Page 2 of Trapped in the Christmas Cabin
Halfof the intimidation factor was his size, she decided.Klauswas seven feet tall and built like a bear.Inaddition to hisBeastKindredheritage, he also had someGwantaancestry far back in hisDNAwhich meant his skin was deep green and his golden eyes glowed.Thegreen skin and his huge size sometimes made her feel like she was being guarded by theIncredibleHulk.
Klaushad bushy black hair thatKellihad always secretly wished she could run her fingers through, though she doubted that particular fantasy would ever come to pass.Therewas a perpetual scowl on his strong features, which might have been handsome if he would ever smile.Butthat wasn’t going to happen because his mood always seemed to be stuck somewhere between gloomy and brooding.
Hewas most definitely a pessimist.
Andyet,Kelliliked him anyway.Thatprobably wasn’t saying much though—she liked most people that she met.Somehowshe could always see the good in almost everyone—she even still got along with her ex-husband,Mitchell, and his new and much younger wife,Taylor.
Thatwasn’t to say she wished she was still withMitchthough—she was glad her marriage had ended.Thetwo of them had grown apart—mostly because her ex had been married to his work.Afterthe kids left for college, they simply didn’t have much left to say to each other.WhenMitchhad admitted he was seeing someone else,Kelli’smain feeling had been relief.Gettinga divorce had left her free to start her life all over again…which was one reason she was so excited to be working with theKindred.
Thehuge aliens who were ninety-five percent male, had originally come toEarthlooking for brides.Theyhad stayed to protect theEarthand its inhabitants from menacing alien invaders calledTheScourge.Nowthey had an agreement with theWorldCouncilthat they could keep calling brides through theBrideDraft, which every unmarried and unattached woman was required to sign up for.
Bythe time she got her divorce,Kelliwas too old for the draft—although she had heard that a new one was being set up, especially to match olderKindredwarriors with brides their own age.Butshe was still able to move to theMotherShipand begin a whole second career as aGoodWillAmbassador.
Whichwas how she andKlaushad gotten this assignment to visit the specialChristmasVillagebuilt by an extremely advanced alien race known as theQuestarions.
TheQuestarionswere inter-dimensional beings whose technology far exceeded any other species known to theKindred.Soit was a good thing that instead of using their immense power for conquering and subjecting other races, they instead preferred to study them.
Forsome reason, they had stumbled onEarthand had immersed themselves in its many cultures.Ofspecial interest to theQuestarionswere the various holidays celebrated around the planet and they had identifiedChristmasas the most fascinating of all.
Inorder to satisfy their curiosity, the inter-dimensional beings had built an entireChristmasVillagefilled with everything they hoped humans would like.Theyhad even built special cottages for overnight stays.KelliandKlauswere going to be staying in one tonight—they were going to be theQuestarions' very first guests.Andif the visit went well,ChristmasVillagewas going to be open to anyKindredcouple who wanted to visit and have a magical holiday experience.
Kelliabsolutely couldn’t wait.ShelovedChristmasand even though her own celebrations were going to be on a much smaller scale this year, she felt like a visit to a magicalChristmasVillagebuilt by benevolent aliens would more than make up for it.
IfonlyKlauswould perk up some, she thought.HerProtectorlooked like a sexy, scowlingSanta—which was hot, in a way—though of course she didn’t think of him like that, she reminded herself quickly.Butit would be nice if he would smile once in a while and not be so gloomy all the time.
Still, she wasn’t going to let the bigKindred’ssour attitude spoil her fun.Shewas determined to have a magical experience no matter how much he growled and grouched.
“Look—there it is!Oh, this is going to be so much fun!”she exclaimed, pointing to the viewscreen of the long-range shuttle they were flying in.
HerProtector’sanswer was a low, irritated growl, butKellididn’t pay him any attention.Shewas too busy looking at theChristmasVillagegrowing in the viewscreen.
Asthey got closer, she could see that it looked a lot like a smallMidwesterntown filled with brightly lit shops and restaurants, all of them decorated in red, green, and gold forChristmas.Dottedaround the outskirts of the town were the couples’ cabins.Thewhole scene was cozy and inviting andKellicouldn’t wait to get out of the ship and explore.
“Hurryand land!”she urgedKlaus.“Lookhow cute it is!Ican’t wait to see it.”
“I’llland whenI’mgood and ready, sunshine,” he growled.Buthe started nosing the ship downwards at once, towards what looked like an empty field just outside the town.
Kellismothered a smile—this was their usual dynamic.Whenevershe asked the bigKindredto do something, he would grumble and growl but almost always do exactly what she had asked.Unlesshe thought it was dangerous, of course.
Casein point was their mission toGaylosPrime.Whileon a safari, herProtectorhad flatly refused to open the door of the hovercraft they’d been traveling in to allow her to get closer to the big, fuzzy animals called aniploofs.
Theaniploofs looked like giant furry pastel marshmallows the size of hay bales with tiny, adorable kitten faces.Kellihad wanted badly to pet one butKlaushad forbidden it.She’dbeen irritated with him until she saw one of those sweet, innocent-looking faces spread its jaws wide and gobble up a large bird-like creature that happened to get too close.
“See?That’swhy we don’t pet strange creatures,” he’d growled whenKelligasped in shock.Buthe hadn’t said anything else to rub it in, which was nice.Oneof her ex’s worst qualities was that he always said “Itold you so” whenever she made a mistake.Whichwasn’t infrequent since she tended to rush into situations first and assume the best about everyone instead of being cynical and skeptical.
Onthe whole though,Kellithought she would rather make mistakes and keep her sunny outlook on life.Shecouldn’t imagine being gloomy all the time likeKlaus.Thoughshe had to admit, she was grateful for his skepticism at least part of the time—it kept her safe.
Shestudied him from the corner of her eye as he landed neatly in the empty field, which was lightly dusted with snow.
It’stoo bad he’s clearly not interested in dating or going out, she thought, not for the first time.Sheknew lots of human women—mostly ambassadors and scientists—who fell in love with theirKindredProtectorsand gotBondedto them.Butshe was certainKlaushad no intention of having anything but a professional relationship with her.Thoughshe had caught him watching her sometimes when he thought she wasn’t looking…
“Allright—we’re here.Mightas well get this over with.”
Hisdeep, growling voice broke into her train of thought.
“Right—okay.”Kellirealized she’d been staring at the bigKindredand made herself look quickly away.“Let’sget going and explore the town—it looks like the sun is setting soon,” she added.
Klausgrumbled something that sounded irritated in reply, butKelliwasn’t listening anymore.Shewas too eager to get out of the ship and explore theChristmasVillage.
