6. Phial
six
Phial
I t's good that Avery's secret is no longer a secret. Not that I mind being the only one to know something about her. In fact I'd very much like to be the only one to know many things about her.
I frown and shake the thoughts away. It's this kind of thinking that has our friendship straining recently. No, back on topic, her shitbag father.
I've already told her I'd go back to earth and blow the entire state of Alaska up. I think she said they were called states. Maybe it's a district now. Doesn't matter. I'd blow it all up.
I have explosives stored away in plenty of little spots in the parts of space that no one goes to unless they're dumping a body. I just so happen to have hidden my explosives all around those dead bodies.
Gross, yes, but it's effective. Not to mention, no one's searching a gravesite for hidden caches of explosive powder.
Avery told me that the entirety of the Alaskan population didn't need to die just because her father was there. I told her that sounded like an excuse not to blow her shitbag father up. But I don't argue with people about blowing up their families. If I ever see him, I'll probably kill him, but with only him as the casualty. Probably.
Now Avery's secret is out, and no one freaked out on her, just like I told her they wouldn't. She was scared that since her father helped to traffick humans from Earth to various unethical places, we might take it out on her. As though she's somehow just as guilty as him even though she was working against him and he went and trafficked her. No, I told her that the only thing that anyone would think would be to kill him, and I was right.
"Is this normal amongst humans?" Essa asks, her tail swishing about furiously as she, Jovi, Alik, and I dig into some breakfast.
Sloane and Avery are off with K'Vella to look at baby things. Avery didn't even seem scared when she left. She was holding Sloane's hand, but that could be because Sloane is just a touchy person. I do know K'Vella is probably the strongest one in the clan, minus Jovi and Alik, who are her male counterparts, and not counting Essa, who's stronger than most others everywhere. If anyone is going to be able to keep Avery safe and make her feel protected, it's the two females she has grown close to since we've been stuck hiding on this planet.
"What? Selling your kid to smugglers to be a sex slave?" Alik asks, no humor in his voice, which is good because even the way he's said it has my claws extending and my hiss rattling in my chest. He shoots me a look that tells me he's as unhappy about it as I am and that I don't need to get angry with him. "No, I don't think it's normal."
"Sloane's family didn't treat her this way," Essa says, her spoon digging into her nasty-looking gloop with a fervor that might break the bowl if the goo weren't thick enough to stop a blaster shot. "She had a loving mother. Wait!" Essa realizes something as soon as she plops her food into her mouth. She chews it quickly, making me want to gag because I can hear the squishiness of it swishing in her mouth with exaggerated bites. She swallows and gives me a smirk like she was doing the nasty chewing on purpose just to get my feathers to rise. I frown at her. "Sloane said her father was a deadbeat. Maybe it is something that all humans have in common."
"I doubt that," Jovi says, rubbing the back of his neck and turning to face me. "Do you know anything about human fathers?"
"Why would I know?" I ask, my brows raising. "I want to kill one, so now I should know about them all?"
"Okay, enough," Alik says, focusing us back on the topic at hand. "Our contact in the Intergalactic Alliance told me that the trial date is set for almost two months from now. They'll want Avery on earth, in a secure location, as soon as she appears again. They don't want to risk her father realizing she's not gone forever and retaliating."
"Will Avery have to go through her heat on Earth?" I ask, not liking that she might be in pain that we won't be able to stop.
"Most likely." Alik's lips thin into a flat line. "She knows when the trial is and when we need to leave. She'll go through her next heat, and we'll leave soon after. She's planning on working with a Rytharian male to get her accustomed to being intimate with someone. So, we'll extend the offer to him to come with us if it will help her. Maybe they'll make enough progress by the time we leave that her heat won't be as torturous on her."
The three of them keep talking about plans, but all I can hear is a soft roaring in my ears. No, it's not even soft. It's an all consuming, raging noise that threatens to engulf me if I'm not careful.
I reach out for the island countertop, not realizing that the world has started spinning, until Essa grabs me by the arm, hoists me back upward, and wraps her tail around my ankle like she does to Sloane. I tell her thank you, or at least, I think I do. I'm still reeling from the fact that Avery's going to use a Rytharian male to practice being intimate with.
Why wouldn't she choose someone she trusts? Like maybe a friend. Her friend Phial who's been with her through everything.
"When?" I ask, not caring that I'm interrupting their conversation. I don't even know what they're all talking about. They look amused, and Jovi is in the middle of opening his mouth, so it must have been something entertaining.
"When what?" Jovi changes course and asks me.
"When is she working with the male?" I try to sound calm and rational.
I'm just a friend interested in his other friend. Don't mind the fact that my feathers are standing on end, my claws are fully extended, and I'm almost positive my scales are shimmering between different colors like I'm in danger.
