The Alien Reindeer’s Bounty (A Winter Starr Book 6)
Page 16
“No, I think it’s just you.”
After the swelling in his knot went down, Odessa went into the bathroom to clean herself up. Morning nookie was great but the buckets of cum made a mess. It dripped down her thighs, leaving her sticky and slick. She didn’t have a comparison as he was the first person to come in her without a condom, but the amount of sperm Mads produced seemed excessive.
Mads dressed. “I have to go away for a few days for work.”
“Will you be back for Christmas?”
“With luck.” He reached under the bed and lifted a present wrapped in a familiar candy cane-printed paper. “For you.”
“Did you raid my wrapping paper stash to wrap my present?” Ludicrous.
“Oh, say that again but in your mom-voice,” Mads said, stretching out on the bed.
“Mads—”
He shivered.
“You have a mom fetish or something,” she teased but then she imagined how that kink could play out. Her baking cookies in only a frilly apron, letting Mads lick the spoon, then, if he was a good boy, her pussy—
Huh. It was different but she was surprisingly okay with that.
“I don’t understand it, but I am not going to kink-shame you,” she said. As he grabbed her by the waist and tossed her onto the bed, she burst into giggles.
Giggles, at her age.
“Open your gift, female,” he commanded in that sexy voice that made her melt.
“Yes, sir,” she answered, her body snapping to attention.
She tore through the paper and opened a small box. Nestled in white paper, she carefully withdrew a carved deer figurine. “Oh, this is lovely,” she breathed.
The alabaster deer reclined gracefully. Etched hash marks gave the deer’s body a fur-like texture.
“I am not the most skilled, so please forgive my mistakes,” Mads said.
“You made this?” He nodded. “This is amazing. What’s in the center?” She held the figurine up to the light. The core glowed softly, almost as if the object breathed.
“I found the stone on the shore of a frozen sea on an icy planet.”
“This is from outer space.” She turned the figurine over in awe, studying the minute details. It was a wonder. “I love it. Thank you.”
He nodded, pleased. “When I return, we can discuss the box under your bed.”
She blushed but didn’t deny the existence of her box of dildos and vibrators. A woman had needs. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head, then climbed out the window with dexterity.
“I can’t wait,” she breathed.
Mads
The air smelled of burnt ozone. He felt the heat of the ship’s engines and searched the tree line for a shimmer in the air, for the light to be wrong.
There.
The shadows didn’t sit quite right.
“About time. I nearly had my nerve up to drag you away from your human’s den.” Svallin gave an exaggerated sniff. “I do not need to ask what you were doing.”
Chapter 18
Mads
The vehicle pulled neatly up to the abandoned cabin. Years of neglected undergrowth and trees crowded the building. One particularly close tree leaned precariously toward the house and had a limb resting directly on the roof. Vines covered the worn clapboards. Broken glass transformed the windows into empty sockets, staring out into a void.
“Charming. I see why you find Earth so fascinating,” Svallin said congenially.
“This property is owned by one of Karl’s aliases.” Mads spoke in a nearly bored tone. He took the exceptionally scenic route to the property, first driving through the town center near the shopping, where the auras of the gathered humans could dazzle Svallin. The male wore sunglasses, despite the overcast day. Mads then took nearly impassable backroads to their destination. The value was in the journey, after all, and he hoped the tedious journey would send Svallin back to Reilen.
He employed the irritate and annoy strategy. Mads liked to think that Svallin might have been impressed if he wasn’t so vexed.
“I cannot believe this ramshackle heap is what Karl did with the resources Reilen gave him,” Svallin said.
“Since Reilen withdrew support, I suspect that he’s been funding himself by selling pieces of Reilen tech.”
Svallin scratched his temple. “What tech? Do you have proof of this?”
Did he want to make the situation worse for Karl? The old bull was already wanted for a litany of offenses. One more would not make a difference but would appear that he was complying with his mission.
Mads held up his phone and unlocked the device with his thumb. “These were extraordinarily clunky when I left. Now they are quite advanced.”
“Beyond human capabilities?”
Mads shrugged, allowing Svallin’s own prejudices and arrogance to fill in the silence. “Let us go inside.”
“He is not here,” Svallin said.
“We do not know this. We must be thorough. That is protocol.”
“Now he cares about protocol,” the male grumbled.
Amazingly, the rotted steps on the front porch held. It took no effort to force the door. Fetid air overwhelmed his senses, along with damp, rot and the acrid stench of ammonia.
Litter and refuse covered the floor. In the front room was a stained mattress. Snow had drifted in through the broken windows, coating the filth with a fine powder.
The kitchen had been converted into a lab. Buckets and bottles littered the floor. Smaller containers covered the counters and the folding tables were pushed against the wall.
“Drug production,” Mads said. “Meth. It was becoming a problem when I left.”
“After Karl abandoned this place?” Svallin held a hand over his mouth, though it did nothing to protect him from the stench.
“Yes, unless he is cooking meth to fund his research.” He wouldn’t put it past the old bull.
In the cellar, they found broken pieces of reilendeer tech. The sloppiness offended Mads. It was as if when his equipment failed from age or misuse, Karl just tossed it into a junk pile in the basement. The tech was useless but a simple analysis would show that several components were made of materials not found on Earth.
