An
Azziarin
Christmas
By
Hannah Davenport
Copyright December 2016 Hannah Davenport
Title: An Azziarin Christmas by Hannah Davenport
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal, except for the case of brief quotations in reviews and articles.
Criminal copyright infringement is investigated by the FBI and is punishable up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. The characters and events in this book are not real; all are figments of my imagination.
Contents
Chapter One 7
Chapter Two 25
Chapter Three 37
Chapter Four 48
Chapter Five 63
Chapter Six 75
An Azziarin Christmas, is Book 3.5 written by bestselling Amazon author, Hannah Davenport. It is strongly suggested that the books be read in order.
Catch up on your favorite couples as the females prepare for their first Azziarin Christmas. Find out what happened to Mara as she tells her story and comes to realize that she will in fact be spending this Christmas with family—her new family.
She can’t believe she is now mated to Risshi. He’s kind and patient, and she’s the luckiest girl alive to have him as her mate. But her life hasn’t always been this great—in fact, this is the first time she has really lived. Her last six weeks on Earth were her worst ever, and even as she tries to forget the horrible events and the mistakes she made, she would do it all over again to be mated to Risshi. Now she just hopes he can accept her human baby. Azziarins are not accustomed to raising other males' young; it just doesn’t happen here. It can’t.
How could I have been so stupid? Risshi was slow to react, and now his life was in danger. He was finally happy. The guilt he had carried after his mother died had been replaced with a happy life and a loving mate. They helped each other through their guilt and anguish, and now it was all slipping away from him. As the blood dripped from his body, so did his strength, until blackness consumed him.
This is a short read, about 17,000 words, but with no shortage of love, lust, action and good fun. It is intended for adults only.
Chapter One
“What do you think?” Sydney asked with enthusiasm as she looked at the other females sitting around the expansive dining table. Third meal had ended, so they were alone except for the servants, who flitted in and out as they cleaned up for the evening. The five of them had pulled their chairs closer together at the end of the table. The males had adjourned to King Mallik’s office, leaving them in Jakke and Sydney’s suite of rooms, but it didn’t take long for them to head back to the dining hall for a late-evening snack.
“I like it! A little bit of home and tradition,” Chloe, who sat next to Sydney, happily replied.
“God knows Jakke tried to shove tradition down my throat when we first arrived,” Sydney grumbled before stuffing her mouth full of a sweet dessert.
“You’re never going let that go, are you?” Chloe asked with humor dancing in her voice as she stared incredulously at Sydney.
Sydney speared Chloe with a look and mockingly sneered, “Until you see other women with their hands all over Dazz, you cannot comment. Besides, I can’t help it, I’m a grudge-holder.” She shrugged as she grabbed another bite of food and popped it into her mouth.
Sydney mated Jakke, the next in line to lead Azziar. When they first arrived on the planet, Jakke’s consorts, the ones Sydney knew nothing about, were waiting for him. She watched them run their hands and lips all over his body before bolting from the room. Takkeo took her to stay with Risshi after the awful encounter. She eventually forgave Jakke, but it took her a long time to forgive King Mallik for the part he’d played in it.
When Dazz arrived with Chloe, the two of them quickly became best friends. Chloe, with her quick-witted comebacks, never let anything get past her and always called Sydney out with their back-and-forth banter.
“Wait, what is this Christmas?” Kattlyn asked, her eyes darting from Sydney to Chloe, then to Mara and Krista before landing on Sydney once again.
Kattlyn was Azziarin, now a sister-in-law to all the mated humans.
“Christmas is a major holiday for our part of Earth,” Sydney supplied as she searched the snack trays for more to eat.
“What do you mean your part of Earth?” Kattlyn asked with confusion.
“Hmm…well, there are several different religions and beliefs on Earth,” she shrugged. “I’m from the United States, and most of us believe in Christmas.”
“I see…I think.”
They all chuckled at the confusion that covered Kattlyn’s face. It was obvious to them that she didn’t understand at all.
“So what do we do for this Christmas?” Kattlyn asked, her eyes darting to each one of them.
“Plan a magnificent dinner,” Sydney mumbled with a mouth full of food, which had everyone laughing. At four months pregnant, which was considered full term on Azziar, all she ever wanted to do was eat.
“Put up a tree!” Chloe said with a bright smile.
“Give each other presents!” Mara chimed in.
“Spend it with family,” Krista said with a sad tone. Krista had arrived only the day before with Kollin. The Tureis had killed her brother before kidnapping her. They had started a breeding program, and Kollin and Krista were mated before they had even met, but it was obvious to everyone that they loved each other.
“Yeah, family.” Sydney said in a sad voice. Then a grin spread across her face and she said, “And now… family is everyone sitting here at the table. We are sisters-in-law!”
“That’s true,” everyone chimed in, lightening the mood once again.
“So, when do we want to have Christmas?” Chloe asked excitedly.
“How about two weeks from today?” Mara suggested, her face glowing. They were all nodding in agreement.
“Sounds great! Oh, wait…do you mean fourteen days or eighteen?”
