“Thank you.” He scarfed down the food in record time, sighing happily once Chloe took his plate and he was allowed to lay back. She pulled up a chair next to the bed.
“Can you talk?”
Kaelar knew that if he told her he needed rest, she would leave it be, at least for now. He didn’t want to put her off, though. He felt like he needed to explain everything. He owed Chloe that much.
“It’s a bit of a story.”
“We have time.” She smiled. “I’m off tomorrow. Take as long as you need.”
Chapter 14
Chloe
“I’m not… I’m not human.”
Chloe’s lip twitched. “I figured out that much. Ordinary humans don’t turn into flying reindeer.”
Kaelar flinched and Chloe wondered if she should have kept what she’d seen to herself.
“It’s okay, Kaelar. I’m confused and a little worried, but I’m not going to condemn you for not being like me.”
He nodded, taking a steadying breath. Chloe couldn’t help reaching for his antlers. They had been drawing her eyes all night. “Are these real?”
Kaelar shivered as she touched them, his mouth rounding and his eyes wide. His golden eyes sparkled and he stared at her as though he was suddenly seeing her for the first time.
“You,” he whispered.
“Me what?”
“I…” He shook his head. “Please stop that.”
“Oh, sorry.” Chloe withdrew her hand. “I should have asked whether you minded me touching them.”
“I don’t mind—quite the opposite.” He looked abashed. “My antlers are… very sensitive.”
Chloe glanced down to his lap. Even with the loose pants he’d put on, she saw that his cock was fully hard again.
This time, it wasn’t for something as ordinary as a sponge bath. The nurses usually handled that, but she’d done her fair share of it. It wasn’t uncommon for people to become aroused while it was being done. They couldn’t help it and Chloe had learned not to think anything of it.
This was different. It wasn’t about medical care, and Chloe felt her cheeks flush. Kaelar was aroused and breathing hard, just because she’d touched his antlers.
She felt her own heart rate quickening. She may have been professional when she was bathing him, but she wasn’t blind. Seeing Kaelar naked had hardly done anything to discourage her fantasies about him.
He was a lot more built and muscular than she’d realized when he was wearing his reindeer outfit. He had well-defined abs and a deep vee that cut into his crotch. Chloe had done her best to ignore it before, but now, she had to fight a nearly overwhelming urge to kiss him.
Of course, she wouldn’t take advantage of him. He was injured, and right now, she was his caregiver. Besides, he wasn’t strong enough to do anything but lie quietly in bed and talk, at least for now.
“Okay, I understand. I’ll keep my hands to myself.”
Kaelar nodded, still staring at her in a way Chloe didn’t quite understand.
“So, if you’re not human, what are you?” she prompted.
“I’m a reilendeer. To you, I’m an alien—though of course, to me, your people are aliens.”
“An alien.” Chloe didn’t know what to think about that. She’d never believed in aliens before, but she knew what she’d seen. Reindeer just didn’t fly. Kaelar had to be something, and he had no reason to lie about this. She waited for him to say more, and Kaelar obliged.
“Earth was discovered by mainstream media about a hundred years ago. Since humans weren’t yet advanced enough to become involved in space travel, the decision was made not to reveal ourselves. You’ve come a long way in the last hundred years, though, and by now your planet fills most of the requirements.”
Kaelar lifted his shoulder in a slight shrug. “It’s really up to those of us on Earth whether we want to reveal ourselves. There are a bunch of council meetings about it every couple of years. It’ll happen eventually, but I’m not sure when.”
“How many aliens are there on Earth?”
“Not many—no more than ten thousand, I think. Compared to your population size, we’re negligible. Coming to such a primitive planet isn’t a common choice. Mostly, it’s people who want to get a new start on a fresh planet that isn’t connected to the world they left behind.”
Chloe’s mind was boggled. Aliens were real and they were living on Earth. If she told anyone about this, they’d call her insane, but she couldn’t deny what she had seen.
