Page 56 of Holiday with the Aliens

She had to get those gifts back for the kids. She was going to make this the best damn winter party Honora Station had ever seen, and that couldn’t happen if the kids didn’t get their presents.

The tracker told her she was almost there. When Molly came to a door, she pocketed the device and tried the handle, surprised when it opened with a slight push. She stepped into a dimly lit room and her mouth fell open. Right there, in a tidy pile, were the wrapped gifts she’d been planning to give to the children. Beyond them were the wires that had been stolen and the piping that kept disappearing. But there was even more—piles of clothing separated by color, enough food packs to feed an army, even some tablets and more expensive items. It lookedlike a bazaar, ready to sell anything that a person was looking for.

But all Molly wanted was the gifts. She could tell security about this later. Now that she’d seen it with her own two eyes, they’d have to believe her, right?

Well, even if they didn’t, at least the kids would get their gifts.

She looked around for a bag or something to gather the presents in, as there were too many of them for her to carry them by herself. She was so absorbed in the task that she didn’t hear the door open, but when the hard muzzle of a blaster dug into her side she froze where she stood.

“Now, now,” said a harsh voice, “What do we have here?”

It was perfect. Tav had his gift set up and ready to surprise Molly the next time she came in to check on the party setup. Everything looked perfect and she had to be pleased with herself. It was going to be a hit, he was sure of it. And if she liked what he brought her, he hoped this helped her bring that last bit of winter that she’d been looking for to Honora Station.

But where was she?

They hadn’t been able to make solid plans for the day, but Tav had promised that he’d be with her by nighttime. Every night in her arms only made him hungry for more, and Tav wouldn’t deny either of them that closeness, not even as he was desperate for her to make a decision about whether or not she’d come with him off of Honora Station.

No, they could talk about thatafterthe party. There was no way Molly was in the mood to deal with that decision yet. Her mind had been so occupied with getting things ready, he wassure she hadn’t been able to focus on anything as simple as the rest of her life and the potential love he gave her.

Potential. Ha. No, it was full blown. His heart beat for hers and Tav wouldn’t have it any other way. But he didn’t want to scare her away, so he’d kept that to himself for now. Once she chose to stay with him, once they were away from Honora Station and had plenty of time to themselves, then he’d reveal his feelings. But not until then. Not until she could be sure of him.

Seriously, where was she?

Tav searched the room, as if he’d find her hiding under one of the tables, but there was no sign of his denya. He wondered if she’d gone back to her quarters, but surely she would have sent a message if she wanted him to go there instead of to the party hall. On his second walkthrough he noticed that the presents around the tree had been disturbed, and there seemed to be far fewer of them than there should have been.

Had Molly offered some of them to her workers? No, that didn’t make sense. She’d been so excited to give them to the children of the station that surely she wouldn’t be willing to give even one away before it was time.

Thieves.

They’d stolen other things from her, but had they done the unspeakable and taken items meant for children? How could they? Perhaps Molly had gone to station security to report the theft, but even as Tav had the thought he knew it wasn’t true. His mate didn’t trust station security; they’d let her down with all the previous thefts and she had no confidence that they’d recover the items in time.

He rushed over to her desk to look for the tracking tablet he’d left for her. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, to let her watch the tracker and see if it moved. After all, she was the one who had to report the crime. But the desk was a mess and hecouldn’t find the tablet. A suspicion was growing inside of him, one that Tav hoped wasn’t true. He knew what kind of crime could brew on a station like Honora, and if the worst sort was out there stealing everything they could get their hands on, they wouldn’t hesitate to hurt his denya if she got in their way.

His first thought was station security. They might not have cared about Molly’s missing items, but surely they’d care about a missingperson.But as he turned to head towards the security kiosk, something deep inside tugged him in the other direction just as a spike of fear nearly sent him to his knees.

Molly!

He’d heard that the denya bond connected mates, but he’d never realized how literal that could be. That fear wasn’t his own; it was too panicky, too tinged with terror to be the mild worry that had been slowly growing within him for the past few minutes. The panic pulled him away from the guard station and down the hall he’d taken with his denya a few days before when they’d followed the trail of her thieves. After a moment, Tav started running, the fear in his chest blooming and mixing with the panic he felt from his mate. He couldn’t lose her now, not when he’d only just found her.

The station seemed to blur around him as he sprinted and Tav barely noticed that the wall was open where they’d run into a roadblock the first night. He heard voices and almost barged in through the door that was cracked open, but some sixth sense made him stop. If Molly was in danger, going in with no plan might only make it worse.

“Why did you take the presents?” he heard his mate ask. Despite the terror he could feel in his own veins, her voice didn’t shake.

“Get her tied up. We’ve got a transaction to finish. We’ll deal with her later.” Whoever that man was ignored Molly completely and there was a sound of scuffling.

So there was Molly, the speaker, and someone the speaker was commanding. Maybe more than one someone. Still, Tav waited. “Why can’t we just take care of her now?” the third person asked, voice whiny.

“Cause Isaidso.” They didn’t sound smart, but they were dangerous. Tav reached for his communicator to send a message to security, only to find his pocket empty. He must have left it back on Molly’s desk. He bit back the curse. He couldn’t let these men overhear him. He tried to send calming thoughts towards his mate, to reassure her that help was on the way. Whether it worked or not, he had no idea, but Tav didn’t have many options. He didn’t even have a weapon.

Well, that wasn’t quite true. He didn’t have ablaster, but Detyens came equipped with their own weapons. He’d never been much of a fighter before, but for his mate, he’d dig deep within himself and find that fierceness, that protectiveness, and do whatever he had to do to make sure she remained safe.

His claws slid out of his knuckles, long and wickedly sharp, ready to slice into his enemies and separate flesh from blood.

Footsteps came his way and Tav slunk into the deepest shadow of the hallway, trying to stay out of sight. He didn’t want any of the people who’d wronged Molly to get away, but he had to put her safety first, and it would be much easier to fight one man than two. He was sure at any second that the man would see him and fight, but he turned the other way and paid no attention to the heavy shadows collecting in one of the halls.

There was no time to waste. Tav burst into the room to find Molly midfight with one man while a second had her arm wrenched back, ready to tie her up. This time he couldn’t bite back his curse. He hadn’t accounted for the second man, but it didn’t matter. He launched himself toward the man with the rope, trusting Molly to deal with the other guy as best as she could.

He raked his claws against the man’s arm and the man let out a cry, dropping to one knee. Tav kicked him over, sending him completely to the ground, and the man’s head thumped against the floor with a sickening thud. His chest rose and fell with a rattle, but he remained down.

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