Married to Krampus (My Holiday Tails)

by Marina Simcoe

  I blinked at her then plopped back into my chair.

  “And you saw all of that in the few minutes since you got here?”

  She lifted a well-groomed eyebrow.

  “I don’t need much longer than that, I know Grevar well enough to spot the difference in him in seconds. He doesn’t give affection easily. With him, it has to be earned, and you’ve obviously done that. And you... I see you’re really trying to make him happy, which is commendable. It makes me feel better about this whole thing.”

  “Well, thanks.” I rolled a shoulder back awkwardly, unsure whether to be glad or annoyed by the praise I hadn’t asked for from her.

  Shula continued meanwhile, “I know you don’t consider me a friend—”

  “That title has to be earned, too,” I snapped.

  “Right.” She lowered her head in consideration. “And earning it takes time. Meanwhile, I’d ask of you not to shut me out of your family life.”

  I watched her face for any duplicity, however, her expression appeared sincere.

  “Daisy, I know you have the power and probably the desire to close your home to me, after the way I’ve treated you. I’m asking you not to do that.”

  “Why?”

  “Well, I have no maternal feelings for the children I’ve given birth to. Babies are immediately taken away from their birth mothers to bond with their fathers. But I’m attached to Grevar’s boys. They are the children of one of my closest friends and are like nephews to me. I’m fond of them and enjoy watching them grow. I’d love to remain a part of their lives.”

  I clasped my hands in my lap, thinking back to the way the boys greeted Shula when she’d arrived tonight. They certainly had some relationship with her, and I’d hate to deprive them of that.

  “Okay, fine, let’s just keep things the way they are then,” I said. “You’ve said something you shouldn’t have, you’ve apologized for that, and I’ve accepted it. It’s all good now. As long as you treat me and my family with respect, you can remain the family friend that you are. Deal?”

  I offered her my hand.

  “Deal?” she stared at it confused.

  “Yeah, well, let’s just shake on it.” I took her hand in mine, giving it a brief shake. “This means our verbal agreement is now sealed.”

  “Interesting.” She squeezed my hand in response. “It’s a deal, then.”

  “And while we’re at it,” I added, releasing her hand. “Putting in place some kind of a welcoming program for the human women coming to Voran is a great idea. Moving planets can be overwhelming at first.”

  She nodded slowly, with a thoughtful expression on her face.

  “I believe the Liaison Committee had a few proposals on that. It might be a good time to look into them.” She met my gaze straight on. “I’m not promising to be perfect, Daisy, but I’ll do my best to try harder.”

  Chapter 16

  GREVAR

  When the guests finally left that night, Daisy wanted to sit on the large enclosed patio off the dining room for a little while.

  He realized the party had turned out to be anything but relaxing for her. After she and Shula had returned from their private talk, the atmosphere had thankfully improved. The conversation had flowed much easier. He’d even heard Daisy laugh a few times.

  He knew she must be tired, especially after having woken up so early that morning.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to go to bed right away?” he asked, catching her trying to stifle a yawn.

  “Soon.” She nodded, taking a seat in an armchair made from rollu vine, dried and woven into the shape of a recliner. “I just want to watch the stars for a few minutes.” She glanced up at him as he hovered nearby. “Join me, please.” She patted the seat cushion on the recliner next to hers.

  “Do you know names of any constellations up there?” She pointed at the night sky when he sat down.

  “All of the major ones.” He nodded. “We use them for navigation when nothing else is available. It’s part of the training. The Leaping Staidus is the largest one. See those three bright stars over there?” He pointed at them, and she leaned her head closer, peering in that direction at the dark winter sky behind the glass.

  Her hair tickled his ear. The sweet flowery smell of her perfume caressed his nostrils, the hint of the warm scent of her skin shot straight to his groin. He shifted his legs, suppressing a groan.

  “Yes!” she exclaimed excitedly. “I see them.”

  “Now, if you follow that line of smaller stars to the left, there is a shorter line underneath that makes the two look kind of like the front paws of a large animal, raised up in the air.”

  “Wow, an animal, really?” she giggled softly. “All I see are just two rows of stars.”

  “Me too,” he confessed with a laugh. “Whoever came up with those names must’ve had a crazy imagination.”

  “And probably had a few drinks on top of that!” she laughed too, leaning away from him, sadly.

  He had tamed his erection, but now it was his heart that ached. If he couldn’t stand her moving just a couple of hand-lengths away from him, how could he possibly survive the distance between two planets that threatened to separate them next year?

  “How do you use the constellations for navigation?” Daisy asked.

  He shook off the gloomy thoughts for now.

  “The orientation of those three stars is east to west,” he explained. “The brightest one on that end always points east. When the sky is clear as it is tonight, it’s easy to orientate yourself. On Neron, at least. Other planets’ constellations are completely different, of course.”

  “Have you been to other planets?”

  “I’ve been to two. Aldrai and Tragul.”

  “Both during the war?”

  “To Aldrai as a part of a peaceful delegation. To Tragul both during combat missions and for meetings with Ravil officials. The country of Ravie on Tragul is our ally in the war with fescods.”

