10. Phial
ten
Phial
A very hasn't spoken to me much in the last few days. I think I might've taken it too far when I mentioned both of my cocks while trying to slowly ease her into sexual fantasies and feelings with a male.
I've been giving her the space she wants because I don't want to be seen as a creepy male who doesn't know when to leave a female alone. She needs her space. I can give her space. I'll be there eager and ready the next time she wants to go into the special room, though.
Maybe I can even see about getting her to pull her skirts up. I close my eyes and imagine just how beautiful her plush body will look.
"Stop that," Holoth growls at me, a look of disgust on his features. "We can all smell when you're getting yourself worked up."
I'm sitting in the great hall with Holoth and a few of the males he grew up with. Avery asked for time alone in the dome, and I gave it to her. I wanted to camouflage myself and hide in the corner of the room, but then I thought that maybe she needed alone time for alone time type activities, and I couldn't be watching those without her knowing.
I mean, I could definitely get away with it, but even I have limits on what I'm willing to do. Breaking all trust between me and Avery just to watch her make herself come? Not worth it.
"You're all horny all the time," I say, motioning to the males around the table, two of which are openly ogling one of the females a few tables down who's toying with the ties on her halter like she might give them a show any second.
I turn my attention back to Holoth. I don't need to see anyone's breasts except for Avery's. And, mother help me, I hope she chooses to show them to me soon.
"We smell different than you. I can tune them out. You? You're different, and it's loud. Go jerk off or something so we can talk," Holoth says it all like he's serious, but we both know he's the one who dragged me out of my moping on the ship while I waited for Avery to finish her alone time.
I was perfectly content to sit in the kitchen, eat food, and stare at the wall until Avery pinged my comm, saying I could return to the room. Not that we've been doing much together.
We used to watch different planets' reality shows together, but that's been put on hold since neither of us knows how to act around the other now that she knows I want to admire her while she soaks through more undergarments for me.
"Why did you make me come out if you're only going to complain about how I smell?"
It's not like Holoth doesn't have plenty he could be doing right now. His mate is pregnant with their first child, and she's probably around here somewhere. Honestly, I'm more surprised to find him without her than I am that he's in a foul mood.
"K'Vella is busy with Essa and Sloane doing girl things, as Sloane puts it." Holoth frowns as he crosses his arms over his chest. "I needed to kill some time, and you seemed bored, too."
"So now we can both be miserable at this table together?" I ask, looking around at his friends, who are no longer part of our conversation.
I don't know when it happened, but now there are more females here. More than I'm comfortable with, considering there is only one I want. I especially don't want to be near all these females when the skies begin to darken, and they all start stripping from their clothes to fornicate with the closest male they like the smell of. I inhale deeply, hoping I don't smell like arousal still because it isn't a smell for anyone here.
"Look, I didn't realize they were going to ditch us as soon as someone approached them," Holoth says, looking over at his friends and pressing his lips into a tight line. "It's not even dark out."
"Well." I clap my hands together and begin to rise. "As much as I would love to sit here and watch your friends fuck, I think I'm going to go back to the ship."
"Wait, just wait a second," Holoth says, standing to join me.
I don't wait, not even a little bit. If one female is getting undressed many more are soon to follow. I've yet to be stuck out in the great hall at night, and tonight won't be any different.
I might not be telling anyone that Avery is allowing me to pleasure her, but that doesn't mean I'm going to go looking for someone to do that, not in secret.
No, this is not a planet for me. I enjoy being with my female in the privacy of our own space. Preferably a glass dome that I've filled with blankets and pillows and a thin layer of my own feathers as I shed them.
"Phial, come on." Holoth grabs my arm as we leave the great hall.
It's not a moment too soon either because the sounds of pleasure are already starting inside, and I don't want anyone from the crew catching either of us in there. Holoth can be caught in there with his mate, but not without her. Nope. I'm too good of a friend for anyone to think my copilot could be anything but faithful to his mate.
Not that anyone would ever think that he would. He loves K'Vella more than anything. He bares the mark of her teeth in his neck to prove it.
"We need to talk about it at some point," Holoth says, not releasing my shoulder even as I try to shake free of his hold. He's stronger than me. Of course, he is. Every male on this mother forsaken planet is stronger than me.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." I shrug and pretend to be entertained by one of the planets softly visible in the sky above this planet. I do know what he's talking about, but I don't really want to think about it—not yet, not while he's still technically part of the crew.
"You need to find a new copilot, Phial."
He lifts his head to the sky, admiring the same planet as me. Holoth's planet is above average in beauty. Much of its plant and wildlife has remained thriving even though they're classified as advanced as most other civilizations in the Intergalactic Alliance.
Unlike so many civilizations whose planets have failed and rioted against them, they worked with the planet to rebuild a thriving ecosystem. They live in modest housing and still hunt and farm like their kind probably did long before they made technological advancements.
They remain separated into smaller clans that only interact when the need to procreate arises. All of their technology is kept in designated areas, open to anyone who needs it, and run by those voted on by their own clans. It's not perfect, but it's allowed their planet to retain its beauty, diversity, and quality.
"We're not leaving yet, so I don't need a copilot."
Holoth isn't leaving with us to go back to Earth. He and his mate have already decided to stay on Rythar and start a family. I'm happy for him. I am. But that doesn't mean he's not my copilot anymore.
