Page 13 of The Alien Who Saved Christmas

“Sometimes you fall for somebody before you even know their name. That’s what Mom told me, once. Do you believe that?” She didn’t give him time to answer. “Probably not. You seem very practical. You like math-y things that make provable sense, right?”

Nothing his new wife said made any sense at all, but he liked her just fine. “Go to sleep.” He ordered, instead of explaining the odd feelings that she created within him.

“How long since you were captured?” She asked, ignoring the demand.

“Two years, forty-six days. That is in your time measurement.” Xane told her, before she could ask. “The translator converts it automatically.”

“That’s such a long time.” She murmured. “Do you think your brother is looking for you?”

He paused, considering it. Hathgarr and Xane had many fights. Spoke many harsh words. Threw each other through many thick walls. But Xane’s bond with his brother was absolute. And he had to believe that Hathgarr’s bond with him was just as strong.

“Yes.” He said quietly. “He’s looking for me.”

“Can you use this ship to call him or something? Can he help us?”

Xane made a face at the idea of asking his older brother for help. “Hathgarr would never let me live it down if I requested his aid. He always believed I am weak. All through my childhood, he would hover over me, making sure I was safe.”

“Xane, you could bench press a glacier. No one could possibly think you’re weak. Maybe Hathgarr just thinks you’re his little brother and wanted to look out for you.”

He absently rubbed at the spot where the 1 Medallion had once lain against his skin, remembering the day he’d taken it off. “I left home, just after I came of age. We got into an argument on Hathgarr’s ship, and I stormed off, determined to prove myself. It was… not well done of me.”

“We should call him.” Sadie pressed.

“Rtaharion is far from here. Even if I did send a message, it would take Hathgarr weeks to arrive. I do not think we have that long. The patrons at the bar know you are a woman. A woman is valuable. They will be looking for you. The ship is hidden for now, but they will find it eventually.” He paused. “Find us .”

“Don’t worry. I won’t let them take you back and put you in the mines.” She assured him innocently.

Xane sighed at that very earnest, very ridiculous assurance. No, Sadie would never survive this place on her own. Perhaps the gods had sent her into his arms, because they knew that she was careening towards death, and they wanted her to live.

Rtaharions believed in an entire pantheon of deities, even though they didn’t always like them.

The Fating Gods were the ones responsible for weaving a person’s destiny.

They often set tempting futures in front of a man, just to see him fall as he scrambled to achieve the impossible.

Only one in a million ever reached the shiny prizes they dangled. They liked to see mortals suffer.

But they also selected some beings for greater purposes.

There was no way in the six-tiered heavens that Sadie Malone should be alive. None. She should have died at least a dozen times today. Yet here she lay, safe and smelling like yasee honey. That hinted at a grand and important destiny. Xane saw no other explanation.

This woman was touched by the gods. Favored. Perhaps because she was so devoted to celebrating this “Christmastime.” Perhaps the gods enjoyed having a new holiday in this part of the universe. So, they had made her Xane’s wife, because they knew he would guard her.

“I don’t believe you need to know someone’s name to fall under their power.

” He mused, returning to the question she hadn’t given him a chance to answer.

“I’ve seen men laid low by a woman, just from viewing a holo-image of her.

They can be out of commission for days, overwhelmed by rampaging lust.”

“I’m not sure that’s really love .” Sadie said dryly.

“Love? This is a deeper form of caring, yes?”

“Yes. To fall in love is to care for one person above all others. That is what most humans want.”

He made a face, refusing to listen to that fantasy. “There is no compelling reason for any woman to eternally tie herself to a single male. She might find a better one, at any time.”

“When you find the right man, there isn’t a better one.” She yawned. “My mother and grandmother were very happy with their choices. They said their hearts started beating differently, when they found their husbands, and they just knew .”

Xane considered that idea, linking it to his own and finding common ground.

“Sometimes, the gods put a person in our path. You do not always have to know their name to know their destiny is aligned to your own. That is undoubtedly what the women in your family experienced. A connection to fate. A knowing. ”

Sadie seems sleepily amused. “That seems like a really New Age theory for a big warrior guy.”