  “Isn’t the war over now?”

  “The fescods’ invasion of Neron is over, but they refuse to co-exist peacefully with other nations on Tragul. They invaded Ravie and have fought Ravils’ resistance for two decades. Taking into account the fescods’ aggressive nature, they will be causing trouble for a long time still.”

  “Even losing to Voranians didn’t stop them?”

  “Nothing truly will, I’m afraid. It’s impossible for us to communicate with fescods. They don’t have a spoken language but communicate with each other through shared brain waves. They’re being led by an entity called Central Mind that does all their thinking for them. It uses the individual fescods as soldiers—a well-coordinated, ruthless army. It’s extremely hard to kill a fescod, too. Their skin reflects all energy rays, including laser. Their bodies expel bullets fired from projectile weapons. So far, the most efficient weapons against them have been blades.”

  “Sounds terrifying.” A shudder ran through Daisy’s body. “The creatures you ripped to pieces in that video were fescods, weren’t they?” Her lip curled in disgust. He didn’t blame her, fescods were rather ugly. Their behaviour made them even more repulsive.

  “Yes. The video was taken on Tragul.”

  “Did you crash there? Your aircraft looked like it’d been in an accident.”

  “It was shot down. I managed to land it just well enough to survive.”

  “Oh, no...” she pressed her hands to her chest, her gray-blue eyes rounded in shock. “I had no idea.”

  “It turned out the unit of fescods that attacked me was guarding the main yirzi transportation facility. Yirzi are a nomad race on Tragul. They have no country to defend and side with whoever pays them more. They had been supplying fescods with transportation for their invasion of Neron. My discovery helped cut off resources from the fescods on Neron. Which ultimately led to their defeat on our planet.”

  “That was also how you earned your promotion?”

  “Right.” In addition to the years of impeccable ser
vice, that operation had put him ahead of the line in becoming the Colonel of the Voranian Army.

  She sat quietly for a few moments, worrying her plump lower lip with her teeth. He remained silent, too, simply admiring her profile, highlighted by the moonlight.

  “You’re really proud of that video,” she said, understanding flooded her lovely face when she turned it to him.

  “It was the highlight of my military career,” he agreed. “Or at least the battlefield portion of it.”

  “That’s why you sent it to me. You wanted to share something so important to you with me.”

  “Well, I’ve also been told I look good in it. I suppose I wanted to make a good impression on you,” he admitted with a smile.

  “Oh.” She rubbed her forehead. “Of course. You do look...um, fierce in that video.”

  “I wanted you to like me.” He still wanted that. More than ever.

  “But I do like you, Colonel.”

  Normally, he felt a pang of pride when people addressed him by his rank. Not when Daisy did it, though. Hearing his rank from her lips made him feel the distance she’d been maintaining between them more acutely.

  She dropped her gaze into her lap, her cheeks took the familiar shade of pink. It happened when she felt angry, he’d learned, or uneasy. Why would Daisy still feel uneasy around him?

  “I’m really happy we’ve managed to become friends after all,” she said.

  Friends...

  That was not what he was hoping for.

  “We are friends, Colonel, aren’t we?” She gazed at him with a new intensity in her clear eyes.

  “Yes,” he nearly groaned. “We’re friends.”

  That was a dangerous path to take. He definitely didn’t want her as just a friend. But what if she only felt comfortable as a friend in his company?

  “I’d better go now.” She rose to her feet quickly. “Good night.”

  And now she was running away from him. Again.

  He got up, too, listening to the sound of her light feet taking her up the stairs. Everything inside him urged him to go after her. To grab her, to press her body to his, to claim her. But he’d already tried to do that the night she’d first got here, and she’d almost left him immediately.

  He couldn’t risk it again. Not now, when losing Daisy would be like ripping his heart out. There had to be a better way.

  “Omni,” he called to his AI that always was around somewhere. “Get me my tablet, will you?”

  He’d earned the admiration of his entire country. However, winning the love and affection of this one woman was proving to be the most difficult operation of his life.

  Maybe he had been approaching it all wrong. What if he looked at it as a military battle, with a well-developed plan and strategy? In order to conquer Daisy as his wife, he needed to learn exactly what he was working with and what he was fighting against. He had to learn more about where she came from.

  When one of Omni’s drones handed him his tablet, he searched for information on humans and their planet Earth. He opened a few pictures and articles on Christmas, the holiday that Daisy spoke about with so much delight and longing tonight.

  Maybe he could make the celebration happen for her in Voran? Even if it didn’t win him her heart, seeing her eyes sparkle with joy once again would be a reward on its own.

  He flipped through the photos and illustration of Christmas celebrations by different Earth nations. There were so many traditions. Tree decorating seemed to be a common theme, though. As were family gatherings and presents.

  Most nations claimed to have a magical elderly gentleman visit their houses. Known by many names, he was considered to be kind and brought presents for obedient children.

  The disobedient ones were said to be visited by Krampus, in some cultures. Aside from its elongated face, that creature looked remarkably like...a Voranian male.

  Horns. Hooves. Thick fur. In some illustrations, Krampus even had the Voranian tongue sticking out—dark-red and long. And the red eyes were...just like his own.

