Page 26 of K'Vella

"Okay, first things first, we need to feed the females."

Holoth gives Phial a small smile in apology for keeping him from where he wants to be. Based on the schedule posted onEssa's whiteboard, Phial will be unhappy for a while since he isn't to talk with Avery until the last rotation.

"Yes, feed me!" Essa smiles a wicked grin at Phial, who scowls at her.

"I'm going to plate up a shoe for you," he says.

I can't tell if he's joking, but the other males begin plating choice pieces of food neatly on plates and grabbing canisters of water. It's the honor of the first males during the mating ceremony to provide the females with food since they might be forgotten later in the night. It's a way for them to prove themselves, especially if they can find foods the female they are attempting to house likes.

I eye the way Holoth gently places food on the plate for Avery since that's who he'll be speaking with first. I'm glad he's taking his role in this seriously, but I also might be the teeniest bit jealous that he's caring and providing for someone else when I'd much rather him provide and care for me.

"Let's be real, the only good things at these events were the genuit pastries," Jovi says as he settles onto the loveseat beside me with a plate piled high with the tasty treat. It's clear he was thinking of himself when he was making his plate as much as he was thinking of me.

My first companion of the evening will be Jovi, then Alik, followed by Phial, and ending with Holoth. Part of me is upset I have to wait so long to talk to Holoth, but I also know that as soon as this is all over, I'm going to want to drag him back to the nest so we can enjoy one another in the way one enjoys her males when she's been chosen at a housing ceremony.

"How many ceremonies did you go through before you left Varon?" I ask before turning my full attention to Jovi.

It's only right that I treat this as I would any other housing ceremony. The male I'm with deserves my undivided attention,even though neither of us wants anything to do with the other in any romantic sense.

"Three," Jovi says with his mouth full of fruit and pastry. "We needed enough references for a pleasure crew company to take us on as clients, and the magic number was three, or we would've been long gone before then. What about you?"

I take a bite of my pastry and chew it slowly as I debate what to tell Jovi. It's not that I'm ashamed of what I went through, but it will make him look at me differently. When he shoves an entire genuit pastry into his mouth, I decide maybe it's not too bad if he looks at me differently because I'm definitely looking at him differently after that.

"I was only in three as well," I tell him with a small smile when his chewing pauses and his eyes narrow on me. "I became ill, as some females do on Varon." That's all I need to say, and he's wincing. "I figured you all probably knew since I was altered."

Jovi shrugs and works to swallow the way too big bit he took. "I mean, we kind of just assumed you got tired of the bullshit there and wanted something different. Gods know we did. We don't even think about going back."

"I'm starting to wonder if I don't have to go back either," I say more to myself than to Jovi, but his eyes widen all the same like I've just opened my soul to him.

I wince as I think about how my admission could be taken as me intruding or trying to force myself onto the ship. I don't want any of them to think of me as a burden, and I'd never assume I'm wanted somewhere just because of how nice they all are to me.

"Don't tell Holoth. I don't want him to think I expect more from him than he's already giving me."

Jovi's lips pull back at that. If it weren't for the growl cutting across the room from where Holoth is sitting with Avery, I'm pretty sure Jovi was going to growl or snarl at me. Instead, he huffs out a laugh before looking over at Holoth.

"Pay attention to the female you're with," Jovi tells Holoth, still staring him down like he wouldn't mind fighting him right now. "That was one of the rules. I'd hate to have to end tonight because you couldn't follow the rules."

Holoth's face flushes, and his growl stutters before he dramatically turns his attention back toward Avery. His jaw ticks once and twice, and then he settles back against the far end of the couch so there's plenty of space between them.

"Yeah, I'm sure he'd hate for you to expect anything from him," Jovi snorts as he says it and then crams another pastry into his mouth.

ten

Holoth

Getting this all set up should earn me some major points. Hopefully, it also shows K'Vella how devoted I am to her. I mean, she has to see that I had to work with Alik, Jovi, and Phial to make this happen.

Okay, so maybe Jovi was easy to work with, and normally Phial would be, too, but he's been cranky and territorial since Avery came on board. It's only gotten worse now that they can actually talk with one another.

I thought this would be easy to pull off. I'd get the food synthesizer working over time, move the furniture in the entertainment room around a little, and we could have a housing ceremony.

Then, the issues started popping up. By issues, I mean Alik not wanting to leave Sloane's side at all and Phial hissing at us when we talked about speaking with Avery.

I had to bring Essa into the plans because my crewmates were acting possessive to the highest degree. I wasn't about to fightsomeone with more arms than me or someone who could go invisible and fuck with my life forever.

I'm just as possessive over K'Vella as they are over Avery and Sloane, but they didn't see me growling and snapping my teeth at even the idea of someone else talking with her.

It took us two hours this morning to come up with the rotation for who could talk to which female at which time and for how long. Two hours! For something that isn't even that hard to do without a whole whiteboard decorated with charts and pros and cons lists.

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