Ethan landed on the tarmac outside Santana’s Workshop an hour before the break of dawn. The other seven reindeer shifted back into men in black tactical suits, members of Boreas Winter’s ice elemental crew. Krampus was out on the tarmac, ready for Ethan’s landing.

Ethan shifted back into his human form, wearing his black tactical suit, and collapsed onto the tarmac for a second.

“You’re fuckin’ insane,” said Krampus, leaning down and giving Ethan a glass of milk and a cookie. “Here. That milk’s caffeinated and the cookie’s nutritious. Leave it to Santana Claus and his elves to develop military-grade milk and cookies.”

“I don’t have time,” said Ethan. “I need to get to her, to Carol.”

“It’s your last day to get off The Naughty List, Ethan,” said Krampus. “If you don’t get off the list —”

“I know what happens,” said Ethan. “I know, Krampus. I haven’t cared about any of that since I met her. Frankly, if I lost my shift and my mate mark, all the better. I’d give up being a shifter for her because she’s my true love.”

Krampus was growing tired of Ethan’s rant, so he took his necklace up and tossed it in the air. Ethan was so distracted drinking his coffee and eating his cookie, the very things he had said he had no time to consume, that he didn’t notice the chain coming down around him in a circle, filling with emerald flames. It was only when Krampus pushed him through the tarmac, through the portal formed by the chains, that Ethan realized what had happened.

Ethan was freefalling through the air. He dropped his cookie and his cup of milk. He turned, looking down, and realized he was falling toward Camp Kringle. He looked back up, but Krampus was nowhere to be found.

“Shit!” Ethan cursed aloud. The mark on his chest may have been emerald green, but it burned fire red as he cussed.

Calm down, said Prancer. Just shift.

But I can’t fly without the harness, said Ethan.

Who told you that? asked Prancer. Shift, before you turn us into a pancake.

Ethan changed in midair, shifting mere inches before he hit the tops of the fir trees of Camp Kringle. His hooves brushed against the tops of the trees as he stopped falling and started swimming through the air.

You frikkin’ lunatic, said Ethan. Why didn’t you tell me I could fly before?

And give you a way to get off Camp Kringle and avoid your training? Nuh-uh, I don’t think so, said Prancer.

Ethan flew across the lake in a mere two minutes. It was much faster than rowing across the icy water in a rowboat that seemed to be made of the same stuff as a rusty tin can. He aimed for the Bear Claw Bakery and landed. Ethan shifted and went inside.

“Carol?” called Ethan. “Carol?”

“Ethan?” asked a voice. “Is that you?”

Ethan turned. Carol wasn’t there, but Avery was.

“We’re not open yet,” said Avery, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “What are you doing? Oh. Right. Carol. She should be at her place, getting ready to leave.”

“Shit,” said Ethan, causing the mark on his chest to burn again.

“She lives —” started Avery.

“I know, I’ve been there,” said Ethan, shifting back into his reindeer form to run out the back door and take off.

Ethan got in the air and looked down at The Wreath. He remembered how he’d gotten to Carol’s house the night he’d walked her home after work. He made a beeline for her neighborhood. As he approached her rental, he saw that there was an SUV parked in the front of the house, trunk in the back open. As he came down, he saw a familiar BBW in a puffy jacket put in one last box and close the trunk before she got in the driver’s seat of the car and took off.

Prancer, I’m sorry for what I’m about to do, said Ethan.

What are you going to do? asked Prancer.

If I tell you, you won’t let me do it, said Ethan, coming down to the road and aiming so that he would land right in front of Carol’s car.

Ethan’s hooves hit the icy pavement. He was twenty feet in front of Carol’s car. He saw her try to break, but Ethan hadn’t accounted for Carol’s SUV being a reasonable person’s car and not some billionaire’s sports vehicle that could turn on a dime. The front of Carol’s car hit Ethan with a thud, and he fell over like a tipped cow.

You crazy bastard, cursed Prancer.

