reindeer Games in 2011 and never thought it'd find a home. However, the wonderful folks at Evernight helped bring these characters to life and made me love the North Polians all over again.

I also need to thank my friends, my family and my readers for sticking with me this year. Their support means the world to me, but it also reminds me that the only way to make it through dark times is to forge straight ahead. So here's to seeing what 2016 brings us, my friends! And remember: there's always hope for tomorrow.

BLITZEN’S SAVIOR

Reindeer Games, 2

Danica Avet

Copyright © 2015

Chapter One

The bastards shot out of nowhere, their sleek, white bodies almost impossible to see against the dazzling snowy landscape below. Blitzen Hightower twisted in mid-air, avoiding the dark elf, a misnomer considering Drow were pale as snow with white hair, behind him. The sounds of battle raged around him, his fellow bodyguards attempting to defeat their attackers and get Santiero Claus, Santa’s son and heir, to safety.

Already shifted to his reindeer form for the flight home, Blitz used his antlers to keep the Drow at bay as he surveyed the fight. Twenty Drows against five reindeer shifters, Claus, and Jack Frost. He grinned. Easy as pie.

Ducking down, he impaled the Drow on his rack and tossed him toward a couple of others who’d decided to gang up on little Dancer. She shot Blitz an offended glare before she flew at the downed elves. He chuckled.

The fight raged on above the silent, frozen landscape of the Outer Plains. Blitz checked the perimeter for any new arrivals, but was glad to see they only fought these twenty. If the sound of fighting carried to another unit of Drows, they would be overpowered. He fought harder, determined to protect Claus and Frost.

He’d just defeated two more elves and wrestled with a third when an electric current charged the air around him. It burned through his body, short-circuiting his magic until he felt lit from within. A solid shock of pain arrowed through his brain and squeezed until he lacked the breath to scream from the agony. The current increased, causing his antlers and fur to recede, leaving him vulnerable to an attack that never came.

He floated for a moment, his lighter-than-mortal body carried on a strong wind whipping in from the north. Tilting his head back, he saw the rest of the squad dispatch most of the Drows. He recognized Dancer as she looked for him, saw the moment she realized he wasn’t there.

But Blitz knew there was no time for them to search for him. Claus and Jack needed to get back to the North Pole now. They knew Blitz could take care of himself. They’d be back, his brother Dasher, leading the charge.

As though their departure had held him in place, the instant they were out of sight, Blitz’s float became a freefall. As he looked down, snow and ice rushed up to meet him. He flailed his arms, hoping to slow his fall. He succeeded in something less like plummeting to Earth and more like a float.

Moments before he landed, he spied what looked like wide yellow eyes.

****

Alera Darktear let out a squeak as something big and heavy landed on her. It hit her with enough force to drive her several feet into the snow. When the object’s momentum finally slowed, she hit bottom with a grunt, the air forcibly expelled from her lungs.

Eternal Fathers, this had been a bad friggin’ day. She’d sold her long, black locks in Virdian City and had gotten half of what she normally did. Then she’d haggled for thirty minutes with the barley vendor who wanted three times what his pitiful stock was worth. In the end, she’d walked away with one sack of barley to get her through the winter instead of the four she usually had.

To top things off, a few Drow males had recognized her as female and chased her through the streets. Since Alera was the product of a Drow rape, she knew exactly what those males wanted and had no plans to give it to them. She’d tucked her sack of barley under her arm and run like she had wings on her feet. Thanking her half-pixie heritage which made her quicker than the average Drow, she’d escaped them and fled the city before she was trapped again.

And now, on the second day of her twenty-five mile hike from Virdian City to her isolated home, the sky had fallen. On top of her. It just wasn’t to be born, really. And now she couldn’t breathe and she was probably blind.

No, not blind, she still had her eyes closed. Prying them open took a lot more strength than she’d thought it would, but when she could finally see again, all she saw was a dark shadow above her and what looked like miles of white walls surrounding her. She sucked in a breath to scream, but a hard hand over her mouth stifled the sound.

