The Snowmaiden, A Bride for Krampus

by Jeanette Lynn

  “Loo-me.” Baumb’s disapproving rumble shook the walls. Jumping in place, I spun around to find him at the mouth of the cavern, lumbering into sight. A dark red bag I’d never seen before was over one shoulder, a smaller bundle wrapped in pelts I knew very well over the other.

  “I was just asking him if he knew who he was,” I said quickly, then jerked a finger at Ded’s face. “Look! His eyes aren’t black anymore! They’re blue again. His eyes used to be blue, then went black with the Krampus, and now they’re blue again.” Nervousness filled me, even as I smiled at his approach. I wasn’t doing anything wrong. I’d kept my word and I meant to. Only him—just my Baumbel.

  As if he could read my mind, a happy churr started up. Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me in the least to realize he could in fact, to some extent or another, have some inclination as to what was going on in my head, not after that glow spots bite transference bit or whatever that was.

  “You brought me something.” Again with the knowing. Deciding right then and there a lot had happened I’d never have an answer for, I just… let it go. Shuffling closer to him as he unburdened himself, I realized the bag he held was not in fact red but bloody, just covered with blood. Crimson dripped from the large sack, drawing my gaze to the ground. Instead of leaving a trail of drips in his wake, the cave floor was absorbing the spots that fell to it right before my eyes. Wow… that wasn’t terrifying or freaky at all. Nope.

  “Loo-me,” Baumb called when my gaze fixed on the spot of red pooling beneath the bag to disappear mere moments later, calling to me as if it wasn’t just my name on his lips that drew my gaze upward to meet his.

  “I didn’t do anything,” I blurted in a rush, then laughed nervously.

  Nodding, looking a mite sheepish if I was reading him right—or was I feeling that… somehow?—he held out the bundled fur to me. He had no idea the gift he’d just given me. Taking the pelts carefully, realizing there was something folded within them, I set it on the bed and began peeling back the wrapped sides. The clank of metal, rattling as bits hit and clanged, had me searching out the sound and its source first. The keys to the cell! And more followed, pieces of the remains of my cave cell home with Shnikel.

  A folded stack of material I’d never seen before lay in the middle. “What’s this?” I asked, picking it up to shake out the contents.

  The material was iced over, frosted, stiff, but I got it worked out enough to tell it was some kind of fur lined coat and pants. Curious, I lifted the material up, a pretty royal blue with light blue fur lining the collar and cuffs, silver embroidering lining it, and brought it to my nose for a quick sniff. It smelled like materials and the caves, nothing exciting. I knew what I’d been hoping for. Chagrin filled me. He wasn’t coming back.

  “You found these for me?” I asked.

  A grunt left Baumb and he gestured at something on the bed. Following his gaze, my attention snagged on a bit of folded paper. Picking it up gingerly, trying not to get my hopes up, I frowned at the slip nestled inside it that fell out, a funny picture, like a diagram, a map like outline in black ink with little red Xs scattered throughout and one giant green X. Glancing to the paper it was within, I saw a spot of curving script in an elegant hand and my heart nearly lept. “You found this in the cave cell,” I croaked out. My hands trembled as I carefully unfolded the missive and read over it.

  Haven’t much time. Too much afoot. He has eyes everywhere. He is ever watchful over Hinter.

  Lumi-

  My heart begs your forgiveness for what my mind knows was right.

  It begins soon. Hide when the fruit appears. Don’t eat it. Don’t let them find you. Use the map I’ve provided. Stay safe.

  Once we are safe, I will endeavor to-

  The next part was blurred, ruined with water. There was a whole section more but moisture had gotten the better of it. And lower down the rest read:

  Think of me when you wear my gentafelkens. I think only of you.

  I am truly sorry for what I’ve done. I wish with all my might you can forgive me.

  Ever faithfully yours,

  -S

  Staring blindly at the missive, my hands curled in the fabric of his gentafelkens, tempted to cuddle into their warmth. The material was unusually warm, yet I couldn't quite absorb the warmth. He’d left me to the mercy of a pack of Krampus like it was no big whoop, like he’d come back and all would be well. What did he honestly think was going to happen to me, leaving me like that? Did he mean it, what he wrote? Was he really coming back for me, or was his jacket and pants to help his butt arsed naked, abandoned female and this note so I didn’t just give up hope? A part of me, no matter what, kept asking, But what if this is all to ease your parting? What if this is really it?

