4. Phial
four
Phial
" G o find a female," I mutter under my breath as I pull my shirt over my head and tug my pants off. My scales have already adjusted to camouflage me, so now it's just my clothing bouncing around near the entrance to the ship. I set them in the container where I've been hiding my clothing when I go out to watch Avery. "Go find a female. Like I haven't already found the best one."
I creep back down the hall, keeping my footsteps light as I edge closer to the kitchen. Avery hasn't left yet, but that doesn't mean that she won't be soon. I don't need her walking into me and learning that I creep around invisible from time to time.
I stop at the door, not opening it, and listen. There's some sniffling and then the sound of water running. When the water stops, I can just make out the sound of Avery talking to herself.
"Get healthy, get your mind right, and then you can worry about everything else." She's talking to herself, and maybe it's wrong that I'm listening in, but I can't very well stop myself because I don't want to. "You can ask more of him when you're healthy."
I narrow my eyes, wanting to know who she wants to ask more of. I don't think she's found a male here on Rythar, but it would be for the best if she did. Her body is made for one of these males, and she'll need his assistance through her heat often since she has them so much more frequently than normal Rytharians. Maybe that's why she told me to find a female. Maybe she thinks to ease some of our codependence so it doesn't affect me as much when she tells me there's a male she wants to spend her time with.
The kitchen door slides open, and Avery comes walking out, her eyes rimmed red, her cheeks flushed, and her lips slightly puffy like she's wiped at them. She's close to me because I was so close to the door when she was talking to herself. I can feel her breath against my shoulder as she turns to look down the hall toward the entrance. Her eyes harden as she looks that way, not realizing she's looking right at me.
"Phial deserves someone to make him happy," she says, nodding to herself, and my cocks take it in the worst possible way.
It's one thing to be invisible and eavesdropping. It's a whole other to be eavesdropping with hard cocks. It's creepier when the cocks are out of the pocket, which means I have to deal with them before I can continue to snoop.
Avery heads to the entertainment room, and I walk past it toward my room so I can deal with myself. If I'm lucky, she'll leave the entertainment room door open so I can slip in. If not, I'll have to wait by the door and listen instead of seeing and listening to her. I don't need long on my own, and then I can go and ease my worries by having her back in my sights.
It's been a couple of weeks since Avery sent me off to find a female to be with—not that I ever did that. I sat in the entertainment room with her and Essa all day as they watched a movie marathon. Essa tried talking with Avery several times, but it was mostly silent. Essa realized that Avery only needed a friend to be with, and she became that easy enough.
Avery hasn't brought up that day to me or told me to find a female again. She always gives me a strange look when she leaves to go to her therapy appointments, but I can't tell her what I'm doing during those times. I'm pacing the alcove of the sanctuary, invisible and impatient to see her again, to make sure she's okay and nothing happened to her when she wasn't where I could see her.
"My heat will be back soon," Avery says as she crawls out of the nest.
She's been keeping the glass dome fogged more often than not. I try not to let it get under my scales. She needs her privacy. That's fine. I hate to think it's because she's trying to put space between us. If there is a male that she wants to see, she's kept him a secret from me, and I can't think of anything worse than secrets between us.
"Do you want to go ahead and see if the sanctuary will take you?" I roll onto my back, my body curving over the top of the dome and stretching me out real nice.
"You want me to go early?" Avery asks, her eyes wide.
"No, I just meant, like, should you go so you're not in pain like you were the last time?" I try to fix whatever mistake I made. "Holoth isn't here to purr for you this time." A sickening realization dawns on me, and I feel bile turning in my stomach. "Do you want me to find a male to stay here to purr for you?"
"What?" Avery gives me a dirty look, and it has me shriveling up a little inside. "Yeah, Phial, I want a Rytharian male in here purring for me." She definitely sounds like she's being sarcastic, but she goes into the bathroom, closes the door behind her, and turns the shower on without giving me a chance to ask her if she's serious or not. I crawl over to the bathroom door, raise my hand to knock, and then realize Avery's in the shower.
Avery taking a shower shouldn't be a big deal, but it is. She's struggled with her body after it was altered. Showering has always been something she's asked me to leave for because she has to talk herself into doing it.
Today, though, she walked into the bathroom as though it was nothing and turned the water on. I can hear the water splashing against her skin and the wall of the shower. My smile is huge and has me forgetting whatever it was we were arguing about.
I crawl back onto the dome, smiling the whole time. I rest my head on my forearms and listen to the sound of the shower running. It's the best sound I've heard in a long time.
Whatever other issues are happening with our friendship, at least she's healing. Maybe as she heals, she won't need me as much, and that's just something I'll have to make peace with.
I'm not inviting another male into my bedroom though. That might be where I draw the line.
"I'm going to the sanctuary," Avery says as she exits the bathroom.
