16. KVella

sixteen

K'Vella

M y body's exhausted even though I'm waking up from a long night of rest. Or at least I think it was still night when we came back to the nest.

I crack my eyes open and can't see the clock from where I'm plastered to Holoth's front. I sigh and plop back down. Maybe I'll just sleep a bit longer.

"My mother will want to meet you," Holoth murmurs against my hair.

He nuzzles his nose into the crook of my neck and places kisses against it. His arm tightens around my abdomen as he grinds against my backside like that's acceptable when talking about meeting his mother.

"Your mother?" I sound downright scandalized at the idea.

I spent the better part of last night with Holoth's fingers inside me as he made me come over and over again. By the time he made me orgasm for the fifth time, I'd completely forgotten about how Helna punched a female who came up to me and told me I didn't deserve a male like Holoth. What was even more startling was that after Helna hit her, she grabbed a full drink from a different female and downed it as though she hadn't just punched a female hard enough that she fell to the ground.

"Yes, my mother." Holoth nips at my shoulder, drawing my attention back to the present. "What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing," I say too quickly.

I don't know if Helna wants her older brother to know that she's fighting other females or that any of them said anything rude to me. I'm already other enough. I don't need to make things more difficult for Holoth. Not when he's enjoying himself so much with being back. I'm enjoying myself, too, even if I never thought I'd be into being pleasured in public places.

I enjoy the family that's formed in the tribe. Even most of the females accepted me after Helna told the other females to sniff me but not tell any of the crew. Most were eager to know a new babe was going to be born, and it seemed to make them accept me as one of them.

I was even dragged toward the dancing pit at one point. Jovi put a stop to that, stating he was all for fun, but Holoth might actually kill one of them if I went in there.

"Did you have fun while I was gone last night?" Holoth asks as he traces soft lines up and down my upper arms.

"Why do you ask?" I shoot him a suspicious look over my shoulder, and he only grins back at me.

He hops up from the bed, taking the blankets with him. Instead of hiding myself away, I stretch out in the nest, making loud, sensual moans as I wake myself. Holoth stands over me, eyes greedily taking in my naked body.

"What?" I ask with a coy smile.

"What?" Holoth mocks my question before falling back down on his knees so he can push my legs apart and lie between them. "You moan and whimper while you're all flushed and bare. You know exactly what you're doing."

"I thought I was supposed to be meeting your mother?" I ask, tilting my hips up into him, feeling his length harden against me.

"Don't talk about my mother now, K'Vella," Holoth purrs against my ear as he sinks into me.

I grip his backside with my lower hands and pull him deep into me. He groans in pleasure as I throw my head and call out his name.

This is where I'm meant to be. This is where I want to be—wherever Holoth is, wherever we can be together.

It's with this revelation that my orgasm topples into me. I claw at Holoth, leaving trails of red marks down his muscled back. He's mine, and I've said it before, but now I know it. This male is mine and will always be mine.

"I love you," I moan as my climax begins to fade.

Holoth inhales the words as he places his lips on mine. He sinks the last of his knot into me, filling me with his seed and locking us together.

"I love you." I pant against his mouth. "I love you." Over and over, I say the words until I'm certain he believes me.

"Helna!" a stern woman's voice calls out from the small home we're walking towards. "It's late. Get up and do your chores."

Holoth suppresses his smile as we step up to the front door and knock. He keeps one hand on my lower back, and I have two wrapped around him. Helna's already told me she's warned Holoth's mother about my pregnancy and not to tell Holoth.

I know I need to tell him, and I will. As soon as I know, he's not going to accidentally sniff a female on this planet and fall in love with her.

Helna told me that there's a heat run happening in a few days, which means more Rytharians will come to the clan to take part. It makes sure there's diversity in the gene pool, and it gives eligible males and females a chance to find scent matches.

Just a few more days, and we'll be off this planet, and I can tell Holoth about the babe. I know it's for the best, but a piece of me is sad to even think about leaving.

I love the sense of community here. I love how, as soon as Helna accepted me as her sister and Holoth accepted me as his mate, most others in the clan accepted me as well. I want this acceptance. It's something I've never had before.

The door to the little house opens, and Holoth's mother stares up at the two of us with such love and adoration that it's almost funny when she uses the broom she's holding to hit Holoth.

"Mother!" Holoth runs from her as she swings the broomstick at him again. He's laughing, and the smile on his face is massive. He's a head or two taller than his mother, but she goes after him like she could take him down.

Helna stands in the doorway after her mother chases after Holoth, smiling and resting her head against it. One day, I'll get used to the size difference in Rytharian sexes, but not today.

