Page 82 of Caged

He is a gorgeous, handsome vision I never expected to see again. My heart flings itself against my chest and my lungs contract.

Sylas is here.

“This belongs to you?” The Oykig unwisely gives me a little shake.

His arm drops away as Sylas severs it, and I can breathe again. He falls back against the purple warrior who moves to one side as the Oykig falls to the ground, writhing and hissing.

“And were you also looking at my mate?” Sylas says to him.

“Absolutely not.” He holds up his hands and backs away quickly. “Not looking, not even thinking about your mate, no,” he garbles out before turning and running as fast as his lumbering bulbous body will take him. The Oykig whines as Sylas steps over him to get to me.

And I’m in his arms again, wrapped in his soft feathers, breathing in his subtle, delicious spice. This is the place I want to be, forever.

“I found you,” I whisper. “Never let me go again.”

SYLAS

Myeregriis here. Alex is here. She is here. In my arms.

I can stay standing for her, to hold her, to be with her, to never let her go like she asks.

“Moons may fall and planets may wane, but you are mine forever, little feather,” I murmur into her fragrant hair.

I don’t want to let her go, but she pulls back from me and eyes the squirming, foul Oykig.

“It’ll grow back,” I say. “And he’ll learn not to pick on creatures smaller than him in the future.”

I attempt to give my mate’s assailant a kick but lose my balance and slam into the wall with a thump, Alex still in my arms. I’m not sure what’s funny, but I’m laughing.

Alex is very close to my face. “Are you okay?”

“I have you here. I’m okay, I’m very okay, I’m brilliant,” I say, the words coming out in a rush, leaving me breathless.

She pinches at my eye. I want to get away, but she is myeregri, and even if I don’t like my eye being pinched, she can do what she likes to me. Just as long as my Alex is always here, always with me.

I snatch a kiss from her sweet lips and my cocks harden further.

“Sylas!” she says, but she is laughing too.

I spin her around and immediately regret it.

“Going to have to”—I heave out a breath—“sit.”

So, I sit, and I pull her onto my lap. She squeaks with alarm.

“We can’t sit.” She squirms, and my cocks are very much aware of her movement. “We have to get out of here. I found the resistance. They were the ones who set the explosion in the dome. They’re going to help us both escape.”

I’m still laughing, even though I’m not sure what’s funny.

“Can’t leave, have to get to Medius.” I force the words through the air.

“What’s wrong?” Alex has my face cupped in her hands and she looks worried…and scared.

“I was supposed to fight shadow soldiers, but there was a pulsar and now”—I open and close my hand like the stars which pop in and out of my vision—“I’m better than them.”

“Did Medius give you something?” she demands, but I’m staring into her beautiful eyes, so clear, so pretty. Her scent is perfection, she is perfection. “Sylas! Concentrate. Did Medius do something to you?”

“Paraxio,” a male voice rumbles to my left.

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