Guided by the Giant: a Kindred Tales novel

1. Molly

“So what did you do this weekend? Anything special?”

Molly Byrne looked up to see her coworker, Lana, hanging over the top of her cubical divider with a grin on her face.

“Well…” she began.

“Because Strikes Hard and Speaks Gently and I went down to Earth and saw that new action movie—the one about the guy who wears a monkey mask and beats everyone up? You know?” Lana had a habit of ending every other sentence like it was a question but she was so sweet and bubbly that Molly could never be annoyed with her.

“It sounds exciting,” she said, smiling at her coworker.

“It was! The boys loved it!” Lana always referred to her Twin Kindred husbands this way, though both of them were seven feet tall and quite muscular. There was nothing boyish about them, but they didn’t seem to mind what she called them—they were both head-over-heels in love with the petite brunette.

Molly smiled again, trying not to be jealous. She had seen the way Lana’s Twin Kindred husbands treated her—they were kind and caring and protective and loving—basically everything a man should be and Lana had it times two. It was hard not to be jealous when Molly considered the situation she’d had with her own husband before she’d divorced him.

Thank goodness I finally got away from him! The thought brought a burst of relief with it. Her ex, Zach Wyndam, was actually a famous software designer who had made a lot of money with his specialty apps and video games. He was also a malignant narcissist who had made her life a living hell.

A man like Zach cast a long shadow and Molly had tried numerous times to get out from under it. But after five long years of running, she had finally found a place he couldn’t reach her.

The Kindred Mother Ship, where she now lived and worked, wasn’t open to the public. In fact, it was very difficult to gain access to the huge white ship that orbited the Moon without special permission unless you lived there and the Kindred didn’t take bribes. They didn’t care how much wealth or power someone had, if they didn’t have official business they weren’t allowed to come up.

So Zach couldn’t come find her. In fact, he didn’t even know where she was. As far as her nasty ex was concerned, Molly had disappeared off the face of the Earth—literally.

I’m free of him now. I can breathe—I can relax, Molly told herself. I can?—

“Hello, Molly? Are you in there?” Lana snapped her fingers in front of Molly’s face.

“Oh, sorry—I must have drifted off. What were you saying?”

“Somebody needs a cup of coffee to wake up this morning, doesn’t she?” Lana asked, laughing. “I was saying, why don’t you come with me and the boys next time? We’d love to have you.”

“Oh, no…I don’t want to be a third wheel,” Molly protested. “Or I guess a fourth wheel, since you’re married to Twin Kindred.”

“Oh please, you wouldn’t be!” Lana promised. “Why don’t you let me set you up with one of Speaks Gently’s friends?” she asked. “He works in the Communications Department so he knows everyone—you know? And it doesn’t have to be Twin Kindred, if you’re not into them. I know not every girl can handle two at once!” She giggled, her cheeks turning bright red. “Thank goodness for Bonding Fruit, right?”

“Thanks, but I don’t think so.” Molly shook her head. “You know I had a really bad marriage and honestly, I’m just not ready to date anyone yet.” Or ever again, whispered a little voice in her head.

The truth was she’d been burned so badly by Zach, she didn’t know if she’d ever be able to trust a man again. Of course, the Kindred were supposed to be different. The huge, muscular alien warriors who had rescued Earth from a hostile extraterrestrial invasion over ten years ago were protectors of women. They even worshipped a Goddess and claimed that every woman had a divine spark inside her which was worthy of devotion and protection.

It all sounded really nice—and it looked nice too, at least when Molly walked around the Mother Ship and saw all the Kindred warriors and their wives. But still, her battered heart wasn’t willing to trust again—she didn’t know if it ever would be. After all the abuse and gaslighting Zach had put her through and the awful things he’d done even after the divorce, she didn’t think she could ever let herself be vulnerable with any man again—even a Kindred.

“Oh wait—I know who we should bring for you when we go on our date!” Lana went on, still planning the double (quintuple?) date. “We ought to invite Commander Torus!”

“Our boss? Are you crazy?” Molly exclaimed.

Lana shrugged and gave her a cheeky smile.

“Why not? I’ve seen the way you look at him.”

“I don’t look at him that way—or any way,” Molly protested. “He’s our boss.” She could feel her cheeks getting hot with an unwanted blush. Since she was an extremely pale redhead—well, pale except for the freckles she had literally all over her body—her embarrassment showed easily.

“So what? He’s single, isn’t he?” Lana demanded. “Though I admit, he’d be a handful and a half. Who knew there were even bigger Kindred than the regular ones out there?”

She was referring to the fact that Commander Torus was a Jorgen Kindred. The Jorgen Kindred—more commonly called the “Giant Kindred—” were a branch of the Kindred family tree that had left centuries ago to mate with a group of extremely large people on another planet.

