“Guys…”
They continued to speak over each other, their volume louder than my own.
“Males…”
Now they were asking each other if they sensed something wrong.
“Nestmates!” I yelled.
All four of them turned to face me, silencing themselves.
“What is wrong, Selena?” Xylo asked gently.
“I need everyone to remove themselves from me. I need to use the washroom and badly—unless the four of you want to bathe in my piss. I don’t know if that is a weird thing Circuli males do since I know at least two of you love sampling everything about me…”
V’dim and Z’fir looked at each other in horror as the other two shook their heads.
“I never heard of such a thing, Selena,” Odelm replied.
“I can promise you neither of our mothers did such an act,” V’dim said, his face scrunched up in disgust.
“And even if they did, let me tell you, it is not something I am interested in sampling.”
“From a technical standpoint, human urine differs greatly from Circuli waste. It is reported to be about ninety-five percent water, with the rest being excess minerals and compounds. Our systems should be able to break down what they consider toxins and reject them in our normal excretion,” Xylo explained. “In fact, humans used to drink—”
“Xylo!” I snapped, refusing to listen to any more of his technological rant. “For one, I need to use the facilities… bathroom… the waste unit, whatever term you want to use, I don’t care. Second, I need each one of you to remove yourself from me so I can do so. And finally, third, I wasn’t suggesting whatever Xylo was trying to explain. Even though I enjoyed waking up snuggled by all four of you, now is not thetime for some clan conversation about how I need to pee.”
They got the hint. In an instant, each one of them untangled themselves from me and each other, wrapping their appendages around their own torsos in their default state.
As soon as Odelm’s tentacle untangled itself from my leg, I bolted, leaving the sleepy males alone to think about what had just happened.
The embarrassing moment passed. As a clan, we ate breakfast with the cubs and staff. Vagren was worried about housing and wanted the princes to go with him to assist him with their crew. Xylo left soon after with the new medical staff to help at the island’s hospital.
Now, I laid spread out on a cushioned pad in the middle of the Sanctuary, basking in the sunlight as it poured from the glass dome. The cubs were swimming in the pool under Pavryn’s watch, enjoying themselves as the sounds of Odelm’s music flooded the room.
Hearing him play pleased me. I was afraid our time on the space station had affected him more than he let on. He was the most sensitive male out of my now four but was always afraid of looking weak compared to the others. I wished he would understand his own self-worth.
I didn’t need him to be brainy and demanding like Xylo or a strategic commander like the princes. I loved him for who he was, even when he had his moments of self-doubts and clinginess.
While it was refreshing to be away from the politics and stress of the CEG, I felt as if I was hiding from the universe. Zirene shoved this moon on me and gave me unlimited power to do whatever I pleased to it. I understood that by Aldawilaws, he needed to give me something as a status symbol of how much power he had, but that didn’t mean I was fully comfortable using it.
Yes, I’d already used what power I had to protect the princes and their crew—and to provide starving artists a place to flourish—but what if this was a mistake?
I needed Zirene.
It worried me he’d left without a trace and hadn’t been in my dreams for the last five days. What happened to us needing to strengthen our void chamber’s walls? We couldn’t protect ourselves if we kept avoiding each other.
A flicker of movement caught my eye.
Kaede stood, leaning against the railing of the balcony’s ledge, his focus on me.
If anyone knew where Zirene was, it would be him. Whether he would tell me would be a different story.
“If you are going to stare at me all day, you could at least come talk to me. I promise I won’t bite… again,” I shouted.
He stood and disappeared, only to reappear directly next to me.
“No, but by the Stars, you sure fucked up the princes' shoulders from what I saw this morning.”
