The Alien Reindeer’s Redemption

A Winter Starr Book 8

Elin Wyn

Contents

Foreword

Ryant

Megan

Ryant

Megan

Ryant

Megan

Ryant

Megan

Ryant

Megan

Ryant

Megan

Ryant

Megan

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About the Author

Foreword

The authors of Starr Huntress were given a challenge: give readers a reindeer shifter in your holiday story. We all agreed to call our shifters "reilendeer" and decided they bring good cheer to the world around them... and then we went crazy!

You might notices differences about the world and abilities of the reilendeer from story to story, and that's because each author has put her own spin on the challenge.

Now it's time to grab your eggnog, cuddle up by the fire, and enjoy these steamy alien shifters.  

<3 Elin

Ryant

“Greetings, sir.”

The old man sitting behind the counter of the small shop raised his eyes, one eyebrow cocked up, and folded the newspaper he was reading in half.

“Whaddya want?” he asked, a row of yellowed teeth showing between his lips.

He had a full head of white hair and an unkempt beard that reached down to his collarbone.

Judging by his worn appearance, he had to be an elder, someone whose experience allowed him to lead the other humans in his tribe.

“I’m looking for a reliable method of transportation,” I told him, hoping I was hitting all the right notes of human etiquette.

High Command had given me a data crystal stuffed with history, social rules, and guidelines for interacting with Terrans.

I’d kinda given it a brief glance.

I didn’t plan to be here long, and for such an uncivilized race, they sure had a lot of social rules and guidelines.

Boring.

“What the hell do I look like?” the old man grumbled. “A car salesman? A taxi driver?”

“You look old, sir,” I promptly replied, and his eyes flickered with annoyance.

Clearly, honesty wasn’t something humans valued around these parts. “I am to undertake a journey and, as an elder of this place, I humbly request your wise guidance.”

“Are you on drugs, kid?”

“Should I be on drugs?”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” the man growled, and his annoyance turned into a blend of fear and anxiety.

He moved fast, reaching for something underneath his counter, and then jumped to his feet, a primitive double-barreled weapon in his hands. “I don’t know if you’re drunk or if you’re high, but I want you to get the hell outta my store right now.”

As if to reinforce the point he was making, he pulled back the hammer on his weapon.

Skith.

Maybe I should have done more than skim those reports.

I only remembered a few scattered things about human interaction, but it seemed like I wasn’t exactly remembering the ones I needed to.

Oh, well.

Moving fast, I reached for the weapon and yanked it out of the man’s hands. I did it so fast that, when he tried to squeeze the trigger, his finger found nothing but empty air.

“Interesting,” I whispered, quickly disassembling the weapon, to find two red cartridges resting inside its barrels. Inside them were tiny spherical projectiles.

Shaking my head at the primitiveness of it all, I tossed the weapon onto the floor and turned my attention back to the old man.

By now, his eyes were wide with fear. “Please don’t hurt me.”

“I need a method of transportation,” I repeated, this time dropping all the politeness out of my voice.

This social dance had made me tired, and I was in no mood to be nice. I just wanted to get this over with so I could leave the planet as soon as possible. “Something reliable and strong.”

“Maybe...maybe you’re looking for a pickup truck?” he stammered.

“What’s that?”

He opened his mouth to answer, but then clamped his mouth shut and just pointed out the window. His trembling finger pointed toward a black vehicle in the corner of the parking lot. It had a set of wide, rough-looking wheels, and it looked sturdy enough to blast through a wall.

“That’s what you’re looking for,” the man spoke up.

Satisfied, I looked at him and made a conscious effort to pull my lips back, showing him my teeth. I wasn’t exactly sure, but I had a faint memory from the file that humans liked baring their teeth whenever they were pleased about something.

“I wish you long days, elder,” I said, then just spun around and left the cramped little store on the side of the road.

I made my way straight toward what the man had called a pickup truck, but quickly realized these human vehicles wouldn’t be as easy to pilot as I had expected. The doors refused to open, no matter how hard I yanked on the handle, and I had to resort to cruder tactics—using a long piece of metal wire, I fiddled with the lock until the latch popped.

I slid into the cockpit and tossed my pack behind me into the small storage space.

“Finally,” I grumbled, but I wasn’t quite done yet. It was fairly obvious how to operate the vehicle, but I had no idea how to activate it.

There didn’t seem to be a biometrics sensor or anything like that, and the electronics were sparse.

So, how did the humans turn the damn thing on? Sighing, I popped out a couple of panels on the dashboard until I found a tangle of wires. It took me almost an entire minute, but I eventually figured out how to hotwire the vehicle.

The engine growled as it woke up, and I allowed a grin to spread across my lips as I sped out of the parking lot.

“Thank you,” I said, waving with one arm as I saw three men running across the parking lot. They were yelling and shaking their fists at me, and one of them was even holding the gun from the store owner.

He fired twice, the sound of it echoing throughout the night, and I gave them one final wave before merging with the traffic.

Maybe some sort of primitive custom to salute those who were about to embark on a journey.

Who knew?

I wasn’t a cultural scientist.

I hadn’t traveled to this backwater on some xeno-archaeological expedition.

I was a reilendeer warrior on a mission.

Get in, get the item, get out.

That’s all that mattered.

Pushing all trivial concerns to the back of my mind, I focused on the task at hand.

I left the highway on the next off-ramp I saw, and twenty minutes later I was trying to navigate my way along a small two-lane mountain road.

Snow was falling all around, covering the road ahead in a thick curtain of gray sludge, and both the wipers and the high-potency headlights seemed to do little to improve visibility.

“Great,” I muttered under my breath. “Just freaking great.” If only I could use some of my Vondin tech instead of having to rely on all this primitive skith.

But orders were orders.

Until I retrieved the item, I had to behave like a prehistoric asshole.

As if to reinforce that thought, a red light suddenly started to blink on the dashboard, next to a crude pictograph of a rectangle with a tube coming out of its side.

This, at least, seemed fairly universal. The antique engine ran by a series of small, contained explosions powered by petrochemicals.

I’d seen refueling tanks clustered outside the small store where the old man had been stationed.

Perhaps I should have spoken to him more.

Except he was irritating.

Thankfully, I found what I was looking for a few miles up the road. Bright neon lights cut through the snowstorm, and I left the road and drove into what looked like a rural gas station.

Attached to it was a squat little building, the words Joe’s Diner blinking in tired neon lights over the door. I stepped out of the truck to find a spindly old man in blue overalls looking at me. He was wearing a winter cap with a furry lining, the flaps on the side covering his ears.

“Need a refill, mister?” he asked me, his eyes taking me in. He looked slightly suspicious, and I quickly deduced that it was probably because of my attire—I was wearing a plain black t-shirt, jeans, and a pair of boots. Everyone I’d met so far had been hiding under sweaters and thick coats, which suggested that humans struggled with cold temperatures way more than I did.

There was a jacket on the seat of the truck, but I’d ignored it. I reached for it, then shrugged. It smelled of the old man with the ridiculous weapon.

Why would I care what these people thought?

Back to the matter at hand. “Yeah, a refill will do.”

“What ya gonna pay with? Cash or plastic?”

“Cash,” I answered promptly.

There had been nothing in my reports suggesting that humans were using plastic to conduct their transactions, and while I had noticed a variety of shaped plastic items loose in the truck, I had no idea of their respective values.

Reaching into my pocket, I grabbed a handful of crumpled bank notes, courtesy of the Vondin High Command replicators.

I looked down at them and, not sure of what the proper thing to do was, grabbed five notes marked with $100 and pushed them all into the man’s hands.

“Does that cover it?”

He just looked up at me, eyes wide and jaw slack. “Right, of course,” I said quickly, and pushed three more notes into his hands.

“Thank you so much, sir!” He whistled happily, stuffing the notes down the front pocket of his overalls. “Feel free to grab something to eat, mister. On the house!”

“Thank you.” After my weird experience in the last store, I was actually surprised at how polite humans could be.

To think that all I needed to do was push a few scraps of paper into their hands.

And Commander Darsh had had the nerve to reprimand me for not playing well with others. Shows how much he knew.

Satisfied with how things were going, I ventured inside the diner. I wasn’t exactly looking forward to the experience of human food but, just like my truck, I needed to refuel.

The hinges squealed as I pushed the door open, and I was immediately greeted by bells and a soft chorus of music.

Later on, we’ll conspire...

It came from a large machine in the corner, something I recognized as a jukebox.

Songs about conspiring by fires.

I should stay on my guard around the natives, even if I was making progress with their customs.

A large wooden counter stretched from one wall to the other, and a few worn tables littered the rest of the cramped little building. The sharp smell of caffeine hit me all at once, but I could also smell burnt oil in the air, the scent of it pungent and greasy.

“Caffeine, please.” Slapping one of the $100 notes on the counter, I eyed the woman standing behind it. She was a rotund little specimen with curly brown hair, and she was wearing a pink apron with the picture of some weird bird stamped on it. “The man outside said I could get anything that I wanted, but this is for your troubles.”

“You sure, hun?” she laughed, looking down at the note without picking it up. “Coffee’s free, you know? You can just order a meal and grab a cup with it.”

“That’s for your troubles,” I repeated, and she just shrugged and stuffed the note into her apron. Moving fast, she produced a cup from behind the counter and poured a dark liquid into it. I wasn’t used to taking my caffeine like that, but I didn’t hesitate before putting the cup to my lips. It was surprisingly good.

“What about dinner, hun? You gonna eat something?”

“Zavin herbs, if you have them,” I mechanically replied, and only then did I remember there likely weren’t any Zavin herbs here on Earth. “Fresh vegetables, if you have them,” I quickly continued, and the woman knitted her eyebrows together before shaking her head.

“You one of those boys who only eat vegetables, huh?” she asked me, and I could tell she wasn’t too excited about it. “Seriously, for the life of me, I can’t see what’s wrong with a fine steak. Your generation has been too pampered, that’s what I think. My father would have whooped me if I went home and told him I’d just have beans and sprouts for dinner.”

She continued her tirade even as she walked into the kitchen, presumably to fix me dinner, but I no longer heard a word of it.

To put it simply, her speech was too primitive and boring. The Vondin didn’t consume meat out of respect for the spark of life in every sentient being.

Sure, we were also known for beating into a pulp everyone that stood in our way, and we had the best tech in the galaxy when it came to low-profile assassination ops...but, hey, at least we didn’t eat our targets.

That had to count for something, right?

Bored, I looked around the small diner as I waited for my food.

And that’s when I saw her.

Sitting by herself in the corner, the woman had long auburn hair with faint pink streaks. It fell gently over her shoulders, framing her delicate face as if she was the centerpiece in a painting.

Her eyes, smart and hungry, were a vivid gray, a color I hadn’t expected to find in a human.

Although she looked a bit thinner than what she should be, she was absolutely stunning.

Keep it together, I warned myself.

I hadn’t come to Earth to mingle with the natives, had I?

No, I was here on a mission, and I wouldn’t allow myself to get distracted. No matter what, I would keep my focus and—

And here I was, looking at her once more.

Watching the lush curve of her lips.

Skith.

Megan

I didn’t realize I was staring until I heard the french fry I had been holding clatter back down onto my plate.

I dragged my eyes away from the stranger who’d just entered the diner.

I’d never seen a man like that before. He stood out against the tatty holiday decorations strewn across the diner as if he were wearing lights himself.

Even from across the room, I could tell he was well built. I couldn’t tell much else about him other than the fact that his eyes were dark and his shaggy hair needed a slight trim.

He didn’t look scruffy or unkempt.

Just a little wild.

I glared at the sad pile of french fries on my plate and fought the urge to stare at him again.

What the hell was wrong with me?

I shouldn’t be drooling over some guy in a glorified truck stop.

I shouldn’t have noticed him in the first place.

I couldn’t afford to get distracted now.

My stomach clenched as the familiar guilt hit me.

God, I was a terrible mother. How could I have let this happen?

My five-year-old daughter, Arabella, was missing.

She wasn’t a runaway. She didn’t get lost.

It was so much worse than that. She’d been kidnapped.

The police still didn’t believe me, no matter how much evidence I shoved in their smug, condescending faces.

The worst part was, I even knew the kidnapper’s name, and they still refused to help me.

Dr. Theodore Bonven.

Her father.

How do I know this?

I poured every last penny I had in my savings account, which was meager to begin with, into hiring a PI.

I’d never been wealthy. Not even close.

Despite that, I’d done my best to give Arabella a good life.

She wanted for nothing. No matter what, I always found a way to get her what she needs.

Now she was in the hands of her dickwad father.

She could be cold, scared, or hungry, and what was I doing?

Making eyes over my french fries at some stranger with a jawline that could cut diamonds.

Fuck, I’d give anything for a burger right now.

I kept shifting between being too sick with worry to eat and being ravenous enough to eat an entire cow. My stomach grumbled.

All I’d had to eat today was a packet of peanut butter crackers that tasted chalky.

I picked up a french fry and placed it on my tongue. I felt the individual granules of salt, but couldn’t taste anything.

I chewed and swallowed, even though my body had already switched back to being repulsed by the thought of food.

I needed to eat. French fries weren’t exactly packed with nutrition, but they were the cheapest food on the menu and I wouldn’t be able to eat again until tomorrow.

I had carefully budgeted this trip. I knew exactly how many days it would take to reach my daughter at her father’s compound. I calculated the exact amount of gas it would take and how much I could spare per day on food.

I sipped my water, hoping it would help the perpetual dryness in my throat. A soda would’ve been a luxury purchase.

Arabella will get as much soda as she wants when I get her back.

The holiday carols on the jukebox stabbed at me, highlighting the ache in my chest.

We’d never been apart on the holidays, never been apart for even a day.

My daughter loved holidays. She loved dressing up and making everything a game.

I thought of the compound where Ted had supposedly taken her.

The photos the PI sent looked grim. He’d provided rough coordinates, but not an address. I hadn’t been able to verify that there was anything at those coordinates other than snow, snow, and more snow.

I believed the compound was there. And I could believe that Ted had taken her.

Ted had always talked about wanting something like that, a place away from everything where he could work uninterrupted, when things…when things were good.

Not that those times had lasted long, I chided myself.

I pushed thoughts of him out of my mind before I totally ruined my appetite. I forced myself to eat a few more fries before pushing away from the table.

I’d been here too long. I needed to keep moving.

Every second wasted was a second longer I was away from Arabella.

I kept my head down as I quickly left the diner, but at the last second, a feeling struck me.

As if someone had silently called my name.

And when I looked up, the hot guy was looking right at me. Now I could tell that his eyes were dark blue, like sapphires in firelight.

Dark. Dangerous.

And not for me.

I’d already proved my judgment couldn’t be trusted.

I looked away and stepped out into the chilly late afternoon, searching for my car.

Finally, I found it, an unfamiliar shape under the thin blanket of snow on its hood and roof. I’d sold my car for a cheaper model once I realized how far I’d be travelling.

It was a calculated risk, but necessary. The cash I’d made off the exchange funded this trip, and although this rust bucket was probably as old as I was, it would have been fine, if I wasn’t driving through such rough terrain.

One more example of me and my questionable judgment.

From the outer pocket of my bag, I pulled out a worn paper map that I’d gotten from the PI. It was the only map of the area he could find that had trails and dirt roads clearly marked.

The area where my daughter was supposedly being held was circled in red ink.

It took a few tries to get the old clunker to start. It was a manual. I’d learned how to drive this car ten minutes after I purchased it, which was about twenty minutes before I started this trip.

I still had some trouble shifting, but I wasn’t sure if it was because I was bad at it or because the shifter-thing was rusty and looked one good yank away from coming off altogether.

My parents thought I made terrible decisions because I was impulsive and reckless.

I thought it was because I’d never had that many good things to choose from to begin with.

The story of my life was just me making the best of bad situations.

Except for Arabella.

She was the best thing in my life. I couldn’t believe I’d let her slip away from me.

I could only hope Ted was being kind to her, had taken the time to get to know her, even a little.

She didn’t like the dark, and she got cold easily.

She was a good sleeper. She could fall asleep just about anywhere. I wasn’t worried about her being sleep deprived.

I was worried about her getting enough to eat. Like most five-year-olds, she was pretty damn picky.

Had he even bothered to childproof anything in the damn compound?

I gnawed my lip, peering through the windshield at the snow-covered road.

All the questions in the world wouldn’t answer the most important one.

Why had Ted taken her?

He’d never showed any interest in her before.

He’d shown up once, in the hospital room after she’d been born.

My parents hadn’t come by yet.

Disappointed. Again.

I’d been terrified, exhausted, clinging to my baby as he stood in the doorway, cold eyes peering across the room.

“Do you want to see her?” was all I’d been able to manage.

“Her?” He straightened, stepped away. “No.”

And that was that.

For five years.

But somehow, for reasons only known to himself, he’d changed his mind.

