2. Kelli

2

KELLI

Geeze , he’s really grumpy today! Kelli watched her Kindred Protector from the corner of her eye as he prepared to land their ship on Quaria Four . As a Beast Kindred , Klaus always looked kind of scary, and somehow the red and white Santa suit he was wearing made him more intimidating, not less.

Half of the intimidation factor was his size, she decided. Klaus was seven feet tall and built like a bear. In addition to his Beast Kindred heritage, he also had some Gwanta ancestry far back in his DNA which meant his skin was deep green and his golden eyes glowed. The green skin and his huge size sometimes made her feel like she was being guarded by the Incredible Hulk .

Klaus had bushy black hair that Kelli had always secretly wished she could run her fingers through, though she doubted that particular fantasy would ever come to pass. There was a perpetual scowl on his strong features, which might have been handsome if he would ever smile. But that wasn’t going to happen because his mood always seemed to be stuck somewhere between gloomy and brooding.

He was most definitely a pessimist.

And yet, Kelli liked him anyway. That probably wasn’t saying much though—she liked most people that she met. Somehow she 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 .

That wasn’t to say she wished she was still with Mitch though—she was glad her marriage had ended. The two of them had grown apart—mostly because her ex had been married to his work. After the kids left for college, they simply didn’t have much left to say to each other. When Mitch had admitted he was seeing someone else, Kelli’s main feeling had been relief. Getting a divorce had left her free to start her life all over again…which was one reason she was so excited to be working with the Kindred .

The huge aliens who were ninety-five percent male, had originally come to Earth looking for brides. They had stayed to protect the Earth and its inhabitants from menacing alien invaders called The Scourge . Now they had an agreement with the World Council that they could keep calling brides through the Bride Draft , which every unmarried and unattached woman was required to sign up for.

By the time she got her divorce, Kelli was too old for the draft—although she had heard that a new one was being set up, especially to match older Kindred warriors with brides their own age. But she was still able to move to the Mother Ship and begin a whole second career as a Good Will Ambassador .

Which was how she and Klaus had gotten this assignment to visit the special Christmas Village built by an extremely advanced alien race known as the Questarions .

The Questarions were inter-dimensional beings whose technology far exceeded any other species known to the Kindred . So it was a good thing that instead of using their immense power for conquering and subjecting other races, they instead preferred to study them.

For some reason, they had stumbled on Earth and had immersed themselves in its many cultures. Of special interest to the Questarions were the various holidays celebrated around the planet and they had identified Christmas as the most fascinating of all.

In order to satisfy their curiosity, the inter-dimensional beings had built an entire Christmas Village filled with everything they hoped humans would like. They had even built special cottages for overnight stays. Kelli and Klaus were going to be staying in one tonight—they were going to be the Questarions ' very first guests. And if the visit went well, Christmas Village was going to be open to any Kindred couple who wanted to visit and have a magical holiday experience.

Kelli absolutely couldn’t wait. She loved Christmas and even though her own celebrations were going to be on a much smaller scale this year, she felt like a visit to a magical Christmas Village built by benevolent aliens would more than make up for it.

If only Klaus would perk up some, she thought. Her Protector looked like a sexy, scowling Santa —which was hot, in a way—though of course she didn’t think of him like that, she reminded herself quickly. But it 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 big Kindred’s sour attitude spoil her fun. She was 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.

Her Protector’s answer was a low, irritated growl, but Kelli didn’t pay him any attention. She was too busy looking at the Christmas Village growing in the viewscreen.

As they got closer, she could see that it looked a lot like a small Midwestern town filled with brightly lit shops and restaurants, all of them decorated in red, green, and gold for Christmas . Dotted around the outskirts of the town were the couples’ cabins. The whole scene was cozy and inviting and Kelli couldn’t wait to get out of the ship and explore.

“ Hurry and land!” she urged Klaus . “ Look how cute it is! I can’t wait to see it.”

“ I’ll land when I’m good and ready, sunshine,” he growled. But he started nosing the ship downwards at once, towards what looked like an empty field just outside the town.

Kelli smothered a smile—this was their usual dynamic. Whenever she asked the big Kindred to do something, he would grumble and growl but almost always do exactly what she had asked. Unless he thought it was dangerous, of course.

Case in point was their mission to Gaylos Prime . While on a safari, her Protector had 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.

The aniploofs looked like giant furry pastel marshmallows the size of hay bales with tiny, adorable kitten faces. Kelli had wanted badly to pet one but Klaus had forbidden it. She’d been 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’s why we don’t pet strange creatures,” he’d growled when Kelli gasped in shock. But he hadn’t said anything else to rub it in, which was nice. One of her ex’s worst qualities was that he always said “ I told you so” whenever she made a mistake. Which wasn’t infrequent since she tended to rush into situations first and assume the best about everyone instead of being cynical and skeptical.

On the whole though, Kelli thought she would rather make mistakes and keep her sunny outlook on life. She couldn’t imagine being gloomy all the time like Klaus . Though she had to admit, she was grateful for his skepticism at least part of the time—it kept her safe.

She studied him from the corner of her eye as he landed neatly in the empty field, which was lightly dusted with snow.

It’s too bad he’s clearly not interested in dating or going out, she thought, not for the first time. She knew lots of human women—mostly ambassadors and scientists—who fell in love with their Kindred Protectors and got Bonded to them. But she was certain Klaus had no intention of having anything but a professional relationship with her. Though she had caught him watching her sometimes when he thought she wasn’t looking…

“ All right—we’re here. Might as well get this over with.”

His deep, growling voice broke into her train of thought.

“ Right —okay.” Kelli realized she’d been staring at the big Kindred and made herself look quickly away. “ Let’s get going and explore the town—it looks like the sun is setting soon,” she added.

Klaus grumbled something that sounded irritated in reply, but Kelli wasn’t listening anymore. She was too eager to get out of the ship and explore the Christmas Village .

She had no idea what a crazy adventure awaited them.