by Jade Waltz
Silence filled the room as I waited for their response. Were they continuing the conversation with Oeta telepathically? Or was she waiting for a reply like we were?
I truly hoped they could resolve their differences.
Oeta was right; something had to change. We couldn’t keep working in this unstable, unhealthy environment I had helped create.
I should’ve spoken up sooner and defended Kaica but instead, I had let my respect for my mentors dictate my actions. I worried I had ruined my chances for a future with her.
“I support Oeta,” I announced. “This isn’t your establishment; even I had to come to terms with the fact that I was no longer in charge but part of a team. Master Scholar Xylo rules this infirmary and the research center attached to the hospital. If you don’t like it, open an office at the hospital or retire, whatever appeals to you. I just can’t stay quiet any longer about this.”
“If you want any sort of future with Kaica, I suggest you hurry to her room,” Oeta’s voice boomed through my head, making me drop my tablet. Her mental thread felt different than I had experienced before; its unique black core and fuchsia coloring seemed designed to hide her emotions from me. “She needs you. Now. Follow the path the Stars have laid before you and hope you aren’t too late for the bright future you wish for.”
“Why would she need me?”
“Do you want to ruin the last chance you have by asking ridiculous questions? Go to her, and everything will become clear.”
Scrambling, I gathered my discarded tablet and tossed it onto my workstation. It skidded across the surface, but I didn’t wait to see where it landed. Closing my datacube, I locked my system’s interface and leapt off my stool.
Surprisingly, the thick, invisible aura suddenly lifted, easing my breathing. Smiling, I shot Oeta a glance and nodded.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet. The rest is up to the Fates, Kaica, and you.”
Just like she had entered my mental shields, Oeta left, with a speed only those with significant mental strength and discipline wielded.
“Where are you going?” Usthu asked. Confusion laced his voice.
“Don’t mind him,” Oeta barked. “He has things to do. Your time will come.”
Whatever else they said was lost to me as the infirmary doors slid closed. The humidity of the sanctuary’s nature enclosure hit me as the sunset beamed through the glass dome above.
Oh, how I longed to return to a time where I could enjoy pleasant strolls around the villa’s property or the main island’s beach.
There hasn’t been any time to do anything beyond caring for Odelm and Xylo, trying to figure out the best treatment for their survival. I didn’t want their deaths on my conscience. I feared facing Selena’s utter distress when she returned and found them no longer with us after the Fates and the Stars claimed their souls.
Her depression would cause the princes and, through them, the Circuli within Destima’s mental net, to spiral with her. I worried about what might happen to the nestqueens who were starting to show signs of their heat cycle. Would Selena’s mental state send the moon into utter despair, hampering their fertility?
Circuli females needed constant access to sunlight and a stable life that only the planetside could provide. Destima’s two suns and temperate climate, slightly warmer than Circul, made the moon a perfect location to settle despite its minimal landmass. Our colony was small, so having only three habitable islands to choose from wasn’t an issue.
The lift door opened and I hurried along the sanctuary’s balcony overlooking the small pond-like pool below. Kaica’s room was located above the guest wing, the first door around the corner where she had surprised me.
Stopping in front of her door, I was lost as to what to do and worse, what to say. The villa’s technology was confusing enough. How did I get her attention through a locked door?
Sighing in defeat, I raised my hand to do the most embarrassing thing I had in a long time. Right as my knuckles were about to strike her door, Kaica’s face appeared on the room’s vidscreen.
I hardly recognized her.
Her face was splotchy in abnormal places. The light teal scales around her eyes and along the sides of her face, surrounding her pointed ears and the curve of her neck, highlighted damp red cheeks and dull light-blue eyes. Her hair was a shade of grey reminiscent of angry clouds in intense sea storms—dark gray mixed with black—reflecting how stressed and upset she was.
I didn’t even need to expand my senses to read her emotions through the wall; Kaica complained often enough how much she hated that her changing hair color revealed her emotional state.
“What do you want?” she spat, her voice rough and hollow, unlike the times she had yelled at me. “Haven’t you done enough today? I don’t need you to come over here and tell me—”
“Kaica,” I breathed, not liking what I was hearing or seeing. “I came here to check on you. I hoped you would find the grace to forgive me. I don’t care what my mentors think. You are all that matters to me.”
“I don’t know what game you're playing,” she sniffled, wiping her cheeks. “But I’m not in the mood. You can’t keep making the same mistakes over again, only to beg for my forgiveness. You act caring while you are with me, but you’re silent around the mentors you worship so much. You have respected my work ever since I’ve been here and now it’s not up to your standards because they are here? Who are you trying to impress?” She waves me off. “It doesn’t matter because I won’t allow you to treat me that way. I wasn’t going to report to Z what has happened because he has enough to deal with, but I will if things don’t change.”
“Kaica, please,” I begged, clapping my palms together in front of me like I had seen demihumans do. “Let me in. Let me explain.”
She pursed her lips as she studied me with her dark gaze.
Suddenly, the screen went blank, leaving me to stare at my dim reflection.
