Why are you thinking about how much you like the way he smells when you swore to stay away from him? yelled a little voice in her head. Seriously, Jillian—what’s wrong with you? He’s dangerous—remember?
She tried to ignore the little voice as she watched the big Kindred pick up the ion-scoop and brace it against the thaelite.
“Now look—it’s like this. You don’t want to scoop out a chunk—you just want to scrape off a long, thin curl,” he instructed. And as he spoke, he matched words to actions, peeling off a long, thin curling bit of the thaelite with the scoop as easily as a man shaving off a piece of butter or chocolate, Jillian thought.
“Hey, how did you do that?” Hard demanded. “I was trying to do it for fifteen minutes and I barely made a dent in that fucking stuff!”
Kalis shrugged neutrally.
“It’s all in the technique.”
“Is it? So you think I could do it too, if I tried again the way you just showed us?” Hard asked.
Kalis looked uncomfortable.
“You can try,” he said, offering the scoop to Hard. “But you might find it difficult.”
“What are you not telling us?” Jillian looked at him sharply. She could tell the big Kindred was hiding something. “Why can you cut the thaelite when no one else can?”
Kalis sighed.
“Because, Mistress—I mean Chef—I’m able to call on the strength of my other form,” he said quietly. “It makes me roughly four times as strong as any other kind of Kindred male.”
“Your…your other form?” Jillian found herself backing away. “You’re not going to change again, are you?” she asked, her voice going high as her stomach knotted itself into a fist.
“No—no, absolutely not!” Kalis assured her. He frowned. “My other form is under my control you know, Mistress. He doesn’t come out on his own without me allowing him to—and I only let him out yesterday because you were in such grave danger.”
This made Jillian feel better—but only a little.
“I see,” she said neutrally and cleared her throat, trying to get her voice to go back to normal. “That’s, um, interesting.”
“Yes, it fucking is!” Hard said enthusiastically. “So you’re a B’varren Kindred? I’ve never met your kind before, but I’ve heard you turn into a fucking huge Ursus.”
“Yes, I do,” Kalis admitted. “My other form stood me in good stead during my years in the Blood Circuit. Ever since, though, he’s become…something of a problem.” He glanced at Jillian, who deliberately didn’t meet his eyes.
“Well, I’d say it came in handy today, at least,” Suzanne said briskly. She smiled at Kalis. “So you know all about Nebrian cuisine?”
He nodded warily. “I do.”
“Excellent. How would you like a job?”
Kalis nodded again.
“I’d love one. I just got to the Mother Ship yesterday and I’m not employed yet.”
“What?” Jillian glared at her. “Suzanne, can I talk to you in the pantry?” she asked her friend.
“Of course. Excuse us, boys. Oh, and Kalis, would you scrape off some more of that thaelite and put it in the jumja soup?” Suzanne asked.
“Happy to.” He nodded and eyed the pot of soup. “About two more curls of the stuff ought to do it. Any more than that and the broth will curdle.”
“Thanks. We’ll be back in a moment.” And she went with Jillian into the large, walk-in pantry at the far end of the kitchen.
28
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Jillian demanded, the minute the pantry door was closed. “Why are you hiring people to work in my kitchen?”
“Because we’re desperately short-handed and neither one of us has ever cooked Nebrian cuisine before,” Suzanne shot back. “Plus, at some point, I have to go breastfeed the triplets—we need help!”
Jillian put her hands on her hips.
“When you asked me to come run Pat-ar, we agreed that I would be in charge of hiring and firing!”
“And you mostly are. But I can see that you’re too wound up over this guy to give him a fair shake,” Suzanne said.
Jillian ran a hand over her hair, which was in a tight ponytail to keep it out of her face.
“Suzanne, come on. I told you what he turns into—it’s fucking terrifying!”
“He’s promised that this other form of his—this bear-thing—is completely under his control and that it can’t come out unless he lets it,” Suzanne pointed out. “I have to believe that’s the truth, or Commander Sylvan would never have let him on board the Mother Ship in the first place. Plus, Hard trusts him—he told me so, through our link.”
“He just met him, though!” Jillian protested.
“I know, but that doesn’t matter. My Dark Twin hubby might have a foul mouth, but he’s also got infallible instincts about people,” Suzanne said with certainty. “If Kalis was any kind of a danger to either one of us, he wouldn’t let us be in the same room with him for even a minute.”