Miss Claus and the Secret Santa: A Shifter Christmas Romance, Book 1

by J. L. Hendricks

  Plus there were a bunch of presents underneath it for our family.

  “Palo, I have missed you. However, it has been nice being able to communicate no matter where we are or who is around.”

  “Angel, I’m just glad to be with you right here and now. How much time do we have alone before the others show up for Christmas presents?”

  Mom and Dad had invited Nolan and his family to join us. It was really rare we shared this day with those who were not a part of our immediate family. It was usually the only time we had together as a family without interruptions or large groups joining us.

  I loved having everyone here. Although, having one day as a family was very special to us all. Dad thought it was a good idea for Palo to spend time bonding with Rock. What better day, than Christmas, to bond? Dad had told me.

  “They should be here any minute. Promise me you won’t leave me alone too much today? I have hardly seen you since you proposed the other day. We still need to decide on a date. Dad said we have until June to marry.”

  “I don’t want to wait that long, do you?” He kissed my ear and it sent goosebumps down my spine and arms.

  “No, I would marry you today if we could.”

  “Why can’t we?”

  “Because, we have to invite every pack to our wedding. It is like a big political thing.”

  “That doesn’t sound very fun.” He stuck his tongue out at me.

  “Please tell me you aren’t anti-social.” I raised my eyebrows.

  “No, I do like a good party. However, I was hoping for a small wedding so we could take off for the honeymoon faster.”

  “I like your way of thinking. Once Christmas is officially over, let’s pick a date as soon as possible. We don’t need to wait any longer.” I pulled him to me and kissed him good and hard until I heard several people clearing their throats.

  Behind Palo was the entire gang. All of the Kringles and all of Nolan’s family. “What do you expect? You have kept us apart every day since he proposed. This was the first time we kissed since that night. Geesh, you would think we had extra heads or something the way you are all looking at us.” Everyone who walked into the room had wide eyes and a few even had their mouths open.

  “Rock, close that pie hole before you get a bug in it.” I said as I got up off of Palo’s lap.

  Palo stood up and looked at Rock and Nolan. “You two had better be good, next year I am in charge of who gets coal.” He pointed at them both while they laughed. “I think you are going to end up on the Naughty list, both of you!”

  My dad moved into the room and took his normal seat next to the tree. He kept an overstuffed chair there so he could pass out the presents. “Alright, it’s time to settle down and get started. If we don’t start opening these presents, then we might miss Mrs. Claus’ stuffed turkey and ham dinner. I, for one, am not missing that!”

  We all took seats. Palo and I squished together on the couch next to my twin sisters. “Angel, sit on my lap. I promise to be good.” He took my hand and kissed my palm. I loved it when he called me Angel. Growing up, I was anything but an angel. Palo thinks I am his snow angel. An angel is an angel, even a snow angel.

  The rest of the day was perfect. We all gave each other too many gifts. Mostly stuff we didn’t even need. Rock gave me another backpack. I already had five of them.

  “Lizzie, you will need more of them once you start having kids. So don’t give me that sour look.” Rock was right. I hadn’t thought of kids. Was I ready for them?

  After dinner, Palo walked me the long way around to the living room and stopped us beneath the mistletoe in the family room. “Look up, Lizzie.”

  “Hm?” I looked up and a small smile made its way across my face. “You wanna try that again, while everyone is still here?” I tilted my head as I waited for him to kiss me.

  “Of course. They are all in the living room getting pie. None of them will be coming our way anytime time soon.” His warm arms made their way around my waist, and he leaned down to my lips. His kiss was gentle. I was very happy to return it, until we were interrupted by my mom.

  “Honey, we have company. You can continue your exploration of his body once you are married. Now come join everyone else.” Man, did she know how to kill the mood.

  I huffed when Palo smiled and kissed the tip of my nose. “She’s right. You should know better than to attack me when you have a house full of company. Shame on you, Lizzie!”

  “Oh, you!” He tried to run from me, and I slapped his back right as he turned to go.

