“Still don’t get why you don’t talk to Avery about it,” said Rowan, slapping his ax down on the log before wiping his brow. “You’d be surprised what a little communication can do.”

“Says the man whose supposed ‘fated mate’ won’t even listen to a word he has to say,” said Krampus.

“Maybe she would if I was allowed to stay at the bakery for more than the two minute it takes for us to tie up the boat, go to the back patio, enter the bakery, grab the pastries and coffee from the counter, and do it all in reverse,” said Rowan, smashing his axe down and splitting another log.

A drip of sweat moved from its crevice behind his ear to his neck, drawing a line down to the mark on Rowan’s chest, a mark that still read, in blood crimson letters, ‘Naughty.’

Except it didn’t.

That was the problem, the sick joke the universe had played on Rowan.

The mark was now emerald green and read, ‘Nice.’

Rowan knew what would’ve been frikkin’ ‘Nice’ — if the mark had changed earlier and he’d gotten off of The Naughty List before he’d gone down into that basement with Holly.

Instead, it had shown up a full day later.

Maybe you should take this as a sign, said Cupid.

Or maybe, I can admit the truth to myself — that sometimes, true love is just a fairy tale, and that Christmas magic might be real, but it sure as shit doesn’t feel magical, said Rowan. If there was one perk to being on The Nice List, it was that he could curse again without the mark burning. Every time he’d sworn before, his mark had burned. There were only so many times a man could say ‘candy canes’ instead of ‘fucking bullshit’ without losing his mind,.

But right now, losing his mind wasn’t his problem.

No.

The problem was, he’d broken something, not lost it — his heart, and Holly’s. They hadn’t talked much since that day, but he saw the same pain in her eyes that he saw reflected back to him in the cloudy bathroom mirror each night as he flossed his teeth with mint floss that didn’t taste anywhere as magical as Christmas candy canes had once seemed to Rowan.

Rowan brought the ax down on the log and cut it unevenly.

“Focus less on the girl and more on getting off The Naughty List,” said Krampus.

“I’m already off of The Naughty List,” said Rowan.

“Sorry — it’s just not normal for someone in your position to get off of The Naughty List so quickly,” said Krampus with a shrug. “Guess now, the only things you have to do are participate in The Ride, and, of course, claim your fated mate…if you want to keep your bear shift.”

“Well, I already tried the claiming thing,” said Rowan.

“Ah, but you rushed things, the way you’re rushing this,” said Krampus, motioning at Rowan and the log chopping stump. “If you want to get Holly back, maybe you need to take things…slower.”

“You don’t have to remind me,” said Rowan. “I learned my lesson about rushing things. If I hadn’t rushed things, I’d still be with Holly, doing whatever we were doing, and…I wouldn’t have blown what was probably my only chance to claim my fated mate.” Rowan brought the ax down again, splintering the log in front of him. He sliced the log sloppily, at an angle, leaving jagged edges all the way.

“Again,” ordered Krampus, waving his hand. The log knit itself back together and rebalanced itself on the chopping stump. Rowan chopped the wood again. Krampus clapped sarcastically and, with one motion of his hand, lifted up a log from the log pile, placed it on the chopping stump, and whisked the cut logs into a pile, where they were neatly organized into an effigy that looked a lot like a goat.

“I can’t believe that the thing with the kangaroo and the fight didn’t even get me off The Naughty List until the day after,” said Rowan, bringing the ax down again.

“Doing a single Nice deed, especially one so basic, was not be enough to get you off of The Naughty List,” said Krampus. “You got off of The List because multiple people were affected by your deed to a degree that the magic that runs the list found you worthy to move from The Naughty List to The Nice List. I shouldn’t even be telling you this, but…there’s really only one guaranteed way to get off of The Naughty List at once. It’s one way that works without fail…and it doesn’t require making that many people happy.”

“What is it?” asked Rowan. “Don’t see why you’d keep it secret, given I’m already off the list.”