“So, all the stories about alien abductions—”
“False, for the most part.” Kaelar shook his head sadly. “Taking slaves is highly illegal. I’m not saying there haven’t been a few incidents, but the galactic authorities clamp down on those pretty quickly.”
“Aliens are the good guys, huh?”
Kaelar made a non-committal gesture. “We’re not all that different from humans,” he said. “Some of us are good, others aren’t. The senate generally has the best interests of everyone at heart.”
“That’s a trick you should teach human leaders,” Chloe muttered. “How did you do it?”
“Years of warfare.”
Chloe scoffed. “Well, I guess we’re on the right track then.”
Kaelar rolled his eyes. “All I’ll say is humans had better develop space travel fast, before you destroy your planet. Either that or make a call for galactic rescue forces to assist with the evacuations.”
“Good to know that’s an option.” This was all fascinating, but it wasn’t what Chloe really wanted to know. “What about you? What do you do here?”
“My species has the ability to siphon emotions,” Kaelar said. “Reilendeer are a sub-species of a larger group that shifts into different animals, and our abilities make us great for redistributing joy.”
“You take people’s joy?” Chloe’s voice rose in alarm, but Kaelar was quick to pacify her.
“Of course not! One, that’s illegal, but even if it wasn’t, I’d never do it. It’s wrong. I am able to siphon joy directly from people, but that’s not what I do. In times of merriment, excess joy leaks into the air. Taking some of that harms no one, and I can redistribute it to those who need it most.”
“The children at the hospital!” Chloe gasped. “You have been making them happier.”
Kaelar nodded. “Hospitals are a common place for offloading joy. Christmas is my best season—there’s just so much joy everywhere. It leaks into the air in a red haze surrounding everything. It gets quite a bit harder at other times of the year. We often have to travel to the bigger cities just to fill our internal storage with joy.”
“How many of you are there?”
“Working for Santa?” Kaelar’s expression turned contemplative. “I would say a couple of thousand all over the world.”
“Wait—Santa?” Chloe’s eyes widened in surprise.
“You should give human legends more credit.” Kaelar smiled. “Many of them are based in truth.”
Of all the things she’d been expecting, this wasn’t one of them. “Santa is real?”
“Very real. He’s the main employer for my kind on Earth. Not that we’re interested in human money. He mostly does coordination, making sure the joy is spread evenly.”
Santa was working with aliens. Now that’s something she hadn’t seen coming. Unless…
“Is Santa…?”
“An alien?” Kaelar’s lip twitched. “Yes. He’s also a shapeshifter, though not a reilendeer.”
Chloe shook her head. How much odder was this going to get?
“So, what happened tonight?” she asked, almost dreading the answer.
Kaelar’s face darkened. “I’ve discovered something—something big. Remember what I said about siphoning joy from people being illegal? Well, there have been a couple of rogue reilendeer over the years who have done just that.”
“The joy in the air at Christmas is always at very high levels, but a few days ago, I noticed that there was almost no resid
ue, and worse, that the people themselves seemed miserable. It’s completely uncharacteristic for this time of year, and indicates that a rogue reilendeer is stealing joy.”
Great, that’s just what the kids at the hospital needed. They were pressed enough for any kind of happiness as it was. “What can we do about it?”
“I did some investigating and the situation is more complicated than I’d originally thought.” Kaelar frowned, looking the closest to angry that she’d seen him. “It turns out that it’s not a reilendeer who is stealing the joy. It’s another race, the Zalfa.”
“They also have the ability to siphon emotions, then?”
Kaelar shook his head. “No, that’s what makes it such a unique situation. The Zalfa have very few natural abilities, but they are truly brilliant when it comes to inventing technology. It seems like they’ve created a device that can do what my people do naturally, except they’re not using it like we do. The vast majority of reilendeer only ever use this ability to help people and would never take joy from them.”
“What’s the point, though? I mean, are they just depressed and using the joy to help themselves feel happy again?”
