Chapter 25 #2
But damn, she wondered what it would be like if she wasn’t. If she let him bury that knot deep and unload the full amount inside her.
The very thought sent another ripple of pleasure through her pussy that, in turn, made him groan as all her muscles flexed at the same time.
“You are more than mere data,” he promised, reminding her of the offhand comment that had only been intended as a joke.
Holly chuckled. “I don’t mind you collecting data on me. I was kidding.”
“Ah.” He leaned back but didn’t pull out of her. He grinned, three eyes flashing, as he stroked her cheek. “I know I can become obsessed with my topics. To the detriment of many other things. But I want you as my adassi. I don’t want you to think you are just an experimental variable.”
“Hasn’t crossed my mind,” she promised, rubbing her foot along his thigh.
It had at the beginning, but never again.
But if that’s how he reacted to a joke, she decided to keep that little tidbit to herself for now.
“You’re a nerd. You love learning. I’d be more concerned if you didn’t want to learn about me. ”
A bit of tension eased from his shoulders as he smiled. “You truly don’t mind?”
“Scan away.” She held out her arms. “I’m at your disposal. Just don’t hurt me.”
“Never,” he growled with a surprising intensity. “You are mine. I would never let harm come to-”
A small, incessant beeping interrupted him. Holly jumped, looking back at the wall of machines to see one of them had a blinking light now.
“What’s that?”
Romival was frowning fiercely. He kissed her cheek distractedly before pulling out of her and quickly crossing the room.
Holly immediately closed her legs to prevent what little he had left inside her to come spilling out on his desk or floor – that would be embarrassing.
She kept her thighs together as she stood and wrapped the sheet back around her body.
“What is it?” She asked again, approaching as he opened the holo display on the computer and began quickly scanning through the information.
He didn’t answer her for a long minute. She wondered if he even heard her. She wanted to know what put such a severe expression on his face, but she didn’t want to disturb him if he was doing something important.
A few minutes later, he finally responded.
“One of the student groups taking soil and water samples of the mushroom farms under the market reported signs of something living there.”
Holly frowned, confused. “The mushroom farms? Aren’t those underwater?”
“Only about up to my knee. The farm has two levels. The lower level is flooded completely, but the upper one is only half flooded, and the farmers grow a few specific breeds of mushrooms that need such water this time of year.”
“Oh. I see. But something not mushroom was living there?”
“Signs point to it being a ratchi,” he growled dangerously.
“Ratchi?” Just hearing the word sent a chill down Holly’s spine.
The scary, dinosaur-lizard-man-aliens had been the ones who abducted her from Earth.
Holly had already been told – by both Atem and Peony speaking on behalf of Atem – that the entire race wasn’t like the ones that had captured her.
In fact, all signs pointed to them being an exiled, dishonorable clan of the species.
The ruler of the planet had extended his apologies to Peony and the other humans after Atem had mated her.
Still, it was hard to remind herself that she couldn’t blame the entire species for the actions of a few bad apples. She hadn’t had the chance to meet any good ones yet and only knew the ones that had captured them, then the ones that had tried to take them back when they escaped.
She hadn’t heard anything about the ratchi since then and had assumed that was the end of it. That she wouldn’t have to deal with them ever again.
But the unsurprised look on Romival’s hardened face made unease settle into her gut.
“Romi, why are you getting an alert about a possible ratchi sighting?” The question fell softly from her trembling lips.
He stilled in a way that made her heart clutch then sink.
“Forgive me, Holly,” he turned his three, inscrutable eyes back onto her. “We didn’t want to worry you.”
“Who didn’t want to worry me about what?” She snapped, fear making her tone short.
Romival faced her fully, his head tall. “The rest of the clavas of the ratchi that captured you has decided to claim vengeance for their fallen family. They have come to Turv in an effort to search you out. And despite our efforts, it appears they’ve managed to sneak into Calvitorum.”
***
Something was wrong with Hattie.
After another wonderful night at Romival’s house, he had returned her to the palace. After he had reassured her that she was safe from the ratchi, that she had no reason to worry, he had taken her back to his room for a round of slow, beautiful love making.