The PI had traced the giant who’d actually snatched Arabella, and then found the connection with Ted.

Thankfully, he’d stopped asking questions when I explained that the father and I were estranged.

That’s a reasonable way to explain what happens when your professor leaves you pregnant your sophomore year, right?

Like I said.

Questionable judgment.

Dr. Theodore Bonven had been considered a miracle hire at our tiny state university. He was a biochemist by trade, but was taking what he jokingly referred to as a “reverse sabbatical”, teaching whatever science classes the university couldn’t afford faculty for.

Sophomore-year-Megan never even thought to question it.

What had he been doing teaching at a little school like that?

But he’d swept me and my questions away by the sheer force of his personality.

I was an astronomy major in college.

My parents thought that was the latest mistake in a long chain of poor decisions. They wished I’d selected a more marketable major, like business or communications, but I loved the stars.

I loved the idea of investigating the mysteries of the universe. For me, there was no other choice of future.

It was everything I wanted.

And then, somehow, there was Ted, and everything I wanted, everything I’d planned, got pushed aside.

He wasn’t a professional astronomer. He said he’d started it as a hobby and fell in love with it, just like me.

Yes, he was more than two decades older than me, but he didn’t look old. He certainly didn’t act old.

When he taught, his whole body lit up with excitement. Passion sparked in his eyes when he spoke. He was the first person I ever met who loved astronomy the same way I did. It was beyond a professional curiosity.

It was a calling.

I’d convinced myself astronomy was in my blood.

I approached him one day after class, expressing interest in an astronomy club. To my outrage, I’d just found out there wasn’t one.

Dr. Bonven offered to help me establish one on campus.

To this day, I don’t know if he genuinely meant to help me or saw an opportunity to get a little action with the naive student with stars in her eyes.

He suggested the roof of the science building as a potential location for club meetings, since it was the tallest building on campus.

Even if the light pollution was unbearable, it was still our best chance of seeing the cosmos.

Instead of planning for the club, we spent hours talking about the stars. I was entranced. We decided to meet on the roof again the following night. He brought wine. I brought a pizza.

He didn’t take my virginity, but he may as well have.

We saw each other for three months.

Somewhere in that time, my Arabella was conceived.

When I found out I was pregnant, I’d never been happier. I was so excited to tell him.

He was…less excited.

He cut ties with me. He tried to get me removed from his class, but he didn’t have the authority to do so.

I left on my own a few weeks later. I couldn’t stay at the school. It was too hard, knowing he was on the same campus as me and didn’t care I was carrying our baby.

I couldn’t go home to my parents. The last thing I needed was a neverending lecture about all the ways I’d failed them.

So, I did what any expectant mother would do in that situation.

I figured it out. I got a crappy little apartment.

I worked three jobs. None of them were good jobs, but they paid the rent and the doctors. When Arabella came, it was all worth it.

And other than that one, brief visit in the hospital, Ted was nothing more than a memory.

Until now.

A sputtering noise tore me from my memories. My little car wasn’t doing so well. The incline and icy roads were just too much for the poor thing.

I pulled over on the side of the road just as the engine died completely.

“Okay,” I sighed shakily. “Don’t panic. You can figure this out.”

But how? I didn’t have enough money for repairs. I barely had enough for gas. I didn’t know where I was.

I pulled out my map. It was old, so it didn’t show lodging or public transportation.

How was I going to get to Arabella now?

Tears welled up in my eyes.

I’d been doing all right at keeping it together. If I broke down, I was no use to Arabella. I couldn’t help it now. Tears rolled down my cheeks. It was so cold in the car, I thought my tears would freeze.

A knock on the window scared me out of my wits. Expecting the highway patrol or something, I rolled the window down.

Standing next to the driver’s side was the man from the diner.

Apparently, this time, my bad decisions had decided to come to me.

Ryant

“Can I help you?”

What the skith am I doing here? I thought, but it was already too late.

The woman had already rolled her window down, I had already offered my help, and her teary eyes were looking straight into mine.

And her scent struck me like an enemy barrage.

There could be no backing down now.

Alarm bells went off inside my head right away, but I promised myself I wouldn’t let her big eyes distract me from my mission.

After all, the last thing I needed was another disciplinary procedure for operative misconduct.

It was possible that this mission was someone in High Command’s idea of a disciplinary assignment.

Possible.

“I think my car just died,” the woman finally said. She wiped the tears from her face with the backs of her hands, leaving tiny smudges of make-up under her eyes. She seemed delicate and frail, and I suddenly felt protective of her. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Alright, I’ll see what I can do for you.” Trying to think of a reasonable course of action, I walked toward the front of her stupid-looking car and popped the hood open, like I’d seen a man do in the parking lot of the diner.

Despite knowing ahead of time what the burned smell meant, there was no organic reactor hiding underneath the sheet of metal, and the dirty-looking boxes there didn’t look anything like quantum batteries.

Scratching the back of my head, I realized I had no other choice but to bring the woman along with me.

That would be something I would have to omit on my mission report, but as long as I dropped her off at the next town or gas station, I’d be fine.

Besides, it wouldn’t be so bad to have some company, and maybe she’d provide a little cover.

I preferred working alone whenever I was working a real job—tailing black ops operatives through Kanithar shanty towns, or sabotaging Lador cruisers while they flew from base to base—but my mission here wasn’t exactly an exciting one.

As an experienced operative, it was shameful that I had been assigned a retrieval mission. Some asshole in a satellite’s tech crew screws up, a data stick is discharged from a Vondin spy satellite after drifting through a meteor field too close to an unsanctioned, primitive planet, and the High Command thinks of me?

Yeah, this was punishment.

Besides.

I couldn’t leave her.

She’d be alone.

And vulnerable.

Someone might want to take advantage of her and…

“Skith,” I muttered, putting the hood back in place, and shoving down the completely irrational growing rage in my chest.

Going back to the driver’s side of the car, I looked down at the woman and shook my head. “Your engine’s gone,” I said, even though I had absolutely no idea what was wrong with her car.

As far as I was concerned, the damn thing had just stopped out of spite. “I can take you in my vehicle and drop you off at the next town.”

She ran her teeth across her bottom lip, an expression which I immediately recognized as one of hesitation, and then she averted her gaze. “Maybe I should just call a tow truck.” Awkwardly running one hand through her hair, she gave me a nervous smile. “But I appreciate the offer.”

“You’re going to call a tow truck?” I echoed, looking up at the road ahead. My own truck was a massive beast and I was struggling to drive with this weather, so I doubted anyone would come for her right now.

But that wasn’t my problem, was it? In fact, the woman had just given me a free pass to leave the scene without feeling guilty about it. And yet… Waiting alone. For a stranger to find her.

“That’s madness. You have no idea how long that would take.”

“At least I have a hoodie,” she said in a low tone, her eyes darting to my t-shirt. My forearms were covered with flakes of melting snow, a sight that was probably odd to her, and for the second time that day I realized that I would have to consider wearing that old man’s jacket to stop making people suspicious.

It was annoying—I was actually enjoying the cold.

“Yeah, I forgot mine at home,” I hurried to say, but I very strategically omitted the fact that home was a couple light years away from where we were standing. “Listen, it’s fine. You can leave your car here, and I’ll take you.”

“I really don’t know.” Once more, she started biting on the corner of her lips. Maybe she was hesitating because of how I looked—I was slightly taller and more muscled than all the other human males I had seen so far, so I figured she was intimidated by my appearance. Doing my best impression of a smile, I tried to put on a friendly, nonthreatening air.

And if she wouldn’t come with me, I’d just move her to the safety of the truck.

She finally nodded. “The nearest town is Gold Peak. If you’re headed that far, and you could drop me off there, I’d really appreciate it. I don’t really have any money to pay you with, but—”

“Never mind that.” Smoothly opening the door for her, I stepped aside and offered her my hand. “The name’s Ryant.”

She looked at me for a moment and then, cautiously, she laid her hand on top of mine and stepped out of the car, reaching back for a small bag.

“I’m Megan,” she said, and I could tell she was still cautious.

Fragile.

Nevertheless, I still opened the door on my truck’s passenger side for her, and she thanked me with a smile that made my heart leap.

“So, Gold Peak, huh?” I asked her once we were rolling down the road. “What’s there?”

Aside from the damn data stick, that was.

According to the last readouts I had been sent, the data stick’s last coordinates seemed to match Gold Peak’s location on the map, so it was a lucky thing we were both heading that way.

“Nothing important,” she replied, her teeth chattering.

She had her arms wrapped around her torso, and her cherry lips were now starting to grow pale.

“Are you alright? You don’t look so good.”

“I’m fine,” she lied, her whole body shivering. “I’m just a little bit cold.”

Right. Skith, I forgot. Restraining the urge to smack my forehead, I scanned the truck’s dashboard and once I found what I was looking for, I turned on the heat.

Maybe I should have read that briefing file more carefully.

Slowly, color started returning to her cheeks. Her teeth stopped chattering, and she was no longer shivering, her ragged breathing returning to normal.

She’d been freezing, but didn’t want to say anything.

Nothing that would possibly endanger her ride to Gold Peak.

I pondered that for a moment, stealing glimpses of her in my peripheral vision.

Fragile, but determined.

Soon enough, I had to focus on the road and not her, as the snowstorm kept on getting worse, a violent wind relentlessly throwing the snow against the windshield.

It got so bad that I could barely see the road in front of us, and our pace slowed to a crawl. As our speed decreased, Megan’s nervousness seemed to increase.

She fidgeted with the hem of her jacket, and her right foot was tapping the floor rhythmically.

Not sure what to make of it, I did my best to stop glancing at her and focused on the road.

Despite how primitive human vehicles were, I was quite pleased with the vehicle I had chosen.

Or been given.

Or taken.

Whatever.

A lesser car would have already given up under the constant battering of the snow, but this one just kept on trudging on.

Of course, there were limits to what it could do.

“Oh, God, no,” Megan breathed out, throwing her head back against the headrest as I slammed my foot down on the brakes.

A snowdrift had spilled into the road, creating a white wall that made it impossible to continue. “This can’t be happening,” she continued, her words coated with a thin layer of frustration.

Grabbing a little plastic rectangle from one pocket, she swiped her thumb across its glass screen and tapped it a few times.

Then, nervously glancing at me, she pressed it against her ear. “I’m calling 911,” she explained. “Maybe they’ll know who can send a snowplow nearby.”

I waited as she talked with someone through her little plastic rectangle, a type of comm unit she called a cellphone, but the haggard expression on her face immediately told me there was no good news to be had from whoever was on the other end of the conversation.

“They’re telling me we’ll have to wait till morning,” she said through gritted teeth. Her fingers were wrapped around her phone so tightly her knuckles were starting to turn white. “I can’t wait. I really can’t. I need to get to Gold Peak tonight.”

Clearly, there was something she wasn’t telling me.

Whatever was in Gold Peak, she couldn’t wait to get there.

Luckily for her, it was the same for me.

The sooner I got to Gold Peak, the sooner I’d find the data stick and get off this planet.

But suddenly, completing my mission and leaving didn’t seem quite so urgent anymore.

Megan

I pulled out my map again. There had to be another way to get to Gold Peak.

“Can you turn on the light?” I asked.

“What?” Ryant seemed genuinely confused by the question.

I stared at him for a moment, unsure of what to say. In the end, I reached over to his side of the dashboard and flicked on the overhead light myself.

He looked up at the light curiously, as if he didn’t know it was there.

Weird.

Hot, intense, but weird.

“Let’s see here,” I muttered to fill the awkward silence.

It took a moment for me to figure out where we were on the map, and even then, there was a reasonable margin of error.

It was a crappy map, and it was almost impossible to tell how far we’d gotten in the storm, but….

“Look at this!” I exclaimed. I pushed the map closer to him and pointed to a hair-thin line branching off from the main road. “If we take that road, we can still make it to Gold Peak.”

“Why does that marking look different from this one?” he asked. “Are you certain it’s a road?”

Doubt twisted through me.

“Sort of,” I offered. “It’s not a main road, so it’s probably not paved or maintained.”

“How do we know it’s safe?” he asked, arching a brow.

“It wouldn’t be on the map if it wasn’t safe,” I lied.

Maybe it wasn’t really a lie? Who knew how mapmakers decided what went on the final product?

Or when this map had been printed.

But it didn’t matter.

I needed to try, for Arabella. My instincts kept dragging me forward, toward my baby girl. And maybe they hadn’t always been the best, but this time I couldn’t risk ignoring that pull.

“Please?” I begged when he didn’t say anything. “It’s really important that I get to Gold Peak tonight.”

I expected him to ask why, but he didn’t.

I wasn’t sure if I wanted him to know about Arabella or not. He might be the sort of guy willing to go out of his way for a stranger in need.

He might be the kind of guy who went running for the hills at the first sign of trouble.

He threw his truck in gear and carefully turned around in the road.

“It’s been a crazy winter this year,” I said. “I’ve never seen the roads so rough.”

“You live nearby?” He asked.

“Not really,” I shrugged. “I live much farther south. We still get snow, of course. But it’s not this extreme.”

He made a noncommittal grunt I took as a sign of disinterest.

“The road is just past the mile-217 marker,” I said before falling into silence. We’d just passed the mile-216 marker, but we were moving so slowly, I knew it would be a few minutes before we reached the next post.

The mile-217 marker came and went. I didn’t see any signs of a road. When we reached the mile-218 marker, I asked him to stop.

“We must’ve missed it,” I insisted.

“Maybe the map is inaccurate,” he said.

“It was done by hand, not satellite. Someone wouldn’t have drawn the road if they didn’t see it with their own eyes.”

“Satellite?” His eyes lit up.

“Or however people make maps nowadays,” I said dismissively.

What did I look like? A cartographer? “Turn around, please. We have to look again.”

“Are you certain?” He glanced at me.

“Absolutely. That road is there and I need to find it.”

Again, I expected a question, but he said nothing.

He whipped the truck around too violently. The back wheels slid over the icy road. If we’d been going faster than ten miles an hour, I would’ve been scared.

He righted the truck easily.

“Go slow,” I encouraged him. “The entrance might be hidden by trees or something.”

Sure enough, a small gap between two snowbanks shrouded in bare tree branches appeared near the mile-217 marker.

“That must be it,” I beamed.

“That doesn’t look like a road,” Ryant said as he pulled the truck over to the side of the road. I hopped out of the truck before it fully stopped. Snow crunched under my boots and the cold winter air bit my exposed skin.

“Sure it is,” I assured him, even though it looked like nothing at all. I grabbed at the dead branches blocking the entrance and started snapping them off.

“What are you doing?” He was out of the car now.

“Clearing the path,” I said as though it was obvious.

“I don’t think that’s a road.”

“Then I’ll walk it,” I insisted. I was taking this path no matter what. If he wasn’t going to help me, fine. I’d do it alone.

I’d been managing just fine before he showed up.

Mostly.

I’d manage without him.

“Isn’t it cold for you?” he asked. “You were shaking in my truck. This must be far colder than that.” The way he spoke was odd. It was like he couldn’t personally conceptualize what it was to be cold. He wasn’t even wearing gloves or a parka.

Some people must have a higher threshold for that kind of thing.

“I’m getting to Gold Peak tonight,” I said through my chattering teeth. Snapping the branches wasn’t an easy task. Though they were dead, they were also frozen.

Ryant stepped up beside me and snapped several, using one hand.

Maybe I was just really out of shape. I looked at his arms from the corner of my eye. His bicep was almost the size of my head. I bet he could smash a watermelon between his thighs.

Suddenly, parts of me weren’t cold at all.

I shook my head and focused on the branches. With his help, we quickly made a sizeable opening.

“I still don’t think this is a road,” he said when we piled back into his truck. I shivered. I could no longer feel the tips of my fingers. I reached for the heater knob.

“May I?” I asked.

“Oh, right!” He cranked the knob as hot as it would go. “I’m not used to using the heat.”

“I gathered. Does this truck have four-wheel drive?”

“I…” he hesitated and looked around his dashboard. “I don’t know.”

“Let me look.” I leaned across the center console and peered at the controls, highly aware of how close I was to him.

It took all my effort not to lean even closer, take a deep breath, see if he smelled as fantastic as he looked.

He looked like he smelled amazing, probably like pine, good soap, and something else manly.

God, what was the matter with me?

I found what I was looking for, switched the truck into four-wheel drive, and sat back in my seat quickly, cheeks hot.

“That should make getting down this road easier,” I said.

“I’ll believe that when I see it.”

“I said easier, not easy,” I reminded him.

Slowly, he eased the truck onto the road. It was a slow journey. I could’ve walked faster, but at least I was warm in the truck.

Unfortunately, the sun dipped behind the mountains. Night closed in quickly in this rural part of Idaho.

Who knew what wild animals roamed the woods at night?

Wolves? Bears? Mountain lions? I had no idea.