“First of all, I don’t want you spoiling anything for any future bad boys from your Clan. Number two, I just said, I shouldn’t be telling you, so I won’t be telling you,” said Krampus. “Do try and keep up.”

Krampus’s phone rang.

“Keep chopping,” ordered Krampus, answering the phone. He sat down on his big, thick tufted armchair, on the wooden platform deck he used to observe the lumberjack training. Krampus rotated his hand distractedly as he talked on the phone.

Rowan chopped the wood, over and over, thinking about the same woman he’d thought about since he’d met her — Holly.

Rowan waited for the next piece of wood to balance itself on the chopping stump. He watched as the log bounced around the ground aimlessly. The log ended up hitting a bush.

“Dude,” shouted Rowan.

“One minute,” shouted Krampus. “Sorry, you were saying? I see. Okay. We’ll be right there.” Krampus hung up the phone, waved his hands, and sent the logs and chopped wood to their rightful places.

“So is training over for today or…?” asked Rowan.

“It’s just started,” said Krampus. “The boss wants to see you.”

Krampus waved his hand. Rowan’s ax returned itself to the tool shed, flying through the shed’s doors which magically opened as Krampus used his telekinetic demoncraft.

Krampus ripped his necklace off his neck and tossed it in the air.

“You know the drill, boy,” said Krampus, as the necklace formed a ring in midair, expanded, and started to glow bright green. The portal above showed a set of wooden rafters not unlike the ones in Krampus’ cabin and base of operations on Camp Kringle.

Rowan came into the circle. Krampus pulled his hand down. The ring came down around Krampus and Rowan. The two were transported through the portal to a place that smelled of cinnamon sugar and glowed with the warm, soft, flickering light only a roaring fireplace could produce.

“Welcome to The North Pole, kid,” said Krampus, reaching down to close the portal and grab his chain necklace. He tossed the chain around his head.

Rowan looked around. They were in a little lobby. There were many sets of doors. Krampus walked up to the biggest set and knocked. Rowan looked at the doors. They were large wooden doors, carved with Christmas motifs — including jingling Christmas bells, flying reindeer, sleighs, presents, and boughs of holly, sending a pang through Rowan’s heart as he remembered the woman that not only wanted nothing to do with him but wouldn’t even give him a chance to explain himself to her.

If you were in her shoes, would you give her a second chance? asked Cupid.

Everything I learned as a matchmaker, organizing singles’ events, speed dating nights, fancy parties — none of it has helped me find a mate, admitted Rowan. The Clan Elders were right. I should’ve spent less time meddling with other peoples’ lives and focused on finding my own mate. If I hadn’t been sent here in the first place…well, maybe things would’ve gone differently.

Or maybe, you never would’ve met her at all, said Cupid. Who knows? She could still change her mind.

To have any chance of that happening, I’d need…well, I’d need a Christmas miracle, admitted Rowan.

You’re a flying reindeer, at The North Pole, said Cupid. Why the heck do you think you’re here?

What do you mean? asked Rowan.

Before Cupid could answer, Rowan heard Krampus’ phone play a heavy metal song that Rowan swore was a metal cover of a Christmas carol.

“Really?” muttered Krampus. “Didn’t expect her to be one for dramatics. Alright.”

Krampus opened the big wooden doors. Rowan followed him into a large office, decorated with Christmas decor that looked equal parts merry and magical. Just as there was a fireplace in the lobby, there was a fireplace in the office. On the mantle, there were seven snow globes that looked a lot like the one Krampus had used to take Rowan’s bear and gift him the ability to turn into Cupid’s reindeer form.

At first, Rowan thought that the room was missing a wall. Directly across from the double doors, there was a giant pane glass window. Between the windows and the door, there was a large wooden desk. A leather chair was facing away from the desk. Two chairs were set out in front of the desk.

Krampus took a seat. Rowan followed suit.

