Page 30 of Holiday with the Aliens

“The time never seemed right.” Jeff’s voice sounded pained, and I didn’t know if he was hurt or if it was from the revelation.

Evil Santa made a sound of disgust. “You humans waste your time. I’m doing you a favor.”

“How did you even know that?” Wendy demanded.

He grunted. “Such small minds you humans have. I can see the truths that you refuse to speak. You can hide nothing from me.”

I shivered. I reallydidn’tlike the sound of that. Unspoken truths? I had more than a few of those. And I didn’t like the factthat Evil Santa could tell who was naughty and who was nice like that.

Was his species how we got legends of Santa? Was he just one of the evil ones? Or had Santa always been evil? I didn’t have time to worry about that. We had to keep moving.

Aldyn and I had more freedom to move once we got out of that isolated section of the store. I followed behind him, conscious of every squeak of my shoes against the hard floor. Did Evil Santa hear it? Would he be coming for us? Please no.

But he must have heard something. Or somehow sensed it. Could he tell those unspoken truths if he couldn’t see us?

He made a commotion and started heading our way. Aldyn tugged hard on my arm to get me to squeeze beside him in the tiniest alcove I had ever seen. It shouldn’t have fit two people. And from the way we had to stand flush up against one another, it really didn’t. But the shadows mostly concealed us from the rest of the store. And from the way the alcove was built, as if it were a little hiding place for the store to keep extra inventory, Evil Santa would only be able to see us if the angle was exactly right.

Aldyn’s body feltsogood.

It had to be the panic talking. It was making me react in ways I knew I shouldn’t. But I couldn’t help but lean even further back into him. And when he let out a choked groan, my body heated as if it were on fire.

Was that his cock?

His hand came around to press against my stomach, as if he were holding me in place. He needed to go a little higher or a bit lower to make it count. But we couldn’t. Not when we were hiding from Evil Alien Santa and being held hostage in a department store.

A shadow fell across the alcove and I held my breath. A second passed. And then another. And then the shadow went away.

He was gone.

But we stayed in the alcove for another few minutes. We had to be sure he wouldn’t see us when we got out. Our luck had held for this long, but I didn’t think it would hold much longer. We had to find a door.

When we were satisfied that we were safe…ish, we took careful steps outside the alcove. Evil Santa was nowhere to be seen. I let out a relieved breath and somehow shifted my weight. I didn’t even realize I did it. But my hip brushed against one of the displays and a large box went tumbling to the ground.

It was as loud as a bomb. And the shockwave could have sent me flying backwards.

Of course, there wasn’t a real shockwave. That was just my mind knowing that I had fucked everything up. Aldyn and I started running. There was no use for stealth now. Not when Evil Santa was going to find us.

We took off in the same direction. Our feet pounded against the floor and my lungs heaved. I was no sprinter. But I found a depth of endurance I hadn’t known I was capable of. Aldyn took a turn, but I kept running straight. Hopefully it meant that Evil Santa couldn’t find us both. I didn’t want him to find Aldyn. I wanted him to find me even less. Where was the door? I just had to find the door.

“Run all you want,” Evil Santa taunted. “My portal will suck up every living thing in this store. You will be my brother’s tribute whether you want it or not.”

No escape. Just like we thought.

Fuck.

I couldn’t run much longer. I was shaking, and I could barely breathe. I had to hide. I found another one of those alcoves andsnuck in as far as I could. Maybe Evil Santa was right and his teleporter would suck me up when he got it working. But if he stopped looking for me, at least I could try and escape and go get outside help.

I hoped.

Just like before, his footsteps echoed down the aisle and his shadow passed the alcove. But this time there was no Aldyn to hold me close. I hadn’t realized just how much comfort he had given me until now. The shadow walked by and I let out a breath. He hadn’t seen me. I wasn’t safe.

But I was safe enough.

I thought that too soon.

A hand reached into the alcove and grabbed my shirt, yanking me out.

Chapter 6

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