by Kate Rudolph
The Alien Reindeer’s Wild Ride
A Winter Starr
By
Kate Rudolph
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Table of Contents
The Alien Reindeer’s Wild Ride
Table of Contents
About the Book
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
ABOUT KATE RUDOLPH
Preview Soulless: Detyen Warriors Book One
The Alien Reindeer’s Wild Ride © Kate Rudolph 2019.
Cover design by Kate Rudolph.
All rights reserved. No part of this story may be used, reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the copyright holder, except in the case of brief quotations embodied within critical reviews and articles.
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Published by Kate Rudolph.
www.katerudolph.net
About the Book
SHE’LL BE HOME FOR Christmas... even if she has to steal a ship to get there!
Rowan has missed out on the last three big family holidays, and she’s determined not to miss another. Holiday travel is always a mess, and even worse when she needs to get from Mars to Minnesota. Every flight is booked through the New Year and things aren’t looking good. Until someone whispers the name Dashiel Blitz and gives her a bit of holiday hope.
He just wants to spread good cheer...
Dash makes a life shepherding sick children from planet to planet so they can be with their parents or get medical treatment. Rowan isn’t like his usual passengers, but his soul sings when they meet and he can’t say no. She’s on his ship for a ride, but he wants even more.
One tiny problem...
Dash isn’t just a pilot. He’s a reindeer shifter and he needs to keep that a secret if he wants to stay safe. But if Rowan is his mate she needs to know the truth. And when a delay in their trip threatens to strand her on the wrong side of Earth, he may have to reveal himself in the most dramatic way possible.
Could a determined human woman want an alien shifter for a mate? Or will their wild ride end with a crash and burn?
The authors of Starr Huntress were given a challenge: give readers a reindeer shifter in your holiday story. We all agreed to call our shifters “reilendeer” and decided they bring good cheer to the world around them... and then we went crazy! You might notice differences about the world and abilities of the reilendeer from story to story, and that’s because each author has put her own spin on the challenge.
Chapter One
ROWAN LAMBERT RUSHED from her final meeting of the day and dodged around a droid cart, trying to make it to the ticketing station as quickly as she could. She was supposed to be getting on a shuttle and heading back to Earth, but a last minute appointment had sent her scrambling to reschedule. And an oversight—on the part of the shuttle company, definitely not her fault—meant she didn’t have a ticket to replace the one she’d given up.
Normally it wouldn’t be a problem. There were dozens of shuttles that flew passengers between Earth and Mars every week, but this was no normal week. Seven days until the big holiday, and every seat was taken on every major and minor vessel leaving the planet.
But that didn’t stop Ro from running. She’d heard a rumor from a trustworthy source that a batch of tickets was about to open up. Thirty lucky people would get seats, but they were bound to sell out in minutes. And the only way to get one of the seats was to show up in person and purchase it at the ticket counter. Barbaric, but it was the only flight home and she needed to be on it.
Was it still home if she hadn’t set foot in the place in more than three years? Four? Damn, how long had she been away?
Ro wasn’t going to think about that now. Her sister would give her enough grief when she learned about the ticket mix up. No need to borrow trouble by thinking about her own failings.
She was going to make it home this time. She didn’t let herself think about how she’d been sure of that last year, too. It wasn’t her fault that her company’s biggest client had shown up unrequested to speak to her about a large sale. Was she just supposed to let millions of credits slip through her fingers? The year before a giant storm had stopped all traffic between the planets, and before that, Ro had figured missing one holiday wouldn’t matter too much. She wasn’t going to miss the fourth in a row. She hadn’t seen her nephew since he was barely more than six and now that he was edging on ten, she didn’t even know if he’d remember her.
No. She was going to make it.
But the line at the ticket counter was disheartening. There were at least fifty people, humans and all kinds of aliens, crowded in front of the one open window and clearly ready to pay an exorbitant amount if it meant getting off Mars in time.
If there were only thirty tickets there was no way she’d get one, not with this many people around. And it would take a miracle to get them to leave.
A miracle or a bit of... creativity.
She felt a twinge of guilt as she pulled out her communicator, but she didn’t let it stop her from putting it up to her ear and speaking in an exaggerated whisper. “Tickets at the south station? You’re sure?” The person standing in front of her whipped their head around and Ro looked down, as if she didn’t want to give away the secret. “A hundred credits? You’ve got to be joking.” The tickets they were all in line for were five times that price. “I’m waiting for someone. Do you think they’ll still be there in half an hour?” The person in front of her leaned close, trying to hear without being obvious, and Ro spoke just a little louder, making sure they didn’t miss out. “Okay, I’ll head over when he gets there. Save us a spot.”