Sydney sighed as she looked to Chloe, who’d just asked the question. “I cannot get used to this standard week crap that consist of nine days instead of seven.”
“Me, either,” all the others grumbled, all but Kattlyn and Krista.
“So, what part of the country are you from?” Sydney asked, and all eyes turned to Krista.
“Tennessee.” Krista lightly tapped her foot in a nervous gesture under the table.
“Is it still bad on Earth?” Chloe asked. “I mean, it was bad before I was kidnapped. Are the Tureis still there?”
“Yeah, they are, and it’s pretty bad.” Memories of the last day she’d spent on Earth crashed into her mind like waves from an angry ocean before she could push them out.
“Well, we’re glad that you’re here.” Chloe reached over and squeezed her hand. That one gesture made Krista feel so much better.
“Thanks.” She gave Chloe a little smile.
“Okay, wait. I still don’t understand,” Kattlyn said looking at Chloe. “What do you mean by put up a tree? How can you possible put up a tree?”
“We cut down a tree, drag it inside the castle, and decorate it with lights and ornaments.”
“Why would you kill a tree?” Kattlyn exclaimed with a scrunched nose and squinted eyes. She almost looked horrified.
Sydney shrugged, “It’s tradition.”
“If everyone on your planet cut down trees for this Christmas, well that’s a lot of trees,” Kattlyn grumbled under her breath, clearly unhappy w
ith the idea.
“No worries, we’ll cut just one and place it in the castle.” Chloe patted Kattlyn’s arm as she spoke.
“So, did we decide if we were having Christmas in fourteen days or eighteen?” Chloe asked.
“Let’s take back our week this one time and say two weeks, or fourteen days,” Mara answered.
“Sounds great!” Chloe and Sydney both exclaimed.
“Okay, I’ll talk to the cook and plan the meal,” Sydney said.
All eyes turned to Sydney, and Chloe said in a wry voice, “Of course you will.” All the others chuckled under their breath.
Sydney pointed at Chloe with the Kiua, something that looked like tan celery, and said, “No dissing the pregnant woman.”
Chloe laughed outright. “Fine,” and she added, “Mara and I’ll will find a tree.”
“Great! We’ll all meet back here in a week,” they all grinned at the term, “and make decorations while we talk about presents. What do you think?” Sydney asked, her eyes flashing to everyone, waiting for an answer.
“One week,” they all said with a smile.
Krista remained silent, not knowing what to think but enjoying the camaraderie they all shared. She’d arrived only a day ago and hadn’t got to know them very well, but so far, she really liked these women.
They sat quietly and finished their snacks while the males attended a meeting to discuss the mysterious uncle.
“So, Mara,” Chloe turned no-nonsense eyes on her, “care to tell us what happened to you on Earth and when, exactly, you mated Risshi?”
Mara’s cheeks flushed pink, and a bashful but happy smile teased her lips.
“Come on, girl, spill it. You know our stories, so tell us yours,” Sydney said with anticipation.
“There’s really not much to tell,” Mara tried to tell them, but they’d have none of it.
“Come on…” Sydney whined.
“Fine.” Mara sighed as she thought about the awful few days on Earth when the Tureis attacked, and the entire six weeks prior to that. Her hands flew to her rounded belly as she reminded herself that it hadn’t turned out all bad.
"I was a senior in high school, and I thought I had the world at my fingertips!” Her laugh held no humor. She ran her hand through her long dark hair, brushing it from her face. “I had finally turned eighteen in November and thought Mom and Dad couldn’t tell me what to do anymore. Not really. But they didn’t see it that way.” Mara took a death breath and continued. “We lived in a small town, and my dad was the pastor of the local church. There wasn’t much that he approved of.”
Mara gazed around the group and saw that she had their undivided attention. No one spoke. The silence pressed down on her, so she continued.
“There was this boy at school, Daniel.” Mara smiled. “He had more muscles than most of the boys in high school and stood almost a foot taller than me.” She grinned at them as she thought about how sexy he was, how her heart would flutter when he came near her. Sometimes their shoulders would brush in the hallway when they passed. Not that he noticed, but she did. “He had dark curly hair that fell just below his ears. His long dark eyelashes made his blue eyes pop. You know?”
“Oh, I love beautiful eyes,” Sydney gushed as she rested her cheek in the palm of her hand.
“Me, too,” Chloe chimed in while Krista and Kattlyn remined quiet.
Mara chuckled. “I’d had a crush on him for the better part of three years, but he didn’t know I existed. And then one day at lunch, he came over, sat down with me and asked me to the prom.”
She remembered the day clearly as she spoke.
Mara was sitting with her friend Jenny when a shadow fell across the lunch table. When she glanced up, a grinning Daniel stood towering over her. His eyes caught her attention first, and he held her gaze. All the air rushed from her lungs as her hands started to sweat and her heart pounded from excitement.
“Can I sit with you?” he asked in a sexy voice.
“Sure.” That was all she could manage to say.
When he slid into the seat beside her, she was aware of his every move. Her appetite left, and anxious butterflies took its place. She swallowed hard and tried to moisten her mouth as her eyes darted to a wide-eyed Jenny who was sitting across from her.