"She'll be chasing him for a while," Helna says as we watch Holoth loop back around toward the house with his mother chasing after him and cursing at him. "Want some tea for the babe? My mom got it special, but we can tell Holoth it's virility tea."

"Tea sounds nice," I say, rubbing a hand over my abdomen.

Helna grabs one of my hands and leads me inside. The house is clean and tidy, and the doors to the few bedrooms are closed. I chew on my cheek and wonder which of them was Holoth's and if it's still decorated how it was when he left. Helna notices me looking around and takes mercy on my curiosity.

"Holoth's room is cleaned out, but his house is nearby." Helna smiles at my surprise and continues while filling a kettle. "When males get to the age where they can mate and rut and all of that fun stuff, they're kicked out of the house."

I nod along. That's pretty standard for Varon children as well. Once they reach maturity, they're expected to either begin being housed with males or begin housing females. Helna must not expect me to be so unaffected by her words, because she gives me a curious look before continuing.

"Our uncle helped him build it since our father passed away when we were young," Helna says. "It's structurally sound and has good insulation. Many have offered to buy it from my mother, but she tells them all that Holoth's coming back and will need the home. He always promised he'd fill it up with plenty of babes for her to help with."

My chest flushes at the mention of Holoth wanting babes before he met me. I know it's a big part of their culture, but to think of Holoth freshly matured and already knowing he wanted a big family. It has my stomach erupting in butterflies because I want a large family with him.

"Could I see it?" I ask, hoping I don't sound like I'm intruding.

I also don't want to get her hopes up. Staying on this planet would be wonderful if not for the one small fact that Holoth can't ever take his blocker out. Ever.

"Nope," Helna says, giving me a devilish smile because she knows she's disappointing all of my curiosity. "What? You can only go to a male's home if he invites you, and my brother hasn't invited you."

I press my lips together, arms crossing over my chest and abdomen. "Does he even know he still has a home here?"

Helna shrugs. "I don't know. I'm not his keeper."

I suppress my laughter only because the front door swings open, and a tired older Rytharian comes in, followed by a beaming Holoth who doesn't look out of breath.

"You were always getting up to trouble," Holoth's mother says with a shake of her head. "I went and got out of shape, not having to run after you for six years."

She looks over at her daughter and then at me, her face brightening instantly. "Oh, you must be my new daughter. Come here, come here."

She holds her arms out until I'm stepping between them. I uncross my arms, letting all four dangle by my side.

"Oh, aren't you beautiful," she says. "Holoth always liked girls who could take care of themselves. I bet you're stronger than him, too, aren't you?"

I flush even more, and Holoth takes some of the attention off of me. At least I'm wearing one of my Varon dresses, so my flush is hidden from Helna, Holoth, and their mother.

"Let me at least introduce you before you inspect her like livestock," Holoth laughs as he stands next to me, taking one of my hands in his and squeezing it. "Mother, this is K'Vella. K'Vella, this is my mother, Jatha."

"It's nice to meet you."

I offer Jatha my hand, but she shoos it away and wraps her arms around me before pulling me into a tight hug. She keeps me plastered to her for what feels like at least a full minute before stepping back.

"I'm so happy you're here," she says, tears rimming her eyes. It does a strange thing to my heart, the way Jatha accepts me and seems to love me without fuss or needing something from me. She rubs my arm once more before stepping away. "I want to learn all about you, K'Vella. My son is gone for six years, but he's nothing now. I have a new daughter, and she's just wonderful. Come, please tell me everything."

Holoth follows close behind us as Jatha gets me situated on the couch and starts pulling furs and blankets on top of me. I smile and take them all, not wanting to offend her by rejecting them. Really, the only fur I want is the one currently slung across Holoth's shoulders, but I'm not about to ask for it in front of his mom and sister. It feels too intimate.

"She's not building her nest in the living room." Holoth intervenes in my burial and starts pulling some of the blankets and furs off me.

His mother scoffs but doesn't fight him about uncovering me. Instead, she walks back into the kitchen and grabs the tea Helna's making.

"How many do you actually want?" Holoth asks, low and intimate, just for me to hear. His eyes scan over my face as his palm caresses my cheek.

"Just one," I say. My eyes fall to the fur hanging over his shoulders. He presses his lips to my temple with a smile.

"Of course."

He tugs the fur off his shoulders and wraps it around me just in time for his mother and sister to arrive with the tea. Jatha beams at her son, still doting on me and being his sweet self. Helna chews on her lip, her eyes darting from her mother to my abdomen.

Holoth winks before standing to his full height and turning to face his much smaller mother and sister. "Tea?"

"Yes, yes, it's good for both of you," Jatha says as she sets a kettle on the small table in front of us and starts pouring.

