He remembered the childhood he suffered at the hands of his ta’len’a and her kin, the beatings and the lashings, starvation when his ta’len’a’s dam thought that he was growing too large and the lessons on pampering females when he experienced his first release at the age of seventeen. His ta’lnar could and would do nothing to aide him. In fact, Malekith rarely interacted with the male that sired him; his ta’lnar was a member of his ta’len’a’s personal harem. Prized. Pampered. Special. Malekith’s ta’lnar would not risk losing special treatment for a son he didn’t even know.
His lip curled upward just enough to reveal the lethal curve of a fang at the side of his mouth.
He clasped his fingers around the brooch, silently drawing strength from it.
His ta’len’a and the females of Malnor could no longer hurt him; none of them would dare to venture beyond the gates of the underground city they called their home.
He caught a glimpse of his reflection in one of the department store’s windows. His tail, long and sinuous, with a stinger on the tip, lashed angrily from side to side beneath his cloak. His white hair billowed behind him, for once free of its usual plait, and his opalescent horns towered a foot above his head, gleaming in the golden light of the street lamps. His pale blue eyes shone with a hint of malice, thin flecks of red appearing within his irises. His pupils contracted into thin slits. But it was the glint of lethal fangs at the sides of his mouth that jerked Malekith from his dark thoughts.
“Excuse me.”
A little boy tugged on Malekith’s cloak.
He glanced down at the child, arching an eyebrow in the way that he knew they adored. The little boy smiled up at him, revealing two missing front teeth.
“Yes,” he rumbled. “What may I do for you?”
The little boy glanced over at his mother and she urged him forward with a ‘go on’ motion of her hands.
“Are you Commander Ska’arzal?”
He inclined his head. “I am.”
The little boy beamed at him.
“Commander Ska’arzal, could I get your autograph?”
The little boy held up a piece of paper and a pen, waving them enthusiastically.
Malekith tilted his head to the side.
“I am sorry, youngling, but I am unfamiliar with this word. What is an autograph?”
“It’s a signature,” his mother explained, somewhat breathlessly. “He wants your signature so that he can brag to his friends that he met the Commander Ska’arzal.” She settled her hands on the boy’s shoulders and offered him a shy smile, her cheeks glowing pink. “You don’t know it, Commander Ska’arzal, but you’ve quite the reputation here on Earth. You’re a hero.”
A warm glow slowly spread from the center of his chest to flow outward to the rest of his body. His heart thundered wildly.
“I am no hero, my lady,” he murmured, inclining his head regally, “but I thank you for the compliment.”
“You are a hero!” the little boy cried emphatically causing both adults to stare at him, his mother embarrassed by his outburst and Malekith curiously.
“It’s true,” his mother agreed. “Everyone knows that without your help, Commander, Earth would be under the control of the Grays.”
Malekith’s eyes narrowed.
“It is unwise to speak of such evil beings,” he rumbled. “They are formidable foes and, while Earth is now a member of the Interstellar Alliance, they are still a very serious threat.”
The boy stared up at him with wide eyes.
“You’ll protect us, though, won’t you, Commander Ska’arzal?”
“Until the lights fade from the stars in the sky,” he solemnly vowed.
He knelt in front of the boy and extended his hands. “Come, youngling, I shall sign my … autograph … for you.”
The little boy thrust his pen and paper forward and Malekith signed the sheet with his signature before he handed it back to the child.
“Thank you, Commander Ska’arzal!” the boy crowed. “Happy Solstice!”
Rising gracefully to his feet, the child’s mother offered him a brilliant smile.
“Thank you,” she said. “You’ve really made his day.”
“It is my pleasure, my lady,” he returned.
Still smiling, the female turned in search of her exuberant youngster and hurried after him.
Shaking his head to himself, Malekith allowed his lips to curve upward in a smile.
