Falling for Kindred Claus: A Kindred Tales Novel (Brides of the Kindred) Read online

  Falling for Kindred Claus

  A Kindred tales

  Christmas novel

  Evangeline Anderson

  .

  * * * * *

  PUBLISHED BY:

  Evangeline Anderson

  Brides of the Kindred

  Copyright © 2019 by Evangeline Anderson

  License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com or Amazon.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.

  *Cover content is for illustrative purposes only. Any person depicted on the cover is a model*

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  Dedication:

  This one is for my awesome friend and assistant Laura, who gave me the idea for this Christmas novel while we were sweating in the park in 95 degree heat watching our kids go crazy. Laura, thanks for all you do--we are a team and I couldn't manage without you!

  Hugs,

  Evangeline

  Author’s Note: Though I have tried to handle it in a delicate way, readers with a past history of domestic abuse may find parts of this book disturbing. Sadly, all of the situations my heroine encounters are taken from true accounts of abused women. If you are in an abusive situation, please seek help.

  In the US you can visit the National Domestic Abuse Hotline online or, if you’re afraid your computer is being monitored, call 1-800-799-7233

  If you are in the UK, you can call the Freephone 24 Hour National Domestic Violence Helpline at 0808-2000-247

  Also by Evangeline Anderson

  Brides of the Kindred series (Sci-fi /Action-Adventure /Romance)

  Claimed (Also available in Audio)

  Hunted (Also available in Audio)

  Sought (Also Available in Audio)

  Found (Also Available in Audio )

  Revealed (Also Available in Audio)

  Pursued (Also Available in Audio)

  Exiled (Also Available in Audio)

  Shadowed (Also Available in Audio)

  Chained (Also Available in Audio)

  Divided (Also Available in Audio)

  Devoured (Also Available in Audio)

  Enhanced (Also Available in Audio)

  Cursed (Also Available in Audio)

  Enslaved (Coming soon to Audio)

  Targeted

  Forgotten

  Switched

  Uncharted

  Unbound

  Surrendered

  Vanished

  Imprisoned

  Twisted

  Deceived

  Kindred Tales series (side stories in the Brides of the Kindred which are outside the main story arc. These can be read as STAND ALONE novels.)

  Mastering the Mistress (Also available in Audio)

  Bonding with the Beast (Also available in Audio)

  Seeing with the Heart (Also available in Audio)

  Freeing the Prisoner (Also available in Audio)

  Healing the Broken (a Kindred Christmas novel) (Also available in Audio)

  Taming the Giant (Also available in Audio)

  Bridging the Distance (Also available in Audio)

  Loving a Stranger (Also available in Audio)

  Finding the Jewel (Also available in Audio)

  Bonded by Accident (Coming soon to Audio)

  Releasing the Dragon

  Sharing a Mate

  Instructing the Novice

  Awakened by the Giant

  Hitting the Target

  Handling the Hybrid

  Trapped in Time

  Time to Heal

  Pairing with the Protector

  Falling for Kindred Claus

  Born to Darkness series (Paranormal/Action-Adventure/Romance)

  Crimson Debt (Also available in Audio)

  Scarlet Heat (Also available in Audio)

  Ruby Shadows (Also available in Audio)

  Cardinal Sins (Coming Soon)

  Dessert (short novella following Scarlet Heat) (Also in Audio)

  Alien Mate Index series (Sci-fi /Action-Adventure /Romance)

  Abducted (Also available in Print and Audio)

  Protected (Also available in Print and Audio)

  Descended (Also available in Print and Audio)

  Severed (Also available in Print and Audio )

  The Cougarville Series

  (Paranormal/Action-Adventure/Romance/)

  (Older woman/Younger Man)

  Buck Naked (Also available in Audio)

  Cougar Bait (Also available in Audio)

  Stone Cold Fox (Also available in Audio)

  Big Bad Wolf (coming soon)

  The Institute series (Daddy-Dom/Age Play Romance)

  The Institute: Daddy Issues(Also available in Audio)

  The Institute: Mishka's Spanking

  The CyBRG Files with Mina Carter

  (Sci-fi /Action-Adventure /Romance)

  Unit 77: Broken

  Unit 78: Bred

  The Swann Sisters Chronicles

  (Contemporary Fairy/Funny/ Fantasy/Romance)

  Wishful Thinking (Also available in Audio)

  Be Careful What You Wish For (Also available in Audio)