Don’t make a sound, kid, a gruff male voice ordered. I’ll kill you if I have to, but I really hope I won’t have to.

Heart pounding at the quiet menace in the male’s voice, Alera froze. She couldn’t see much of who was on top of her, but he didn’t sound lustful. He just sounded dangerous and lethal. Her mouth went dry and she wanted to lick her lips, but if she did that, she’d end up licking his palm and how disgusting was that? Men did so not wash their hands regularly.

Something crunched on the snow overhead. The big body crushing hers into the ground tensed seconds before it went boneless. His head slumped next to hers, his mouth against her ear.

Don’t. Move.

The words were very nearly soundless, but the threat was still clear. Alera closed her eyes and played dead.

****

Blitz’s heart hammered against the lanky youth he’d fallen on. He wanted to apologize to the kid for possibly hurting him, but this moment was critical to his survival. The Drows had circled back to see if he was really dead. He did his best to look dead, although he felt it was a piss poor performance. The kid’s heart slammed against Blitz’s chest, the tension in his smaller body positively screaming for attention.

Dead? The harshly spoken word somewhere above them sounded more like a grunt than speech.

Looks like. Want to haul him up?

Two Drows at least, one of them possibly the captain of the Drow guard.

No. We’ll bury him here. Save us time getting back to Virdian City.

Oh, fuck. He almost sprang to his feet and charged them, but the kid’s hand clutched his arm. Was he scared? Blitz wanted to curse again. He knew the kid was a Drow, but he was so short and small, he could only be a child. Call him a pussy, but Blitz never made war on kids.

Would he allow himself to be buried in an icy grave? Hell to the no. A splash of snow landed on his back. He tensed, but the boy gripped his arm tighter.

Don’t.

The word was spoken in a calm tone that belied the boy’s pounding heart. Ah, damn, the kid was scared stiff.

Another splash of snow landed, this time on the back of Blitz’s head. His body threatened to shiver, but he somehow held completely still.

Two, three, four more splashes of snow landed on his body, blanketing him before he heard a grunt.

Okay, he really is dead. Let’s go.

We’re not gonna bury him?

No, I’m not wasting my godsdamn time burying a fucking reindeer shifter. Leave him for the polar bears to find. Then Blitz heard a thud of fist meeting body. And don’t ever question me again.

Their footsteps crunched into silence as they walked away. Blitz started to move again, but the boy’s hand gripped his arm tighter, short fingernails digging into his naked skin. A subtle shake of the boy’s head told him not to go anywhere yet.

And that’s when he heard another set of footsteps walk away. There’d been another guard watching, possibly to make sure Blitz wasn’t playing possum, and now they were gone. This time however, he waited for the boy to let him alert him first.

He didn’t know how long they lay there in their snowy grave, but his body started to feel strange. A subtle scent teased his nose. It was similar to the dark musky smell he associated with Drows, but this one was slightly sweeter, the sweetness buried among the musk. Blitz closed his eyes and inhaled. It was strangely … enticing.

The fragile form beneath him didn’t feel like all bones either. He blanketed the Drow which was probably why none of the others had mentioned him, but his head was even with a surprisingly soft ear and silky hair. His body conformed to the shape under him, his hollows meeting curves.

He frowned. There were no Drow females. Everyone in the North Pole territories knew that. For some reason, Drows were male and all children born of them were male Drows no matter what race their mothers were. Scientists and wizards had worked on the puzzle for centuries with no answer. This child had to be a male Drow who, for some reason, felt female. Perhaps he was bundled up so well against the cold his clothes felt like curves.

If that was the case, the boner Blitz now sported was a bad idea, especially if this was a child. Disgusted with himself, he nearly moved again, but the claw-like hold the Drow had on his arm told him not to. Instead, Blitz closed his eyes and tried to think about something—anything—else to distract his nose and body from the male he pinned to the ground.

Chapter Two

Alera let out a shaky breath as the male on top of her stopped moving. She’d spent enough time in the Outer Plains to know how the Drow guards thought, and she knew there was another one up there. She suspected her Drow blood might have something to do with it but refused to think about that.

Not now, not when the big male on top of