The only thing covering her body is one of the thin towels I have. I don't need much drying since the water slides off my scales easily. My eyes fall down her body, taking in every inch of her damp skin and every curve of her visible body. I'm so shocked by seeing her this way that I don't register her words until she grabs her clothes and returns to the bathroom.
When she comes out again, I escort her to the sanctuary. We don't speak to one another. The tension is thick, but I can't tell if it's only on my side. Of course, it probably is. She might be healing, but that doesn't mean she wants me when she's ready to be with someone. Even if she did, I could see it ruining our friendship. I want Avery in my life, even if it's just as my friend.
"I'll see you in a week," Avery says when I drop her off at the sanctuary doors. I give her a soft nod, and she opens her mouth like she wants to say something else.
"You can stay in the mate's room if you'd like," Jia says, interrupting whatever Avery might've been about to say.
I want to hiss at the other female, but she couldn't have known she's interrupting. She's behind me, offering to escort me to a different part of the sanctuary. Avery's cheeks flame at Jia's words, and I realize she must be embarrassed that these females think she's mated to me. Of course, she is. Rytharians are strong males, big males, and I'm not.
"No, that's fine," I say a little more harshly than I mean to. "Avery's not my mate."
I turn back around to say goodbye to Avery, but she's already turned her back to me. I think her shoulders are shaking, but I don't know what could be causing it. The door shuts gently, cutting off my view of her. I hiss at it and turn around to leave.
Jia gives me a hard look. The soft, sweet expression she was wearing when she offered me a place to wait is gone. Whatever, I'll go to the ship, undress, and make my way back here so I can wait for Avery. I don't need a special place to stay. No one even knows I'm out here anyway.
One other female has come to the sanctuary to go through her heat since Avery went in four days ago. I've been lying on the ground in one of the corners, away from any doors, since Avery then.
I've only left twice to get food and water. I can survive for quite a while without it, but it does make me more of a cranky male. Not that anyone ever notices since no one has even messaged me on the comm to ask where I've been. At least they hadn't when I went to get food this morning and checked to see if I missed anything.
A soft rumbling sound catches my attention at the entrance of the sanctuary. A male, carrying his small Rytharian mate, comes walking in, his purr vibrating through her body and filling the room. She's curled up against him, her body shaking as the start of her heat takes hold of her. His purr calms her, though, and it has me wishing I had that to offer Avery when she's feeling so stressed or scared or really any time. It makes her feel safe, I know, because when Holoth did it for her, she melted, and her pains eased.
A few sisters meet the couple as they grow closer to the doors. I shift my body, wincing since my limbs have started to fall asleep. I don't catch most of the conversation since they're all speaking in hushed voices to keep the female in heat from stressing anymore. The male sets her on her feet and two of the sisters help to guide her down the same hallway Avery disappeared down.
"Do you want me to show you to the mate's room?" Jia asks, her voice growing louder now that it's just the two of them.
The male's eyes are wild as the door closes, separating him from his mate. He gives Jia a small nod, his hands running through his hair and over his eyes like he's trying to keep himself from losing it. I don't know what happened to his mate to where she needs to be here for her heats, but it's something I feel for both of them.
Jia shows him down another hallway, and I can't help but follow now that my limbs are back in working order. I know I'm not a mate, but my curiosity is piqued.
Jia opens a door down the hall, motioning for the male to follow her inside. I slip in as well. My body is small and agile enough to get through without anyone noticing me. Rytharians have a good sense of smell, but these rooms are filtered to keep the smells of female heat from filling the rooms, and the male smells from reaching females who might be traumatized.
The room is small, with a bed in one corner and a comm screen on the wall near it. There's a small fridge that I'm assuming has food and drinks, so the male doesn't need to leave. Jia turns the comm screen on, and the image instantly flickers to one of the heat rooms where the male's mate is getting situated with the other females. I avert my gaze, knowing none of this is for me to see.
"She's allowed you to observe as much or as little as you want. If you want to talk with her, it's this button." Jia points at something on the comm, and the male gives her a nod. "She does much better when she knows you're here with her." Jia gives the male a soft smile, trying to make him feel better. "You're a strong male for being here with her."
My stomach revolts at what I'm seeing—not because it's distasteful. Well, my snooping on it is distasteful, but that's not what has me feeling sick. This male has access to the female he brought. He can see her and speak with her. Maybe she can even see him. I don't know.
What I do know is this was offered to me for Avery, and I rejected it. The female didn't tell Jia before she went back to the room what the male was allowed to do, which means it was spoken about beforehand. I grind my teeth together. Did Avery want me here?
"If you need anything," Jia says, opening the door out of the room. I don't wait for her to finish speaking before I slip out. I hate myself right now. So, I curl back up in the corner, in the dirt, and I wait.