  The idea of the big day coming and him leaving me holding the bag, waiting for him like an idiot, had my stomach twisting.

  “Loo-me?” Baumb murmured tentatively.

  Swiping the moisture gathering in my eyes as discreetly as possible, I glanced up to find not just the Baumbel of my choosing but the Krampus still stuck in the wall staring at me with odd looks.

  “They’re really nice, huh?” Holding up the clothes for Baumb to see, I made no move to slip into the disgustingly soft jacket or pants. There wasn’t even a faint trace of Shnikel’s scent to the material. My suspicious side won out, wondering if they were truly even his, if it was naive of me to believe my antlered prince was really going to come and collect me after the Krampus harvesting that was due very soon.

  What about Baumbel or Ded? What would become of them? Could they, would they, come with us too if Shnikel did show?

  Why culling the Krampus herd coincided with The Big Day, I wasn’t quite certain of. If I could make it to one of these passages on the map Shnikel drew for me in time, and it looked like there were several throughout the mountain caves, I may never have to discover the big secret. From the way Shnikel had reacted to whatever he’d witnessed, I wasn’t keen on figuring it out.

  “You know what’s warmer than these?” I said with a sly look at Baumb as I set the material aside and stood on the bed. Grinning as he rumbled loudly at my outstretched arms as I waited for him, he collected me into his bloody arms. His mouth pressed to mine automatically, eager for more of his human’s kisses. “Baumb-Lumi,” he groaned against my lips. A thick hand cupped my ass and gave it a squeeze.

  “Again?” I said on a laugh as he urged me to wrap my legs around him.

  “Baumb Lumi,” he murmured.

  My beast of a male shivered when I nipped his lip playfully and kissed him back. “Okay, but maybe we should, uh, let him go first,” I mumbled between frantic kisses as his hands grew adventurous. “No need to keep him like that if he can be on his merry way.” Hooking a thumb at the Krampus, I asked of the male readying to maul me, “Don’t you want some privacy? I mean,” my voice lowered, “he likes to watch, and I was thinking of trying this thing I thought you might like...”

  A deep, possessive noise left Baumb as he paused to mull my proposal over. Grunting, he grumbled out, “Thing. Like. Baumb like thing,” and quickly set me on the bed. Starting to walk away, he frowned at the way Ded’s blue gaze fixed on my body, rushed back, and tossed a pelt over me.

  Snorting, I pulled my head free of the blanket in time to watch Baumb jerk Ded free of the wall and lift him up, Ded’s feet kicking as he snarled and fought like he didn’t want to not be a mount on the wall, to walk him out of the cavern. Ded’s growls were soon a funny noise in the distance as Baumb escorted him out.

  “Think he’ll stay gone?” I asked Yule ti, who glanced my way but otherwise snubbed me. Someone didn’t like me very much.

  Baumb loped back on all fours, the twin fluffy ends of his tail jerking over his back behind him. My Baumb boy was in an all fired hurry. He didn’t slow down as he bounded closer.

  “Baumb!” I burst out as he leapt at me, pounced, and landed gracefully atop me. Jargling me with a bounce, he grinned down at me. I laughed as
his feelers shot free, swaying with the happy swish of his tail. The rumble of a growl he let loose was playful, bordering on flirtatious. Glowing, cat-like eyes brightened as I smoothed my hands up his shoulders to cup the back of his neck.

  “Are you going to settle, roll over, and give me my way?” I murmured, lifting up to bring our lips flush.

  My mouth tingled as I broke our soft lip lock, the vibrations from his purr rattling me from my head to my toes.

  “Baumb Lumi,” he garbled out as he began nuzzling his way down my body, which meant, Yep, sure thing, but me first. Taking my hands in his, he laved one and set it down, then the other was treated to the same, and he let loose a warning rumble to keep them there.

  “No fair,” I muttered, staring at the ceiling, biting my lip as his main tongue dipped and he found a nipple to suckle it for a minute, then the other, to move lower. He wasn’t wasting any time.

  A frisson of worry niggled at me for Ded but, fearing Baumb might sense it through our connection, I tried to quell it. A loud noise left him as his quest to check out oral drew him to my belly button. His main tongue traced the dip to then move lower.