“So, Mara. I was wondering if you had a date for the prom.”
She turned toward Daniel, and his intense eyes were trained on her.
“No, I don’t,” she squeaked out.
“Would you be my date?”
Oh my God, yes! she thought as her heart leaped in her chest. Just his asking was a dream come true. Daniel was the starting quarterback and could have any girl he wanted. She was a nobody who occasionally tutored other students.
“Yes,” was all she could manage to say as she held her breath.
“Cool,” he said, and then pushed up from the table to go sit with his friends. She watched him walk away before turning to Jenny.
“Did that just happen?” Jenny whispered with excitement.
“I think so!” Mara let out a long breath. She was so excited she couldn’t finish lunch.
“Hold up,” Chloe said, actually holding her hand up. “You had never talked to this guy before, and then out of the blue he asked you to the senior prom of all things, and you didn’t think that was odd?”
Mara shrugged. “Hindsight is 20/20.”
“So then what happened?” Sydney asked.
“The prom was the next weekend, so Jenny and I went dress-shopping. We bought everything and had plans to do our makeup, nails, hair, the entire works at her house. I knew my dad wouldn’t approve, and Mom always sided with him, so I planned to have Daniel pick me up at Jenny’s.”
She and Jenny had spent the day at the mall searching for the right dress. Mara didn’t have a lot of money saved up, so she searched the clearance aisles first, checking all the racks. After hitting a few stores, she found a beautiful royal blue dress that was 80% off. They searched a few more stores where she found a necklace and hairclip. By the end of the day, she’d found a pair of shoes, the last item she needed to complete her prom ensemble, but her money fell short, and she had to borrow five dollars from Jenny. Her feet were tired, but she’d had the best day in a long while just shopping with her friend.
“Have you asked your parents yet?” Jenny asked as they carried the shopping bags to the car.
“No,” Mara sighed. “I’m too nervous, but I keep thinking that they will let me go to the prom. I mean…it’s the prom!”
“I know, but they haven’t let you go to any other dances. I can’t believe they let you skip school to go shopping with me today.” When Mara didn't say anything, Jenny turned wide surprised eyes her way and said, “You did ask them, right?”
Jenny unlocked the trunk of her silver Mazda. They placed their bags in the trunk and then faced each other.
“Not exactly.” Mara grinned slyly at her friend.
“What exactly did you do?” Jenny cocked her head to the side as a smile teased her lips.
“I wrote a note for school and signed Mom's name, and then I told my parents I needed to tutor another student and that you would bring me home. You know Dad—he’s okay if he thinks I’m helping someone else.”
Jenny looked at her, amazed, and smiled. “You finally defied your parents for once in your life. I’m proud of you, girl!”
“I am eighteen now, and I should be allowed to go shopping with my best friend.”
“I concur!”
Mara slid into the passenger’s seat just as Jenny slid into the driver’s side. She started the car and the two of them headed to Mara’s house.
“What did your parents say when you asked them, or did you?” Sydney asked, very invested in the story.
“I decided to let Jenny take my dress to her house. That evening when we were sitting around the dinner table, I asked if I could go to the senior prom.”
“Was anyone else there? Someone who could back you up, like
a sister or something?” Krista asked, now just as interested as the others.
“No,” Mara chuckled, “I’m an only child.”
“Okay, so what happened?” Chloe asked.
“Oh, it didn’t go very well. They said no, of course and we got into a big argument.
It was dinnertime and the three of them sat around the small table. Everything was quiet when Dad said, “Let’s join hands and pray.” He prayed, giving thanks for the food that was before them. When he finished, he grabbed the pot of roast and potatoes, and after filling his plate, he passed it around.
“So, Mara, how was school today?” Dad asked just before he took a bite of potatoes.
“It was fine,” she replied. They sat a few more minutes in silence and Mara decided to test the waters. “So,” she hesitated, “Saturday is the senior prom, and since I’m a senior—and eighteen—I was thinking…”
“No,” her dad interrupted.
“But Dad,” she started, “you’ve never let me go to any dance. I want to go to one before I graduate.”
“As long as you live under my roof, you’ll obey my rules.”
“I’m eighteen, and you can’t stop me!”
He put his fork down and focused intense eyes at Mara. “What’s gotten into you? You never act like this.”
“This is just very important to me.” She pleaded with her eyes, but she could see the answer shining back in his own.
“This is about a boy, isn’t it?” he said in a firm, hard voice.
“No. This is about you never letting me do anything! You treat me like I’m still a little girl, and I’m not. This is one dance… one, and I want to go!”
“I know what happens on prom night. The drinking, the sex, drugs, so no, you’re not going. I will not have my daughter around things like that.”
“But, Dad…”
“That’s enough!” he yelled as his fist banged the table. “I said no, and that’s final.” His vehemence made Mara jump. Her dad had never laid a hand on her, but at six feet tall and two hundred and forty pounds, he had an intimidating presence. After that, Mara kept her mouth shut and ate her dinner.
An Azziarin Christmas (Scifi Alien Romance) (The Azziarin Series Book 4) Page 1