  I knew we were going to have the perfect marriage and bring perfect Christmases to kids all over the world for many years to come.

  I hope you enjoyed my “Truth” about Santa Claus and his family. It would mean a lot to me if you would leave a review on Amazon. Reviews are the lifeblood of authors. They can mean the difference of a good promotion opportunity, or a fantastic promo opportunity. Thank you!

  If you liked my book, I have another one you might enjoy. It is a sci-fi adventure/romance that is just as clean and fun as Miss Claus. Head on over to Amazon and check out Worlds Away. This is the story of a young human girl who is abducted by aliens! She learns more about who she is, and what she can do.

  Keep reading for an excerpt from Worlds Away!

  And if you want to read more in the Miss Claus universe, then sign up for my newsletter to get a free copy of Santa Meets Mrs. Claus. This is the story of how Lizzie’s parents met and what happened to her Uncle Kris. http://jlhendricksauthor.com/newsletter/

  Acknowledgements

  Thank you so much for reading my newest adventures into Christmas! This is my favorite time of year and I was so excited to be able to write a Christmas book. I found the cover, along with two more for future books, premade by Roz Marshall of Alba Covers. I immediately reached out to her and asked if she could add an Arctic Wolf. She did, and they turned out so beautiful! I bought all three! I hope to write Mandy’s love story next year. Who should she end up with? Rock, or someone totally new? Let me know what you want to see, and I will try to make it happen.

  I have said this so many times, it takes a bunch of people to make a book. In addition to a fantastic cover, you also need a great editor! My editor, Rebecca Reddell, is wonderful! Not only is she an indie author, but she was once an English Teacher! She continues to teach me about the important parts of grammar and sentence structure. This book would not be nearly a great if she didn’t work her magic first. Thank you so much Becky!

  Author’s Notes

  It is 11:52 am on the 26th as I write this. I am coming down to the wire for uploading to Amazon. LOL Due to a new full-time job as well as the US Thanksgiving holiday, I didn’t get this written fast enough. I am coming down to the wire on this one. I had hoped to release it early, but that won’t be possible now.

  Writing this Christmas book was so much fun, that next year, I will be writing one sooner and try to release it in October. So be sure to join my mailing list: http://jlhendricksauthor.com/newsletter/ so that you will get updated as soon as I know more about when I will release book 2. Since I already have the covers, I will do a cover reveal when it gets closer to time. I always do a pre-order with a discounted price for my newsletter subscribers.

  It is amazing what has gone on for me this year. I started out jobless, and not knowing what I wanted to do. I had lost my job along with 250 other workers Thanksgiving of 2015. I met Michael Anderle who had just started writing his Kurtherian Gambit series and offered to beta read for him. After two books, he asked me to join a special group of future authors. He said I could write a book. I always had stories rumbling around my brain, but never thought I could write. When I was in Jr. High, I did try to write a book. It was rubbish and I tossed it without even finishing it. Now here I am, ten books under my belt, and doing whatever I can to keep writing. This is what I want to do. Currently, I am working a full-time job, but in January 2017, I have lined up a part time job that should pay the bills while I keep
writing and building up my back list. Even bigger things are in store for my writing career in 2017.

  It hasn’t been publically announced yet, but I will be co-writing with a very successful author! We are discussing the story now. Which will be set in his universe. I am hopefully, going to write a clean romance using some of his tertiary characters, with a drive-by of his main character. We shall see what happens. So, if you don’t see Worlds Entwined until later in January, you will know that I am currently working on an extremely exciting new book! Again, join my mailing list and you will find out first who this author is, and what the book will be.

  Worlds Away

  Slavery, or mate to an Alien Commander? Which would you choose?

  Paris had lost her parents at a young age and instead of going into the foster system, she ended up on the streets. Sure, life was tough for a 17-year-old girl with no one to turn to, but she made her way on the streets of Los Angeles for years. That is, until one day when she was no longer on the streets.

