A Sky Warrior Christmas

by Carter, Sadie

  “Mine,” he snarled.

  “Share,” Nax countered.

  “You two are like toddlers, you know that, right? I’ll make you another sandwich, Nax,” Eden told him, moving to the fridge.

  “What about me?” Marcun complained sitting on a breakfast stool next to Sacaren. Nax sat on the other side. He wished Eden would move faster, that sandwich looked very tasty.

  “Me first,” he said.

  “She is my mate, she will make mine first,” Marcun stated.

  “I was first,” he countered. “Share.”

  “Don’t any of you care about what happened?” Frankie moved around the counter next to Eden so she could glare at them.

  “What just happened?” Sacaren asked, pausing. “Is everything well?”

  “The real estate agent just visited,” Frankie stated then waited expectantly as though that was going to garner some sort of reply.

  “Why?” Sacaren asked.

  “Exactly. Why?”

  “To bring wine,” Nax replied. He thought that was perfectly obvious.

  “On the outside that was her reason, but what was her ulterior motive?” Frankie asked.

  “She had an ulterior motive?” Marcun asked.

  “Why could she not just be bringing wine?” Nax asked.

  “Because real estate agents don’t pop up out of the blue a few months after a sale with wine. They only care about the next sale and we’ve already bought a house. She seemed to be hoping that we might want to move.”

  “Maybe we should to get away from the old bat,” Marcun said as Eden placed sandwiches in front of both of them. At exactly the same time.

  He grumbled but didn’t say anything. He simply bit into the sandwich. Mayonnaise. Cheese. Pickles. His favorite.

  “It’s just weird, that’s all,” Frankie said. “I don’t like it.”

  “It is odd,” Eden agreed as she put the food away. “But then maybe she’s lonely. She was kind of nervous.”

  “Hmm. I just have this feeling we haven’t heard the last of Crista Nelson, that’s all,” Frankie stated.

  “Well,” Eden said as she straightened from putting the mayonnaise in the bottom of the fridge. “Oh.” She grasped hold of the counter as she swayed. She’d gone completely pale, her breath coming in quick pants.

  Marcun quickly jumped over the counter and gently picked her up in his arms. “What is it, my mate? Are you unwell?”

  “I’m fine,” she said in a soft voice that shook. “Must have stood up too fast. Felt a bit dizzy.”

  Frankie walked over and put her fingers over Eden’s wrist, taking her pulse.

  “Shall we take her to the regen chamber?” Nax asked, feeling rather concerned about the little female’s health. She looked very pale.

  “I’m not injured,” Eden said more firmly. “Honestly, I stood up too fast and the blood just rushed to my head. You can put me down, Marcun.”

  “No,” he replied. He seemed almost frightened as he stared down at his small mate.

  “Marcun. I’m okay.” She reached up to cup his cheek, but they could all see the way her hand shook. “Put me down.”

  “No.”

  “Are you going to carry me around forever then?”

  “No.”

  Nax understood the other man’s fear. After having gone so long without a mate, the idea of something happening to one of these fragile human females would be hard to deal with.

  “You are going to bed,” Marcun dictated. “You are exhausted.”

  “I am a little tired, but I’m not ready for bed. Marcun, put me down. Marcun!”

  But Marcun had already turned and was striding from the room, Eden held firmly in his arms. They could hear her protests as he climbed the stairs.

  Nax wondered what it would be like to hold his mate in his arms. To care for her the way Marcun watched over his mate. To worry over her health and safety.

  No. He could not imagine it. Because he could not ever imagine having one of these females as his mate.

  Especially not the talkative real estate agent with the soft blonde hair and twinkling green eyes.

  4

  Marcun and Eden

  “Marcun, really, I don’t want to go to bed.”

  But she needed sleep. He could see that clearly. She would be asleep right now if the old bat hadn’t called the police on them. Marcun had intended on tiring her out with so many mind-shattering orgasms that she’d collapsed into an exhausted heap and got some much-needed rest.