“If that were the case, it would be a lot more understandable—not to mention a lot more solvable. Illnesses like depression exist across species, albeit slightly differently in each one, but almost all of them are treatable without harming others. No, I suspect the Zalfa are planning to sell the joy.”
Chloe’s eyes widened in shock. “You can sell it?”
“If you can store it, you can sell it. Anything can be sold on the black market. I believe that an intense rush of joy, more than any one person needs at a time, has an effect similar to some drugs. People will use it at parties.”
Chloe stood up with a snap. “They’re stealing joy from my children to use as a party drug? How dare they! Kaelar, we have to stop them.”
“I know, believe me, I do. I’ve already informed Santa, who has reached out to the galactic authorities. They’ll arrest the Zalfa, but it may take some time. Santa doesn’t want me getting killed over this, but if there’s any way I can help, I will. These people need joy now, not weeks from now.”
Sitting back down, Chloe asked, “How can we stop them? What can I do?”
Kaelar shook his head. “I don’t want you getting hurt, Chloe.”
“I’m already getting hurt—they’re siphoning joy from people in this area, which I can only assume includes me. Wait, is that why I was so cranky that one day when you bumped into me? And then you… You gave me joy.”
The realization was astounding, and yet, she didn’t have time to wonder about it. She shook her head. “It’s not about me, though,” she said. “It’s about the people who need joy the most and are having it stolen from them.”
Kaelar nodded. “If there is anything, I will do it. That’s what got me into trouble tonight. I came across a ship that I’m almost certain belongs to the criminal Zalfa. I tried to get into it, but I ended up setting off alarms. I probably would have been able to escape if I hadn’t run into those human hunters.”
“Henry is going to pay for this,” Chloe growled. “He could have killed you. He’ll never hunt again after my lawyers are done with him.”
Kaelar smiled, his eyes sparkling as he looked at her. “Human hunters are distasteful, but they aren’t the main problem right now. I need to get back to that ship. If there’s any chance I can stop these people now, I have to take it.”
As much as Chloe applauded the sentiment, it sent an alarm through her. “Kaelar, you can’t! At least, not now. You’ve been shot. You nearly died. It’ll be days before I’d even consider allowing any kind of activity other than eating and washing.”
“Don’t worry, my kind heal fast. This wound will be closed up in a couple of days.”
Chloe looked at him skeptically. “I don’t think you understand just how bad it is.”
Kaelar shook his head. “No, I get it, I really do. Trust me, I’ll heal quickly.”
Chloe leaned forward to check his pulse. “Well, you’re not healed enough yet to be going anywhere. At least stay the night. Tomorrow, we can tackle these Zalfa together.”
“I really shouldn’t…”
Chloe folded her arms, putting on her sternest doctor expression. “I’m not asking, Kaelar. I’m your doctor, and I won’t have you tearing your stitches and bleeding to death alone in the forest. Look at you—you can barely hold your head up. No way are you running around like this.”
Kaelar opened his mouth, perhaps to argue, but then closed it again. “Maybe you’re right.”
“I’m definitely right. What happens with shifting between your reindeer and human forms? I don’t imagine that’s good for healing wounds.”
He winced. “Of course, you’d figure that one out. No, it’s not good for healing wounds, but if I wait until tomorrow, it’s not going to kill me. There might be some pain and increased healing time, but I’ll survive.”
Chloe didn’t like it, but she could see she wasn’t going to convince him otherwise. “Well, you should probably get some rest.”
Kaelar glanced around the room. “This is your bedroom.”
“Yes, but you can take it. I’ll sleep on the—” Chloe broke off, realizing that her couch was currently covered in blood. “I’ll make another plan.”
“No way, I’m not making you sleep on the floor. This bed is big enough for both of us. Hop in.”
Chloe felt her cheeks flush. It was a tempting offer, but sleeping next to the man she’d just been daydreaming about…?