The little boy and his mother had spoken the truth although Malekith would never view himself as the hero they believed him to be. Humans were familiar with an alien species they knew as the Grays: slender, humanoid beings with bulbous heads and large, black eyes. The Ir’eils were intelligent and cunning, abducting humans over centuries with the Interstellar Alliance oblivious to their movements. The Interstellar Alliance commanded that planets that were as yet unable to achieve space travel were to be left alone; no one allied with the Alliance could communicate in any way, shape or form with these planets. Until very recently, Earth had been one of those planets. When it was discovered that Earth now had the ability to travel through space, the Ir’eils leapt at the chance to offer first contact.
The Ir’eils, because they had been abducting people from Earth for centuries, or more, believed they were entitled to the planet, its habitants and its resources. The Ir’eils declared to both the humans of Earth and the Interstellar Alliance that the planet was theirs because they were the ones to establish first contact.
If Malekith had not disobeyed his superior, the casualties of Earth would number in the billions; even with his rebellious actions, hundreds of millions of people lost their lives during the fight between the Ir’eils and the Interstellar Alliance. Thanks to Malekith and those who were loyal to him, he was able to distract the Ir’eils battleships from reigning terror upon the defenseless humans below.
Then the humans surprised him.
He expected to fight the battle in the skies alone until the Interstellar Alliance sent its battle cruisers to aid him in the fight for Earth’s freedom; instead, the humans of Earth united, joined forces with one another, and fought alongside him. Men and women died by air, land and sea, fighting with their last breaths, to ensure that Earth would always be under its own power.
Malekith, those loyal to him and several important members of the Interstellar Alliance attended the remembrance ceremonies of those that died defending their planet’s freedom.
It was the first time Malekith witnessed such grief on a massive scale.
No, he was not the hero here; those brave men and women that died for their fellow man … they were the heroes. The unsung heroes, as he had come to learn after spending many weeks with his fellow brothers-in-arms.
This holiday, the week of the upcoming Winter Solstice, the humans would finally be able to celebrate; over the last year and a half, they were mourning their losses and slowly beginning to rebuild. Malekith and those loyal to him bore witness to their grief; men, women and children, all were equal in this universal loss. With help from the Interstellar Alliance, the people of Earth started to rally, reforming their governments, electing new leaders, washing away their previous biases, in order to pave the way toward a better, brighter future. The Winter Solstice, the holiday that celebrated the end of their war with the Ir’eils, truly represented the future dreams of Earth’s people.
Earth, like all the planets allied with the Interstellar Alliance, housed an embassy directly affiliated with the Interstellar Alliance. Its current ambassador, a female Oraed, an avian-like being, was spending the holiday season with the President of the United Nations of Earth.
He paid little attention to politics; he despised the games the females of his planet played with one another and discovered that the peoples of other planets were just as ruthless when in relation to a position of power. He did not desire power.
His nostrils flaring, Malekith inhaled sharply; the cold air burned the back of his throat and spread over his chest. Clea
n, fresh air filled his nose, the scent of decay now a memory that haunted his nightmares in the darkest of nights.
He continued his leisurely stroll down the street, pausing to wish many humans that stopped him a, “Happy Solstice.”
He rounded the corner, pausing to admire the beauty of Parliament Hill. Reminiscent of a medieval palace in the United Kingdom, colours of bright silver and blue lit the face of the building, the lights causing the snow that covered the Hill to sparkle with hints of reds and purples.
The vibrant colours of Earth never ceased to amaze him. In his many years as a Commander for the Interstellar Alliance and visiting many foreign worlds, he had never come across another planet like this one. The abundance of life here, the Great Barrier Reef on the coast of Australia, for example, the Amazon Rainforest, the plains of Africa, was unequal to anywhere else in the universe. Even the vast differences in climates from the frigid Poles to the tropics could not compare to any other world that Malekith had visited. Earth was unique and that uniqueness made it a treasure to the humans that lived there and the Interstellar Alliance. He always enjoyed watching the beautiful blue planet from his battle cruiser.