“It is a theory of the Old Age, actually. From the Time of the Blackened Moon.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I have no doubt that the ancient wisdom is true. It explains all you speak of.” He nodded at his own indisputable logic.

If her foremothers were anything like her, the gods had surely recruited men to guard them, as well.

Otherwise, they would have died through cheerful mayhem, before Sadie Malone was even born, and the gods wanted Sadie Malone born.

She was special. Anyone could see it. “Are you descended from a line of priestesses, by chance?”

“Nope. I just go by instincts.”

“Instincts come from the gods. You see how my theory is correct?”

Sadie’s eyes drifted shut. “I see how you always think you’re correct.”

His mouth gave a reluctant twitch. “My brother would agree with that. He often claims the same.”

“Clearly a smart guy.” She murmured drowsily.

“Hathgarr would agree with that, as well.”

Sadie didn’t respond. She’d fallen asleep.

Xane watched her for a long moment and then forced himself to look away. It was folly to lust after his mate. To notice how her honeyed scent filled his lungs. To watch her peaceful face and picture her smiling up at him in invitation. To imagine how her plump breasts would look uncovered.

His head banged backwards against the wall in self-disgust.

Arousal ached like an open wound. He reached down to press the heel of his palm against his painful erection, but there was no willing it away.

Rest would be impossible when he was in this state.

He couldn’t leave the room to find relief, though.

It was too dangerous to leave Sadie alone and undefended. He was stuck.

Xane snorted in grim amusement. Hathgarr would laugh if he could witness this pitiful situation. His older brother enjoyed watching him suffer for his foolish ideas.

Heading over to the bed, Xane arranged himself on the very edge of the mattress.

He’d get no rest. He knew it. His longing for his new wife would all come to nothing.

He knew that, too. Technically, men were always allowed to touch their wives.

It was part of the marriage bargain. But if Sadie said she wouldn’t have sex with him, then they wouldn’t have sex.

What he wanted from his happy, beautiful wife could only be given freely.

He’d rather lie in agony next to Sadie than stand resiliently alone, though.

He’d get so few nights with her. He didn’t want to waste even one of them apart.

He’d simply rest beside her and keep her safe.

That was very logical. If he dwelled a bit too long on his fantasies, it mattered not. He was in total command of himself.

Five minutes into his vigil, Sadie shifted in her sleep.

Xane glanced over at her, worried that her restless movements meant that she was having a nightmare. He did not like that thought. Someone so pure deserved nothing but perfect dreams.

“Rest easy.” He murmured. “I am with you.”

That must have reassured her. Sadie made a small sound and rolled closer to him. She didn’t even open her eyes. She just burrowed against his chest. A contented, sleepy sigh escaped her.

Xane no longer recalled how to breathe.

One tiny hand lifted to rest on his arm. Comforted, but not truly awake, Sadie relaxed again. Like she instinctively trusted him to keep her safe. She drifted into deeper sleep, cuddled beside his huge body, as if she’d always belonged there.

She did belong there.

Two of Xane’s arms wrapped around her protectively.

Possessively. Another hand brushed over her exotic brown hair, marveling at its softness.

His fourth arm was the one she was resting her palm on, and nothing could make him pull free of her touch.

Caressing her soothed him in ways he couldn’t explain.

He knew that he would never again sleep comfortably without Sadie beside him.

His wife.

“I am with you.” He repeated, his lips brushing her forehead.

Only one in a million beings ever grabbed the most glorious futures that the Fating Gods dangled.

The brightest, most alluring paths were always the most treacherous.

Only fools risked them. And even for those stupid enough to try, the prize at the end was forever out of reach of nine hundred, ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine of them.

Which meant one man got the prize.

It was possible. The odds were poor, but some fortunate son of a bitch would have his wildest dreams come true. For one man in a million, the Fating Gods rewarded the reckless gamble with the best-of-all-possible futures.

He just had to be willing to die for a chance at it.