I know you’ve got advanced healing powers, or that Santana has some frikkin’ reindeer hospital, retorted Ethan. Merry Christmas, Prancer.

Carol got out of the driver’s seat to see what she’d hit. One minute, she was driving on an empty road, and the next, a big hunk of brown fur fell out of the sky on to the section of road directly in front of her. As she got out of the car, she watched as the animal, which she recognized as a reindeer, started to change.

“Ethan?” called Carol, before the reindeer had fully shifted. “Ethan, is that you?”

Ethan stood up from the ground. He was wearing an all-black tactical suit that was worse for the wear.

Carol shoved Ethan backward.

“What the heck are you doing?” squealed Carol. “Ethan! I could’ve seriously hurt you!”

“I had to come here to talk to you before you left,” said Ethan. “The letters. Did Krampus give you the letters? They explain everything — why I’m here, why you just saw me shift out of the form of a reindeer, why — “

“Why you had to leave,” said Carol.

“How did you know?” asked Ethan.

“I read the letters, Ethan,” said Carol. “They made no sense. I thought you were either pulling my leg or had gone crazy. But…I guess now, I’ve seen a reindeer fly.”

“Do you believe me now?” asked Ethan. “Carol. I would’ve come back to you, but I was literally not able to. I was given two options — save Christmas, and hopefully get a chance to say goodbye to you or get stuck to the floor in Santana’s locker room until my literal demon boss chose to release me. I played along, just so I could see you, either to explain myself if you’d hear me out or say goodbye if you wouldn’t talk to me. I’m sorry I ruined your Christmas.”

“Ethan, I don’t care about the Christmas magic stuff,” said Carol. “Christmas has never been my favorite holiday. It’s at the bottom of my list. Well, it was, until you showed me a good time this holiday season, and I don’t just mean the sex. I mean playing in the snow, I mean the holiday baking, I mean all that. I guess I don’t know what Christmas is to me now. But anyway, I don’t care about any of the stuff in the letters. It doesn’t change the way I feel about you.”

“And what way is that?” asked Ethan.

“I love you, okay?” asked Carol. “I wouldn’t have been so frikkin’ upset about you bailing on the party if I didn’t love you, you goof. You may be a billionaire, but if you can’t figure that out, there’s no way you’re a genius to boot.”

“I can’t promise that I’ll never hurt you again,” said Ethan. “Things are bound to happen. Maybe I’ll leave a cup out, and for some reason, it really riles you up. Maybe I’ll forget to take out the trash. Scratch that, maybe I’ll forget to ask the housekeeper to take out the trash. Maybe I’ll go on a long business meeting to another country and not have reception and not be able to call you at the time I promised I’d call you. But I can promise you two things. First of all, I’ll always try to keep my promises and to never hurt you. Secondly, I love you. I have since, well, you put me in my place, which nobody had done to me in a long time. There’s no ‘until,’ because I’ll love you to the day I take my last breath.”

All of a sudden, the mark on Ethan’s chest started to glow through the black tactical suit. The word ‘Naughty’ glowed emerald green and then, there was a flash of red. Ethan undid the front of the catsuit and looked down at his chest.

“Your mark, it changed,” said Carol. “Ethan…all that stuff you wrote in the letters was true, even that? Even all that stuff about trying to get off The Naughty List and onto…”

“Welcome to The Nice List,” said a man walking out of a puff of smoke that appeared in the middle of the road. “Took you long enough, Ethan, but I supposed you always did have a flair for the dramatic.”

“How did I get off the list?” asked Ethan.

“You helped someone believe in Christmas magic,” said Krampus.

“But she said she didn’t care about Christmas magic,” said Ethan, confused.

“It doesn’t matter what she thinks,” said Krampus. “What matters is what’s in her heart.”

“Hello, I’m right here,” said Carol, waving.

There was a poof of glitter, and a familiar BBW walked out of the magical cloud.