While the Winter Solstice was a few days away, the atmosphere of the people around him was contagious.
The excitement of the crowd caused a young woman to accidentally bump into Malekith and lose her footing. Before she could fall face-first into the knee-deep snow, he gently grabbed her by her shoulders, turning her around to face him. His eyes widened when he recognized her.
His ta’lla. His mate.
He worked alongside her at the Embassy; he thought her to be confident in her abilities, if somewhat shy around the many people she did not know well. She was polite when addressing people just arriving within her country; she was no diplomat but her kind personality and warm smile endeared her to a lot of the alien dignitaries that wanted to do business here.
He found her to be quite pretty, with her shoulder-length light brown hair always styled appropriately with that day’s outfit and her honey-coloured eyes that reminded him of the very first time he gazed upon the Earth’s yellow star. She was plump, well rounded, with decent-sized breasts and a sashay to her swaying hips that tested his control every time he caught sight of her. Her skin was tanned a delicious golden brown and he wanted to lick every inch of her. Her lips, a pale shade of red, tempted him with all of his naughty fantasies in regards to what she could do with that mouth of hers. Of course, this did not stop him from fantasizing about what he could do to her.
However, he knew next to nothing about her except that she always arrived to work on time, rarely missed a day due to illness and never shared anything about her personal life.
“I’m so sorry!” she cried before he could ask after her health. “I’m such a klutz. Are you alright, Commander Ska’arzal?”
“I’m well, Clara,” he murmured, unable to keep his voice from deepening into a rumble. He leaned forward to help her brush snow from her shoulders – and to prevent her from feeling his erection. He curled his tail around his thigh, the tip of the stinger brushing against the back of his calf, to keep from wrapping it possessively around her. “I was not expecting to see you here. I believe you mentioned that you were returning home to spend the holidays with your family?”
“Oh!” She ducked her head shyly, her cheeks glowing a becoming shade of pink. He tilted his head upward, inhaling through his nose. Ah, he thought, when she offered him a very small smile, she is embarrassed. “My boyfriend, Chase, wanted to see what Christmas – I mean the Solstice – was like on Parliament Hill.”
“Your boyfriend …?” He hesitated; jealousy wormed its way inside him, insidiously creeping its way to the forefront of his mind.
Her cheeks grew an even more becoming shade of pink.
“Um…” she hummed for a moment; her brows knit together thoughtfully. “A potential mate,” she explained.
“I know what it means, Clara,” he told her gently.
“Oh. Right. Of course, you do,” she muttered before quickly ducking her head and avoiding his eyes.
Malekith had noticed that humans rarely held eye contact with one another for longer than a few seconds unless they were extremely comfortable with the other person they were speaking to. In the office, she rarely held his gaze for longer than 10 seconds and if he tried to hold her gaze longer, she would look away far more frequently than he liked.
But it wasn’t just the eye contact. Her body language insinuated that she was tense. He needed to know if it was due to the conversation or with his presence.
“This conversation makes you uncomfortable?”
She met his eyes briefly before quickly glancing away.
“A little,” she said.
Malekith couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at her curiously.
“What about this conversation makes you uncomfortable?” he asked her. “You are spending the evening with your mate. There is nothing wrong with that.”
She made a sound in the back of her throat, one that he didn’t quite understand. Now, her entire face glowed that becoming shade of pink.
“Commander Ska’arzal,” she began, glancing up at him briefly, her fingers fiddling with the buttons on her jacket nervously. “Sir, humans don’t have a mate. A married couple prefer the term husband or wife, but a spouse is the more politically correct term.”
Ah, he thought, beginning to understand Clara’s obvious discomfort. He inhaled deeply, subtly puffing up his chest, watching as Clara’s bright, honey-coloured eyes followed the expanding muscles of his breast. He leaned forward, purposely invading the woman’s space until their faces were inches apart.
