13. Roark

“Good,” I murmured, more than a little pleased as I blinked up at the sparring room’s ceiling. Huu-goh had just toppled me over. It was the first time he’d done so, and though it hadn’t been a bad fall, I took a moment to gather myself so that he would feel as though it was.

I wanted his chest to fill with pride, like mine did.

Huu-goh had surprise on his side. No one would look at a being his size and assume that he was a capable fighter. Which was exactly why I found it imperative to train him.

Mala thought the whole thing was amusing. He had gathered much of the off-duty crewmates as well as Ushuu to watch. And they all placed bets—on Huu-goh, not me—no matter how many times he lost.

A fact that made him more than a little excited. He was pleasantly surprised that all of them actually wanted him to win. And I was equally as pleased, because there was nothing I wanted more in this world than for Huu-goh to feel appreciated and like he belonged here beside me.

Because he did.

It felt odd to fight him. To push him to the ground in this way. But it was fun too. It felt right to share something so central to my culture and childhood with him. Huu-goh was as fast of a learner—even if he lacked the physical strength and stamina needed for battle.

I wasn’t looking to turn him into a warrior.

Simply to make sure he could defend himself should the need arise.

He’d been more than a little excited when I’d told him we were nearing planet Sha’hPihn. And he’d been even more excited when I told him—in stilted human-speak—that I had something planned for him when we arrived.

Though I still spent time with Ushuu tutoring me, I’d backed off a little. The pace I’d been working that first week had been unsustainable, as shown by my rather major crash. And I couldn’t afford to be off my game as we approached the last stop on our way home.

There was too much at risk.

Startled out of my thoughts, I decided enough time had passed that I could stop pretending like the fall had hurt.

“Good?” Huu-goh gasped out from above me. His whole body heaved with each winded breath. He’d gone for the back of my knees—a weakness most creatures shared, so it had been the first I’d shown him.

It was, however, the first time he’d tricked me quickly enough he’d been able to actually send me to the ground. Huu-goh offered me a hand up. There was no way he could lift me, but I thought the gesture was cute, if misguided. Now standing, I could feel a purr building inside my chest. I had never been this playful with another person. I had been a serious child, a serious teenager, and an even more serious adult.

But this was…nice.

“Again,” I teased, only for Huu-goh to rebel.

“No!” he whined petulantly. “Tired. Huu-goh is tired. No more.”

I suppose we had been at it for a good forty minutes. My morning exercise hour was nearly over. I hadn’t realized how much time had passed. In light of this, it appeared my plan to bring him to the lower depths of the ship to the pool to recover would need to be postponed.

I sighed, but didn’t argue with him as we exited the sparring ring and a few Sahrks barked their laughter on our way past where the colorful crowd had gathered. The curiosity they’d all had for Huu-goh had faded by this point. Now, they saw him as one of their own, and the respect they showed him as my mate made me feel at peace.

It was nice to know that my unorthodox choice of partner was as widely accepted as Mala had promised me he would be. Even if he hadn’t been, I wouldn’t have changed my choice. Huu-goh was worth too much for me to worry about silly things like fitting in.

My little huu-man continued to huff and puff beside me. “I feel stupid,” Huu-goh muttered under his breath, assuming I couldn’t hear or understand.

“Huu-goh is no stupid,” I grunted back in his language, stopping at the end of the room and twisting to catch his attention. He stumbled a little, glancing up at me in astonishment. Affection softened his expression. “No say that.”

He was sweaty.

His hair stuck up in all directions, and his skin was a ruddy, painful looking red.

Still wheezing, my Huu-goh was lovelier than any other being in the entire galaxy.

“Sorry,” he apologized, reaching out to lace our fingers together. I smiled, pleased, and gave his hand a squeeze back.

“Training needed,” I reminded him. “For safety .”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Huu-goh rasped. “I hate it. I hate sports. I hate exercise. I hate all of this.”

Those words I didn’t know, so I just grunted in commiseration. He was all talk, truly.

We’d be back again the next morning. Huu-goh would be vibrating with glee the second we climbed inside the sparring arena, ready to tussle with me. And just like today—when his physical limits became apparent—he’d get angry and irritable all over again.

He just liked to grumble.

And I didn’t blame him.

My little love wasn’t built for physical conflict. I couldn’t fault him for disliking it. Not when I was sure he would be perfectly content to stay fiddling with his tools and toys, and never exercise—aside from sex—for the rest of his life.

He was always game to try something new, however. And always ready to latch on to any excuse to touch or spend time with me. It was heady, to be the center of someone else’s world. To have that sentiment returned. Intoxicating, really. And so…wonderful.

I hadn’t known love could be like this.

Father had been a lonely man. He had no mate. He’d used the pods to conceive me, as all modern Sahrks did. But he’d done it alone. I was made in his spitting image. At the orphanage after his passing I’d thought I had learned what love was. When I’d taken care of the other children during The Great Calamity. When my heart had been full as I provided for them, and I realized that was who and what I wanted to be.

But even that paled in comparison to the joy I felt now, in Huu-goh’s presence.

He saw me as a person.

He saw behind my teeth and claws. Behind my rank. Behind the icy exterior I’d maintained to keep my heart safe. He made me smile.

He was brighter than the stars on our ceiling. Brighter than the stars outside the control room. Brighter than the stars that had taught me to chase adventures in the sky.

“Roark?” Huu-goh’s voice broke me from my reverie. “You okay?”

“I am good,” I replied in his language, giving his tiny hand another squeeze. I yanked him up onto my shoulders as we headed out into the hallway, deciding that today we would bypass the rooms and go straight to the mess hall for breakfast.

Huu-goh was a welcome sweaty weight atop my shoulders, his sweet fingers stroking along my head fin as we moved.