"I think later today," Alik says, hitting Jovi with the back of his hand in the center of his chest when he tries to say something.
Jovi shoots the other male an annoyed glare, but when he turns his eyes on me, they're filled with amusement again. He obviously has something he wants to say, but he and Alik are tied together in a way I'll never really understand. If Alik says 'no,' then Jovi doesn't do it.
"After they looked at bassinets for K'Vella's babe, they were going to find something for Avery to wear. I think Sloane said she wants to feel sexy yet modest," Alik continues.
"She should just get naked," Essa says, shrugging her shoulders. "Name one male on this planet who wouldn't be interested in her if she did. She looks just like one of their females."
I hiss low in my chest and try very hard to cover it before anyone notices. They don't say anything, so maybe I'm successful. My fingers move through my feathers, trying to smooth them down. I was making good progress on it, too, until Essa reminded me just how much better off Avery would be with a male from this planet. She was altered to be like them, so it makes sense she'd want to explore her limits with one.
No, nope, not a chance. I shake my head, not caring about the feathers anymore. Avery doesn't need some male she doesn't trust being the one she's opening up to like this.
What if it causes her more harm than good if she has a bad experience with the male? I don't think Kithi or any other sisters would allow her to be hurt, but what if that trust is broken even a little bit? Then she'll have opened herself up to more hurt, more heartbreak, and more reasons not to trust males.
"Where are you going?" Essa calls to my back when I step out of the kitchen. I didn't even realize I was moving until she broke through the fog of my thoughts.
"I need to check on something," I say noncommittally over my shoulder. There's a snort of laughter from one of the Varon males, probably Jovi. I don't think Alik knows how to laugh.
"Is the mother prompting you to do something?" Essa calls out, the humor in her voice turning the question more singsongy. I roll my eyes at her suggestion. Maybe I use my deity to get away with things that sometimes I shouldn't be able to get away with.
"Not this time," I say as the door slides shut. My claws make soft clicking sounds as I jog off the ship. "This time, it's all me."
PAGE brEAK
***
I don't know exactly what my plan is when I step up to the sanctuary, but I'm not prepared for Jia to be standing outside with a smile on her face like she expects me. I turn around, spinning in a small circle to make sure there's not some male coming up behind me that she's wishing to give her smiles to.
The last time we saw one another, she offered me a mate room to wait in while Avery went through her heat. When I reminded her that I was not Avery's mate, she gave me a look that made it clear she would kill me at the first opportunity. That's what makes her smile so off-putting right now.
"What are you doing?" Jia asks, her jovial expression slipping for a moment and her tone a bit too harsh. Ah, so she does remember that I am a male she'd like to kill. Good. It's good to be consistent.
"You were smiling, and I was almost positive it couldn't be a smile for me."
I try to be charming, something I might succeed in if I were attractive to these females at all. The only thing I have going for me is two cocks, and even that has lost its luster since I've rejected the females bold enough to approach me to try them out. Now I'm just the small, scaled male with extra eyelids that move horizontally, and they all seem to think me strange.
None of the females have said it to my face, but I follow Avery around a lot, and plenty of people will say things about me they wouldn't to my face. Such as "he's kind of small and ugly," or "I don't think I could stomach being with someone who looks so different," or my favorite so far, "two dicks doesn't make up for everything else."
I don't know how much Avery has heard about me from the whispers and the murmurs, but I hope it's not much. Most of the time, it's only a small grouping of females who are cruel like that, and they aren't the ones Avery is around often. It doesn't feel very good for my ego, though.
I do know Avery heard them calling me odd-looking once, and she didn't seem pleased at all. She's a good friend like that. I kind of wished she would've acted a bit more Rytharian and maybe swung her fists at them, but that was probably asking for too much. Plus, Avery doesn't really seem like a fighter.
"I can smile at males who make stupid decisions," Jia says, waving her hand as though it's brushing away all the animosity between us. Maybe it is because I have no ill will toward her. She's only protecting my friend, and can I really fault anyone for wanting to protect someone as kind and wonderful as Avery? "Now, are you here for Avery, or did you just come to talk with me?"
I rub the feathers down my head, and thankfully, they're all lying flat, just like they should be at all times. I didn't expect anyone to be out here waiting for me, let alone already knowing that I'm here about Avery's decision to find a male to practice intimacy with.
My insides shrivel at the idea that Jia already knows. Oh, she knows, and she's going to make me feel so small for even suggesting that I be the male to help Avery. She probably thinks me strange and too small like all the others. I grit my teeth together, forcing myself to stay strong.
"I'm here about Avery," I say, clearing my throat to make sure I don't have too much of a hiss when I talk. "She's asked for males, and I wanted to see if it's really ideal for her to be with someone she doesn't trust."