“I don’t want to jostle your wounds…”
“I’ll be fine,” Kaelar said. “Come on, it’s a cold night. We could use each other’s warmth.”
Her cheeks reddened even more, but it wasn’t like she needed much convincing. “I’ll shower first and get changed. I don’t think I’ve managed to get rid of all the blood just yet.”
Chloe showered in record speed and got into her nicest pajamas. She was a little disappointed, but not surprised, to find that when she returned to her room, Kaelar had already drifted off. She climbed carefully into bed, trying not to wake him up.
Her heart pounding and her cheeks flaming, she snuggled closer to Kaelar. This was certainly an unexpected turn of events, but not an unwelcome one. Kaelar was so much more than she’d ever thought he was.
Chloe went to sleep with her mind full of aliens and joy and flying reindeer. She expected to have troubled dreams after everything she had discovered, but instead, her sleep was dreamless and peaceful.
Chapter 15
Kaelar
Kaelar woke up feeling as warm and content as ever. When had his bed gotten so comfortable? Santa’s cabin was simple and Kaelar remembered the mattress being distinctly lumpy, and nowhere near as comfortable as this.
A sweet scent wafted into his nose and his eyes cracked open.
Oh. He remembered now. Somehow, he had pulled Chloe into an embrace during the night. Her back was nestled up against his chest, and his right arm was thrown over her, their hands meeting on the mattress.
She mumbled sleepily before burrowing slightly deeper into him and drifting off again. Kaelar’s heart warmed at her utter trust. Clearly, he had been far too worried about how she might take him being an alien. He pressed his nose into her frizzy hair, inhaling her flowery scent.
This moment was utterly perfect.
Kaelar now knew that she was his true mate. Now that she’d touched his antlers, he could feel them in a new way. The erotic sensations wouldn’t respond to anyone except Chloe, but he could feel the air moving across them like he could his skin.
Kaelar knew he should get up. His leg still ached a bit, but nothing like the burning pain of last night. It was healed enough and he had work to do. He needed to decide whether to continue with his normal work or to try and chase down the Zalfa.
He knew what Santa would say—just stick to spreading the joy, leave the criminals for the galactic author
ities. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, Santa had a good point. Kaelar could easily get himself killed and he had a mate to think about now.
Still, he just didn’t know if it was in him to let the Zalfa run around hurting people like they were. Before he could come to any sort of decision, Chloe stirred again, and this time, she didn’t go back to sleep.
“Good morning.” She smiled sleepily up at Kaelar. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine. A little sore, but nothing that won’t be healed in short order.”
“I should check your wound.”
It wasn’t necessary, but Chloe was still new to reilendeer physiology, so Kaelar didn’t make a fuss about it. He pulled down the side of his borrowed pants and let her peel back the bandage.
Chloe gasped at what she saw. “I know you told me you heal quickly, but seeing it—wow! If only all of my patients got better this fast.”
Kaelar looked down at the bright pink wound. It was closed, though it still looked pretty raw. He tested his leg, standing on it and stretching a few times. “It’s manageable. I’ll still be able to work like this.”
“Work?” Her eyes widened. “You were shot! I’d think that qualifies you for a day off.”
“Santa would agree.” Kaelar chuckled. “Actually, he’d kill me if he knew I planned to work with an injury, but… the people here need me more than ever now. With joy being stolen, I have to help. I’ve gone to some of the outlying towns that the Zalfa haven’t hit yet. They still have plenty of joy, and I’ve been able to siphon enough of the excess in the air to bring it back here.”
“Is it just the hospital you visit?”
Kaelar shook his head. “I have routes. The hospital, schools, kindergartens, even an elderly home. Ordinarily, I only go to places that are low on joy, but the Zalfa have been feeding off everyone, which makes this entire town a low joy area. I’ve been delivering most of it to the children at the hospital, but I’ve also been spreading joy around the town to anyone who needs it.”
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