No Place Like Home
Chapter thirty
Cya
“Cya, sweetheart, you have to stop washing your red clothes with my whites.” Standing in the doorway to Cya’s bedroom, Hemersyn held up an undershirt and what once had been a white button-up—both were pink now. “At this rate, I’ll be out of white clothing before the week is up.”
His tone was exasperated, inching toward annoyance, and Cya crossed their arms over their chest defensively. “I didn’t know they were your whites, and I was in a time-crunch.”
“Poor planning on your part does not equate an emergency on mine,” the Avia said, and their jaw dropped.
“It wasn’t poor planning!” they lied.
“You could just apologize,” Dex whispered from his spot lounging on Cya’s bed as he thumbed through his anatomy textbook.
“Just be more mindful, my dear,” Hemersyn said, and they nodded.
“Of course. Sorry.”
Cya turned back to their closet—their tiny, minuscule closet—and continued hanging up the clean laundry from five days prior that they’d forgotten in the hamper.
They weren’t used to putting away their own clothes, cleaning up after themself, or providing for themself at all, really, but after a month of living in Hemersyn’s spare bedroom, they were getting better at it.
The day after their life had imploded, the sleek, black card with their family crest on it had been blocked, leaving them fully self-reliant for the first time.
Fortunately, Hemersyn had arranged the moving truck to pick up the rest of their possessions, including all their rocks, tools, and tumbling machines.
Unfortunately, there was no space to store any of it, and now, everything they owned that wasn’t a daily necessity sat inside a seven-by-ten foot storage unit twenty minutes away.
Three days after their life had imploded, Cya had accompanied Dex to the public transportation office to apply for a student card that let them ride anywhere in the Pentagram for one myrel a day.
Then they’d sat down with Hemersyn and Quin and went over their personal finances to set up a budget—something they’d never needed before.
Money had always been an abstract concept, immaterial and abundant, but now, it was a tangible, finite resource they had to conserve.
To their relief, the payment for the last semester of the school year had been processed already, but come December, Cya didn’t think they could afford Pride University’s tuition themself. To be honest, they weren’t sure if they even wanted to return to P.U. at all.
They’d never fancied a career in business and had only chosen it because they’d marginally favored it over medicine and law—the only other education paths their parents would pay for.
But walking away from their education completely tasted like shameful failure, even if the idea of never setting scale on the P.U.
campus again filled them with so much godsdamned relief.
“You could focus on your jewelry,” Dex had suggested. “Sell it online or at markets and festivals. I bet loads of people would buy it.”
“I’d need a workshop to make the jewelry, and I can’t afford that,” they rebutted.
Ever the optimist, he dismissed their concerns. “Maybe not right now, but once you save up a bit more, you could. Just gotta be patient and wait for the right thing to come along.”
“And you have time,” Hemersyn added, kissing Cya’s brow. “You’re young; you have your whole life ahead of you. Now’s the time to discover what makes you happy and brings you fulfillment.”
“And if I prove to be nothing but a failure?” they whined childishly, making the Avia laugh.
“The only thing worse than failing, in my humble opinion, is being too cowardly to try at all.” He cupped their chin and smiled dotingly at them. “And if there’s one thing you’ve proven over this past year, it’s that you are not a coward.”
They’d cried quite a lot after that, and Hemersyn, the saint that he was, had held them through it.
Cya would finish out the school year, and after?
They weren’t quite sure. The unknown was utterly terrifying, but they weren’t facing it alone.
They had their family; they had their pack.
Sure, it wasn’t perfect. It was messy and crazy and rough around the edges.
But it was nothing a little tumbling couldn’t smooth out.
Furry arms circled their waist from behind, and Cya blinked back to the present as Dex kissed the nape of their neck. “What are you thinking about?”
“Nothing,” they said as they blanketed his hands on their stomach. “Everything.”
“Hmm, wanna tell me about it?”
“Maybe later.” They turned their head, smiling as he dotted kisses over their cheek, ending at the corner of their mouth.
They tilted their chin to connect their lips, and the kiss was sweet and warm and lovely. It tasted like freedom and love. It felt like coming home.
“I gotta go,” he murmured against their lips, and they pouted. “Don’t give me that. You know I can’t resist you when you beg.”
Spinning lazily in his hold, they draped their arms around his neck and pressed their body against his from hips to chest. “Then don’t resist.”
His mismatched gaze heated, and his responding growl vibrated through their torso. “I have to. It’s the championship, and Coach will kill me if I’m even a minute late.”
