An Office Alien Christmas Collection (Office Aliens Book 5)

by V. C. Lancaster

  He watched as Nia stuck her head in. She saw him awake and came inside, leaving the door open behind her.

  “What is it?” Zir whispered, his voice soft, his wings half-unfurling out of instinct. The children were always embarrassed and afraid when they had to ask for help in the night. Beside him, Lois slept on, her breathing even and her face calm.

  “Can I sleep in here?” she whispered back, her claws tangling and twisting in the hem of her nightshirt.

  “Why?”

  “I don’t want Santa to find me.”

  Zir understood what had gone wrong immediately, but that didn’t mean he knew how to fix it. He knew he shouldn’t send her away though, even if he didn’t want to wake Lois. He turned, gesturing Nia to him, and he lifted the covers for her. She climbed in, huddling in the warmth his body had left.

  “Santa isn’t bad,” Zir started, wishing Lois was awake to navigate this. Santa was a human creation after all. “He won’t hurt you. He just wants to give you presents.”

  “I don’t want him to come in my room.”

  Personally, Zir could understand that the idea was terrifying. Still, human children were ecstatic about it. “You’re supposed to sleep through it.”

  Nia curled up tighter. “That’s worse.”

  Zir sighed and put his arm around her. Lois had told him that while the children were welcome in their bed when they needed it, they always had to sleep in their own bed so they didn’t form a habit. Zir would comfort Nia as best he could then take her back to her room when she was calmer, and delay the gift delivery for another hour or two, a prospect that made him tired just to think about.

  Then there was another little voice from the doorway. “Nia? Don’t leave me alone.” Lia didn’t wait for an invitation to climb between her parents, jostling limbs and kicking as she crawled to the pillows, then wriggled her legs under the covers.

  Lois woke up, of course. “Hmm? Lia? What’s up?”

  “Nia’s scared.”

  “I am not!”

  Lois lifted her head, meeting Zir’s eyes so he could confirm Lia’s story with a look.

  “What are you scared of, baby?” Lois said drowsily.

  “Santa.” Zir answered. He held onto Nia and rolled, so that she and her sister were now sandwiched between him and Lois, and they could see each other so he didn’t have to speak over his shoulder.

  “Oh… You don’t have to be, sweetheart.” Lois stroked Nia’s cheek even as her own eyes drifted closed again.

  “I’m not,” she grumbled.

  Zir reached out to take both girls under his arm. There were too many bodies in their nest now, too many spindly limbs and claws.

  “You can stay until you feel better, but then you have to go back,” Lois said.

  “No!”

  “Yes, baby. You need to sleep in your own bed. Nothing will happen, and you can stay for now.” Lois yawned again.

  Zir could feel Nia sulking, but she stayed quiet, he guessed in the hope that Lois would fall asleep before she could enforce it. He hoped that Lois would fall asleep again soon too, and that this would be a small disturbance, but those hopes were dashed when the clicks of more tiny claws approached, and the nest jolted as two little bodies leapt onto it, climbing over the edge. He watched Taz and Bor survey the pile they made. Taz frowned with envy, and when he moved, Bor followed. They circled the outside rim, then crawled under the covers onto Lois, who jumped before welcoming them in a hug.

  “Boys… What are you doing here?” Zir asked, though he thought he already knew.

  “Can’t sleep,” Bor said. “Waiting for Santa.”

  “Did you hear us talking?” Lois asked, and Taz nodded.

  Zir caught her eye. If the kids were awake, and in bed with them, they couldn’t sneak out to deliver the presents. This was a problem. But then he had an idea. There was still someone who now had a clear and unobstructed path.

  “I should check on Xin,” Zir said, trying to communicate his intention to Lois with a look. She nodded, but none of the kids reacted. This could work.

  He slid out of their nest, his children piled on his wife, four little green heads sprouting from under the covers. His heart gave a pang at the sight. It was for them that he was participating in this elaborate deception, and enlisting his brother too.

