2. Clair
CLAIR
Back then, she’d been so excited to start a whole new life on the Kindred Mother Ship which was as big as an enormous floating city.
She’d been overjoyed when she received the message letting her know that her grant to study alien flora had been approved—it had always been her dream to travel the universe finding new plants and studying them to find their medicinal properties.
She had personal reasons for wanting to go too. She’d just been through a very messy divorce after finding out her husband was cheating on her with his younger, thinner secretary.
“Honestly, James—could you be more cliché?” she’d demanded, after finding the disgustingly lovey-dovey text messages on his phone.
“I wouldn’t have to cheat if you’d just give me sex more often,” her husband had said sullenly. “But you’re always working late at your lab. What was I supposed to do? A man has needs, you know.”
“What you were supposed to do was honor our marriage vows!” Clair snapped. “And you can’t say I denied you sex—we’ve been having sex at least twice or three times a week since we got married!”
Not that she honestly enjoyed it anymore.
The problem was, James turned into a petulant child when she didn’t give him what he wanted sexually.
Which meant that sex had become another chore she had to do in order to keep him happy.
A chore like doing the dishes, taking out the trash, cooking, and doing the laundry—which was all “woman’s work” according to her husband, who refused to help with any domestic labor at all.
By the end of their marriage, it was almost a relief to find that he’d been cheating and have a reason to end it all, Clair had to admit to herself. She was eager to start a new, single life where she would never have to deal with living with a man or having sex ever again.
Never again, she promised herself. It wasn’t that she had no sex drive—she had a pretty high one, actually. But she was never going to deal with pleasing a man again and letting him use her body for his own enjoyment when he gave her absolutely nothing in return.
So it was with a happy heart and high expectations that she moved to the Kindred Mother Ship to start her new life.
That lasted approximately two hours, until she was shown to her new lab—which was already occupied by the grumpy Doctor Kaelus.
The minute Commander Sylvan—who was the head of the Kindred High Council and also her boss—had opened the door to the lab she was to share with the huge Hybrid Kindred, things started to go wrong.
It started with Kaelus looking up with a frown on his face.
“What are you doing in my lab?” he demanded in a deep, rumbling voice. “Do I not have a ‘do not disturb’ sign by the door?”
Actually, he did. Clair glanced at the silver panel beside the door and saw a small glowing sign that said “Do not Disturb” in English and another alien language she couldn’t read—though she assumed it was the Kindred Mother Tongue and probably said the same thing.
She was going to have to get a shot of translation bacteria, she thought to herself, so she could read and understand alien dialects.
“Yes, you have a sign but that shouldn’t apply to your lab mate,” Commander Sylvan said, frowning.
“My lab mate? What are you talking about? This lab is mine.” The possessive growl in the big Hybrid’s voice was unmistakable.
“It was yours—now you’re sharing it with Doctor Clair Donovan.” Commander Sylvan had nodded at her and Clair had nodded doubtfully at the huge Kindred scientist who was scowling at her.
His golden eyes raked over her, taking her in from her messy, fly-away curls which she’d done her best to tame for her first day aboard the Mother Ship, down past her overlarge breasts, wide hips, and thick thighs.
“So you have brought me an Elite to derail my concentration and ruin my research,” he growled at Sylvan.
An Elite? What the hell is that?
But Clair didn’t get a chance to ask because Sylvan was already speaking.
“I’ve done no such thing, Kaelus,” he said frowning.
“I’ve brought a well-respected Xenobotanist to share your lab since it’s one of the largest ones on the ship and we’re running low on lab space at the moment.
This is Doctor Clair Donovan. And Dr Donovan, this is Doctor Kaelus,” he said, making the introductions. “Now, is this going to be a problem?”
“In all probability, yes,” Kaelus growled. “However, since I am unable to change your mind, you might as well come in.”
They entered the lab, and Clair was immediately impressed by how neat and orderly it looked. There were test tubes and samples in precisely placed rows as well as a large and expensive looking electron microscope and several other pieces of top-of-the-line scientific equipment.
The walls were lined with shelves, all of which had neat labels that told exactly what was on them.
And every shelf was filled—it didn’t actually look like there was room for her at all.
But apparently Commander Sylvan intended for her new lab-mate to make room—which was probably going to be a problem.
