Page 49 of Baited

“Is Blayn touching her?” Rych asks.

“Do not look at my mate,” I snap at him, lifting my lips to show my fangs at the rest of them. “Izzy ismine.”

IZZY

Ido not know what I’ve walked into, except there are now four huge Gryn gladiators where I only left the one. Four Gryn who seem to want to kill each other.

Having pronounced me as his, Blayn is snarling up a storm and a half, but at least the others seem to be more amused than annoyed.

“I’m Rych,” the gladiator with the gold cuffs and jewels around his neck says to me to yet another peal of growls from Blayn. “This is Maxym,” he introduces a Gryn with dark wings and a brooding expression. “And this is Klynn.” He points to the Gryn with a dagger in each hand who is contemplating the upholstery with a practiced eye before flinging one of the daggers at the center of a pattern where it buries itself deep.

I’m trembling in the face of these huge, trained killers, but I want to be strong for Blayn, as having me here seems to be the only thing which is stopping him going over the edge.

“You’re Izzy?”

I nod, holding on to Blayn’s arm and sliding one of my hands into his warm feathers which are bristling wildly.

At my touch, the vibrations slow, then cease.

“These are…” Blayn forces out through his fangs. “My…” He thinks about it for a second. “Friends.”

I look at the three Gryn. Rych shrugs, Maxym glowers, and Klynn appears to be distracted by something sparkling on the ceiling.

“So, why fight them?” I ask.

“Because…you,” Blayn answers, hanging his head. “You are mine.”

“A fact firmly established,” Rych says. “And not disputed by any of us,” he adds, holding up his hands in supplication.

“We are not interested in your mate, Blayn,” Maxym says, deliberately taking a step back.

“Mate?” I look up at Blayn who is glaring at the others.

His gaze shifts, dropping down to me, those stunning, dark eyes softening. “Mate,” he murmurs.

“I don’t…that can’t be right.” My mind is whirling. I know some species mate, in fact many species mate, but not usually with other species.

“If he lets you touch him, you have to be his mate,” Rych says gently. “Blayn was never going to let anyone else in.”

“Is this true?” My voice has become a whisper because all of this is not what I expected, and yet the way my heart is pounding, it’s as if the organ has wanted confirmation all this time.

“Eregri,” Blayn breathes. “I didn’t know what it was like to live without the dark and the light until I met you. You chase it away. You make my cocks hard and my heart soft. I can see again.” He points to his chest. “In here as well as with my eyes. You are the axis on which my galaxy turns.”

I put my hand on his cheek, and he leans into it like a cat, eyes closing, depriving me of their dark depths.

“What if I’m not your mate?” I voice the tremble in my heart. “I’m human.”

“You are,” Blayn responds simply.

“You are,” Maxym echoes. “Humans and Gryn can be mates. Sylas has a human mate.”

My already quaking world crumbles. Things spin around me. My body heats. “Another human? Here on Trefa?”

“Yes.”

“Wow,” I breathe. “I thought I was the only one.”

Blayn surrounds me, blocking out the others with his great wings. I can see the strain in his jaw, the muscle ticking, and I know enough about mates to know how difficult he’s finding being here, with me and the other Gryn.

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