  He snuck quietly out of the room, heading to the living room couch.

  “Xin,” he whispered. “Xin.”

  “What?” his brother murmured, half-awake.

  “The children are scared and have come to our room. We need you to be Santa.”

  “…What?” Xin sat up, rubbing his face.

  Zir repeated himself, adding, “We need you to put the presents in the children’s rooms while they are with us.”

  “Alright, where are they?” He looked around Zir for the gifts.

  “Ah… They are in our room.”

  Xin blinked at him. “So…?”

  “You will have to wait until the children are asleep… I can message you on your Gadjit. Do you mind staying up?”

  Xin sighed. “For the children, no.”

  Zir gripped his shoulder in thanks, and went back to his bedroom.

  “He is fine,” he said, sliding back under the covers, tucking his Gadjit under him. He put his arm over Nia and Lia again. “Let’s sleep.”

  “You said we couldn’t sleep here,” Lia pointed out.

  “It’s Christmas,” he argued.

  “This once is okay,” Lois agreed, catching on.

  Turning, she made a show of snuggling into the pillow to sleep, and Zir did the same, the children bundled between them. Hopefully, the adults would block their sight of the rest of the room, just in case they did hear Xin come in.

  Zir listened to his children’s breathing to keep himself awake. After a few minutes, the girls must have thought he and Lois were asleep, because he heard Lia whisper to Nia, “Mom’s really warm.”

  He cracked his eyes open. He had never heard any of the children use ‘Mom’ or ‘Dad’. He saw Lois had also opened her eyes, her face still, but when she looked at him, her eyes shone. He smiled at her. She was their mother, no matter what they called her, but he knew how much it mattered to her that they accept her. He knew she hoped they could love her as much as she loved them. It didn’t feel as small as a three-letter word. Zir knew it wouldn’t change anything, but he was glad, even if the children only called her that when they thought she couldn’t hear. One day, the children would trust them enough to call them Mom and Dad to their faces.

  Lois must have thought the same, that it wouldn’t change the way she treated them, because her eyes closed again, and Zir went back to waiting for everyone to fall asleep.

  Finally, almost an hour later, he thought it was safe to text Xin. Lois was asleep, he could tell easily now, it was so familiar to him. The boys were still and silent, Taz a little ball by Lois’ neck, Bor a heavy stretched out lump on her other side. They wouldn’t wake up any time soon. Lia and Nia were breathing too loudly to still be awake, tangled with skinny limbs in the middle of the nest. Zir was pushed to the edge, but that helped him stay awake. He would be tired tomorrow but it was worth it.

  He'd left the door ajar, and Xin pushed it open slowly, peeking in. He caught Zir’s eyes, followed his pointing claw to the closet and crept over. Zir watched as the dark shape of his brother shouldered the bag of gifts and crept back out, like a real Volin Santa. Tomorrow, there would be gifts in his children’s stockings, and he was both grateful and a little jealous. He was supposed to be the one to put the smiles on their faces on Christmas morning, but then, it wouldn’t have been possible without Xin’s help. Zir was also very aware that he was warm and sheltered in his nest with his large family and mate, and Xin would be going back to the couch, alone.

  Satisfied that Christmas was finally happening as it should, that his children and his mate would be happy in the morning, Zir curled around his nearest daughter, closed his eyes and let himself sleep.
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  ****

  Perhaps predictably, they were woken even earlier than usual by Taz and Bor slipping and clambering about. Lia and Nia complained with moans, and Lois flinched when she took a foot to her stomach. Zir groaned and reached out to try to still his sons, but they dropped out of reach over the edge of the nest, and he slumped. He’d only had a few hours’ sleep. Nia wriggled under his arm, less inclined to be there now the threat of Santa Claus was passed.

  The boys opened the door and ran out, leaving it open behind them and light pouring in. Seconds later, they were back.

  “He came! He came!” Taz squeaked, jumping back into the nest and bouncing all over them. “Lia! Nia! Get up! Santa came and left us presents!”