“Ethan, you finally did it!” said Avery with glee. “Carol, you must be so excited. Not only did you get off of The Naughty List, but you found your fated mate. On the way, the two of your learned that the true meaning of Christmas is giving.”

“I have no idea what’s going on,” said Carol.

“Well, I’m a Christmas elf, Krampus is a Christmas demon, and Ethan was, is, I’m not sure about it, a Christmas reindeer, who helped pull Santana Claus’s sleigh last night,” said Avery.

“You’re a frikkin’ Christmas elf?” asked Carol. “Why didn’t you tell me, Avery?”

“Not her rules,” said Krampus. “The order came from upstairs, from The Jolly Fellow himself – Santa Claus.”

“Stupid frikkin’ rules,” said Avery.

“Ahem,” said Krampus, clearing his throat. “For helping someone believe in Christmas Magic, you, Ethan McLean, are off The Naughty List and back on The Nice List. That means you get these back. I’m not really supposed to give you your shift back until you claim your mate, but, in the interest of time…I’ll make an exception.”

“You mean you’ll break the rules,” said Avery, crossing her arms.

“That’s what I said,” joked Krampus.

Krampus reached into his pocket and pulled out a familiar snow globe. He put his hand out. On his palm was Ethan’s true mate mark.

This is goodbye, friend, said Ethan.

Until you manage to get your dumbass in trouble and get sent back up to Camp Kringle, joked Prancer. You did good, kid.

Krampus held out the snow globe. Ethan took it and felt the familiar exchange of power. His bear roared, and Ethan smiled. Things were back to normal. Well, they were nearly back to normal.

Krampus pressed his palm against Ethan’s chest. Ethan felt a chill. He looked down at his chest through his open catsuit and saw that Krampus had returned his mate mark.

“Is that really your frikkin’ mate mark?” asked Carol.

“Yeah, you see why I went to business school?” asked Ethan.

“Ahem,” said Krampus, interjecting again. “Remember, Ethan. If you don’t get off The Naughty List and claim your fated mate by the end of Christmas Day, you will lose your shift forever.”

“He’s saying don’t waste any time,” said Avery, taking Krampus by the arm.

“Wait, you impatient Jezebel,” said Krampus, shrugging off Avery’s arm. “Here.”

Krampus reached into his pocket and pulled out an evergreen velvet bag. He passed it to Ethan. Ethan opened the bag and pulled out its contents.

“Is this what I think it is?” asked Ethan. “Because it looks like…”

“…A giant pickle,” said Carol with a giggle. “What the heck?”

“If The North Pole needs you one day, we’ll use this to contact you,” said Krampus. “Don’t question it. Just make sure to hang it up on your tree, every Christmas season, okay?”

“Fine, old man,” said Ethan, putting the pickle back in the bag. “Anything else?”

“Like Avery suggested, it’s time for us to get lost,” said Krampus.

“Merry Christmas!” said Avery.

“Merry Christmas,” said Krampus, and with a flash of smoke, Krampus and Avery were gone.

“Well, that was freaky,” said Carol. “That was almost more Halloween than Christmas.”

There was another puff of smoke, and something hit the ground. There was a new note attached to the present.

“‘You forgot this,’” read Carol. “What is this, Ethan?”

“Let’s go inside, and I’ll show you,” said Ethan.

Ethan took the box from Carol before she had a chance to really look at it. He led her back to her rental unit. They went into the living room. Ethan sat Carol down in one of the armchairs and then, got down on one knee.

“Carol Carter, you’re the only woman I’ve ever wanted to spend Christmas with, much less my entire life,” said Ethan, popping open the ring box. “Will you take what’s in this present and be my wife?”

Carol looked down at Ethan, who was on one knee, looking like an absolute wreck, covered in snow, dirty, a bit of mud, and more than a bit of sweat. He didn’t look anything like the billionaire she knew him to be. He looked like a man who had crawled through Hell and back just to earn an audience with her.

“Was everything you said in those letters true?” asked Carol.

“I think you already know the answer to that question, babe,” said Ethan.