She stuck her communicator back in her pocket and pretended to look for the companion she’d just made up.
Whispers swirled around, and after a minute, two people around her broke away and took off for the fabled tickets at the south station. Another handful followed soon after. That still left a few dozen people waiting for tickets here, but it gave Ro a fighting shot.
And it wasn’t her fault if people were gullible enough to place their faith in a stranger’s whispered comm conversation.
It took another half hour before she made it to the window, and she could tell by the apologetic look on the attendant’s face what she was going to say. “I’m sorry, the block of tickets has sold out. The next open shuttle is in eight days. Or we have flights available out of the solar system right now.”
Ro grit her teeth. “Is there anything before that? What about a fli
ght to the moon? I can get a connection there.”
The ticket woman grimaced. “All inner solar system shuttles are booked, I’m afraid.”
“I need to get home, I’ve been gone too long. I can’t let...” Ro bit off the rest of that sentence. The same was true for everyone who’d tried to buy tickets, and it wasn’t like complaining would make any appear out of thin air.
The ticket woman gave the still gathered people a furtive glance before lowering her voice. “Dash might be able to help. Dashiel Blitz. But keep it quiet. I’m sorry.”
What kind of name was Dashiel Blitz?
Ro let it roll around in her mind as she backed away from the ticket counter and weaved through the soon to be disappointed crowd. She’d never heard of the guy before, but if he could help he had to have a ship or access to one. The shuttles were all booked, but private vessels had to have space. Hopefully.
Wherever he was, she needed to find him before the woman at the ticket counter gave out his name to more people. She had credits to offer, but who knew how much space he had. If there was enough room on his ship for an extra passenger, she had to make sure it was her.
She was getting to Earth, even if she had to bribe a captain to do it.
THE SNOW UNDER HIS hooves danced up from Martian soil as Dash bounced around the children. One particularly adventurous little girl approached and reached for his antlers, ready to grab hold. Dash lowered his head but watched with careful eyes as she got closer. The tips of his antlers were sharp and he didn’t want the little one to get hurt.
She was brave, but not reckless, and she didn’t grab tight, instead running her fingers against the bones, her eyes lighting up in wonder at the texture. Dash felt a jolt in his chest as her happiness burbled around him. He let out a little snort, his range of sounds limited when he was shifted. Good cheer like the kind emanating from the playing children gave him energy and Dash wanted to revel in it, but their parents were bound to come looking for them soon, and he couldn’t risk being spotted.
There was no such thing as a wild reindeer on Mars. Probably no reindeer at all. He couldn’t risk the discovery.
When the girl let him go, Dash backed away and ambled off, and he heard the children call their goodbyes as he disappeared around a building and into a darkened corner. Satisfied that no one could see him, he reached deep inside himself and called forth the human living within him. The change came slowly at first, fur warring with skin. Four legs battling two. His antlers were the last to disappear and Dash was sad to see them go. He’d proudly walk around in his human skin with his majestic antlers on display for all to see, but that would bring questions of its own.
Humans, the dominant species of this solar system, had been somewhat welcoming to aliens, but they didn’t know he had alien ancestry of his own. When he wore his human skin, any scientific test would say he was human. There was no reason to get technical. No one but his kind knew what reilendeer were, and he was happy to keep it that way.
As he stood up in his human skin, he shivered against the cold air. Martian winter was no joke, even with the terraforming, and shifting left all his bits dangling in the frigid breeze. But Dash had prepared for that eventuality, and tucked behind a stack of crates was a small pack containing a change of clothes and shoes.
A few minutes later, he entered the base he called home while staying on Mars, his brown cheeks pinked from the cold and his brown braids windswept. If anyone saw him, they might assume he’d taken a nice long jog in the cold, and he had no reason to correct them.
He checked the time and winced. He’d been playing for longer than he meant to and was almost late for his meeting.
He took a tunnel to the train that connected most of the buildings on this part of the planet. From there, it was only a ten minute ride to the hospital. He’d only visited twice on this trip, once to check in with a few of his former passengers, and the second time to set up his next scheduled journey. Mars had one of the best pediatric hospitals in the solar system, but it wasn’t cheap, and a lot of parents had to leave their kids in the care of the staff at the facility while they went on to work on other planets and moons. If Dash could spend all day every day cheering up the kids, he’d do it, but he had another job, one that was just as important.
The pale-faced nurse smiled up at him from her station. “She’s just about done with the doctors. They wanted to do a final treatment before she takes off.”
Dash nodded and looked down the brightly lit hallway. He’d heard people say that they thought of hospitals as sad, solitary places, but Dash could feel happiness in the air of Mars Pediatric. There was sorrow and hopelessness as well, but not as much as a person might expect.
