Page 43 of Caged

For a long while, there is only the distant hum of the transport engines. My stomach gurgles and Sylas’s eyes fly open.

I wriggle against him, but there’s a stretch and a pull I wasn’t expecting. He seems stuck inside me.

“What’s going on?”

Sylas hums with pleasure. “My second cock has swelled. We are locked, sweeteregri.”

“Locked? What do you mean, you’re stuck inside me? For how long?”

I squirm again, but he wraps his arms around me, holding me still with a deep rumble in his chest. A comforting rumble, not so far from a cat’s purr.

I stare at him. He smiles and traces a finger down the side of my face.

“I don’t know, little feather. This has never happened to me before. You are the only female ever to have aroused my second cock. As far as I’m concerned, I never want to let you go.”

SYLAS

The air on a ground transport has never been sweeter than in our quarters, waking up with myeregricurled next to me in the nest I made for her.

The last two nova-days have passed in a haze of mating, feeding my mate, and mating some more. Occasionally the Cirmos has insisted my Alex speak with her, but otherwise we have not left the nest.

I tuck my arm behind my head, a warm feeling glowing in my abdomen. It radiates outwards into my limbs and wings. What is it?

“Hey.” Alex’s sleepy voice is soft in my ear. “Whatcha thinking about?”

“I have a funny feeling.”

“After last night…and in the early hours? You’re insatiable. No wonder you’re feeling funny.” She laughs gently, and my heart spins in my chest, making me feel all fluttery and light.

“I havethatsort of feeling every time I look at you, little feather, but this one is different.” I roll on my side to face her.

Alex looks delicious, her face still shrouded with sleep, little spots of red on her cheeks and a nose I want to kiss forever. Hersilky hair tumbles around her in waves, and I need to consume her, make her part of me.

“What does it feel like?” she asks, propping herself up on her elbow, her bright eyes fixed on me.

“Like I’m warm from the inside out,” I reply. “I mean, I feel warm when I’m in the games and there’s a lot of blood and guts being thrown around because they’re usually quite hot. And I feel warm when I’ve been sparring with my fellow Gryn, or if I drink a lot of ale, but it’s not the same as this feeling. I like this feeling. I don’t want it to stop. I prefer it when the blood and guts stop.”

Alex kisses me on my cheek, her shoulders shaking.

“I think most people prefer not to be covered in blood and guts,” she says, her voice slightly higher pitched than usual.

“You haven’t met Klynn or Blayn. They both consider that the fun part,” I reply in all seriousness.

Alex’s shoulders shake again before she clears her throat.

“I think what you’re feeling, Sylas, is contentment.”

“Contentment?” I roll the word around my mouth.

It could be the right feeling.

“If content is never wanting to leave you and my nest, then I am content.”

I give her a toothy smile and the feeling gets even better when she returns it, her lips quirking up and then leaning in for another kiss, and I oblige because she can have whatever she wants.

Alex hums with pleasure and pushes herself farther into my side. Her tiny fingers swirl over my abdomen. Underneath the blanket, my cocks stir.

“Did you get all of these as a gladiator?” she asks, running a tip over one of my larger scars.

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