Chapter 4
Romival
There was something wrong with him.
Romival had his travel med scanner in hand, and he was pointing it at his wrist. He wanted a reading on his hormones and his blood contents, and, for that, he only needed to point the scanner at a part of his body with blood in it.
So, really, any part of his body. His wrist was just convenient.
The little device wasn’t as accurate as a large scanner and could only provide text readouts, but it served its purpose just fine.
As the scanner was humming gently, its light bathing his wrist, he brought his eyes up and focused back on the market below. He was sitting in his hover, latched onto the side of a tree, but he hadn't climbed down. He was already close enough to see Holly.
That was the entire reason he was here.
And that's why something had to be wrong!
But when the scanner brought up its readings, they were the same as yesterday. He frowned at the values, trying to figure out why, if something wasn’t wrong, he was obsessed with the slender, delicate, beautiful human female.
Ancestors, he finally understood how Dominani was so enchanted by his adassi, but he just didn't know why he was so fixated on Holly.
Looking at it objectively, Holly was stunning and sensual.
But all the human females were. Each of them came in beautiful earthen tones and their bodies ranged from curvaceous and luscious to toned and enchanting to slender and hypnotizing.
The way they moved alone was incredibly sexual.
Even Holly, the least curved of the females, sashayed seductively.
Their hips and bottoms rocked with every step; their bountiful, soft breasts bounced with each graceful stride.
None of them seemed to realize just how their movements looked to others.
Romival had noted it before, but until he had paid attention to Holly, he didn't really, truly understand just how sexual they were. Holly was probably the least sexual of them all, from a shape perspective, yet he still couldn't tear his eyes from her.
Romival had never been so fixated on a member of the opposite sex before.
He had a pleasure mate while going through academy, but their relationship had been strictly physical.
They used each other as an outlet for stress and tension while studying, but rarely ever spoke outside of scheduling their liaisons.
Since her, he had been more interested in his research and duties than trying to establish another pleasure mate in his life. His previous female had found her true mate and he wished her well and couldn't be bothered to find another after her.
But now, after seeing Holly bent over before him like an offering presented for a glorious victory, he was obsessed.
So, maybe he had a tumor in his brain overproducing sex hormones or something.
But the scanner proved that possibility false.
His hormones were elevated, true, but not beyond the scope of what would be considered normal.
Healing was a science, but it was a specific science requiring specific training and specialization and so it wasn't included in the training to be a scholar. Romival was seriously considering expanding his scope of studies to include it.
Because there had to be something wrong with him. There was no other reason that he would be hiding in a tree, watching Holly from afar.
She and the curviest female – Hattie, he reminded himself – had come here to shop.
As far as he could see, they were out more for the chance to be out than to get anything in particular.
At one point, they stopped at a stall and began talking to three domini females.
He recognized Second Scholar Ryna. She was determined to beat him in exam scores and supplant his place.
It took him a bit longer to recognize Sixth Scholar Valorii, but he hadn't known her before two days ago.
The conversation between them didn't last long. Just long enough for Holly to tense up so much that he noticed it even from this distance.
Something dark and angry and shockingly powerful rose in his gut at the sight, and he found himself standing, readying to go down there to put himself between Holly and the other females.
But before he got the chance, the domini females left on their own.
After a moment, Holly and Hattie continued on their way in the opposite direction and he calmed.
He immediately scanned his wrist again.
Romival had never felt such a surge of emotion before. It had been choking in its intensity. Surely, his sex hormones must be raging.
They were still within the normal range, and he was baffled.
His eyes came up and focused back on Holly. She was easy to keep track of, even from this distance, as she and Hattie were the only things that didn't change color down there. He found the humans lack of color changing to be fascinating.
Well, to be more accurate, they did change color, but their camouflage reflex seemed to be stuck on a singular shade, specific to each female, that rose along with their blood in their cheeks. He didn't understand the purpose of such a limited reflex.
One of the many things he didn't understand about human females. He could probably make a list. He should probably make a list. He had been given leave to interview them about their planet. Surely, Dominani wouldn't mind if he expanded that to include a few other topics.
Like why they were so damnably sexual. Why their skin was so soft.
Why their bodies flowed through movements like cream pouring in a smooth motion.
Why thinking about them inspired such poetic thoughts like 'cream pouring in a smooth motion' when he had never once in his life thought in such a manner.
Poetry was his weakest area of study. He had no skill at crafting metaphors or flowery words, yet Holly's hypnotizing movements inspired them regardless.
He wanted that female. He wanted to hear the gentle whisper of her voice in his ear, feel her warmth under his hands, to taste of her sweet cunt and know what the most sexual species in the universe felt like on his tongue.
More passionate thoughts he'd never experienced before. It was like he was a youth first coming into his hormones. He had canceled a meeting to stalk Holly out here when, just yesterday, the very idea would have made him confused as to why anyone would ever.
Now though, he was trying to think of an excuse he could give for moving their meeting to tomorrow. Or today. Or right now.
He scanned his wrist again.
Still normal.
Growling, he tossed the scanner onto a nearby seat. The females were leaving the market. He should return to his own duties. He had spent too much time obsessing already.
It was strangely difficult to fly back to the academy. A place he considered more of a home than the actual home he kept in the canopy, just by virtue of spending more time there.
Calvitorum Academy was the biggest, most prodigious institution on Turv.
It had the most advanced research laboratories, the biggest archive in the Central Region, and was where the majority of most of the highest ranked scholars went to school.
Romival had his own office there, a class that he taught on advanced subspace engineering three times a tenday, as well as his own private lab where he worked on his personal projects.
The sprawling academy was built from the ground to the canopy over multiple trees with steady wooden pathways built between them to make it easier for the students to get to their classes.
Romival's office was near the top of the canopy, though not in the canopy itself.
That was where the dean of the academy kept his office and there were also some classes up there for astronomy, meteorology, and biology for the various canopy animals.
Romival didn't really care about being above the canopy. He enjoyed the shaded area. It even came with a private, covered landing spot for his hover. The office was also large with a massive window that looked out over the entire academy.
He rubbed at the tension in his neck as he walked inside, dropping his med scanner onto a table before crossing to the massive computer that took up an entire wall of the office.
It was actually multiple computers connected to three monitors so he could jump between projects that might require heavy computing power without disturbing his workflow.
When he sat down and turned on his main computer with a wave of his hand, he was surprised to see he had a message. From First Voice Survii of all people.
He read it, frowning at the words.
'Havali and I have been hearing dangerous things from Hr'ssri.
There are rumors that the remains of an entire clavas have packed up and left the planet.
I tracked them as far as I could, but I lost them near the Holicron Cluster.
I'm worried they're heading towards Turv.
They're the same clavas as the males that vi Dominani killed for attacking vi Adassani.
I'm including all the information on the clavas I could find.
Havali has already been alerted and I've sent a message to vi Dominani before you. See what you can find.'
Sitting up, Romival expanded the message to find the information that First Voice had included on the clavas in question.
The ratchi from Hr’ssri were a heavily pack minded species. They lived in tight-knit groups that were either based on blood or choice. Regardless, once a ratchi was pack bonded, it was for life and would survive anything between the two. It was usually a good thing.