They documented the find with photographs and then cleaned up the abandoned junk.
Behind the house, they burned the remains of Karl’s lab. An oily, acrid smoke hung near the ground.
“Tell me true,” Svallin said. “If I had not been with you today, would you have spun me a fable about finding Karl dead and lab ransacked?”
Mads rubbed the back of his neck, his fingers tracing the raised star-shaped scar. “No. Too much is missing for this to be his most recent hiding place. And if Earth’s government had found this location, they would have taken everything to study. You would have seen through my deception too easily.”
“Interesting choice of words.”
Mads held Svallin’s gaze refusing to look away. Years ago, when they were both newly enlisted, Mads had nearly confessed everything to his friend. His lonely childhood until he made a human friend, his mate, their incomplete bond, his father’s neglect and cruelty, and how he could not find a comfortable place on Reilen. Svallin had never betrayed him but Mads found himself unwilling to trust the male completely, and now he congratulated himself for his own discretion.
Whatever they had been in the past, Svallin was not his friend now.
“Well, this has been an interesting excursion,” Svallin said, dusting his hands together. “Now how about we visit your wayward uncle?”
Odessa
Bonnie’s mother, Bridgett, walked into the market, mud caking her boots. She left a trail as she pushed the cart up and down the aisles, mindlessly tossing in items. Odessa had never seen a person look so bereft.
“Can I help?” Odessa asked.
The woman plastered a thin smile on her face, completely fake and fooling no one. “No, you’ve done enough, don’t you think? You left her there all alone and now my baby is missi
ng.”
Her back stiffened and she couldn’t shake the feeling that everyone in the store listened in on their conversation. “Bonnie wasn’t alone.”
Bridgett shook her head. “I don’t care what the boneheaded cop says; my Bonnie did not leave that bar with a strange man. She was a good girl.” A pained expression crossed her face. “Is. She is a good girl,” Bridgett whispered.
Odessa swallowed her first instinct to say she was sorry; what good would that do? Instead, she said, “How about a cup of coffee? Or tea,” she added. Caffeine might be the last thing the agitated woman needed.
Bridgett nodded and Odessa took her back into the employee break room. The room offered a kitchenette. Nothing fancy but it had a full-sized fridge, microwave, toaster oven, coffee, and an electric kettle. She filled the kettle in the sink and set it to boiling.
“Chamomile, green tea, or peppermint?” Odessa set out mugs, spoons and a container of sugar packets.
“Peppermint,” the older woman said. “You must think I’m crazy,” she said while Odessa poured hot water into mugs.
“I think I’d be out of my mind if Ruby—” She couldn’t finish her thought. It was too terrible. Bonnie had been missing for two weeks while Odessa had been canoodling with her boyfriend, happily forgetting about her friend. She was selfish and, honestly, a terrible friend.
Hadn’t that been an issue with Mads, too? She blithely ignored his hellish home life because she was too busy with her teenage crush. He gave her permission to forgive herself because she had been a kid. She didn’t know enough of the world to look for shadows and secrets—
And here she was thinking about her boyfriend again and not the crying woman sitting directly in front of her. Good job, Odessa.
“They’re not even looking for her anymore. Did you know that? Said she ran off with some man, but she could be up there in the mountains, hurt, starving. The sheriff wants to wait until the spring thaw.” Bridgett’s voice hitched and her eyes watered. “I’ve been searching the trails.”
“It’s too cold for that. You’ll get frostbite,” Odessa said. She wanted to add that Bonnie needed her mother to be strong, but how much stronger could the woman be? She was a one-woman search and rescue team.
“I don’t care! My baby is up there and I’m going to find her.”
“Do you have the right gear? Those boots look like they’ve seen better days and Bonnie needs you to keep all your toes. No frostbite.” Odessa handed her a paper napkin.
Bridgett dabbed at her eyes. “I don’t know. I just went. I didn’t stop to think.”
The remote hiking trails closed during the winter due to dangerous conditions, but Odessa suspected that if she cited state park regulations, Bridgett would ignore her. “I’m not going to tell you not to search, because I know you won’t listen.” Bridgett snorted, her face still wet from tears. “But I am asking you to be smart about it. Good boots, thick socks, and a phone that gets service on the mountain. Water. Food. All of that. Have someone with you.”
Bridgett nodded. “I’m sorry for dumping this all on you. I don’t blame you. Not really. I just can’t think right now.” Her hands trembled in her lap.
“I wish I had talked her out of going to the bar that night.”
“No, that was her choice.”
“You’re right. We should be upset at the creep that took Bonnie.” Blaming themselves wouldn’t help anyone. Odessa covered Bridgett’s hands with her own. “How’s the tea?”
Bridgett scrunched her nose. “I’d rather have a shot of vodka, but it’ll do.”
Odessa held Bridgett’s hand until the woman gave a gentle squeeze.
“When can we go ice skating again?” Ruby clutched a pair of old pink flower-powered ice skates to her chest. The blades needed to be sharpened.
