Page 11 of There’s an Alien Down My Chimney

She let out a squeak when I picked her up, cradling her to my chest, and breaking out into a quick trot. “Ru! What the hell?” she said, and I took that to mean that I’d startled her and she wasn’t entirely pleased with the treatment, so I smiled down at her in my best forgive-me-smile, the one that had always worked on my stern-faced mother.

It worked on her too because she giggled, patting my chest, “Fine, I suppose this is faster.” Then she curled her arms around my neck, reached up one hand, and did the most unexpected thing I’d ever experienced. She trailed her fingers along one of my badly misshapen horns with a soft sigh, “These are just soooooo pretty,” she drawled.

I stumbled to a stop on the porch of the cabin, staring down at her sincere expression full of astonishment and wonder. Then I remembered that she had never seen a Kertinal before, she didn’t even know how misshapen my horns were, with their disfiguring prongs and strange bents. I was a little unsure whether I should still feel happy that she liked them or not.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, “Did I say something offensive? Am I not supposed to talk about your antlers?” Her words drove home once more that she didn’t know that they were misshapen, she thought they were antlers, not horns. She looked genuinely concerned, her eyes getting more frantic as they scanned my face the longer I said nothing.

Wetting my lips, I shouldered open the door to the cabin, where the small room was still markedly warmer despite the lack of a fire. “Nothing wrong, just… Well... they’re not antlers,” I explained while I set her on her feet. “Go light the fire, I’ll make the warm drink.” Surely a good hit of that divine warm drink would make me feel better about this situation. I shouldn’t be feeling insecure about my damn horns out here, Stella liked me, she liked how I looked, that should be enough.

She looked at me with concern but stomped out of her snow-crusted boots to do as I’d suggested. I did the same before heading into the kitchen, focusing my attention on how to make the drink, two scoops of the dark stuff and two scoops of the white stuff; I wasn’t about to forget the sugar this time around.

“If they’re not antlers… Are they horns?” she asked, her tone casual when she looked over her shoulder at me. She was kneeling in front of the fireplace, carefully stirring up the dying embers in it and feeding them new wood chips. I liked how she looked, in just a sweater and shapely leggings, with her skin looking so soft and pink. A Kertinal female was all rough angles, hardened from years of training and military service just like the males. While Stella had served, she hadn’t become hardened, and I loved how soft she was when I held her in my arms.

“Yes, horns,” I said, “They’re supposed to be straight and rise up from my forehead… Mine are just… Well, deformed.” I spun around quickly and focused on stirring the two different powders into the white liquid on the stove, hiding my face from her. Or rather, not wanting to see what she thought when I admitted that.

I knew Stella wouldn’t mind, that she was a kind female who would still like me. She’d taken all my differences, all the problems I’d brought to her doorstep, in stride so far, this wouldn’t be any different. And yet… I still couldn’t bear the thought of seeing a similar expression on her face as that of many of the females I’d been with over the years. A curiosity and pity combined, good enough to fuck, but never good enough to take home.

Ar’tax would have been scolding me for being an idiot right now if he were here. My brother and pilot had been the only Kertinal I knew that had never seen my differences as anything special. So I had split horns and his were beautiful and straight, what did it matter? As long as we could fly together.

A soft hand pressed against the small of my back and my tail lashed wildly in response, startled that I’d lost myself in my thoughts so deeply that I hadn’t heard her approach. “Ru,” she said softly, “You know I think your horns are sexy as fuck right?” It was probably the best thing she could have said, it made me laugh and it made me instantly believe her.

Turning around, I picked her up and plunked her butt down on the counter next to the stove. “I didn’t know, but I do now,” I said. Nuzzling at her hair, I pressed a kiss to her temple. The air was filling with the sweet scent of the drink, so I turned off the stove and filled up two mugs, proudly holding out one to her. “I think I finally got it right this time.”

She sipped cautiously at first, then she broke out in a smile and nodded, “Yup, you definitely did.” While she sipped her drink I explained my horns to her, and the stupid reddish color of my mouth, which had also been a frequent topic my childhood bullies had addressed.

She watched me with wide eyes as I did so, and while I watched vigilantly for any sign of pity, that never appeared. She seemed a little angry and upset instead, “What bullshit, your species is super advanced, you conquered flying through space, and translators and all that! And you still have schoolyard bullies? Bah… I hate it.”

