“Hey, I just did that. Leave the pillow alone,” Eadric teased from the doorway.
“If you come back to bed, I’ll let the pillow go.”
He smirked. There was no way he could get sexier, but that look made her damn near come all over again.
“Lilly, I have a surprise. I need to go, but I will return soon. I promise,” he said.
“Ugh. Fine. Go. I’ll hang out with Maddie. Maybe she and I can go for a walk around the ship. Oh look, a cactus. Oh look, another one. Oh hey, a tumbleweed.”
Fully dressed, Eadric came to sit on the bed. Her eyes roamed over him. Bummer.
Fire. We won’t be gone long, and it’s nothing dangerous. I promise.
She sat up. That hadn’t crossed her mind. Well, not this morning. Damn it. Maybe she shouldn’t worry, but she did. Dragon warrior or not, he was hers.
“Danger follows you, all of you. Where are you going? Now I can’t not worry.”
Eadric kissed her forehead.
“It’s fine. I will be with Kal and we will be home soon,” Eadric said, holding her. “Please just stay here and stay safe with Maddie.”
Safe. Ha. Fine. To be fair, Maddie had a shitty ex, and Lilly had a really bad dad. Which sort of caused all the danger.
“It better not be dangerous,” she said, raising up on her knees she shuffled over to him. Wrapping her arms around him, she placed her lips against his soft, full mouth.
I love you.
He grabbed her ass in response.
I love you too, he thought. Now get dressed and go see Maddie.
Lilly grumbled, but she let him go. What was he up to? Maybe he should play poker with a face like that. He was playful, like always, except when he had something on his mind.
Fine. She could play this game.
Getting up, she called the fire to her hands and watched it dance around. Eadric’s magic hadn’t exactly changed who she was, but ever since they’d mated she could control her own magic much easier. No more melting everything she touched. Or, well, most of the time.
She’d gotten really good at cooking chicken though and only charred the first dozen. Lucky for her, dragons didn’t care. Now though, she could even hug Maddie without incident.
After she stretched her powers, like a muscle that needed to be woken up, she decided to get dressed. Sitting in her room would get a little lonely.
2
“Kal, why are we here?”
Eadric looked around the bar, the Drunken Rooster. His only memory involved Kal flapping tiny chicken wings around the floor. “Don’t you remember when-”
“Shut it. Just don’t bring it up.”
Eadric laughed. “Okay. So why are we here?”
Kal pointed to a woman behind the bar. They walked over to the counter and sat.
“Hey there, fellas, what can I get you? Oh, right, aren’t you Maddie’s mate?”
Kal gave a warm greeting to the woman. She wasn’t human, but Eadric couldn’t really tell what her powers were.
“Man. I always thought my mate was huge. Whatever pack you come from, they sure grow ‘em big,” said Ellen.
Eadric looked at Kal.
Pack?
He nodded.
Yes, wolf shifters.
Well, that’s interesting. Okay, wolf shifters. This planet kept getting better and better.
“Anyway. What can I do for you? Any mate of Maddie’s is a friend of mine.”
Kal nodded at Eadric.
Ask her, her name is Ellen.
Eadric swallowed. He’d been gifted at talking to women, except right now. He really didn’t want to screw this surprise up.
“Ellen?”
She smiled. “Yes. What can I do for you, big guy?”
“Well, I wondered if you would share your favorite holiday?”
She cocked her head. “Well, that’s interesting. Why do you ask?”
He gripped the edge of the bar. He could attack an alien species. He could travel light years to a planet they knew shit about. But come up with a surprise for his own mate, and he was a puddle of sweat.
“Well, my Lilly. She hasn’t had a lot of human experiences and before we leave for my home, I wanted to make sure I give her good memories if possible.”
Ellen squealed. “That is so romantic. Okay. I don’t know where you’re from. You guys always came across like you weren’t from around here. Do you have Christmas? I love Christmas. I mean, Halloween is super fun too. Well, all the holidays are fun and I have something for Halloween because I got to meet my mate. But I really think Christmas is like the best of the best.”
Eadric tried the word out. “Christmas.”
He liked this word. “What does one do for Christmas?”
Eadric hung on her every word. Anything to give his Lilly a proper Earth experience. It wasn’t fair her father kept her locked up, and it wasn’t fair that he was going to take her somewhere else. Granted, he was certain his world was far superior. At least they knew his value back home.
Ever since they’d gotten to this rock, they’d fought off assholes. Lesson learned. Don’t use several hundred-year-old data and assume a species hadn’t evolved.
Ellen thought for a moment longer. “It’s a time of giving. I feel like Christmas is always about being better than what you really are. Like everyone turns off the dickishness and learns how to actually be a good person. For a little while, anyway. But the best part, I think, is giving. I volunteer at the local soup kitchen a lot. But during the holidays people come out of the woodwork to do it. Oh, and then there’s seeing the smile on my mate’s face when I get him something he really wants.”
Processing the information, Eadric remained quiet for a while. That was a lot. He liked the sound of this Christmas. His mate deserved all the good he could give her.
“Okay. Where does one celebrate Christmas?”
Ellen laughed. “Where did you say you were from again?”
Kal grunted. “We didn’t.”
Shaking her head, she grabbed a glass to wipe out. “Well, okay. Be all mysterious. I guess it adds to the sexy.”
Kal and Eadric exchanged a look. Neither of them really understood half of what the females said.
“Alright, boys.