  Commander Venay of the V’Zenian Empire was a man on a mission. It was his responsibility to ensure a good lot of human slaves made it back to his planet each year. But this time it was different, he saw her across a field and knew he had to have her, at all costs.

  The choice was simple, Paris could be a slave on the V’Zenian home world, or she could become Venay's mate and provide him with the offspring his people so desperately needed! Until the V’Zenian's most venomous rival, the Zateelians, attacked Venay’s ship and forced them to crash land on a distant planet. Paris had a new choice to make: save herself or help Venay exterminate aliens who have a sinister plan for the humans.

  Come and join J.L. Hendricks on her next voyage! Worlds Away is the first in a Sci-Fi Romantic/Adventure trilogy where aliens abduct women for more than just slavery, they abduct them to continue their own race! If you like Ruby Lionsdrake, then you will enjoy Worlds Away! This is a mostly clean romance with an HEA in each book. If it were a movie, it would be PG-13.

  Prologue

  The claxon bells were going off all over the ship, and the crew rushed to and fro as they took their duty stations to prepare for the inevitable. “Rotna, get off the comm with your mate. NOW is the time to focus on the ship, not some female.” the Commander yelled as he gave Rotna a stern frown and pointed to the weapons console.

  Rotna usually manned the weapons console during battles. However it has been a few years since this crew had seen any battles. All had been calm during these trips until this one.

  “I must go now, stay safe and know that I love you!” Rotna ended his comm with his mate and focused back on the weapons console, but he was too late. A charged torpedo hit the side of the ship where Rotna was stationed. The console discharged an energy blast that threw him against the metallic desk that housed the science scanners behind him. His back hit the hard surface, and he fell to the ground unconscious.

  “Someone get a medic here immediately! I need my weapons officer back on task. “The Commander gave Rotna one more look and arched an eyebrow with the realization he wouldn’t get his weapons officer back on duty any time soon. The ship warbled as another torpedo hit a different spot on the same side of the ship. All of the warriors on the bridge looked to the Commander as he stumbled to the weapons console. His second in command made his way to the weapons station from across the bridge.

  The Commander loaded and launched four torpedoes and sent them off one after the other in rapid fire towards the enemy ship that had attacked them. This enemy had agreed to a tentative truce some years back, and would on occasion play chicken with the V’Zenian ships, but they never would have openly attacked like this.

  “Eereen, fire the laser cannons at will and target their port engine. Let’s see if we can’t damage their ship enough to keep them from firing any more torpedoes,” the Commander yelled as he handed over the weapons con to his First Officer.

  “Yes, Sir!” Eereen stated as he sat at the console. He quickly reviewed the ship in front of them and targeted the port side engines with both laser cannons and another round of torpedoes. He had to be careful since they did not have many left. This ship should not have seen any combat on this trip. It was only on a trip to Earth to pick up another load of slaves and possible mates for their species. In the four trips he has made, they never saw anything more than space dust in their path.

  The Chief Engineer reported to the Commander, “Sir, that last set of torpedoes damaged our engines along with the artificial gravity generator. I sent men to fix them, but I can’t guarantee that parts of the ship will have enough gravity to function normally.”

  “Listen up, this is the Commander. We have an issue with our gravity generator and certain areas could intermittently lose artificial gravity. Use the hand rails if you must move about the ship, otherwise strap in and prepare for a bumpy flight.” The Commander knew that his slaves in the holding cells had nothing to help them stay secure. He briefly wondered if he shouldn’t release their cell doors so they could at least find some seats to strap themselves into. But before he could think of it anymore, another round of torpedoes made their way past the energy shield his ship had up.

  “Someone tell me how those torpedoes are making their way past our shields! They should not have access to such technology! I want a solution before they blow us out of the universe! And I want something that will destroy them- five minutes ago!” The Commander sat down and strapped himself into his command chair. Then reviewed the schematics they had of the enemy ship based on their scans over the past twelve hours.

