Stars, Snow and Mistletoe: A Holiday Naughty List Collection

by S. J. Sanders

  Torin-Ka

  The delicate creature shuddered once, then lay still in the ruins of the Earthen structure. He had used his gifts to take away her pain, and now he could not tear his gaze from her pale features. The Exogen scum twitching in its death throes at his feet had tried to break her, and from her labored breathing, it had nearly succeeded.

  “Sire!” His second-in-command, a male named Macar-Na, ran up to him. He was bleeding from several deep wounds to his right arm, the green blood dripping from his fingers. Something stirred in Torin-Ka’s gut, but he forced the unsettling feeling away to listen to the male’s report. “We have killed a dozen Exogens, and the local inhabitants are currently safe. However, Bikam-Za reports more Exogen battle cruisers are headed for Earth. Our negotiators are trying to work out an agreement with the Earthen leaders, but for now, they think we are as much of a threat as the Exogens. We have not assimilated enough of their language to be able to communicate with them. We must return to the ship and regroup. Now.”

  The female’s scent called to him, and Torin-Ka knelt next to her. Macar-Na stared at him, the male’s pain and worry etched on his strong features. How had he never noticed the way his First Officer’s gaze always landed solidly on Torin-Ka’s chest? Or how Macar-Na’s lips turned down when he was contemplating a serious decision.

  Closing both sets of his eyelids for a brief second, Torin-Ka listened, detecting a weak thumping in the female’s chest. “She lives. But she will not last long. We must bring her back with us.”

  “Sire?” Macar-Na rested his hand on Torin-Ka’s arm. “She is not one of us…” He leaned closer to the female and inhaled deeply. A moment later, his entire countenance changed. “She… By the ancients, she must survive. She is…mine.”

  Torin-Ka grabbed the other male by the arms and shoved him against the wall. They were so close, he could scent Macar-Na’s arousal and desire. His cock hardened, pushing against the black tactical pants insistently, and he jerked back in shock. He should not be attracted to the male.

  “Sire?” Macar-Na’s voice was hoarse and weak, and his chest heaved. “The mating call. I feel it. But not only with the female.”

  Anger stiffened his spine, but he could not look away. Macar-Na had never spoken to him like that before.

  “We cannot,” Torin-Ka said sharply. “I cannot.” The Exogen at his feet twitched once, and he pulled out his blaster. One shot to the thing’s head and gray goo pooled on the wooden floor. “The female comes with us. If she lives, we will figure out what to do about…” He gestured between the two of them. Crouching next to her, he brushed her dark hair away from her face. “She will be in great pain if I do not use my gifts, and I will be defenseless.” He looked up at Macar-Na, seeing the male in a way he never had before.

  “I will shield you, Sire.” Macar-Na thumped his chest with his fist and his black eyes started to glow as he sent out a burst of his own powers, warning any remaining Earth-dwellers away and cloaking the three of them from view as Torin-Ka lifted the female and sent a calming wave into her mind. She whimpered weakly but did not fight him.

  When they were safe on the Kivari ship, he would figure out what to do about this mating call he could not ignore—not the one he shared with the female in his arms, but the second one he was starting to feel for the male at his side.

  2

  Jayce

  The air felt wrong. Thicker. Richer. Sweeter. No smell of stale cigarettes or day-old beer. No antiseptic or bleach. She tried to force her eyes open, but she lacked the strength.

  A series of clicks and hums calmed her, even though she knew she should be terrified. The sounds seemed to come from all around her, and her entire body started to vibrate at the same frequency.

  What’s going on? Who’s there?

  The words wouldn’t come from her parched throat, but in her head, she thought she heard an answer. Or rather…sensed one.

  Calm. Heal. Safe.

  Yes. She was safe. The sensation allowed her to relax, and her insides shifted, almost as if her bones were knitting back together. And then there was pain. Tears leaked from her eyes, and warm, gentle touches whisked them away.

  She wasn’t alone.

