Page 7 of Essa

I open my eyes and take a deep breath when there's nothing but a long silence. Phial's frowning at me, his playful smile wiped away. He diverts his attention to Alik, and I cringe when I see the hard expression on his face.

Alik opens his mouth to say something, maybe to ask me why. Thankfully, he doesn't get the chance before long golden fingers tipped with sharpened black nails wrap around his shoulder.

"I can go," Essa murmurs. Her body's still hidden in the entryway, but her hand remains on Alik's shoulder as he lifts his hand to touch it. His nostrils flare, and his jaw ticks in the corner. "I'll go. I won't cause issues."

I want to tell her it's not her causing issues. It's my overprotective, needy, jealous boyfriend who doesn't realize that just because most of his fear receptors were destroyed doesn't mean he isn't still scared of stuff—stuff like losing me. I don't get a chance to tell her, though.

She walks out of the room, and her beauty takes my breath away just like it did in the living space when I first looked up at her. My mouth is dry, my eyes wide, and I look foolish. I can't help it when she's just so beautiful.

Golden skin that shimmers under the light, dark hair tied in a bun on top of her head between dark spiraling horns. She's taller than me, taller than Adam too. But she's thin and lithe, her muscles small but toned. The cropped tank top she wears shows off her abdomen and the small swell of her breasts. She doesn't have any curves, but I don't mind that so much. Plus, there's the tail. It was twitching like crazy earlier. Now, it's lying close to her right leg, wrapping around her ankle like it doesn't want to be in anyone's way. Her yellow eyes meet mine before ducking and looking away.

"Sorry," she murmurs as she walks past me.

Her cargo pants make a swishing sound as she walks too quickly past me. Her fangs are gone now, but I saw them earlier. I know because I wanted to offer her my throat, ask her to bite into me. I never thought I'd be into that kind of thing, but then again, I've never had a female so enraged at our scars she'd offer to kill for us. It did something to me. It did the same thing to me that happens when Adam says those kinds of things. Maybe I'm just into people taking care of me.

"Why the fuck did Essa leave?" another woman asks. Sloane, I'm guessing, since she's standing so close to the angry Varon.

Alik's eyes flick over to me, and they narrow in unison. "Maybe you should go keep her company."

"Did they hurt her?" Sloane's glare swings over to me. Oh, she's furious. More so than I've seen anyone else on this ship besides Essa, who had me feeling like I was about to piss myself when she was looking all scary and staring down Adam.

"Only her feelings," Alik says, cupping Sloane's cheek.

"That's like worse!" Sloane says before wrapping her arms around Alik and placing a kiss on his cheek. For me, she shoots me another death glare. "You'll fix this."

I hold my hands up, lowering my eyes. I'm not the problem here. I'm not going to take the blame or try to rile anyone up. That's for Adam to do. I wouldn't be in this awkward situation if not for him. He can fix all this, and I'll make sure he does. It'll probably involve a lot of dick sucking, but I'll survive it.

"I fucking mean it." Sloane pokes my chest with her finger.

I lift my eyes enough to look at her, to see the righteous fury in her gaze. She cares for the golden-skinned female, and if I want to get close to her, I need to smooth things over with this human. I nod the slightest movement, but it's good enough for her.

"I'm watching you. And your friend. I don't let anyone fuck with the people I love."

I smile at that, knowing Adam might even like it. Too bad he's still sulking in the bedroom. I won't be surprised if I get back and his hands are bloody from hitting the walls. It wouldn't be the first time. Though I will be having a stern talk with him if he hurts himself like that again.

Sloane walks past me, down the same way Essa disappeared. I close my eyes, trying to center myself. I want to reach out to Adam to tell him he needs to apologize now because he's made this more difficult for me than it should be. He won't, though. He's not in the right headspace. He might not be for a while.

"You already made her leave. You might as well come in," Alik says, forcing me to open my eyes. Phial and Alik are both staring at me, varying levels of anger on their faces.

"I didn't mean for her to leave," I say, blowing out a long breath.

I follow them into what I now realize is a kitchen with an attached dining area. Jovi sits on a barstool, arms crossed over his chest and abdomen, lips flattened in displeasure. He must take pity on me because of the glares I'm getting from everyone else and the yelling from Sloane because he sighs, grabs a plate and a slice of pizza, and hands them to me.

"Thanks."

"We're still not friends, but you look like a babe who was just scolded," Jovi says, taking a bite of his slice. "Are you staying?" he asks with a full mouth, the question directed at Phial.

"No, no, making food for Avery and me." Phial walks over to their food synthesizer and starts flicking through it. He decides on something before turning around and leaning against the counter, his attention back on me. "Does the other male fuck you?"

"Phial!" Alik snaps, his hardened gaze moving over to Phial before I have a chance to register the question.

"We're all thinking it. I'm the only one brave enough to ask. " Phial shakes his head. "I saw him looking at Essa. His cock got hard. It's probably still half-mast now. Is that why your mate is upset with her? Afraid she might woo you since he's obviously terrible at it?"

My face is scarlet at everything he's saying. They all already know Adam and I are together even though Adam's so big about no one knowing because it makes us more vulnerable. There's also how I'm being called out on lusting after their friend, but it's not like I can help whether or not I get hard. And my erection isn't even that noticeable in these pants. Not unless someone is looking for it. Which begs the question, why the fuck was Phial looking for it.

"None of that is our business," Alik says, and Phial's feathers stick up a bit on his head. "You can't have the first question you ask someone be about who they're sleeping with."

"It's a good thing it was my second, then," Phial responds quickly. "The first was asking him about spying on all of you out in the hallway."

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