“Does the word ‘mate’ make you uncomfortable, Clara?” he growled, his lips curving upward in a mischievous smile that revealed the fangs at the sides of his mouth.
Bravely, she met his eyes.
The breath hissed from her lips.
“Yes, Commander,” she breathed.
Malekith couldn’t resist teasing her.
“Perhaps,” he rumbled, his voice a deep, growling purr, “the reason you are so uncomfortable is because you secretly long for a mate of your own?”
Her eyes widened. The pink suffusing her cheeks brightened to red and her lips parted to reveal the tip of her tongue as she flicked it over them nervously. He continued to hold her gaze, refusing to allow her to look away from him.
“I don’t know what you mean, Commander.” She jerked her chin forward stubbornly. “I have a boyfriend!”
“Indeed, you do, Clara,” he murmured, “but is he a worthy mate? Is he worthy of being your mate?”
“I – I d-don’t—” she stammered, her eyes wide, her lips parted just enough for him to capture a glimpse of her white teeth.
In that moment, Malekith wanted to do nothing more than pull her against his chest, tighten his arms around her and press his lips to hers in a tender kiss. His fangs tingled and the urge to bite her, to mark her, roared inside of him. More than, that, he wanted to savour the taste of her blood on his tongue, to drink the bright red, life-giving liquid that flowed through her veins. His gaze dropped to the curve of her neck, where her throat joined with her shoulder, the skin hidden from his view thanks to her winter coat; for a moment, his vision swayed and he watched the blood pumping upwards from her rapidly beating heart.
“Commander Ska’arzal?”
The sound of his name upon her lips drew his gaze back to her eyes.
She ducked her head shyly but held his gaze, peering up at him from beneath her lashes, her cheeks glowing pink and her bottom lip tugged between her teeth.
“Sir,” she murmured, “is everything alright?”
“Of course,” he returned solemnly. “I was simply admiring how beautiful you are, Clara.”
Her eyes widened until the gold of her irises captured the surrounding light and sparkled with hints of warm amber. His tail twitched. He tightened his fingers into fists at his side, resisting the urge
to stroke her cheek.
Their moment did not last long.
“Clara!”
She flinched violently at the sound of her name.
Her beautiful eyes widened with fear and the scent of the emotion tickled Malekith’s nostrils.
“What is it?” he demanded, his protective instincts surging to the forefront of his mind at the sight – and scent – of his ta’lla’s fear.
She gazed over his shoulder and he watched the blood drain from her face.
Without conscious thought, Malekith spun around, placing himself between her and the threat. His upper lip drew back in a snarl that revealed the fangs on either side of his mouth. The stinger on the tip of his demonic tail began to drip with a lethal venom, the droplets hissing when they connected with the snow.
For the briefest of moments, Malekith’s vision wavered and he saw an Ir’eil floating towards him, its fathomless black eyes focused intently on Clara, but, when he blinked, the image faded and instead left him to face her enraged boyfriend. He charged through the snow wearing an expensive black winter coat that buttoned along the front, a pair of black gloves and a scarf wrapped around his neck. His features twisted with rage.
“Clara,” her lover snarled, “just what the hell do you think you’re doing, flirting with … with him?”
Behind him, Clara ducked her head, refusing to meet the man’s eyes.
“I’m sorry, Chase,” she murmured meekly.
Chase stepped closer – and drew up short when Malekith whipped his tail warningly in front of the other male; a single droplet of venom gleamed on the tip of his stinger.
Chase held up his hands.
“Whoa! What the fuck, man!” he yelled.
Malekith’s lips pressed into a thin line at the human’s disrespect.
“I am no man,” he growled, his tone far more lethal than his playful teasing of a few moments ago. “I am Commander Malekith Ska’arzal of the Interstellar Alliance and you will treat me with the respect I deserve. Am I clear?”
Stars, Snow and Mistletoe: A Holiday Naughty List Collection Page 17
