Page 17 of The Alien Reindeer's Bounty
Not the reaction he expected.
“Mommy? Can we?” The red-headed calf tugged on her hand.
“Sorry, what did you say?” Odessa asked.
“Can we have hamburgers with Grandpa?”
“We have veggie lasagna at home.”
The calf made a face. “Please. I’ll pick up all the toys in my room before bedtime.”
“Sure. Sounds good,” Odessa said, her gaze fixed on him.
“Grandpa! She said yes!” The calf took off toward an older male, who Mads recognized as Gerald Muller.
He approached, heart pounding in his chest. He had not planned on this encounter, but he would seize the opportunity, even if he did not know what to say. Much had changed on Earth—and yet so much remained the same—and he had yet to review the media Karl sent him. Being a primitive planet—so the sentiment on Reilen claimed—Earth was ignored in the media. No one cared what the inhabitants of the faraway planet got up to, what wars they waged, or what advances they made.
“What do you want, Sommerfeldt?”
He resisted the urge to wince at the assumed name. Soon he would teach her how to pronounce his true name.
“Right to the point. I always liked that about you,” he said, an easy smile stretching across his face. He didn’t have to fake it or dig down to find the emotion. It was right there on the surface, free and easy, as it always was with Odessa. “Your daughter?”
“Ruby,” she said.
“Really?”
Odessa rolled her eyes. “I didn’t know she was going to have all that hair. She arrived with dark hair but that fell out. When it grew back, it was red.”
“Super red.”
“So red,” she agreed with a smile and it was like the absence never happened. As quickly as it came, the smile vanished and the scowl returned. “You’re back.”
“Have been for a couple of days,” he said. Karl had rented a domicile for him and he spent the first day in his four-legged form as he adjusted to the intensity of Earth.
“Plan on sticking around?”
“I never intend to leave.” His fingers flexed, wanting to reach for his mate and pull her close. “I never wanted to leave.”
She jammed her hands into her coat pockets and watched him with cautious eyes, almost waiting. For what, he couldn’t say.
“Mommy, we’re ready,” Ruby shouted across the lot. Gerald lifted a tree into the back of a truck.
“That’s my cue,” Odessa said.
“Have dinner with me tomorrow.”
“Pardon?”
“To catch up. Dinner. Coffee. Anything.”
She gave him a measured look, starting at his face, sweeping down and then back up again. Did she find him physically attractive? Her blown pupils confirmed that she did. Was there another male? Despite her not having the scent of another male on her, this idea stoked jealousy within his heart.
“No,” she said, leaving him to join her family.
Chapter 6
Mads
