Total pages in book: 41
Estimated words: 38048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 190(@200wpm)___ 152(@250wpm)___ 127(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 38048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 190(@200wpm)___ 152(@250wpm)___ 127(@300wpm)
And then Kelli came along.
The curvy little human had gotten under his skin at once, though Klaus hated to admit it. She was always smiling and singing or humming to herself. She had a bright, sunny personality and was the kind of person that other people gravitated to naturally. Even though she’d moved to the Mother Ship only a year ago, she already knew more people than Klaus had met in half a lifetime of living there. It was so damn irritating.
“I don’t give a damn about the Questarions and their stupid Christmas village,” he snapped. “Just because we’re visiting doesn’t mean we should have to dress up like characters from Earth mythology.”
“But that’s half the fun of it!” Kelli protested. “It gets you in the Christmas spirit!” She pointed at the long white beard which he had pointedly left off. “Aren’t you going to put that on?”
“Maybe I don’t fucking want to get in the Christmas spirit,” Klaus growled. “And no, I’m not fucking wearing that thing. It’ll make my real beard itch.”
He stroked his neatly trimmed black beard as he spoke. Just looking at the fake beard, which would reach halfway down his chest if he put it on, made him feel itchy and irritable.
Kelli sighed.
“You’re so grumpy! I mean, even more than usual for a Beast Kindred. Is your costume too itchy inside? Is it rubbing you the wrong way?”
The whole damn situation was rubbing him the wrong way, Klaus thought. He didn’t want to go to a strange planet and spend the night in close proximity to a woman who was tempting him to break his vow—it wasn’t right.
Not that Kelli was tempting him on purpose. She probably had no idea how he felt about her, he reminded himself. To her, Klaus was just her gruff and growly Protector—the one charged with making sure she was safe when they went on missions to visit new planets and meet new species. She had no idea that every word she said in her soft, musical voice, every gesture she made, and every flash of her eyes—even her sweet, feminine scent drew him like a magnet.
So it wasn’t her fault, but it was still irritating.
Klaus had no idea how he was going to get through this night on Quaria Four, where the Christmas Village the Questarions had built was located. He would just have to do his best to keep his distance from the curvy little human until they could get back home to the Mother Ship.
He had no idea how difficult that would prove to be.
2
KELLI
Geeze, he’s really grumpy today! Kelli watched her Kindred Protector from the corner of her eye as he prepared to land their ship on Quaria Four. As a Beast Kindred, Klaus always looked kind of scary, and somehow the red and white Santa suit he was wearing made him more intimidating, not less.
Half of the intimidation factor was his size, she decided. Klaus was seven feet tall and built like a bear. In addition to his Beast Kindred heritage, he also had some Gwanta ancestry far back in his DNA which meant his skin was deep green and his golden eyes glowed. The green skin and his huge size sometimes made her feel like she was being guarded by the Incredible Hulk.
Klaus had bushy black hair that Kelli had always secretly wished she could run her fingers through, though she doubted that particular fantasy would ever come to pass. There was a perpetual scowl on his strong features, which might have been handsome if he would ever smile. But that wasn’t going to happen because his mood always seemed to be stuck somewhere between gloomy and brooding.
He was most definitely a pessimist.
And yet, Kelli liked him anyway. That probably wasn’t saying much though—she liked most people that she met. Somehow she could always see the good in almost everyone—she even still got along with her ex-husband, Mitchell, and his new and much younger wife, Taylor.
That wasn’t to say she wished she was still with Mitch though—she was glad her marriage had ended. The two of them had grown apart—mostly because her ex had been married to his work. After the kids left for college, they simply didn’t have much left to say to each other. When Mitch had admitted he was seeing someone else, Kelli’s main feeling had been relief. Getting a divorce had left her free to start her life all over again…which was one reason she was so excited to be working with the Kindred.
The huge aliens who were ninety-five percent male, had originally come to Earth looking for brides. They had stayed to protect the Earth and its inhabitants from menacing alien invaders called The Scourge. Now they had an agreement with the World Council that they could keep calling brides through the Bride Draft, which every unmarried and unattached woman was required to sign up for.