Sylvan seemed to be thinking the same thing because he pointed a finger at Doctor Kaelus and frowned.
“I’ll give you until tomorrow morning, Kaelus,” he told him. “You need to clear your equipment out of half of this lab so Doctor Donovan has a place to work and store her equipment. Do you understand?”
“With perfect clarity,” Dr. Kaelus had rumbled, frowning ominously at Clair. Then he rudely turned his back and said not another word until they left.
Later, when Commander Sylvan had handed Clair off to a friendly woman named Kat to show her the rest of the ship, she’d gotten a better idea of what made her new work colleague and lab-mate tick.
“Oh, Kaelus is always grumpy,” Kat had told her over a plate of blue pasta at a local Kindred café.
She had gorgeous auburn hair and full curves, just like Clair and also excellent taste in food—she had ordered for both of them after quizzing Clair about what kinds of Earth foods she liked to eat.
“He is?” Clair had asked, taking a bite of her own dark blue pasta, which tasted remarkably like spicy chicken curry—one of her favorite foods.
“Oh, yes.” Kat nodded. “Personally, I think it’s because he’s a Hybrid and they can almost never Bond with a woman so they can never find a mate,” she added.
“Well, if that’s what makes him grumpy, he doesn’t have to worry about me,” Clair told her. “After my divorce I have zero interest in being with a man ever again.”
“Yes, human men will do that to a girl,” Kat remarked, taking a sip of her bright blue liquor which, she had told Clair, was called “Woo.” “They’re just one big disappointment after another, aren’t they?”
“You sound like you speak from experience.” Clair laughed.
“Oh, I do.” Kat nodded. “I dated plenty of human jerks before I got with my Kindred husbands.”
“Excuse me—husbands? As in, plural?” Clair asked, forgetting the forkful of pasta halfway to her mouth.
Kat nodded again.
“Yes, I’m mated to Twin Kindred and I have three boys at home.
Talk about being outnumbered!” She laughed.
“But I don’t mind. Kindred are different from human men—they actually care about whether you’re having a good time in bed, for one thing.
And they worship their women—they believe each and every woman has a little piece of the Goddess inside her. ”
“Well, I doubt Doctor Kaelus feels that way about me,” Clair said doubtfully. “He said the weirdest thing when Commander Sylvan introduced us—something about how Sylvan had brought an ‘Elite to ruin his concentration’ or something like that.” She shook her head. “What does that even mean?”
“Hmm…I think it means your new lab-mate thinks you’re pretty.” Kat winked at her. “You see, the term ‘Elite’ is what the Kindred use to describe a full-figured woman like you or me. Let me tell you, my husbands love my curves—they can’t keep their hands off me.”
“Seriously?” Clair had a hard time believing this.
Her weight had been another bone of contention between her and her ex.
James had claimed that she gained too much weight after they got married.
But Clair had always been full-figured, and she didn’t think she’d gained that much—it was just another excuse for him to cheat on her.
So it was really difficult to believe that the Kindred—especially her grumpy new lab-mate—found her overfull curves attractive.
But Kat had nodded and taken another sip of her Woo.
“Seriously. He’s afraid you’ll distract him from his research with your curvy beauty,” she told Clair.
“I really doubt that,” Clair said, taking a sip of her own Woo which was sweet and sparkling like champagne. “I think he just doesn’t want to share his lab.”
“Well, that’s too bad for him,” Kat remarked. “We have a research project going on right now that has tied up most of the lab space aboard the Mother Ship. But don’t worry,” she added. “It’ll be over in the next six to nine months, which means you can have your own lab soon.”
Six to nine months sounded like an awfully long time to share a lab with a grumpy, seven-and-a-half-foot tall Hybrid Kindred, but Clair hadn’t gone through a difficult divorce and moved her entire life to an alien space ship orbiting the moon just to give up now.
So she was determined to make the most of it.
It wasn’t easy at first, though. When she came back to the lab the next day, she found the door locked.
“Hey? Hello?” she called, rapping on the sliding silver panel. “Hello, it’s Doctor Donovan!”
At last, just when she thought she was going to have to go to either Kat or Commander Sylvan for help, the door slid open revealing a scowling Kaelus.
“Come in and don’t bother me,” were his first words to her.