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Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.


2

I walked into the conference room and looked around quickly. I spotted an empty seat next to Shaye and headed over, exchanging smiles with my fellow department heads. For all that it was a surprise to find out that our boss was an alien, this has been the best company I've ever worked for. The benefits and pay were awesome and the company seemed to genuinely keep their employees in mind when making decisions that affected them. Sure you have your personality clashes and differences in opinion, but for the most part everyone got along.

“Hey” I said sitting down “ anything good happen yet?”

“Not really” Shaye said rolling her eyes “everyone seems to be taking bets on whether or not this meeting is going to be about layoffs to have us replaced by Selkrians”

I shook my head “Wow it's like they immediately jump to worse case scenario. They haven't given us any reason to believe there will be a mass layoff. Next thing you know it'll be bets on when the anal probing will start!”

Shaye laughed “ I can see it now it'll be right up there with random drug testing”

We giggled together but stopped as Tyler from accounting leaned over and said “Yeah laugh it up but you have no idea what these… aliens...are really up to. I mean why would they stay here and not just go back to their own planet? And what's up with this meeting? we've never had a meeting with the CEO before.”

I just barely resisted the urge to roll my eyes, nevermind that in my 6 years working here there had never been any type of layoff and the department heads frequently interacted with Mr. Kapena’s admin “Calm down Tyler, let's not start manning the lifeboats before we hit the iceberg alright?” I replied calmly “let's see what's going on first and then we can go from there”.

“Exactly” Shaye said “Hey you never know maybe we're all getting raises!” I stifled a laugh at that. Tyler narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth to reply when the door to the conference room opened and the CEO stepped in.

I could feel my eyes widen as I took in Kale Kapena, as good as he looked on tv it was nothing compared to him in person. An air of total command and dominance surrounded him, my instincts shouted do not engage! while my ovaries waved hello. Pitch black hair fell in a straight line to muscular shoulders and he had to be at least 6’5. Clad in what was obviously a tailor made suit, he paused at the head of the conference table and gazed around the room.

I held my breath as his violet colored eyes came to rest on me. Was it just my imagination or did his eyes seem to linger before moving on? “Good afternoon everyone” he said voice deep and slightly accented. “I want to thank you all for showing up on such short notice. I felt it was best to provide some information about myself and the role I play in the Selkrian hierarchy and get everyone up to speed on a new venture that I have planned”

His full lips quirked up into a smile before continuing “As I'm sure you're all aware my name is Kale Kapena. I am the original founder of this company and I am also the Lakai of the largest Hale in the United States.” Wow I thought to myself no wonder he has such a strong presence. From what I understood the Lakai is the strongest, most cunning member of the hale. It wasn't an inherited position, it was awarded through a series of trials that the stronger members of the hale competed in. “This company was originally founded as a way to help humans advance technologically and to use the profits to assist my people in living amongst you.” His smile widened before he said “ I doubt that the selk currency would be accepted at the local stores”

Everyone chuckled at that and the tension in the room eased. “I would also like to advise you all that I believe it is time to begin a new facet of Totality. In the past we have taken some of the technology we Selkrians have and introduced it to you. We have also blended Human ideas with Selkrian tech to enhance and build upon human technology. I would like to propose that we gather the brightest of Human and Selkrian minds together to work towards something new.”

Excited murmurs swept the room and he held up one tanned long fingered hand for quiet. “ This new venture is still in the early stages but I would like to see what each department may have to contribute. If anyone has ideas they would like to share they are welcome to set up an appointment with my admin.” His eyes swept the room again before he said “  I would like each department head to come up and introduce themselves and give a brief summary on anything new that they are working on or of any concerns. Seeing your names on paper is one thing but I would like to put faces with the reports i’ve been receiving from you all.”

He looked towards where I was seated and this time I knew it wasn't my imagination as he deliberately held my eyes with his for a moment. “ Now I'm going to turn the floor over to you guys and we can start with the right side of the room.”

I took a deep breath and silently cursed my luck, I was sitting in the second seat on the right. Tyler was on my right side so I at least had some time to gather myself and my thoughts together. I hated speaking in public, I could do it but I wasn't the type of person that liked a lot of attention on me. Tyler usually droned on like that guy from the eye drops commercial and it would be a miracle if any one was left alive at the end of his speech. I looked around the table and smirked to myself as he stood up and walked towards the front of the room. I could see lots of quickly hidden grimaces and found it hilarious. My eyes swung back around the table and landed on Mr Kapena. I noticed that he was watching me and quickly wiped the smirk from my face. He raised an eyebrow at me and I gave a little shrug before smiling and turning away.

“Good Morning everyone. I’m Tyler and I’m one of the heads of accounting” he said standing at the front of the table with a sheaf of papers in his hands. I looked at it in horror Oh I know he is not going to try and read all of that! I thought in dismay. He shuffled the papers in his hand and began to go over the figures from last month’s budget report and I resisted the urge to drop my head on the table.

Shaye lened close and whispered in my ear “ At least there’s no powerpoints or graphs” we watched in silence as Tyler reached over and turned on the projector located at the front of the table and brought out a laser pointer from his pocket “ Oh God” she groaned quietly before sitting back in her chair.