"You know Jovi's shit at copiloting," Holoth chuckles as he says it and then hits my arm just enough to have me hissing my displeasure. He wants my attention, though, and he has it. "You need to find another Rytharian who wants to leave and is a fast learner like me, or you need to start training someone already on the ship."
"Sloane won't want to, and Essa already told me she has no interest." I relent and talk about this with Holoth. He's not wrong about me needing a new copilot, and he's extra not wrong about Jovi being the worst copilot in the universe.
I don't know how Alik puts up with him copiloting life. He takes nothing seriously, always wants to make a game of playing around with all my controls and settings, and doesn't even attempt to hide his laughter when he comms other ships and tells them our ship's name.
We're not supposed to laugh at Essa's chosen name because she was proud when she came up with the Jolly Folly. So we bite our tongues and hiss at anyone who jokes about it to protect our golden friend's feelings. We never tell her we do this to protect her because that would hurt her even more.
Holoth looks over at me, one of his brows raised in a manner that makes me think he's in on something I'm not. When I frown at him, he gives me an exasperated sigh.
"Are you an actual idiot, or do you just pretend to be one to irritate me?"
Holoth means the question good-naturedly, but it's not the first time in the last week I've been called an idiot. I don't know what every Rytharian has against me, but I'm an intelligent life form. More intelligent than plenty of them, considering I pilot that ship and take care of it and repair it, mostly on my own.
I've never been a stupid male, not when I was younger and learning how to create my own explosives, and definitely not now that I am successful in creating explosives and piloting whole ships.
"Why's everyone assuming I'm a stupid male?" I ask, my hiss coming out stronger than I mean it to. "Stupid Phial and his stupid decisions. He's such an idiot. Idiot male, stupid male. Why? For what reason?"
Holoth's eyes go wide, his hands coming up as if to show he's no danger to me. I know he's not he's been my best friend for years, but that doesn't mean I'm not hurt by how many people have called me stupid recently.
Holoth shakes his head. His hands stay up as he waits for me to finish ranting. I turn away from him, my hands on my hips, my feathers sticking up.
"I didn't mean anything bad by it," Holoth says, waiting to make sure I'm not going to hiss at him some more before continuing. "I don't know who else has been calling you stupid, but I can go have a chat with them."
What Holoth means is he will take care of it in the way Rytharians are good at, fighting. As much as I would love for someone to fight Jia, it wouldn't be fair for it to be a male so much larger than her. No, I'll need to recruit a female to do it for me, so it's a fair fight. Maybe Helna, Holoth's sister, will offer. She's a vicious female.
"Jia called me an idiot the other day." I wave my hand in the air, turning back around to face Holoth. "It's nothing. We don't see eye to eye on anything, but it's fine. Why do you think I'm an idiot?"
Holoth's brows progressively grow closer and closer to one another as I talk. When I end with a question, instead of letting him ask about my strained relationship with Jia, he looks more like he wants to return to the first part of what I said instead of just telling me why he thinks I'm stupid.
I tap my foot, my claws digging into the soft grass underneath my feet as I do so. I'm too agitated, and my claws are almost fully extended everywhere.
"I was only trying to say you should ask Avery to copilot for you. She's stuck on the ship anyway. You might as well make good use of her."
I am making good use of her.
I cough back the thought, surprised at myself for even thinking it. No way, no how, would I ever utter that to anyone who knows both of us. Especially not someone who I don't want looking at Avery as anything other than a friend. It takes me a second to compose myself after that little thought of being with Avery surfaces in my mind.
"We're taking her back to Earth," I remind Holoth.
"Yeah, and K'Vella only wanted a baby." He shoots me a wink that has me frowning. He throws his head back to laugh and cups my shoulder. "You should offer her the job. Maybe she wants it, maybe she doesn't. Either way, it'll beat having Jovi be copilot."
Holoth isn't wrong about it being a better option than Jovi. Really, a stone sitting in the copilot chair might be more helpful than Jovi sitting there. I run my tongue over my teeth, going over the merits of having Avery as my copilot.
Pros: she's not Jovi, she's fairly intelligent as far as I can tell, she's easy to get along with, and maybe this will help us spend more together to get over whatever weirdness has come up since we kissed for a solid two hours a few days ago.
Cons: I might spend more time looking at her than is deemed appropriate.
Okay, so the pros outweigh the cons by a large margin.
Holoth pats my shoulder, somehow realizing that he's given me enough to think about, and I'm not going to spiral even further down about everyone calling me stupid recently.
He's walking away from me, back toward the house he shares with K'Vella, when he turns around. "You should ask Jia why she thinks you're stupid. She cares for the females a lot. If she doesn't like you, it's because you did something to hurt one of them."
My lips turn downward, my eyes narrow, and my nose scrunches. I've done nothing to hurt one of the females she cares for. The worst I've done is reject the advances of some of the Rytharian females who wanted to see what two cocks stretching them would feel like, but that wouldn't have hurt any of them.
No, this must be some misunderstanding. I stand in place a moment longer, deciding whether or not to go and clear this up with Jia now or another time. A ping on my comm tablet alerts me that Avery's done with her alone time.
Just like that, any thoughts of anything other than being near her are gone. I'll deal with the Jia misunderstanding another time. Today, I'll spend the rest of the day lazing on top of the nest dome, waiting for Avery to decide that things shouldn't be awkward between us anymore.