Because of that gene trade—as the Kindred called it when they mated with a new species—the descendants of that first group were even larger than the average Kindred warrior. Most regular Kindred were around seven feet tall but the Giant Kindred were rarely less than nine feet tall and extremely muscular.

Recently, a squadron of Giant Kindred had re-established contact with the main group and a number of them had moved to the Mother Ship. Commander Torus was one of those—his slate-grey skin and enormous height made him an extremely intimidating figure.

But he was also a very good boss, Molly thought. He never shouted or raised his voice or tried to belittle any of the workers that were under him. His chiseled features and silver-grey eyes were always calm and impartial—he might even be called stoic, she supposed.

Most of the girls in their department seemed to think his impassive demeanor made their huge boss unapproachable. They whispered about how “scary” he was. A few of the single ones, however, had taken his glacial calm as a challenge. Karen Geners, for instance, had been throwing herself at him at every opportunity for weeks.

Karen was a slinky blonde with a Barbie-doll shape who had gotten her job at the Mother Ship through a friend who was already mated to one of the huge warriors. She was always wearing low cut blouses and tight skirts and making excuses to drop something in front of their boss so she could bend down and pick it up while her boobs practically fell out of her top.

So far, however, her efforts seemed to be in vain. Commander Torus paid exactly as much attention to her as he did to everyone else working under him. He never gave any of the women working for him in the Mother Ship Information Department special attention. Though once or twice Molly had felt like someone was watching her and had turned around to see him staring in her direction.

But as soon as she looked, it seemed her boss was concentrating on something or someone else, right over her shoulder. Or else he would just look away entirely. So she was certain she must be mistaken about him staring at her. After all, why would he look at a pasty, freckled redhead like her with way too much junk in the trunk when he could have perfect Barbie-doll Karen Geners any time he wanted?

Molly thought she had an okay face—she had big hazel eyes with long lashes and a cute nose. Her long, flame-red hair was probably her best feature. It fell in thick waves almost to her waist when she let it down—which she seldom did, preferring to keep it in a bun at the back of her neck. But there was no denying she was curvy verging on plus sized and not many guys liked that. Especially when all that extra weight was covered in freckles.

Because Molly had freckles everywhere—not just a cute smattering across her nose. She had them all over her face and all over her body—she even had freckles on her armpits and between her toes! Not many guys were freckle-freaks and chubby-chasers at the same time.

Zach said he liked the way you looked, whispered a little voice in her head. Until he suddenly didn’t anymore. When he?—

Molly shut that thought down in a hurry. Now that she was finally free of her ex and his influence, she was making an effort to capture every negative thought she had and replace it with a positive one. She had a whole new life here, free of Zach. She needed to start thinking on the bright side.

There’s nothing I can do about my freckles but now that I’m not stress eating all the time, maybe I can finally lose some weight, she thought, trying to stay positive. She’d been trying to lose weight all her life with varying degrees of success. She wasn’t really unhealthy—well, unless you consulted those awful body mass index charts—but she was certainly too big to be attractive to most men.

There you go, thinking negative again, she scolded herself. Who cares what men think of you? You need to learn to love yourself, Molly. You used to be happy with who you were—remember? Before Zach? Now look at you—you have a great new job and wonderful new friends like Lana.

True, she wasn’t working in her chosen profession—she’d been a first-grade teacher and had loved every minute of it down on Earth. Well, until Zach had?—

Nope! Not going to think about that! she told herself. The main thing was, she liked her new job just fine. Answering calls from people on Earth who had questions about the Kindred and the Mother Ship wasn’t too bad and the benefits were great.

Occasionally she got an angry or abusive caller, but Commander Torus always handled those calls personally and when he was finished with the caller on the other end, they were much more respectful. He always said that he wouldn’t tolerate anyone abusing the women who worked under him—not even verbally.

It was nice having such a protective boss, Molly thought. He?—

“Uh-oh—here he comes now!” Lana hissed, breaking her train of thought.

“What? Who?” Molly looked around.

“Commander Torus of course!” Lana winked at her and hurried back to her desk, which was in the cubical across from Molly’s.

Sure enough, a moment later Commander Torus’s tall, muscular figure came into view. He was so tall that his head nearly brushed the ceiling and his shoulders were so broad he had to turn sideways to go through doors. He was wearing the standard Kindred uniform—tight black trousers and tall black boots that came up to his knees. He also had on a dark blue, long-sleeved button-down shirt that looked amazing against his slate-gray skin tones.

Molly’s ex had loved WrestleMania. Zach had dragged her to several live matches and Molly had always been struck by the sheer size of the professional wrestlers. They were huge.