Had she dismissed what I had to say?
Sighing, I stepped away, cursing my failures. Just as I rounded the corner, a hissing noise filled the air.
“Chyox! Wait!”
Gasping, I struggled to breathe through the flood of relief coursing through me.
Were my ears deceiving me?
Hands gripped my arm, jerking me to a halt with nails digging into my skin.
“If you have something to say, Chyox, tell me now. Running away won’t solve anything.” She released her hold on me, but one of my tentacles involuntarily wrapped around her hand, refusing to let her go. “What do you want from me?”
Nine
KAICA
My heart ached from the betrayal, and here I was, begging him to fix it.
Every time I thought he might ask me to be his nestqueen, he backed off or did something stupid, making me question his character and my attraction to him.
Suddenly, Chyox whirled and scooped me off the ground, pinning me against the wall with his body. His tentacles unraveled and secured my legs in their grasp.
His violet eyes were hard with determination as they bored into mine.
Yet somehow, my instincts weren’t telling me to claw and fight—to escape from his sudden embrace. My hands had found his shoulders, gripping the strong muscles that held me in place.
“Kaica, I am nowhere near perfect and often fail to read females, especially those outside my own species. Ever since I first met you, when you volunteered to aid our research during your downtime, I was intrigued by your mind. Why would a member of the Fab Five want to work alongside a team of healers and scientists? Why would she abandon her elite position and move from exciting battles to a dull routine at a research station? The more I learned about you, the more I hoped that one day, you might come to be interested in me—a boring Senior Healer.
“I know I’ve erred once again, but as soon as you left, I realized my mistake. I promise you, from now on, I will work harder to make the infirmary a safe work environment for you. All I a
sk is for you to forgive me and never hesitate to correct me.”
His words struck me to my core.
The Circuli males in Xylo’s research team tried to explain to me it was up to the female—the nestqueen—to make the first move engaging a courting bond. While the nestqueens tended to determine a male’s worth by his appearance or profession, males were the opposite; they were attracted to the mind, both in strength and beauty.
I was accustomed to males at the bars and clubs my sisters loved to frequent spewing lines about how exotic, hot, or fuckable we were.
Were the notes that they took during my lesson on how to attract a female for me?
Had I missed his attempts to flirt with me this whole time?
In the last few days, he had mentioned multiple times the beauty of my mind and character—only once had he given me a compliment about a physical attribute, my hair.
Which made sense; Ulax were empaths. Their skin changed color in response to extreme emotion and they could read another’s feelings through their auras.
To him, my hair was the most relatable feature he could compliment, not knowing how odd he sounded. At least, he was doing a better job than Selena’s nestmates, who I’d heard compliment her glowing, color-changing spots. Out of all of my siblings, I could now understand her frustration best.
“Have I said something wrong?” Chyox asked, worry lacing his deep voice as a tentacle brushed my hair behind my ears. “Please let me know what you’re thinking. Unlike the Wudox, I can’t pick up your stray thoughts, just emotions.”
Biting my lip, I hesitated, unsure how I should move the conversation forward.
“I’m going to be straightforward with you since we both appreciate bluntness. I’ve been trying to figure out what is going on between us.”
“We are coworkers.” He frowned in confusion. “What else would we be?”
Rolling my eyes, I shook my head as I smiled at his ridiculous question.
“Would a coworker hold me up against the wall, pin me in place with his body, and use his appendages to prevent me from struggling?” Panic flashed in his violet eyes, so I tapped his nose to grab his attention before he put me down. “Chyox, you know what I’ve been studying, and you understand the fertility problem my sisters and I face. Unlike the other demihumans, who may be able to have children with others of the same species they were spliced with, my siblings and I don’t have that opportunity. Our bodies reject anything foreign within it, including attacking any sperm that we may come across by joining with another. I haven’t been able to come up with a solution to change that and don’t know if I ever will, so it is your turn to tell me something. Do you want offspring? Will you be driven insane with the need to father little Chyoxes, like Odelm was?”
“I have no drive to be a father.” He jerked his head away to allow a tentacle marked with silver crescents along its edges to slither between us. “Look what Selena’s cubs did to my precious tentacles. Why would I want to have to deal with more children when Selena’s are enough to keep me busy? I naturally want to join a nestqueen’s clan and earn a rank. Anything else should be considered an unexpected blessing.”
“Didn’t Selena’s mates warn you about the cubs?” I chuckled. “You were supposed to play games with them, maybe teach them to swim, not allow them to treat you like a chew toy.”
He looked away, clearly embarrassed he hadn’t heeded their warning.
“I didn’t think they would use me as their next target for their hunting games,” he muttered as his shoulders slumped under my hold.
I placed one hand on his cheek and directed his gaze back to mine, resting my hand to keep him there. I needed to see his reaction to know if he felt the same.
“Knowing that I may never be able to provide you with offspring and that in the future, I may have to run off to rescue one of my daredevil siblings, do you want me to be your nestqueen?”
He closed his eyes and placed his forehead to mine. “If you will do the honor to take me as the male I am.”