  Compendiums and Box Sets

  Brides of the Kindred Volume One

  Contains Claimed, Hunted, Sought and Found

  Brides of the Kindred Volume Two

  Contains Revealed, Pursued, and Exiled

  Brides of the Kindred Volume Three

  Contains Shadowed, Chained, and Divided

  Brides of the Kindred Volume Four

  Contains Devoured, Enhanced, and Cursed

  Brides of the Kindred Volume Five

  Contains Enslaved, Targeted, and Forgotten

  Brides of the Kindred Volume Six

  Contains Switched, Uncharted, and Unbound

  Brides of the Kindred Volume Seven

  Contains Surrendered, Vanished, and Imprisoned

  Kindred Tales Volume One

  Contains Mastering the Mistress, Bonding with the Beast, Seeing with the Heart

  Kindred Tales Volume Two

  Contains Freeing the Prisoner, Healing the Broken, Taming the Giant

  Kindred Tales Volume Three

  Contains Bridging the Distance, Loving a Stranger, Finding the Jewel

  Kindred Tales Volume Four

  Contains Bonded by Accident, Releasing the Dragon, and Sharing a Mate

  Alien Mate Index Volume One

  Contains Abducted, Protected, Descended, and Severed

  Born to Darkness Box Set

  Contains Crimson Debt, Scarlet Heat, and Ruby Shadows

  *One Hot Halloween

  Contains Red and the Wolf, Gypsy Moon, and Taming the Beast

  *Have Yourself a Sexy Little Christmas

  Contains Kidnapped for Christmas, Cougar Christmas, and Seasons's Spankings

  *Bound and Determined

  Contains The Punishment of Nicolett and His Ward

  Stand Alone Novels

  (Sci-fi OR Paranormal Action-Adventure/Romance)

  Purity (Now available in Audio)

  Stress Relief

  The Last Man on Earth

  Anyone U Want

 
Shadow Dreams

  Hunger Moon Rising

  Cougar Christmas

  Planet X (Also available in Audio)

  Deal with the Devil (Also available in Audio)

  The Sacrifice (Also available in Audio)

  Blood Kiss

  Take Two

  The Pleasure Palace

  The Last Man on Earth

  Blind Date with a Vampire

  Eyes Like a Wolf (Foster Brother romance)

  *Defiled

  *Ceremony of Three

  *Str8te Boys (M/M romance)

  * Forever Broken (M/M romance)

  * Red and the Wolf

  *Gypsy Moon

  *The Last Bite (M/M romance)

  *The Assignment (M/M romance)

  *Sex with Strangers

  *A Spanking for Valentine

  *The Covenant

  *Tandem Unit

  * denotes books that are only available at Evangeline's Aliens and Alphas Bookstore

  Naughty Tales (Short Reads to get you Hot and Bothered)

  *Sin Eater

  Confessions of a Lingerie Model

  When Mr. Black Comes Home

  Speeding Ticket

  *Putting on a Show

  YA Novels

  The Academy(Now available in Audio)

  Click HERE to join my audiobook newsletter.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Chapter Thirty-two

  Chapter Thirty-three

  Chapter Thirty-four

  Chapter Thirty-five

  Chapter Thirty-six

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  Chapter Thirty-eight

  Chapter Thirty-nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-one

  Chapter Forty-two

  Chapter Forty-three

  Chapter Forty-four

  Chapter Forty-five

  Chapter Forty-six

  Chapter Forty-seven

  Chapter Forty-eight

  Chapter Forty-nine

  Chapter Fifty

  Sneak Peek at my new series, Nocturne Academy, coming Jan 2020

  Give a Hot Kindred Warrior to a Friend!

  Also by Evangeline Anderson

  About the Author

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  Chapter One

  Asher’s long-range ship made another orbit around the small blue-green planet the Kindred called “Earth” as he waited for his latest mission to come over the viewscreen. He’d been traveling a long time to get here—a weary journey that involved multiple wormholes and folding space, all just to reach this contact.

  He just hoped he wouldn’t have to kill anyone this time.

  Not that he minded the violence but the clean-up was messy and time-consuming. So he preferred not to kill—though he certainly could, in a variety of interesting and efficient ways.

  As a member of the Kindred Elite Espionage Corps, he wore many hats. He was a diplomat, a spy, and when he need be, an assassin. It was a job he was well suited for in temperament—no matter how stressful the situation, he always kept a cool head. In fact, some of his fellow agents had joked that he had ice water in his veins instead of blood—nothing fazed him.

  And he was patient too, but waiting for his contact to call was trying that patience at present.

  He sighed and stared at the viewscreen where the Earth rolled by like a blue-green ball. A rather insignificant planet, he mused, and yet his kinsmen seemed to think it important enough to protect. As the Mother Ship orbiting the planet’s one moon could attest.