But any one of them would have looked like a little person next to Commander Torus. The top of Molly’s head only reached his elbow—she always felt like a little kid around him. Not just because of his size, but because of his stern, no-nonsense attitude. Her huge boss never cracked a smile—not even when Lana tried to joke with him. And Lana could get a smile out of almost anyone.

The Giant Kindred was walking quickly through the rows of cubicles and staring straight ahead, so Molly felt free to study him for a moment. He had longish, thick black hair which he wore loose around his shoulders and his silver-gray eyes looked distant, as though he was thinking of something far away. For just a moment they flicked in Molly’s direction and for a split-second, she felt like her boss was staring into her soul.

Blushing, she looked down at her hands which were clasped in her lap.

Don’t be silly—it’s just your imagination. He wasn’t really looking at you. He barely knows you’re here! she told herself.

Commander Torus was just about to head into his office, at the end of the row of cubicles, when a high feminine voice said,

“Oh Commander, thank goodness you’re here!”

Lana leaned over and caught Molly’s eye.

“Uh-oh—here comes the show!” she whispered.

Molly rolled her eyes and they both watched as Karen Geners came strutting down the aisle between the cubicles in heels that would have made a stripper proud. Her bright pink pencil skirt was so tight it was easy to see her perfectly toned ass cheeks working against each other and the white silk blouse she wore was unbuttoned down to the third button, showing a generous amount of perky cleavage.

She probably doesn’t even have to wear a bra, Molly thought enviously. Then she did her best to grab the negative thought and replace it with a positive one. I don’t have to wear a bra now either if I don’t want to—not since Lana gave me those float dots for my birthday.

The float dots were an alien invention that stuck to the underside of each breast and created a mini-antigravity field which caused them to float. The result was breasts that looked perky no matter how big they were—Molly’s were on the extra-large size. It had been nice to ditch the “over-the-shoulder-boulder-holders” as she called the H-cup bras she’d worn for so long.

“Oh, Commander?” Karen Geners called again in an unpleasantly shrill voice when it looked like their boss hadn’t heard her.

Commander Torus stopped and his broad shoulders rose and fell in what looked like a sigh to Molly. Then he turned around and looked down to where Karen Geners had planted herself right in front of him.

“Commander, I have some questions about the call logs!” she announced, thrusting out her breasts and putting a hand on one slim and perfect hip.

“Please write them down and submit them to me in a memo then, Ms. Geners,” Commander Torus rumbled, looking ever so slightly annoyed, Molly thought.

“What? A memo?” Karen opened her big blue eyes. “But I don’t see why you can’t just talk to me now? We can go in your office and discuss it,” she added, pushing out her breasts even more and batting her eyes at the Giant Kindred.

“I’m afraid not.” Commander Torus shook his head firmly. “I’ll be looking for your memo,” he added. Then he went into his office and closed the door behind him—a clear signal that he didn’t want to be bothered.

“Well!” Karen Geners exclaimed an angry pout pulling her pretty face into a frown. She flipped her long blonde hair over one shoulder and flounced away angrily, swaying on her stilt-like heels with every step.

Lana slapped a hand over her mouth to try and stifle her laughter.

“I guess he shut her down!” she whispered to Molly. “Honestly, she’s always throwing herself at him and he’s always ignoring her. You’d think she would get the message!”

Molly agreed with her friend, but Karen Geners was nothing if not persistent. She was constantly flirting with their boss and trying to get him alone—which he always avoided as much as possible.

I could never act that way—not even if I looked like her, she thought. She’d always been an introvert who hated being the center of attention. Well, except in a classroom setting. That was why she loved teaching Kindergarten and first grade—the kids were still so sweet at that age that Molly didn’t feel self-conscious.

She thought with longing of her last class. They’d had a million questions—they were so curious about the world, so bright and eager to learn. If only she could work with kids again. She didn’t mind answering calls and giving out information, but it didn’t really feed her heart the way teaching had.

All right, Molly, she lectured herself. You know why you can never teach again. Zach closed that door permanently so you might as well move on.

Sadly, it was true. She’d thought about applying to work at one of the schools or play-care centers aboard the Mother Ship but even up here, she didn’t want to risk it. So she might as well get to work and enjoy her new job as much as she could.

As if on cue, a light on her transparent screen lit up, signaling that she had her first call of the day. Sighing, Molly put on her headset and punched a button.

“Kindred Mother Ship,” she said. “How can I help you?”

As she listened to the voice on the other end asking questions, she told herself it was just another ordinary day aboard the Mother Ship—and that was a good thing. Her life on Earth had been chaotic and awful—it was nice to have normal and ordinary for a change.

She had no idea that her nice, normal, ordinary life was about to be turned upside down.