“Captain!” A few cadets greeted me in our tongue, saluting and standing to attention as we passed. Before I could move, Huu-goh saluted back. Their eyes widened, and they glanced at me, and then at the huu-man before murmurs of delight escaped them.

I barked out a laugh, and the two Sahrk’s barked along with me.

“Have a good morning, Nim. Netreit,” I greeted them both.

“See you up top, sir!”

I nodded, amused as they waited until Huu-goh and I walked off before continuing on their own way.

“ Captain ,” Huu-goh repeated—only it was in my language and not his own. He butchered the syllables, but the word was recognizable. I stiffened, and Huu-goh snickered in delight. “Captain!” He teased, sweet little feet kicking with glee.

Oh dear.

My spots betrayed me and Huu-goh’s cackle turned into a thoughtful hum.

“Red spots,” he purred, back in humanspeak, his soft lips brushing along my fin and making me shiver. “That’s good to know.”

When we returned to our rooms after breakfast Huu-goh used his newfound knowledge for evil. He slurped my cocks down one at a time, sucked and suckled on my sac, and all the while called me “Captain.”

The cool water soothed my body as I sank to the bottom of the pool. It’d been a long time since I’d been down here. Though truthfully I’d been too busy to really miss it. The reason for my absence was swimming directly above my head after all, sweet pale legs kicking. Ripples danced across the sloped sides of the pool as I settled on my back, staring up at Huu-goh, my hearts thumping a peaceful beat.

Before Huu-goh had joined us aboard I’d spent what free time I had working overtime or down here, just as I was now, at the bottom of the large pool on the lowest level of the ship.

Beside what most on board referred to as the “lake”, to our left and right were the ship’s cargo holds. Their chambers were nearly twice the size of the pool itself, which was an incredible feat, considering just how large it was. It had always brought me peace to soak while I protected our cargo.

On days when the ship was quiet and I needed some extra alone time I’d find myself here. Some years I frequented the lake more than others, swimming laps and soaking as I was now—letting the weight of who and what I was disappear for the precious moments the water caressed my surface.

While I enjoyed sparring with Mala—and now, Huu-goh too—swimming brought forth a different kind of comfort. Exercise yes, but therapy in a way too.

I lingered for a moment, bubbles erupting from my snout, as I observed Huu-goh treading water with delight. It was a simple pleasure, sharing something so inherently ingrained in my culture with the person I adored. It brought me immense joy to know that he liked this too. When I had surprised him, leading him into the room for the first time, his eyes had lit up. He viewed the room like it was something marvelous.

I wondered if he’d be as grouchy by the end as he always was about training. But somehow, I knew he wouldn’t.

Swimming at a leisurely pace, I cut through the water, my limbs shifting into something more aerodynamic. Webbing connected my fingers and toes, tendrils trailing like fins as I slunk beneath my little love, stalking him with delight.

He seemed to notice I’d moved, because his treading slowed as he spun in a circle, sweet blurry face rippling as he tried to see me beneath him. I latched on to his wonderful little legs, yanking him down with me.

A stream of bubbles exploded behind him as Huu-goh collided with my body just below the surface of the water. His eyes were wide, but his lips were amused. He shoved at my chest playfully, and I let him go, drifting after him as he popped back up with a squawking guffaw.

“Aasshole!” he spluttered in his language.

I didn’t know what that word was, but I liked it. Because he was still smiling, even as he coughed.

I had never played with anyone like this. Not even when I was a boy. I’d been the Sahrk on the sidelines, making sure everyone was safe. Not…not this. Uninhibited and free, my worries no longer shackling me at the moment.

Huu-goh melted when I pulled him close again, nuzzling at his wet cheeks and his soggy orange fur with pleasure. My hands smoothed down his flank and over his pleasantly soft rump, gripping him tight.

“Figuhres you can breethe underwater.” I only recognized a few of the words, “can” and “you” and “underwater” but it was easy enough to fill in the gaps. I found pleasure in that too. Like our language was a puzzle, and I was learning it piece by piece. I held up a hand, giving him the up thumb as I huffed in amusement. “Jee-sus, you’re cute.”

Huu-goh pressed his mouth to my nose and I sighed through my nostrils, eyes drifting shut. His lips were so very soft as he dragged them over mine. I wasn’t sure what he was doing. But I liked it, my tongue slithering out to flick along his pillowy soft mouth.

My little huu-man snorted out a laugh, but gamely took my tongue inside his mouth. He suckled, and I groaned low, pulling him in tighter by the hips, my cocks pushing insistently against him through the layers of fabric we both wore.

When Huu-goh released my tongue his cheeks were flushed.

“What was that?” I asked him, because I was certain there was significance to the action.

“A kiss.”

“Kissh?” I repeated, logging the word away for later. This was a new kind of kissing. Much less chaste than anything we’d tried before. Now that I knew the word in his language, I could request more of them. The thought made me hungry. This sort of kiss was as close as we had gotten to the kind of kissing my people enjoyed.

“Mhmm,” Huu-goh hummed. It was different than the one he used to soothe me. It wasn’t a song. A simple few notes he often repeated. “M—hmm” meant yes, somehow. Music that had meaning, just like his songs meant comfort.

Huu-mans were such magical creatures.

And my Huu-goh was the best of them all.

We raced each other. I won. Every time. And every time Huu-goh simply snickered and claimed another filthy kiss. When we returned to our rooms I felt lighter than I ever had before. Things were looking up. They truly were. And even the ever-present threat of space pirates could not dampen my mood as Huu-goh and I showered off and retreated to bed for the night.

Soon we’d speak to each other candidly.

Soon I’d get that damn collar off him.

Soon we’d go home.