Page 2 of How the Orc Stole Christmas

JULES

H oly shit! What the hell was staring down at me?

Was it a demon? No wait, demons were red, I think.

Elves were green, but I thought they were smaller.

This man was easily six and a half feet tall if not taller, with broad shoulders that blocked out the sky.

All I saw was green skin and fur and black hair threaded with silver.

His chest was carved from jade, corded with muscle and covered with a leather vest edged with fur and a fur cloak.

I was freezing, and he wore a vest, not even showing signs of being cold.

His tree trunk sized legs were covered by leather pants.

Clearly, I wasn’t in Arizona any longer, unless this guy was an amazing cosplayer from a local Comic Con, but I doubted it. He didn’t look human and no makeup could make him look this different.

Then there was the ground I was lying on. It was wet and cold. Too cold for rain. I lifted my hand and saw snow on it, confirming that the white flakes falling around this man were not ashes or a delusion but snow.

Since when had it snowed in Phoenix? Well, there had been trace snowfall occasionally, but usually in the foothills. Though I lived near there, so maybe this was a freak storm that the weathermen had missed completely. But that didn’t explain the jolly green giant. Though, was he jolly?

“Are you an elf?”

He snarled. “I’m no elf. Faithless little bastards. I’m an orc.”

I struggled to a sitting position. “Elves are wonderful little creatures. They help Santa make toys for kids. Well, unless you believe in the Lord of the Rings elves, then they’re more warlike, but they’re big on saving the planet and stuff. And aren’t orcs bloodthirsty bad guys?”

His baffled look was a familiar one. Most people didn’t follow my babbling when I got nervous. I sighed. “Sorry. I’m Jules Morgan. And you are?”

“Sinteklas. And orcs are bloodthirsty. We’re fierce warriors, prized for our skill in battle.” Yet he didn’t sound proud, only bitter for some reason. Then his name sunk in.

“You’re Santa Claus?” I shrieked. He was real? Oh my God. I had always wondered if he was. When I was a child, I swore I saw him in my living room, before my parents split up and I learned life was no fairytale, but this was proof. Maybe.

He backed up a bit, sitting on his heels, looking at me like I was ready for the psych ward. “Who is this Santa Claus? I’m not Sinteklas. My clan calls me Klas. Have you hit your head on something?”

He leaned forward and touched my head, gently feeling for a bump on the back of my skull. His fingers were so big they could cup my head easily, break my neck even, yet he was careful as he checked me for an injury, his fingers sliding down my neck.

“I’m fine. My car broke down and I was walking back to the gas station to call AAA for a tow when this fog came out of nowhere. I got really tired and fell asleep. It was weird.”

He sat back and cocked his head at me, still looking a bit disgruntled, as if I interrupted his day or night, since it wasn’t very bright out. Wait, hadn’t it been night when I was headed home?

“You came through a portal, lass.”

“A what now?” I had watched that Scottish show with the sexy highlander, but that involved stones. I don’t remember any standing stones around me.

“A portal. A doorway between worlds. It allows us to move between worlds, if you can control it.”

“So you can send me back?”

He frowned. “Not without a fae, and they demand a high price, usually more than anyone can afford. And they rarely help anyone, if you can even find out. They’ve been banned from our world, unless they’re working with the king. No one can oppose the king.”

I sagged back on the ground, my shoulders slumping. “So how do I get back? Can you bring me to the king?”

“Absolutely not. I will bring you to my clan. They will help you.”

He stood and held out a hand to me to help me up.

I gratefully took it and let out a shiver.

My elf costume was no protection for the cold and it was now soaked from sitting in the snow.

The wind blew through the trees, making it feel even colder.

I hugged myself, trying to get warm, and he narrowed his gaze.

He pulled off his cape and settled it over my shoulders.

The warmth of the fur heavenly. I wanted to protest the use of fur.

The whole cruelty to animals thing. But I was freezing and what was done was done and I needed it.

I drew the edges over me and sighed with happiness.

Then I spied his vehicle. Well, it was less a vehicle and more a sleigh drawn by two horses. “Are you sure you’re not Santa Claus?”

