Hot Restart by Elliott Kay

Author:Elliott Kay [Kay, Elliott]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-08-20T16:00:00+00:00

11

“You don’t understand! You’re both so pretty. You don’t have trouble picking anyone up at parties.” Shiirul put a mechanic’s rag to her snout and blew. The loud, wet gurgling noise echoed through the hangar. “It isn’t the same for me.”

Ankra covered most of her annoyance as she looked her friend up and down. Even with all the fur, Gankriid sensibilities about clothing were closer to human. Seeing Shiirul with so much fur exposed was weird. Seeing her distraught over rejection was even weirder. “You’re right. I don’t understand.”

“Hey, everyone has their bad nights.” Kate stood by Shiirul’s seat on the bench, patting her on the back while shooting Ankra a scowl. “I’ve been through it, too. We all have.”

With Shiirul looking away, Ankra didn’t have to hide her objection to that comment.

“I tried to look nice tonight,” said Shiirul.

“You do look nice. You look great,” said Kate.

“And all that effort on how you look is wasted down here.” Ankra gestured to the lines of cold Inferno starfighters and Viking armored shuttles in the dim hangar. “You can’t hook up with a spaceship.”

“I don’t want anyone to see me this upset,” Shiirul moped. “That’s why I wanted to be here. Wouldn’t see anyone else. Wouldn’t see him.”

“He’s not worth getting upset over,” Kate pressed. “That wasn’t about you, it was about him.”

“That part is true,” Ankra grumbled in agreement.

“He said… he said we’re b-bullies and m-murderers,” Shiirul sobbed. A sharp inhale heralded another blast of her snout. Both other women cringed until Shiirul settled her big shoulders. “What if… what if he’s right?”

“Shiirul, you’re a warrior,” said Ankra. “Some people will never understand.”

“M-mercenary,” Shiirul corrected. “For money.”

“So what? Everybody does something for money. We do cool shit!” said Kate. “You do really cool shit. You’re a pilot. And it’s not like that guy knew what he was talking about. He wasn’t there. Forget it.”

“B-but what if they’re all like that?”

“They, who?” asked Kate.

“Men! Human men.”

“We work with lots of human men. Most of them are fine with you. It’s definitely not an issue for most human men. Not like that,” Kate assured her.

“The ones we work with aren’t the same. They’re fine with me, but there won’t ever be anything more. I want to find someone different. Less like the ones in the company. Someone nicer.”

“Nice is fine. Lots of human men are nice,” said Kate.

“Nice?” Ankra’s frown only deepened. “Why are you looking for nice and human? Aren’t your people all about strength and health?”

“For a mate, yes. We can have sex, but it’s not like I can breed with a human.”

“Right, so?”

“So, Gankriid don’t stay together long after breeding, anyway,” Shiirul grumbled. “Haven’t you ever learned this?”

“Sure, that’s what I’m saying,” said Ankra. “If it’s not babies, and you don’t stay with your mate anyway, why? Why a human?”

“Because maybe it wouldn’t be about breeding and maybe he’d stay around, alright?” Shiirul’s growl would’ve sent anyone else scurrying away from the bench. Solid teammates like Ankra and Kate knew her better, but even they flinched.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.