Laughing at her response, I tugged on a strand of her short, flighty hair. “I doubt that will ever change, but I’m okay. I learned how to throw a mean punch and then they never bothered me again, I promise.”

She nodded, “Oh, yeah, that was my grandpa's solution to school bullies too. Just show them who’s boss. Then he’d say in the next breath that violence was never the answer and that he couldn’t condone it.” She laughed while I stared at her in confusion, the two statements clearly contradicted each other but it looked like a good memory to her.

Chapter 8

Stella

I struggled to comprehend that Ru would consider himself anything but a fine specimen of his species. He had a perfectly straight nose, shiny white teeth with some extra sharp canines, his jawline was chiseled to perfection, and his lips were soft and lush. Some of his features were rather alien, like the texture of his skin and the porcelain cracks of red that crisscrossed him in a delicate pattern, but those just made me want to lick him all over.

The horns, which were clearly his most sensitive subject, looked like a proud set of antlers to me, with a dark gray bone-like texture. Honestly, they made him look mysterious and a little wild and that was really appealing.

When I reached up to trail a finger along one of those horns, he let me, his deep red eyes focused on my face with complete attention. “I really do like them Ru, I don’t care what the rest of your species thinks, they’re idiots.” I kissed him on his smiling mouth, enjoying the taste of the hot cocoa, of spice and heat.

“Good, now enough talking,” he ordered, and his hands came around me, caging me against the kitchen counter. With a hip, he nudged my legs apart, and then his warm bulk was between them, spreading my thighs wide, yanking me to the edge of the counter so his erection rode against the seam of my pants. “I really, really need you right now,” he said, followed by a deep groan as he rolled his hips against mine.

Pleasure zinged up my spine and danced through my bloodstream, as his cock pressed just right against my clit. We had far too many layers between us, but his mouth was nibbling on my neck, the sweater pulled aside to give him access; it felt so good.

He rumbled against me as he nibbled and licked, his hips surging against me until I was sure I was going to come apart just like this. I was vibrating with excitement from the sensations he evoked. No, that wasn’t me, that was the phone in my back pocket… Dazed and a bit confused, I pulled back while I tried to comprehend what was going on.

Then I pushed against his chest, cursing out loud as I struggled to free the phone from my damn pocket. Terrible timing this, but I couldn’t let this call go unanswered, if Daria thought I was in trouble, she’d sent the troops and we didn’t need that. Ru made a muffled sound when I pushed him away a second time, twisting around and finally yanking the throwaway phone from my pocket.

I had no time to explain as I pressed the answer button and held the phone to my ear a little breathlessly. I must have hit him in the mouth that last time because he was rubbing the back of his hand over it with a confused and slightly disgruntled expression. The Santa hat was somehow still on his head too, making him look adorable and Christmassy, and so alien.

“Hello?” I panted into the phone, reaching out to cup Ru’s chin with an apology on my face. He was shaking his head, smirking a little now, and within seconds he’d made a place for himself between my legs again. I was instantly worried that he was going to try his very best to distract me while I talked to my friend.

“Ooooh,” Daria drawled into my ear, “Where you up to naughty things with the sexy alien visitor?” I groaned, trying to sound annoyed with her teasing, not turned on when Ru shamelessly reached out and slid his hands up my sweater. Boldly he cupped my breasts and started rolling my nipples between his thumb and forefinger, his eyes on my face the entire time while he grinned.

“Just cut to the chase Dar, did you get anything? Things are heating up out here so we need to hurry,” I winced at my choice of words and then had to bite down hard on my bottom lip when he pressed his hips forward and ground that big erection of his against my mons. Shit, I had already been so close moments earlier. No way was I going to come while on the phone with my friend.

Daria was laughing in my ear, but Ru’s eyes had turned heated, his hair brushing along my cheek when he leaned in and started nibbling on my earlobe. “I got the goods, Pike is near you, so I sent him the maps of the facility, he’ll drop them on your porch in a couple of hours probably.” Pike had gotten out at the same time I had, he’d worked as a sniper stationed at the same base I’d been, and we’d always been good friends. If I was a bit of a loner nowadays, Pike was practically a hermit, so I doubted I’d even see his face.