3. Andi

3

ANDI

" H ey, you okay, big guy?" Andi looked up at her enormous partner with concern as they walked down one of the many long metal corridors inside the Mother Ship.

They were on their way to get their costumes for the Salacious Delta mission but Thrax had seemed off somehow ever since they'd been given the assignment yesterday. Her partner was jumpy and twitchy and even more dark and brooding than usual. It was clear something was bothering him—the question was, would he tell her what it was? The big Hybrid was closed-mouth about his emotions at the best of times, though he was surprisingly willing to listen when Andi wanted to talk about her own feelings.

"Huh?" He looked down at her from his great height and tugged absently at his left horn—a habit he had when he was feeling anxious or uncertain about something. Andi didn't even think he knew he was doing it. "Why wouldn't I be okay?"

"Because you're just not," Andi said flatly. "You haven't been yourself since Commander Sylvan gave us this assignment yesterday. What's going on?"

"That's not true—I'm fine," he denied—a little too quickly, Andi thought.

"Hmm, okay. So that's why you're pulling on that left horn?" She nodded at his hand, still curled around the left horn protruding from the side of his forehead. When she'd first met her partner, it had struck her how much he looked like the devil—a very handsome devil to be sure, in a rough and rugged kind of way. But she was used to him now.

Thrax jerked his hand away from his horn almost reflexively and stuffed it into the pocket of his tight black flight leathers. They molded to his long, muscular legs lovingly, as did the tall black boots he wore. A black leather vest which bared his arms completed his outfit. It wasn't a typical Kindred uniform, but Thrax liked to keep his arms bare—he said it was easier to fight that way.

Andi wasn't complaining—the bare arms in question were extremely muscular and covered in curving black tattoos—as was much of the rest of his body. Her partner looked like a total badass, which was what he was. Andi had never once seen him back down from a fight—he was as Alpha as they came. Only now she was worried about him because he wasn't acting like himself at all.

"Is it something to do with the mission we're going on?" she prodded gently. "You don't want to be my ‘male-wife'—is that it?"

"What? No—it's nothing like that." Again the denial came too quickly and he wouldn't meet her eyes as he spoke.

"Then why—" Andi began.

"Look, I told you, I'm fucking fine," he growled, cutting her off. "So leave it the fuck alone, okay?"

Andi frowned. It wasn't like her partner to be rude. Terse and to the point, yes, but he actually sounded defensive. Clearly there was something going on with him but she knew from experience that she wasn't going to get it out of him by poking any more. She would just have to wait and eventually the big Hybrid would tell her what was bothering him. Or at least, that was usually how things went between them.

"Fine," she said lightly. "Well, if you don't want to talk about you, how about we talk about me? I have some good news."

"Oh yeah?" Thrax looked relieved to have the subject changed. "What's that?"

"Brian finally signed the divorce papers. As of today, I'm free of him."

Andi felt lighter just saying the words. The divorce had been a long, drawn-out process because she and her ex-husband had been on a "trial separation" for the past three years.

The trial was really for the benefit of their daughter, Lindsey. She had only been a sophomore in high school when Brian had come to Andi and said that he no longer found her attractive and he wanted to have an "open marriage."

"I mean, you look different than you did when we first got married," he'd said, wrinkling his nose as though Andi smelled bad. "You're not as thin as you were—your whole body has changed."

"Yes, because I'm fifteen years older and I had a baby— your baby— our daughter," Andi had told him. "You can't actually expect me to look like I did all those years ago."

"Well, I don't look that different," Brian had pointed out. "Maybe a little gray around the temples…" He touched his temples with obvious pride—clearly he thought the gray made him look distinguished. "I heard some of the ladies around the office calling me a ‘silver fox,'" he added and laughed, that irritating, self-deprecating laugh of his that made Andi want to pull her service weapon and shoot him.

"Yeah, you're a fox, all right," she'd muttered. "And I'm guessing you can't wait to get into the henhouse."

"Look, I just want to explore other avenues and relationships," Brian had protested.

"No, you want to cheat and you want my permission to do it," Andi said flatly.

"It's not cheating—it's an open marriage." Brian spoke slowly, as though she was a dim-witted child he had to explain things to. "That means you get to pursue new relationships too! Won't that be nice?"