  According to the stories, Krampus was not a nice character. He stole and tortured children. And he was called ugly and terrifying.

  Grevar’s breathing turned rushed and shallow as a dreadful feeling slithered under the fur on his back. Daisy grew up with his exact image being used to scare children. To her, he must look like the reincarnated monster. In fact, he remembered her calling him Krampus once.

  Chills spread through his chest. Daisy’s shrinking away from his touch suddenly made so much more sense.

  He quickly loaded pictures of prominent human males, then filtered them by age and occupation. Similar to Neron, he assumed that popular actors and models would be the embodiment of male beauty on Earth.

  Scrolling through the pictures of human males, he became more and more aware of the huge differences between them and him. There were no horns there, no tails or hooves either. No fur. Generally, having any kind of body hair appeared to be unacceptable on Earth, as even the men’s chests were completely hairless and smooth in many pictures.

  All of them, of course, would have toes and wouldn’t mind Daisy having them, either.

  Not that he minded human toes himself, contrary to her teasing.

  Daisy knew that. She’d become comfortable enough around him to walk in strappy sandals or even barefoot in the house. He had plenty of opportunities to see her toes, and he no longer viewed them as even remotely creepy. He found her toes cute, and he liked how she painted them in different shades of pink or red to match her finger nails.

  His biggest worry now was how she viewed him. He’d always been confident about his looks. He knew Voranian women found him handsome. For Daisy, however, he must’ve been a hideous monster all along.

  Deep inside, he’d hoped she would become his wife in every sense of the word before the year was up. Now, he feared Daisy would never let him touch her, at all.

  What were his options, then? Either she would leave his world for good next year. Or he could try to talk her into staying as the friend she said she was, with no hope of them to ever become more than friends.

  Both options would equally break his heart.

  Chapter 17

  “GOT YOU!” I GRABBED one running little boy and spun him around.

  Olvar kicked his hooves in the air squirming and giggling in my arms. His brother got captured by his father just a moment later.

  “We won!” the Colonel howled triumphantly, tossing Zun up into the air. The boy laughed and screamed in delight.

  “Again! Again! Chase us again!” The kids hopped around us as soon as we’d set them down on the grass of the indoor park where we’d come to have a family picnic.

  This was their second weekend at home, and it’d been busy, exhausting, and simply wonderful.

  “Lunch now.” I shook my head. “We have the Zoo in the afternoon, remember?”

  The Ministry’s requirements were rather strict. I had to design and maintain a daily schedule, using the guidelines I’d learned during the parenting course. Any serious deviation from the rules could result in the Ministry’s revoking the Colonel’s right to take the boys home for the weekends, so I made sure to follow them diligently.

  The schedule allowed for some flexibility, and that was the time I used for some unplanned fun with the boys. Every kid needed an opportunity to jump around and scream with no rules or regulations, once in a while. So, that was what we did in the park today. Though, wildly running around could still be checked off as physical activity on the schedule for the Ministry.

  “I want a cupcake!” Olvar leaped toward the blanket I’d laid out on the grass next to our picnic basket.

  “I have three mini cupcakes for each of you. All you have to do is finish Omni’s food first.”

  I removed the lids from the trays with food, handing one to each of the boys, then gave one to the Colonel too. The boys immediately started to shove the food in their mouths without arguing.

  Every point
on their daily schedule ultimately benefited the children, which made it easier for me to get behind the Voranian system. In a way, it made my life simpler, too, as the twins’ nutrition, education, physical activities, and rest time had been regulated. Following the same schedule from birth, the boys had also gotten used to going to bed at a certain time and taking their meals in set intervals.

  Running around must’ve made them work up an appetite. They finished their food in minutes.

  “Do you want some more?” I took out the extra tray I’d packed for them, just in case.

  “No.” They shook their heads. “Cupcakes!”

  Grabbing a mini cupcake in each of their little hands, they hopped off, unable to sit still for too long.

  “Oh, the energy these two have!” I laughed, watching them skip and roll in the grass.

  “I bet anything that they’ll fall asleep in the aircraft on the way home.” The Colonel stretched out his long legs next to me, balancing his food tray on his muscular thighs.

  “They’re so stinkin’ cute, those two.” I got my own food out, too. “It’s a good thing I have the Ministry to keep me in check. I would spoil them rotten, otherwise.”

  “I’m sure they’d take advantage of you, one way or another,” he chuckled. “When they look at you with pleading eyes, it’s so hard to say no.”

  In my opinion, the Colonel was fairly strict with his sons. However, the unconditional love between the father and his sons was evident.

  I tipped my chin at the food in his lap.

  “You better eat it all up. I’m sure they’ll make us run a few more miles before the day is over.” I stretched my legs in front of me and groaned. “Not sure if my feet can take much more, though. I should’ve worn my running shoes. These don’t have a good arch support.”

  The Colonel set his empty tray aside, and I handed him a bottle of water.

  “Is it hard to walk on feet?” he asked, taking a drink.

  I shrugged.

  “Not harder than walking on hooves, I imagine.”

  “Hooves don’t get sore from running.”