9. KVella

nine

K'Vella

" W hat exactly are we getting ready for?" I ask the other females, who are all getting ready in Holoth's room with me.

"It's a surprise. The father of your children has already told you this," Essa says, flashing me her fangs when she smiles.

I've gotten over how scared she made me the other day when she found out who my sister is. It helped that she apologized profusely and then had Sloane talk to me to make sure I was okay. She cares deeply for everyone on this ship, and it's clear that she didn't mean to scare me as much as she did.

It helps that I read up on Havenths and learned it's just one of her natural reactions to being angry, scared, or threatened. She can't stop it any more than Holoth can stop his rut.

"Not the father of any children yet," I mutter under my breath before checking my hair to make sure my braids look nice and brush through any knots in my unbraided hair.

"Come on, it's going to be fun, I promise."

Sloane wraps her arms around one of my lower ones and tangles our fingers together. She's a touchy female, and in the time I've known her, I've gotten used to her shows of affection and now know she has no interest in me romantically. She just enjoys touching everyone, much to her mates' displeasure.

"When are we allowed to leave this room?" I ask right as the bedroom door slides open to reveal a beaming Jovi who looks around the room until his eyes land on his mate.

Sloane's wearing a thin strapped dress that clings to her curves and stops mid-thigh. Her mate soaks in how beautiful she looks and crosses his arms over his chest. I'm sure his chest would be violet if he weren't wearing a shirt. I know mine is, but thankfully, my dress has a high neckline, so no one can see my flush.

Avery is also in a dress, but it's one of mine. We've pinned the hem so it's short enough to look fashionable on her much shorter frame, and the lower sleeves are tied in front like a bow. She is soft and curvy in ways that I am not, but my muscular frame means the garment is the perfect size for her.

Essa is wearing a black dress mostly made of gauzy material. When she showed us the dress, we all oohed and awed. It's the prettiest dress on the ship, but she wouldn't tell us why she has such nice clothing since we always see her in her tanktops and cargo pants.

"You all look beautiful," Jovi says, not taking his eyes off Sloane for even a second. "We got everything set up if you'll follow me."

Sloane untwines her arms from mine, skips over to her mate, and wraps herself up in him. "You look good in your shirt."

"I look better without it," Jovi tells her, throwing his upper arm over her shoulder and tugging her closer. They head out of the room, leaving the rest of us to follow after them. I'm still not entirely sure what's happening, and I fidget with my hands as I wait to leave the room.

Essa isn't having it. She stands by the door, her tail flicking back and forth in lazy arcs.

"You will like this surprise," Essa says.

"I'm sure I will." I take a tentative step toward her, trying to force myself to leave the room. I'm sure there's nothing to worry about, but it's still a little concerning when I don't know what's happening.

"Then let us go. The males are proud of what they've created, especially your male." Essa waits for me to step closer to her before she wraps her tail around my ankle. It's startling at first, but she doesn't remove it and doesn't make a big deal about it, so I try to do the same. "You look beautiful, and your male will think so as well. Let's go see how you react to his surprise."

I give her a shaky nod and try to stop fidgeting with my fingers as we walk down the hall. Normally, I'm pretty confident in myself, but that's because I know what's happening most of the time. I know that I'm on this ship to get pregnant and that Holoth and I have been getting closer to one another.

It's been nice, but I worry this surprise of his will make me want more from him than I should. Yes, we've agreed to see where this goes, but he's a Rytharian with a scent match out there somewhere. This only lasts if he never removes the scent blocker from his nose.

Essa pauses outside the living space door and turns to face me. "You're ready? You're not going to run or faint?"

"I won't run or faint," I chuckle. "I wish I would've brushed my pelt a bit more, though. I didn't give it a pattern, and this seems like the type of event that needs a swirled pelt."

Essa narrows her eyes on my shoulders and down my arms, where my pelt is bare. "No, your pelt looks smooth and shiny. You are beautiful. Stop fretting."

Before I can thank her for her kind words, she turns back to the door, which slides open. My eyes go wide as I trail right behind Essa. The room isn't decorated much, but the furniture has been moved to different areas, making up sections like we would have at housing ceremonies on Varon.

There's a plethora of food in the center of the room, and the males are standing near it. All of them are dressed up as much as they can be. Holoth's even wearing a shirt makes me suppress a smile because it's obviously not his. He probably has a bow tied in the back with the extra arms.

"Your station is over there," Essa says, pointing one of her long black nails at the loveseat against the right wall.

The loveseat is covered in furs and some blankets from my nest. When we all went in there earlier, I thought Holoth's bed looked wrong, but I didn't have time to worry about it when the others were in my room. I thought it would be silly to get on my hands and knees and fret over the nest while everyone was chatting and having a good time since I don't believe any of them nest.

I walk over to the loveseat and run my fingers over my furs. They're not set right, so I spend a few minutes making sure they're exactly where they need to be. No one rushes me.

Sloane and Essa chat away as I make my temporary nest. Avery's here, too, but she's watching me with a curious expression. It has me feeling a bit self-conscious, but when I catch her eyes, she looks away like she's embarrassed to have been caught staring.

When I finish getting everything right, I sit and look around excitedly. I haven't been able to participate in a housing ceremony in many years. Sure, this isn't the same thing, but it's as close as the crew could make it, and they did this all for me.

"Jovi and Alik walked us through how this is supposed to go, but if we mess it up, just know we're trying our best," Holoth speaks, and it has my chest flushing underneath my dress. He did all this for me, and I don't think a male has ever treated me so well. "We predetermined who each male would talk with first—"

"Thanks to me and my whiteboard," Essa interjects, smiling brightly around the room. "We went over the pros and cons of where each male starts and found this to be the smartest way to do things."

Holoth grins at Essa as she tells us all about her planning and her use of her whiteboard. She's offered to pull it out of her room and make a list of reasons I should or should not ask Holoth to be my life partner. I've had to shut that down a lot. She is very fond of the board, though, and calls it her 'most favorite gift of all time.'

"Yes, yes, Essa wrote all of our names down in many colors." Phial waves his hand in the air in a get-on-with motion. "Can we please speak with the females now? I would like to be with my friend."

"Which friend?" Sloane jeers, her eyes filled with amusement and her lips curled up in a mischievous smile. "Because I don't think you're that eager to talk to me."

"No one is eager to talk to you. Alik's already wanting to kill us all," Phial grumbles but doesn't answer her question about who he's interested in talking with.

It's not hard to guess. He and Avery are inseparable most of the time. They're always up watching other planets' dating and mating shows. Sometimes, Holoth and I can hear Phial complaining about the contestants late at night, and we have to keep ourselves from laughing.

"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 on Essa'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.