“Then yes, Ethan, yes,” said Carol.

Ethan slipped the large solitaire diamond ring on to Carol’s finger. He had to admit, whatever the deal was with Pandora and her Christmas magic, the magic obviously had good taste. The ring was classy but bold, perfect for a woman like Carol.

“Now, I think we have some unfinished business,” said Carol, leading Ethan by the hand to her bathroom.

Ethan followed Carol into the bathroom. There was no shower — just a large clawfoot tub.

“Get in,” ordered Carol. “You’re a mess, Ethan. You need to claim me, well, I need to bathe you before that happens.”

“I can bathe myself,” insisted Ethan, disrobing.

“Can you?” asked Carol, running the bathwater. “We’ll see about that.”

Carol took off her jacket, hung it on a hook, slipped off her boots and socks, and rolled up her long-sleeved shirt. Carol put a peppermint Epsom salt bath bomb in the tub and stirred it into the tub, making the path a pale mint green color.

“It’s perfect,” said Carol. “Get in.”

Ethan stepped into the bath and lay all the way down. His muscles turned the jelly.

“Oh my, this is good,” said Ethan. “How is it that women know how to relax so much better than men?”

“Probably because I spent my time relaxing while you busted your ass in business school,” joked Carol, taking her loofah and soaking it with vanilla body wash.

She ran the sponge over Ethan’s body. One of the benefits of the bath bomb was that it turned the bath into an opaque milky lake which hid all the debris that fell to the bottom of the tub.

Carol felt Ethan’s firm body beneath her touch. She scrubbed at him hard. His rough skin could take it. His body reddened like a boiled lobster, and his hair became wet with steam.

“Here,” said Carol, taking a dollop of her two-in-one conditioner and massaging it into Ethan’s hair.

“How do you rinse it out without a shower?” asked Ethan.

“Oh, with one of these buckets,” said Carol, pulling out a plastic bucket with a long ladle-like handle.

Carol put some water in the bucket and poured it over Ethan’s hair a few times while Ethan rubbed his scalp, getting all the soap out of his hair.

“Now I remember why we don’t all take long baths every day,” said Ethan.

“Just lay back and let me clean your dirty self up,” said Carol. “Arms up.”

Ethan took the sponge from Carol and scrubbed his own armpits.

“What, I’m not doing a good enough job?” asked Carol.

“I’m not about to let my fiancée wash all my gross bits,” said Ethan. “She’s too good for that, isn’t she?”

Carol looked at her hand. The ring was still there, glittering like the first star that shone through the sky on Christmas Eve.

Ethan finished washing himself up and got out of the deep tub. Hidden beneath the surface of the tub had been a throbbing erection which emerged from the milky green bath like the Loch Ness monster coming up for air.

“That’s why you didn’t want me to clean you up,” said Carol.

“You caught me,” said Ethan. “Guess I’ve been Naughty. What are you going to do about it?”

Carol put her hand on Ethan’s chest and traced the symbol, a letter ‘S’ with two slashes through it, a dollar sign.

“What do you think it means?” asked Carol.

“Babe, the clock’s ticking, and I’ve wasted more than enough hours for the both of us, trying to figure out what that symbol means,” said Ethan. “I’ve already got over a billion of those things in the bank, so it can’t mean that I need to earn more money.”

Ethan lifted Carol up and carried her to the bedroom. He put her down on the bed. He was soaking wet, but the water just seemed to steam off of his hot body.

“Fuck, Carol, I need you,” said Ethan. Ethan lay down on the bed next to Carol and lifted her shirt off her body and gently placed it to the side. He unhooked her bra and removed it carefully, putting it on her shirt. He reached her jeans, and his patience broke. He hurriedly unbuttoned the jeans and pulled them down, slipping them off her ankles and tossing them aside. Without bothering to take her panties off, Ethan rolled Carol on top of him and started to ride him from below.

“Ethan, what about my —” started Carol.

“I’ll take care of it, babe,” growled Ethan. “Just leave it to me.”