When she finishes, she places a warm mug in my hands before taking her own seat. Holoth stays standing until his mother is comfortable and doesn't ask for any more furs or blankets before settling into the couch beside me and wrapping an arm over my shoulder.

"Tell us about yourself, K'Vella," Jatha says, taking a small sip of her tea. "We're both so curious about how our boy was able to mate a Varon. I hear your females are very particular."

"Oh, you've heard that?" Holoth raises one of his brows and gives his mother a short chuckle.

"We might've done some research on Varons when you first arrived," Helna says, leaning back in her chair and giving us both smug smiles. "What did you expect us to do? We wanted to know more about the female that kept you from us for all these years."

Holoth's pleasant mood drops in an instant, and his fingers tighten on my far shoulder. "K'Vella isn't the reason I didn't come back." His purr is the only thing keeping me from worrying because I'm pretty sure his mother and sister aren't happy to have brought it up at all.

"I met Holoth a few weeks ago," I tell them. "I was unwanted on my planet but wanted to start a family. It's always been what I've wanted, and I decided I was going to start one without the help of Varon males."

Holoth growls, tilting his eyes down to me when I mention any male besides him trying to get me pregnant. His reaction makes me laugh. Thankfully, the sound also helps to relax him, and his mother and sister look as eager to hear about it as they were when they thought Holoth and I were together for years.

"I have a friend who works for a pleasure crew company in recruiting. Do you two know what pleasure crews are?" I pause to wait for both women to answer, even if the question has Holoth groaning next to me.

I don't know why he's embarrassed now. All last night, he was perfectly content with me moaning out his name in front of everyone.

"K'Vella came onto the ship to help me through my rut in exchange for a babe," Holoth says, cutting off his mother or sister from confirming whether they know about the pleasure crew. "Normally, I'd have a medic put me in a coma, but we're having to stay hidden right now because of Avery. So my plan was to try not to die to Alik and Jovi because I was definitely going to try to rut Sloane."

I cast him a furious look and pull my lips back over my teeth at even the suggestion. Holoth's prepared for this reaction. He's already watching to make sure he's said enough to prove I'm just as jealous as he is.

"Thankfully, this beautiful female was there to save the day."

"So you managed to snag one of the most eligible Rytharian males in this clan just by being at the right place at the right time?" Jatha asks.

Her tone isn't rude, but the question still stings. What if, just like Helna before she found out about the babe or any of the females here who think Holoth should've chosen one of them, she thinks I'm not enough for her son? That I'm not good enough, that I don't belong.

"Mother." Helna elbows the older woman, who shoots her gaze over to me and notices my worried apprehension.

"Oh, no, that's not a bad thing," Jatha says, her eyes growing wide at realizing she's made me unsure of myself. "The only way to find your mate is being at the right place at the right time. I met their father during a heat run two clans over when he was invited as a special guest by the clan leader's daughter. Imagine everyone's surprise when he was jumping over tables to get to me."

"What my mother is terrible at saying is that fate works to bring us closer to the one we're meant to be with, even if it's in ways we don't think would lead to us finding mates," Holoth says, his fingers rubbing soft circles against my pelt. "Fate brought you to me."

"What about your people, K'Vella?" Helna asks as she leans her elbows on her knees.

I take a deep drink of my tea, trying to buy myself time before needing to respond. "I don't know how much you've already researched, but there are fewer females than males on my planet. We go through a housing ceremony about twice a year so we can be placed with males who might bring out our bonding marks and who might also help us conceive. So, while we also think fate has a lot to do with it, we aren't as open about everything as you are here."

"No rutting at your parties, then?" Helna asks with genuine curiosity. When I shake my head, her brows lift a small amount. "What do you do then?"

I bite back a small laugh. "Well, we mingle with one another, try to see who might be interested in housing us for the next half a year, and we get to know the other males."

"Well, yeah, I get to know plenty of males too, but how do you know if they're worth anything if you haven't made sure they can make you orgasm?" Helna asks so bluntly that none of us are ready for it. Holoth stands from the couch, his growl a bite in the room.

"Is my home still here? I need to see what repairs need to be done before I sell it."

Holoth doesn't wait for an answer before stomping out of the house and, I assume, down to his own home. A home I kind of want to see, and one that hurts my heart to know he wants to sell.

"Glad he's gone," Jatha sighs. "Smart thinking with the talk of rutting."

"I'm surprised I had to bring out the word orgasm," Helna laughs. "I really thought when I talked of rutting, he'd be gone."

"Wait, what?" I ask, trying and failing to keep up with what's happening.

"We wanted to talk to you without Holoth listening in," Jatha says. "There's only so many times I can stop myself from asking about the babe."