  They sat up and rocked the nest as they climbed over their parents to jump down and go to investigate.

  “Zir! Lois!”

  “In a minute…” Zir groaned. “We’ll join you in a minute.”

  As the children scrabbled out of the room, their claws slipping on the floor, Zir let himself fall into the sunken middle of the nest and pulled Lois into his arms.

  “I missed you in the night,” he murmured, nosing into her hair for a second. “You were right to keep the children out of our nest.”

  She stroked his arm and sighed. “We have to get up, don’t we?”

  Zir shrugged. “Xin is out there. He’ll keep them alive.”

  Lois smiled, but she sat up, pulling herself out of his arms. He groaned again, but followed her once she had her robe on. Immediately, Bor skidded to stop inches from Lois’ shins, almost tripping her. The stocking was almost as big as he was, and he didn’t or couldn’t lift the gift-swollen end off the floor.

  “Lois! Lois!”

  “Did Santa bring you presents?” she asked, smiling, her voice light.

  Bor just held the stocking up to her and let that stand as his answer. It didn’t look like he had opened any yet, and his expression was hesitant.

  “You don’t need to give it to me, it’s for you!” Lois told him.

  Zir left them to it to check on the others. The girls were sat on their beds, the gifts spread out in front of them, but they just looked at them as if they didn’t know what to do.

  Nia looked at him. “Can we open them?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “What’s in them?”

  “You have to open them to find out.”

  She looked at Lia, then rolled one of the small gifts around with her claws before picking at the paper. Not to be outdone, Lia hurriedly ripped into one of hers.

  Zir watched them open their gifts for a minute, their smiles his reward for all the hours spent shopping and wrapping and sneaking around. They made it all worth it. Even if he didn’t get the credit, if it all went to ‘Santa’, watching them believe in magic for a moment made it worth it.

  He went to the boys’ room to look for Taz, and found a suspiciously child-shaped wriggling lump in his stocking where it was laid on his bed, shreds of wrapping paper spitting out the open end. Zir smirked to himself.

  “What’s this?” he asked the room, watching the stocking go still. “Something has got into Taz’s stocking! I hope it is not a dangerous animal…” He heard a small giggle from his son. “I hope it has not eaten Taz! I must get rid of it before it eats anyone else!” He grabbed Taz’s shape in the stocking, tickling him mercilessly, making him squirm and shout.

  “Zir! It’s me! It’s me!”

  He gasped. “Taz? My son! You’re alive!” He reached into the stocking and pulled Taz out, cradling his torso in his palm, his limbs spilling limply between his fingers. He would miss carrying him like this when Taz had his first growth. For now, he held Taz out while he giggled and squirmed, enjoying the sensation of flying. Zir took his stocking in his other hand. “Come, to the living room!”

  Lois was already there with Xin and Bor, tidying away the sheets from the couch. Zir put Taz down on the coffee table beside Bor and let him have the stocking.

  “I’ll make coffee. You guys want choba?” Lois asked.

  “Yes, please,” Xin said, so Zir joined him.

  “If you get the girls, they can open presents from us. And you can open presents from me,” Lois winked, brushing his chest.

  He had actually forgotten that he was to receive gifts as well. Of course he had bought gifts for Lois and Xin, but somehow, with all the planning and talk of Santa, the focus had been so much on the children that he had forgotten. He looked at the tree, and the gifts stacked underneath. With seven people in the house, there were a lot, spilling out across the floor. He called for Lia and Nia.

  The children sat on the floor. Lois came back from the kitchen with three mugs, and the adults sat on the sofa to watch the children as if they were performing a play for them. This was what it was really about, their smiles and excitement, the way Lia rocked on her knees, waiting for permission, and Nia helped Taz untangle his foot from a stray ribbon. The girls sorted the gifts into piles, and Zir was proud of them for the consideration they showed to their little brothers.

  “Are these really all for us?” Lia asked, getting to all-fours to reach to the back of the tree.

