“I couldn’t see her,” Alred said, oblivious to Vytln’s insanity, his voice grave. “I know you were holding her. I saw you holdingsomething. I even heard you talking. But I couldn’t see or hear her. It’s like… it’s like she wasn’t even there.”
“You could see nothing in my arms?” Vytln asked, looking past the half empty bag at him.
“No,” Alred shook his virtual head. “I saw you; I saw part of your arm. But the parts between were just… not there. Not blurry. It wasn’t a black spot. It was like it didn’t exist. Like space had folded on itself and your arm and chest were just touching each other. And when I guess she was talking, I couldn’t hear anything but the normal background noise of the ship.”
Vytln grunted, though more interested this time. What was she doing? How was she able to hide from Alred like that? Although, now that he was thinking about it…
“Has Trove been able to scent her?” He asked, shaking the now empty bag to get the last of the powder out into the machine.
Again, Alred shook his head. “No one has. Trove and the twins can’t scent her. Sway can’t hear her. I can’t see her. It’s like she’s hiding from our best senses.”
Vytln folded the now empty bag, even more impressed now. “She’s good. She’s very good. I don’t understand why she’s here. What her purpose is. She’s strange.”
“I wouldn’t know,” Alred said, the dull tone of his voice leaving no doubt to his resentment at not being able to detect the female.
Vytln grumbled. “You’re lucky. She’s an obnoxious pest.”
“Mm.”
“All she does is poke her hand out of the trap and natter at me.”
“Mm-hm.”
“I have to take care of this little thing, and she doesn’t even seem bothered by the fact that we have her captive. No sense of self-preservation at all.”
“I would disagree,” Alred said. “She’s clearly taken steps to protect herself, and she seems to know that we’re not going to harm her. So long as she does not represent a threat to us. And so long as she has knowledge we need.”
“Overly confident annoyance,” Vytln grumbled, shutting the intake chute on the synthesizer and hitting the screen to reset it back to functioning mode.
He turned, only to come up short when he caught sight of Alred’s grinning face. He looked smug. And it was all the more irritating for being a new expression on his formerly featureless face.
“What?” He asked, eyes narrowing.
“Your mating instincts are making you more grumpy than usual.”
Vytln snarled. “It’s just an instinct. It doesn’t mean anything. I can ignore it.”
“Perhaps. But for how long?”
Vytln snarled, swiping his fist through Alred’s light form. He couldn’t touch it, of course, but Alred had it burst apart in a shower of sparks as he laughed overhead.
Vytln ignored him as he stalked through the halls. He was going back to his room. A place he very rarely went. Even when it was time to sleep, he was much more inclined to nod off in his workroom. He ate there, he worked there, he had no reason to leave.
Except he did now. A pest that he couldn’t stop thinking about. Couldn’t stop desiring. His cocks were getting hard, just remembering her. The twin appendages tucked neatly into his body were traitors to him. They were trying to extend, even now, and only a flex of his abdomen kept them laid properly in their beds where they belonged.
Vytln wasn’t like Sway who hadn’t touched anyone since Rik-Vane, and barely touched anyone while he was there. He wasn’t like Trove, who never saw a brothel he didn’t want to rule like a king. But he was somewhere between them. He sought out willing females to trade pleasures when the urge hit. His heart never became involved. Physical pleasures were only meant to be traded between mates for his people, but he didn’t care. He didn’t intend to have a mate anymore. Not after what happened to the last female he caught. He was content with fucking faceless, nameless females who made him pay for the privilege before they both went their own ways.
He got what he needed, when he needed it, and never wanted anything else. His body acting so far out of his control was completely inexcusable.
The door to his room slid open and he walked inside, already grabbing his shirt and yanking it over his head, fully intending to take a shower-
-only to come up short when he saw the familiar walls of his workroom instead.
How…?
Vytln looked around, baffled at how he found himself in here. He’d been going to his room. He fully intended on going to his room. How had he somehow managed to walk here instead?
The answer to the question poked her head up in the window of his trap, resting her hands on the edge and smiling at him.
