Ryan Rex pulled out of the strip club around four in the morning and after drinking four energy drinks in a row, was ready to haul ass to Clan Marron. He pulled his compact hatchback out of the lot of Bear Buns Seattle and drove through the winding roads that took him from the seaside city to the hidden town nestled in the wild woods of Seattle, going southeast towards the Washington-Oregon border, towards Nuthusk, the town his Clan called home.

As he drove, he passed deciduous trees, their leaves in fiery shades of amber and crimson and umber, and evergreens. Some things change. Some things never changed. The one thing he hoped would change this Thanksgiving was the one thing he knew wouldn’t change: there was no frikkin’ way that the members of his Clan wouldn’t ask why Ryan hadn’t come to the feast with a woman on his arm, or better yet, a fated mate.

Ryan had barely gotten out of the car in the parking lot of the Clan Marron lodge before somebody asked that question.

“Ryan! Long time no see,” said a woman who looked very pregnant. “Please tell me you’re hiding an eligible lady under that sheet in the back of your trunk.”

“A pleasure as always, Emily,” said Ryan, pulling the panda bear shifter close and giving her a peck on the cheek and a squeeze on her upper arm. “You just want me to bring someone here so that you can have another set of arms to help you out with your future triplets.”

“Oh, you stop that,” said Emily, giving Ryan a playful slap on his upper arm. “First of all, never assume a woman is pregnant…even if she is eight months pregnant with triplets. Secondly, don’t think I’ll let you off the hook so easily. Don’t think you can sweet talk me the way you do the ladies at Bear Buns. Where’s your fated mate?”

“Guess it wasn’t my year,” said Ryan, closing the door to his sedan. He opened the hatchback. Underneath the sheet was a pile of home-made apple pies, as he couldn’t get the freshest marionberries in Seattle. They couldn’t compare to the fresh marionberries found in the Nuthusk Forest, berries he’d hunt down using his trusty shift. His bear’s keen sense of smell would help him track down the sweetest berries.

“At least you brought dessert,” said Emily. “Come on. Let’s get those set down.”

Ryan followed Emily into the lodge and took a turn into the main hall used for the annual feast, but Emily pulled Ryan away.

“Uh, we’re doing dessert somewhere else this year,” said Emily.

Ryan knew Emily was lying. She was blushing, and he’d seen a stack of pastry boxes in the main dining area, but he wanted to find out exactly why Emily was lying. He followed after Emily, a few steps behind her.

Ryan followed Emily to a familiar door. Ryan had been seen by the Council of Clan Elders many times in his youth.

“After you,” said Ryan.

“I can’t get the door,” said Emily. “Pregnant and all.”

“Fine,” said Ryan, putting the pies down.

Ryan went and opened the heavy wooden doors, but then, felt a push. He turned midair and saw Emily closing the door.

“Sorry!” Emily said quickly before she shut the door entirely.

Ryan went back to the door and tried to open it. It was locked. He knocked on it, hard.

“Emily? Emily, is this revenge for when I dumped a bottle of glue in your hair back in kindergarten? Come on, let me out!” Shouted Ryan.

“Take a seat, son,” said a familiar voice.

Ryan turned. The entire Council of Clan Elders was assembled, led by the current Alpha, Jasper Jackson. By Jasper’s side was a familiar face. It was none other than Jasper’s son, Sean Jackson, who’d found his fated mate the year before.

Ryan looked. There was a chair in the center of the room. He’d been in this position before. The best thing to do was to listen to what the Council had to say, agree with them, and not give them another reason to penalize him.

Ryan took the seat in the chair and looked up at the Council.

“I expected that to be harder,” said Jasper with a frown. “Nonetheless, Ryan, do you know why you’re here?”

“To enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving meal with the best bear Clan in the world,” said Ryan. “Sean, I baked up some of those apple pies of mine you liked. If you follow after me, I can go and cut you a slice.”