I pulled out my phone, hoping to use the GPS to determine how far we were from Gold Peak.

Not surprisingly, I had no service. I turned the phone off so I wouldn’t run down my battery.

“We can’t keep going,” Ryant sighed. “The truck’s struggling enough as is. I don’t want to break down out here in the middle of the night.”

“What do you suggest we do?” I asked. “We can’t just stop.”

Deep down, I knew he was right. This road was dangerous enough in daylight and good visibility.

My heart sank as the reality of our situation hit me.

Driving any further through this storm, on this trail, in the dark was a death sentence.

I was no good to Arabella dead.

“Do you see that?” Ryant asked, pointing at something up ahead.

It was a sign of some sort, covered in a layer of frost. I couldn’t make out any of the lettering.

“Pull us up closer,” I urged. “Let’s check it out.”

It took nearly ten minutes to get the truck parallel to the sign. Ryant hopped out before I could and cleared away the frost with his bare hand.

I rolled down the window to get a better look. Cold night air hit me in the face.

“It’s a sign for vacation cabins,” I said. “They only rent in the summer. It’s closed.”

“Perfect,” Ryant shrugged.

“No, not perfect! We can’t rent a cabin from a closed business.”

“Do they take the cabins away when they’re closed?” he asked.

“No,” I answered slowly, confused by the question.

“That means there are empty cabins nearby and no one to stop us from seeking shelter,” he said.

“That’s breaking and entering!” I exclaimed.

“That’s our only option. I thought you wanted to get to Gold Peak, and this would save us from having to turn back.”

“I do!”

I just didn’t want to become a criminal in the process. It wouldn’t do Arabella any good if I was arrested.

Or frozen to death.

“Then let’s go.” He pointed a bit further into the trees. “It’s not far. We’ll be better off walking.”

Ryant opened the passenger door for me. I grabbed my bag, placed my foot on the running board, and immediately lost my balance. I was headed for the snow, face first, when Ryant’s arm snaked around my waist. He pulled me against him.

For one breathless moment, I stared up at him.

He looked down at me, his eyes burning and unreadable.

I was gripped with the urge to kiss him.

I couldn’t remember ever wanting to kiss a man so badly, not even Ted, back in the beginning.

It took all my willpower to look away. I couldn’t kiss him.

I didn’t even know him.

I focused on regaining my balance.

When I was sure I wasn’t going to fall on my ass, I nodded for him to release me. The moment he did, the winter chill invaded my layers of clothing.

I suffered through it. I couldn’t very well ask him to wrap his arms around me again, now could I?

“Let’s hurry before I get frostbite,” I muttered.

Just as I turned to walk in the direction of the cabins, I would have sworn I saw his eyes flash bright blue.

Ryant

Megan walked on ahead of me. For a moment, I couldn’t move. I needed to get myself under control.

She gave me an odd look just before she started walking. I knew part of my true form bled through in the moments when my composure was frazzled.

I didn’t expect her to fall, didn’t expect her to feel like that in my arms.

Didn’t expect to want to keep her there, safe and protected, where I could breathe in her intoxicating scent mixed with the crisp air.

Humans certainly can’t tolerate cold to save their lives. I can’t imagine what that’s like. Large portions of this planet fall into what humans consider cold.

I haven’t noticed any natural defenses against the cold.

Humans don’t appear to grow winter coats. They regulate their own body temperatures, but not very efficiently.

Very odd.

But not my problem, except...

Even though I was several paces behind Megan, I could tell she was shivering again.

“Wait!” I called, and she turned, questions in those lovely eyes.

“There’s a coat in the truck, do you need it?”

It wasn’t my coat, and for a moment the thought of another man’s scent on her ripped through me with a flash of anger. But she needed something warm, and that was more important.

“Really?” Her smile washed away anything but the pleasure of making her happy.

I rummaged in the back until I found it, and grabbed my own small bag. “Here.”

“Thanks.” There was still some hesitation in her voice as she tugged the coat on. The movement caused something to fall from the pouch at the front of her hooded jacket. It looked like a slip of paper. I reached down and grabbed it before the snow could ruin it.

“Oh, don’t-” she started, but it was too late. I already had it in my grasp. I turned the paper over. A smiling juvenile human looked up at me from the paper. It was a portrait of some kind.

“That’s my daughter,” Megan said.

I tore my gaze from the portrait. Megan looked apprehensive, like she was afraid I was going to damage the paper in some way. I handed it back to her to show her I meant no harm.

“She looks like you,” I said. “How old is she?”

“Five,” Megan smiled. There was a sadness in her eyes I didn’t understand. Most species were happy to talk about their offspring.

She swung her bag over her shoulder and moved off.

I quickly fell in stride with her. It was probably best that I led the way. Humans had dull senses across the board. My eyesight was likely better than hers.

“Let me clear a path,” I offered and moved ahead of her. I wasn’t sure how close I wanted to be to her right now. Something about her made it difficult for me to stay in control of myself. I couldn’t pinpoint what it was.

She was relentless and determined, despite her human weakness and vulnerability. I wasn’t sure why she was so determined to get to Gold Peak.

She acted as though it were a life or death situation. I wanted to ask, but I wasn’t sure how to phrase the question in accordance with human manners.

Besides, there was a large chance I wouldn’t understand the explanation. She already thought it odd that I didn’t know how to activate the light in the truck or four-wheel drive, whatever that was.

I couldn’t do anything to risk exposure, even if it meant keeping Megan at arm’s length.

My superiors were trying to prove a point by sending me on this ridiculous errand. The last thing I wanted was to give them any justification to continue my punishment.

But if there was something wrong, if something had hurt Megan, I wanted to know about it.

Wanted to fix it.

I tore at some dead branches and shoved a fallen log out of the way to make walking easier.

“Thanks,” Megan said through her shivers as she caught up.

“Is your daughter at your residence?” I asked.

Megan bit down on her bottom lip. Her eyes welled with tears.

Before I could apologize for my apparent blunder, she looked away.

“No.” Her voice was soft and wobbly. “She was actually taken from me not long ago. That’s why I need to get to Gold Peak.”

“Taken?” I repeated. “How?”

“Her father sent someone to kidnap her. She was snatched from the playground,” she replied.

“Her father? Isn’t it a good thing that she’s with family?” I asked, wondering about that strange word. Kidnap.

It didn’t sound good.

“Not in this case.” Megan wrapped her arms tightly around her body and marched on.

I quickly moved ahead of her, removing obstacles and dangers she wouldn’t have seen otherwise.

I wanted to know more about her daughter.

I didn’t understand why the child being with her father wasn’t a good thing. It seemed to cause Megan deep distress.

“I gather the father took your child without permission?” I ventured.

“Exactly,” she nodded. “I have an idea of where they are. I hired someone to find her for me. I don’t know how accurate the information is, though. I just,” her voice wavered. “I need to find her.”

“You’re on the right track,” I said in an attempt to comfort her. “We’ll be there soon.”

A missing child, even a human child, made me feel uneasy.

I could only imagine the pain and terror Megan was going through. No wonder she was so determined to keep moving, even in conditions she wasn’t suited to withstand.

“I see the cabins,” she called.

I peered through the darkness and saw the outlines of several squat buildings. No lights. No signs of occupation.

Perfect.

We approached the closest cabin.

Megan reached for the door handle and gave it a sharp twist.

“It’s locked,” she grumbled. “I should’ve thought about that.”

“Let me try something,” I suggested.

Megan stepped aside so I could examine the door. It was locked, but it wasn’t a complicated lock. I gave the knob a hard twist, forcing the locking mechanism to disengage. The door swung open, revealing a dark, musty-smelling room.

“Did you just break that?” Megan gasped. “Damn, they need to get all their locks replaced if it was that easy for you to get past this one.”

She stepped around me and entered the cabin. She reached for a switch on the wall, flicking it a few times.

Nothing happened.

“I guess they cut the power during the off-season,” she said thoughtfully. “Don’t suppose you can muscle your way into making this work, huh?”

“I can try.” Skith. It was probably like the car. Some sort of archaic, unknowable technology. My fingers flexed, itching to get to the toys I’d packed in my bag.

“I’m only joking,” she laughed. “I think there’s a fireplace. Do you want to look around the outside for some firewood?”

“Certainly,” I nodded.

There were a few logs piled up against the side of the cabin, but they were soaked through from the snow.

A woodpile next to another cabin, further into the trees, seemed to have been more sheltered.

As I moved through the dark forest, an unsettling sensation crept over my body. I felt like I was being watched.

I went still and listened.

Even with my superior hearing, I heard nothing except for the soft sound of snow falling from branches.

I must not yet be used to the unusual natural sounds of this planet.

I returned to the cabin with an armful of thin, uncut logs.

“Not ideal,” Megan said. “But I think we can make it work.”

Together, we set up the sticks in a little alcove in the wall.

“Do you have a lighter? Or matches?” Megan asked.

I didn’t know what those things were.

I shook my head.

She straightened up and put her hands on her hips.

“There must be something here we can use.” She began rifling through drawers. In the part of the cabin I surmised to be some kind of meal prepping area, she muttered as she pulled things out.

“Can opener, instant coffee, six old forks…”

“Perfect!” she beamed. In her hand was a small object that didn’t look capable of starting a fire.

It was a short stick with a red bulb on the end. She grabbed a tube of papers and brought it back to the fireplace. She crumpled the papers and stuffed them in between the sticks I’d collected.

I watched with great interest as she took the unassuming stick and scraped the red bulb against the edge of the alcove.

A small flame sputtered to life at the end of the stick, quickly eating away at the wood. Megan tucked it against one of the bits of crumpled paper, which quickly caught fire.

“I hope that’s enough to get it going,” she sighed.

I was nothing short of amazed.

What a primitive way of conjuring fire! And she’d done it so easily.

I kept my expression carefully neutral. I doubted any normal human would be surprised at the feat she’d just accomplished. Perhaps that was how humans regularly created fire. How inconvenient.

The fire spread from the clumps of paper to the dead wood. The room was now illuminated in deep orange light. Megan looked different in the light of the fire, somehow. It made her appear softer, less distressed.

“How long have you been searching for your daughter?” I asked.

“Three days,” she said.

“And she’s in Gold Peak?”

“She’s somewhere just outside the town, but the investigator caught a picture of her in town. I figure her father must’ve taken her to the general store or something to get food and warm clothes.”

Tears welled in her eyes again, but I didn’t understand why.

Emotions weren’t exactly my strongest skill.

Pride in my victories.

Anger at my enemies.

Savage fury in the fight.

And now… this strange protectiveness towards Megan.

Everything else was a confused mess. It had never been important before, but now I wanted to untangle them.

Shouldn’t it make her happy that the father was taking precautions to care for the child? Perhaps happy wasn’t the right term.

“Do you require anything else?” I asked, hoping for another clue.

She looked at me for a moment before bursting out in laughter.

“I’m sorry,” she giggled when she saw that I wasn’t laughing with her. “I appreciate the question, but you asked it in such an overly formal way, you sound like a butler.”

So many, many things I shouldn’t have skimmed over in the file. Butler?

“And then I had this mental image of myself as a great lady from the Victorian era or something, with you as my butler, waiting on me hand and foot in this dingy old cabin that hasn’t been cleaned in weeks,” she continued.

I had no idea what she was talking about, but I laughed anyway. It seemed to please her.

“Sorry,” she said. “My mind makes up weird things like that. Arabella and I play a game where we imagine the strangest things we can. It’s a lot of fun, much better than cable TV.”

“Arabella,” I repeated. “That’s your daughter’s name?’

“Yes,” she grinned, pride glowing in her eyes.

“It’s a lovely name.”

“Thank you,” she said. “Ryant’s an interesting name. Is there a story behind it?”

“I was named after my grandfather,” I told her, which was the truth.

“How nice,” she replied. “I have my grandmother’s middle name. Eleanor. It’s old fashioned, but I like having a name with some history to it.”

“I feel the same way,” I offered her a smile.

“Do you spend a lot of time with your grandfather?” she asked.

“He’s dead.”

“Oh!” Megan’s eyes went wide. “I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be,” I shrugged. “He lived a good life. He achieved great things for our family.”

“Sounds like an impressive man,” she said.

“He was. Was Arabella named for anyone?”

“Not really,” she shrugged. “When I was pregnant with her, I was part of this expecting mother’s club on Facebook. One of the most common topics was baby names. Another mother made a post containing all the names she loved. Arabella was on it, and I knew it would be perfect.”

“Interesting,” I nodded. Some of that had made sense. The important parts, at least.

“Do you have any children?” she asked.

“No,” I shook my head. “There hasn’t been a good time to consider it.”

“They’re great,” Megan beamed. “But I’m not sure if I want more than one, right now. It’s so much fun with it just being Arabella and me. We’re our own little unit in the world.”

I smiled. I couldn’t help it.

Watching Megan’s face when she spoke of her daughter made me feel good. I didn’t understand it but I didn’t need to.

I just needed more. More of Megan.

“Tell me everything,” I urged.

Megan

Ryant’s interest in mine and Arabella’s life caught me off guard.

When I first laid eyes on him, I wouldn’t have guessed him to be the family-man type. I supposed it was an unfair assumption on my part.

Normally, men who were that drop-dead good-looking didn't want to settle down in the prime of their lives.

I wasn’t sure how old Ryant was, but he was definitely in his prime.

Hell, he’d be in his prime well into his seventies.

Probably longer.

“What do you want to know?” I asked.

He paused for a thoughtful moment.

“Motherhood,” he said with such a serious expression that I couldn’t help but burst out laughing. “It seems like its own sort of battle.”

Seriously? What hot young guy wanted to know about the trials of motherhood?

I expected him to laugh, smirk, or give me some kind of indication that he was just joking, but he held my gaze evenly.

His dark blue eyes looked like burning embers in the light of the fire. I still swore that they’d looked lighter to me for a second when we were outside. It must’ve been a trick of the light, a reflection off the snow or something.

“Motherhood?” I repeated. “Do you not have sisters or female cousins?”

“No,” he shook his head.

“You’ve really never been around babies?” I tipped my head to one side.

He hesitated.

“Not as a caregiver,” he replied. “The women of my family raise the babies in a community together.”

“The fathers don’t live with their children?” I asked.

“No, they do.” He paused, as if trying to pick the right words. “But where I come from has a high demand for physical labor, so men are often away from the home. The women feel that it’s easier and more beneficial to the children to raise them in a group.”

That sounded totally medieval.

Though I had to admit, when Arabella was a baby, I would’ve loved a group of other mothers to hang out with.

I’d always had to work. I didn’t get to join those adorable Mommy and Me groups.

“Where did you say you were from again?” For just a moment, alarm flashed in his eyes.

“You wouldn’t know it,” he shrugged. “It’s pretty remote.”

“Like Amish remote?” I asked.

He hesitated.

“Yes.”

Oh, that explained a lot.

I wanted to ask questions about his upbringing, but that seemed rude. Besides, he’d already asked me a question that I’d failed to answer.

“What do you want to know about motherhood?” I asked.

“You and Arabella didn’t live with her father, correct?”

I nodded.

“So, where did you live?”

Not the question I was expecting, but I was happy to indulge.

I didn’t get to tell that story often. Actually, I didn’t get to socialize with other adults outside of kindergarten social functions.

“We lived in a shed,” I chuckled. “Well, maybe a little closer to a cabin, but not too close.”

Despite the simplicity of Arabella and my first home, I had loved it.

“There wasn’t any electricity or running water in the shed,” I went on. “It was on someone’s farmland. I think it was left over from when the land was used for cattle ranching. It was probably a place where ranchers could stop to rest, wash, and sleep.”

Ryant nodded but didn’t say anything, so I kept going.

“I made it nice,” I said. “There was a well not too far from the shed. Getting water from it was a pain in the ass. Arabella used to love riding in a baby sling on my back and watching me bring the water up.” I smiled at the memory. “Hot water for baths wasn’t easy. We had a wood-burning stove and an oven that probably hadn’t been used since the days of the pioneers. I always had cold baths. Arabella was small enough to bathe in the sink and I was able to heat that much water with little difficulty. I’m sure you know all about that.”

I looked at him expectantly, but he stared back, looking confused.

Maybe I didn’t know as much about the Amish as I thought I did. Damn those Lifetime movie dramatizations.

“Never mind,” I cleared my throat awkwardly. The last thing I wanted to do was to offend him. “Anyway, we lived in the shed. I worked for the family who owned the land as a bookkeeper. They made most of their profits from farmers’ markets, so, as you can imagine, my income was limited. I didn’t have to pay rent, though.”

“No electricity,” he said. “What did you do in the winter?”

“This.” I gestured to the open fire cracking in front of us. “We only lived in the shed until Arabella was two. I was able to save up enough for a security deposit closer to town where I could get more work, but it must have made an impression on her. She still talks about it, even now.”

“What does she say?” A smile flickered in the corner of Ryant’s mouth.