“As you can see here by this chart I project that if we cut back on certain departments expenditures we can save a project 3% each quarter” he said moving the laser to circle the figure on the chart. He droned on for another ten minutes and I stared at the wall across from me until a movement caught my attention. Looking down I noticed Mr. Kapena held hi chin on one hand between his thumb and pointer figure. What had caught my attention though was the fact that his head was bobbing forward and he kept catching himself. He caught himself again and shaking his head sat up straighter in his chair. Taking a look at his watch he grimaced and stood up. Tyler trailed off as Mr. Kapena rose and smiled a bit stiltedly at him.

“Thanks so much for your contribution Tyler,I’m sorry but we are on a bit of a time crunch here….”

Tyler looked confused “ But...but i’m not done..I haven't even gotten to our gross projections for next quarter”

Mr. Kapena looked pained but smiled again “ That's quite alright Tyler you my email them to my admin and I can go over them at a later date”

Tyler looking subdued turned off the projector and gathered his papers. I stood up as he started walking back to his seat, giving him a sympathetic smile as I moved past him to take my place at the front. I guess CEO even get bored, although I would have thought he would like going over the numbers Tyler had presented. I noticed as I took my place at the head of the table that Mr. Kapena had yet to take a seat. I stood almost even with him and couldn't help but notice the difference in our heights.

I felt positively dwarfed as I stood there standing next to him in that moment. I was only 5’3 and 150 pounds (since I've never met a dessert I didn't like) the differences between us was obvious. He looked to be made of pure muscle with a long lean runner's body. He looked at me as he sat back in his seat, his eyes running down my body slowly. He raised his eyes back up and met my gaze and I watched as his eyes darkened slightly. I tore my gaze from his and turning towards the front of the table,  smiled brightly at everyone “ Hey guys my name is Mia Jones and I'm the head of human resources, I’ve been with the company for over 6 years and really enjoy my work here” I shrugged and laughed a little “ Never could have imagined that I would be working with aliens, it’s been an experience to say the least” As my coworkers laughed and murmured their agreement, I glanced towards our CEO. He was sitting back in his chair relaxed and his face was calm, but just as I thought he may not have liked what I said, he caught my eye with his and smiled slowly.

I blushed and coughed to clear my throat, looking down at my notes as I tried to gather my thoughts after that one smile scrambled my brains. “ My department has been working on a new project. Since Autonomous and Bucket list are arguably the best  in the technology and travel industries, I thought we could start an internship program. Not only will it be a way to get in some fresh new ideas but it will also help clear some of the mystery and distrust that exist between Humans and Selkrians.”

Looking at the nods I was receiving from my coworkers around the table, even the one coming from Mr. Kapena, I felt an immense feeling of pride. It seemed as if the idea had been received well. I gave a little bow and concluded with a “thanks for your time today” and walked back to my seat. Catching Shaye’s eyes as she passed me on her way for her turn she gave me thumbs up and mouthed ‘told you so’. I crossed my eyes at her before dropping into my chair and directing my attention towards the head of the table.


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As we all stood gathering our things after the meeting had ended, I snuck a glance across the room at Mr.Kapena. I stilled as I saw that he was up and moving in my direction. I quickly turned towards Shaye and whispered “ Is he coming over here?”  she glanced casually over my shoulder and whispered back “ Danger Will Robinson, danger”  I choked back a laugh as I heard a “Ms. Jones?” coming from behind me.

I threw back my shoulders, slowly turned around and raised my eyes to meet his “Hello Mr. Kapena, how are you?” He gave me that slow smile again and said “ I'm very well thank you, I was quite intrigued by the idea of an internship and would like to discuss it further with you.” I swallowed hard “Of course”

“If you could meet me in my office in about 30 minutes?”

“Sure no problem that’ll be perfect.” As he nodded at us and moved away I felt a hand on my arm and looked over at Shaye. Her eyes sparkled mischievously as she said “ Looks like he does want some black girl magic after all!’


Kale

While I knew who the heads of the various departments were, this was the first time I had met with any of them. I of course approved any hiring and promotions for the management level positions, but that was merely paperwork that was submitted to me. All I usually did was review their recommendations and work history and go from there. I realized now that that was a grave oversight on my behalf. I never knew there was such an intriguing person in our hr department.

I embarassed to admit that I had almost nodded off during the accounting department's meeting. It wasnt his fault, I had stayed up late the previous night and...who am I kidding...His presentation was boring. Hey I liked money as much as the next Selkrian, but when it's presented in a dry tone and droning voice...snores happened. But when the lady I had noticed when I first walked into the room stood up next, I certainly woke up then. She had completely captured my attention and I felt an insane urge to get to know her better.

I was aware of not only the imbalance in our positions with my being her boss, but with the fact that we were totally different species. I knew I would have to tread carefully and approach her in a non threatening way, but I was fully prepared to do that. I tried to keep my fascination hidden as I stared at Mia Jones. In all my years I had never felt such a pull towards someone, such an intense desire to learn all I could about them.Her dark brown eyes sparkled as she spoke about an internship program her department had been putting together.

The internship was a pretty good idea and I  wondered why it had not occurred to me before to do the same, but I was thankful she had come up with it. It would give me the chance to possibly get to know her better and see if maybe she would be interested in getting to know me. Make no mistake I was very interested in getting to know her. From her burgundy colored curls that fell below her shoulders complemented by her caramel skin, to the hour glass figure she had packed into gray slacks and a white button up shirt, to the way she gestured animatedly and her obvious passion for what she spoke about. All of it appealed to me and at that moment I knew she would be mine.






Chapter End Notes:

The next chapter will be out on Tuesday night! Stay Tuned!







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Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.