“Maybe after dinner,” said Sean. “Ryan, bear to bear…did you find your fated mate this year?”

“Well, there’s a funny story about that,” started Ryan.

“Bro,” said Sean. “Did you or did you not find your fated mate?”

“I…did not,” admitted Ryan. “But I tried.”

“Did you?” asked one of the older members of the Council, a middle-aged woman.

“I did,” said Ryan.

“Then how come, when I went with my daughter for her bachelorette party, you were the only dancer on stage who chose not to take a woman back to the champagne room and claim her as your fated mate?” Asked the woman. “Six bears at Bear Buns found their mates this year, but you didn’t. You’ve been dancing there for how long now?”

“About five years,” said Ryan.

“How long was that?” asked the woman.

“Five years,” said Ryan slowly. “But, these things can’t be rushed.”

“Not to be crass, but, they can,” said an older man on the Council. “If you aren’t taking the opportunity to ‘check’ every last woman that bats her eyes at you, what are you doing at that club?”

“Didn’t think I’d ever hear the Council ask me to get myself in more trouble,” said Ryan. “Look. My busiest season is coming up. I’ll just find a mate over the holidays.”

“You will,” said Sean. “You just won’t meet her at Bear Buns.”

“Y’all found someone for me?” asked Ryan.

“You could say that,” replied Jasper. “We have a special…guest, from up north, that we want you to meet.”

Out of the shadows appeared a figure in a tailored suit with broad shoulders, dark hair, and glowing green eyes. He looked like a Greek statue of a satyr come to life and brought to the modern age. Around his neck was a chain. It wasn’t a typical thin gold chain. The chain looked as if it had heavy links, dark and pewter toned, but they left no indent along the man’s suit.

“You must be Ryan,” said the mysterious figure. “The name’s Krampus. I’m here to lead you down the path to meeting your fated mate…but I’ll warn you now. It’s a bumpy path.”

“I don’t need any help with that,” said Ryan. “It’s just a matter of time until I find the one.”

“What if I told you you’d already met her?” asked Krampus. “I talked with Jasper and Sean and realized that the woman you’re meant to be with…well, she’s one you’ve got some history with.”

“Prove it,” said Ryan.

“I won’t provide you with any more information,” said Krampus. “All I can promise is that you’ll have a second chance to win her heart if you come with me.”

Krampus extended a hand and Ryan took it and gave it a shake.

“Fine, let’s go,” said Ryan. “Show me my fated mate.”

“Uh-uh,” said Krampus. “I told you. I won’t provide you with any more information.”

“You’re full of shizz,” said Ryan, turning and heading for a door.

Ryan hadn’t taken more than three steps before he felt something pulling him back. He looked down. Around his torso was a web of chains. He pushed against them but the more he struggled, the tighter they felt around his chest.

Krampus lifted an arm and Ryan felt his body lift into the air. Ryan was plopped back onto the chair, his legs bound to the chair by more chains as the chains on his chest disappeared into the ether.

“What sort of magic is this?” asked Ryan. “Did you drug me? What did you do?”

“It’s not just magic, it’s demoncraft,” corrected Krampus. “Didn’t you ever learn not to make a deal with the Devil or other residents of The Seven Circles?” Krampus’ eyes filled with the unholy light of green hellfire and two thick knobby horns emerged from his head. Ryan swore he smelled sulfur on Krampus’ breath, but that could’ve just meant that the guy needed a breath mint.

“So, what, you’re taking me to Hell?” asked Ryan.

“Not Hell,” said Krampus. “Camp Kringle. Santana Claus’s Reform School For Bad Boys. The Jolly Fellow’s Farm. Santa’s Gulag. You’ll be doing a month of hard, hard labor in preparation for the Ride.”

“Santana Claus? The Ride? What are you talking about?” asked Ryan.

“You didn’t think shifters were the only beings of great power on this world, did you?” asked Krampus. “Demons. Vampires. Elementals. Witches. They all walk among you, hidden in plain sight. While shifters have chosen to live openly among humans, others have kept their magical powers secret. One of the most powerful beings is Santana Claus, who you may know by another name: Santa Claus.”