“She always asks me when we’re going to go back to live in the Enchanted Cottage,” I chuckled. “She thought it was a magic cottage in a fairy wood. All of her imaginary friends were elves and woodland creatures. Though I think there was a real-life squirrel that took a liking to her.”

Ryant laughed.

For a moment, I thought he was just laughing to be polite, then I realized the delight in his eyes was genuine.

Warm.

“She brought it into the shed once,” I continued. “I was livid and shooed it back outside. She didn’t talk to me for a week after that.”

“How did you win her back over?” Ryant asked.

“I started leaving little scraps for the squirrel. He was allowed to eat on the windowsill.”

Ryant chuckled again.

“What were you doing at the time?” he asked.

I faltered. I didn’t like talking about myself. During that time in the shed, I was still heartbroken and confused over Ted.

What had I done wrong?

Once I got over that, I was simply sad. Another poor decision on my part.

And I felt terrible that Arabella couldn’t have a normal family life.

“Just working,” I shrugged.

“And before working? Before Arabella?”

Sometimes, I forgot I was a person before Arabella came along. She enriched every aspect of my life to the point that I couldn’t remember the girl I was before I enrolled in Dr. Bonven’s class.

“I’ve always loved astronomy,” I said.

“The study of space?” he asked, surprised.

“Yes,” I nodded. “Ever since I was Arabella’s age, I was obsessed with the stars. When normal kids were using coloring books, I was making star charts. I used to cry when I couldn’t make them perfectly accurate. It took three years of begging before my parents bought me a telescope. It was a shitty one, but it was my favorite thing in the world.”

“I used to go up on my roof at night,” I continued. “It was tricky. My parents were strict about bedtime. On more than one occasion, I stayed up on the roof until daybreak.”

I prattled on about the time I first saw a shooting star, the first time I was able to pick out constellations, and other milestones of my young astronomy obsession.

Realizing I’d started to ramble, I stole a glance at Ryant. He watched me with such intensity I felt my heart skip. No one had ever listened to me go on about the stars and space like that before.

Not even Ted.

“What?” I asked when he didn’t look away.

“You’re passionate,” he said. “I don’t see that in many.”

“Everyone has something they’re passionate about,” I shrugged, ducking my face to hide the flush on my cheeks. “What’s your passion?”

“I’m not sure I have one,” he said.

“That’s impossible,” I giggled. “You’re just not thinking hard enough.”

“I thought I was passionate about my job,” he offered. “But I’ve never talked about my job the way you talk about the night sky. I could watch you for hours.”

“You still have to tell me about yourself.” I sounded breathless.

Was he leaning toward me or was I leaning toward him?

I couldn’t tell. All I knew was that those hypnotizing eyes and that sexy smile were a lot closer to me than they were a moment ago.

“I’d rather listen to you.” His voice was no more than a whisper. He was less than six inches from me.

Four inches.

Three.

Two.

Our lips touched softly at first. I hesitated. I wanted to kiss him.

Holy hell, did I want to kiss him.

Nearly six years was a long time to go without being kissed.

He felt like he was going to pull away.

I didn’t want that yet. I followed him with my lips until he kissed me back. This time, I sank into his kiss, relishing the sensation of his lips.

God, it felt so good to kiss someone.

It felt even better to be kissed back.

His large hands pressed against my lower back, urging me to come closer to him. I wasn’t paying attention to anything but him at that point. When I moved forward, I lost my balance. He caught me against his chest, laughing softly.

“We can’t sit two feet away from an open flame,” he teased. “Not if I’m going to be this distracted.”

He got to his feet and extended a hand to me. I took it and allowed him to help me up. There was a single bed-like surface in the main room of the cabin. I wasn’t sure if it was meant to be a daybed or an unusually wide couch, and at the moment, I couldn’t care less.

Ryant led me to the bed-couch-thing, then laid on his back and pulled me on top of him. I kissed him hard, placing one leg on either side of his hips.

I kissed him until my lips were sore and swollen. He placed his hands on my hips and pulled me tight against him. I felt his hard length through his jeans.

Desire stoked in my belly.

I wanted this man. I wanted him right here, right now.

I opened my eyes to look at him, and for a split second, I saw Ted’s face.

I went still.

“Are you all right?” he asked, planting a trail of kisses down my neck.

What the hell was I doing?

“I-” I couldn’t make the words come.

This was a bad idea. I knew that because it felt like such a damn good idea and I always made the wrong choice.

This wasn’t going to help me in the long run. This sure as hell wasn’t going to help Arabella.

“I need some air,” I rasped and scrambled off the bed-couch.

“Are you ill?” Ryant looked at me. His dark hair was tousled. His eyes were bright and glassy. His perfect mouth looked freshly kissed. I felt his pull.

I wanted to crawl back on top of him and continue what we we’d been doing, but I couldn’t.

There was no way it could end well. None of my choices ever did.

“I might be.”

“What can I do?” He sat up, looking so concerned I felt like I was going to be sick for real.

My daughter was out there, somewhere, with her father who was a stranger to her.

Whatever fear she felt now was the direct result of my inability to choose the right guy. Instead of helping her, what am I doing? Stradling a stranger I met at a gas station diner.

God, I was the worst mother in the world.

“Nothing,” I stammered. “I just need to be left alone. Okay?”

He looked confused. “If that’s what you require.”

“It is,” I said. “I’m sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologize.”

I couldn’t look at Ryant. I felt so ashamed, and he was being so nice about everything.

More than anything, I wanted to go for a walk.

I wasn’t stupid enough to go outside in the woods in the middle of the night. It was probably below zero now.

Instead, I tugged his coat around my shoulders and walked into the cold, dark bedroom, no longer caring about the lack of a fireplace. I sat on the bed and wrapped the worn comforter around my shoulders.

It smelled musty, but it was better than nothing.

Looking out the window, I thought of Arabella and tried not to cry.

Ryant

Humans.

Could there be a more undecipherable species?

Sitting by the fireplace, the tall orange flames casting my shadow against the wall, I let my gaze wander toward the bedroom.

Through the open door, I could see her huddled under a blanket.

She was cold, but didn’t want to come out to the fire.

After what happened, it was as if there was a force field around that room, one I couldn’t make my way through.

Had it been something I did? Something I said?

There was just no way for me to know. Human interactions are governed by so many intricate rules that I was at a complete loss on what had happened.

But there was one thing I knew for sure: Megan wanted me.

She wasn’t alone. More than anything else, I wanted her—human or not, that woman was one of the most passionate and fiery beings I had ever met.

She was kind, too, a loving and dedicated mother that’d stop at nothing to get her child back.

Of course, it didn’t hurt that she was absolutely gorgeous.

“It’s settled then,” I whispered to myself, making peace with the fact that I would have to help Megan get her child back.

That was a serious breach of protocol, but by now I was way past caring.

For once, I’d be going off-script for a good reason, instead of for the skith of it.

If the Vondin High Command wanted to court martial my ass just because I wanted to do something nice for a change, then let them.

Nothing was going to stop me from helping Megan or her little girl.

Closing my eyes, I let a smile spread across my lips as I remembered the warmth of Megan’s embrace. Her lips had been so damn sweet and appetizing, her curves clamoring for my touch as her whole body burned with desire.

It was impossible to forget about her touch.

It had been electrifying, sparking a fire I hadn’t even realized lay dormant within me.

Shaking myself, I walked across the cabin and went toward the door.

I needed to clear my head, and the cold would help with that.

Besides, it wouldn’t hurt to check out the surrounding area and establish a perimeter. Outside, the wind howled.

Drifts of snow swirled aimlessly around the cabin, and the tall pine trees at the edge of the forest swayed back and forth in an angry dance.

Even with my enhanced vision, it was hard to see more than a couple of feet ahead of me, but I resisted my urge to shift.

Even though that would help me navigate the terrain, I couldn’t risk having someone see me transform.

If that happened, the High Command would definitely lose their skith.

Holding one arm in front of my face, I walked across the space separating the cabin we were in from the next one.

My boots pressed down on the snow, the crunching sound of it making itself heard over the wind, and I made a conscious effort to watch my footing, trying to be silent.

There were a dozen cabins in total, all of them boarded up for the winter season, and there didn’t seem to be a living soul around.

The cabin Megan was in looked just like the others, and the smoke escaping from the chimney was quickly picked up by the wind and thrown into oblivion.

Even if someone was watching, they’d have no way of knowing which cabin we were in.

Still, something made my hackles rise.

I ventured further away from the cabins and into the woods. The wind howled more timidly here, the pine trees forming a protective barrier from the storm.

I kept on walking until my shirt was soaked, and only then did I start thinking of making my way back.

I hadn’t taken more than a couple of steps back to the cabin when I sensed something in the woods that made me wary.

Not exactly something I could hear or see, but I felt it all the same.

There was a presence, furtive but watchful.

From the corner of my eye, I saw a fast-moving shadow coming toward me. Reacting on pure instinct, I rolled to the side as fast as I could, throwing myself on top of a blanket of snow.

The shadow rushed past me and stopped, sniffing the air before it turned around.

“Skith,” I muttered, watching as the massive beast got up on its hind legs and roared, saliva dripping down from its mouth and onto the fur on its neck.

The beast was similar to an animal I had seen in my reports, something the humans called a bear, but this one looked much bigger than anything I could’ve expected.

Its fangs were as long as daggers, and its eyes shone with a murderous crimson light.

“I don’t want to fight you,” I tried to say, looking up at the beast.

The damn thing was much taller than I was, and it looked stronger, too.

Even with skimming, there was no way I’d have missed a mention of this thing in my report. Customs and small talk? Of course, I’d skipped that.

Massive killer carnivores roaming my target area?

I’d at least have found it interesting.

The thing took another step closer and roared again.

There was no way I’d be able to survive an attack, at least not like this.

Showing the creature the palms of my hands, in what I hoped it’d interpret as a peace gesture, I started walking backwards.

One more roar, and the creature put its forelegs on the ground.

Then, with its murderous eyes set on me, it launched itself in my direction. I threw myself to the side and crashed shoulder-first into a tree, narrowly avoiding having the beast’s jaws around my neck.

“Skith,” I groaned, looking around as I tried to spot a way out.

It was useless. There was no way I’d be able to outrun a creature this massive. I could try and climb a tree, but something told me the bear would be even better at that than I was.

That, of course, left me only one choice.

I would have to fight.

Finally.

Taking a deep breath, I shed my outer garments and I flexed my fingers, stilled my mind, and just let it happen.

My bones started pushing hard against my muscles, my skin stretched to accommodate my new frame, and my fingers blended in and hardened, hooves replacing my hands.

It was a painful process but, at the same time, it was absolutely exhilarating.

It had been quite some time since I had shifted last, and both my body and mind relished the sweet pain of the transformation.

The antlers came last, the bones growing straight out of my skull.

How do you like me now? I thought, my eyes locked on the bear’s.

My breath condensed into thick clouds as I breathed, and it hung between the two of us lazily, like a flimsy curtain keeping us away from combat.

Stomping the ground with my front hooves, I exhaled sharply and lowered my head, presenting my antlers to the beast.

It snarled at me, impatient, and its fangs seemed to gleam in the darkness. My heart was beating hard, adrenaline coursing through my veins.

It felt good.

Eager to go on the offensive, I pushed myself forward with my hind legs, cutting through the falling snow as fast as I could.

The bear jumped toward me, its razor-sharp claws aiming for my neck, but I was too fast for it—sidestepping it, I pushed my antlers against its torso, the tips piercing through skin and muscle, even as its claws raked my side.

Red blood sprayed onto the white carpet of snow underneath us, and the bear staggered back, its eyes wide with confusion.

It was a big one, and it wasn’t expecting to find a match for itself in this part of the woods.

Unfortunately for the damn thing, no one’s a match for a fully shifted Vondin.

I stood my ground, hoping for the creature to give up and go on its way, but it only seemed more pissed off now.

It charged at me once more and lowering my head again, I put all my strength into another strike. I hit it straight in the neck, probably severing a major artery, and more blood gushed out from its gaping wound.

Whimpering instead of roaring, the bear went down on its forelegs and started swaying back and forth drunkenly.

With a gurgling sound that rose from the back of its throat, it finally collapsed.

I waited for almost a minute, barely moving, as I watched its chest rise and fall at random intervals. When there had been no more movement for another minute, I let out one sharp breath and closed my eyes.

What a fucking night.

Closing my eyes, I cleared my head and held my breath. I forced my heart to start beating at a slower pace, then felt what I could only describe as the crackle of electricity under my skin.

My joints popped as my bones shrunk, my thick fur receding back into the skin, and I found myself down on my knees, gasping as my antlers slowly disappeared back into my skull.

I pressed my hand against my side, feeling the hot blood slow. One lucky strike for the creature, whatever it had been.

But not lucky enough.

Naked, I stood up and looked around. I was about to start making my way back to the cabins when I noticed movement behind a couple of trees.

It was dark, and the storm made it impossible for me to see who was there. For a moment, I wished I hadn’t shifted back.

Still, even though I didn’t have my shifted eyes, I knew there was someone there, trying to hide behind the trees.

I didn’t make a move. I just stood there and considered my options.

If whoever was hiding there had seen my transformation, I was in trouble.

Missions on class-B planets had a strict ‘don’t be seen’ directive, and that was one of the rules the High Command really didn’t like to see broken.

But maybe I had been lucky. Maybe whoever was there had seen nothing but two wild animals going at it.

There was more movement.

Gingerly, the human standing behind the tree came into view.

It was Megan.

“Ryant?” she asked, her voice trembling with fear and confusion. “Is that you?”

Oh, skith.

Megan

I didn’t know what to think, say, or do.

All I knew was that the impossible had just happened right in front of my eyes.

“It’s alright, Megan,” Ryant said, his voice patient and calm.

I ran my tongue over my lips as I tried to think of something to say, but I simply couldn’t. I couldn’t even feel the cold seeping through my hoodie as my brain just stuttered on what I’d seen.

“I don’t know what you think has just happened,” he continued, “but—”

“What I think happened?” I repeated, my voice sounding shriller and more hysterical than I had anticipated. “You’re a freaking reindeer!”

Okay.

That wasn’t exactly what I’d meant to say, but it seemed to wrap it all up.

I shook my head at the absurdity of it all, slightly afraid that I was going crazy, but deep down, I knew I was perfectly sane.

I had seen Ryant transform into a reindeer, beat the crap out of some oversized bear, and then shift back into his handsome self.

It was absurd, but it was also the truth.

“I have no idea what a reindeer is,” he merely said, casually shrugging his shoulders.

I looked at him, aghast, and only then did I realize that he was completely naked.

I had been so shocked by his sudden transformation that I hadn’t even had the time to process that fact.

If possible, he was even more impressive without clothes on.

His muscles looked as if they had been carved out of a block of marble by a master’s chisel, his six-pack so perfect, you’d think someone had photoshopped it, but that wasn’t even the best of it.

Holding my breath, I let my eyes be drawn to what hung between his legs, and my heart did a backflip inside my chest as I registered its size.

Yeah, the reindeer thing was a definitive shocker—but his freaking size was what really stunned me.

I didn’t know what Ryant was, but he sure as hell wasn’t human.

“Megan? Are you okay?” he asked me, carefully closing the distance between the two of us. “You look a little pale.”

I didn’t know if I looked pale or not, but I didn’t feel alright.

Naked-reindeer-man was a good kisser, though...

My knees were growing weaker, my thoughts felt like balloons floating up into the sky, and even though my eyes were open, I couldn’t see a damn thing.

“I think I’m gonna…”

I trailed off then, the words feeling too heavy as they rolled off my tongue.

One final breath and I dove forward into Ryant’s arms, the dark shadows of unconsciousness wrapping around me.

* * *

I opened my eyes lazily, the warmth of the flames bathing my cheeks. I was lying down on the cabin’s couch, a blanket covering me. On the table, steam rose from what looked like a cup of coffee.

“Ryant?” I tried, kicking the blanket off me and sitting up.

“I’m right here.” Standing against one of the wooden beams supporting the roof, he had his arms crossed over his chest as he looked at me, frowning.

“How are you feeling? I made you some coffee.”

“I’m better now,” I whispered, reaching for the cup on the table. I took a sip before I continued, waiting as the instant coffee warmed me up from the inside out. “I fainted, didn’t I?”

“That’s right.” Hesitantly, Ryant pushed himself off the beam and started walking toward me.

He took small steps, his eyes never leaving mine, as if he was worried about spooking me. “I was worried about you.”

“I’m fine,” I smiled. “I think it was just the shock of it all.”

“Ah.”

“What exactly are you, Ryant?” I finally forced myself to ask. “And don’t lie to me.” I swallowed, my throat tight. “I’ll know.”

Somehow, I wasn’t afraid of him. Even though I had seen him kill a savage beast three times his size, I couldn’t think of him as a violent man.

