Page 19 of I'm Not Your Pet

After his reaction to me approaching his suitcase, I didn’t dare try to open it again—and it didn’t feel right having him naked in his bed without having confirmed his intentions toward me. I knew my own desire, but he was still a mystery.

Huu-goh cried that night.

After the lights had gone off, I’d headed toward my own bed. I’d thought he was asleep. If I’d known he was awake, I wouldn’t have left him alone over there. Hovering, however, had only seemed to piss him off after he’d been stripped down and the worst of the sickness had passed.

When he’d fallen asleep it had felt like a blessing.

A rough first day finally over.

At least until I heard the quiet little sniffle sound he made—twenty minutes later—and realized that things could get worse before they ever got better. I rose from bed, my own body sluggish and exhausted as I settled beside him on the floor. He didn’t shake my hand off when I stroked over his back, but he didn’t say anything either.

He held himself in a tiny ball, quaking, as more of those curious tears leaked down his cheeks.

I fell asleep beside him, and when I woke it felt like I’d aged a thousand years.

Surely things will get better. That’s what I told myself as I stretched out my sore body, my tentacles expanding to breathe after remaining cramped on the floor for so damn long.

For a week, I did my best to acclimatize Huu-goh to my rooms and space itself. I learned about him as best I could. Feeding him different treats and snacks, it was easy enough to get a feel for what he liked and disliked. He didn’t enjoy bambuu, but I didn’t budge, always making sure that he finished his plate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

He was underfed, and after the first initial frown he’d leveled me with, he hadn’t complained. He was clever enough to understand that there was a reason I was feeding him the same thing every day.

Huu-goh and I developed a strange sort of sign language over the first few days. When my huu-man liked something he’d fold all his fingers into his palm aside from his thumb. Said thumb would point toward the ceiling as he wagged his hand at me. This odd gesture was seemingly agoodthing.

It, however, had a negative counterpart.

When hedidn’tlike something he made the same motion with the thumb pointed down. Sometimes, when he was feeling particularly excited about something—more pastries—or unhappy about something—me following him into the bathroom—he’d even double the “up thumb” or “down thumb” with both hands.

He didn’t like his bed.

It didn’t take a genius to figure that out.

But he didn’t seem to understand when I told him he could join me in mine. Part of me was grateful for that—as I was also still getting used to his presence. Having him in my personal space was already an adjustment. To have him in my bed felt like crossing a line I wasn’t sure we should.

At least…not until I knew where he stood.

My hope that we would become mates was beginning to dwindle as the days passed and Huu-goh did not make another move like he had at the pleasure house. Maybe his desire to touch me truly had been fueled by his occupation?

It wasn’t as though I could ask him.

A&R’s pamphlet included a few basic words and their pronunciations. But there wasn’t a single thing written inside it that talked about sex, or had words that pertained to it. There was no way to confirm whether or not he was interested in me so I would have to wait to see if his actions dictated he was.

So far, nothing pointed toward Huu-goh feeling anything toward me aside from camaraderie. Which was…disappointing, to say the least.

Sometimes I’d catch him staring at my chest—and the scent of arousal would fill the air—but then the nanobots would come out to clean, or the ceiling would shift colors as we neared planets that blurred by on our route—and the scent would drift away.

By the time the week had passed and I needed to return to my duties, I felt no more secure than I had on that first day.

I tried to warn Huu-goh that the ship was going to land—but again, the language barrier got in the way. Pointing at the floor and giving him a double down thumb did not help. It made himfrown down at the ground like he was expecting it to open up or something—which I supposed, was fair.

When the ship began to rumble however, he deduced what was happening. His dark eyes went wide and he scrambled toward the bathroom, hopping as fast as a Fruhg during mating season as he slammed his way toward the toilet in preparation.

Luckily for the both of us, he wasn’t sick the second time.

Mala landed the ship gently. Not as gently as I would have—but gently enough.

When the rumbling stopped, and the steady swoosh that could be felt at any time when we were space-borne had settled, I stopped rubbing Huu-goh’s back. He twisted to look at me, eyes just as wide as they’d been when the ship began to descend.

“Laa-hnd-ehd?” he asked, voice shaky.

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