  Memories rushed back over her. Hiding under the table with two other women, the bug-like creatures, chittering, stalking towards them, shattering the table. Then slamming into the wall, her back breaking, and then…nothing.

  More hums turned into something that sounded like words, but they weren’t any language she’d ever heard before.

  “Who are you?” Jayce slurred, her lips and tongue barely moving.

  Yours.

  The single thought slammed into her, and a burst of strength allowed her to force her eyes open. Oh, my God.

  Her vision was blurry, but after a couple of hard blinks, she made out two hulking forms—one on either side of her. The being on the left was easily seven-feet-tall with a mane of black hair that cascaded over his shoulders and dark green horns twisting up from either side of his head. Rather than eyebrows, he had two strong ridges over his eyes, a flat, wide nose, and lips that were almost the color of midnight—and very full.

  The one on the right was smaller. Still with the horns, but his were a lighter green, and his hair was shorter and straighter. Same ridges over his eyes, cheekbones sculpted from pure marble, and a scar running from the corner of his dark lips all the way to his ear, which came to a point that poked out of his dark locks.

  Jayce tried to wriggle away, but her arms and legs only flailed a little, and she could only roll slightly towards the larger male. He scooped her into his arms and cradled her very naked body against his chest.

  He was wearing some sort of leatherish shirt that fit him like a second skin, and his warmth seeped into her, making her feel like she was floating. “What’s…happening?” she whispered as she locked eyes with him.

  He looked over at the other being, and they exchanged words she couldn’t understand. “Please. Tell me what’s going on.”

  The male on the other side of the bed rose and moved to a panel in the wall. As he punched a few buttons, the one holding her kept making those soothing noises, and she closed her eyes, even though she was desperate to see what they were doing.

  Unable to stay awake, she protested—or tried to—but all that escaped was a low, slurred moan as she turned her face into the male’s chest and breathed in his scent. She wanted to stay here forever. Even if it was just in her dreams.

  Macar-Na

  “Sire, our AI cannot learn her language if you subdue her.”

  “She is in distress,” Torin-Ka snapped. “You wish her to suffer?”

  Macar-Na straightened his shoulders and drew up to his full height. He was still several hands shorter than his king, but he would not back down. Not where his future mate was concerned. He ached to be able to speak to her—to tell her she was safe. But he could not do so in the Kivari tongue. Not without the translation implant they’d placed in her ear, which would only work once their IA had a chance to learn the Earthen tongue.

  Stalking towards Torin-Ka, he kept his eyes downcast, but strength in his spine. “No, sire. I do not want her to suffer. But her distress will not ease if we cannot communicate with her—and the rest of her kind. Another Exogen vessel landed on her planet, and the Earthlings are fighting, but they will not win. Not unless we aid them.”

  Torin-Ka growled as he pulled the female closer. “Stay back.”

  “No.” He locked eyes with his king, and the call to soothe and comfort was so strong, he had to fight his urge to take both of them in his arms. “Torin-Ka, my king.” Dropping down to one knee, he placed his hand over his heart. “For many moon cycles, I have known that you are mine. But this female…I have never felt the call so strongly. For both of you.”

  The king growled, low in his throat. Macar-Na was going to die. Torin-Ka would never accept him. Not when he was in the throes of the mating haze with the female. After a long moment, his king gently la
id their mate on the bed and stood, his hands clenched into fists at his sides.

  “Two males claiming one female is not common.” Every word escaped clipped, and Torin-Ka advanced on him. “You wish to fight me for her?”

  “No.”

  Adjusting his stance to distribute his weight evenly on the balls of his feet, Macar-Na took a deep breath. “But I will fight for you and the female.”

  The first hit came quickly and knocked Macar-Na back several steps. Green blood spurted from his lips, and he spat on the floor. Ducking his head, he drove forward, his shoulder catching Torin-Ka in the gut and sending him to the ground. Born to a hybrid, Macar-Na had the advantage of harder bones and more mass. In many ways, he resembled a battering ram when he wished to.