Reindeer.

Whatever.

“I think you would,” he answered solemnly. “I’m a Vondin.”

He didn’t say a word more, his eyes carefully taking in my reaction. There wasn't a lot to take in, and that was because I didn’t know how to react to his revelation.

I mean, a Vondin? As far as I was concerned, a Vondin could be the name of a gluten-free yoghurt brand.

“I don’t know what that is.”

“Right, of course,” he cleared his throat. “Obviously. I’m not human, Megan. I was sent here on a mission. My superiors lost something, and I’ve come here to retrieve it.”

“You’re not human,” I echoed, those three words popping like fireworks inside my head.

It all sounded so incredible and ridiculous, but it was the truth.

I had seen him transform with my own eyes, and why would he bother to lie? “And the bear outside? Was it someone looking for you? Someone of your species?”

“It was just an Earth bear,” Ryant shrugged, oblivious to the fact that the bear he killed was definitely not a normal one. “There’s no one looking for me. This is a simple retrieval mission I’m on. Or it was, anyway.”

“What do you mean?”

“I want to help you find your daughter,” he said, his eyes on mine. His words were as solid as granite, as if there was nothing I could say that would sway him from his decision. “When I saw that beast outside...I knew I had to keep you safe, no matter what.”

“Ryant…” I didn’t even know what to say. My brain was struggling to process all this new information. It wasn’t just about the fact that Ryant was a shape-shifting alien—one that could transform into a freaking reindeer, of all things.

It was about the fact that, despite his otherworldly nature, he was willing to help me.

My parents wouldn’t. They’d made it clear that they thought their accidental granddaughter was probably best with her father, far away from embarrassing them with her existence.

The PI would give me information, but only for a steep price, that I just couldn’t afford anymore.

This stranger was the only one willing to help me.

Just for my own sake.

I stood up from the couch, wanting to hug him, then I noticed the dark stain on the side of his shirt.

“Is that blood?”

He looked down. “Probably?”

“Get over here, let me see,” I pulled him towards the light of the fire and tugged his shirt up, exposing the bright pink skin of a newly healing wound.

“How is that even possible?” I wondered, running my fingers over his side, marveling at how the injury seemed to be healing, practically right before my eyes.

Ryant hissed softly and I jerked back my hand. “I’m so sorry, it’s probably tender and sore and-”

He grabbed my hand, cutting off my babbling.

“It’s fine,” he said through gritted teeth. “But when you touch me...I can’t promise I’ll be able to control myself.”

I cocked my head to the side, considering. “Would you hurt me?”

His eyes flashed, intensely blue. “Never.”

And I believed him. So much so that I didn’t even care if this was another terrible decision.

Pulling my hand gently from his grip, I slid it under the back of his shirt, watching his face tense.

“Then maybe I want you to lose control.”

“Are you sure?” he managed. “I’m not…”

“I know,” I found myself saying, then just dove toward him and crushed my lips against his.

He seemed surprised by my reaction at first, but a fraction of a second later and he was prying my lips open with the tip of his tongue, his hands roaming down the sides of my body, desperate and hungry.

“Come.” Grabbing my hand, he dragged me toward the finally warmer bedroom. The moment we stepped through the doorway, he pushed me back against the wall and started kissing me once more, every touch claiming, worshiping.

His hands worked fast, busy with tearing each piece of clothing off my body, and my heart hammered faster and faster as the cool air in the room lapped at my naked skin.

“I’ve never seen someone as beautiful as you are,” he said, his eyes on mine as he peeled the bra off my body, my nipples hardening. “Not on a dozen planets, a hundred.”

Gently, he ran both his hands down my body and hooked his fingers on my drenched thong; one quick movement and he pulled it against my outer thigh, tearing the fabric apart.

Then, with lust burning in his eyes, he spun me around and led me toward the bed. I exhaled sharply as he gently tossed me on top of it, the mattress shifting under my weight.

He climbed after me, his movements almost predatory, and my heart skipped a beat as he grabbed both my wrists and pinned me against the mattress, his body on top of mine.

“You have no idea how much I want you,” he murmured, leaning in to brush his lips against mine.

Acting on pure instinct, I pulled on his bottom lip with my teeth, enjoying the way he softly groaned.

“How much I need you,” he continued, his lips now resting on my chin and going down my jawline. He laid soft kisses on my skin, gently making his way toward my neck, and my nipples became even harder than before as I felt his mouth wandering over the valley between my naked breasts.

“Then take me,” I breathed out, my voice escaping from my lips before I could filter my words. “Do whatever you want with me.” Arching my back, I let my voice climb up, a quivering little moan exploding in the air.

At the same time, he ran the tip of his tongue over the rising curve of my right breast, twirling it around my hard nipple in a maddening way.

“That’s exactly what I’m going to do,” he said, and a fraction of a second later, he had his lips wrapped around my nipple, his tongue whipping it mercilessly. I moaned once more, enjoying each and every twirl of his tongue, and closed my eyes as my brain did its best to process all the pleasure coursing through my body. Not an easy task.

“Oh, God,” I let out as he moved his mouth to my other nipple, his tongue punishing it in a wicked manner. When he finally released my wrists, it only took a second before I had both hands on his head, my trembling fingers running through his hair and pulling on locks of it.

Before I even knew what I was doing, I started pushing his head down, eager to have his lips and tongue on that sweet spot between my legs.

Without needing any incentive, he started tracing a downward line with his lips, one that ran from between my breasts to my navel.

He slowed down once he reached it, and then continued the hike down my body with nothing but the tip of his tongue. Restraining my urges, I let him tease me, the way he was breathing against my inner thighs driving me completely mad.

“Please,” I said, my voice trembling just as much as my hands were.

Anticipation had turned into electricity, and I could almost feel it crackling underneath my skin, every fiber of my being burning for him.

Whatever my next words were going to be, they died in my throat as he moved in for the kill. Running his tongue up the length of my drenched pussy, its tip parting my inner lips, he took it all the way up to my clit and then sucked it into his mouth.

With his tongue dancing in circles around my pleasure bud, his lips keeping it trapped in place, I had no other choice but to allow my moaning to become even fiercer and more savage.

Releasing my clit from the warmth of his mouth, he clamped his thumb over it and started massaging it; at the same time, he used his tongue to part my inner lips and slid it past them, the eagerness of his movements letting me know just how much he was enjoying it.

“I don’t know if I can hold back much longer,” I panted, my words coming out as a moan. Still yanking on his hair, I swayed my hips from side to side, losing myself in the moment.

He didn’t even bother with a reply; instead, he just kept on running his tongue up and down my pussy, except now, his fingers joined the fray.

Slowly, he pushed two fingers inside me, turning his wrist around as my inner walls tightened up around them. He curled them upward like a hook and, after pushing them all the way into the back, against that sweet spot hidden deep inside me, he pressed hard. That did it.

With his thumb on my clit, his tongue lashing against my inner lips and his fingers unleashing hell inside my body, there was nothing left for me to do but accept the inevitable. I could already feel a tidal wave of pleasure coming my way, one that was growing and growing as it loomed on my mind’s horizon, and I sucked in a deep breath as I prepared for it.

When it finally came, it came so violently that all my senses were overwhelmed. Even though my eyes were open, I could see nothing but the bright light of imaginary fireworks going off.

I couldn’t hear, nor think straight, but there was at least one thing I could do—ride that incomprehensible wave of pleasure and become one with it.

But we weren’t done.

Not yet.

Using my elbows to push myself off the mattress, I sat up and reached for Ryant, pulling his shirt over his head.

My heart tightened as I saw the contour of his hard muscles, and then it tightened some more as I yanked his jeans and boxer briefs down his legs.

His cock sprung free at once, harder and bigger than anything I had ever seen.

Ryant knelt between my thighs, lifting me up so that I was on my knees, then slowly, so gently it was almost maddening, he pushed into my slick folds.

I groaned at the incredible fullness, the way that every move he made seemed to light me up inside.

“Please, Ryant,” I breathed.

“Megan,” he panted, straining to keep himself tethered. “I can’t…”

“Let go,” I murmured into his neck, then lay back down, pulling him with me. “Let it all go.”

The tight cords of his neck spoke soundlessly of his barely restrained urges.

“I’m not as fragile as you think,” I grinned, and laced my legs around his waist.

With a roar, his control broke, and I surrendered to him, to our bodies, drifting across a river of pleasure until I simply couldn’t take it anymore.

With my back arched, my fingernails buried in his shoulder blades, I cried out in ecstasy as his cock throbbed inside me, filling me with his seed.

“This was…” I started to say between hard breaths, but I quickly realized I didn’t know of a word that could describe this moment.

It had been simply too good.

It wasn’t just that.

There was a connection, like a silver cord that ran between us, thrumming and alive with energy.

He rested his forehead on mine. “I know, Megan, I know.”

We didn’t move for a long while and, even when he rolled to the side and lay next to me, neither of us dared break the comfortable silence that had settled between us.

Ryant wrapped an arm around me, pulling me close to his warmth until, a few minutes later, his breath became even and steady.

I looked to the side to find him asleep, his chest rising and falling evenly.

Alone with my thoughts, doubt crept back in around the edges.

“What am I doing?” I whispered to myself, shaking my head as I looked up at the ceiling.

Ryant wasn’t even human.

He was here on a mission, and it was pretty obvious he was going to leave once he was through with it.

It seemed like my tendency to make all the wrong decisions when it came to men had remained unchanged.

Silver cord tying us together.

Right.

Sighing, I swung my legs from the bed, quietly picked up my clothes from the floor, and put them on. I padded my way out of the bedroom, grabbed his coat from the living room, and headed toward the door. I needed the fresh air, and I needed to think.

Outside, the wind had calmed down, and snowflakes fell gently to the ground, like petals from a flowering tree.

In the morning, we’d get back on the road, get to Gold Peak.

I’d find Arabella, and Ryant, well…

That was for tomorrow.

Smiling at the scene, I placed my hands in the coat pockets and stepped out, the wooden boards on the porch creaking under my weight.

“What the—?”

There was a giant shape waiting outside the door, his frame tightly pressed against the wall.

Before I could notice any details about him, he placed a rag with some chemical over my mouth, and two seconds later, I surrendered to the darkness.

Ryant

Megan stood in front of me, a long flowing dress of soft yellow dancing in the wind around her ankles.

Face turned up to the warmth of the sun, she laughed and spun around, delight written all over her face as she took in the wonders of the mountain valley.

In the distance I could hear Arabella laughing as she chased skyflitters.

“I love it,” Megan laughed. “I can't believe we’re actually here!”

No words could answer her as completely as my arms wrapped around her.

I tucked her into my chest, breathing deeply of her scent mixed with that of the wildflowers that permeated the air here in one of Vondin’s most majestic parks.

“We’re here forever,” I promised her. “You and Arabella and I.”

I glanced up, searching for Arabella's small form in the tall purple grasses.

Her laughter had fallen silent.

“What is it?” Fear permeated Megan's voice. “What’s wrong?”

I searched quickly, the air turning chill all around us.

“She was just here, I know it,” I blurted.

Megan's eyes went wide and she twisted away from me, running deeper into the growing shadows as dark night swiftly overtook the valley.

And then she, too, was gone.

Heart racing, I set up in the bed, pushing away the last of the nightmare.

But Megan was gone in the waking world, as well.

“Megan?” I called out.

I should've known, in the tight quarters of the cabin I should've been able to catch her scent immediately, even above the smoky scent of the fire.

She was gone.

Swiftly, I pulled on my clothes, glancing through the cabin for any clues.

Maybe she’d just gone out for...there's nothing she would've gone out for, I chided myself.

Megan hated the cold.

The only thing that would've gotten her out of this cabin would be the promise of Arabella.

Maybe she'd heard something outside?

My jacket was gone, but the small bag she'd carried from her car to my truck and then with us to the cabin was still here.

There was nothing for miles, I knew that much. The keys to the truck were still on the table beside the door.

Wherever Megan went, she went on foot.

So she must not have meant to go far.

Flinging open the door, I took in the frozen landscape.

She'd come out, stood here for a moment and then--my nostrils flared.

Her scent lingered on the porch, but something else, something dark and twisted, had been with her.

I snarled.

If I hadn't seen that bear creature dead, I would've thought it came back for her.

In the back corner of the porch, someone, something had waited, long enough for deep holes to be set into the drifting snow.

In the back of my mind, something started to roar.

Someone had watched and waited, and then Megan had come outside.

I shoved the fury back, let the trained operative take the forefront again.

A small struggle had taken place, but she’d quickly been overpowered. Of course.

Her attacker had easily been twice her size.

Megan had been taken.

I checked the air again.

No blood.

Running, I followed the single pair of deep tracks off the porch to where tire marks led away, deep into the trees.

The tracks wound around the thick trunks, some sort of vehicle built for the snowy forest.

The truck would never make it.

I could work with that.

As I raced back to the cabin, a deep, instinctual urge to protect her rose up in me with such urgency that it took me by surprise.

Who was Megan to me, really?

I’d known her for only a day. I still didn’t know what had possessed me to pull over and help her.

I was here on a mission that was so far below my status, I could hear my superiors laughing from their battleship.

Grabbing that stupid data stick and getting the hell out of here should’ve been my top priority.

The mission in its entirety should’ve taken no more than a day. I easily could’ve been home by now, where I belonged.

Yet, there was something about Megan that drew me to her.

I knew next to nothing about humans prior to this mission. I’d always viewed them as weak and even a little bit stupid.

Megan was neither of those things.

Yes, her body couldn’t withstand the same things I could, but that didn’t stop her from taking on daunting, demanding tasks. Her drive to protect her small daughter was admirable.

Megan was bright, funny, and understanding.

My superiors had stressed more times than I could count that I wasn’t to reveal myself to any humans, that I had to blend in at all costs.

I hadn’t purposefully revealed myself to Megan, but she knew what I was.

The mission briefing had led me to believe that knowing other intelligent life forms existed would shatter human psyches.

Megan wasn’t shattered. She was surprised, with good reason.

Megan didn’t see me as something other.

She still saw me as an ally, maybe even something more than that.

I wasn’t familiar with human courting and mating practices, but what had happened between us last night felt special.

I couldn’t just disappear knowing something or someone had taken her.

Megan was under my protection. Nothing would make me break my oath. The data stick would have to wait.

Nothing else mattered but her.

Flinging the door to the cabin wide, I opened Megan’s bag, rifling through its contents in an attempt to sort out what was important.

If I was going to rescue her, surely she and her daughter would require some care when I retrieved them.

But what?

I grabbed my pack and some other items from my truck and put every warm piece of clothing from Megan’s bag into my own.

I also placed her map with my things, as well. At the bottom of her bag were some plastic-wrapped food items.

Nuts covered in chocolate and held together in the shape of a bar. I tucked them into my bag, even though they didn’t look at all appetizing.

There wasn’t much more I could fit in my bag. I hated to leave Megan’s things behind, but I figured they’d be safe here. If anyone was out to steal other people’s possessions, why would they come all the way out here to do it?

Besides, once I had Megan and Arabella back, it would be no trouble for me to return to this place and retrieve their things.

I wish I had a way to directly contact my superiors.

All I had was a small device with a single button that would allow them to see my exact location when the mission was completed so they could send a retrieval pod.

I’m sure they were watching me, somehow. If not, then they would be soon.

As the hours ticked by, they would grow curious.

I could worry about that later.

Megan and Arabella were more important.

I looked at the tracks once more, hoping to learn something more about whoever took Megan. There was nothing more to learn from the scene of the attack. I studied the tracks once more.

With luck, they would cut a clear trail to wherever Megan was.

Whoever took her planned this in advance.

I hoped I’d get to her in time.

And if not, I’d avenge her, and the hell with the consequences.

Megan

There was a blindfold of scratchy wool over my eyes.

Who used a wool blindfold?

Who had random lengths of wool lying around like that?

And maybe, just maybe, I was obsessing about details because I’d been abducted from the porch of the cabin in the middle of the night.

The cabin I’d been sharing with my alien lover.

Or something.

Really.

Blindfolds were a much better thing to think about.

Someone half-dragged me along a corridor.

We must have been inside, because even though I was still having trouble moving my legs in any sort of order after whatever drug had been used on me, the floor beneath my feet was smooth and hard.

A huge, meaty hand gripped my forearm, thick fingers digging into my flesh.

I was inside, of that I was certain. It was cold, wherever I was. However, it wasn’t the same chill that permeated the winter air outside. This was a manufactured cold.

I was roughly brought to a stop and my blindfold was removed.

It was a lab of some sort, computers and consoles blinking all around me. If possible, it was even colder here.

Blinking in the sudden light, I saw Ted standing before me.

He looked like he’d aged twenty years since I’d seen him. Once, he had a head of thick hair and well-sculpted shoulders. Now, he looked gray and shriveled. His face was too thin. His chin, jawbones, and even his forehead looked like they were put together wrong.