  “Some of them are for us!” Lois said, faking indignation. She passed Xin a gift as it was passed up to her.

  “One for you,” Lois said, laying a parcel in Zir’s lap.

  “Wait,” he said, moving it onto the coffee table as he had an idea. “No one unwrap anything yet.”

  “Zir, what is it?” Lois called after him as he left the room.

  “Nothing,” he reassured her. He went to the bedroom and came back with his Gadjit. He navigated to his camera and switched it to film, then sat down and got his children into frame. “I just don’t want to forget this.”

  Khy

  1

  “Are you sure this is a good idea?” Anna asked him as she packed her things away into her bag. Khy had gone to her desk in the press office at the end of his shift, so he was still wearing his armoured vest, but he didn’t think that mattered. It might not be Christmassy, but it was comfortable.

  He grinned. “What’s the worst that can happen? We can’t end up mated twice.”

  She shouldered her bag and smirked. “We could end up going home with other people.”

  Khy’s expression dropped into a scowl and he took her hand, stepping into her to look down at her face. “I think you know what would happen if you did that.”

  She rolled her eyes, pleased with her teasing. “And if you did it?”

  “I wouldn’t.”

  “You’ve done it before.”

  He sighed. She was still so argumentative. It made him want to- well. Not while they were at work. “I wasn’t mated then, and still naïve in the ways of human women looking for males. I didn’t expect to be taken advantage of in my drunken state-” He cut off with a laugh as Anna slapped him in the stomach, making him flinch. He took her under his arm instead and kissed her hair. “I wouldn’t. Home is with you. And you would pluck my head bald if I did.”

  They left the press office, heading for the ground floor conference room where the party was being held.

  “I’d do more than that.”

  “Oh, such as?”

  “Change the locks for starters.”

  He nodded in approval. “That wouldn’t stop me, but alright.”

  “Bleach all your clothes in the bath.”

  He shrugged. “Who needs clothes?”

  “All your stuff? Out the window.”

  “From the ninth floor? Dangerous.”

  “I’d be in a dangerous state of mind.”

  Khy shivered and hissed softly. He reached across his body to pull her hand against the zipper of his jeans. “Want to skip the party and just go home together now?”

  Anna pulled her hand back, laughing. “You’re terrible.”

  “We can just get drunk at home, if you want to recreate that night so much.”

  “I don’t want to recreate it! I want to remember
this one, maybe gain some insight on what happened the first time.”

  “We know what happened. You saw me, and I saw you. We fell in love and fucked each other unconscious. It would have happened whether we were drunk or not, just like it’s going to happen tonight,” he promised, trying to catch her eyes.

  “Damn, you’re horny tonight,” she said, a questioning note in her voice as she looked over his face.

  He shrugged again, but obediently faced forward, giving up on trying to get her hand on his cock. “Can’t I want my mate?”

  “Hmm…” She leant against him for a moment, considering.

  They reached the conference room, music floating from inside. If he was honest, Khy was curious to find out what they couldn’t remember from the year before as well. He and Anna were married now, so it wasn’t as if they would discover anything that would break them up if they relived the night they met. Nothing could break them up, he was adamant about that. He was a Volon male after all, and more than that, a chief. He would never let his mate slip from his claws.

  They paused in the doorway, trying to orient themselves among the dazzling decorations and crowd. Was it like this last year? He didn’t even know if he remembered, it felt like he was creating false memories just by being there, thinking this is what it must have been like.

  “Hi, welcome!” called a human woman in a red dress and a Santa hat, walking up with a Balin male with black scales and pink patches on his cheeks. Khy didn’t recognise them. Had they met last year?

  “Hello,” Anna replied, shouldering the socialising for the moment. “Did you organise this?”

  Khy did his part by offering a nod in greeting.

  “I did! I do it every year, it’s just a little fun for everyone, you know,” the woman said.

  Anna and Khy looked at each other. She was here last year then. She probably saw them drunkenly hooking up.