“Santa’s not real,” insisted Ryan.

“If demons and magic chains, and shifters and fated mates, are all real, then why wouldn’t Santana Claus be real?” asked Krampus. “While The Jolly Fellow works on holiday preparations up at The North Pole, we’ll be turning your body into a well-oiled machine, capable of hauling his sleigh in reindeer form…and that means hard work on Santana’s Christmas tree farm, Camp Kringle. Don’t try and find a loophole to get out of this deal. You already shook on it.”

“There’s just one problem,” said Ryan slyly. “I’m not a reindeer.”

“Oh, what are you?” asked Krampus.

“A bear,” said Ryan. “You can check. I have the mate mark.”

“I think I will check,” said Krampus slyly.

Krampus took off his suit jacket and put it on Ryan’s lap before rolling up his sleeves and exposing what looked like a sleeve of tattoos, composed of everything from tiny portraits to alchemical symbols and strings of numbers. Krampus put his hand on Ryan’s chest. Ryan’s shirt burst into a thousand small pieces as his mark started to feel hot. Krampus pulled his hand away. On Krampus’s palm was Ryan’s mate mark, the palm marked with two spots that looked like the bear pawprints on Ryan’s hands. The mysterious stranger was a shifter, but the question was, what kind was he? Ryan had never seen a shifter with paw prints that looked like two thick devil’s horns, side by side.

“Stop!” shouted Ryan. “What are you doing?”

“Sealing the deal,” said Krampus. “You already shook on it.”

Ryan struggled against the chains as he helplessly watched his mate mark travel over Krampus’s arm, into the forest of symbols. The symbols moved aside to let Ryan’s mark into their ranks before closing in over Ryan’s mark, which was now hidden beneath a canopy of mate marks.

“How exactly do you expect me to find a mate now?” asked Ryan. “Without a mate mark, it’ll be impossible.”

“I took your mate mark, yes, but now, you have a new one,” said Krampus, tracing a finger down Ryan’s chest.

Ryan looked down. Across his pecs, a new mark had replaced his old mark. This mark was one word, emblazoned in red as if freshly branded by Fate upon his unwilling skin. The word read ‘Naughty.’

“When you get off Santana Claus’s Naughty List, and back onto The Nice List, you’ll get your mark and shift back,” said Krampus. “There’s more to that than just finding your fated mate.”

“Like what?” asked Ryan.

“Like pulling Santana’s sleigh for The Ride,” said Krampus. “I made a deal with your Clan, to take your mark and your shift. You’ve made a separate deal with me, to get your mark and shift back. In exchange for my services, you’re going to have to do work for my boss – Santana Claus. That means you’re gonna have to pull his sleigh on Christmas Eve, during what we call The Ride. You’ll get your mate mark back if you get off of The Naughty List, and you’ll get your shift back if you claim your fated mate by Christmas. Here. Put your hand on this.”

Krampus pulled a snow globe out of his pants pocket. It was plain on the outside, with a dark wood base cradling a sphere of crystal-clear glass. The wooden base had symbols on them that Ryan didn’t recognize. Inside the sphere was a winter scene, a frozen river running through a forest with only one animal to be seen: a reindeer.

Ryan reluctantly placed his full palm on the globe. He felt a sudden shock and tried to pull his hand away, but a strong power stopped him from moving his hand. While his bear roared and told Ryan to pull his hand away, another voice soothed Ryan and stayed his hand. Ryan watched as ribbons of red and green light wrapped around his hand and went into his body. He tasted hot chocolate with extra marshmallows, smelled the scent of fresh pine. He felt as if something was being pulled out of him while something else went inside of him.

Finally, Ryan was able to pull his hand back, rocking backward in his chair from his sudden reeling. The magical chains still binding Ryan to the chair re-stabilizing Ryan and the chair, so Ryan didn’t fall to the ground, gently bringing Ryan and the chair back into the upright position.