His eyes that were once bright with passion and wonderment were bright with something that made me feel sick. He looked mad. He looked ugly. His skin looked like it was coated in a sheen of grease. What the hell had happened to him?

No, I didn’t want to know. I didn’t care. I only wanted to know one thing.

“Where the hell is my daughter?” I snarled.

“The girl is safe. Don’t fret.” Ted said with a dismissive wave.

Fuck that.

Dr. Bonven.

Ted would’ve been what I’d have called an old friend, even an ex-boyfriend.

And you know what?

I’d never known him.

“Don’t you dare say that,” I screeched and fought against the hand that held me.

I turned and found myself staring at the most gargantuan human I’d ever seen.

He must have been more than seven feet tall, with shaggy dark hair and beard and a solid, wall-like build.

But his eyes were empty.

“This is Klaus,” Dr. Bonven said. “He’s one of my success stories.”

“Let me go,” I hissed at Klaus.

He didn’t react to my voice. In fact, he didn’t react to anything. I threw my weight away from him, but he held fast. He didn’t even blink.

“What’s wrong with him?”

“Nothing,” Dr. Bonven grinned.

“He’s not blinking. Is he even breathing?”

Now Dr. Bonven looked concerned. He strode over to me, his beady eyes on Klaus.

“Klaus?” he barked.

Klaus blinked and sucked in a breath.

“There we go,” Dr. Bonven grinned. “Thank you, Megan, for bringing that to my attention.”

“What did you just do?”

“Sometimes Klaus gets stuck,” Dr. Bonven explained. “It’s similar to the way a video buffers, if that makes any sense.”

“Nothing about this makes sense!”

“Klaus is my first living example of successful genetic enhancement,” Dr. Bonven explained as if I were a simpleton. “I infused his genetic code with that of a common grizzly bear.”

“What?” I stole another glance at Klaus. He looked sort of bear-ish, but in a human way, not a literal way.

“The bear’s genetic code has enhanced Klaus’s strength and ability to withstand cold temperatures,” Dr. Bonven continued. “Unfortunately, it’s stunted some of his mental strengths. His brain doesn’t self-regulate as well as it used to, but that’s all right.”

“You can’t be serious.”

It sounded like the stuff of fiction, but the way Dr. Bonven spoke made me believe he was telling the truth.

“Haven’t you wondered what I’ve been doing for the last five years?”

“No,” I spat. “I’ve been too busy raising my child.”

He waved his hand as if my daughter meant nothing.

“Klaus was the first, but since my breakthrough with his code, I’ve had far greater success. More enhanced human soldiers, and-”

“You sent that damn bear,” I realized with a snap. “That monster.”

He shrugged. “It was a field test. I’d hoped the heightened intelligence of my newest variant would have been enough to retrieve you.” He turned back to the computer he’d been working on, typed rapidly. “The tracker failed at some point, and I’m still not sure why.”

“But why do you want to build super-smart bears?”

There are sentences I’d never thought I’d say.

Parenthood had taught me anything was possible. ‘Don’t lick the cat. The potty isn’t for splashing. Take that out of your nose.’

Still, building smart bears was unexpected.

“I’m working to create a super-soldier the likes of which this world has never seen! And the universe itself is on my side.” He gestured at a blue box, something like a toaster oven, with a slowly rotating crystal shard inside of it.

“One of my patrols found it in the forest. Some sort of crystalline meteorite, stronger than anything I’ve ever seen. Once I can replicate it, my warriors will have unbreakable skeletons. Can you imagine it? They’ll be unstoppable.”

“No,” I shook my head, horrified. “What you’re saying doesn’t make any sense. It’s not possible!”

“It’s not possible yet,” Dr. Bonven corrected me. “Klaus is proof that it can be possible one day. Forget the arms trade, forget enlisting boys too young to know their ass from their elbow. We’re going to return to nature to defend our country. Imagine soldiers with the natural pack instincts of the wolf, or the sheer brutality of a bear!”

“You want America to use werewolves in the military?” I sputtered.

“Not werewolves,” he snapped. “Weren’t you listening? And this isn’t just for America. Of course, since it’s my homeland, they’ll get a discounted offer, but should they not accept, I will go to other buyers.”

“Do you even hear yourself? You sound insane.”

“Only the small-minded think the extraordinary are insane.”

“Dr. Bonven,” I sighed. “I don’t give a shit about your weird experiments. I just want Arabella.”

That wasn’t true. The second I got out of here I was reporting him to any authority that would listen to me. Maybe, if he believed I wasn’t a threat to his work, he’d let me see Arabella sooner.

“You’ll see her soon,” Dr. Bonven said. “Why do you think I brought you here?”

“Because I was getting close to catching you.”

“Catching me?” he laughed. “All of this, every one of your pathetic efforts, has been planned by me. You just walked into the trap.”

“What?” I stuttered.

“Do you have any idea how expensive these experiments are?”

He smiled, and the ghost of his old passion twinkled in his eyes.

“Or how much I can get for a mother and child on the black market?”

I shook my head in horror. “You can’t. You wouldn’t.”

“Why not?” Dr. Bonven shrugged. “You were a pleasant release when I needed to lie low for a while. If you ever thought you meant anything else, you were sadly mistaken.”

“But why take Arabella first?”

He typed a bit before answering. “Oh, children that size fit into a wide variety of containers; much easier. And I knew you would follow along. All I had to do was provide information to that PI you hired, and you’d come scampering along.”

Oh.

He looked up blandly. “Really, you didn’t think you could buy loyalty with that pittance, did you?”

My chest felt like it was caving in.

Of course not.

I’d thought he was taking pity on me, had a soft spot for a single mom.

But…

“How did you know to find me in that cabin?” I insisted, desperate to believe that some of this wasn’t my fault.

Dr. Bonven rolled his eyes. “If I proposed to implant tracking devices in every man, woman, and child, there would be an uproar.” He flicked more switches, obviously losing interest in our discussion. “But heaven forbid any of you ever lose track of your cellphone, or let it get out of a three-foot radius from you. Idiots. All of you.”

This couldn’t be real. No one was this insane.

And really, none of it mattered.

“Take me to my daughter before I rip your tongue out,” I shouted.

“Klaus put her in with the brat,” Dr. Bonven ordered. “For now.”

“You’re a monster,” I spat.

“I’m a visionary. I will usher in a new age. You should be honored to be involved.”

Klaus slipped the blindfold back over my eyes. This time, I didn’t fight against him as he led me away.

I wanted to get to Arabella, and if dealing with this bear-man-moron was the way to get to her, so be it.

I was shoved unceremoniously to the floor. I wrestled off my blindfold just in time to watch Klaus close the cell door.

“Mommy?” Arabella’s soft voice came from behind me. I whirled around. She stood in the corner, carefully watching me.

“Yes, baby. It’s me.” I opened my arms for her. She ran to me. I clutched her against my chest, rocking her back and forth. Tears slipped down my cheeks but I was careful not to make a sound. I didn’t want her to see me crying and get scared.

“Mommy, can we go home?”

“Yes, baby. Mommy just needs to think for a little while.”

I pulled her into my lap and rested my cheek on the top of her head. I was so grateful she took after me and not her monstrous father.

“Can we get McDonald’s after?” she asked.

I couldn’t help but laugh.

“We can. You can even have an apple pie and a sundae, since you’ve been so brave,” I promised her.

“That weird man said he’s my daddy. Is that true?”

She looked up at me. Her gaze was unwavering. I didn’t understand it, but I felt that she’d be able to tell if I lied.

“Yes,” I sighed. “That man is your father.”

“Why is he so mean if he’s my daddy?” She tilted her head to one side.

“Because he’s unwell.” I chose my words carefully. “His brain is sick.”

“Should we get a doctor?” she asked.

“We need a special kind of doctor,” I told her. “Don’t worry. When we get out, I’m going to tell the police and they’ll be able to find the right doctor.”

“Will he live with us when he’s all better?” Arabella asked.

“No, honey.” I shook my head. I expected her to be sad or confused. Instead, she smiled.

“Good. He smells and I don’t like being around mean people.”

“He does smell, doesn’t he?” I wrinkled my nose and made a funny face. This was good. If I could keep her calm and content, I’d be able to figure out an escape plan much sooner.

“Do you have any snacks?” she asked me.

“Hang on.” I searched my pockets for a protein bar that I’d put in my hoodie pocket a few days ago. I hoped it hadn’t fallen out.

There was a bit of luck on my side today.

“Here.” I passed the protein bar to her. “Has the bad man been feeding you?”

“Yes, but I don’t like his food,” Arabella explained between bites. “I only ate it when I got super hungry.”

“What about water?”

“I get water when I ask.”

“Good,” I sighed with relief. At least I wouldn’t have to worry about her passing out from dehydration. “Eat your protein bar while I look around. Mommy’s going to figure something out.”

There was nothing out of the ordinary about this cell. I couldn’t pick locks. I wasn’t very strong. The more I paced the cell, the more I felt hopelessly trapped.

Why had I left the cabin?

There was no way Ryant could find us.

We were on our own.

And so far, I hadn’t done a very good job of it.

It was time to find another answer.

Ryant

I kept my head low as I followed the tracks in the snow.

My antlers cast long shadows across the white carpet of ground, the faint moonlight allowed to shine now that the storm had passed.

It was a risk to be shifting again, but my eyes were much better at tracking in this form, and with the tracks being my only shot at finding Megan, I didn’t want to risk losing them.

Strapped between my shoulders was my pack, carefully designed to blend with my fur.

I trudged along a rural path until I found myself back on the two-lane mountain road I had been on with Megan.

The snowdrift had been removed from the road, which was odd—the person Megan had called told her it wouldn’t be done till morning.

More likely than not, Megan’s kidnappers had been the ones clearing the road, which probably meant they had access to heavy machinery.

I wasn’t exactly sure what I was dealing with, but it was starting to become clear that this hadn’t been a lone enemy’s work.

I hung around the place where the snowdrift had been for a couple of minutes, trying to ensure the tracks kept on following the road, and then sped up toward Gold Peak.

There was no traffic this late at night, and so I could just run in the middle of the road, my hooves angrily smashing the snow and asphalt underneath them.

I only slowed down once I reached Gold Peak. It was a little town with neat, straight roads, perfect rows of houses with snow-covered red roofs lining the streets.

It reminded me of something I had seen on a shelf behind the old man who’d given me the truck—a crystal globe with a tiny town inside it, one that you shook so you could see the snow falling over the miniature houses.

There was not a living soul in sight, and only the orange light coming from the lamps lit the road ahead.

The town was blanketed in a deep wintery silence, the snow protecting it as it muffled the steady clip-clop of my hooves.

At first, I thought I’d find Megan’s kidnappers here, but it seemed like the tracks just followed the main road to the edge of town, and kept passing through.

Steadily, I upped my pace once more, rushing through Gold Peak as fast as I could.

“Holy shit,” I heard someone cry out, “is that a reindeer?”

Freezing in my tracks, I turned around to see a small group of people sitting on a porch. They were wearing furry coats and hats, their hands covered with gloves. There was a table there, a few bottles and glasses resting on top of it.

They weren’t a threat—probably just friends or family that had made a dinner party last well into the late hours of the night.

“It’s a caribou, you moron,” one of the men laughed heartily.

“It’s the same thing,” the other protested. “Reindeer and caribou are the same animal, aren’t they? That one is really big, though. Just look at his antlers. Isn’t he cute?”

“You wanted a holiday miracle,” the man laughed. “Now you have one.”

Taking a couple of deep breaths, I turned my back to the onlookers and continued down the road.

It annoyed me to no end that people insisted on calling me a reindeer, and now it seemed like some were even saying I was a caribou.

What a load of bullshit names.

I was a Vondin, a reilendeer warrior, one of the fiercest and proudest races in the galaxy, not some cute animal people could take pictures of.

And right now, I was angry.

Gold Peak was long behind me when I arrived at a crossroads. The road bifurcated, the asphalt turning into a snow-covered pitchfork, and I hesitated as I looked down at the road. The snow had turned into gray sludge here, and there were a lot of different tracks.

Frustrated, I started walking in circles as I tried to find the tire-pattern I had been looking at for the past couple of hours.

When I finally found it, I went into a trot right away, cutting right and heading into a narrow little road that cut straight through the woods.

There was one more bifurcation up ahead, but this one didn’t seem to have much use. As such, I made one more turn and went up a cramped dirt road that snaked up the side of the mountain.

Even though the tracks were now carved deep into the snow, I was no longer paying attention to them. As the road went over a rocky outcrop, my destination became as visible as a Vondin emergency signal.

Less than one mile from where I stood, there was a large compound with tall metal fences all around. A dozen small buildings circled the main building, a construction that seemed more like a warehouse than a residence, and men walked along the perimeter at a leisurely pace.

They all seemed to be carrying guns and, even from a distance, I could see that their weaponry was more sophisticated than the double-barreled gun I’d yanked out of the store-keeper’s hands hours ago.

I would have to be careful. Thankfully, humans were hell-bent on describing me as a reindeer, which meant I could walk closer to the compound without raising suspicions.

I inspected the perimeter as leisurely as the guards were patrolling it, taking my time to analyze any weak points.

The main entrance to the compound, a heavy-looking gate, was being guarded by a team of four men, which meant I would have to find another way in.

“Look at the size of that beast,” I heard one of the guards cry out, and moments later a floodlight was being pointed at me. “Have you ever eaten reindeer, Mitchell? I heard it’s one of the best meats you could eat.”

“I wouldn’t mind having some this Christmas,” another guard laughed, and then I heard the soft click of a gun’s safety being pulled off.

Reading the situation, I rushed back into the protection of the woods, right before a loud gunshot echoed through the night.

Skith. I couldn’t get too close to the fences now, or the bastards would try to shoot me down.

Knowing that I’d need some more agility than what this body could provide me with, I walked into a clearing and shifted back, my bones popping as I transformed. I went through my pack, grabbed some clothes, and then considered my next move.

The guards were patrolling the fenced perimeter at regular intervals, and there were a few spots I saw that I could climb. If I timed it right, I could sneak into the compound undetected. It’d be tricky, but not impossible.

Careful not to be seen or heard, I approached the compound through the woods. I hid behind a line of trees as I timed the patrols and, once I saw a chance, I quickly rushed toward the fence and climbed it. I landed on the other side with a muffled thump, rolled over, and quickly pressed myself against the outer wall of a building. So far, so good.

Pushing myself against the wall, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Even though my sense of smell was far stronger in my shifted form, I could still pick up Megan’s scent.

Now all I would have to do was follow it.

“Who the fuck are you?” I heard someone say behind me, and I quickly spun around to find a man pointing his gun at me.

Allowing my body to react before my mind fully processed the situation, I stepped to the side and grabbed the gun by its muzzle.

I pulled the man toward me, kicked him in the groin, and yanked the gun out of his hands as he doubled over. He groaned as he hit the ground, and only then did I recognize him as the asshole that had wanted to shoot me for dinner.

“I’ll tell you what I’m not,” I growled as I looked down at him. “I’m not fucking dinner.”

With that, I bent over and grabbed him by the hair; one quick punch on his chin and he went to sleep.

I dismantled the gun before I left, throwing its ammo over the fence and into the woods, then started making my way to the main building.

Megan’s scent led there, and so that was my main objective.

I waited until I saw a guard going through a side door and, after looking around and ensuring nobody could see me, I made a run for it.

I reached the side door as the guard was closing it, and I kicked it down a fraction of a second before he could lock it.

Even though it was heavy, it swung back on its hinges fast, slamming the man behind it against the wall. I clenched my fists, ready to knock him out, but he was already unconscious.

Kicking his legs out of the way, I closed the door behind me and took another deep breath. Megan was nearby.

I went down dark corridors, following Megan’s scent, and I ended up finding a large door where the scent became even stronger.

She was inside that room, I was sure of it. There was a small window in the door, so I peeked quickly, and found a room with makeshift holding cells lining the entirety of the walls.

I burst into the room, expecting to find a guard there, but there was no one.

“Megan?”

No guard, but no Megan either.

Skith.

Megan

“Look, Mommy.” Going down on her knees, Arabella leaned against the wall of our cramped little cell and placed both hands there.

“What’s that?” I asked, peering over her shoulder.

There was a small panel on the side, one that had been painted the same color as the wall. It looked like an air vent. Arabella had found us a way out but, unfortunately, there was no way we’d able to remove the bolts on the panel.

Or so I thought.

Needing no encouragement, Arabella used her tiny fingers to dislodge the bolts. She used her fingernails to turn them, her brow creased as she focused, and then pulled on the panel. Incredibly, it came off the wall.

“We can go now,” she announced, her matter-of-fact tone leaving me speechless.

My little girl was growing up fast.

“I found it the first day I was here, but I was afraid to go by myself.”

Well, maybe not too fast.

