Page 25 of My Christmas Alien Mate

But then the truck came to a standstill and the animal gave us one more derisive look before it jumped off and vanished into the darkness.

"Are you okay?" Amber asked in a slightly shaking voice.

"I am," I assured her. "Are you?"

"Freaking deer scared me." She shook her head. "This is why I drive so slow around here. The damn things just freeze in the headlights."

"It was cute though," I offered, taking her shaking hand. "You did good. You didn't get any of us killed."

She turned her head to me and grinned. "I didn't, did I?"

"Nope," I shook my head. She looked so damn adorable, I just wanted to kiss her.

"Alright, let's get home." Surehandedly she put the truck in reverse, and I couldn't help but admire her. She looked tired as hell, and yet her reaction had rivaled that of an experienced fighter pilot about to hit a meteor.

She drove home even slower than before, and when she exited the truck, I pulled her into my arms and carried her. Her head snuggled against my chest and that plus her earlier words aboutgoing home, made my heart beat faster and rose a longing inside it that I had never felt before.Home, I thought.

Home for me had been aboard a ship for as long as I could remember. The ships always changed, only the company, my dad, and brother didn't.

I suspected I would have enjoyed more of a home had my mother not died unexpectedly during a freak meteor shower while she was returning from a trip to see her parents. But this was the first time I ever wondered how different things would have been for me growing up planetside instead of aboard whatever flagship my father commanded that week.

Later, we settled down to staying aboard a flagship for years, but by then I was already attending pilot training.

Now though, a deep yearning stirred inside me for a real home, a place to return to after a long trip in space, a place like Amber's cabin. Maybe even with young ones of our own running wild.

The front door was unlocked, something unheard of where I came from. All our doors were secured and could only be opened by the resident or somebody the resident had programmed into the system. Not that we had much crime in the Galactic Union, especially not aboard the flagships, where security was at its tightest, but it wasn't unheard of. I imagined a Class-D planet had a lot more violence and crime than we did, but I supposed it must have been confined to certain areas for Amber to feel this safe.

She was almost asleep by the time I found the light switch and carried her to where I knew her bedroom was. I hadn't been in here before but would have recognized it as hers even if I hadn't watched her enter and exit it.

Soft white and lilac checkered curtains were open, exposing a paneled window, and I froze for a moment, mesmerized by the white surrounding each of the squares as snow still fell outside. Ice was creeping along the edges but hadn't made it all the way to the centers of the squares yet, leaving slightly obscured patches open. Their crystalline patterns looked heartbreakingly beautiful.

Outside, I made out the dark outlines of trees contrasting with the white blanket on the ground, an incredibly breathtaking sight.

A small sigh from Amber reminded me that I was still carrying her and took her to her bed, carefully avoiding piles of discarded clothes and an assortment of stacked books.

In the corner by the window stood a small round table, filled with what I recognized as an old-fashioned computer, as I had seen something similar in one of our museums once, and several notepads stacked on top of each other, threatening to spill over at the slightest tremor.

Shoes littering the floor made for a regular minefield, but I managed to get her to bed.

I carefully laid her on top of a thick, also checkered comforter, and took her boots off. She barely stirred, and I contemplated putting her fully clothed underneath her covers or taking them off.

Either way, I peeled her out of her jacket. Something about her listless body alarmed me though, and when I touched her skin, I realized she was a lot hotter than she had been before.

My hastily opened data processor confirmed that her body temperature had risen a few degrees.

"Amber, Amber, wake up."

I shook her slightly and her eyes opened. "Galexor."

"I'm here, but you seem to have a fever. Tell me what to do, Amber."

"Hmm," she blinked a few times, "Aspirin and water."

She pointed toward a small whitish bottle on her nightstand, but when I pulled it open, there were only two pills inside. "There are only two, Amber."

She coughed and stretched her hand out. "It's okay, that'll do," she reassured me and sat up. Her eyes looked glassy and had a faraway look I didn't like. She gave me a soft smile. "Don't worry, it's just a cold. I'll be better in the morning."

Next to the pills was a half empty bottle of water. I unscrewed it and handed it to her before she swallowed the pills down.

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