Page 65 of Caged

“Servants of the Zavaro, various species—Drahon, Habosu, and others. Once you were stable, they put you in the care of a Xnosson, the one who took you to the dome,” Sontok says.

“But why take his memories or the memories of any of the other Gryn?” Alex pushes the point. I brush the back of my hand against her cheek, centering myself at her touch.

“Then you wouldn’t remember what you were fighting for, only that you needed to fight. They got the credits for the sale to the dome, and they got rid of a problem,” Sontok replies.

“And when exactly were you going to tell us this?” Alex leans forward, her voice strung with steel.

“I didn’t want to cause Sylas further pain. He seemed happy with you. He was…a little difficult…” She shakes her head. “So angry, but we remember him when he first came here and”—her eyes soften—“you were like a youngling learning to walk again. We liked having you, especially as you were able to clear the place of the gahlan vines which had plagued us, due to your superior strength and healing abilities.” She smiles indulgently.

“Did any of them say how I could get my memories back?” I grind through the dull ache in my head.

“There is a machine, although I don’t know if it’s even on Trefa. It could restore what was lost.”

Alex turns to me, taking my hand between hers. “What do you want to do?”

I lean into her scent, into her warmth, placing a kiss on her forehead. “I want to go back to our nest.”

ALEX

My gentle giant of a gladiator is quiet as Sontok gives me various vials and potions, some for the residual effects of the poison, some to “help” with my pregnancy, and at least one bottle comes with a filthy wink. Like Sylas ever needed any encouragement.

What he needs now is sleep. We both do. Peace and quiet to come to terms with what she’s told him about himself. Time to decide what to do. Time to get used to the fact we’re going to be parents. Time to get used to the factI’m going to give birth.

Literally not something I ever thought was in the cards for me. Not on Earth. I was too busy surviving to contemplate the future, and as for after my abduction, it was something I was almost terminally fearful of.

Being used as a breeder.

To some extent, Ixor’s undisguised disgust at me was a relief, even if he regularly threatened to offer me up to his acquaintances as a sweetener to whatever he needed.

Sylas encloses my hand with his huge one, claws completely sheathed.

“Little feather, what are you thinking?” he asks, voice rasping even in the warm air.

“I’m thinking about our baby,” I reply.

I find myself suddenly, delightfully, lifted up into his strong arms, his lips on mine in a dominant, possessive kiss which I never want to end.

It does, of course, how can it not, and I have the handsomest face with the most beautiful dark eyes, the black pupils visible within the chocolate depths. Eyes which are searching my face, as if he’s lost something, then found it again.

“A youngling, our youngling,” he breathes.

“I guess if you do what we did as often as we did, it’s a possibility.” I trace my finger over the shadow scar which runs across his left eye and down his cheek.

“It is because of you, myeregri. You have starlight in your eyes, and you gave it to me. You made me whole where I thought I would always be hollow. You’ve even shown me there is so much more. I am not the Gryn I thought I was.”

“You are the Gryn I believed in.” I span my hand over his cheek, cupping his chiseled jaw. “And you saved me, from everything. I needed you to show me what freedom meant.”

“You will always be free, little feather. It will be my honor to keep you and nest for you, forever,” Sylas says, a smile brightening his features into something almost god-like.

“I should think so, and I’ll hold you to that when I’m very, very pregnant.”

Sylas growls deep in his chest, one of lust. “I long for the day you are round and ripe with our young. I will mate you until you cannot stand,” he rumbles.

Oh, lord, I wasn’t sure if I had recovered, but the way his words have made me drench my knickers, I suspect I’m on the road to good health.

“I’m going to hold you to that.” I bury my head in his hard shoulder, breathing in his natural spice, part feathers, part him.The heat of his body infuses me with warmth, pleasant even in the humid forest.

We still have a long road ahead of us, but we are together, and that’s all which matters. It’s the only thing that matters.

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