Pointing at the gap in the wall she had created, she analyzed it attentively. “Do you think we’ll fit?”

“I think so,” I nodded. Carefully, the two of us crawled into the opening, and I did some awkward contorting to place the panel back. “You did very well, Arabella,” I smiled, and seconds later we were crawling up through a maze of air vents, moving slowly so that our moves remained silent and unannounced.

“Keep going, sweetie, just keep going,” I whispered, sweat trickling down my back as I kept on crawling through the vents.

They were narrow—and seemed to be getting narrower as we progressed—and they were freezing. Just how cold did Ted think this place needed to be?

Moving kept us marginally warm, but what would happen when we stopped?

Still, I couldn’t care. I just gritted my teeth and kept going, urging to Arabella to keep her pace up.

“Where to, Mommy?” she asked me, and I pursed my lips as I realized that the vents split just ahead.

Since I didn’t know anything about the compound’s layout, I had to take a guess and hope for the best.

“Right, sweetie,” I told her, and she gave me a little nod. Dutifully, she crawled toward the vent that led right and I followed after.

I kept my eyes on her and, despite the situation we were in, I felt a small smile spread across my lips.

Arabella was afraid, I knew, but she refused to show it—she wasn’t behaving like a kid, but like a brave young woman.

And she was smart, too. I couldn’t be any prouder.

Of course, I would have preferred to be feeling all this pride miles away from this place, but we were doing our best.

“Mommy, I can’t go any further,” Arabella whispered, looking back at me over her shoulder. “It’s too tight.” Pressing myself against the side panel, I looked over her and saw that she was right. There was no way Arabella would be able to fit further into the vents, let alone me.

“We’re gonna have to climb down,” I told her, crawling back a couple of feet until I found a movable panel. I held my breath as I listened, trying to see if there was anyone in the room below us, and only when I was sure the room was empty, did I pull the panel off.

Awkwardly, I put my legs through the opening and dragged my butt across the vent surface until I was hanging by a thread. Holding my breath, I allowed myself to fall, my knees popping the moment I hit the floor.

All in all, it hadn’t been so bad.

Compared to being locked up and waiting for that madman’s next move, nothing was.

“Now you, sweetie, I’ll grab you.” Without a moment’s hesitation, Arabella mimicked my performance from seconds ago and launched herself into my arms. I grabbed her easily, and smiled as I put her down. “Now let’s be real quiet, okay?”

Running my tongue over my parched lips, I looked around the room.

It looked like it had been turned into a storage space, shelves crammed with plastic boxes lining the walls.

Quickly I rifled through them, but it looked like medical supplies, chemicals, things I didn’t know what to do with, and would be afraid to use recklessly around Arabella.

The only thing I’d found that might possibly be useful was something like a hard-plastic stick, with a bulbous end. It might make a reasonable club, if my attacker was four feet high and didn’t move very fast.

But then, half hidden behind the corner of one metal rack, I saw a set of control panels.

“What do you do?” I murmured.

“I’m still cold, Mommy,” Arabella whispered. I pulled my hoodie off and tugged it over her head, rolling the sleeves up so she could use her hands.

The cold.

I looked at the panel again, considering. It was huge and complicated, but other than its size, it really didn’t look all that different from a regular air conditioning unit.

Bonven wanted things cold.

And I was opposed to him having anything he wanted.

Frantically, I pushed at the buttons, then grabbed the plastic club-thing and started bashing away as rage swept through me.

He took my baby. He took me. I’d been an idiot and fell for it and if I didn’t get us out of here he was going to sell us to...

Oh.

Sparks flew as the panel’s housing cracked, and I used the club to drag apart wires.

“I think you broke it, Mommy,” Arabella whispered, eyes wide.

“Good.”

There was just one door, and I unlocked it as quietly as I could.

Holding my breath, I peeked out of the room, to find a deserted corridor, the flickering lights on the ceiling giving a ghostly appearance to the place.

“Let’s go,” I whispered, taking Arabella’s hand in mine. We walked aimlessly through a maze of corridors, and hope slowly started seeping out of me. We were never going to find a way out.

The last inkling of hope I had vanished when I heard the thud of heavy boots right behind us.

“Hold it right there,” a man cried and, when I started running down the hallway, the sound of a loud gunshot made my eardrums pop.

I froze in my tracks, my heart beating at a thousand miles an hour, and spun on my heels, to find one of Bonven’s thugs staring me down. In his hands was an automatic rifle. “Where exactly do you think you’re going?”

“Just let us go,” I pleaded, pulling on Arabella and placing her behind me. “We just want to get out of here, please.”

He didn’t say a word. The emotionless expression he had gave way to a blood-curling grin and, still with his rifle raised, he started walking toward me.

“Of course I’m gonna let you go,” he laughed, the sound of it making me nauseous. Before I could do anything, he slapped me with the back of his free hand.

I felt Arabella tug on my hand, as if she wanted to charge against the man, but I wrapped my arms around her and held her still. “You dumb bitch,” the man spat. “Just keep walking. We’re gonna tell the doc about your little escapade. He’ll reward you handsomely for it.”

I had no choice.

Walking at gunpoint, I kept on moving down the corridors, following the guard’s directions, until I found myself standing in front of two large metal doors.

“Open them,” the man barked, and I held my breath as I pushed the doors open. I stepped onto a balcony looking down into the lab.

We were on the upper floor, a set of metallic stairs leading way down into an open space filled with large vats of God knows what, all kinds of machinery whirring and buzzing.

Bonven stood in the center of the room, his back turned to us as he messed with his computer. At the far end of the lab, two more guards kept watch.

Prodding me with the muzzle of his rifle, my captor urged me on, and I started walking down the stairs. They creaked under my weight and only then did Bonven turn back.

“What’s this?” he asked, completely focused on the guard. “These two were meant to stay in their cell.”

“They were trying to escape, doc,” the guard said. “I found them next to Lab C.”

“Huh.” Running one hand through his thinning hair, Bonven shook his head.

Then, looking straight at me, he offered me a nauseating smile, one that seemed to stretch his skin over his skull. “Didn’t like your cell, Megan? Were you trying to look for more suitable accommodations?”

He laughed dryly, tapped something on his keyboard, and the loud machinery finally quieted down.

“Screw you,” I growled, but my words only seemed to amuse him.

“You didn’t have such a temper back then,” he chuckled, and then went down on one knee, his eyes level with Arabella’s. “How about you? Do you have a temper like your mommy?”

Hiding behind my legs, Arabella opened her mouth to say something.

Then, clamping her mouth shut, she showed Bonven her middle finger.

We’d have to talk about where on earth she’d picked that up later.

But for now, I was ok with letting it slide.

“Just like your mother,” he hissed, slowly getting back up to his feet. His grin had disappeared and given way to a frown.

“My guards will have to teach you some manners,” Bonven continued, and I could tell his threats were making him more excited.

What had I ever seen in this man?

God, I felt nauseated just thinking about how I had admired him once.

He was nothing but a sick, power-hungry bastard.

Terror clawed at my stomach, and I flushed.

Or maybe it was finally getting a little warmer in here?

But that probably wouldn’t matter in the long run.

“I have to be careful so I don’t ruin your pretty face, but there are a lot of things I can do that won’t leave a mark. A physical one, at least.”

He stepped back to grab what looked like a needle from his lab table, then walked toward me with a threatening swagger.

“Hold her still.” Bonven’s guard pushed Arabella away towards the lab worktable, then grabbed me by the arm. Twisting it, he forced me to go down on my knees.

“This here,” he said, placing the needle right in front of my eyes, “will introduce you to a whole new world of pain. You’ll feel things you never imagined to be possible, and they’ll stay with you for the rest of your life. Just a little parting gift. You don’t have to thank me.”

I gritted my teeth and prepared for the worst, holding my breath as Bonven moved the needle toward my neck.

I closed my eyes, ready to feel a quick prick on my skin, but there was nothing.

Instead, I heard a series of small explosions coming from somewhere upstairs.

“What the hell is going on?” Bonven cried out, and I opened my eyes just in time to see him jump back, eyes wide. I looked back over my shoulder and toward the upper floor, the sound of gunfire coming clearly from the corridor outside, and that was when the unimaginable happened.

The door to the lab swung open as one of the guards crashed against it; staggering, he went straight toward the metal railing and fell over it, crashing right beside me with a loud thump.

The man that had been holding me joined the other two guards, guns at the ready, as they aimed toward the upper floor.

As for Bonven, he immediately scurried away from me, placing himself between his guards.

Coward.

I grabbed for Arabella, where she’d been reaching for something on the worktable.

“Look, Mommy! It’s so-”

“Show me later, baby,” I whispered, then tucked her into the curve of my body, trying frantically to figure out where we would be safe.

“Who’s there?” one of the guards cried out. “Show yourself!” One fraction of a second later and the guard collapsed, a bullet hole in his forehead. Incredibly, I only heard the sound of a gunshot after.

“Here I am,” I heard a familiar voice shout, and then Ryant burst into the room.

He vaulted over the railing, landed on the lower floor with a perfect roll, and positioned himself right in front of the guard, one knee on the floor.

He moved so fast that his limbs were a blur.

Before the other two guards could take aim, Ryant leveled a handgun and shot them down, perfect round holes in each of their foreheads.

His aim was almost inhuman.

Well, he wasn’t a human, so maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised by that.

Slowly standing up, Ryant then started walking toward Bonven. With his jaw hanging open, Bonven took one step back and bumped against a desk, a dozen vials that were sitting there rolling off of it and onto the floor.

I saw Ryant raise his weapon but, before he could deliver the finishing blow, a dozen guards burst into the room from a door at the back.

“We gotta go.” Grabbing me by the hand and forgetting all about Bonven, Ryant dragged us toward a side door and kicked it open.

He did it right in time, as bullets flew past my ears just before I stepped out of the room.

“Ryant,” I breathed out, picking Arabella up and holding her against my chest. “How the hell did you find me? Where did you even get a gun?”

“The guards really need to work on holding onto their weapons more tightly,” he answered, which wasn’t really an answer, but given that Arabella was soaking in every word, it was probably for the best.

Looking back at me, he gave me a smile and a wink. “I made you a promise, and if there’s one thing you should know about me, it’s that I always keep my promises.”

“I don’t even know how to thank you.” I gasped.

“You can think of it once we’re out of this place.”

With that, we ran.

Ryant

“Here,” I whispered, pushing a door open and ushering Megan and Arabella inside a dark room. I hadn’t had much time to study the compound’s layout, but I was pretty sure that on the other side of this room would be a corridor that led directly outside.

Closing the door behind us, I pressed my ear against it and held my breath as Bonven’s small army passed by.

“Oh, God, how are we gonna get out of here?” Megan asked me, nervously biting on her bottom lip. She cradled her daughter tight against her chest, and I smiled as I found Arabella studying me with her dark blue eyes.

She looked just like her mother, and it didn’t take a genius to know she’d grow to become a stunning young woman.

“I’m going to get you out of here,” I said, trying to sound as calm as I could. I just hoped that what I was about to do wouldn’t scare the living daylights out of Arabella.

“The guards are swarming the place, so we’ll have to rush out of here. And I have a plan.”

“What plan?”

“Well, I’m going to shift.”

“Oh, boy.”

“Then I want you to hold on to me as hard as you can, and I’ll get you out of here.”

Offering Megan a comforting smile, I started to strip, then froze, meeting Arabella’s curious gaze.

“I’m going to need to replace these,” I muttered, then closed my eyes and focused. Seconds later, the familiar feeling of the shifting process washed over me, my body growing more powerful in an instant.

When I opened my eyes, I was pretty sure I’d find Megan’s daughter horrified by what she had seen, but it was just the opposite.

Her expression was one of pure excitement, and she was clapping her hands together.

“It’s so cool,” she squealed, and Megan had to remind her to keep her voice down.

Pointing with my head, I motioned for Megan to get the door on the other side of the room.

She opened it, and the three of us stepped out and went down the dark corridor; just as I had expected, it ended in a service door that lead straight into the courtyard.

Lowering my body, I waited as mother and daughter climbed on top of me, their hands instinctively holding my antlers.

Once I was sure they were secure, I took one deep breath and readied myself.

This was it.

Showtime.

Using my forelegs, I kicked the exterior door down and rushed outside, my hooves kicking up the snow as I zoomed past the buildings. A couple of the guards patrolling the perimeter started firing at us, but their aim was sloppy and untrained.

Not a threat.

Even though my lungs were burning from the effort, I got us to the main exit in less than a minute, and then lowered my head and smashed my antlers against the fenced gate.

It didn’t fall over, but it swung back just enough for me and the girls to slip through.

One of the men guarding the gate still tried to go for his handgun, but I just tossed my antlers and threw him up in the air.

I could hear the faint whistle of bullets as they zoomed past my head, so I picked up the pace.

Their bullets might not penetrate my hide, but I had to get Megan and Arabella to safety.

With that one thought in my mind, I headed straight into the woods, and I just kept on running.

I ran until my heart felt on the verge of giving out, the blood inside my veins turning into acid, and then I just ran some more.

When I finally stopped, I was as exhausted as I had ever been—but my girls were safe.

Lowering my body onto the ground, I let them dismount, then I ambled toward a line of trees.

I walked around them and only shifted back once I was out of sight. In my pack I had two more pairs of jeans, but I had no more shirts.

Not that it mattered. I didn’t plan to stay in this shape for long.

“I don’t think they’re going to find us here,” I said as I stepped out from behind the trees, barechested. Arabella’s eyes widened as she saw me, and she squeezed her mother’s hand tightly.

Even though she hadn’t seen me transform back into a man, she was still excited about the fact that it had happened just a couple of feet away from where she stood.

“They won’t give up this easily, Ryant. They’ll just keep on—”

“I know that,” I cut her short.

Placing one hand on her shoulder, I used the other to push a stray lock of hair away from her face. “I’m going to take care of that, Megan. I want you two to stay here and wait for me, alright? This won’t take long.”

“What are you going to do?” Arabella asked me, her voice one of the sweetest things I had ever heard. Going down on one knee so that I was level with her, I smiled.

“I’m going to make sure the bad guys have something more important to them than us to take care of,” I told her, still fascinated by how similar she was to her mother.

There were the same dimples in the corners of her mouth, as well as a faint touch of freckles on her nose. “I’ll be back.”

“Promise?”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “I promise.” Exchanging a glance with Megan, I brushed my lips over hers.

“Do you want the weapon?” I whispered, hoping that Arabella’s hearing was no sharper than that of an adult human.

Megan bit her lip. “I don’t want it anywhere near Arabella, but I don’t want those ass- jerks coming any closer to us, either.”

I slid the pistol from my pack into Megan’s hands. “Watch the safety. Don’t bring it out until you’re sure you need it.”

She nodded, face pale.

“Back soon.”

Stepping back around the tree, I slipped my pack back on and shifted back. Multiple shifts would take a toll on my energy reserves, but I didn’t want to be away from Megan and Arabella for any longer than absolutely necessary.

In the end, it took me about five minutes to get there.

Still hidden in the woods, I watched as guards ran across the courtyard in a frenzy, still trying to make sense of everything that had happened.

Thankfully, they didn’t seem to be trained pros, or else most of them would already be giving us chase in their cars.

By the look of things, only now did they seem ready to leave the compound.

Not that I’d let them.

Slipping past their perimeter, I couldn’t help but notice the stench, as if thousands of pounds of frozen, rotting meat were rapidly defrosting.

I smiled to myself. Tracing Megan through the compound, I’d found where she’d dismantled the building’s cooling system.

It had been clever of her to realize Bonven needed the temperature carefully controlled around his experiments.

Now I just needed to give her work a finishing touch.

Placing my pack on the floor, I pushed the random bits I’d collected along the way to the side.

Underneath were six small smooth spheres of a dark gray. I grabbed a couple of them, feeling their coldness against the palm of my hand, and gave them a squeeze.

Almost at once, Vondin runes appeared on their surfaces, marking a countdown. I set the timer on all of them and then placed them around the perimeter.

Vondin explosives were off-limits in this operation, but I was way past caring.

By coming here and revealing myself, I had already compromised the mission.

The explosives would just be an additional charge for the High Command to press against me.

“And that’s done,” I muttered under my breath after placing the last explosive sphere.

They formed a perimeter of their own, and I’d set them so that the explosion would have its center point right where the compound’s main building was.

That was one of the advantages of Vondin explosives—the minerals inside the charges would hold onto the detonation, transforming it into energy that could be directed toward a nearby location of my choosing.

Once I got back to Megan and Arabella, I found them sitting under a large pine tree, curled into each other. The moment they saw me, they immediately jumped to their feet, anxious.

“It’s finished,” I said with a smile.

“What is?”

“It won’t take long,” I continued. “Come, I’ll show you.”