Ethan slid Carol’s panties to the side and slipped his cock up into her wet slit. He could feel her quivering with desire already. He took held the panties to the side with one hand, the other, holding Carol up by her waist as he thrust in and out of her tightness.

Needing to caress her curves, but also needing to make sure those panties were taken care of, Ethan ripped the panties off her body with two hands, pulling the left side of her panties back and the right side of her panties forward suddenly, causing them to rip in half. He put the scraps below the pillow his head was resting on. With every push down of his head, with every inhale, he took in Carol’s natural musk, and it made him even harder.

Ethan used his left hand to support Carol while exploring her curves with his right hand. He ran a hand up her torso, from the beginning of her hips to the ends of her breasts, brushing his palm over her nipples. He ran his palms over her nipples and made small circles, using the breadth of his hand to drive Carol wild.

Carol took Ethan’s hand and looked at it.

“It’s different,” said Carol. “Why is it different?”

“I’m a bear shifter, and those are the pawprints of a bear shifter,” said Ethan, showing Carol his other palm for a second before going back to supporting her, so she didn’t fall off the bed. “Those old marks weren’t. They were the mark of the reindeer. They were hoofprints, not pawprints.”

“The marks, they’re so rough,” said Carol.

“Bad rough?” asked Ethan.

“Good rough,” said Carol. “Show me what else those hands can do.”

Ethan ran his hands over Carol’s body. He loved the way her thick curves felt in his hands. He was a man who had a taste for luxury, but there was nothing more luxurious than his curvy baker’s BBW body. He held one of her breasts up and flicked the nipple with his fingers before taking it into his mouth while looking her deep in the eyes. Then, Ethan nibbled on the nipple.

“Oh, fuck,” moaned Carol as Ethan’s teeth grazed over her tit. “Ethan, I didn’t know you had this in you.”

“I’m not holding back this time,” said Ethan. “I’ve wanted to claim you since the day I met you, Carol. Well, now I can.” Ethan took Carol’s palm and pressed it against his chest, running her fingers over his black mark.

Carol traced the curves and sharp lines that formed Ethan’s mate mark. How had a man so motivated by money managed to capture her heart? She thought back to the letters he’d written her, notes that seemed too fantastical to be true. She’d read them over and over on Christmas Eve, falling asleep reading them in her bed, and even when she was most upset at Ethan, she hadn’t had it in herself to throw the letters away. She’d put them away in one of the few boxes in her car.

“What is it?” asked Ethan.

“I just can’t believe that this whole crazy Christmas season happened, and we ended up together in the end,” said Carol, brushing Ethan’s wet hair off his forehead and leaning down to press her lips against his head.

“Fuck, babe, that’s so sweet, my dick’s crying,” joked Ethan, reaching up to brush a curled finger against Carol’s cheek. “Now, didn’t you want me to show you what my hands could do?”

Ethan moved the finger down Carol’s body. He ran his still curled finger over her décolletage, feeling her soft, supple skin beneath his callused touch. He felt her shiver and in response, pressed his full hand against her body, causing her to moan as his big hand explored her ample curves.

“Fuck, you’ve got a body,” cursed Ethan, noticing, for the first time, that his chest no longer burned when he cursed. “Fuck. Fuck.”

Ethan rocked back up into Carol, filling her with more of his length. He’d forced himself to take things slowly, but as Carol took more and more of his shaft, he couldn’t help but increase the tempo. He took Carol in both his hands and pumped her on and off his cock before moving his right hand back down to the space between her legs.

Ethan’s bear roared. This was it. This was the event they’d been waiting for, ever since Ethan had first spied Carol. Ethan’s bear hadn’t been there, but as soon as it met Carol, it had realized why Ethan had fallen for her, hard and fast. She wasn’t just curvy. She was sweet, but also sassy. She wasn’t afraid to do or say exactly what was on her mind. She was a breath of fresh air in an all too smoggy world.