He said he didn’t mind her staying with him permanently, but until the claiming, the longer he held her there, the greater the chance that Atem would come break his door down to get her back.
Holly was pretty sure that wasn’t hyperbole either.
She returned home and, that night, celebrated with the girls because, as Romival had inferred, Scarlet had indeed passed her healer’s exam.
She was Donivi’s student, but she wasn’t ranked yet.
Unlike the other professions, healers didn’t get a rank until they were among the top six – Donivi’s personal council.
However, from what Holly understood, Scarlet had scored really well, and she was fully credentialed to actually work.
A task she had taken to eagerly as she had already gone to the healing center the next morning, wearing the seafoam green scrub-like uniform of the healers, a bright smile on her face.
Alanna waited to see her off before leaving on her own to go hang out with her domini friends and Peony returned to her room – apparently, the furniture was completely wrong, and she had to fix it.
Nesting instincts were strong for pregnant domini.
That left Holly and Hattie. Holly ordered them breakfast but, when it was delivered, she found that Hattie wasn’t actually eating.
Her friend had put some fruit from the trays into her serving bowl, but she was mostly just pushing them around.
Occasionally taking a tiny bite, but not really eating.
She also wasn’t smiling as much or as brightly as she usually did.
She had eagerly asked Holly for details regarding her date and she acted excited, but there was just something off.
“You’re not still thinking about what that jughead Tuvo said, are you?” Holly asked, scowling at the thought of the inconsiderate First Warrior.
Hattie’s wan attempt at a smile faded and she set her bowl down. Confirming without saying anything that’s exactly what she was thinking about.
“Hey, forget him,” Holly growled, angry now. “He doesn’t deserve to dim your light. All right? You’re amazing and I love you just the way you are. If he doesn’t, that’s his loss. You’re not any better or lesser for not having his attention.”
“I know that,” Hattie mumbled, but not like she actually believed it.
Holly growled. “I’m going to break his tail the next time I see him.”
Hattie chuckled a bit, but it was a sad, wispy sound. “I’m sorry.”
“He’s the one who should be sorry!”
“I think I just need a little time to get over it,” Hattie finally looked her in the eyes again. “I really liked him, you know? Even if he doesn’t deserve it, it still hurts.”
“Can’t argue with that,” Holly huffed, crossing her arms. She quickly forced them to drop as she reached over to touch Hattie’s arm. “Hey, why don’t you come with me to the academy? It’s really cool over there, and the archive is amazing.”
Hattie looked indecisive for a minute before smiling, nodding. “Yeah. Okay. It would be a good chance to see something new. Maybe find some hot college guys to hit on.”
“That’s the spirit!” Holly laughed, getting to her feet, grabbing her bowl of fruit as she stood. “You, finish eating. I’ll get changed and then we’ll head out.”
Hattie nodded but made no attempt to pick her bowl back up as Holly turned and walked into her room, munching on the last of her own breakfast as she went.
She wasn’t planning on meeting Romival at the academy today.
In fact, he said he had a lot of work to do since he had spent two days doing nothing over the holiday and then another day afterwards just with her.
Holly almost felt guilty, but he had said it with the warm tenderness of a man that would have gladly sacrificed even more of his free time to do it all over again.
It was hard not to enjoy that kind of devotion.
She was just going to the academy because she wanted to learn more about it and about what Romival did there.
She knew he was like the head of all education on Turv, but she didn’t actually know what that entailed.
She knew he taught classes, but she didn’t know how classes worked for an education system that could literally download the info directly to your brain.
Of course, neural imprints weren’t permanent.
They wore off after a few days and you had to actually use the information to seal it into your brain so it would stay even after the imprint was gone.
Like tracing over pencil with pen – one would fade, the other would not.
And everyone’s brain worked differently.
Some people were just better able to remember the information than others. As Romival proved.
The schooling system had to be different, she wanted to learn all about it.
But she would have gladly put that fact finding mission on hold if Hattie didn’t seem up to it.
However, her friend looked interested in the change of scenery, and Holly wanted to get her mind off of the jughead and his stupid and insensitive comments.