  Watching her nearly faint downstairs had sent him into a tailspin of worry. If the incident with the ladder wasn’t bad enough, now she was trying to faint on him.

  He placed her gently on the bed then reached for her pants, intending to strip her down to her T-shirt and underwear so she could rest comfortably.

  Eden reached down and covered his hands with her much smaller, cooler ones.

  “Marcun, I really am all right.”

  “You are pale. There are dark patches under your eyes and you have lost weight. You are doing too much.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “Hardly. I used to work long hours at the bakery. Now, I basically live a life of leisure. I’m a kept woman.”

  “Yes, I am keeping you.”

  She smiled at him. “And I’m keeping you.”

  “You have been running yourself ragged worrying over me and trying to organize this Christmas stuff. And now you nearly hurt yourself falling off ladders. Enough is enough. No more Christmas.”

  Her eyes widened and sorrow filled her face. He immediately wished those words back. Why had he said them? Christmas meant something to her.

  Then she nodded. “You’re right. It’s silly to try and organize things for a holiday that you guys aren’t even interested in. If I want to experience Christmas lights and a tree I can go to my mother’s. We should probably go there Christmas day anyway.”

  Great. He and Eden’s mother did not always get on. And he did not like that she had to go there to enjoy herself on this strange holiday. But he also did not want her running around trying to do everything when she was already tired and rundown.

  After he had her pants off, she snuggled down under the covers.

  “Wake me an hour before dinner is due so I can get it started, okay?” She reached up with a smile and ran her fingers over his forehead. “Don’t frown so. Everything will be okay.”

  “I have disappointed you.” It was the one thing he never wanted to do. Let her down. Yet he felt like he had just done so.

  “No, no you could never disappoint me.” She sat up and cupped his face between her hands. “I love you. It was my fault for trying to force you guys to enjoy Christmas. It was silly. I promise, no more Christmas stuff.”

  It should have made him happy. Wasn’t it what he wanted? For her not to stress and worry over all this Christmas nonsense?

  And yet, long after she drifted off to sleep, he sat there, worried he had made a mistake and uncertain how to fix it.

  * * *

  Marcun sat on the plush sofa in the living room. This sofa had not come with the house, it is one Eden had found and purchased. It was deep and long enough that it fit their larger frames comfortably.

  He stared over at the vid playing on the opposite wall. Eden had slept through dinner, so Frankie had ordered them pizza. It was a favorite with all of them, although Sacaren somehow still ate more than anyone else.

  Ioin and the others had returned earlier. They’d told them about the visit from the real estate agent. Ioin was suspicious of her reasons. They all were.

  “I thought we were watching a Christmas vid,” Tecan said. “Or are we waiting until another night when the females are here?”

  Frankie had gone up to her room earlier as well. Marcun felt the urge to check on Eden but did not wish to disturb her.

  “We are no longer having a Christmas,” Sacaren said. “The females nearly hurt themselves putting up lights outside and they have come to realize we do not wish to ha
ve a Christmas.”

  “Thank the stars,” Ioin muttered.

  “Well, I was looking forward to it,” Tecan said.

  Ioin shook his head. “It is not something we believe in. There was no point to it all.”

  “It would have made the females happy,” Marcun pointed out.

  Everyone turned to look at him.

  “I thought you would be happy they were no longer insisting on this Christmas,” Sacaren said. “You said that snow sounded awful, Santa was a security risk, and that you detest shopping.”

  “Yes, but Eden enjoys it.” And he would put up with a lot to please Eden.

  “She nearly hurt herself today because of Christmas,” Ioin protested.

  “No, she nearly hurt herself because we have not been helping. The only one of us who has shown any interest is Tecan.”

  Tecan nodded.

  “But it is not our past, our beliefs,” Ioin said.

  “No,” Marcun agreed. “But Sacaren and I are mated to humans. And next Christmas, hopefully all of you will have human mates. We need to embrace their beliefs as well.”