  Torin-Ka wrapped his legs around Macar-Na’s torso and flipped him over, knocking the breath from his chest. “Why did you not tell me of your feelings before?” he grunted.

  “For fear…of this.” Using his legs for momentum, Macar-Na flipped himself to his feet, grabbing Torin-Ka by the ankle and flinging him across the room. The male’s solid form made a loud banging sound against the metal wall, and now they were both bleeding.

  Kivari males rarely—if ever—lost consciousness, and Torin-Ka roared an oath and charged again. Pinning Macar-Na to the door, he wedged his forearm against Macar-Na’s throat. “I. Am. Your. King.”

  Desire stirred in his core with his king so close, the male’s member hard against Macar-Na’s thigh. Both males’ chests heaved, and Torin-Ka slid his other hand into Macar-Na’s hair to wrench his head back. Hot breath ghosted across his cheek, and Macar-Na ached to know what his king tasted like.

  Their human’s scream startled them, and the two males sprang apart.

  She sat up, her knees pulled up to her chest and her arms wrapped tightly around her. “Wh-what’s g-going...on? Where am I?” Fear laced her tone, and the AI system built into the wall let out a series of quiet beeps.

  Macar-Na reached her first, but she scrambled back as far as she could. Torin-Ka knocked him away, but the female skittered off the bed and into the corner.

  “Stay away from me!”

  The two males looked at one another. “She does not want us,” Macar-Na said quietly.

  “She does not know us,” his king replied.

  “Let me go. Please,” she whimpered as she slid down until her ass hit the floor and she curled into a ball. “I want to go home.”

  Another series of beeps concluded the AI’s first round of calculations, and the neural translator chips both males had implanted in their ears buzzed. The female cried out and grabbed her head.

  Macar-Na dropped down to one knee and held out his hand. “We will not harm you, female. You belong to us, and we will keep you safe.”

  Jayce

  The two hulking males were only a few feet away from her, crouched down, bleeding, and with fierce expressions on their sculpted faces. Moments ago, something had vibrated inside her head, and when the smaller male had spoken, she’d...understood.

  “I don’t belong to anyone!” Anger drove a bit of the terror from her mind, and she started to push up until she realized she was still completely naked. “What did you do to me? Where am I? Where are my clothes?”

  The larger male wiped a smear of blood—green blood—from his temple. “You are on my ship.”

  “Ship?” Her voice shrilled, and her gaze darted around the room. It didn’t look like anything. Gray. Metal walls. A large bed. Several panels on each wall had no visible hinges but looked like they might hide cabinets. “I was...in Akron.”

  “You are no longer there,” the other one said. “I am Macar-Na. This is Torin-Ka. Our king.”

  Jayce shook her head as she tried to curl tighter into a ball against the wall. “No, no, no. I don’t have a...king. I live in Akron. I’m going to have Christmas with my best friend Laura and her family. I’m a doctor. I have a crappy apartment and a hundred grand in student loans, and I haven’t had a full night’s sleep in five years. But I don’t care. I’m not...yours. Whatever you are.”

  The two males stared at one another, and Macar-Na inched closer. “We are Kivari. We are at war with another race—the Exogen. Their planet was destroyed many moons ago, and now, they are in search of a new one.”

  Her entire body started to shake. The bugs. The big, shiny, chittering bugs. The ones that had hurt her. “Ex-exogen?”

  “They slaughter entire populations,” the larger one—Torin-Ka—said. “We wish to aid your people. If we can. We travel the stars to find allies against the Exogen scum.”

  “M-my people…” Jayce tried to remember what she’d seen before she’d blacked out. Flames, explosions. And... ”Oh God.” She started to hyperventilate. Bodies. She’d seen bodies. Human bodies. And when the bug had grabbed her, its slimy talons digging into her skin, she’d felt like her body was on fire. “They k-killed everyone in the bar.”

  “You are safe, female,” Torin-Ka said as he twisted his massive body to sit on her left. Macar-Na took his place on her right. She was pinned between the two of them, and as they started to click and hum once more, her panic eased slightly, and she managed a single breath. Then another.

