Claus (Vaxxlian Alien Mail Order Brides #7)

Chapter 19

Each time the virus came close to infecting his cruiser, Claus forced a mutation on it that his computer systems already recognized as a threat. Five minutes didn’t give him long. But he hoped to not only keep Aubrey and the boys safe, but to save the house as well.

Even though they planned to depart for New Vaxx in less than two days, if there was a way to salvage Christmas, he wanted to try. He wanted the boys to wake up tomorrow morning, rush downstairs, and find piles of presents under the tree. Their last Christmas in this house. The Christmas that Aubrey had worked so hard to give them.

From his peripheral vision, he saw Aubrey rushing the boys downstairs and toward the back door. Thankfully, there were only a few soldiers standing outside the shield in the backyard, but they didn’t possess any weapons that could penetrate the shield. He suspected they were holding position until the virus managed to take the shield down, though Claus was determined to keep that from happening.

With one hand, he worked to keep causing mutation after mutation in the virus. With his other hand, he pulled up his cruiser’s weapon controls. A glance at the live feed of the backyard showed Aubrey had reached his ship. He caused the entrance to shimmer so she wouldn’t have any trouble boarding. Relief coursed through him once the hatch had closed behind them.

His family was safe. For now.

He sent up a quick prayer to the Star God, asking his people’s deity to watch over his soon-to-be mate and her nephews.

Weapons system online . It was about fluxxing time. His hand flew over the controls as he aimed a curving red beam of lethal energy to the closest tank, the one he suspected contained the Drexsillan technology. He watched the live feed as the red beam struck the tank and Pete jumped onto the front porch and covered his head. The tank blew to pieces.

A satisfied growl left Claus. But his growl soon turned to one of outrage when the virus’s attack continued. Fluxx . He must’ve destroyed the wrong tank. As he continued his defensive work, he slowly backed up and headed for the door Aubrey and the children had just used.

As he stepped outside, he sent a red beam to the remaining tank. The deafening blast hurt his ears, but he roared his victory once again. Bloodlust burned in his veins. He wanted to board his cruiser and join Aubrey and the boys, but he also wanted to hunt Pete down and give the repulsive human male the brutally painful death he deserved. Claus’s lust for vengeance warred with his longing to hold his female in his arms.

In the end, he boarded his ship. He could not let Aubrey down. He might not be able to terminate Pete with his own hands, but he could still take the human male out. As soon as Pete hurried off the porch and tried to flee, Claus sent a third sweeping red beam to hit the man.

Though beating Aubrey’s ex to death would’ve been more rewarding, it was still gratifying to watch the human male splatter in the grass, turning into a charred mass.

Claus rushed onto his cruiser, then called out a verbal command to close and lock the hatch. As he ran down the corridor to the bridge where he assumed Aubrey and the boys would be waiting, he verified that the virus was no more. He focused his final efforts on taking out the soldiers who were fleeing on foot, those who’d been standing near the backyard foolishly waiting for the shield to be breached.

“Claus!” Wyatt shouted with joy. “It’s Claus! Look, you guys, he’s okay!”

“Oh, thank God.” Aubrey rushed to his side, and he gave her a brief smile, though he couldn’t give her his full attention yet because he had a few more soldiers to vanquish.

“The danger is over, boys,” he said, hoping they weren’t too scared. They were rather young to be in the midst of their first battle, but a quick glance at their faces showed they were holding up well enough. Finn was no longer crying, and all three seemed fascinated by the control panel Claus had projected from his wrist comm.

Deciding it would be easier to finish the job using the bridge’s controls, as his fingers could fly more quickly over the screens he was accustomed to sitting at, he sank down in the captain’s chair and commenced annihilating the fleeing soldiers one by one. The boys moved closer, and Aubrey came to stand behind them.

“Is the danger truly over?” she asked in a shocked whisper.

“Yes,” Claus said with certainty. “It is over.” Even as he’d worked to mutate the virus, destroy the tanks, and turn Pete into a mass of charred flesh, he’d been scanning McHenry and the surrounding areas for signs of more tanks, soldiers, and alien ships.

The nearest Drexsillan ship he managed to locate was detained at a United States military base over two hundred miles away. Though the Drexsillans who’d befriended Pete had likely come from the detained ship, it wouldn’t be going anywhere in the near future. Not without a fleet of American warships giving chase.

Claus targeted the remaining soldiers and watched as they joined Pete’s fate. Then he conducted several more scans just to be safe. He located the dozens of tanks that had rolled through McHenry the other day, finding them near the same town to the north that had been overrun by raiders recently. Good. They were too far away to pose any threat.

He sat back in his seat and took a deep breath for the first time since the warning blast had struck the shield.

“Aunt Aubrey, was that guy with the megaphone Pete?” Marcus asked. “The guy you almost married? It looked kinda like him. Mommy said he was an ass. She told us he was the mayor and that you almost married him and that we should never trust him.”

“Yes, Marcus, dear. That was Pete, and your mommy was right. Total ass, that guy.” Aubrey paled further and started trembling.

Consumed with the urgency to hold his female, Claus stood and moved to Aubrey’s side. He wrapped her in a huge hug, and as he held her, her trembling gradually lessened. She laced her arms around his waist and hugged him back, burying her face in his chest. She wasn’t crying, but he sensed her immense relief as the fear fled her system.

“All is well, sweet human. We’re all safe.” He pressed a kiss atop her head. “We’re all safe. I promise.”

“Thank you,” she said in Vaxxlian, clearly not wanting the children to comprehend what she was going to say next. “I’m so sorry about Pete. So sorry I brought that danger to us. I feel like such an idiot. I never told you this, but he called me the other day and offered me a one-time only in-person interpreter job. I refused the job and suggested one of my former colleagues instead, but that pissed him off and I ended up hanging up on him. I didn’t think anything of it… until now. Holy shit, I’m sorry.”

Claus rubbed her back. “You could’ve never guessed the level of Pete’s scheming, Aubrey. Please do not feel guilty. I did not see him as a real threat either. If I had believed him to be a true danger to our family, I would have killed him that night when he showed up on your doorstep. All that matters is he’s gone, his comrades are gone, and you are safe. The boys are safe. Tomorrow is Christmas, and you and the boys will enjoy one last holiday in your childhood home.”

She withdrew slightly from his embrace and peered up at him with tears in her eyes. “Oh, Claus. I think I’m falling in love with you.”

His heart soared with elation. “And I am falling in love with you, sweet human.” He nuzzled his nose to hers. Then he noticed the children moving closer, clearly in need of comfort. He reached out for the boys, then switched to English to say, “Group hug!”