  Compromise. It didn’t come easy to a Sky Warrior, and the rest of them looked unhappy except Tecan and Sacaren.

  “Why do they not just adjust to our lives?” Nax complained.

  “They have,” Marcun said quietly. “Eden is terrified each time I go out on a job, yet has said nothing because she knows that these jobs are what we enjoy.”

  “Why is she scared?” Ioin asked. “To be left alone? They are always safe-guarded.”

  “She is not scared for her safety but mine,” Marcun told him. It still amazed him.

  “She worries over you?” Nax looked flabbergasted. “But we are trained, strong, fast, we are better fighters than any other in the universe.”

  “I know.” Marcun agreed with all of that. “But still she worries I will not return to her.”

  “She asked you to stop?” Ioin’s gaze narrowed.

  “No, because she knows how important it is to me. We ask much of our females and they are asking for little in return.”

  “They are doing all of this Christmas stuff for us,” Sacaren said. “Francesca could spend Christmas day at her father’s house, but she wished to give this to us. And now they have given up because they believe we do not want it.”

  “It is little to give them to make them happy,” Marcun added. “I wish to give them a Christmas.”

  “Me also,” Sacaren said. He grinned. “Apparently most of the day is spent eating and drinking. It sounds like my sort of day.”

  Tecan nodded. “I am willing to do what is needed.”

  He looked at the other three. He expected Nax and Ioin to be against it. Brogan was an unknown.

  “I will help,” Brogan said quietly.

  Nax surprised him by nodding. “Yes.”

  “You agree?”

  The other male looked uncomfortable. “I should have paid more attention to what they were doing today. If they had fallen it would have been my fault as they were my responsibility. But they did not come to me because they believed I would say no.”

  It was a big speech for the other male and everyone gaped at him. He shrugged. “It does not hurt me to give them this.”

  Ioin raised his hands. “Fine. What do we do?”

  He leaned forward. “I copied Eden’s list.” He pressed a button on his communicator and a list appeared in front of them in holographic form. “We have two days until Christmas. We must organize the food. Eden has bought most of it but there is some still to get and it must be cooked.”

  “I will do that,” Sacaren offered.

  “No,” they all shouted.

  “I will do it,” Brogan said, giving Sacaren a horrified look.

  “It was just a small fire,” Sacaren grumbled.

  “Decorations, including a tree and lights outside and in.”

  “I can do that,” Tecan said. “Sacaren can help me.”

  “Shopping for gifts.” Marcun grimaced. “I suppose I must do that.”

  Ioin sighed. “I shall help you.”

  They all looked over at Nax who had been quiet. “I have something else in mind.”

  “Tomorrow we shall do all the shopping. Then I will somehow find something to distract the females while we work on everything the eve before Christmas. We must keep this a secret.”

  They all nodded. They could do this.

  5

  Sacaren and Frankie

  They could not do this.

  It was Christmas Eve and nothing was going to plan. They had spent yesterday planning and organizing in secret. They only had one day to bring it all together. It seemed impossible.

  Sacaren stared up at the lopsided Santa sitting on the roof of the house. He refused to stand on his own and kept flopping to one side. Only some of the lights worked and they cast a strange green glow on the fake Santa’s face.

  “It should not look like this.” Tecan held up the box that the lights and Santa had been stored in. This morning, Sacaren had contacted Brand, one of Francesca’s brothers and asked for his help with distracting the females so they could prepare for Christmas. Brand had called Francesca, pretending to have some sort of emergency that he needed both females for and had picked them up early this morning.

  Francesca had given him a suspicious look. But they’d managed to bundle her in the hovercar before she could ask him any questions.

  Immediately, they had set off on their respective tasks. The tree was already up, Eden had done that earlier. But lights had been a problem. The ones Eden and Francesca had been putting up just hadn’t seemed like enough.