  For the life of him, he couldn’t see the attraction—though he had taken the time to learn one of the planet’s main languages—English, for this mission. It was a primitive tongue, unlike his own elegant, flowing native tongue of Talangese—which was rapidly becoming a dead language as his people died out.

  The Tangala Kindred had much in common with the Blood Kindred, of which they were an offshoot. A group of Blood Kindred had settled on Tangala Prime about four generations ago and mated with the native people. Unfortunately, as always happened with Kindred—who had a genetic anomaly which caused their population to be 95% male—they soon didn’t have enough women to continue to thrive.

  In the normal course of events, a male-heavy population could import more females from another race and continue their species. But though the Tangala DNA was compatible with the Kindred’s own genetic material, it was stubbornly unable to mix with any other race—at least any they had found, and they had searched far and wide.

  And so the Tangala Kindred were unable to bond with any woman without a trace of the Tangala genes in her bloodline. Which meant that, as fewer and fewer females were available, the race was dying out.

  Asher had left the planet as a young warrior and never looked back. He had chosen to work in the dangerous Elite Espionage Corps because he knew he would never mate—never find a female who he could call his own. He would forever be denied the Three Signs a Tangala Kindred felt when he met his fated mate—The Strike, The Sight, and the Sound.

  These he had only heard about from his grandfather, who had raised him after his parents died in a shuttle crash. And since females had become so rare in his own generation, he doubted any of his age group would ever experience the Three Signs. They, like his native language, were dying off and would soon be no more.

  Not that he cared, Asher told himself, wondering why he was thinking about this at all. He was, after all, perfectly content with his life. He had no wish to quit the Elite Corps and settle down with a female. His life was perfect just as it was—or it would be if his Goddess-damned contact would ever call him and give him the next mission!

  As if on cue, his viewscreen finally crackled to life and a familiar face appeared.

  “Agent Asher, do you read me?”

  “Here, Agent Drugair.” Asher sat a little straighter in his seat. He was glad to hear the other male’s voice. He hadn’t been certain who his contact was but Drugair was an old friend and they had run several missions together. Asher was a little surprised though—he had thought that the other male had quit the Corps in order to settle on Earth with the Earth female he had found as a bride.

  “Good to hear your voice,” the other male said. “It’s been a long time since we’ve been on a mission together.”

  “Are we going on this one together, then?” Asher asked, frowning. “Word around the Corps was that you’d retired when you Claimed your bride.”

  Which, he privately thought, was a miracle in and of itself.

  Dru was a rare Drake Kindred and kept a huge beast of fire and smoke locked within himself—what humans called a “dragon.” Apparently on Earth he was able to let the creature out from time to time and, even more surprising, his new bride approved of it. Asher supposed that was reason enough for his old friend to retire and settle down—it would be a rare female who would not only accept but welcome the beast inside him.

  The irony that his friend, with such a serious impediment to mating, had been able to find a female he could b
ond with while Asher himself, who had no such baggage, had no chance at the same happiness wasn’t lost on him. Yet, he didn’t begrudge Dru his good luck—even though he knew that he was never destined to have any such luck himself.

  “I’m only semi-retired,” his old friend informed him. “I’m coordinating missions for the Corps from Earth, though I’m on the Mother Ship at the moment. But I have the details of your next assignment.”

  “Let’s hear it,” Asher said neutrally. Time was when getting a new assignment would set his heart racing and his blood pumping but now, after so many years in the Corps, he was simply doing his job. Not that he didn’t enjoy his work, but it didn’t hold the same excitement it once had.

  “Unfortunately, I can’t tell you much,” Dru said, frowning from the viewscreen. “This is an encrypted channel but we’re not sure how long the encryption will hold. For the sake of caution, I can only give you the coordinates of your rendezvous down on Earth and let you know that you’ll be meeting another agent there. They will have the exact details of your mission.”

  “Can you tell me anything about this other agent? Is it a male or a female?” Asher asked, frowning. “How am I supposed to know who they are?”

  “Just be at the exact coordinates,” Dru said. “The agent you meet will be wearing Earth holiday garb—that will be your sign.”

  “Earth holiday garb? What Earth holiday?” Asher asked, bewildered.

  “This particular holiday is called ‘Christmas,’” Dru told him. “I am new to it myself—this being my first time celebrating with my new bride here on Earth—but it appears to be a peculiar blend of devout religion and rampant greed.”

  “What? What kind of religion celebrates greed?” Asher demanded.

  “I believe it is called ‘Capitalism’,” Dru said, frowning. “Forgive me, I am still new to the holiday myself, as I told you. Anyway, the Earth people wear red and green and give each other gifts wrapped in brightly colored paper. They also put a special kind of tree in the center of their domicile and decorate it with shiny baubles.”