  Ded will be fine. He’ll do like Shnikel, turn Elkfen to return to his herd by the Big House, as Shnick had called it, and then forget all about me.

  A snarl of sounds echoed from the entrance to the cavern. A Krampus was pissed and sounded like they were chewing him out.

  A wall rattling rumble left Baumb, but I was distracted. I was too busy fretting over Ded, staring into space, then straining to listen to the Krampus rant to notice Baumb’d stopped or hear that telltale noise his jaw makes as it segments. Cool warmth slid up under my backside and four blunt thumbs on each hand pressed into my thighs, pinning me open for him. The low growl as Baumb muttered something was all the warning I got before he made his move.

  A garbled shout left me as my Baumbel got to work making a meal out of his mate. A thick tongue wedged its way into my sex, the two tongues alongside the middle one curling to glide upward with every thrust of the middle one. The two side tongues met as the main one drove deep into my channel, kissing my clit with every sweeping pass. My hands fisted the sheets and I bit my lip until it hurt. My toes curled, legs shaking as he teased me all the way to the edge to slowly bring me back down, then drive me wild again.

  “Baumb! Please!” I pleaded, grunting in defeat when I came and he wrung it out of me, refusing to give me what I wanted, what I knew he knew I’d been begging for.

  When I fell limply against him, he pulled back, tusks slipping from beneath me, to stand. His jaw remained segmented as he stood over me. His face was set, hard, about as hard at the fat erection waving in the air, tentatongues out on display. I got the feeling he was hiding something from me somehow through our connection but was lost as to figure that out. That noise he made with his cheeks started up, his cock receding back into its cock hole, har-har, and he turned to make that sound at an eardrum shattering decibel towards where Yule sat pecking at the dripping bag of meat. Following where his gaze went, I sat up on my elbows. I didn't understand.

  Yule quit pecking at the bag, following her companion’s gaze.

  “Baumb?” I asked, tempted to drag the pelts over me as a chill threatened to overwhelm me.

  Baumb turned to frown down at me. His gaze strayed to the prickles on my arms, where those cat-like eyes stayed for some time.

  “What’s wrong? Baumb?” Suddenly self-conscious, I went to drag the pelt over me, to get growled at for it. “Okay,” my hands flopped back down and I plopped backwards, “I’m cool with freezing to death. Whatever you want, big guy. You’re the man in charge... obviously. I’m just the… human on display. Don’t mind me.”

  Closing my eyes, I tried to think warm thoughts. Lying there with my legs dangling off the edge of the bed wasn’t particularly fun, but if it kept me from getting yelled at… I gave a mental shrug, wondering when I’d become the afraid to be kicked to the curb, beaten little woman. Not that he beat me, mind you, but I was acting afraid to fart in his presence, and that did not a good mating make. It was still better than being a Krampus’ doorknob.

  He was still making that noise, which was awkward and disconcerting. What had I done now?

  Helplessness threatened to consume me. I’d never understand any of this, never get any of it right. Baumb shifted closer. Cracking an eyelid open to find him looming over me, he snatched up the ends of the pelt beneath me and wrapped my upper body in it like a furry blanket burrito. Frowning, I just laid there and watched, compliant and a little confused.

  “Can we finish sexing it up first?” I mumbled uncertainly. Or was that off the table now because I was somehow an asshole mate person, or Ded was an asshole Krampus...Krampen? Kraumpenssus?

  Taking another pelt, he wrapped it around my lower half and picked me up to set me on the middle of the bed. Climbing in after me, he settled his jaw back into place and curled himself around me protectively. Resting his chin atop my head, a long, loose skin at his neck filling hiss left him.

  Freeing one of my hands, I slid it over his to cup it. A forlorn noise left him as my cool skin, even bundled up as I was, pressed into the warmth of his. “I don’t know what I did, but I’m sorry,” I said quietly. “I guess I just wish I understood you better.”

  The noise he made was even sadder than the first and didn’t really translate.

  “I wish you didn’t hide from me,” I whispered, staring down at our hands.

  A series of grunts left the Baumbel and he stood. Lumbering over to the fire, his back to me, he beckoned Yule ti to get it roaring again. Once done with that, he kept his back to me as he began taking the meat chunks from his bag to stab them onto sticks and set them over the blue flames to roast.