Closing my eyes, I slid my hands into his grey anemone-like hair, brushing the cool strands between my fingers and slammed my mouth to his. We gave each other a series of a gentle, teasing caresses, getting more longer and heated with each kiss.
I gave myself to his mercy as he sealed our souls together in a cosmic dance. He held the reigns in this exchange; I was his, ready to learn how to be with an Ulax male, as he was willing to learning how to be with me.
A slight pop sounded within me as a flood of foreign emotions filled my mind.
Acceptance. Desire. Honor.
He snuggled me into his chest as his kisses deepened with each press. My knees felt weak and my insides felt alive. His emotions were filling a void I’d never known before with a need for more.
Something awoke deep within me and I growled, gripping his strands between my fingers and tugging hard.
He gasped.
My tongue dove in, slipping past two rows of sharp teeth to tangle with his long, thin tongue. Knowing I wasn’t the only dangerous person in the room thrilled me.
I had my AI system, gadgets, and weapons, but his body was a honed weapon even without a warrior’s training. He was lean yet corded with strong muscles and his tentacle suction cups were equipped with one of the galaxy’s deadliest toxins.
Yet I wasn’t afraid.
His lack of a shortened name didn’t deter me; I didn’t care that he wasn’t of the warrior caste. No, his healer profession matched mine, making him that much more attractive.
He moaned, squeezing me tighter as our tongues danced clumsily. I didn’t care that we were both inexperienced. We had enough time to grow comfortable with this newfound intimacy.
Pulling away, he stared at me in wonder.
“You have never… been kissed? How?”
“I didn’t see the point in being with someone that I would never see again.” Shrugging, I released my hold on his hair. I could feel my cheeks burn and didn’t want to know what color my hair was. I had forgotton what Selena said about how her Circuli nestmates could easily pick up her loud thoughts. Breathing out, I opened my eyes to see Chyox looking at me apologetically and sighed. “While my sisters crave attention, I would rather focus on my research and worry about settling down once things… calm down.” I aimlessly traced the scales along his shoulders, enjoying how they felt under my fingertips. “There is nothing wrong with what my sisters do for entertainment; I just would rather read a datacube.”
“There is nothing wrong with that,” he breathed. “It’s not like the Circuli can sleep around as we search for a mate. Our sole focus is finding a home and establishing ourselves within a clan. We are dependent on the mental web we are bound to, the nestqueen we belong to, and the rank we hold in our clan. The Aldawi and Quaww also have different, strange mating practices compared to other species in the galaxy. If being around demihumans has taught me anything, it is how simple your sexuality can be.”
His mouth pursed and he gritted his teeth as his grip jerked.
“I hope you don’t think me weak, but I haven’t carried anything heavier than one of Selena’s cubs for a long time. I’m afraid I am not a warrior, so my ability to hold you like this is beginning to slip.”
“You didn’t need to ravish me against a wall to let me know that you want me as your nestqueen,” I chuckled, squeezing his shoulder. “Now, put me down before you collapse. Don’t strain yourself trying to do something you’ve seen others do.”
Carefully, his tentacles guided him as he leaned down, placing me on the floor, his appendages slowly unraveling from my limbs. Once I was safely freed, he took a deep breath, exhaustion flooding his face.
“Have I claimed you now? What else do I need to do to make you mine?”
His tired violet eyes scanned the length of my body as he smiled brightly, revealing his sharp teeth.
“Nothing. We have successfully formed a courting bond. I will become permanently yours once you accept my mating s
pores. Until then, I am only temporally claimed.”
“I don’t know if I feel your exhaustion leaking through or mine, but I’m drained from everything that has happened today. Can we retire for the night and discuss our new bond tomorrow over breakfast?” I covered my mouth and yawned. “Or am I moving too fast?”
“You want me to share your bed?”
“Isn’t that normal? From what I’ve read about your species’ bonds and heard from Selena, we are supposed to move in together.”
“No, you’re right.”
Grabbing his hand, I gently tugged him toward my room.
“Then let’s get some well-earned sleep.”
Ten
CHYOX
Her mind was like a drop of water; no matter from what angle I gazed upon it, I found something slightly different than before. How I wanted to wrap myself around her and protect her from the universe, and yet, she didn’t need me to.
She was a shielder—a strong one—and I could already feel the effects of her mental power through our courting bond. I couldn’t fathom how it would feel once she decided to seal our fates and strengthen our mental thread permanently.
Instead of the golden thread Selena shared with her nestmates, Kaica’s matched the color of her mental shield and her intelligent eyes, a light blue.
I wondered why Kaica’s matched her eyes, yet Selena’s didn’t. Perhaps it was related to her adaptive abilities. I would look into that question once Selena returned but right now, it didn’t matter.
The only thing that mattered was her.
Was this how Xylo had felt when he had started his courting bond with Selena?
No matter how often I had encountered the same passages and spoken to mated Circuli males about the experience, I wasn’t prepared for this.
I sighed. Once again, I was wrong.
Somehow all my thoughts defaulted back to her, and I was perfectly fine with that.
