Falling for Kindred Claus Read online

Lisa looked like she didn’t know what to say but at that moment, Asher saw someone signaling him from the corner of his eye.

  Turning his head, he saw a Blood Kindred warrior wearing a pair of fake plush reindeer antlers on his head. He flashed Asher a covert hand signal and gave him a jerk of the head.

  Understanding suddenly flooded Asher—Lisa was not his contact and playing Santa had never been his mission! She had been waiting for a Kindred to play the roll and since she was dressed in holiday garb, he had mistaken her for his contact and she had mistaken him for the Kindred she was anticipating.

  It was all one big misunderstanding and now his real contact was gesturing at him.

  “Excuse me,” Asher said in a low voice to Lisa, who was still talking rapidly to the blonde Earth female who had introduced herself as “Liv.”

  He started to walk away, though he was strangely reluctant to leave her, when she saw what he was doing and broke off speaking to the other woman.

  “Wait a minute,” she exclaimed, catching him by the elbow. “Where do you think you’re going? You’ve still got the suit on and everything! And I don’t know who you really are or why you played Santa when you weren’t supposed to.”

  It was true—he did still have the urine-stained Santa outfit on, Asher noted with some disgust. But as for explanations, they would have to wait.

  “I’ll be back in a moment to change,” he promised. “Don’t worry,” he added when she started to protest again, “I have no wish to wear this suit any longer than I already have. I promise not to take it—I only need a moment.”

  Then he walked swiftly away, going to meet his real contact and find out what the true mission was.

  Eight

  “Well, we’re really sorry about the misunderstanding,” Liv said again, apologetically. “But I guess it was a good thing another Kindred happened to come along to fill in for Baird, here.” She patted her Beast Kindred husband’s muscular arm and smiled.

  “Yes, exactly,” Lisa murmured, not sure what else to say. She still didn’t know who “Kindred Claus” had been, though he had introduced himself as Commander Asher and said he was in “the Espionage Corps.” So did that mean he was some kind of spy? No wonder he had kept talking about his “mission” and asking if she was his contact—she had been misunderstanding him the whole time!

  Liv and Baird at last took their leave after apologizing one last time. Baird had offered to stay for the final hour the mall was open and try to get some of the Santa pictures done but there was no point, in Lisa’s opinion. For one thing, Commander Asher had wandered off still wearing the suit and for another, it needed to be dry cleaned before anyone else could wear it. Plus, Gary had left for the night, so there wasn’t any photographer to take the pictures, even if all the kids and parents were to magically reappear.

  The night was a near total loss and there was nothing she could do to salvage it now.

  Where was Commander Asher, anyway? Lisa looked around, trying to spot him. She needed to get the Santa suit from him. The mall manager, Bob Adley, had told her they were terribly expensive so if he had walked off with it…

  As though thinking of the mall manager had summoned him, her cell phone suddenly began vibrating. Lisa pulled it out of the pocket in the side of her green elf dress and groaned silently.

  It was Bob Adley. Could things any worse?

  “What were you doing over there and why are you dressed in that ridiculous costume?” his contact demanded, when Asher finally got over to him. His nose wrinkled and he took a step back. “And why do you smell like human urine?”

  “It’s a long story,” Asher growled. “Are you my contact and were you sent by Commander Drugair?” This time he was taking no chances.

  “Yes and yes.” The other warrior nodded.

  “Good—then give me the details quickly,” Asher said brusquely. “I need to get out of these stained garments as soon as possible.”

  “Here you are.” The other Kindred nodded and handed him an encrypted hand-slide.

  The moment the small, clear square touched the center of Asher’s palm, the slide recognized him and began to grow into a larger rectangle, about the size of a cell phone. On it, images began to play.

  Asher frowned as he looked at the pictures of humanoids with pale blue skin and a fringe of furry green growth running in a narrow strip from their foreheads all the way down their spines.

  “These are the Chorkays,” Asher’s contact told him in a low voice. “They are a peaceful people on the far side of the galaxy who have developed a unique method of long-range communication the Kindred High Council thinks would be extremely useful. This method has ten times the range of a Think-me,” he went on, referencing the telepathic communication device the Kindred often used. “In fact, its range even exceeds that of the mental link between bonded couples.”

  “Impressive,” Asher said and meant it.

  His contact nodded.

  “It is. And the High Council wants you to check it out—as a diplomatic envoy to the Chorkays. You will be attending their banquet for the coronation of their new Potentate tomorrow night.”

  “Excellent.” Asher nodded in satisfaction and relief. This kind of assignment was much more his style. He preferred missions where he was an envoy rather than an assassin. But at this point, he wouldn’t have minded, even if he had been ordered to perform an assassination—anything was better than the two hours of hell he had just been through!

  “You seem inordinately pleased,” his contact observed. “It’s a very dull assignment.”

  “Dull will be fine,” Asher assured him. “Anything is better than playing Satan Claus for the human children.”

  “Who?” the contact asked, frowning. “Are you speaking of Santa Claus the fictitious entity who brings presents on Christmas Eve? Is that why you’re dressed like that?” He nodded at the urine stained red fur suit.

  “Yes,” Asher said shortly. He had no wish to go into the misunderstanding that had led to him playing the mythical Earth male who left gifts and carbon lumps for two awful hours. He tapped the slide, shrinking it back down to the size of a coin, and nodded at his contact. “If that’s all, I’ll be on my way.”

  “Unfortunately, that is not all,” the contact said, frowning.

  “Oh? I’m to play emissary to the Chorkays on their home planet of Helios Beta and attend the crowning of their new Potentate tomorrow night. Am I missing something?” Asher asked.

  “Yes, and unfortunately it’s something that only recently came to light.” The Blood Kindred frowned. “The Chorkays live in groups of two or more and are always in a state of emotional symbiosis with their partners. Meaning, they share emotions with their mate or mates on a minute-by-minute basis.”

  “That sounds like a Kindred’s bond with his bride,” Asher remarked. “What of it?”

  “Well, they’re going to expect you to have someone with you to ‘share’ your emotions with or they won’t trust you,” his contact said.

  “But I’m not mated,” Asher said blankly. He didn’t add that he couldn’t be mated because of his Tangala DNA—it didn’t signify here.

  “I know. Almost no one in the Espionage Corps is,” the other male said. “With the exception of Commander Drugair, but since he and his mate are attempting to conceive a child, it isn’t safe for her to go with him and fold space.”

  “This is a problem,” Asher said, frowning. The Espionage Corps was made up of males only—not because the Kindred didn’t think females would make good agents but because they themselves were 95% male and it had simply worked out that way.

  “It is,” his contact acknowledged. “To my understanding, there aren’t many unmated females on the Mother Ship right now and certainly none who are prepared to go on diplomatic missions. I suppose you might pretend to have recently lost your mate and give that for an excuse as to why you have no one to share emotions with at the Chorkay banquet.”

  “I suppose so,” Asher said unhappily. H