Chapter 4
Survii
He had to see her again.
He had to see her smiling again.
He was going out of his mind.
There was no way for him to avoid her forever. It had only been a couple of days and already she was trying to track him down. As she should. They were supposed to be working together on something important – to her and everyone on this ship.
He was avoiding her. And not even being subtle about it. He had to be mistaken about what he thought he saw. That was only lust he felt, not a mating bond.
Yet, at the same time…
“Explain to me again why we’re doing this?” Navine asked as she watched him work on his combot in one of the private training rooms. The simulation chamber was capable of replicating multiple environments and hazards.
Or, in this case, replicating one of his favorite dancing parlors on Turv. It was a wide, bright room that had incredible acoustics and a view of an emerald sea currently set to just after sunset. The island was the one he had been born on and where his clan still lived.
Because he wanted to see her there. Because he was weak.
“Just send out the invitation,” he grumbled, hating himself but unable to stop as he continued to sort through the truly staggering amount of information flowing into his combot through the ship’s multitude of computers.
“I already did. Calm down. You know, Survii, if I didn’t know better, I’d think your mating instincts had been tripped. But it’s not like you haven’t seen the humans before.”
Survii said nothing, his fingers stilling in the air over the holodisplay. The silence coming from Third Voice was oppressively loud.
“Oh, ancestors…” She said, low and strained as she barely struggled to contain her amusement.
“Shut up!” Survii glared at her.
She threw back her head, laughing. “Oh! This is great! I wondered why you’ve stopped coming to my room. You can’t!”
Survii growled, angry, but his temper didn’t disturb her at all.
“The cock that’s seen a thousand cunts has finally been leashed,” she fell forward, holding her belly as she laughed so hard tears formed in her eyes. “And after all the care you took to make sure you only ever saw alien females to lessen the chance of this happening.”
“It’s not that funny.”
“It’s hysterical!” Her entire body was shaking now. “Which one is it? Oh, tell me. Please, I have to know. I want to meet her.”
Survii was very close to throwing himself at Navine. Not to fuck, which would have been his usual inclination, but just to fight. To defend his own honor.
He was not leashed!
Before he had the chance, the door into the simulation room opened and the human females and their mates – plus Tuvo – walked inside.
They muttered something in surprise at seeing the room he had simulated for them while the males just looked confused.
None of them had likely seen this dancing parlor before since his home island was a small one, but they would have recognized the familiar atmosphere and lights overhead.
Alanna was near the middle of the pack of humans. Her pretty eyes roaming over the room curiously. How was she even lovelier than the last time he saw her?
The dress she had chosen to wear looked interestingly similar to the massive gas giant the Jutiron Stor was hovering near for at least one more Earth day.
They would soon be moving towards her home planet, and it seemed she had decided to celebrate her last day near the planet by paying homage to its coloration.
She even had a large, shining ruby pendant resting right over the swell of her delectably large breasts.
Big enough to fit into a male’s hand as he brought them to his worshipful mouth. The kind a pup could nurse at and grow fat and healthy in her arms.
Krik! No! He was not falling victim to this the way other males did. He did not want pups, he did not want a mate, he didn’t want any of this.
But then her pretty eyes landed on him, and he felt that conviction waning already. He was a slave to the instincts she unleashed inside his brain.
“Evening, Survii,” Peony said, bouncing her son absent-mindedly in her arms. Humans, he noticed, had the odd habit of referring to the time of day whenever they saw someone. He had no idea why.
But he smiled at her. “Good to see you, vi Adassani. Your son looks well today.”
Peony beamed, as she always did whenever someone mentioned her pup.
Unlike Alanna, who he had been avoiding, he saw Peony a lot as she was almost always near Atem.
She was no longer gravid and so she didn’t have separation anxiety from him, but she just seemed happier there.
And Dominani clearly had no great inclination to send her away.
That was going to be Survii soon, he thought with a depressing clench of his gut. That indulgent smile on Atem’s face would soon be his. That son in Peony’s arms could be-
“I have a present for you all,” he declared, cutting off his own, traitorous thoughts. “Specifically, to my human allies. I thought you might enjoy what I found.”
“What is it?” Alanna asked, her melodic voice making his cock twitch.
Before he could do something stupid – like throw himself at her feet and worship her cunt – he turned instead to his combot.
“We finished establishing a permanent connection to the Earth communication satellites just this morning,” he said. That was his task, alongside Yursini and Navine. He might be avoiding Alanna, but he hadn’t been avoiding his duties. At least, not entirely.
“That’s great!” Hattie, the cutest, shortest human, exclaimed. “Can we call our families?”
“We could, but I’m afraid that must wait,” he expressed apologetically. “We won’t contact Earth itself until we’re closer and we can begin negotiations.”
The humans all looked a little disappointed but understanding.
After all, it was only a matter of days at this point.
Still, they must be eager to speak to their clans.
He could understand. He still commed his frequently – especially his mother.
She would be furious if he went a tenday without speaking to her, much less a year.
“So, why did you ask us here?” Atem asked, giving a pointed look to the room.
“Ah. My gift. Are you ready, females?”
Alanna was the one who answered. “Yes, please.”
He was almost too eager to turn and press the button on his holodisplay. Just because she had looked so eager when she responded, and his body immediately wanted to do whatever it took to make and keep her that happy.
Beside him, Navine was snickering.
He hated himself, but he still couldn’t stop.
It had taken him a long time to find this.
Humans had a truly staggering number of languages – as befitting of the species with the highest population he had ever come across by far.
He had needed to use the list of human terms Romival had sent to narrow down which part of her subnet was in the language she spoke, then to narrow that part of the subnet down to what he needed.
Survii hoped he was correct. He was generally very good at things like this. Adapting himself to foreign cultures was not just his specialty, it was a joy. But it had never been so important that he got it right as it was now.
He ignored the knowing, amused look Navine sent him as he waited. There was a beat of silence. The others all looked at him, curious. Patient. Expecting.
Then, the vibrant, upbeat melody began.
Simultaneously, all the human’s eyes widened, revealing more of that abundant white that took up so much of the orbs. Some of them gasped. Hattie cried out, slamming her hands over her mouth. Alanna laughed, bouncing eagerly in place.
Survii had no idea what was being said, but the singing must have made sense to them because they all broke out in excited chatter in their own tongue.
And Alanna, beautiful Alanna, started dancing.