Page 2 of How the Orc Stole Christmas
Then there was the ground I was lying on. It was wet and cold. Too cold for rain. I lifted my hand and saw snow on it, confirming that the white flakes falling around this man were not ashes or a delusion but snow.
Since when had it snowed in Phoenix? Well, there had been trace snowfall occasionally, but usually in the foothills. Though I lived near there, so maybe this was a freak storm that theweathermen had missed completely. But that didn’t explain the jolly green giant. Though, was he jolly?
“Are you an elf?”
He snarled. “I’m no elf. Faithless little bastards. I’m an orc.”
I struggled to a sitting position. “Elves are wonderful little creatures. They help Santa make toys for kids. Well, unless you believe in the Lord of the Rings elves, then they’re more warlike, but they’re big on saving the planet and stuff. And aren’t orcs bloodthirsty bad guys?”
His baffled look was a familiar one. Most people didn’t follow my babbling when I got nervous. I sighed. “Sorry. I’m Jules Morgan. And you are?”
“Sinteklas. And orcs are bloodthirsty. We’re fierce warriors, prized for our skill in battle.” Yet he didn’t sound proud, only bitter for some reason. Then his name sunk in.
“You’re Santa Claus?” I shrieked. He was real? Oh my God. I had always wondered if he was. When I was a child, I swore I saw him in my living room, before my parents split up and I learned life was no fairytale, but this was proof. Maybe.
He backed up a bit, sitting on his heels, looking at me like I was ready for the psych ward. “Who is this Santa Claus? I’m not Sinteklas. My clan calls me Klas. Have you hit your head on something?”
He leaned forward and touched my head, gently feeling for a bump on the back of my skull. His fingers were so big they could cup my head easily, break my neck even, yet he was careful as he checked me for an injury, his fingers sliding down my neck.
“I’m fine. My car broke down and I was walking back to the gas station to call AAA for a tow when this fog came out of nowhere. I got really tired and fell asleep. It was weird.”
He sat back and cocked his head at me, still looking a bit disgruntled, as if I interrupted his day or night, since it wasn’tvery bright out. Wait, hadn’t it been night when I was headed home?
“You came through a portal, lass.”
“A what now?” I had watched that Scottish show with the sexy highlander, but that involved stones. I don’t remember any standing stones around me.
“A portal. A doorway between worlds. It allows us to move between worlds, if you can control it.”
“So you can send me back?”
He frowned. “Not without a fae, and they demand a high price, usually more than anyone can afford. And they rarely help anyone, if you can even find out. They’ve been banned from our world, unless they’re working with the king. No one can oppose the king.”
I sagged back on the ground, my shoulders slumping. “So how do I get back? Can you bring me to the king?”
“Absolutely not. I will bring you to my clan. They will help you.”
He stood and held out a hand to me to help me up. I gratefully took it and let out a shiver. My elf costume was no protection for the cold and it was now soaked from sitting in the snow. The wind blew through the trees, making it feel even colder. I hugged myself, trying to get warm, and he narrowed his gaze. He pulled off his cape and settled it over my shoulders. The warmth of the fur heavenly. I wanted to protest the use of fur. The whole cruelty to animals thing. But I was freezing and what was done was done and I needed it. I drew the edges over me and sighed with happiness.
Then I spied his vehicle. Well, it was less a vehicle and more a sleigh drawn by two horses. “Are you sure you’re not Santa Claus?”
Sinteklas
Idon’t know who this Santa Claus was but her constant asking for him was disturbing. Maybe he was her mate, but I didn’t see any mating signs. Humans didn’t have any outwards signs of mating like orcs or shifters and I didn’t scent any male on her. So he may have been gone a long time. She may have left their home looking for him. He may have been a soldier, conscripted like so many of us, in the usurper king’s army and sent as mercenaries to battles far away to fill his coffers.
But she mentioned falling through a portal. He may have been from her world, so she would need to return to her world to find him. That path was lost to her. Few ever returned through a portal once they came through. Finding a Traveler Fae to help you through a portal was nigh impossible and, when you did, most couldn’t afford their fee. And if you could, there was no guarantee they could bring you back to where you left andwhenyou left. Time and space were an odd construct. I spent time with a Traveler Fae once when I was in the military. Talking with him gave me a headache worse than any amount of ale.
She was stuck here, addled wits and all. Now to see if one of our orcs in the clan, or one of the minotaurs, could be her mate. A female alone needed a protector in this world. She would have her pick of males once she accepted her fate. Would she let go of this Santa Claus male or cling to that male?
She was quiet during the ride back to the clan, for which I was grateful. There was nothing I hated more than a chattering magpie. Annoying. Finally, the village was in sight and the sentries waved to me, their mouths dropping in shock when they saw the female next to me. I could imagine they wanted to abandon their posts, with females being so rare, but with the war going on in the nearby Orc kingdom, they needed to maintain their posts in case of attack. It wouldn’t be the first time they were attacked.
I pulled up in front of one of the huts. Kharag came out, one of the older orcs and leaders of the clan. He was mated to a human, Olivia, and a minotaur. Unusual to have a triad, but it created strong ties with the local herd and it worked for them. They had a child on the way and I wondered if it would be orc or minotaur. Human DNA added some traits to a child born of a mating with an orc or minotaur, but very little. Most children had the appearance of the father—orc or minotaur. I wondered who the father was and if it would cause issues in the mating.
“Ho, Klas. What do you have here?”
“I found a female on the road. She is cold and in need of clothes and a home.”
Kharag raised an eyebrow. “What about you?”