It hadn't sounded nice to Andi at all. Her husband's words had hurt her more than she wanted to admit. She was usually a light-hearted person who could shrug off trauma or insults, but she couldn't shrug this off.

The fact that her husband no longer found her attractive because she was getting older and she was a lot fuller-figured than she had been when they'd gotten married stung her like an angry wasp. Especially since it seemingly came out of nowhere.

Their sex life had never been anything to shout about, but it had been steady—twice a week for almost their entire married life. And it wasn't like Brian ever pestered her for more—if anything, Andi believed she had the higher sex drive of the two of them. But apparently Brian's drive was at least high enough for him to want other women—that much was made abundantly clear by his request.

"I don't want to see other people," she'd told him stiffly. "I have no interest in other people."

"Well, I do," Brian shot back. "I can't go on like this, Andi. And honestly, I think this will be good for our marriage. Being with other people will help us appreciate each other even more."

"That's the most bullshit argument I've ever heard," Andi snapped. "How is fucking around with other people going to help us appreciate each other?"

Of course, Brian hadn't had an answer for that—he really didn't have anything but empty words and a desire to sleep around. But he refused to back down, insisting that the open marriage would be "good for them" though he couldn't give any specific examples of how.

"I'll tell you what," Andi had said at last, after they'd been going around and around about it for two hours. "You can sleep with other women if you want, but I'm keeping my marriage vows—at least until we're divorced."

"Divorced?" Brian had opened his eyes wide in surprise, as though this was a shocking idea. "Who said anything about getting a divorce?"

"I did," Andi said firmly. "If you really want to do this, then I'm leaving you. Not right away," she added, when he started to protest. "We need to stay together—at least nominally—until Lindsey graduates high school. After that, we're over for good."

She'd been hoping this ultimatum would deter her husband, but Brian had always been stubborn. Once he got an idea about something he wanted to do, he went ahead and did it, no matter how much damage or pain it caused.

"Fine," he'd said. "Then we'll tell Lindsey we're having a trial separation—how's that?"

"Fine," Andi said through gritted teeth. "But once we go down this road, there's no going back. The first time you break your wedding vows, I'm gone."

"Fine—I get it." Brian had shrugged—as though the vows he'd taken and the last fifteen years of their lives meant nothing to him—nothing at all.

"You get it but you're still going to do it," Andi said flatly. "All right, but you can't do it in front of Lindsey. No bringing other women into the house. If you want to sleep around, you do it elsewhere—not our home."

Brian had the grace to look at least a little ashamed at that point and had agreed to this one very basic ground rule. And that was when Andi had started looking for another job.

She'd found one aboard the Kindred Mother Ship. Though it hurt to leave her home, she couldn't bear to be around Brian any longer, knowing that he was cheating on her so blatantly. She came back to Earth on the weekends and brought her daughter to stay with her in the Mother Ship as much as possible.

Lindsey stayed summers with her as well and though she was heartbroken over her parents separating, she was a good kid and Andi had never had any problems with her. Her grades had suffered for a single semester and then they had come back up after she realized that both her parents were still there for her, even if they weren't in the same house anymore.

Of course, after about six months of trying out the "open marriage" concept, Brian had realized it was a bust. He must have thought he'd have women falling all over him but the coworkers he tried to proposition—presumably the ones that had been calling him a "silver fox"—had complained to the HR department of his company. The result had been a demotion and a formal reprimand.

Brian hadn't had any luck on the dating aps either—apparently there were a lot more horny, middle-aged men out there than women who had any interest in dating them. The result was, he ended up getting a lot less sex than he had back when he and Andi were together.

As soon as he realized this, Brian had come running back, begging Andi's forgiveness. But she had already moved on to a life without him and had no interest in going back. She'd told him so, in no uncertain terms, and had the bitter satisfaction of having the last word.

Andi was single now—and she intended to stay that way. She wasn't going to give any other man a chance to hurt and betray her the way Brian had. As sunny as her personality was, that pain was one she couldn't quite get over.

"So you finally did it—you severed your Bond," Thrax remarked, drawing her back to the present.

"Yes, I did it. But it wasn't really a Soul Bond—not like you Kindred form," she pointed out. "It was a marriage and at least fifty percent of those end in divorce."

Thrax shook his head.

"I still don't understand how you humans can just leave your mates. I mean, I get not being able to form a Soul Bond—I can't myself, since I'm a fucking Hybrid. But just leaving when you don't like each other anymore—dissolving the whole relationship…" He shook his head.