“So,” said a mysterious voice that was familiar to Rowan, but that he couldn’t quite place. “Do you know why you’ve been summoned?”

“Because you’re playing CEO while your father’s away on business?” asked Krampus.

The chair turned quickly. Rowan saw that in the chair was a curvy young woman he’d seen at the bakery, rather than someone resembling Santa Claus.

“Are you Santana?” asked Rowan.

“No, smart one — I’m Pandora, Pandora Claus,” said Pandora, crossing her arms. “Krampus ruined my dramatic entrance.”

“I’ve met you before,” said Rowan.

“And yet you didn’t recognize that I’m not Santana frikkin’ Claus!” argued Pandora.

“To be fair — I’ve never met Santana, and who is to say Santa Claus can’t be a woman?” asked Rowan.

Pandora nodded and raised her eyebrows, curling her lips downward. “You know what? I never thought about it this way. You might be okay, kid.”

“If you keep your face like that, a cold winter wind might blow and freeze it so you can never change it again,” said Krampus.

“Bleh!” said Pandora, pulling down her eyes and sticking her tongue out. “Then maybe, I’ll have devilishly good looks like you, goat!”

“If I were you, I wouldn’t tease the person that could let your father know you’re playing around in his office,” said Krampus, raising a single eyebrow and smirking.

“Alright, alright. Well, I called you here because I need…a favor,” said Pandora.

“You need a favor from him?” asked Krampus. “Oh, this’ll be rich. What, you’ve managed to blackmail some Christmas elf into building you a sleigh, and you need a reindeer to help pull it so you can practice for The Ride?”

“No — but thanks for the great idea,” said Pandora, scribbling on a piece of paper. “Blackmail…sleigh…practice…”

Krampus waved his hand. The note flew into his hand. He saw that Pandora hadn’t written down any notes. She’d drawn a penis, with candy cane stripes.

“Wow, very impressive, but it could be veinier, for realism, unless you’re going for this highly modern superflat aesthetic,” said Krampus, crumpling the paper and tossing it. “Have you just been drawing dicks and waiting for my art critiques, or did you have a reason to call us into the office?”

“There’s this girl at The Wreath who’s trying to organize a Christmas party — a single’s event, to be specific,” said Pandora. “Only problem is, she has no idea what she’s doing…and neither do I. But, I told her I’d help her out.”

“And now you’re outsourcing the job to us,” said Krampus. “Aren’t you worried that too many cooks will spoil the eye of newt soup?”

“Look at this entire organization,” said Pandora. “We need every last Christmas elf to make sure Christmas is a success, year after year. We need shifters like this guy to help pull the sleigh for The Ride. My father needs you, Krampus, to whip them into shape before he whips them around the world! Daddy Claus isn’t perfect, but, one thing he does know is that it’s important to find the right people for the job, and sometimes, that means outsourcing. Rowan, you’re a matchmaker.”

“Technically, I’m a lumberjack,” said Rowan.

“Don’t be humble,” said Pandora. “I’ve seen your portfolio — Rowan Hooligan, Seattle’s top matchmaker. Your singles events are popular. I need you to help make a singles event at The Wreath into a success.”

“Who’s throwing a singles mixer at The Wreath?” asked Pandora.

“Avery,” said Pandora. “She’s Santana’s Christmas elf in that area. She runs this bakery that, oh, you know — you got to every day. Bear Claw Bakery. She’s the manager.”

“Great, just what I need — to spend more time around Avery,” grumbled Krampus.

“I’m not just doing this for her,” said Pandora. “I’m doing this for this girl that works there.”

“Holly?” blurted out Rowan.

“Took you long enough to figure it out,” said Pandora. “Rowan, I need you to help me organize the event — stuff like food, decor, activities. I need the both of you to help set up the event. Think you can handle it?”

“Why do I feel like we don’t have a choice?” asked Krampus, looking over to Rowan and rolling his eyes.