  Thankfully, Nax had remembered seeing some boxes the previous owners had left behind in the attic. They had discovered boxes of lights. Some they had put on the tree as they had seen in the Christmas vids. But the outdoor lights were an issue.

  “I think we should tie him up with rope,” Tecan said.

  “Or we could try and glue him,” Sacaren suggested.

  Tecan nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, let us glue him to the chimney. I think we also need more lights.”

  “Yes, more lights will help. Then once we finish we can help Brogan cook.” The male did not seem to be having much luck in the kitchen. As they entered the house, a burnt smell hit them.

  They hurried down to the kitchen, just as the smoke alarm started screaming. The mess that greeted them made Sacaren pause for a moment. Then his eyes started to water as smoke assaulted them.

  Brogan reached up and smashed the smoke sensor with the base of the large mixing spoon he held. The alarm instantly stopped and Sacaren breathed a sigh of relief before he started coughing.

  He rushed to open doors and windows. Cold air rushed in as the smoke slowly dissipated.

  “What happened?” Ioin asked, walking in from the living area. Sacaren stared at him for a moment, taking in the sight of his leader. He had bits of tape in his hair, on his clothes, he looked rumpled, when he was always so tidy. He ran his hand through his short hair, making it stick straight up on end.

  “What?” he snapped at Sacaren.

  “Are you well?”

  “Do you know how difficult it is to wrap gifts?”

  Sacaren turned away to hide a grin. He saw Tecan smile then look down at the ground.

  Brogan then pulled something out of the oven. It was burnt to a crisp and smoking.

  “What is that meant to be?” Sacaren asked. Even he wouldn’t dream of touching whatever it was.

  “Cookies,” Brogan said mournfully. “Eden makes this cooking stuff look easy.”

  Yes, she did.

  This was impossible. They would never get it all done before the females returned.

  * * *

  Frankie frowned as Brand turned onto their street. They had spent all day shopping for something to buy Brand’s new girlfriend and she was exhausted. She didn’t really enjoy shopping and she hadn’t thought Brand did either. She’d figured it would maybe take a
n hour, tops, for him to find something for her. After all, they’d only been dating a month. But he’d ended up keeping them out all day. Even Eden, who did like to shop was looking worn out and sick of it all by the time 5 p.m. rolled around.

  “What is that?” Eden asked. “Is that coming from our house?”

  As Brand pulled up to the curb outside their house, Frankie practically pressed her face against the window as she gaped at their house.

  “It looks like a giant disco ball,” Eden whispered.

  “Holy crap, when they said they wanted to put up some Christmas stuff, I wasn’t expecting this,” Brand said. Then he laughed. “Do you suppose you could see this from space?”

  She was betting you could. She’d never seen a house so lit up. The thought of the power bill made her cringe.

  “You knew about this?” she asked, turning to Brand.

  His eyes widened. “You didn’t seriously think I wanted to spend all day shopping, did you? They wanted me to keep you guys busy so they could do some Christmas preparation.”

  “I thought they called Christmas off,” Eden said, sounding as confused as Frankie felt.

  “How can you call Christmas off? Why would you want to?” Brand looked appalled as he stared back at Eden.

  “They didn’t seem that interested,” she replied. “Like it was a hassle so we figured we would just forget about it.”

  “Seems like they changed their mind. If the outside looks like that, wonder what they’ve done to the inside?”

  Yeah, Frankie had had that thought as well.

  She climbed out of the front seat as the door to the house opened and Sacaren stepped outside. He moved hurriedly towards them. Marcun and Tecan followed.

  “What do you think?” he asked as he grew closer.

  “I-I—” she was actually speechless.

  “Eden?” Marcun asked.

  “I think it looks magical.” She grinned then a laugh broke free. “I love it.”

  She did? Frankie looked at her as though she’d lost her mind.

  “It’s crazy and over-the-top and unlike anything I’d ever thought I would see,” Eden told them. “Thank you.” She threw herself at Marcun who caught her, a smile lighting his face.