Page 26 of Bitten in the Wild

“Ren would’ve probably known about this,” he said, leaning back on his palms looking only at his cousin. “Sounds like a story she’d tell us about while collecting lore for her eggs.”

“Who’s Ren?” Sunny asked and both men ignored him.

“Did she ever mention something like this to you?” Castor asked. “She never did to me.”

“There were a lot of stories about people giving away their names for the sake of one magic or another,” Casimir shrugged.

“Well, I wish they’d stop that because not having a name makes you very hard to track down,” Castor said, letting out a small laugh that didn’t reach his eyes.

“Who is Ren?” Sunny asked.

“Stop,” Teddy said. “They heard the question the first time.”

“Why don’t you just call her?” Sunny asked.

“I’ve had enough food, Cas,” Casimir said to his cousin and pushed himself to his feet. “I’m going to go out for a smoke.”

“When did you start that back?” Izora asked.

“When people started asking questions twice,” he shrugged and Waj scrambled over to him.

“He wants to show you the way out,” Nycto translated for his dotter.

“Thanks, furry man.”

“He’s Waj,” I grinned at Casimir.

I wasn’t one hundred percent certain who Ren was but knew that Castor and Casimir had some deep dark past neither of them spoke of. One day Sunny would be old enough to leave sleeping dogs alone, but not today. Waj pinched his arm as he walked by him to leave the play cavern. Sunny swore under his breath but didn’t try for revenge.

Chapter Ten

Nycto

I invited Izora’s flight mates to stay the night, but with so many hatchlings and an egg back where they stayed, they opted to fly home. I did my best to keep it off our link, but I was relieved to be alone with Izora and Waj again. Izora cleaned up after the others while I assured Waj that he was the best dotter in the world.

“Sunny’s just young,” Izora said when he joined us in the nest room with his little doohickey. I’d forgotten all about it with all the talk about the vision. “And homesick and probably sexually frustrated. Didn’t like the purple district as much as he thought he would. Hasn’t found his mate.”

“Waj doesn’t like people being weird about stuff,” I shrugged and ran my hand down the length of the dotter’s back.

“Eh, Sunny will survive Waj,” Izora climbed into the nest to join us. “I gave them what information I could. What they do with it is up to them.”

“If they’re smart, they could ask at our Star Room too,” I said. “What’s that do? Is it a sex toy?”

“Ummm… No,” Izora held up the attached piece as if he never considered that it could be. “It’s an external ultrasound. They make internal ones too. Which go exactly where you think they would, but they’re medical devices which most patients would go above and beyond to avoid.”

“Ultrasound?” I asked as Waj scurried over to examine it.

“No biting,” Izora warned Waj. “It’ll let us see our egg inside your stomach. I know you guys usually use your sonics, but this gives photos. Well, it’ll print photos when I get it hooked back up to the computer at the ship.”

“So it’s a camera?” I arched a brow.

“Yeah, for the inside of you,” he said.

I crossed my arms over my stomach suddenly protective of the egg that was probably inside me. I knew Izora would never hurt our child, but I wasn’t so sure about his camera.

“They used to be these huge machines. Then they became sorta portable. Now they’re this,” he held it up.

“I liked it better when I thought it was a sex toy,” I let out a laugh, trying to relax.

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