Chapter 17
Trove
For safety reasons, Trove’s human sisters weren’t really supposed to go out on their own.
Humans were rare and prized for a variety of reasons, not the least was their ability to hybridize younglings that were superior to their fathers in whatever made their species unique.
The domini hybrids he knew of had perfect, fatigue-proof camouflage.
What humans could do for other species made the idea of creating superior children a temptation that was too much for some to resist.
The tourist city was highly policed, very wealthy, and incredibly safe. If they were going to say his sisters could walk around on their own without an escort, it would be here.
Still, the idea of letting Chee walk around on her own was not a pleasant one. Rok or Sorbet and Tebros could accompany her, of course, but he didn’t much like that alternative either.
So, when the group was getting ready to go out – his sisters found a dance club they wanted to go to together – he was the one who went to get Chee.
Being around her, just basking in her presence, was enough. Seeing her smile, seeing her dancing and having fun, would be even better.
It was the best he could have, and he was content with it. So long as she healed from him, as long as she had her joys separate from him, he was happy.
Yes, this really was the best case for both of them. This was how their mating would be, unfinished but unbroken.
That thought brought him to her door. He hadn’t bothered to change. He wasn’t wearing his typical work jumpsuit when he came down to the planet. He rather liked this blue vest and the way it showed off his arms. It was a bit tight, but comfortable, and he knew he looked good in it.
He wasn’t dressing up. Not really. He was still comfortable. But he didn’t want to be kicked out of wherever they might go for dressing like a slob. He was kind of excited to see what Vytln was going to be wearing since he was near perpetually in his jumpsuit.
However, his amusement over that, his contentment with this half-formed arrangement with Chee, any other thoughts, were all scattered completely when she opened the door at his chime.
She was wearing the blue skirt and white shirt he’d bought her.
Her hair was down, dried into its loose curls, not yet frizzy, but still free and untamed.
And those glorious hips and thighs of hers were wrapped in the tight scale skirt.
Gold glinted at her waist and wrists and neck.
She had even put on the shoes. All done up, smelling exotic and clean, he couldn’t think.
He didn’t want to. He wished she would just stand there like that and let him admire her.
“Hey, are we ready to go?” Chee asked, and it was like her voice was floating to him. She sounded the same as ever though, so why…
Maybe he was the one that was different.
“Yeah,” he managed to say, forcing a smile, gesturing over his shoulder. “We’re all ready. Just waiting on you.”
“Let’s go then,” she smiled, stepping out in the hall. And it took effort for him to step back, to give her the room she needed. He desperately didn’t want to. He just wanted to hold onto her. To feel those curves against him.
No. He wanted her to be screaming against his tongue. Thrashing in his grip. Proving to him how much pleasure he brought her. That he was still a good mate, despite his shortcomings.
Maybe he was a bit more like Tanin than he thought. But instead of being stoic and unmoved by everything, he managed to keep smiling despite everything.
Chee lit up like a light when she caught sight of the other females down in the inn’s lobby.
They had all dressed up. Garnet in a tight red dress, Haven in a golden skirt and pink top, Grace in a simple but elegant blue dress that let her body do all the talking.
They were pretty, he couldn’t deny. But none of them compared to Chee.
He took the compliments they showered her with as his own, letting himself feel pride.
Like, see? He could take care of his mate. Even if only in this way.
The dance club Garnet had chosen was loud and exciting, packed with people all moving together almost like a singular mass as opposed to individual persons.
Everyone had dressed up in glittering, shining, shimmering something.
Lights flashed, bodies undulated, music pounded.
It was alive and thumping, like it had its own heartbeat.
Vytln found them a corner to exist in with its own table and a circle of seats. It belonged to someone else originally, but Vytln’s ugly, scarred face matched with his hard voice telling them to make room was enough to clear out the area.
The corner was good because it made it easier to keep their eyes on their females and the rest of the room. They wanted their sisters to have fun, and they wanted them to do so without anyone bothering them.
Vytln – who was donned in mostly black, appearing grungy and barely dressed ‘up’ – was intimidating enough that just him sitting there, grumpy with crossed arms, was enough to keep most people back.
If he failed, the twins, Sorbet and Tebros, could discourage anyone else with a bit more obvious show of force.
Sway went to get drinks and smokes for their females to enjoy.
This place was meant for dancing, so they wouldn’t have a massive selection of either, but there would be enough of a variety to enhance the experience.
Trove sat back in the corner, watching as the others moved around. Keeping his eyes mostly on Chee as the females immediately settled into dancing and having fun. Trove wasn’t alone long, as Tanin came to sit beside him, but both of their attention was elsewhere.
Sway and Grace were already moving together, wrapped in each other’s arms, both of them smiling brightly.
Haven and Garnet were dancing together, laughing and whipping around and spinning wildly for the sake of fun rather than how good it made them look.
Though the twisting and rocking of their hips was enticing enough to draw many eyes, Vytln, Sorbet, and Tebros were enough to keep any brave souls away.
Rok had taken it upon himself to dance with Chee.
Trove found himself simultaneously envious of his brother, and grateful that he was making sure she had fun.
And since he was such a large person and had four arms, he could, and easily did, offer random hands to Haven and Garnet and Grace as they got in close so he could spin them all around.
His main partner was Chee, but he was dancing with all of them with a big smile on his face.
“I thought you would choose to dance,” Tanin said suddenly, catching Trove’s attention. His captain was nursing a drink, but his entire focus was on Garnet.
Trove did like dancing, but…
“I don’t think she’d appreciate me dancing with her. Or any other females.”
Tanin cut him a look out of the corner of his eye. It was brief but telling.
“You’re not claiming her.” It wasn’t a question.
“She’s better off without me,” Trove said, completely certain. “It’s better this way.”
“If you insist.”
That was all Tanin said. Because, of course, his captain wasn’t going to pry into his private business and insist he overcome his cowardice. The shackles of his past. That he throw off the chains that continued to bind him and accept her instead.
And Trove was annoyed.
Why wasn’t his captain telling him that?
Why would Tanin let him let her go?
Suddenly aggravated, Trove had to bite his tongue to keep from saying something foolish. Because this was what he wanted. He asked for this. He had no right being angry if someone agreed with what he had chosen.
But he was, and he didn’t understand why until later that night when he was helping the rowdy, happy, but clearly sleepy, females walk back to their inn.
He’d been hoping that, somehow, the captain would have something more for him. Like maybe there was something anyone could tell him that would make things better. That would fix him. That would offer some kind of solution.
The fact that he didn’t, that he didn’t even try, made Trove feel angry. And helpless.
He returned to his room, having had no fun at all, annoyed, frustrated, and hopeless in a way he hadn’t felt before.
Like for the first time, it really was sinking in that Chee would not be his, would never be his, and there was no hope to ever make her his.
He threw himself back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. His jaw clenched. Slowly, cautiously, he moved his hand over the groin of his pants. Over his completely soft cock.
And cursed.