“So, you had fun after all?” Odessa teased. When her parents found out that Ruby went ice skating and didn’t hate it, they dug out Odessa’s old skates. If Ruby loved the sport, she’d get a new pair of her own. For now, hand-me-downs worked fine.
“I guess. I liked it when you fell on your butt.” Ruby cackled.
“It’s not nice to laugh at other people’s pain.”
“But you fell! On your butt. Mom, it was so funny. I’d put it on the internet if I had a phone,” Ruby said, like that was a good thing.
“Yeah, you promising to humiliate your mother on the internet is not going to convince me to buy you a fancy phone,” Odessa said. Since when did seven-year-olds need the latest phone with all the whizbang features? Ruby didn’t even have a plain phone. Oddly, the more she campaigned to get a smartphone, the more Odessa felt a need to get her goblin a boring old dumb phone just to learn boundaries and responsibilities. Did Ruby even need a phone? The internet said the average age for a smartphone was ten.
Nope. Not going to make any big decisions tonight and certainly not going to let herself be manipulated into putting a new smartphone under the Christmas tree.
The car shuddered and the steering wheel shook.
Oh no. Not again.
Odessa pulled over to the side of the road, muttering a string of words she strictly forbade Ruby from ever repeating.
As if she were reliving a nightmare, a car pulled up behind her. She fumbled for her phone, hands shaking, ready to call 911.
“Mommy?”
Please be Rocco or a good Samaritan.
Karl tapped on the driver’s side window.
“Fuck,” Odessa said. She turned the key in the ignition, ready to take off, flat tire be damned. She’d ride on the rims.
Glass shattered. Ruby screamed. Something sharp jabbed her in the neck and the world went hazy.
Chapter 19
Mads
They pulled up to Karl’s warehouse at dusk, only to find it ablaze. Mads threw himself against the locked door until it gave way. Svallin shouted for him to stop.
Flame and smoke engulfed him. His eyes watered and he felt his respiratory system strain to compensate. If the male remained inside, Mads had moments to search for Karl.
He quickly divested himself of his garments and with a mental flex, shifted to his four-legged form. The heat and smoke no longer overwhelmed his senses. Fire enveloped the workbenches, doused with accelerant. The fumes of burning plastics gave the smoke a greasy, sick quality. Mads lowered his head for the bit of breathable air near the floor and shuffled forward.
Beams overhead groaned as the ceiling threatened to collapse. Mads rounded a corner. A figure sprawled on the ground. Smoke irritated his eyes and prevented him from checking the aura. He moved faster, ignoring the heat and the squeeze of smoke around his throat.
Mads reached the person and identified them as a female human. He nosed her to roll her over, hoping she was still breathing. He lifted his head, searching for Svallin. He could carry the female out on his back, if he could get her there.
Sparks drifted down from the ceiling, followed by another groan.
No time to wait. He shifted back to his two-legged form. Heat slapped against his bare skin. Tomorrow he would be red and blistered but that was tomorrow’s problem. He squatted down, wrapped his arms under the female’s armpits, and moved them both to a standing position. He then hefted the female into his arms to carry. Of average build, carrying her should have posed no issue but the lack of oxygen made him stagger under the weight.
Heading toward the door, the ceiling gave way. A falling beam caught him on the shoulder, searing him like a brand. The force of the blow knocked him to his knees.
The air was less smoky near the floor. He inched forward, dragging the female. His shoulder screamed from the abuse, but he would worry about it once he exited the burning building.
If he could.
He coughed. A strong pair of hands lifted him to his feet, then shoved a mask over his face. Fresh oxygen flooded his system, burning as badly as the acrid smoke.
Svallin wore a similar mask. He carried the female to the exit. Mads stumbled behind him.
“Is she alive?” Svallin asked. Soot covered his face.
Mads removed the mask to speak. “She requires a medic.” He retrieved his clothes and dialed the emergency number on his phone. Coughing, he asked Svallin to retrieve the water bottle from the vehicle. He drank deeply, saving a portion for the female if she regained consciousness.
“I know her,” he said. “She works with my—” He nearly said mate.
“With your mate,” Svallin said, nodding. “What? Was it a secret?”
He coughed, working the smoke and phlegm from his lungs. “At least you believe that she is my mate and will not claim I’m imagining the bond.”
Svallin gave him a solemn look. “I believe that you believe the human female is your mate.”
Mads frowned, displeased with the condescending attitude. Sometimes he forgot that Svallin rose rapidly through the ranks not solely due to his ambition but also because the male had a knack for digging up information to use as leverage. “This female has been missing for several weeks. The authorities searched for her.”
“Was she a known associate of your uncle?” Svallin looked from the female to the burning building then back again. Gently, he pushed her hair from her face. “Is she meant to be this thin? She appears malnourished.”
The female appeared as if she had received little food and limited access to hygiene facilities. Her hair was matted, and dirt caked her fingernails. Under the soot and stench of smoke, it was difficult to tell if she was unwashed, but Mads would not have been surprised to find her so neglected. As to why she had been in Karl’s warehouse, he recalled the male bemoaning a need for test subjects.
Mads shifted uncomfortably, wondering how many females his uncle had taken for research.