“Wh…what happened?” asked Ryan. “I feel…different.”

“Meet your new best friend, Dancer,” said Krampus. “He’s one of Santana’s most trusted reindeer. This year, he’ll show you how things work down on The Wreath, and he’ll teach you about Christmas magic.”

“Christmas magic?” asked Ryan.

Ryan looked down at his hand, which was still numb from the transfer of magical energy. What Ryan saw shocked him. His palms no longer bore the tell-tale pawprint marks of the bear, but instead, bore a mark similar to that of the man who had stolen his mate mark from him. There was a cloven mark made up of two teardrop-shaped parts, with two circles, one at the base of each teardrop, the teardrops’ tips tapering up towards Ryan’s fingers. Ryan ran a finger over his palm, feeling the surprisingly smooth texture of the black marks on his hands.

“What did you do to my hands?” asked Ryan.

“The marks of a bear belong to a bear shifter,” said Krampus. “Just as my palm’s mark me as a goat shifter, yours mark you as what you are now: a reindeer shifter. I take it you’ve never seen a reindeer’s tracks before.”

Ryan called for his bear, and his cries were answered only by echoes. He couldn’t hear a single roar calling back to him. Ryan realized Krampus hadn’t just given him a new shift.

“You took my mark, and you took my shift?” asked Ryan. “Give me one good reason not to kill you.”

“Oh, do calm down,” said Krampus. “First of all, you don’t want to fight me. Trust me. Secondly, even if you did kill me, who would be able to give you back your mark and your shift? Thirdly, you need to learn to use the power of the reindeer if you have any chance of driving Santana’s sleigh this Christmas Eve. Fourthly, and you likely don’t know this, but your mate mark is more than just a mark. It’s a magical seal. It’s what allows the bear spirit to inhabit your body without taking over. I took your mark, but if I hadn’t taken your shift as well, you would not have been able to control the power of the bear at all. It would have taken over you.”

“Mate madness,” said Ryan quietly.

“That’s right,” said Krampus. “And that’s precisely what your Council fears you may succumb to. Over the next month, you’ll work on the Christmas tree farm, at Camp Kringle, and learn to harness the power of the reindeer, while taking time to reflect on why you haven’t found a mate yet. You’ll be allowed to go into town, where hopefully, you’ll find your mate.”

“And if I don’t?” asked Ryan. “I’ll be stuck in Santa Claus’s gulag…forever?”

“What? No,” said Krampus. “You’ll be sent back to the human realm, but you won’t earn back your mark…or your shift.”

“So, I have no choice,” said Ryan. “I have to go with you, don’t I?”

“Your path has already been set by Fate, Ryan,” said Krampus, putting a sympathetic hand on Ryan’s shoulder and giving him a squeeze. “I’m only one of the many guides that will lead you down it. I led Sean down his path last year, and he turned out just fine.”

Krampus waved his hand, and the chain links around Ryan dissolved into dust that was swept away by an eldritch wind. Krampus closed his palm and opened it again. Inside his hand was the chain, in its smaller form. He tossed the chain into the air, and it floated, expanding itself into a circle while it rotated, extending until there was a ten-foot diameter across the ring. The ring filled with green flames that soon died and turned into a rippling surface, as clear as glass and showing a set of secluded wood cabins in the center of a forest.

“Sean…” started Ryan, walking up to the portal to touch its rippling magical surface. “Got any tips?”

“I did this last year,” said Sean. “I found my fated mate. It was hard work, but I’m back here, in Clan Marron, with my fated mate by my side, my mark on my chest, and my shift in my soul. Just try your hardest, listen to Krampus and the others, and follow your new shift…and follow your heart. Remember – even the Naughtiest of us can become Nice.”

“The others?” asked Ryan, but it was too late.

Before Sean could answer Ryan, Krampus had pushed Ryan through the portal and down the first steps of his fated path.