With a hum, Cya rubbed their breasts against his chest as their tail snaked up his leg. “We can be quick.”
Under his tail, they tapped their rattle against his ass, and the Lupyn bared his canines in a feral grin. “We definitely don’t have time for that.”
Last week, he’d joked about their rattle being the perfect dildo, with its tapered tip and ribbed-like texture. They’d joked back, asking him if he was interested in trying.
To their shock, he’d shrugged. “Maybe. I’ve never done butt stuff, but I’m open-minded. Although, your rattle is kinda big, and I don’t think I’m a size queen.”
“We’ll work our way up to it,” they’d teased.
“Just don’t fist me without warning, okay?” he’d said, as if fisting someone out of the blue was a common occurrence. “I’m a delicate flower.”
They’d laughed until tears gathered in their eyes. “No surprise fisting, I promise.”
Cya hadn’t actually fucked him with their rattle yet, but they were curious to explore.
Yesterday, while they’d coiled between his spread knees with his glorious cock in their mouth, they’d boldly teased his asshole, slipping one finger inside right before his orgasm hit, and he’d come harder than ever.
Dex was right, though; they didn’t have time for that right now. However, they could make time for other things.
Tonguing at a fang, they slid a hand down his chest, fingers bumping over his abs before they cupped his half-hard dick. “You need a clear head and a body free of tension to play good dyscus, you know.”
He walked them back until their spine met the wall. “Is that so?”
Triumphant, Cya nodded and stroked him to full hardness through his shorts. “It’s practically doctor’s orders.”
“I’d hate to ignore medical advice.” He licked at their pulse point. “This cannot take long. Like, for real, Cy.”
“I’d best get on my knees, then,” they said, and he moaned, pushing his erection into their hand.
A throat cleared, and they instantly leapt apart. Chirping uncomfortably, Hemersyn reached into their bedroom and grabbed the doorknob, slowly pulling the door shut. Dex glared at the floor, tail curled around his hips to cover his erection. Cya blushed horribly and fidgeted with their tunic.
“Perhaps we can enact a closed-door policy for such… things,” the Avia suggested.
“Right,” they said awkwardly. “Sorry.”
“Sorry,” Dex echoed.
The door clicked shut, and Cya groaned, burying their face in their hands. “Oh my gods, that was humiliating.”
“You need to get your own place.”
Dex stomped over to his duffel bag, already packed for the game, and threw it over his shoulder as they fisted their hands on their hips.
“Me? You should get your own place. You’re older.”
“Only by, like, ten months. And I can’t move out yet. Not until Jas is done with secondary or something.”
“I don’t think she’ll need you babysitting that long.” They propped their shoulder on the wall as he settled the duffel on his back, the strap diagonal across his torso. “Another two years, and you’ll be off the hook.”
He cupped their face and kissed them, hard and a little dirty. “Well, best buckle in for two more years of sneaky sex, then.”
“I don’t mind,” they whispered between kisses. “I kind of like when you cover my mouth to keep me quiet.”
“Not helping my boner,” he growled.
They grinned smugly. “Oops.”
The next kiss was utterly filthy, and Cya whimpered as he angled their head where he wanted so he could kiss them deeper. He fucked their mouth with his tongue, and they slumped into his chest, melting into goop. When they parted, they were both dazed and out of breath.
“See you at the game later?” he asked, voice rough and gravelly.
Shivers snaked down their spine as they nodded, forked tongue flicking over his bottom lip. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
“Good.” He planted one last kiss on their pliant mouth. “See you in a few hours, highness.”
With a parting smack to their backside, Dex swaggered out of the room, cackling at the responding shake of their rattle. Anchoring themself to the door frame, they hung their torso out into the hall to track the Lupyn’s departure.
“Hemersyn, Dex made inappropriate advances on me. You must defend my honor!”
A trilling chortle echoed from the kitchen. “No one dishonors Cya on my watch. Dex, my boy, we duel at dawn.”
“Sounds good, Pops,” Dex called back as he opened the front door.
He shot Cya a wink, and feeling cheeky, they lifted their crop top high enough to flash him their breasts.
Another snarl ripped from his chest before he grinned darkly and shouted, “Hemersyn, Cya just flashed me their tits. Now you gotta defend my honor!”
“Dex!” they screeched as Hemersyn squawked in horror.
“Cylene Zoia Vysov, are you trying to send me to an early grave?”