Taking Megan’s hand, I led her and Arabella up an incline that ended on a cliff edge. From up there we could see the compound, its buildings a stark contrast to the peaceful white scenario around it.

“What are we supposed to be looking at?”

Right at that moment, a large ball of fire erupted right in the middle of the compound, blue flames violently jumping up into the air.

Even from a distance, I could hear every single window shattering, the shockwave strong enough to make a couple of the guards’ trucks roll over, the surrounding trees bending back to absorb its strength.

“You’d already done the first work, compromising his systems that kept the experiments viable.” I kissed the top of her head. “I just gave it a little push.”

“Ryant, I—”

“You don’t need to say anything,” I said. “I did it because I wanted to.”

Smiling, Megan went on her tiptoes and gently brushed her lips against mine. I returned her smile, and then the two of us simply looked down, watching Bonven’s hellish compound burn to the ground.

Without saying a word, Arabella stood between us and held both our hands.

So this, I thought, this is how it feels to be human.

Not bad.

Not bad at all.

Megan

“Now what, Mommy?” Arabella asked.

“I’m not sure,” I said. I turned to Ryant. “Any suggestions?”

“We can’t go back to the cabins,” he said. “If anyone survived, that will be the first place Dr. Bonven looks for you.”

“Not to mention there’s no hot water, electricity, or food,” I added.

“That sounds just like the Enchanted Cottage!” Arabella exclaimed. “Can we go there?”

“It’s nothing like the Enchanted Cottage, honey. There aren’t any fairies in the woods to clean the place,” I said.

“But there are things like him,” Arabella pointed at Ryant. “Isn’t he magic?”

Thanks to my old Grimm’s Fairy Tales book and Disney movies, magic was a subject Arabella was more than comfortable with. I figured I’d let her continue to think Ryant was some kind of magic creature.

That was easier for her to wrap her head around than him being an alien. Maybe when she’s seven, I’d introduce her to Star Wars and break the news to her then.

Or, if Ryant wasn’t around when she turned seven, I’d just hope memories of his alien form would get mixed up with her make-believe friends.

I really hoped Ryant would still be around when she turned seven.

And eight.

And thirty-eight.

I shook my head. I was getting ahead of myself. I shouldn’t start planning my future until I had a plan for where we were going to sleep tonight.

“Yes,” I laughed. “But not everything that has magic is required to clean your house.”

“We can clean it together!” Arabella insisted.

“It’s not near a McDonald’s,” I said.

“Oh,” Arabella wrinkled her nose. “Never mind, then.”

Good. At least I didn’t have to explain to her that mommy became a criminal when she broke into the cabin.

Arabella’d had enough for one day.

I certainly had.

“There has to be shelter somewhere,” Ryant said. “What would people from…around here do in a situation like this?”

I appreciated his careful choice of words.

“I don’t know,” I replied. “I never thought I’d be one of those people who end up in a situation like this. I’m afraid I don’t have my handy survival guide available.”

“You have one of those?” Ryant asked.

“No,” I chuckled. “It’s an expression.”

“Those cabins we found were only for summer, right?” he asked.

“That’s right.”

“Do they not have winter cabins in this area?”

I paused to think about it.

Surely, there had to be some kind of lodge for snow enthusiasts.

“If I were on vacation, where would I want to go,” I muttered to myself.

The winter sun broke through the clouds. As if it were a sign, the tallest peak on the mountain range flashed gold in the light of the sun.

“I see why they call it Gold Peak,” I grinned. “Look how pretty!” I pointed for Arabella.

“Can we stay on the magic mountain, Mommy?” Arabella asked.

“No,” I shook my head. “It’s far too cold up on that mountain for us. Aren’t you chilly now?”

“No,” Arabella lied, even though her hands were like ice where they flopped out from the rolled-up sleeves of my hoodie. I wrapped her little hands in mine, though mine weren’t much warmer, despite Ryant’s jacket.

“I bet there’s a place to stay with a view of the mountains,” I wagered. “Let’s head back to town and ask around.”

“Shall I?” Ryant offered.

“If you don’t mind. Aren’t we heavy?” I asked.

Ryant laughed, but abruptly stopped when he realized I wasn’t joking.

“I’m made to carry much heavier loads than a woman and her offspring,” he assured me.

“What’s an offspring?” Arabella asked.

“It’s a you,” I replied. “Want to watch Ryant change again?”

“Yes!” Arabella cried excitedly.

“Remember,” I told her gently. “What Ryant can do is our special secret.”

“I remember,” she nodded seriously. “We have to make sure the government doesn’t learn about fairies.”

I’d never mentioned the government to her in all of this.

I had no idea where she got the notion, but I sure wasn’t going to contradict her if it meant keeping Ryant a secret.

“You okay, Mommy?” Arabella tilted her head. I realized I’d been staring at her like she’d grown a second head.

“Yes,” I said quickly. “You just keep amazing me, kiddo.”

“I know.”

We turned our attention to Ryant as he transformed before our eyes. When he was ready for us to climb on his back, he grunted.

I placed Arabella as far up on his neck as I could so she could grab his antlers for balance and climbed on behind her.

We took off at an impressive speed. The landscape blurred as Ryant galloped through snow that would’ve trapped most vehicles. It took less than twenty minutes to get to the main center of Gold Peak.

Ryant transformed into his handsome self out of sight so that he wouldn’t attract attention from anyone who happened upon him and redressed while I carried Arabella into a general store and inquired about lodging.

Well, there’d be some attention to the shirtless man in the cold, but at least we could try to avoid having him arrested for indecent exposure.

I felt like they might be more sympathetic to me if I appeared to be a stranded single mother, which I sort of was.

Kind of.

“Sorry, sweetie, the main hotel is all booked up for the holidays,” the grizzled man behind the counter said. “Wait a minute, let me check on something.”

Without another word, he picked up an old phone, punched numbers, and waited. “Rose, room for company?”

He grunted and nodded and hung up.

“Head out this way, and she’ll find a bed for you.”

He drew a rough map, showing a path on the edge of town and a cluster of boxes.

Another quick gallop through the snow, and we arrived at what must’ve been ski chalets.

“I’ll do the talking,” I said to Ryant as we entered the squat but cozy building that served as the lobby.

Ryant nodded and took Arabella from my arms. She’d become heavy as she dozed, doing that amazing thing where kids seem to gain ten pounds when they fall asleep.

She settled against his chest looking like the most content little kid in the world, and I couldn’t help but smile at the picture.

“Hello,” I said softly to the small old woman sitting at the front desk.

“Hello, dearie. Do you have a reservation?”

“Not exactly,” I said. “This is sort of hard to explain, but we’ve had some bad luck.”

“I’d say so,” she said, standing up to her full height, which couldn’t have been more than five feet. “You three look like you’ve had a dickens of a time.”

“We have.” I hadn’t thought about how bedraggled we looked.

Arabella wore the same clothing she’d worn the day she was taken. My clothes were torn in several places from wiggling through the air vent at the compound. Ryant looked like he’s recently fought a bear, which he kind of did.

“Did your car break down on one of the trails?” the old woman asked. “Gus didn’t say much. Never does, the old grump.”

“Yes,” I said quickly and prayed Arabella wouldn’t open her mouth to contradict me. That kid didn’t have a dishonest bone in her body, which ordinarily I adored about her. “We’ve been walking for hours.”

“Gracious!” the old woman cried. “Come this way.”

She ushered us into a parlor with a roaring fire and a tea service ready and waiting. I eagerly accepted a cup.

When the old woman offered one to Ryant, he glanced at me.

“I think you’ll like it,” I nodded.

“Thank you,” Ryant said as he was served. The old woman gave Arabella a small tea cake.

“My name is Mrs. Rosamunde but you can call me Granny Rose. Everyone does.”

“Thank you, Granny Rose.” The phrase felt strange to say, but it also comforted me somehow.

“Let me be straight with you,” she said with surprising directness. “I noticed smoke coming from the other side of the ice fields. I don’t know what’s out there, but I know it’s a horrible place. People who go out that way don’t often come back.”

“Smoke?” I said carefully.

“People in town said they saw you coming from that way,” Granny Rose said. “I’m not going to ask what happened, but I know the three of you look and smell too rough to have only been walking a few hours from a broken-down car.”

“Oh. Well. I… We…” I stammered, struggling to come up with anything to say to explain our appearance.

Granny Rose raised a hand to silence me.

“Like I said, I won’t ask questions.” She gave me a stern look. “I can’t turn you three away, not in the state you’re in. You can stay a few nights on the house until you get yourself sorted.”

I nearly spat out my tea.

“You don’t have to do that,” I blurted, though I had no means of payment. Her outright generosity caught me off guard.

“I know,” she shrugged. “But it’s been a good winter for the lodge and I try to be a nice person. Let me get a key for you.”

“Thank you so much.” I didn’t know what else to say. “Thank you.”

“It’s no trouble at all, dear.” Granny Rose patted my cheek as she stood up.

She left and came back with a key to the cabin closest to the lobby building. I took the key and thanked her about fifty more times before Ryant pulled me out of the room.

The cabin so generously given to us by Granny Rose was a massive improvement on the last one. For one thing, this one had power. It was also clean and made up nicely, with two fluffy beds, a roaring fireplace, and a cozy sitting area.

“I like it,” Arabella said decisively from Ryant’s arms. He set her down so she could explore. I expected her to start rooting around in drawers or the fridge. Instead, she climbed right into bed.

“Tired?” I asked her. She nodded as she rubbed her eyes. I walked over to the bed and helped her take her shoes off.

“Tomorrow, we’ll find you some more clothes,” I told her. I had barely finished my sentence when Arabella dropped off to sleep. I let out a quiet sigh of relief.

“She’s usually a bad sleeper,” I explained to Ryant. “It takes hours to get her down.”

“She’s understandably exhausted,” he said, taking a seat on the other bed. I sat down beside him.

“We should talk about you,” I said.

“What about me?”

“Well, what’s next for you?” I wasn’t sure how to have this conversation.

There aren’t any guidelines for how to interact with a hot alien, as least, none that I’d read. “You came here for a reason, right?”

“Yes,” he said. “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.”

“What is it, exactly?” I asked.

“It’s a data stick,” he explained. “About this long, a six sided crystal. I’d know it if I saw it.”

We fell into an odd silence. At that moment, Arabella let out a sigh and violently rolled over. I worried she was going to wake herself, so I watched her. As she moved, something fell out of the pocket of my hoodie that she still wore like a muumuu.

“What’s that?” I murmured and stepped close to her.

She wrapped her hand around a long shard of crystal. “It was pretty, Mommy. I tried to show you before.” Still clutching it, she sank back into sleep.

“Is that it?” I pointed to the thing in her pudgy first.

Ryant’s eyes went wide.

“Yes,” he exclaimed. Out of habit, I pressed my finger over my lips.

I carefully extracted it from her hand and passed it to Ryant.

“Let’s talk about this outside,” I whispered to him in case Arabella was playing possum.

We sat on a small bench on the porch of the cabin.

“So, mission completed?” I laughed awkwardly.

“I suppose so,” he replied, turning over the crystal in his hand. I wanted to ask what it did, but I probably wouldn’t understand it if he told me.

Surely, it was some kind of super-advanced alien technology.

“Do you have a way to get back to your planet?” I asked.

“I can make a call,” he nodded.

“Can I persuade you to stay the night?” I asked. “Arabella will want to say goodbye when you leave.”

“Actually,” Ryant turned to me, taking my hands in his. “I was thinking I could stick around for a while, if that’s okay. The data stick isn’t important. I was sent here by my superiors to learn a lesson. I think I’ve learned it, but I’ve also learned something else.”

“Oh?” My heart pounded.

“I care about you, Megan. I care about Arabella, too. I can’t just leave not knowing if you two are going to be okay. You don’t even have transportation back to wherever you came from,” he said. “I want to stay and help.”

I started to tell him that he didn’t have to, but I stopped myself. I knew the choice I wanted him to make.

“I’d like that,” I managed.

“Or,” he started and stopped. Started again. “If you want to move on from this rock, see more of those stars you love…”

“Yes,” I whispered. There was nothing here to hold me.

I could give Arabella the stars.

I could give myself Ryant.

Forever.

He pulled me in for a kiss. I didn’t resist.

The stars appeared in the sky as Ryant kissed down my neck.

While the moon rose over the snowy mountains, he laid me back.

And as night claimed the world, we claimed each other.

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Don’t Miss the Star Breed!

Given: Star Breed Book One

When a renegade thief and a genetically enhanced mercenary collide, space gets a whole lot hotter!

Thief Kara Shimsi has learned three lessons well - keep her head down, her fingers light, and her tithes to the syndicate paid on time.

But now a failed heist has earned her a death sentence - a one-way ticket to the toxic Waste outside the dome. Her only chance is a deal with the syndicate's most ruthless enforcer, a wolfish mountain of genetically-modified muscle named Davien.

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http://myBook.to/StarBreed1

Bonded: Star Breed Book Two

She doesn't need anyone.  He's not going to let her go.

Eris Vance, salvager and loner, is happy with her life in the remote fringes of the Empire with just her AI for company. An abandoned ship could be the find of a lifetime, but it's not nearly as empty as she thinks. And the hulking man left behind kindles a heat she's never felt. But will he stay through the coming storm?

Connor is the perfect soldier - He's been made that way. Waking up to the destruction of the world he knew disturbs him almost as much as the gorgeous woman who found him. Her scent, her touch distracts him, and just this once, maybe he doesn't care.

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Caged: Star Breed Book Three

No Past. No Trust. No Way Out.

Zayda Caiden relies on no one. An Imperial spy, her mission was betrayed - but she doesn't know the identity of the traitor.

And there's certainly no reason to trust the giant of a man dumped at the prison clinic, even if he makes her burn with feelings she thought long buried.

Mack has no memory, no real name. Just dreams of fire and pain, and a set of coordinates to a section of unexplored space he refuses to reveal. There's no room in his mission for a woman with secrets of her own, but her scent fills his dreams.

When they have a chance at freedom, can they trust each other enough to escape? Or will their secrets overwhelm their passion?

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Freed: Star Breed Book Four

When solitude leads to the brink of madness, only the touch of a sexy, headstrong doctor can pull a dangerous warrior back from the edge...

Dr. Nadira Tannu's work at the small clinic on Orem station was a quiet practice, helping the people of the Fringe. But then she and one of her patients were abducted into a nightmare on a long lost star ship and nothing would ever be the same.

When a rugged survivor rescues them, can she turn his thirst for revenge into a plan for escape? And can she keep her heart safe from the heat in his eyes?

Vengeance against the faceless droids who destroyed his brothers is all that keeps Ronan alive. But he can't resist the pleading look in a pair of wide green eyes staring at him from a cage.

He'll keep her safe. Even if it's from himself.

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Craved: Star Breed Book Five

Compassion. Kindness. Caring.

Not really part of my skill set. But for her, I might have to learn.

Geir

I run advance reconnaissance, collecting intel the Pack needs to execute our operations.

In and out, hard and fast.

And I don't need help.

So when a gorgeous woman saves my life, I'm knocked more than a bit off my game.

That's all it is. 

Not the shy smile I hunger to coax from her lips, not the sweet body she keeps hidden. Not the mysteries that haunt her eyes.

And certainly not the bewitching scent that stirs me in ways no mission ever has.

I crave her like nothing I've found before.

Even if she might be the enemy, I'll make her mine.

Valrea

He can't save me.

The secrets of the Compound are too tangled. The nightmares in my blood can never be erased.

But his touch sends me reeling, thirsting for what I can't have. 

What harm could one night do?

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Snared: Star Breed Book Six

When the only woman Xander cared for was ripped from his arms, nothing else mattered.

Now she’s back. Fragile and brave, beautiful and brilliant. Someone to protect, someone to fight for.

Except she doesn’t remember him at all.

Her curves and captivating scent drive him mad, demanding he cares for her, possess her.

He'll keep his mate safe, even if the Empire burns to ash around them.

Loree Sarratt is tired of everyone treating her like an invalid. Her hacking skills could save the Empire - if she's not arrested first.

First puzzle to solve? An overprotective pillar of muscle who turns her legs to jelly when he’s in the same room. 

She can’t lose focus. But the heat of his gaze sends her pulse racing. His touch steals her breath. Everything tempts her to surrender… 

And forget the danger she's in.

http://myBook.to/Starbreed6

About the Author

I love old movies – To Catch a Thief, Notorious, All About Eve — and anything with Katherine Hepburn in it. Clever, elegant people doing clever, elegant things.

I’m a hopeless romantic.

And I love science fiction and the promise of space.

So it makes perfect sense to me to try to merge all of those loves into a new science fiction world, where dashing heroes and lovely ladies have adventures, get into trouble, and find their true love in the stars!

Copyright © 2019 by Elin Wyn

All rights reserved. These books or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the Author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This book is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and situations within its pages and places or persons, living or dead, is unintentional and co-incidental.