18. KVella

eighteen

K'Vella

" A m I looking hot now?" Essa asks as she spins around the entertainment room. She's dressed in something similar to me. Furs that barely cover her front bits and her backside and a fur tied in a halter for her top.

"Looking hot, babe," Sloane says, beaming up at the golden woman.

Helna nods along, and I'm smiling up at Essa as well. She made the males leave the ship already because she wasn't sure if she'd be comfortable in the furs once she had them on. I'm pretty sure Holoth growled at the request, but he's a good friend because he's standing outside waiting with Jovi, Alik, and Phial.

"Whose furs were these again?" Essa asks as she runs her hands over the front lower flap. "I don't want any female being upset thinking I'm taking their male."

"They're leftover furs from Holoth's room before he left." Helna shrugs and gives me a side-eyed glance. I frown at it, and she laughs. "Don't worry. They don't smell like anything other than the incense my mother burns in the house. They've been in a closet for like five years now."

"Oh, this is fine," Essa says, wrapping an arm over my shoulder. "Holoth knows I want nothing to do with him or his knot. I'm much too good of a friend for that."

I frown harder, and the three women laugh. "Let's just not talk about his knot, okay?"

"No talking of knots," Essa nods. "Don't worry, I can't even take one. I'm in no danger of taking your future babe's father."

I groan and rub my eyes. "Come on, I heard more people are showing up for the run in a few days."

"So many." Helna wiggles her brows at us and claps her hands together. "The great hall will be packed, and all the males work their hardest to tempt the females into their furs."

"Don't you just need to sniff them to know if you want to be with them?" Essa asks, wrapping her tail around Sloane's ankle as we begin to walk out of the entertainment room and toward the exit. "Why are they trying to tempt you, and why do you all work so hard to entice them?"

"Because rutting is fun," Helna laughs as she says it. "Eventually, I'll find a male that drives me wild with his scent, but until then, why shouldn't we get to enjoy our lives?"

Essa nods along, seeming to appreciate this outlook. Sloane bumps her hip into Helna. "My mates told me I wouldn't like how the females are treated on this planet. They thought I wouldn't get it."

"And how do you feel?" Helna asks, her brows crinkling as if she is unsure which direction this conversation will take.

"Are you kidding me?" Sloane throws her head back and laughs. "I applied to be a pleasure crew member. This entire planet seems to be doing it right. Sex, parties, dancing, more sex. What's not to like?"

The conversation fades as we step onto the dockyard. All four males are talking amongst themselves, their attention fully on Phial, who looks like he wants to murder someone and die all at the same time.

Jovi notices us first and smiles at Sloane before hitting Alik in the chest to get him to look over at their mate. Their eyes all crinkle in the corner as they let their gazes roam over her body. She looks like she fits in here on Rythar even if she's taller than all the other females.

"Is everything okay?" Sloane asks.

She walks toward the group, with the rest of us following behind her. Essa even has a frown covering her normally jovial appearance.

I wrap one of my lower arms over Helna's shoulders and pull her closer to me in case there's actually something wrong. She folds into me without question. It makes me feel good to know she trusts me. Holoth notices it as well and gives me a soft smile.

"Phial wants to turn invisible and break into our most sacred place just to make sure Avery's okay," Holoth says, his words pointed and angry, though he tries to soften them as he looks at me. It's Helna who tenses up in my arms, and I flex my fingers against her shoulder to keep her next to me.

"You can't," she snarls at him. "Males aren't allowed unless granted permission."

"No one will know," Phial snaps at Holoth because it's obvious his fight is with the male who told us his plan. "Or no one would've known."

"Well, now she does. If you want help for Avery, you don't go in there. If you want to make sure none of us are welcome on this planet ever again, go ahead." Holoth snarls and snaps his teeth. His growl is loud at Phial.

"I can't fucking do it now!" Phial matches Holoth's energy, even though he's much smaller.

His hand goes for his holster, but his gun and everyone else's weapons have been left on the ship since our first night here. We all notice the movement, though, and it's enough for Essa to herd the females toward the clan in case things get physical with the males.

"Keep the males away from my mate!" Holoth calls after us, and my chest blossoms in color. Helna bumps my hips with hers and looks up at me. "I'm serious. I don't want to fight anyone tonight!"

"Yeah, yeah!" Helna calls over her shoulder, and the growl in the air deepens. It has Helna throwing her head back and laughing. "He's going to be in the great hall in all of five minutes."

"Good, maybe it means he won't kill Phial," Essa says, looking over her shoulder to watch the males walking back into the ship.

I feel bad for Phial, especially since he cares for Avery. I don't know how she feels about him, but I don't think she feels a particular way about any male right now.

"He worries over nothing," Helna says, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "I was with Avery this morning. She's doing as well as one going through her heat without a male can be."

"Thank you for checking on her," Sloane says after a long silence. "I don't know what all you guys do in there, but do you know if she's scented anyone?"