  Right. Okee dokee then.

  Feeling slightly rejected and confused as to what the hell was going on, I dragged the pelt swaddling me over my head to sit here in silence and not do anything else to otherwise aggravate the male.

  I was drowsy, drifting off for some time, when I felt a hand at my shoulder and the blanket was gently lifted off my head. The smell of roasted meat tickled my nose as my eyes slid open. Rubbing my eyes, I went to sit up, mumbling that I was awake, to find myself dragged into my mate’s lap and enveloped in a huge bear hug. Someone was full of apology type feelings as they cuddled me to them and garbled out gibberish. Maybe my words were gibberish to him too but he was better at reading me?

  The smell of roasted meat was so close I could taste it. My belly growled angrily as I licked my lips. “That smells wonderful,” I whispered, wanting to sit up but hesitating to peer up at him questioningly.

  The saddest noise I’d ever heard from the male left Baumb and he reached up to scratch at his ear. “Lumi?” he rumbled out softly, then brought his fingers to his lips. His gaze was drawn to my exposed shoulder as the pelt slipped. It was freaking cold, even with the fire and the pelts. “Lumi.” Nuzzling the spot, he pressed a sweet kiss there and tucked the pelt back up over me until I was once more swaddled.

  “I can’t eat like this,” I pointed out, raising my eyebrows at him.

  Shifting, a cup bowl of meat beside him coming into view, he extended his claws, stabbing a piece of meat with one, and carefully brought it over to me to hold it out to me.

  “Oh. Don’t know what I did to deserve special treatment but I could get used to this.” When I went to pluck the meat from his talon-like extended claw, his hand pulled back and he slowly shook his head, as he’d seen me shake mine at him plenty of times. “No?” I asked, confused and at a loss.

  “Baumb Lumi,” he said, and held the offered bit out, bringing it to my lips.

  Shrugging, I leaned in and took a bite. Chewing and swallowing, I glanced up at him to find him watching me concernedly. “Uh, thank you,” I mumbled, trying not to frown along with him. That Krampus cream filling only stretched so far and those pleasant warming effects didn’t last as long as I’d like.

  “Lumi Baumb?�
� he asked suddenly, his heavy brow crinkling as he glanced from me to somewhere beyond the maze of the caverns catacombs. Unease slithered through him. I held back a shiver at the chill in the air, the winds howling through the caverns chafing my cheeks. My nose was feeling as dry as my face with this wintery wonderscape. Nose slightly stuffed up, I was slowly beginning to experience those lovely, constant cold weather drawbacks.

  “Lumi Baumb,” I assured him as that tickle in my nose started up. Damn. This really was having some fun with me today. Wriggling my nose, I could feel it as it built, until I cupped a hand over my nose and mouth and a sneeze slipped free.

  Baumb jumped like I’d just goosed him. As one sneeze turned into a stream of them, prone to that sort of chain sneeze reaction, I shook my head out, wriggling my nose when it was all over, to glance up and find my snow beast alien mate gaping down at me.

  Baumb grunted as I eyed him curiously. Leaning in, he sniffed at me, chuffed, grunted, and leaned back.

  With a huff, I laughed. “Well, thanks, sweetie,” I teased on a chuckle. When my mouth opened and a laugh came out at the tense look on his whiskered mug, like he was waiting for another sneeze bomb to go off, I went to reach out and offer him a comforting pet but he grumbled something, shook his head, and tucked my hand back into the blankets.

  The chill in the air felt more pronounced today—I wasn’t about to argue with him on it. He wanted to keep me warm today, more power to him. After earlier, I was just fine with a little snuggle time and some nice mate stuff.

  Baumb continued with his one piece at a time in offering, feed the little mate routine. Once he was finished, he glanced at the water and I knew he wanted to take me there, but I was honestly feeling a little worn and sick of getting wet in the warm water to freeze my ass off afterward getting out. Shaking my head, I laid my cheek on his chest. My hand lifted to sift through his chest fur and I pressed the side of my cheek against the pec it was resting on harder.

  Baumb pulled back a little to glance down at me, still wearing that odd, worried look. I put a whole lot of please into the puppy dog eyes I sent his way.