"Well, it wasn't my choice to dissolve it," Andi pointed out. She'd told her partner the reasons behind her divorce—in a limited way. "He wanted to sleep around and I didn't."

"See, that's something else I don't understand. How can you leave the female the Goddess sent to you and try to find another female instead?" Thrax asked, frowning. "It would be like cutting off your hand or pulling out an eye and hoping you could find something better to take its place—which of course you couldn't. It's fucking ridiculous."

"Well, tell that to my husband. My ex- husband," Andi said dryly. "Look, it's actually good news—I'm finally free of him."

"How does Lindsey feel about it?" Thrax asked, frowning. He was extremely fond of Andi's daughter and Lindsey liked him too. She told Andi once that having Thrax around was like having a "big, scary uncle—but in a good way."

Andi had passed this on to her partner, who had roared with laughter. But despite his amusement, the big Hybrid took his role as her daughter's "scary uncle" seriously. Once, when Lindsey was getting bullied, he had gone to her school and hunted down the group of jocks who were bothering her.

"I understand you've been saying some fucking nasty things to my niece, Lindsey Peterson" he'd growled, cracking his knuckles as he talked. "I know what disgusting things you've been saying and the way you've been harassing her. And I know all your names—Jonathon Brayton, Chris Tager, Greg Tanner." He pointed to each of them in turn. (Andi knew all these details because one of the other students in Lindsey's school had filmed the whole encounter and put it on social media.)

"We didn't mess with her— much ," one of the bullies protested. He was obviously trying to be macho because he stepped up and stood toe-to-toe with Thrax and glared into the big Hybrid's golden eyes—though he had to look up to do it.

"Well guess fucking what? Now you're not going to mess with her at all." Thrax had gripped the kid by his shirt and hoisted him up until his feet left the ground.

"Hey! Put me down, man!" the bully yelped.

"Not until I'm sure you understand me," Thrax told him. "You're not going to talk to Lindsey and you're not going to talk about Lindsey and you're sure as hell not going to touch Lindsey or even go anywhere near her. You're not going to post about her on your pathetic little ‘Internet' either. In fact, as far as you're concerned, Lindsey is so far off limits she might as well be on the fucking moon! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"

He roared the last words in the bully's face and his deep, rumbling voice was so loud it hurt Andi's ears—even though she was watching the whole thing on her phone.

The bully's face crumpled and he flinched back as much as he could, though Thrax was still holding him up so his feet dangled off the floor. He was starting to cry and there was a big wet spot on the front of his jeans.

"All right, man—all right!" he'd exclaimed. "I get it—we won't bother her any more—I swear!" The other boys had nodded and agreed, their faces pale.

"Good." Thrax had set the bully on his feet and straightened his wrinkled shirt thoughtfully. "Because you know, the World Council has ruled that a Kindred warrior can't be prosecuted for maiming or killing a male who hurts a female that's under that warrior's protection. Did you know that?"

"Yeah, sure m-man. I g-guess so," the bully stammered.

"Fucking excellent. Because I consider Lindsey Peterson to be under my protection," Thrax had continued. "In case you didn't know."

"I know now!" the bully exclaimed. "I won't mess with her anymore—I swear it. None of us will!"

"That's good to hear," Thrax had rumbled. "So now, if we have an understanding, I'll let you go. But if Lindsey tells me that any of you little assholes bothered her again—in any way—I'm coming back. And if you see me coming, you better fucking run, because you'll be fucking sorry if I catch you!"

The three bullies had rushed off down the hallway and none of them had ever said a single word to or about Lindsey ever again. Of course, Lindsey had later complained that none of the boys in her school would say anything to her after that, but Andi couldn't bring herself to be too upset about that.

She knew from first-hand experience what dogs human men and boys could be. If she had her way, Lindsey would move up to the Mother Ship permanently and find a Kindred warrior to settle down with. After she finished college, of course.

"So Lindsey's okay with the di-vorce?" Thrax asked, bringing her back to the present. He pronounced "divorce" like it was a foreign word—which made sense, considering that it was such a foreign concept to the Kindred as a whole.

"Yeah, she's fine with it. I think she understands why we couldn't stay together. Though I don't think the ‘open marriage' thing is going quite like Brian expected it to," Andi remarked.

