Wyvern Protection Unit - Chapter 77: Chapter 77

One Day Later…
Bunches of snowflakes swirled around in happy little dances and gentle winter breezes that only seemed to exist within the protective bubble of Santa’s Magical Village. Like they had minds of their own, the little gangs of frosty crystals flittered hither and yon, making folks giggle in delight as they were wont to do within the confines of that top secret place where only a select few were privileged to dwell.
The winds outside the protective shield were not the same. Oh no. In the actual North Pole, the weather raged on as blizzard conditions continued to grow more and more hazardous in the human world.
Of course, that was beyond their borders, but it was cause for worry. After all, it was Christmas Eve. Candy Kane bit her lip. She could hardly comprehend this was the same snow that had nearly buried her alive a mere day ago.
But what did she expect? Then again, she never was much of a rule follower. Going out into the human world, following astronomical signs, and listening to her heart instead of her brain had all colluded to make sure she might never venture outside again.
Just thinking about all the effort she’d put into finding him only to end up back here, alone, was simply too much. Her head ached now as much as her heart, and it was all she could do to stop her tears.
Big, dumb, snow-crunching dummy!
Candy felt used up and out of sorts. She was so mad, she could hardly come up with an appropriate name to call the man who had broken her poor Elvish heart—and to think she’d offered it to him on a silver platter!
He was a scoundrel! Just no darn good. The male was like the ice that got inside her shoes and melted, freezing her little toes, and making her aware of its existence for every second of the long day!
Well, at least she could change her shoes when that happened. Chances were Candy would never get the tall, dark, handsome as sin man out of her head, or her heart.
She was better off thinking he was more like hot chocolate that sat too long. When that happened, all the good, sticky, sweet, delicious stuff sunk to the bottom and when you sipped it, it was nothing more than tepid brown water.
Heck yeah. He was exactly like that!
Only, well, if she were being honest, the man tasted more like a snickerdoodle than hot chocolate. Warm cinnamon sugar and spice—true Ceylon in all its peppery glory.
Yum.
He tasted exactly like her favorite flavor. Of course he did—the miserable mistletoe sucking monster.
Candy stomped angrily along the frozen path, muttering to herself, and ignoring the stares of her fellow Christmas Elves. She knew she was in trouble with the big guy, aka Santa, and she had to atone for that. There was no getting away from facing responsibility, not even for a Christmas Elf.
“Who is that?”
“Oh, my! She’s the Elf that ran away!”
“Is that you, Candy Kane?”
“What’s happened to her?”
“Is she crying?”
“Get some hot chocolate stat!”
The chatter of the few Elves who were not busy loading Santa’s sleigh filtered through to her confused and weary brain as she limped towards warmth and sanctuary.
Yes, Candy had to confess her crimes and beg forgiveness, even if that meant never going back to the earthly realm. Never going back to him. The only male her heart had ever longed for.
But was she crying? Ha!
No, she was not crying. Candy Kane wanted to shout it at the Elves even as she sniffled and ignored the path her hot tears trekked down her cold cheeks.
She would ask for forgiveness, of course, and beg, if necessary, to resume her duties in the village before midnight came, and they blinked back to the Holiday Plane of Existence. But Candy would never admit to crying.
Tendrils of fear snaked up her spine as she thought about the last Elf who flouted Santa’s rules. Crap. She was in for it now. But he was merciful, right?
Santa would forgive her, and then she would exile herself to the Holiday Plane, where all magical creatures tied to the holidays existed until it was their season once again.
Right then, Candy never wanted to return to the North Pole. Not ever again.
She never wanted to see the place where she lost her heart. She never wanted to see that big dumb dummy ever again!
One thing was certain, Medjed would certainly never find her there. Not that he’d be looking when he had his other woman waiting for him.
Good riddance to bad rubbish. Wasn’t that the saying? And he was bad rubbish—the two-timing lout!
She sniffed again, finally understanding the uniquely human colloquialism, and wiped her nose with the back of her gloved hand.
The tiny, slick-feathered bundle in her arms chirped and cried out. It was as if her tiny heart was also breaking for missing him.
Jingle balls!
Even the orphaned penguin chick she’d found and adopted in the wild was going to suffer because of him. Oooh, if he was standing there, Candy would pummel him with a hundred ice filled snowballs!
Fury filled her as she cooed soothingly to Fluffy. Poor little chick. The creature needed warmth and love, not heartache. But maybe that was Candy’s fault for taking her away. She hadn’t counted on the bird missing him as well.
No. She was just saving Fluffy from having to know the truth. Who knows? He probably had a canary in a cage back home, too, along with his other female.
Medjed was an all-around heartbreaker to creatures big and small.
Dirty rotten yellow snow eater!
“Don’t worry, I got you,” Candy whispered to the little castaway.
She nuzzled the tiny creature’s soft feathers with her own cheek, oblivious to her own frosty tears.
“Candy! Is that you? Where the heck have you been? And where did that penguin come from?” Jolly, her BFF since they were Elflings, shouted as he came running towards where Candy was struggling to walk.
Her muscles burned, and bones ached. It was such a long, arduous journey over snow-covered hills and frozen pathways, through hip-deep drifts of snow, and across slippery patches of ice, but she’d made it back. She was almost all the way to the main toy room and loading center. Inches from finding the big man himself.
Santa Claus.
She gulped. Candy had trekked over twenty miles in hazardous winds and blizzard-like conditions just to get there.
Good thing Jolly had smuggled her that Sparkle Phone when she’d left, or she would never have been able to find her way back.
“Oh, Jolly,” she cried aloud when her old buddy had finally reached her.
Candy sobbed noisily and embraced her childhood buddy with one arm. Jolly squeaked as he usually did when she squeezed too hard.
Oopsies.
“Easy there, Candy Margaret,” he chided and patted her head awkwardly.
“STOP! Unhand my mate or die where you stand,” a loud, scary, and annoyingly familiar voice said from behind them.
Uh oh. Looked like the snow had just hit the fan, and it was time for Candy to face her man, er, ex-man.