Accidental Acquisition by Evangeline Anderson

23

She woke up in the passenger seat of her shuttle with Kalis sitting beside her in the driver’s seat. Commander Sylvan, the head of the Kindred High Council, was on the viewscreen and Kalis was saying,

“Thank you, Commander—I appreciate your offer of hospitality aboard the Mother Ship.”

“It’s the least we can do since you rescued one of our own,” Commander Sylvan said formally. “And the B’varren Kindred have always been well-respected in our community. Though…” He cleared his throat. “I really must ask you not to change forms while aboard the ship. At least, not in public. We have many brides from Earth here and I’m afraid seeing your other form would frighten them and make them fear for their children.”

“I completely understand, Commander.” Kalis nodded gravely. “You have my word—I won’t change in front of any unsuspecting females.”

Like me, Jillian thought faintly. I was an unsuspecting female. I had no idea he could turn into that…that thing.

Though, to be fair, Kalis had mentioned his “other form” to her several times. But then he had evaded her questions about it, Jillian remembered. Probably because he was afraid she’d be scared out of her wits.

Which she absolutely was. She couldn’t believe she’d been so close to the big Kindred—that she’d been intimate with him. Or rather, let him be so intimate with her, she thought, blushing as she remembered the massage he’d given her with not one but two happy endings. What if he had turned into that huge beast while he was massaging her? He would have ripped her apart! Just the thought made her shiver.

“We’ll be folding space for you shortly,” Commander Sylvan was telling Kalis. “Stand by.”

“We’ll be waiting. Oh, and Commander? Could you please make certain there’s a healer nearby when we land? My Mistress has been through a lot today—she may need to be checked out,” Kalis told him.

“I’ll have Dr. Olivia come with me to meet you both at the Docking Bay,” Commander Sylvan promised. “We’ll be seeing you in just a few minutes.”

“Thank you.” Kalis nodded gratefully. “I look forward to meeting in person.”

“As do I, Brother.” Commander Sylvan nodded and then the viewscreen went blank.

“Well, Mistress—here we go,” Kalis rumbled, looking over at her. “I can tell you’re awake,” he added. “So you might as well open your eyes.”

Jillian was ashamed to admit she had been pretending to still be asleep or unconscious—it seemed easier that way. After all, she had no idea what to say to the huge Kindred. After seeing what he had become, she was scared of him. And also embarrassed when she remembered the way she’d let him touch her and make her come. It was just too many confusing emotions to deal with all at once and she felt completely overloaded at the moment.

But it seemed there was no escaping this conversation so she sat up in her seat and scooted a little farther away from the big Kindred, as subtly as she could.

“You, er, have two hands again,” she said, nodding at the way he was gripping the steering yoke with both hands.

“I do.” He nodded gravely. “I’m able to regrow lost body parts when I change to my other form. I didn’t want to change in front of you,” he added, casting a sidelong glance in her direction. “I was afraid that seeing my Ursus—my other form—would frighten you, the same way it scared Mistress Douchenbag.”

Well, you were certainly right about that, Jillian thought, but didn’t say out loud.

“Um…” To be honest, she didn’t know what to say. What could you say to a man who had massaged you and given you the best orgasms of your life, then rescued you from a Trollox, gone to court with you, gotten his hand cut off for you…and then turned into a giant green Grizzly bear and was still insisting that you owned him? There were just…no words. It was too, too much.

“You all right, little Mistress?” Kalis rumbled, raising an eyebrow at her. “Something you want to say?”

Surprisingly, Jillian found that there was something she wanted to say, after all.

“Yes—I’m not your Mistress,” she said firmly. She hoped this wouldn’t make him angry enough to come after her in his beast form, but she needed to get it out there. “Now that we’re going to the Mother Ship, you’re free of me—at least as far as I’m concerned,” she told the big Kindred.

Kalis frowned.

“What if I don’t want to be free of you, Mistress?”

Jillian shot him a “surely you must be kidding” look.

“You don’t mean to tell me you want to remain enslaved, do you?” she demanded.

He shrugged.

“Been a bodyslave longer than I’ve been free at this point. Suppose I’m used to it.”