  The slaves in the holding cells had bumped around and most had nothing more severe than contusions. A few broke some bones and had cried out for help, but all of the guards who had been in their holding areas, had left before the battle began.

  “Hey, listen up! Grab ahold of the bars and wrap yourselves around them as best you can. This is worse than a ‘bumpy flight’”, one man yelled out to everyone. He believed that would be the only way to save them.

  The ship kept taking hits from torpedoes and laser cannons, and it jumped and jostled. When the gravity generator in the section housing the slaves died, most had already wrapped themselves around the bars. However, a few did not, they sat on the ground and held onto each other and tried to wait out the ride.

  This proved to be a fatal mistake. Three of the human slaves who had not held on tightly to the bars flew around like a cow in a tornado, hit their heads and died immediately. One had her head twisted so far back that she looked more like a rag doll thrown to the ground. The other two women continued to bump around their cell and hit the other women who were trying to hold on for their lives.

  “Oh please God, if you can hear me, help me to survive this, and I will do whatever you want me to do for the rest of my life. Even if that means I have to marry one of these alien freaks, I will do it.” One human woman, Natalie, prayed as she closed her eyes and tried not to think about the horrible ways she might die on this ship.

  Chapter 1

  One week earlier

  One minute I was checking out a nice looking man across the field, the next I was in his arms inside of some strange metallic room. “Wha…who are you? Where am I?” I whispered as my head spun.

  “Oh nuts! How are you awake already? I just transported you from Earth! You should have been out for hours.” This strange man looked at me with a scrunched up nose and a wrinkled forehead.

  I realized I was in his arms, which were as huge and firm as a cannon, no joke. “Hey big guns, you wanna let me down?” I looked into his violet eyes and was momentarily mesmerized by the most beautiful face I had ever laid eyes on. This man had to be pushing seven feet tall, with long, wavy, dark hair that went to his shoulders and a strong chiseled face. His clothes looked like something anyone would wear on the beach, tan board shorts and a conservative Hawaiian print shirt with surf boards on it.

  “I am not carrying any guns.” He had this perplexed look on his face, like he didn’t unders
tand the name I had given him.

  “Dude, let me down! NOW!” I took my one free arm and banged it on his chest in hopes that he would get my meaning. Instead, my hand ached from hitting something as hard as concrete. There was a tingling sensation going throughout my hand, so I shook it out in hopes of that feeling dissipating faster, “Ow!”

  He set me down and took one step back. “I won’t hurt you.” Then he took one step closer and lightly brushed the hair away from my face. His touch sent chills down my back as I gasped from the connection I felt with him.

  In a whisper I asked him, “Who are you?” Then I took a step away from him. He was too close for me to breathe properly.

  “I am Commander Venay of the V’Zenian Empire. You are on my star cruiser, The Zamaya.” He looked down at me with something akin to pride in his eyes. I got the feeling that he was proud of his title.

  I looked around at my surroundings and tried to process what he just said, but a headache was developing. “Are you punking me?” There was an ache behind one eye, and I closed it and tried to rub my eyelid while breathing heavily.

  “What is ‘punking’?” He tilted his head slightly while looking at me with narrowed eyes, and then he scratched the back of his head.

  “This is some sort of joke, right? I mean the last thing I remember is seeing you from across the field and then waking up in your arms here. Something isn’t adding up. There is no way we are in space right now or even on a spaceship…” I looked around with pursed lips and rubbed my arms as they had goosebumps on them from the cold.

  “Did you drug me and take me to some sort of sound stage? I didn’t sign up to be on a reality TV show or anything like that. So if this is some sort of TV or movie production, you have the wrong person.” I slowly moved away from the giant and walked around the room. We were standing on a metallic floor, and the room was small, maybe a ten by ten square room. On one wall was what looked like a door, but it didn’t open out; there appeared to be no way for it to open. I could see the lines of the door, but no hinge. There was one small, circular window. Outside, they had done a great job of making it look like I was in space.