Santa's Daughter (1st bk of Santa Series) (Completed)

Chapter 26 (Edited)

Copper jumped up in surprise, possibly shocked that I could talk to him through his mind. He bucked as well while laying his ears flat against his head. However, he didn't try to say anything because Mika chose that moment to show up.

"Sorry," she said to Copper before she looked at me. She narrowed her eyes while she kept up with his fast pace. "Why are you leaving here without your friends and family?" Confusion filled her eyes at the fast pace because I haven't done this with other horses.

"You wouldn't want me to say why," I replied. I knew that she would hate the reason, but I could really care less. I had to do it, even if it meant to go against what one of my greatest companions would say.

Mika stayed silent for a while, looking ahead. Her ears swiveled around, trying to catch any sound before looking up at me. If she was human, I was sure that she would have an unamused look on her face. "Is it Jankin?" Her tone was bitter, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes at her.

"Yes, he is out there, and it is going to snow soon," I spoke clearly, knowing that I couldn't help but try to get her to see the way that I was thinking.

Mika huffed and narrowed her eyes. "So, what? We are going to risk our behinds to save his?"

"Well, if you don't want to come, then you can go back," I replied, curtly.

"I'm not leaving you with that dog."

"That dog is one of my dogs, Mika. You are not my only dog. The pack, your family, is mine." I paused and sighed, looking forward. "You are my team. With the other dogs we can win, without everyone we can't." I paused again and sighed. "We even have to protect those that do us wrong. It's the way of the life."

Mika sighed and nodded her head. She didn't say another word, but I knew that she had some bitter thoughts about having to be with Jankin as well. I knew that she hoped that he would get off of his high horse and actually work as a team.

"Have you two been together forever?" Copper asked. He flicked his ear back, listening to my signals, and I was surprised as how much of a horse that he did act when I rode him bareback.

"Hey you finally can talk! What happened cat got your tongue?" I asked, teasingly.

"Actually, it was hearing you talk in my mind that got me off guard."

"I figured something like that would happen, but yes, Mika and I have been together for a long time. It's kind of the way we were before... you know."

"I ran away. Reindeers know what might happen to the people they have chosen. Choosing you wasn't by my choice, Mary. It was by fate." Wisdom filled his voice, and I couldn't help but wonder what he had been through with the fact that my mother had taken me away from him.

"So, you knew that my mother would take me away from there because my father was working almost all the time?"

"Yes, but you will have to work all the time, also, when you take your father's place as a Clause."

I couldn't help but wince and grimace. I still didn't know if I wanted to do it. Sure, I knew that it was my duty, but... my duty was to the horses as well. I couldn't leave them behind, even though it was fate or something.

"So, does that mean you will leave me behind? You will leave me here like you left me in the 'doghouse'?" Mika asked.

"I-I don't know. I really want to just do the work that I have been doing all my life." I bit my lip and grimaced, hoping that by some miracle I would be able to do the work that I loved doing, though I loved to make children happy.

"But, you are a Clause. You need to work the family business." There was a pause while Copper sighed. "You have a duty to the children and to Christmas."

I didn't answer because I heard, or smelled, something that was not supposed to be there. I don't know what it was, but I did know that something bad might happen. I just hoped that I wasn't going crazy, which was was possible. "Did you guys hear or smell anything out of the ordinary?" I asked, changing the subject.

Mika lifted her nose to the wind. She flicked her ears around, and I knew that she was trying to see if she couldn't hear anything that didn't seem in the norm. "It doesn't smell like Jankin, but something is out there."

"Do you see those clusters of trees right there? Stop there and let me get something out of there," I said.

"Okay, but what do you need?"

"Living here, and knowing my way around, I have some things hidden in trees." I couldn't help but smirk. "I am good at it, so that is why no one has been able to detect them."

"Like... what?"

"Like... bow and arrows or a knife," I said, stopping him at one of the trees. I grabbed onto a branch and swung into the trees and climbed the tree just as many times I had when I was younger with a different horse each time.

"Mary," Copper warned, and I could feel that he was wary of something.

"I am almost done. I need to get this out, then I am coming I am coming down." I had found my quiver and bow in the spot that I had placed it in and started to take it down.

Mika growled, causing me to finish up quickly and hop onto Copper. "Look in the bushes," she said, answering my unasked question. Her ears were laid at the back of her head while she lifted her lip and snarled.

I looked into the bushes and saw red eyes glaring at me. I sensed power from those eyes and knew that it wanted the power that I didn't know I had.

It growled and started to come forward, keeping its eyes on me.