“You ready, babe?” asked Ethan. “After this…our lives change forever.”

“They already have,” said Carol, stabilizing herself with one hand on Ethan’s chest and using the other hand to lift Ethan’s left hand up to her mouth so she could kiss it.

Ethan pushed Carol back up and pressed his right index finger against her clit. He swirled the tip against the soft, hidden nub, drawing it out, touching it with his fingertip and causing a tingle to run down Carol’s spine. Carol let out a moan and put her hands behind her butt, on Ethan’s firm thighs, as Ethan played with her spot.

Carol let out a low moan and leaned into Ethan’s body, pressing her soft curves against his hard breadth, wrapping her arms around his back. She raked her nails against his back, not to hurt him, but because her body was desperate to find something to hold on to as Ethan made her body weather a blizzard of pure pleasure.

“Fuck, Ethan,” moaned Carol, saying the words right in Ethan’s ear. “I’m so close.”

“What do you need to get there?” asked Ethan, pulling his hand out from under Carol’s body, as her clit was standing at attention. Now, with every stroke in and out of Carol, Ethan’s body would rub against her special spot.

“I just need that dick,” said Carol. “Harder, Ethan. Show me just what that sweet candy cane can do.”

Ethan took Carol in both his hands and rolled her onto her back. He thrust into her, in and out, hard and fast, pistoning pushing against her body. Carol wrapped her arms around the pillow so that she had something to do with her arms. Her arms seemed to be in the way, as Ethan had pushed them aside so he could better explore her curves with his hands and then, with his mouth, kissing and licking every inch of Carol’s body as he slammed in and out of her.

Ethan flipped Carol back up so she was on top of him, while Ethan’s back was to the sheets. He rode her from the bottom, one hand wrapped in her hand, assuring her she was safe, the other, used purely mechanically, moving up and down, up and down, pushing and pulling Carol off and back on Ethan’s cock.

The knot that had built up in Carol’s body came apart like the first present opened on Christmas Day. Carol let out a moan and collapsed down on to Ethan as she came around his cock, hard.

Ethan couldn’t hold back. As soon as he felt Carol crumple in his arms, he fell upward into her body and crashed into her, cumming deep inside her. He pushed her up and pressed her hair out of her face and off her shoulders, so he could watch her face as she climaxed. Ethan had never seen Carol so happy, so utterly blissed out.

As Carol and Ethan came at the same time, something magical happened. Ethan’s brown eyes flashed bright sepia amber. The black mark on Ethan’s chest started to glow. The dollar sign turned bright gold. Ethan watched and expected the mark to become golden, but instead, the mark started to warp in front of his very eyes. One of the slashes running through the symbol disappeared. The letter S shape unknotted itself and turned into a form with a single curve.

“What’s happening?” asked Carol, running her hand over the raised mark. The dollar sign on Ethan’s chest had been replaced with a golden cent sign.

“Fate’s sending me a message,” said Ethan, running his hand over his mark. “I think the message is, you’re what’s made me ‘change.’ One of you is worth a hundred of my fortunes.”

“I think it’s just a C for ‘Carol,’” joked Carol. “What’s next for us, Ethan?”

“Ever dream about living in New York City?” asked Ethan.

“I mean, as a little girl, but…wait, I can do that now, can’t I?” mused Carol aloud. “Huh. There might be some perks to dating an NYC billionaire after all. Can we really get sushi whenever we want in New York City?”

“Yes, but, mostly because one of my chefs is trained in fine Japanese cuisine,” said Ethan.

“One of your chefs?” asked Carol. “Well, do you know if one of your mechanics is going to be able to fix my SUV?”

“Do you really want to keep that old thing, or do you want to upgrade?” asked Ethan.

“If I don’t get it fixed, how the heck are we getting out of this town? The road’s the only way out,” said Carol.

“Let me borrow your phone, and I’ll show you how this is all done. You’ve seen reindeer fly, well, now it’s time for you to see how a billionaire bear flies,” said Ethan.