  Macar-Na met her gaze. “We rescued you. Healed you. And now we will keep you safe.”

  “I want to go home,” she whispered, and the two males each put a hand on one of her arms.

  Together, they replied, “You are home.”

  3

  Torin-Ka

  Together, he and Macar-Na had calmed the female enough that she fell asleep between them. He did not know what to do about the other male’s insistence that all three of them shared a mate bond. True, he and his Trident General—the highest-ranking member of his warriors—had always been close. They had been raised together. Trained together. Advanced in the warrior class together.

  Either one of them could have been king. But Macar-Na had stepped aside, insisted that Torin-Ka was the right choice.

  Looking at his closest ally now, he wondered how he’d missed the signs. The way Macar-Na’s voice changed when the two of them were alone. A tenderness infused his tone that he did not let slip in public.

  “Macar-Na?” He waited for the male to meet his gaze, and what he saw in his eyes gave him pause. “Why did you never say anything?”

  “Because, sire...I always felt as if there were something missing.” Blinking both sets of his eyelids, Macar-Na stared down at his knees. “I have loved you my entire existence. I did not think you felt the same. So I did not act on my desires. When we found this female, the mating call within me changed, grew, until it overwhelmed me. It draws me to both of you, not only to her.”

  Macar-Na reached across the female to touch Torin-Ka’s arm. At the contact, warmth flowed into him, and his dick made its presence known. “You cannot tell me you feel nothing.”

  Torin-Ka swallowed over the lump in his throat. “No. I cannot. But...this is not done. No Kivari has ever—“

  “No Kivari has ever met an Earth-dweller.“ Sadness laced Macar-Na’s tone. “I will do what you think is right, sire. You are my king, and I am at your command. If you believe that you are the female’s only true mate, I will take assignment on another vessel, and—“

  “No.” The strength of his shout made their female stir between them, and Torin-Ka cursed under his breath as Macar-Na started to hum and click, using his gifts to allow her body to slip back into slumber. She needed to heal, and she could only do that with her mind calm. Torin-Ka got to his feet and stared down at the two of them huddled together. “You will not leave my command, Macar-Na. I forbid it.”

  Turning on a heel, he strode toward the door of his sleeping quarters. “Move her to my bed. And stay with her. Now that the AI has assimilated her language, I must send Bikam-Za down to the planet to assist the negotiators in brokering an alliance with the Earth-dwellers against the Exogens. We will discuss this—“ he gestured between the two of them, “—more when I return.”
<
br />   His view of the planet below showed the extent of the damage the Exogens had done to the city the female had called “Akron.” Half of the buildings had been leveled, and many others still burned, but as he zoomed in on the image, he saw numerous humans battling the blazes.

  Bikam-Za approached, his hands clasped behind his back. “Sire. What are your orders?”

  “Our AI has fully translated the human language,” he said. “And we have intercepted several messages the humans have sent to their leaders. You will go to a place called ‘Washington D.C.’ and meet with someone named President Jacobs. This female has the authority to negotiate on the planet’s behalf. Offer our aid in exchange for safe refuge on their planet. Our weapons are superior to theirs in many ways, so ensure you are clear that we seek to partner with them. Not dominate them.”

  “Of course, sire. And what of the human female on board?”

  “She will remain here. Do not speak of her to President Jacobs.”

  Bikam-Za nodded and turned, but Torin-Ka cleared his throat.

  “She is here so we can treat her injuries, Bikam-Za. She was the only one alive when Macar-Na and I landed.” Why he felt the need to defend his actions, he could not say. He was king, and no one would dare question him. But he wasn’t ready to admit to anyone that he had felt the mating call with the female—and with Macar-Na.

  “I would never question your actions, sire.” Bikam-Za’s face turned a deeper green as he backed out of the room. “I will report back as soon as I have news.”

  Fuck. He was making a fool of himself in front of his men. This would not do. He had to return to the female and Macar-Na and tell them he was going to ignore the mating call. Macar-Na could have the female—if she accepted him.