The hivemind is conquering for me?

”Honey, I’m home!” I said cheerily as I entered my new abode. The duo had clearly been working with haste as despite the house still seeming quite empty, the place was beginning to be filled up with some of our creature comforts.

My announcement caused a bump from upstairs and within moments Orchid appeared at the balcony of the upstairs area. ”Welcome back Apollo, was your walk satisfactory?” she asked.

A soft chuckle escaped my lips. ”It was alright, something cool happened, but I will tell you about it later. Is Janine here by the way?” As though my words conjured her, Janine appeared next to Orchid moments later and looked down upon me with a smirk on her face. ”Need something?”

”Yeah, food. While we were walking, Gabrielle and I found a bar. I thought we would go and grab a bite to eat together?” Orchid and Janine both hastily agreed, Janine especially had worked up an appetite.

”Sure, let me get changed, I am all sweaty.” Janine said, meanwhile Orchid just stood there staring at Gabrielle. The strange feeling she felt yesterday resurfacing. However, she had been practicing her ’social skills’ and avoided staring at the woman for more than ten seconds at a time. She then turned and walked away to pretend to put some clothes on.

”Don’t worry about Orchid, she is just shy. Now, you are free to wait here for a little bit. I might have dried myself off, but with my sense of smell, I still smell vaguely ’lakey.’ I’m going to have a quick rinse and change then we can go.”

Gabrielle simply nodded her head in understanding. ”Very well, I will wait here.” She said, not wanting to overstep her bounds. She was just grateful her son had not grown sick of her yet, not everyone would be comfortable having a stranger follow them around all day. She loved that her son was so kind. No, she just loved him. Through and through.

After entering what I assumed was the master bedroom, I looked around and nodded. ”Not bad, enough room for a mega bed so we can all sleep together. Hey Orchid, where is the box with the ’valuables?’” I asked the cute bug on the floor. There was no furniture right now so she was just lying there, waiting.

”In the room where humans store clothes. It’s isolated and out of view. Orchid thought it best to put it there, or bury it in the jungle, but Orchid has not had a chance to scout yet.” I cleared my throat. ”Here is perfectly fine. I am going to take a shower, care to join me?”

Orchids head lifted up slightly as she smelled the air. Apollo smelled vaguely different, so she assumed he was going to use the scented products, Orchid doesn’t like changing her smell, so she simply shook her head as she got up. ”No, but Orchid will watch.”

...

Gabrielle was waiting patiently, but the urge to look through Apollo’s boxes was strong. She wanted to see what he brought with him, but again, she didn’t want to be rude or overstep. She simply sat with her back against the wall until she saw movement from the top of the stairs.

Her heart raced before immediately slowing down upon realising it was the Sepiida. She was wearing a decently revealing green dress that contrasted beautifully against her blue skin ”You get changed surprisingly quick for a Sepiida.” Janine stopped momentarily as she began coming down the stairs that were connected to the side wall.

”I do a lot of things different from what other Sepiidae do, or have you forgotten my threats already.” Janine said, drawing out a soft chuckle from Gabrielle. ”Like I could forget, please, try to relax. I am here simply as Apollo’s new friend. Nothing more, have that assurance.”

Janine said nothing for a moment. She walked over to the corner of the room and picked up her rifle. She would clean it while waiting for those two upstairs to be done. As she began disassembling, she spoke.

”I don’t get it. The government hires you to garner information on a person and then suddenly you want to be friends with that person? Isn’t that like, I don’t know, extremely unethical?”

Gabrielle sighed. She saw no reason to withhold the partial truth, the secret was out now. ”So, I might have told you all a little white lie when we first met.” Janine’s eyes squinted, alert. ”So I was telling the truth that I was on official royal business, but not for the government, for Hailey. Other than being a talented Psionic user, like Nerissa said yesterday work for Hailey’s family. In fact I am Hailey’s house guard captain. She had spoken highly of Apollo and I wanted to make sure that she was safe. She has had it rough and I wanted to make sure her friend was not using her like many others would. The truth is Apollo is a truly amazing person and it’s not only Hailey who gets to be his friend now. As long as he is ok with me being around, I would like to be so too.”

Janine’s guard dropped slightly, but it was still there. She had forgotten that Nerissa said that yesterday, she was too heated about seeing the woman again. However, if her investigation was not some government sanctioned thing, but her simply checking up on a person her ward had gotten close to? She could understand that, as she would do the same for her daughters...

”Hmm~” She hummed, gathering her thoughts. ”Very well, I will TRY and stop my hostilities towards you and give you the benefit of the doubt. But know this Gabrielle, the stain of suspicion never truly fades. I will be watching you. Should you show any signs of betraying Apollo’s trust, even for a moment. I will come for you.”

”Very well.” Gabrielle said with a nod of her head. She was not angry in the slightest at the Sepiidan’s possessiveness. It was a key trait of their species. She was honestly glad and proud that her son had such a close friend that was secretly a bit of a badass while looking like a dainty flower in her dress.

Janine was a warrior, she could tell. She could do things for Apollo that he would never even think of. And that would keep him safe. That was all she cared about. She would even help groom the Sepiida and her, surprise Psionics that she was only able to tell were there thanks to a side effect of her dampening ability, grow. For if Apollo had individuals around him that were strong enough to defend him in times of peril... She would never lose him again.

...

”Mhhhum~ sunshine~ Mhhhm!” I hummed as I got out of the shower. I enjoyed the steam against my skin for a moment as I didn’t allow my Thermokinesis to regulate my body. The shower was scalding hot to most so there was a great amount of steam that I was enjoying. It felt natural to be surrounded by heat thanks to my connection with Sol, but I didn’t let it linger for long. The steam reminded me of my showers back on home world and I started feeling sad that little drones weren’t here to eat my epidermis. I never feel cleaner than after those guys eat every last fleck of dirt from my body.

After getting out of the shower and heating myself up, Orchid stood there, lactating in the nude... I shook my head at her. ”Orchid, absorb your nutrients back now, you have barely eaten since we got here, I am not having you deprive yourself of nutrition when we are going out to eat. Also, I don’t want to ruin my appetite.”

Orchid sighed, it was worth a chance. She absorbed the nutritional fluid back within herself when suddenly. ”Nnnnhgg!” She suppressed a moan of delight as she felt Apollo latch on, suckling out the last little bit that was within her.

I then switched to the other one as she grabbed my head tightly. I could tell she was about to undo her absorption and that’s when I pulled back. Grabbing her around the waist, I pulled her in close and gave her a slow and passionate kiss that melted her and her body attempted to meld into mine.

After I pulled away, the sense of euphoria built between us. When we truly were the mates we were, when nothing else was happening. I placed my head against hers and hers against mine as we mimicked each other’s breathing.

I then spoke slowly. ”Just because I said no now, doesn’t mean I didn’t like the advance. If we didn’t have company, we would be testing out the structural integrity of this house right now, my love, my everything.”

Orchid allowed the softness to overwhelm her, like after their first reunion. ”Orchid understands. Orchid just wanted to let you know she loves you more than any one else!”

My heart evaporated at Orchids’ vulnerable look that was just an inch away from my nose. ”And I love you too, my first mate. The one who found me.”

We shared a few bursts of kisses before finding the strength to part from each other. ”Orchid, can you and the others go to the bar and find a table for us? I just need to do a few things here first and I will meet you there in ten minutes. You can order food for me as well as I know you know what I like.”

Orchid nodded her head. A new directive set. She would do her job for her mate. To truly show her devotion to him.

After Orchid had gotten the others to leave, I listened for a moment to make sure no one was still here before turning towards the bedroom cupboard. I had something I needed to do.