"Oh." My chest flushes a bright violet. "The babe is fine." I place my two lower hands over my abdomen and cradle it. "It's still much too early to know if it'll stick."

Jatha and Helna both scoff at that and then their faces turn serious when they realize I'm not joking. Jatha grabs one of my upper hands and pats it with hers. "If you're pregnant, that babe is coming into this world. We haven't lost a Rytharian babe in, oh, a hundred years or so. This is what our bodies are meant to do."

"And if you were altered, you'd take to it just as easily," Helna says, giving me a supportive smile just like her mother's. "Seriously, we breed faster than any other species out there. I need to find my mate soon. I'm an old maid by Rytharian standards."

"Oh shush," Jatha waves away her daughter's concern. "You're only twenty-one. You still have plenty of time."

I look at Helna and try hard not to show my surprise at her youth. When I was twenty-one, I had just attended my first housing ceremony. Yet I'm pretty sure Helna wandered off to a dark corner with a male last night after she tired of dancing.

"You breed young here?" I ask, hoping it's not an intrusive question, but now I'm curious about how old Holoth is.

I don't know why I didn't ask beforehand, but now that I know his sister is only twenty-one, I need to know how old he is. I'm getting close to my thirty-second year, and based on how he looks, I thought Holoth was the same.

"Males go through their first rut around eighteen," Jatha says, and I have to fight to stop the tea I just drank from spraying out of my mouth. If males go through their first rut at eighteen, then that means Holoth, my Holoth, is somewhere around twenty-four.

The front door opens, and we listen to Holoth walk down the short hall to the living space. Either Holoth's house is nearby, or he decided he didn't want to be away from me because he's only been gone for maybe five minutes before coming back inside.

"Why does my mate look like you just told her the worst possible news?"

Holoth growls when he comes back into the living room. He settles down next to me, and I can't help but stare at him in wide-eyed confusion. He furrows his brows at me, a frown pulling his lips downward.

"What?"

"You're a babe." I barely get the words out before I bolt up from my seat and pace around the living room while everyone else tries to figure out what's wrong with me.

"Twenty-four?" I ask, looking at Holoth, who looks even more confused. "I'll be thirty-two in a couple of months, and you're twenty-four?"

"What?" Holoth asks, shaking his head. "No, what? I'm twenty-three."

"Oh gods," I groan and raise my upper hands to my forehead. "You're a babe."

I turn away from the group, running my hands down my hair as I try to take in this new information. He's barely old enough to be housing someone, let alone impregnating them. I close my eyes, trying to stop the panic that's bubbling up inside of me.

I'm still facing the wall when Holoth comes to stand behind me. His purr is loud and coats my body in its warmth.

"Do you want me to show you I'm not still a whelp?" He nudges me forward until my body presses against the wall, and his cock is pushing against me. His hands start to tug my dress up higher on my thighs as his purr vibrates through me.

"Holoth," I whimper, unable to think clearly when he's so close and offering me so much.

"Come on, K'Vella." He smiles as he presses his lips to my neck. "It's okay if you like your males younger than you." He bites down on my shoulder until I cry out. "I learned I like my females older."

He pulls my hips back, my dress higher. Then he's sinking into me, and yeah, I forget about the age difference when he's thrusting into me.

"Holoth." I reach behind me with one of my upper hands and grab the back of his head to pull him back down to the crook of my neck.

"Mmm?" He mocks me. "I'm not a babe now?"

I shake my head, my eyes fluttering open so I can look at the taunt in his eyes.

"You still want me to father your children, K'Vella?" I nod my head, my hands tightening on him wherever I can touch.

"Good." He slides his knot inside of me and starts to come. "Sorry, should've made sure you were taken care of first," he chuckles against the side of my hair.

"It's okay. You'll learn self-control when you're older," I huff out with a soft laugh and lean my head back against his shoulder. He presses another kiss to my temple and pulls me back down to the couch before throwing his fur over our joined bodies. "Where's your sister and mom?"

"Out," Holoth says, pressing another kiss to my temple before dropping lower and dotting them all over my shoulders.

"Out?" I ask, looking around the house like they might pop up from behind the couch or something.

"My mate was getting too in her head," Holoth laughs and pulls me tighter against him. "I didn't even need to say anything before they both left me to deal with whatever this was."

"Just a minor freak out," I say, a tad too high-pitched. Holoth's hands wrap around my abdomen and splay wide. It warms me even more to know he's caring for his young without knowing.

"Still freaked out?" Holoth whispers in my ear.

"No, not anymore," I whisper back, wanting to turn my head so I can take his lips in mine. He must sense it on me because he's tilting my face toward his and worshiping my mouth with his until his knot finally goes down.