What the Sleigh? by Mina Carter Page A

developed a reputation as a mean bitch with balls of steel. But she wasn’t a predator-type shifter… her inner animal didn’t hunger for the chase and the kill. Instead, the creature inside her longed for the feeling of air through her fur and the pull of traces on her body as she pulled a load through the sky. Longed for the sound of sleigh-bells and a deep ‘ho-ho-ho’ from behind her.
    Rudi wasn’t a predator. She was a were-reindeer, and the magic of Christmas ran through her veins.
    Darrick sighed. “You’re a pain in the ass, you know that, gorgeous?”
    She gave him a one-fingered salute and turned away. “You love it, and you know it. Bag and tag him, would ya? Let’s get him back to processing.”
    She didn’t wait for Darrick’s reply, instead striding out of the alley. As soon as she emerged from the darkness, the lights and seasonal music of the shops around hit her. Less than a month until Christmas and the retail outlets were in full marketing swing. She stopped, closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
    Christmas.
    It was on the air already. The expectation, the anticipation, driven by a world full of children waiting to hear those same sleigh-bells in the air. For a moment, she was back there, waiting for the go from her Santa on the sleigh behind her. Anticipating the sharpness of the Christmas night air as she threw her weight against her harness and led her team out. Led them all out.
    Because Rudi wasn’t just any reindeer. She was the granddaughter of the original Rudolph and a deer of her bloodline always led the first sleigh out.
    But not her. Not anymore.
    She opened her eyes and the sparkling lights and music around her were dimmed by the sadness welling up from her soul. She’d had it all. The ‘princess’ of her people, she’d been honored by all reindeer kind and her Santa… Nick Claus.
    Like her, he was the grandson of the original. They’d played in their cribs together, grown up together, fought and made up…fallen in love. Everyone had expected them to get married, have kids. It was fate. Expected. The perfect love story. A match made of Christmas, at Christmas, and in the magic of the North Pole.
    Until they’d had a huge argument one night and she’d stormed off for a run. When she’d come back, she’d found him with Ginger Snaps, a Christmas elf, in their bed.
    A sharp pain sliced through her at the memory and she sucked in a breath. She’d left the Pole that night, with nothing but the clothes on her back, and she never planned on going back. Ever.
    As far as she was concerned Christmas was canceled.
    Permanently.
     
    ***
     
    An hour later, Rudi leaned against the counter as Darrick filled in the paperwork to process their revenant. The creature itself had been taken down to the lower cells, to keep it out of the sunlight until it could be questioned.
    Revenants were the lowest of the low in vampire-kind and were never loners. There was a nest somewhere and they needed to find it fast, or they’d be overrun with the bastard things before New Year’s Eve. No point in either her or Darrick questioning it, they were strictly muscle. The PPA had other creatures on staff who could pick the thing’s mind apart to get the information they needed. Like that half-Pixie guy, Rat.
    Rudi suppressed a shiver. There was just something about him which gave her the creeps. It wasn’t like she was a speciest or anything. She worked with Darrick after all, and even though he’d grown his buzz cut out and had shoulder-length hair, it was still a shade of blue which marked him as a Pixie.
    “What’s up with you?” Catching her movement, Darrick looked up from his paperwork. “You’ve been like a cat on a hot tin roof for weeks. Wanna clue me in on what’s going on?”
    She shrugged one shoulder, wincing as the TV in the corner played a Christmas jingle. The muscle at the corner of her eye twitched. Shit, she should’ve asked for the month off to hibernate in her