Helna rubs the back of her neck. "As far as we can tell, no, because she'd be begging for them if she had a match. We don't know if all the new males coming in for the run will trigger it, though. We keep the sanctuary vented, but if there's a scent match, sometimes they can still scent each other."

"Do you need any of us to stand guard? A male won't try to get in, will he?" Essa's tail tightens on Sloane's ankle, and the other woman pats her arm.

"No, no, the sanctuary is the safest place for any female in heat who doesn't want a male." Helna rolls her shoulders and looks toward the tall marble cave structure where the sanctuary is. "If a male scents her, he can wait in the alcove, but there's no way he's getting inside without authorization."

"And Phial?" I ask, hoping the security measures will keep him out so he doesn't risk Holoth's relationship with his clan. Not to mention that if Avery goes through her heat every month, she'll need help from this clan often.

"He might be able to slip in during a shift change." Helna frowns and then stops walking. "Actually, I should warn the sisters in case he tries." She gives us all a small smile. "I'll see you guys in a few minutes. Head to the great hall. I'll be right behind you."

Helna runs off toward the sanctuary. Sloane wraps her fingers in mine and drags me through the rest of the clan. It's sweet of her to want to keep our minds off what's happening with Avery, even though we're all worried about her.

"I don't think we can go dancing until the males get here," Sloane says as she pushes through a crowd of people at the entrance to the great hall.

Helna wasn't joking when she said the place would be more crowded the closer we got to the run. Sounds of pleasure are already filling the air. As soon as we step inside, a female breaks apart. Everyone inside claps and cheers at the union.

When we look at where everyone else is looking, there's a female on her back on a table, a male between her thighs with his teeth sunk deep into her flesh. The female runs her fingers through his hair, her eyes bright and filled with joy as she looks down at him.

"I guess there'll be more claiming the closer it gets to the run," Sloane says, averting her eyes from the scene when everyone else starts to. "I bet they start scent matching like crazy when new people show up."

"Imagine life being that easy," Essa sighs as she leans against the wall near two chairs that she wants Sloane and me to sit in. "You go about your day minding your own business, maybe thinking about getting sex, and then bam! Your nose is in love with someone who's just as in love with you."

"I don't know," Sloane says, leaning her head back in her chair and looking around the room again to see if our males or Helna have joined us yet. "It takes away all the buildup of getting together with someone. Where's the angst of knowing if they want to be with you or the overthinking everything like you're somehow ruining it."

Essa and I exchange disgusted looks.

"If I could've known as soon as I saw Holoth that he was mine, I would've taken it. Let me be rid of these insecurities of not being enough and all of this worry that he'll scent someone on this planet. I don't want it."

"I think I feel the same. Let me see a male, decide he's mine, and be done with it. We can have fun in the bedroom. We don't need to pine over one another. No, thank you." Essa adds.

She looks down at the small comm she keeps strapped to her wrist and tilts her head to the side as she reads it. It feels like a surreal nightmare as her fangs elongate, her pupils constrict, and her jaw tenses.

"Sloane, I need you to take K'Vella to Helna's house," Essa says, her eyes still on her wrist as more messages come through. She lifts her eyes to us, fear coating my spine.

"Now."

Essa doesn't wait to make sure we follow her directions before stomping through the great hall and out the doors. A few Rytharians look at her departure, cringing when they see the anger on her face. Sloane pulls me from my chair, the world growing hazy as my mind tries to piece together what's happened.

"It's going to be okay," Sloane tells me.

She rubs her hand over my forearm as she drags me the opposite way of where Essa ran off when she left the great hall. Essa ran back toward the ship, but why wouldn't she want us to go to the ship if there was an emergency? Unless the emergency was with the males. Maybe they're fighting.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Helna's shouting from behind us, and then she's beside us, out of breath, with a bruise forming on her face and a split lip. "I didn't know what she was planning. I'm sorry."

Helna grabs me around my waist and pulls me into a tight hug. I wrap my arms around her, shooting Sloane a confused look because I still don't know what's happening.

It isn't until I see the heartbreak on Sloane's face or how she keeps checking her wrist comm that it finally starts to register in my mind.

"Did he scent match someone?" I ask, the words sounding so far away even as I feel them on my lips.

My entire world seems to freeze as the reality of the life I thought I could have is ripped away from me. No, of course, it is. I don't deserve that happiness. I've never deserved it.

I nod, not needing either woman to confirm my fears when I can see it written plain as day on their faces. I nod again.

"Okay, well, it won't be the first time I'm cast aside. I doubt it'll be the last." I look down at Helna, feeling as though she needs the most comfort out of the three of us. "Would you mind making me some more tea for the babe? I think we need to be strong for what's to happen next."

"The babe?" Sloane's eyes go wide, and she starts shaking.

"Maybe some tea for my friend as well." I wrap an arm over Sloane and keep her close as I help guide the two women toward Jatha's house.

Whatever happens is meant to happen, and I won't stop Holoth from finding his happiness. One of us at least deserves that much.