Sinteklas

I don’t know who this Santa Claus was but her constant asking for him was disturbing.

Maybe he was her mate, but I didn’t see any mating signs.

Humans didn’t have any outwards signs of mating like orcs or shifters and I didn’t scent any male on her.

So he may have been gone a long time. She may have left their home looking for him.

He may have been a soldier, conscripted like so many of us, in the usurper king’s army and sent as mercenaries to battles far away to fill his coffers.

But she mentioned falling through a portal.

He may have been from her world, so she would need to return to her world to find him.

That path was lost to her. Few ever returned through a portal once they came through.

Finding a Traveler Fae to help you through a portal was nigh impossible and, when you did, most couldn’t afford their fee.

And if you could, there was no guarantee they could bring you back to where you left and when you left.

Time and space were an odd construct. I spent time with a Traveler Fae once when I was in the military.

Talking with him gave me a headache worse than any amount of ale.

She was stuck here, addled wits and all.

Now to see if one of our orcs in the clan, or one of the minotaurs, could be her mate.

A female alone needed a protector in this world.

She would have her pick of males once she accepted her fate.

Would she let go of this Santa Claus male or cling to that male?

She was quiet during the ride back to the clan, for which I was grateful.

There was nothing I hated more than a chattering magpie.

Annoying. Finally, the village was in sight and the sentries waved to me, their mouths dropping in shock when they saw the female next to me.

I could imagine they wanted to abandon their posts, with females being so rare, but with the war going on in the nearby Orc kingdom, they needed to maintain their posts in case of attack.

It wouldn’t be the first time they were attacked.

I pulled up in front of one of the huts.

Kharag came out, one of the older orcs and leaders of the clan.

He was mated to a human, Olivia, and a minotaur.

Unusual to have a triad, but it created strong ties with the local herd and it worked for them.

They had a child on the way and I wondered if it would be orc or minotaur.

Human DNA added some traits to a child born of a mating with an orc or minotaur, but very little.

Most children had the appearance of the father—orc or minotaur.

I wondered who the father was and if it would cause issues in the mating.

“Ho, Klas. What do you have here?”

“I found a female on the road. She is cold and in need of clothes and a home.”

Kharag raised an eyebrow. “What about you?”

I shook my head. “One of the younger orcs would be a better mate.”

“Mate?” She shrieked next to me. “I never said anything about a mate. What are you trying to do? Pimp me out to your people?”

She tried to scramble out of the sleigh but got tangled in the fur that I gave her for warmth, falling back on the seat next to me with a muttered curse. Kharag gave me a look of reproof, but before either of us could say anything, his door opened again and his very pregnant mate waddled out.

“What’s going on, Kharag? Oh, hi Klas. Who is this?”

Jules stuck her head out of the fur. “I’m Jules and I want to go home.”

Olivia glared at me and elbowed her mate. “Help her down. What did you do, Klas?”

Kharag stepped forward and easily lifted Jules down. I resisted the urge to growl at him and snatch her back to my side. That possessive urge was so unfamiliar to me, and I tamped it down. She wasn’t for me. She was young and sweet, better for one of the younger orcs, not a grumpy asshole like me.

“I found her on the road. I rescued her. Look how she’s dressed. She would have died if I hadn’t found her.” I was insulted that Olivia thought I had harmed Jules.

Olivia wrapped an arm around the other woman. “Come inside. I’m sure you have questions, and these males are terrible at explaining anything.”

Jules stopped and turned back to me. For a moment, I thought she would ask to stay with me and my heart leaped. “Thank you, Santa.”

“Santa?” Olivia asked, a hint of laughter in her voice.

“Sinteklas. A name for Santa. Sort of,” Jules replied.

Jules cocked her head for a moment. “I guess his name does sound like that. But trust me, there is nothing jolly about Klas. He’s more like Krampus.”

“So I gathered,” Jules said. Then she looked at me. “Thank you for helping me.”

And she followed Olivia into the warm hut. I looked at Kharag, thoroughly confused. “Who is Krampus?”

He laughed and took the reins of the horses. “You, my grumpy friend. I’ll help you stable the horses.”