"Meaning?" Thrax raised his eyebrows.

"Meaning there aren't as many women lining up to date a scrawny, middle-aged man as he thought there would be," Andi said with a grin. "From what I've heard, none of the girls at his office was interested in being part of his ‘open marriage'—what a shame."

"Huh—I always thought your ex-mate was a fool," Thrax rumbled. "Sounds like he's getting what's coming to him. I mean, why would he let a beautiful mature Elite like you go in the first place?"

"Aw, thanks partner." Andi punched him lightly on the shoulder and grinned up at him. "You really know how to make a lady feel good."

"I'm serious, Andi—you're fucking gorgeous," he growled, his golden eyes blazing. "Fuck your idiot of an ex-mate if he can't see that!"

Andi laughed.

"That's his problem—now that I've left him, nobody will fuck him!" But she appreciated her partner's words more than she could say.

One nice thing about Thrax was the way that he gave her little compliments to boost her spirits. Also, he always chose to hang around with Andi, even on their off-time, rather than date other women. He didn't have to—with his looks he probably could have gotten any woman he wanted—even if he couldn't have formed a Soul Bond with any of them because of his Hybrid heritage. But for as long as they'd been partners, she'd never seen him even look at—or compliment—another woman. It was almost like she'd found the fidelity in her work relationship that her marriage had lacked.

Of course, Thrax might be seeing someone or maybe just hooking up with a woman without her knowing it, but Andi doubted it. Unless he was doing it with the blood donors he visited periodically to drink from. But if that was the case, he never talked about it to her.

He was sweet and caring too—though no one seeing his rough exterior would believe it. She still remembered the time she'd had an especially nasty confrontation with her ex and Thrax had comforted her.

She'd been feeling especially low that day after coming from dropping Lindsey off with Brian. This was just after he'd tried to get her to resume their relationship like nothing had happened and Andi had refused.

Her ex had said some cutting things—telling her she was a bad mother for refusing to come back to him and implying that she was never going to find anyone better than him because she was too old to start over and not pretty enough to find a man even if she wanted to.

"If that's true—if I'm so old and ugly—then why do you want me back?" Andi had demanded, glaring at him. "Could it be that you're missing having someone around to cook and clean and give you sex whenever you want it? Because maybe you should have thought of that before you decided you wanted an ‘open marriage.'"

"That was a mistake on my part, I admit that," Brian had said stiffly. He was still trying to win her back in his own twisted way at that point. "But it's in the past—it's over. Now you need to come back—if not for me then for Lindsey's sake."

"Don't you dare try to use our daughter to make me feel guilty!" Andi had snapped. "Lindsey is doing fine and you brought this separation on yourself."

"How can she be ‘fine' when you're gone most of the time?" Brian shot back. "She needs her mother here with her—not flying around the galaxy with some big devil-looking bastard all the damn time!"

"Thrax and I aren't just ‘flying around'—we're doing a job," Andi told him. "We locate missing Kindred warriors and bring them home!"

"Meanwhile, your own daughter is sitting here in our home, missing her mother," Brian had accused her. "You need to come back, Andrea—your family needs you."

The guilt trip was a good one—Brian was excellent at making her feel like shit. And though Andi had told him off and refused again to "come home" as he put it, she had gone back to her suite aboard the Mother Ship and cried about it afterwards.

It wasn't that she missed her husband or the one-sided relationship they'd had—she really had done all the cooking and cleaning, despite the fact that she'd worked more hours than he did outside the home. It was the fact that she actually did miss seeing her daughter every single day. Despite the fact that Lindsey seemed to be thriving and was making good grades, she still felt like a shitty mom—which of course, had been her ex's intention.

She had still been feeling bad when Thrax had come to her suite to ask her about something. Andi had nearly turned him away but the minute he saw her face he'd said,

"Hey, what's wrong, baby?" in a surprisingly soft, gentle voice that completely undid her.

"Nothing," Andi tried to lie. "I'm just…I'm kind of busy right now. Could you maybe come back later?"

Thrax had studied her face for a moment and then shook his head.

"Huh-uh. I don't think you ought to be alone right now."

Then he had pushed his way into her suite with Andi trailing behind him and protesting that she was fine, even though she wasn't. He had taken a seat on her couch, right in front of the firewall, which was flickering with gold and blue flames, and patted the cushion beside him.