"How do you know she doesn't trust them?" Jia asks, cutting me off from continuing and ruffling my feathers with a simple question.
"Because she doesn't," I say, crossing my arms in front of my chest, hoping to sound more sure than I am.
In all actuality, there have been chances for Avery to slip away from me, never for very long since I enjoy following her everywhere she goes. But sometimes, like today, Jovi or Alik or any of the others will keep my attention for a little while. There's also all the times she's with Kithi. For all I know, she could have a male helping her during her therapy sessions. That doesn't sound like what I imagine therapy is like, but I also wouldn't ever think to put Avery in a room with a stranger to get accustomed to being intimate with someone, either.
"There's already two other males here waiting for her," Jia says, arching one of her brows at me. My hiss is instant. If Jia's surprised at my reaction, she doesn't show it. "We've been planning this for a couple of weeks now, and we have males who are patient and kind. You're right about her needing to trust the male who goes through this with her, though."
I puff my chest out a little at being told I'm right, and then it deflates again when I realize I'm not the only male here who thinks he can help Avery. There are two others, probably vetted by Kithi and Jia both. Not to mention, they're Rytharian, which means they'll be able to purr for Avery, too.
I don't even want to think about how small I'll look next to them. I definitely don't want to think about how odd-looking, either. I'm usually not a self-conscious male, but now I'm on this planet of hulking males with their muscles and height who all have something Avery needs more than she needs me.
"So, are you here for Avery or not?" Jia asks again, reminding me that I haven't answered her question. I nod, unsure if she's going to laugh at me, tell me that I don't stand a chance, or do something else to make me feel foolish. "Alright, come with me then, and stop moping."
"I'm not moping," I say to the back of her head as she leads me into the sanctuary.
We enter the same hall where Avery disappears when she comes here for her heats or to talk with Kithi. I don't know exactly where she goes after the door closes, but I doubt that's where I'm being taken.
Jia leads me down a series of hallways and a couple of doors until I'm in a fairly small room with some chairs up against a wall and two males already sitting in there talking with one another. If I had the ability to blush, I would be because this is embarrassing.
"This is Phial," Jia says with barely any flourish before shutting the door on the three of us and locking it.
"You're Avery's friend, right?" one of them asks me, and I stand a little straighter at the reminder. Good, these males know who I am, and so they should know why I'm here.
"I am," I say, moving closer to them and grabbing one of the chairs. I spin it around, lay my forearms over the top, and set my chin on it. It's easier for me to sit in chairs like this because so many nontailed creatures don't think of adding tail holes to their chairs. This way, I don't have to sit on my tail, and it can lazily fall to the floor behind me. "How do you know her?"
The males give each other curious glances and then look back at me. I don't like that they both seem to be in on something that I'm not, but I'm not about to question them in this room where there's bound to be a camera watching us.
For all I know, Avery could be watching us right now, and I don't need her to see me as an insecure male. No, her friend Phial is carefree and charming. Or at least I think I'm charming. The others probably find me annoying, but that's neither here nor there. What Avery doesn't need to see is me acting like an embarrassed or self-conscious male.
"Jia asked us if we'd help her with something, and we agreed." One of the males shrugs his shoulders.
I frown at him. His hair is still down, and his face isn't clean-shaven. At least the other male shaved and tied his hair back. Avery struggles with the males of this species looking like the male who altered her, so you'd think they'd both at least be willing to change their appearance for her to get her through this hard part in her healing.
"But you've each spoken with Avery, yes? You're here to help her?"
If I'm not the male she chooses to help her, that is her right. But I don't want her to choose a male who doesn't care for her. Absolutely not.
"I spoke to her once," the shaved male says. "You were there. It was right after her heat, outside the great hall."
"That's the only time you've talked to her?" I ask, forcing my hand not to rub at my temples and show my displeasure.
This species is different. It's not up to me to decide what constitutes a good reason for helping someone, and if Jia picked these males, she obviously has her reasons. That's what I remind myself as they settle back in their chairs and give me a confused look.
"She smells good," the unshaven one says, and they both shrug. "Don't need much more of a reason than that."
My feathers stand on end, my eyes wide as saucers. The only reason they're here to help is because Avery smells good? I'm sure she does, but that doesn't mean these males know all she's been through. They don't know how beautiful she is on the inside as well as the outside. No, they barely know her, and I'm stunned that this was the criteria to help Avery through this.
I'm still thinking of what to say to them to make it clear I don't appreciate them coming here to aid my friend with physical intimacy only because she smells nice when the door opens. Jia walks in, a smiling Avery behind her. Or she smiles until her eyes land on me, then her smile disappears, and my feathers try even harder to stand straight up.