Chapter 7
Holly
She was aware that the domini had loose definitions of family.
Males that had children with women that weren't his mate weren't considered the father of that child and had no responsibility towards them when she found her mate.
And the male who was her mate would immediately take those kids as his.
They didn't have a concept of marriage, so they didn't keep track of bloodlines for any reason other than congenital disorders – and that was a relatively modern change.
As a human, that was a rather hard thing for her to grasp. Hearing that Atem claiming her as a sister gave her citizenship was odd too. That was the kind of thing only given through marriage or parent-child adoption. There was no sibling version of citizenship in Earth countries.
But that's all it took on Turv. Their loose and highly adaptable concept of family threw her off completely.
Atem calling her sister wasn't just a formality or a kindness. She was his family. Legally. Full truth, hard stop. Just like that. No different than if they had the same mother and father.
“Even if you were not domini,” Romival continued, “Turv is an open planet.
You don't see many in Calvitorum because this city doesn't have a space port, but aliens move to Turv all the time. They are full citizens of our planet. Either through being claimed by a domini or by earning their citizenship through a more bureaucratic route. They are not forbidden from celebrating. It is a celebration of different people coming together as one. If anything, you are more encouraged to join because of your status as an alien expatriate.”
Romival was the First Scholar. He told her the story of Ha-Ta like he was reading it out of a textbook – dry and without a great deal of fluffy details.
His smiles were reserved, and he spoke in a very formal and correct manner.
If he was saying that she was welcome to celebrate, it wasn't just an empty placation of her worries. It was just a cold, hard fact.
Her tension eased away as she gave him a soft smile. “Thanks, Romi.”
He looked surprised. She grimaced, her stomach sinking.
“Sorry. That was stupid. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't just give you a nickname like that without-”
“You can call me Romi. If you like.” He cut her off. Looking at her as though fascinated. His attention was so direct and focused, it sent a shiver over her body.
“You don't mind?” She asked, surprised by how breathless she sounded.
He actually thought about her question for a moment before answering – slowly, as though even he was surprised by his answer, “I find that I do not.”
She giggled. “Okay. Romi it is.”
She stilled when he reached out, gently touching her bottom lip again.
The warmth of his fingers, the roughness of his skin, made her breathless.
It took everything in her not to poke her tongue out to get a taste of him.
He smelled like fancy cologne – rich, masculine, and untouchable.
She wondered if that was natural or if he really was wearing cologne.
She wanted to taste his skin and find out.
He pulled away before she gave into the urge. Looking at his own fingers as though confused about how they had found their way onto their face again.
And as hot as it was to have that intense gaze on her, it was somehow hilarious to see him direct it at himself. As though he understood his reactions as little as he did hers.
“I must return to work,” he said, standing from his crouch. Sexy wizard robes swirling around his legs as he straightened them out. “I will see you tomorrow for our meeting, Holly.”
“Yeah, looking forward to it,” she said, hoping her voice wasn't as breathless as it sounded or that her face didn’t look as dumb as it felt.
But she knew it was by the grin Hattie gave her the moment Romival walked away. Like the other girl had been waiting just out of sight for them to finish.
Holly's face burned bright red as Hattie came back to her own lounge.
“We were just talking!” Holly said almost a bit too loudly, completely without prompting.
“I didn't say anything,” Hattie grinned, tossing a celti berry into her mouth.
To Holly's relief, she changed the subject, though she never lost that knowing look in her eyes.
***
Yoga was definitely necessary today. Romival was coming later and Holly had woken this morning with her heart already pounding in excitement.
She was not sexually or romantically attracted to the alien. She wasn't!
But she was eager to see him in a way she hadn't felt in a long time. She needed the familiarity and calming motions of her yoga session to focus her back on reality. On why jumping into bed with the alien guy was a bad idea.
Chief among them was a lack of birth control.
Apparently, her species was considered hyper fertile as human women ovulated once every twenty-eight days and they had to actively prevent pregnancies from happening while the rest of the universe had to put in actual effort beyond the simple bump and grind.
