Page 8 of The Alien Reindeer's Bounty
Mads couldn’t recall the last time his uncle laughed.
His father said it was unnatural, like fucking the family pet. He called Karl a pervert and they argued.
Then Shelly vanished. No one discussed what happened or where she went but Karl never took another mate.
Bonding with a human must be possible, no matter what his father claimed.
Could he feel her now?
Mads ran his tongue over his lips, savoring the taste.
He should not have given in to temptation and kissed her but could not find it in himself to regret those actions. Let his father scream about perversion. Let his uncle frown with concern and disapproval. What could they do, send him away as punishment?
Tomorrow, he would journey to Reilen. He did not want to go but he could see no way around his obligations. He’d return to Odessa when fate allowed.
Mads wanted to shout with frustration. Problems were simpler in his four-legged form. He’d gore his adversary with his antlers. Problem solved. This was more complex. Obligations pulled him back to the planet of his birth and he had yet to reach the age of adulthood in the eyes of Reilen and thus still subjected to his father’s whims. Brute force could not resolve those issues.
When Mads returned to the cabin he shared with his father, Arne stood in the driveway, arms folded over his chest and a disapproving frown on his face. “So, you came back. I expected you to run away and hide like a coward.”
Mads’ hand curled into a fist, but he kept his expression blank. Brute force would not work against his father, who had years of training and experience in the art of violence. Understanding and compassion wouldn’t solve his problems, either. Only patience to wait out his exile would succeed.
“Was hiding really an option?” Arne would hunt Mads down and wouldn’t rest until he found his wayward progeny. Mads suspected that his father would have merely beaten him and not killed him for the hassle, but he did not wish to take that risk. Arne had a temper and little control.
How many nights had Arne drank too much and stumbled into Mads’ bedroom, his fetid breath wafting over the sleeping child, and whisper that if Mads stepped out of line, he would kill his own son? Too many to count. The declining birth rate meant that every reilendeer child should be considered a precious commodity—precious to everyone but Arne—and a suspicious death, even one on a far-flung primitive planet, would be investigated. If Mads obeyed, Arne would not end him.
That was the nature of his relationship with his father.
A faint shimmer in his peripheral vision informed him that a craft had landed on the lawn. Human tech had yet to attain the necessary levels of advancement to track spacecraft entering and leaving the atmosphere and cloaking technology kept the ships hidden in plain sight.
Soldiers with bored expressions milled about the lawn.
“Where is Uncle Karl?”
“He refuses to leave,” Arne said with a sneer.
Years ago, Karl had been sent to Earth to research a cure for the hormonal abnormalities plaguing the reilendeer. Only a few days ago did they learn that Karl’s research had been declared a dead end and the scientist, along with Arne who provided security, were ordered to return to Reilen. Karl had been more devastated at the news than Mads.
Arne cocked his head to one side and narrowed his eyes at Mads. “Something’s different about you, whelp.”
Mads held his breath. Impossible. A mate bond would be undetectable at this early stage, even if forming a bond with a human was possible. Which it was not. Everyone agreed.
“You stink of that female. Couldn’t stay away, could you?” Arne stepped closer, crowding Mads, almost challenging him to back away.
“I wanted to say farewell.” Mads refused to surrender to the old bull, even if Arne was his sire. His peculiar Uncle Karl cared more for Mads than Arne ever did. Odessa’s father had been more of a father-figure than this bully of a male.
“Farewell? You do not wish a fond farewell to lesser beings. She’s barely one step above a beast. I guarantee she will have forgotten about you the moment we break orbit,” Arne said with a sneer.
Rage burned in Mads. He refused to believe Arne’s spiteful words. “That’s not true.”
Arne leaned in, his breath medicinal from mouthwash. He must not have drunk any booze that day, knowing Reilen authorities would frown on chemical dependency, and his temper was worse for it. “Did you fuck her? Are you a pervert? Is that why her stink is on you?”
“I wouldn’t,” Mads said, knowing full well that he would if he thought he could get away with it.
Arne’s open palm hit him on the cheek, stinging sharply. “That is the last lie you get to tell. Understand, whelp?”
Mads lifted his chin, refusing to show pain or fear. In a few years, he would reach his majority and have the legal rights of an adult, then he’d never have to speak to Arne again. The old bull could drink himself to death and Mads would not lose a minute’s peace.
“What does it matter? Reilendeer can’t bond with a lesser being,” Mads said.