A doctor and his assistant walked out of a familiar room and they smiled at Dash as they passed. People had a habit of smiling at him, all part of the reilendeer package. He made people feel good just by existing.
Dash walked into the room they’d vacated and found the eleven year old girl he was looking for. She wore a bright pink dress and her soft, naturally curly hair was held in pigtails on each side of her head. They had a weightless look to them, brown clouds that could blow away in an instant. “You almost ready for your trip?” he asked.
Kiki didn’t smile when she saw him. She wasn’t a dour child, but the treatments the doctors were giving her took a toll, and it would take awhile for her to be back to her usual happy self. “I thought we were leaving tomorrow. I’m not packed.”
Dash took a seat on the small sofa beside her chair. “Don’t worry about that. I just wanted to come and check on you. Your parents want to be sure that you’re going to be okay flying alone. Some kids get a bit... apprehensive.”
“I’m not scared,” she said, her eyes flashing with emotion. “I’m not a baby.”
Oh, the fragile egos of adolescents. Dash bit back a smile. “Of course not. But I still have a few supplies to get together before we take off, so think of anything you need and we’ll pick it up.” He shot a furtive glance towards the door and leaned in close, lowering his voice. “I know your doctors have your meals all planned out, but there’s always room for a sweet or two. We just won’t tell them.”
Kiki giggled and then clamped her mouth shut, as if she couldn’t believe she’d made such an undignified noise. “I like chocolate.”
“Then chocolate you shall have,” he declared.
“Are there going to be any other kids on the ship? Marianna and N’tro said their parents are coming here.” From the way she asked it, Dash didn’t know which way she wanted the answer to go, but he made it a habit not to lie to children unless the circumstances were dire, so he went with the truth.
“Not this time. The ship is small so I can only fit a few passengers at a time. And the more kids that are there, the more adults I need to watch them. A big girl like you, we can make do on our own for a couple of days. But what if it was someone,” he lowered his voice conspiratorially, “under ten?”
Her eyes widened. “Yeah, they’d need a nurse.”
Dash’s heart ached that her first thought of an adult guardian went to a medical professional, but her parents had told him she’d been in and out of hospitals since she was a toddler. It was the life she knew. But her treatments were seeming to take this time, and with hope and luck she’d be with her family on the moon for good next year. “I’ll be back to pick you up tomorrow. Make sure you’ve got everything packed. Nurse Wylson said she’ll help if you need it. Three more days and you’ll be with your moms.”
Kiki smiled, and a whisper of good cheer wrapped around him. “I can’t wait!”
That taken care of, Dash spent a few more minutes in the hospital greeting children he’d met before. But eventually the doctors and nurses started to shoot annoyed looks his way and he knew it was time to leave. Good cheer had its place, but it was no replacement for actual medicine, and he wouldn’t get in the way of treatment.
He was running through a mental checklist when he got back to his q
uarters and almost didn’t notice the woman leaning against the wall.
Almost.
The second he caught sight of her, he froze, his eyes taking in everything he could see. Spiky blonde hair sat atop a pale face with pink cheeks and the most captivating eyes he’d ever seen. At first he thought they were green, then brown, then green again, but a moment of staring showed him that she had one green and one brown eye, something he couldn’t remember seeing in a human before. Her suit clung to her every curve, and Dash wanted to step forward and feel if she was as soft as she looked, but the sharp look on her face was enough to keep him back.
And the fact that he didn’t know her name. He’d learned that people usually liked an introduction before you got to the groping. Maybe even dinner. He could do dinner that evening. And then he wanted to eat her.
The sudden attraction was enough to mentally knock him back a few paces. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt this way. No, he was sure he’d never felt this much so soon. It was almost like the high of a massive dose of good cheer, and yet completely different.
“Hello,” he finally managed, his voice coming out a little rough. He towered over the woman by more than a head, and he forced himself to keep his distance. He was no predator, but reilendeer... and men... could be plenty dangerous with no need for fangs or claws. And he didn’t want this woman scared of him.
Though he definitely wanted to make her scream.
“Are you Dashiel Blitz?” She spoke with a clipped Earth accent and glared at him like it was his fault she’d been waiting for however long for him to show up.
Dash shouldn’t have been amused. But there was something about this woman. “I am, though everyone calls me Dash. And you are?”
She blinked twice, those multi-colored eyes looking at him as if he’d grown horns... or antlers. But the comforting weight of his antlers only came when he was in his shifted form, so he wasn’t even tempted to reach up and see if the growths were there. “I’m Rowan Lambert. I was told you could get me to Earth quickly.”