“Well, I’m not used to it—having a bodyslave, I mean,” Jillian said firmly. “And I’m sorry, but I don’t have any room in my life right now for a relationship. Not that I’m not really grateful for what you did for me,” she added quickly, feeling bad. She started talking more quickly—almost babbling in her haste to get the words out. “I mean, you rescued me literally just in time and then you went to court with me and you even let yourself get maimed for me! But I just can’t…I mean, I’m running a restaurant and I have this big VIP dinner coming up tomorrow night that I haven’t even begun prepping for yet and now is just not a good time so—”

“This is about my beast—my Ursus—isn’t it?” Kalis rumbled softly.

“Of course not!” Jillian denied at once, but she found she couldn’t meet his eyes as she spoke. “It has nothing to do with the fact that you turn into a, uh, gigantic green Grizzly bear! It’s just that I recently got out of a really bad relationship and I’m trying to work on getting my life back in order and besides I can’t own another person—I just can’t.”

He frowned.

“So this is about you not wanting to be my Mistress?”

“Partially,” Jillian admitted. “I mean, I’m sorry if that, uh, hurts your feelings but I just can’t…oh look—we’re going through the fold in space!”

She pointed to the huge red gash in the blackness of space, relieved to be talking about anything besides the reasons she couldn’t have a relationship with Kalis. Because she absolutely couldn’t for so many reasons—not the least of which was the fact that he turned into a terrifying monster when he got angry.

They flew through the fold in silence and when they came out the other side, the Mother Ship was waiting—shining like a pure white pearl in the velvety blackness of space. It orbited the Earth’s moon and Jillian thought she had never been more happy to see it.

“Oh my God, it’s so good to get home,” she sighed. “The first thing I want is a long, hot shower.” She looked down at her grimy bra and jeans distastefully.

“I’m covered in massage oil and dirt.”

“Forgive me for using so much oil on you, Mistress,” Kalis rumbled softly. “If the massage had gone as planned, I would have bathed you in the bubble fountain and washed it away from your lovely curves at the end.”

Jillian felt her cheeks getting hot as she remembered, in detail, the feeling of his big hands caressing and massaging her bare body. But then she also remembered the huge Grizzly bear—its head bigger than her entire torso with its blazing red eyes and steak knife teeth—roaring in her face. At that mental image, the heat in her cheeks turned into a shiver that ran down her back.

“Mistress?” Kalis murmured, making her name a question.

“Please, don’t call me that,” Jillian said, looking away. “Please, I’m not…I can’t be your Mistress. You’re free now, Kalis—try to enjoy your freedom, okay?”

“What if I don’t want to be free?” he asked and she felt his eyes on her.

“Kalis—”

He raised a hand to stop her.

“No, never mind, I understand that you’re frightened of me right now—frightened of my beast.”

“I never said that!” Jillian denied quickly.

“You didn’t have to,” he rumbled, and she thought she heard bitterness in his deep voice. “I saw the look in your eyes when I changed to my other form. I just want you to know it was never my intention to frighten you.”

“Okay,” Jillian agreed quickly.

Though honestly, how did he expect to not frighten someone when he turned into a 13-foot-tall Grizzly? The beast inside him was mind-numbingly terrifying and every instinct inside her told her she needed to run away from it as fast as possible. And since it resided inside the big Kindred, it therefore followed that she needed to get away from him.

“Beginning landing procedure,” Kalis said neutrally. Though the shuttle was programmed to fly itself, he had apparently taken over. Which seemed fine—he seemed to know what he was doing.

Which makes one of us, anyway, Jillian thought miserably. She felt like an ass—the big Kindred had rescued her, protected her—Hell, he’d even let his hand be chopped off for her—and she was basically cutting him loose and telling him she couldn’t have any kind of relationship with him.

But what else can I do? she thought, casting him a sidelong glance. He turns into a freaking monster! I’d be insane to want anything to do with him, wouldn’t I?

The obvious answer was “yes,” but it didn’t explain why she couldn’t meet Kalis’s eyes as he landed the little silver shuttle neatly in the Docking Bay. Or the wretched feeling of guilt she had as she said a stiff goodbye to him and left him with Commander Sylvan, as she went with the female doctor who had come to examine her.