Page 54 of Trove’s Purpose

She faced forward again, trying to ignore Trove. How was he so calm? So unaffected? Was he not as hyper aware of her as she was of him? Or was he just better at hiding it?

The elaborately carved double doors leading into the office opened. Three people walked out. Or rather, they stalked out. Chee stiffened in her chair. She knew it was probably rude to immediately be afraid of another species, but she couldn’t help but be unnerved by them.

They were a scaley species, which already was not her favorite. Two of them had deep, almost black, gray scales that didn’t seem to reflect the light at all, while the third one was just straight black, also with no light reflection. All three of them had long feathers coming off their head, one was very dark blue, one was black, and one was dark green – all three flirted so close with black that it was hard to tell they weren’t. Their eyes were straight black, with gray slitted pupils. They were barefoot and, though they had no fur, their feet were paw shaped with thick, black claws that dug into the rug, tearing into it with each step. Their fingers were long and tipped with very long, super sharp claws that only made looking at them more unnerving.

There was just something about the way they moved. Their bodies seemed to sway, reminding her uneasily of a snake despite their limbs. One of them was thinner than the others, and they were wearing a skirt, which made her think they might be female, but that really didn’t mean much because, aside from that, there was no way to tell. It could very well just be a skinny guy in a skirt.

One of them looked at her as they passed and sneered, showing her a mouth full of metal fangs. They were black, and unlike their scales, they did gleam, and it was eerie. She felt like it was a nightmare looking at her.

Then the twins were there. Sorbet and Tebros didn’t quite step in front of her, but they did move so that they were obviously in the way.

The three of them looked them up and down but moved towards the lift without hesitating. Chee watched them go, frowning.

“They’re illeevans,” Trove said, speaking to her in aside. “They’re a species that eats rocks.”

“Rocks?” She repeated, whipping her head around to stare at him. “Then, their teeth…”

“Metal,” he grinned. “They grow like that, the more metal and rock they eat. Isn’t that insane?”

“How does one get nutritional value out of rocks?” She asked, confused.

“Well, rocks aren’t the only thing they eat. They also eat bones.”

“Oh, that’s better.”

Trove chuckled. “They’ve got an insane bite strength. They’re also not known as the nicest of creatures. I hear that even the High Imperium almost voted against them joining the Coalition.”

“Huh?”

“Yeah. When a species joins the Coalition, they have to be voted in first.”

“I know that. I heard about Earth being voted a protectorate through that. What was that about the High Imperium?”

“Well, the High Imperium is the only known member of the vitulli, the first species of the Coalition. No one knows what they look like or who they might be under that huge tapestry thing they wear.”

“Tapestry?” she snickered.

“Tapestry, cloak, robe – whatever you want to call it,” Trove shrugged. “Point is, the High Imperium doesn’t usually vote against members joining the Coalition. But I hear that the illeevans were a species they even spoke against joining. It was pretty controversial. Makes the illeevans more interesting.”

“They didn’t end up voting against them though, right? Why?”

“Who knows? They’ve never said. They cast their vote and never brought it up again.”

“Huh… Is the High Imperium-”

Chee was cut off when the door into the office opened and another handsome male – this one a four-armed male with a sleek mane of silver fur – stepped out. He told them that Rin was ready and waiting before gesturing them forward.

Tanin stood first, Chee and Trove followed after. The illeevans were forgotten as she instead focused on this part of her task.

But if Chee expected a neat, ordered, professional office, she was dead wrong.

They walked into a smoke-filled bower that smelled like velvet, sin, and sex. The windows were covered with thick drapes, and the white light cast on the ceiling shifted and rolled like it was being cast through moving water. There was no desk, but instead there was a large, oval bed covered in red and black satin sheets. Two males were already laid out on it, sleeping against each other. One was a feathery farasie, the same species as Sway, though he had purple feathers instead of blue. He was resting in the arms of a male with thick, black skin – black, not brown – five eyes, and shiny black hair with a red cast to it. Both of them were nude, only one of them partially covered with a sheet. The other had his cock just out, soft in sleep but still unnervingly large.

However, the star of the show was neither of them. Instead, it was the female sitting on the edge of the bed, a black silk sheet over her lap and one leg, almost like a long skirt with a slit all the way up. But her torso was fully nude showing her breasts without shame.

She was green, her skin a sleek, rich emerald color, with darker green nipples that were bare, hard, and pointed directly at them. She had two little horns on her forehead, her black hair back behind them was long, straight, and sleek to her hips. She also had two little horns on her elbows, which Chee could imagine would cause an accidental elbow nudge to be very painful. She was also muscular, not with big, bulging body builder muscles, but Chee could trace and appreciate every line of muscle in her mostly nude body.

She smiled as they approached, a pair of tusks on either side of her mouth pointing up. They practically directed her gaze up to the female’s burning orange eyes. Then she got trapped there by the square shape of her wide pupils. She put a long, thin pipe to her lips and took in a deep drag. When she pulled it away, she let out a long, slow, sensuous stream of smoke up to join the fog already on the ceiling.