Among The Stars: Phantom and Mercenary

Chapter 9 - Longing

Estea. You know the coordinates.

Gahtan huffed after reading the message that his brother had sent to him. Of course. He should have known.
After Bau'jah's bonding with his ooman mate, the pair would go there when the climate is perfect for hunting if they are tired of traveling in space. They basically had made that planet, as ooman Ray refers to it, their love nest.

It was a travesty.

Long before Estea became their so-called love nest, it was one of Gahtan and Bau'jah's hunting preserve planets. Not anymore now. What a waste use of that planet.

He entered the coordinates in the system swiftly, engaged in the FTL as he no longer needs to cloak his ship's signature anymore. At current speed, he would arrive in two days. Not fast enough for his fleeting patience, but he could manage it without Jane's constant distraction.

The thought of the female made Gahtan turned his attention to the training room door. He moved to the observatory instead, gazing at the stars as his ship traveled in faster-than-light speed.
It was called observatory for a reason, the space view in here was way much better, he hadn't seen such fascinating spectacle since Jane started sleeping here. Then his eyes shifted to her spot, staring at his furs that were arranged neatly on the floor, and they smelled like her now.
He bent down, grabbed a piece of pelt then brought it to his nose. Gahtan breathed in, savoring her sweet scent that had been affecting his sanity every single day. He eventually put it back, headed to the training room.

He entered the room quietly, seeing the female sparring with the holograms. Her attention was completely devoted to the beast which she was fighting with that she never noticed his presence. He stood there, watched Jane in silence. The female knew the creature's weak spots by now - in the neck and abdomen areas - she focused solely on them, avoided its deadly tail, sharp claws and teeth.
She was getting better, indeed.

Jane felt exhausted, she finally ended the training and sprawled out her body on the floor, panting for air. In her peripheral vision, she caught a glimpse of green and turned her head, Ghost was there, watching her. She immediately broke their eye contact, dragged her tired body upright, then headed to the workbench to get her water jug, she needed to keep her body hydrated.

"I'm done for the day, the floor is yours." Jane said without looking up as she passed him to get some water.

Gahtan gazed at her back contemplatively after she walked by, this wasn't the first time she ignored him like this, he sensed something had changed about the female. Before she was quite brazen and always in heat, she'd try everything to get close to him physically, wanting to spar together, constantly teasing him with words, taking every advantage to tempt him, she even dared to sneak into his bathing chamber.
The list goes on and on, it was impossible to keep her away from him, he honestly had thought about putting her in the stasis pod to end his suffering.

Then up until a few days ago, the female suddenly changed, her behavior had been distant and aloof. She stopped following him around, never asked him to spar with her again, and she rarely spoke to him now.
At first, Gahtan thought her heat cycle was over, except he could still smell it in the air. It was puzzling until he remembered Bau'jah telling him that ooman females did not have heat cycles, they could mate all year round. If that was true, it could only mean one thing, her lack of attention clearly indicated that she had lost interest in him. He frowned, feeling a bit disappointed.

Wait, why would he feel disappointed? That'd be ridiculous. All he ever wanted was to keep her at bay and he got what he wished for. He wasn't sure what exactly he did to make her change her mind, but that hardly mattered, he could finally keep his mind free from those dark thoughts, he could focus on this mission and continue his training without her distraction.
Decided, he turned his attention to the holograms.