"All right—tell me all about it," he said.

"Tell you what?" Andi demanded, angry and defiant because she hated looking weak in front of him. He had interrupted her in the middle of a good cry and she wanted to get rid of him so she could finish it.

But Thrax wasn't going anywhere.

"Tell me why you've been crying, baby," he murmured. Reaching out, he cupped her flushed cheek with one hand and swiped a tear away with his thumb.

"I…I'm not crying," Andi protested, which was obviously a lie.

"Yeah, you are. And you're going to tell me why. Because I'm not leaving until you do."

"What? But you can't just camp out on my couch like that without my permission!" Andi exclaimed.

Thrax gave her a level look.

"Watch me. Now are you going to talk to me or not?"

Then, before she could protest anymore, he had swept Andi into his arms and placed her firmly on his lap.

Andi struggled at first. Their size difference was so great that she felt like a child being held by an adult. But her partner wrapped his arms around her and held her gently but firmly, refusing to release her.

"Tell me," he said again. And since it had become obvious that he wasn't leaving until she talked, Andi finally did.

All her grief and guilt came out, along with a rush of tears. Thrax just held her and listened to it all without comment. Andi told her partner what her ex had said about her being a bad mother and how she felt guilty for leaving Lindsey, even though she knew her daughter was all right.

"So he's trying to make you feel bad enough to come back to him and using your young one to do it," Thrax had rumbled at last when she had gotten it all out.

Andi nodded and swiped at her eyes.

"Exactly."

"Do his words have any merit? Lindsey seems fine to me," he said, frowning.

"She is fine. She had one bad semester when we first split up but now she's doing great in school. She has a lot of friends, too—that's one reason I didn't try to get full custody and bring her up to the Mother Ship full time," Andi told him, sniffing. "I thought it was important for her to finish high school where she knows everyone instead of uprooting her." She sighed. "Of course, she was unhappy when Brian and I first separated, but she seems adjusted to it now."

Thrax gave her a mystified look.

"Then why are you letting that fucking idiot of an ex-mate make you cry? His accusations are groundless."

"I know they are." Andi sniffed again and shook her head. "It's just…I never expected to end up like this—divorced, I mean. I thought my marriage was going to last. I wanted so much to make a stable home for my daughter."

"And you do," Thrax told her. "Lindsey is safe and she's doing well in her studies. She has friends and she seems to enjoy coming up to the Mother Ship with you on the weekends." His face had darkened. "I don't think your ex-mate wants you to come back to him for your daughter's sake at all—I think it's much more fucking likely that he wants you back for his own gratification."

"You're right—he just wants someone to cook and clean and give him sex," Andi agreed. Of course, this was exactly what she'd told her ex, but somehow talking about it to her partner made her feel better—stronger.

"A male like that doesn't deserve you." Thrax had cupped her cheek and looked into her eyes. "You're beautiful and smart and an excellent mother, Andi—don't let him steal your joy."

Andi's heart had started pounding as they locked gazes and for a moment—just a moment—she'd almost thought that her partner was going to kiss her.

But of course, he didn't. He just looked at her for a long moment and stroked her hair while he held her close. After a while, when he was sure she was feeling better, he had proposed a late night "snack run."

The two of them had gone down to a little eatery in the parklands at the center of the ship and split an order of Brenzian cheese balls—which was a tangy, stringy cheese a little like mozzarella except it was bright blue and had tiny bits of hot and sweet peppers sprinkled throughout it.

Andi had felt immensely better afterwards, but when she had thanked Thrax for being there for her, he just shrugged his broad shoulders and gave her half a grin.

"Hey, that's what partners are for, right?" he'd asked. "Gotta stick together or we'll fucking fall apart."

It was those words that stuck in Andi's memory as she wondered what their new mission was going to be like. Maybe Kat would have some insights for them…

"Oh—here we are," she said, looking down the hallway. "This is Kat's place."

They stopped in front of a shiny metal door and Thrax rang the door indicator chime. A moment later, the door whooshed to one side, revealing Kat—the woman in charge of getting Agents ready for their missions. She was a full-figured red-head, much like Andi herself, though considerably taller.

"There you two are!" she exclaimed, looking at Andi and Thrax. "Come in—you're folding space in half an hour so we don't have a minute to spare!"

And she dragged them into her suite before Andi could even say, "hello."