Humans were so damn fertile that, apparently, they could cross species fertilize.
At least among the domini, and Romival was a domini.
Holly still wanted to go home. She still wanted to see her family.
To return to the world she knew, where things were familiar, and she wasn't nearly brought to tears by not-blueberries.
She could hardly do that with an alien boyfriend.
Especially not an alien baby. She wasn't sure if the government would really take and dissect it like in the movies, but she knew better than to think that her people that had issues with different skin colors would be okay with different species.
No way. She wasn't risking that.
Yoga and meditation. Her two fallbacks when it came to controlling the anxiety and depression that had once played havoc with her brain were now being utilized in a different fashion.
Admittedly, not one she would ever have thought she'd need to utilize them, but if they could bring her body and mind under control in one way, they could do it in another as well.
It felt good to go through the familiar motions, but to her frustration, it did nothing to actually ease the tension she could feel building deep in her pelvis.
She was probably cramping. Even though her period just ended.
And these definitely weren't period cramps.
And they certainly didn't come whenever she imagined super nerd in his sexy wizard robes and wondered at the body that was hiding just below the voluminous fabric.
Okay, even she didn't buy that one.
After banging her head on the wall in the shower, refusing to touch herself on principle alone, she spent way too long deciding on something to wear.
Hattie was down in the kitchens experimenting with her cooking today, so she was all alone as she wasted time picking through the multitude of dresses, rompers, flowy pants, and skirts that she owned.
She had narrowed her choices down to three when Hattie suddenly knocked on her bedroom door, surprising her.
“What are doing up here?” Holly asked when she gave permission for the door to open. “I thought you were going to be in the kitchens today.”
Hattie gave her an amused, knowing glance, as she walked across the room to the low table in the corner, carrying a silver, covered tray that smelled really good.
“I was in the kitchens, Holly. It's past lunch already. I thought you'd like something to eat.”
“Wait, already!?” Holly looked around for a clock she knew wasn't there. “Wh-What time is it? Mark is it? Crap!”
“It's halfway through the eighth mark.”
“That late!?” Holly gave a throaty moan of despair, her eyes rapidly moving over the chosen dresses and their matching shoes. Crap! She hadn't picked accessories!
Holly removed the top from the tray, smiling at the morsels in approval. “Took me forever to get all this right. You're going to love the paté. It's technically raw, so domini won't be put off by the cooked meat smell, but it should be fully safe for our delicate human digestive tracts.”
Holly was barely listening, internally panicking as she looked over the outfits. That one looked like she was trying too hard. That one didn't look like she was trying hard enough. Why on Turv had she even picked that one?! It made her look like a total prude!
Nothing she had looked good. All her clothes were ugly!
“Those celti berries, by the way, make a great sweet and spicy sauce,” Hattie was saying as she calmly walked to Holly's closet.
Her voice rose when she disappeared inside.
“I tossed it with some of the fried mushrooms that almost taste like chicken.
You know the ones? They're unpopular around here, but I can't help but love them.
And holy cow, the combo is amazing. You'll see.”
Hattie walked back out carrying a white dress over her arm. It was one that had come with the room. It was white, plain and simple, like a little black dress. Holly never wore it because, though it had a high neck, it had no sleeves and it clung to her body like a second skin.
Hattie pushed it at her. “Put this on. You'll look drop dead. Oh! And I might be on the verge of figuring out bread. They don't have grains around here, but they have these really tough nuts that I think I can figure out how to mill into a flour that might be pretty good.”
“Huh?” Holly was barely keeping up with her anymore.
“Sexy dress. You. Now. You're not wearing these.”
“But-”
“You've had all day to dress yourself and you're still wearing yoga pants. Clearly, you need my wisdom. Trust in Hattie for a second and go put on the dress.” Hattie was gathering up the rejected outfits as she spoke and, without checking to make sure Holly was following her order, she took them back into her cavern-like closet.